The super late entry

Two weekends ago now, was a trip that I had been planning since I arrived. Tamsui is one of those places that everyone talks about when Taiwan is mentioned. So it was on my list to go see, especially since it was by the ocean (as a Michigander I love water of any kind). I went with Kaitlyn, Blake and his friend Jiwa. We had a lot of fun despite the cold, and the rain.

The first thing we did was arrive in Tamsui by MRT, it was a long ride and being a saturday we ended up standing most of the ride. It was okay though, I had fun talking with everyone. Then we arrived.  

The first thing we did was walk around and try some different food. Jiwa had us try some buttery bread that he said was "Hong Kong style". I also had strawberries that were dipped in strawberry hard-candy (with two cherry tomatoes at the bottom that kept the strawberries from sliding off while the candy dried). There was a free sample of ginger tea, super spicy (made my nose run), supposed to be good for your health... I wouldn't drink it all the time though. I had a pork and pepper shish-kabob as well.

After the food it was a ferry ride to Bali island. There were lots of fishing boats on the shore and a few men fishing just off of it. We walked around many of the small shops and walked through a park where we came upon a group of swing dancers and watched for a few moments. I ended helping Blake demonstrate (took me back to elementary school and Mrs. Meyers my music teacher). Then we ran into a water conservation building with a statue of a Kappa out front (a mythological Japanese creature that looks like turtle with a beak for a mouth and a bowl of water on its head).

 After that it was to Lover's bridge. We ran into some American students that had been in Taiwan for a year or so from Utah, they were super interested in talking to us and helped us take some pictures. They're Chinese was good too. The beach was nearby after the bridge. The beach was messier than I am used to seeing honestly, especially uphill away from the water there was a bit of trash...

     

 

But near the water was great! I love scenes like this! After being so many places in Taiwan, I have begun to appreciate more of the natural landscape and less of the touristy sights. I did have fun climbing on thr rocks (it was safe I promise!) We saw people looking for crabs and another fisherman. Although messy in some areas I much preferred it to wandering shops full of keychains and Tshirts (though I did find a few more special gifts for at home... its a surprise for who XD).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last was a bus trip back toward the shops and we went to a famous waffle restaurant. It was bit sweet for me for dinner time (more like dessert). I had honey mochi waffles, meaning that the waffles had honey on top and inside was chewy honey flavored mochi (mocha is pounded rice that has a gummy texture, its from Japan) and a super dark chocolate hot chocolate… it was kind of like drinking dust… bleh… but the waffle tasted great and its not every day you can eat your waffles with Mochi inside. It was cloudy so normally you have a great view of the sunset from the restaurant but that was okay.

 

Definitely worth the trip, one of the shops had the CUTEST Three Kingdoms

（三國演義）chess set with a Journey West （西游记）set in the same style.  Maybe if I come back this summer sometime I will pick up two of the sets (I would love all three but we’ll have to see XD).

 

 

 

 

Giving Thanks

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving (感恩節快樂).  I was nervous but I couldn’t help being excited as the day grew nearer. Most of the time at home in America, I don’t do any of the cooking which is a little sad because I usually go to three Thanksgiving dinners XD. One with my dad’s family which until two years ago happened every year, but now I have a baby cousin  (now 2 years old) who’s birthday is Thanksgiving and my grandparents visit him instead of holding Thanksgiving dinner. Two and three were sometimes separate and sometimes combined. When I was little my mom’s mother cooked a second Thanksgiving dinner, but a few years ago my mom started cooking Thanksgiving dinners herself. Sometimes her mom would come over and we would just have it together.  

Last year with my dad’s mother and father in Texas and my mom’s mother having passed on the year before we had one Thanksgiving. My mom cooked and I went to Indiana with my remaining Aunt and Uncle (Dad’s littlest sister) and their daughter Ariel (four years old). There was turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, bread rolls and pumpkin and apple and chocolate pie. My dad prayed for the meal and we ate and after hung out talking and laughing.

 

This year I got to bring some of this tradition to Taiwan myself. Blake provided the recipes and Linda in the language center provided ingredients and utensils. Kaitlyn made the Fruit Salad and assisted Blake and I with many dishes as well as many of the native tutors as well.  I worked on the mashed potatoes and helped with the sweet potato casserole and fried onions and celery for the stuffing and Blake’s macaroni and cheese. Blake made the stuffing, deviled eggs (one of my favorites!!) and macaroni and cheese and the sweet potato casserole. Did I mention he did all that plus had two classes that day? Amazing chef Blake!

We brought all the food down at six, only to see that students had arrived exactly on time and were already starting to pour in. “We can’t have Thanksgiving without a little ceremony” said Peter (head of the Language Center). He gave a nice speech about be thankful and thanksgiving and past it over to us to tell Thanksgiving stories. Blake talked about his grandma teaching him to cook, Kaitlyn about her and her brother fighting over the wish bone and me about my Thanksgiving dinner shifting from my grandparents to my mom. Rolan and Blake were great hosts, good natured and comfortable talking to everyone. Jordan said a beautiful prayer thanking God for us being together, the food and for the chance to meet again.

Then everyone ate, so much of the food was gone so fast, especially the pies. The turkey was good save for the fact that there was pre-made stuffing inside. This means that the stuffing was cooked put into the turkey and then frozen and then cooked again. It resembled grey matter (mush) and tasted pretty bad. I told picked out the turkey for some my students that asked if turkey always tasted that horrible… ><.  The turkey itself was fine and Blake’s stuffing was wonderful.

I did a lot of thinking about what I’m thankful for this year.  I really have a lot of things to be thankful for. I am here in Taiwan. I have classes that are likely to transfer and I have great classes to come to next semester. My dad got moved to a new office (his company is doing really well) and my mom not only got a job but the one she really wanted. My brother’s got some great offers for school. My sister got her first car. My little cousin Ariel started preschool. I’ve got a job while I’m here and have been able to buy many of my friends and family a little something for when I return. I’ve learned a lot about language and culture and making friends and getting places on my own.

So I’m thankful, I really am.

Rainy Days

Tonight is the first night in a long time that I only had a little bit of homework. So I finally get to post the events of the last little while. A few minor things to catch everyone up to speed on, got my Visa renewed it was really quick and easy actually, but for those coming next semester remember to have some change on you to make copies of your visa and stuff when you get there. I lost the cellphone I bought here the weekend we went to the zoo and I haven’t been able to get a new one. The store chain says I can’t buy another through them, I would have to talk to the main branch to try and get a new one…. So word to the wise do not put your cellphone in a jacket pocket not even for a second. Always put in your bag or a closed pocket.

4 weeks left until I leave… which means I need to start working on finals soon. A 5-10 minute presentation in Chinese about my experience in Taiwan, I am so terrified for that. It will mean translating from English I simply don’t know enough about the grammar to do it straight in Chinese sadly…  and then getting some people to correct it and then read it. It will be a multiple day process. The second part is a 5 to 10 minute Dialogue with Kaitlyn, things are going to get busy fast and I am trying to keep an open mind and there’s a five page literature paper but that’s not that big a deal in comparison.

So on to happier things…

Last weekend I went to Taoyuan with a group of staff from Public Affairs, some students as well as the other exchange students. Blake and Kaitlyn weren’t with for this trip, unfortunately.  It rained all day, but it wasn’t so bad. We all had umbrellas and it kept the heat off. It definitely added atmosphere. I took SO many pictures. Taoyuan is really beautiful. So many waterfalls and nice views of the mountains!

There was a western style building that was a like a sheep farm where you could go see and feed and pet the sheep (the sheep were all inside do the weather though). We sat inside and took pictures and chatted while there.

Our tour guide’s English name was Fish, which cracked me up because she made me think of the character Xiao yu’er (Little Fish) from this one Hong Kong Drama. She spoke very quickly in Chinese while on the bus, but told me some very interesting things about the Japanese culture that exists within Taiwanese culture. Super fascinating!



We had a traditional lunch for the area. A lot of time when you eat fish in Taiwan, the head is still attached, because then you can see that its really fresh and to the Taiwanese (like anyone else) that’s very important.

All the rain and scenery reminded me of a Miyazaki film, much more than Jiufen actually. Because of the rain there wasn’t a lot of people and it was pretty quiet most of the places we went. Winding mountain roads, green hills and farms.

Below are some other pictures from the trip,the night view.




Last I will leave you with another song. Sadly no English translation in the video. I have the lyrics, its one the many songs we're learning in Chinese class I like this one in particular. Its sounds famaliar and I'm not sure why...

Dui Mian De Nu Hai Kan Guo Lai (Hey girl Across the way, Look over here!)- Richie Ren

 

And Christmas seemed so far away! (AKA holy photo bomb BATMAN!)

6 weeks until I leave…. That’s five weekends (not counting this one since its half over) until I leave Taiwan and return to the United States. I have an interesting mix of feelings about this, I feel a little sad to be leaving, I’m excited to return home to see my family and get back involved with my clubs back at my home university (got lots of plans XD), I know I’ll miss Taiwan, but I miss home a little too. It’s a little mixed up, but it’s an okay thing, I think.

Last weekend I went to Taipei Main Station to its underground mall with Kaitlin, Cassidy (Hong Kong), Jenny (Hong Kong) and Xin qi Ju (Korea). It was so great, I’ve never seen anything like it. So different products sold in one place… you can literally walk to the next MRT station through it. There was a maid café and a host club (waitresses and waiters dress up in costumes like cat ears, vampires and anime characters to serve you). We went to the electronics district which boasted a huge selection of anime things. There was a lot of One Piece (it’s a pirate anime not one of my favorites -_-) and many stores selling the mostly naked, sexy posed anime girl figurines. I feel like the anime crowd here is kind of one-sided (assuming that most anime fans are boys into the afore mentioned figurines). They did have a really nice Griffith figurine (Berserk) but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that much on him when I would rather have Guts (the hero of the series).

 

The other thing I realized that Taiwan doesn’t really sell DVD’s of their own TV series, mostly just Korean (many many Korean) and Japanese dramas… I looked everywhere for Mars… no luck. It was a series made in 2003 and was so popular it actually aired on cable in America. I am told its too old find here. Oh well. Most Taiwanese just rent movies, almost never buy (at least students anyway).

There was a really awesome and super cheap vendor there that sold “Taiwan” like touristy type things. I bought some gifts for my family and friends there. I bought a necklace and a pair of shoes while I was there for me. Speaking of which, Kaitlyn who normally can’t find shoes in her size her, found not one but TWO pairs of shoes, yay Kaitlyn!!

 

 

 

 

 

On to Today….

Today was just Kaitlin and I. Most of our Taiwan friends have midterms that started like Wednesday or Thursday and go through this week so they were really busy. Blake and Jordan already had plans. So Kaitlyn and I did Taipei Zoo and the Maokong Gondola today (right next to each other).

The Zoo was great, all the animals are used to hot days so unlike the Detroit zoo where most of the animals were sleeping or in hiding during an 80 or 90 degree day, many of the animals were lively. I have some great pictures!! Especially the Bengal Tiger he was a big ham, posing and coming closer. He was one of my favorites along with the elephants and the bears (love bears).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a decently early start, we boarded the bus at like 11 and we finished all but the bird house by like 3:30 pm. Then it was on to the Maokong Gondola.

 

 

 

That was great, we went all the way to the top of the mountain. It took a while and it was like three stops on the Gondola up. Once at the top we looked for the famous tea that all of our Taiwanese friends talk about. There were a few shops, but we picked one across from the Gandola, secluded up a hill.

 

We’re not sure it was the famous place that everyone talks about, but it doesn’t matter. It was a better experience than a big tea shop (pictures like Starbucks). We bought a Taiwanese tea and the shop owner was so patient with my broken Chinese (I am so thankful for that) and showed us how to make the tea (it was literally a bag of tea… that we had to make). We sat at this little stone table and began to make the tea, it was a little frustrating (it looked like just water at first) and then we got the hang of it. It felt like a very authentic sort of experience, you know? Especially when the owner brought the little tray with a little bit of incense on it.  I don’t think we could have had that little quiet experience anywhere else.

 

 

I leave you this evening with a nerdy quote…

“Wherever you go, the sky is the sky and people are people” Kaitlyn thought this was a pretty depressing quote. I don’t think so. Wherever go there are people that are understanding, willing, and interesting. We all share the same sky. I think this is a good thing. It came to me on the bus this morning while riding to the zoo. An elderly woman was telling a dad how good his two little boys were, and telling them how they should be good to their parents. She also told him that he had a beautiful wife, to which he smiled shyly. It reminded me of people like this at home, it was just a warm feeling I guess.

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!

This week was the Halloween party! I think overall it was successful. I was in the back room where films are usually watched so I would have quiet to read the students fortunes while they played music in the main part of the corner and did pumpkins. There were a lot of students between 20 and 30 I think. There were points where the room was really crammed with people and we had to work fast. I am really thankful for Fanni. She was my translator and is a native tutor at the English corner. Once I really had to speed it up from like 6 or 7 min. to like 3 min. a person, she was amazing. Tarot received mostly good feedback. Eva said her students loved it and said I was very accurate, but Jordan’s students said I spoke too fast and they weren’t sure they understood everything (sorry guys… come again! I will do another reading and we can take as much time as we need!!).

The Jack O Lanterns looked so awesome. I am not sure how they got those details on such tiny pumpkins, but I guess this is an arts and communications school. So many talented students!! Kaitlyn said none of them wanted to touch the insides though, so her fingers were VERY orange before the party was done (lol). The pumpkins were Taiwanese pumpkins which are small and green and stout compared to the usual American orange pumkin, the insides were the same though.

 

Then we paraded around the administrative and public affairs offices giving candy to staff. Donovan and Stephen two English professors went with us and had the best costumes! We took a lot of pictures and tried to hurry to get back for Blake’s Halloween jeopardy game (he made a really sweet game board and everything). Everyone had left the party by then though.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also my students and I shared music this week! I shared Black Veil Brides, Goo Goo Dolls, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Pink, Hollywood Undead, Linkin Park, Aerosmith and Metallica. Pop music is very popular here and rap in some circles (that I had a hard time with… meh…) and many students are frightened by heavier rock and heavy metal (Black Veil Brides and Metallica were for students that asked). I got to hear many very cool Taiwanese and Korean groups. Also popular American music that has played all summer (I watched the Call Me Maybe video so many times this week lol XD). I was the most excited when I got to share Wild Boyz by: Duran Duran and talk about their history with famous music videos and of course talking about Buck-Tick.

Now to share some favorite music from this week:

 

Jolin Tsai (Taiwan)- The Great Artist

Echo ft. Hot Dog (Taiwan)- Dear John

Big Bang (Korea)- Monster
Foster the People (America)- Helena Beat

Fun (America)- Some Nights


Conclusion: The 80's have returned my friends, has returned.