Friday Q&A - Week 3 For Real!

Well, folks, now that I am feeling a wee bit better on a bunch of cold medicine, I am sitting down to write the Q&A post for this week.  The turn out for questions was a bit low but have no fear I will still make a good post.  I'm so good to you guys. :-p

Let's get a few of the little questions out of the way. 

1. Have you found any square dances? (From Dawn)

No ma'am.  I have not.  However, I haven't exactly been trying.  I did a bit of research before I came and realized that there are a few clubs in Taipei but not many elsewhere.  Actually, not any elsewhere.  I have been so busy with work stuff and being social with the people I have met I haven't had much as a frog's hair of time to make an effort for a dance.  To be true, the draw of dancing for me back in WI was always the people.  I am sure I could find Taiwanese equivalents of all of you but I don't think it would be quite the same ;)  Have no fear Jerry and Zodie,  I am still trying to remember my A lessons.  MIX!  

2. I still want to know if people in Taiwan are pet freaks like so many people here.  Do they have pets?  Is it normal?  What kind of pets? (From Ellen)

Yes.  People are freaks about pets here.  Specifically dogs.  Just not normal dogs.  You'd never see a Labrador or a Cocker Spaniel here.  Every single dog you see is a toy dog.  They are all miniature versions of what they are supposed to be.  They are all perfectly groomed to be as cutesy as possible.  You will usually see a toy poodle being carried through the night markets or through the grocery store.  You will see just as many men carrying these dogs as women.  On the flip side there are a lot of stray dogs.  They all seem to be either total mutts or there is a breed of dog here I don't know about which is entirely possible.  They are all kind of short and a little mangy (probably because they live on the streets Bess, duh.)  In the village right down the street it seems like some of the shop owners have unofficially adopted these dogs and they are usually quite friendly.  

For example, the salon where I go to get my massage and hair done there is a pleasant lady dog who has become a friend of mine.  She prefers to guard my chair while I am being attended to.  She only leaves my side when her male owner steps outside but as soon as he is back she is back to nuzzling my hand with her wet nose for ear scritches.  She could not be a stray dog at all for all I know.  I only say she might have been a stray at one point because she doesn't wear a collar and she has the same look as the rest of the street dogs although better groomed.  My favorite part about her is that one ear sticks straight up and the other droops low.  Here she is sitting next to me and watching the door on my most recent visit.  I tried to take a photo of her while I was scratching her ears but she wasn't having it.  

In conclusion, Aunt Ellen, the answer is yes the people here are freaks about pets, no it is totally not normal by our standards, and I've only ever seen dogs.  Oh and one other thing, sometimes you will see people walking their dogs but driving along the side of the road very slowly on their scooter holding the leash in their hand.  It is quite entertaining. 

3. Will you be going to any festivals?  (From Linda)

Yes.  In fact, we are going to one tonight.  It is a festival here in Taichung for Fourth of July.  Obviously it is mostly foreigners and expats who go but I guess a few thousand people turn out every year.  There is live music and good food from what I hear.  I will let you know more when I get back.  :)

4.  Do you see many butterflies?  They are supposed to have many. (From Linda) 

Honestly.  I've seen one.  A HUGE black one.  It landed on my head one day when I was standing out in the courtyard at school.  It scared the bajeebers out of me and all my students laughed at me.  I have no doubt that they have a lot of butterflies here but even though I live in a "rural" part of Taichung I still live in a city by any definition. Perhaps there would be more butterflies in a even more rural part of Taiwan.  

5.  What the heck are you doing there, Bess?! (From a few people)

Good question my friends.  A introductory answer to this question can be found over at the About page.  However, now that I am here in Taiwan a few of those things have been slightly altered so I will be addressing this topic more in depth later this week.  Check back for that. 


Bonus!

Ever since I did the Taiwanese Scootering 101 post I have been trying to snag photos of the funnier scooter situations.  I finally got one.  We sometimes say that the scooter is like the Taiwanese sedan.  

Exhibit A:

Sorry that it is a little hard to see.  I had to act quickly. 

By counting limbs you can tell that there are actually four people on this scooter.  Dad driving is quite obvious, as is Mom.  You can see Junior's arm emerging from what I can only imagine is a very confined space between Dad's back and Mom's chest.  You can also just barely see the top of Juniorita's helmet and one of her feet in what is also probably quite a small space between Dad's chest and the handle bar of the scooter.  It truly is a family vehicle here. 

I'll do my best to snap a few more photos as time goes on.

Friday Q&A - Week 3

Is it Friday?
Yes

Should there be a Q&A Post?
Yes

Will there be a Q&A Post?
Yes

Will it be posted today - Friday?
No

Why not?
Bess is sick and tired and needs to get her sleep and simply doesn't have the energy.  Check back in a few days.

That is all.

Doctor's Visit

So about two weeks ago I had an distinctively Taiwan experience.  I wanted to share it with you guys because I think you might find it interesting. 

A little back story here.  The summer after my freshman year of college I had a pretty invasive surgery to repair a bunion and stress fractures in my left foot.  It laid me up for the entire summer, was quite painful, and for the most part successful.  I was left with a pretty large scar and some weird nerve connections.  The doctor put in a titanium plate and four titanium screws to fuse together the affected joint.  The screws will stay in for the rest of my life unless a problem arises.  

That foot has always been a little tender since then.  If I stub my toe or hit the scar it certainly isn't a joyous experience.  However, about two weeks after I got to Taiwan I started noticing a bump on the top of my foot.  It would swell occasionally and was painful when touched.  It slowly got more painful and from messing around with it I realized that I could feel the head of one of the screws.  

I began to worry that something had shifted and that the screw was starting to back out of the bones and wasn't sure what to do.  In mentioning this to our neighbors, the Johnsons, they explained to me how the medical system works here.  

If you are a permanent resident, citizen, or have an Alien Resident Card (ARC) you are entitled to the socialized healthcare which cuts most doctor bills in half.  I don't have healthcare so I was worried about going to the doctor, thinking it would be outrageously expensive. I was also worried that I wouldn't be able to find a doctor that I could effectively communicate with.  

As the beginning of my teaching was coming closer I started to worry more and I decided that I needed to do something.  It was starting to affect the way that I walked.  

I asked the Johnsons to help me and they stepped right up.  They knew an orthopedic doctor about 10 minutes away that they had seen multiple times before.  Added bonus: he spoke English!  I learned afterwards that all medical students in Taiwan are required to speak English - just depends on how well they do. 

The office hours were something like 9am-12pm, 3-6pm and 7-9pm.  Which seems logical.  They take time off for lunch and dinner and get to spend time with their families.  They have a few hours to run errands, go to the bank, do all of those things that are hard to fit in at weird times.  It also gives patients who work full time jobs the ability to visit the doctor without missing work.  Why don't we do this in the states?  If you get sick outside of normal business hours then well... too bad for you!

Anywho.  The Johnsons were willing to take me to the doctor themselves.  Mrs. Johnson was an RN back in the States and in the last 28 years in Taiwan she has picked up a pretty good understanding of the language. 

I had to fill out some paper work but because I'm not Taiwanese and I don't have an ARC I didn't have much to write down.  Heck I don't even have a real address.  Approximately two minutes later I was in talking to the doctor.  He spoke perfect English! I explained the situation and he pushed and poked around my foot for a while, asked a few questions, prodded a little more, made me squirm a little and then proudly announced I needed some x rays.  My American healthcare system experience has trained me such that immediately red flags with dollar signs went off in my head.  Shoot, I thought, this is going to be expensive!  I was also worried about it taking a long time.  I didn't want to make the Johnsons stay any longer than necessary.  I envisioned waiting for hours. 

Less than a minute later I was in with the doctor taking x-rays.  Next I had to wait a whopping 4 minutes for the x-rays to be developed.  Shortly there after I was in the doctor's office again going over the x-ray.  

This is what we call hardware. 

The results were that everything actually looks really good.  He said the person who put the plate in did a really good job.  The bones have fused together nicely and nothing seems to be out of place.  What I am experiencing is some arthritis due to the extra stress being put on other joints in my foot since that one is immobilized.  As soon as he said that I remembered that my surgeon told me that probably would happen.  I just didn't think it would happen so soon. 

He commanded that I rest for two weeks.  No jumping, no running, no dancing, just nice easy relaxation.  

I was in and out of the office within 20 minutes.  But now comes the best part.  The entire visit, including my x-rays (burned to a CD for me so I could send them back to the States) cost me 500 NT.  That is USD$16.64.  Yes.  That is less than my copay with health insurance back in the States.  I didn't make an appointment.  I didn't deal with any nurses.  I just talked to the doctor like a normal human being.  I had a problem, he addressed it, and I left.  It seems so simple.  Why is it so hard?

The Johnsons told me that if I had done the same thing with the healthcare here it would have probably cost me about 200 NT (USD$6).  The downsides they have identified is that the doctors tend to be very cautious and can over diagnose and hyper prescribe.  As a part of national law they can only distribute three days worth of medicine at a time, which you pick up directly from any doctor.  They tend to prescribe more medicines (even ones you can pick up at any grocery store) because it is a way to make a little money.  However, the biggest difference they talked about was that for the Taiwanese the idea of being a doctor isn't about being rich.  It is accepted as upper middle class position so the doctors are not seen as money grabbing.  People trust them more, people see them more, and the system works.  

I, in no means, want to start a political discussion about socialized health care or health care back in the States.  I simply wanted to share my experience with you guys, especially since it was so positive.  
In the two weeks since I have tried my best to rest but I've begun to get stir crazy.  The rest period has ended.  I went to a boxing class and a jiu jitsu class tonight.  I highly doubt the doctor would consider that rest.  Ah well.   I will tell you about my experience at class a different time! 

Adventures in Taipei

Welcome to the real world Bess.  Welcome.  Weekend is over.  Time to work. 

I had a girls weekend in Taipei and I would say it went pretty smoothly.  

I had my first High Speed Rail (HSR) experience and it was fantastic!  The magnetic levitation technology is mind blowing!  I had a nerdy discussion about it with my coworker Andrew (he is a mechanical engineer) and that made the trip all the more cool.  

Here Ruth is modeling our waiting for the train to arrive.  It pulled up in the split second between when I pushed the button and when the shutter actually moved.  That is how fast it is!

Snacks are required for every train ride.  Fact.

Ruth and I were on our own for most of the day.  We wandered about and tried to do some shopping.  We were feeling unsuccessful so we settled for getting a mani/pedi.  

Do you see my little piggy toes?  There they are!

Ruth was such a good sport.  You can kind of see me taking the photo.  These people took FOREVER to do our nails.  We were in there for over an hour and a half.  And within seconds of leaving the salon Ruth's toes were ruined and three of my fingers were smudged.  I don't know how we could sit there that long and the polish still was not dry.  It was frustrating but we didn't let it get us down. 

We kept on with our shopping and saw a few examples of "Engrish."  We use this term to describe any examples of a Mandarin to English translation gone wrong.  

For example.  What do you guys think this one is supposed to mean?

Yes.  The bear has stars for ears and in case you can't read it his face is missing all the normal features and instead just says "Sir."  Huh?

We didn't stop in here but I sure wish we would have.  Anyone have a good joke to go with this one?

Anyone see the "My Deer" store in the back?  

This isn't exactly an example of Engrish but I just can't figure out what it is supposed to be.  Can someone tell me what the shadow is and why it is there?

Or do I not want to know?

This is one of my favorites.  We see this all over Taiwan.  I think it is a tourism advertisement.  Nonetheless it makes me giggle every time I see it.  We've taken to making a game of it.  If we see one while walked around one of us shouts out, "Taiwan touches MY heart!"  Teehee.  

Mom.  I've found the perfect purse for you.  If it only had an asterisks that specified Panera salad.  I'm not sure I understand why this is a thing.  

I am equally unsure as to why there is this stuffed deer in the middle of this shop.  Any ideas?

Oh hai!

However entertaining all of those things were.  This was by far the most frightening!  Yikes.  Just yikes.  Who can come up with the best caption for this one?

And the last photo for this post.  All you square dancers you can buy your petty pants here for about USD$3.  I'm not sure what the Taiwanese girls here use them for but I am sure they use them.  The Taiwanese female style is very "cutesy" and young.  Even the older women dress like they are twelve.  It was very frustrating shopping since none of the clothes fit me and none of them were my style.  :(  

Alright.  Maybe that wasn't my last photo.  We might have one more.  Anyways.  After hours of grueling shopping we took a little rest break for lunch and devoured an embarrassing amount of KFC.  I'm getting a little sick of Taiwanese food and so I needed a taste of home. 

So much chicken.

After our caloric intake we decided to head back and rest for a bit.  After we recruperated we met up with our other coworker Wendy and we all went to a lounge/club called Brown Sugar.  It is a jazz bar essentially that caters mostly to foreigners.  We sat around, ate more fried American food, and listened to a great jazz singer.  It was a good night to just relax. 

We made a point of sleeping in the next day.  Sleep is not something any of us have been getting in surplus lately.  There is always more work to do.  Then we took an early afternoon train back and this was the view from the HSR station.  

Most of Taichung is in this picture in some way or another.  My back is to the outlying rural areas of the city and beyond that is the ocean.  In front of me is downtown Taichung and then the mountains that make up the center of Taiwan. 

It was a great trip to Taipei.  I was happy to feel like I got to use my camera some.  Sorry for the photo overload but I though you might enjoy it a little.  

Back to teaching now.  Let me know what you think of the funny things I saw!

Q&A Friday - Week 2

Well it is time for the weekly Q&A session.  I am just finally getting my feet back on the ground from such a busy week.  Let's make this a good one!


1) What do you miss most about home? (From Wayne)

This has been on my mind lately.  My dearest mother is sending me a package and she asked what I want to be included in it.  The problem is that I can't have her package up herself and the rest of my family and friends into a box and ship it over here without causing grave financial strain.   I hate feeling like I'm missing things at home.  Sometimes it is tough to hear about how things are moving right along with out me - even the simple things like typical family cookouts!  My brother and sister-in-law have moved into their first house.  My sister has found the perfect dress for her wedding.  My cousin is getting married and friends are having babies.  Sometimes it is hard not to be there for those big moments.  So Wayne, if you don't mind packing up every person that was part of my old life and sending them here, that would be great!  ;-) 

2) Do they have places for massages? Spas? (From Linda)  AGAIN!

I have more experience in this one so I will address it again.  From our sweet neighbor Becky we learned that there is a small salon in town owned and operated by a couple.  For 150 NT (USD$5) we three girls went and had a neck, shoulder, and head massage for 30 minutes along with a very thorough washing followed by some styling.  It was a really great way to relax this week and so cheap!  I think I will partake at least once a week.  The woman was very excited to work with my blond hair and when I had Ruth translate to her that she could style it anyway she wanted her husband told her it was the opportunity of a lifetime!  Here I am with the woman as she is drying my hair.  She did it pin straight in the Taiwanese style.  

She was so sweet!  I couldn't communicate with her verbally at all so I smiled a lot and gave her a thumbs up a lot!

When she was done drying it she asked if she could put braids in.  I was all for that.  This was the final result.  

Yeah I know it is kind of hard to see.  The most important part is how happy I am.  It was so very nice!

 I might have more information on this topic after this weekend.  We are having a Girls Weekend in Taipei and some pampering is in order.  I'll get back to you on that. 

3) Do the Taiwanese have anything similar to the American Cookout?  Corn on the cob, hamburgers, potato chips, watermelon, etc?  (From Janet)

No.  Kind of yes.  Maybe?  They don't cook out.  There isn't this idea of a collective gathering around a grill.  At least not that I have seen.  They do cook food outside.  In fact, most food is cooked outside.  Restaurants are a little backwards compared to home.  Often the food is prepared outside and then you sit inside and eat.  I think it mostly has to do with the need to be in air conditioning.  Much of their food is "grilled" in nature.  Meat is usually cooked on racks over open coal basins.  Alternatively, meat can be fried, cooked on a flat top grill, or boiled.  Additionally, the Taiwanese LOVE THEIR CORN!  They go nuts for corn.  Corn chowder, corn on pizza, corn pancakes, corn corn corn.  You can pick up ready to go corn on the cob from any 7/11 on any street corner.  I think I am going to write a whole post on the novelty of 7/11s so just wait on that for a bit.  In terms of hamburgers (my favorite), there is no such thing here.  Beef is not widely available and the cuts and quality of beef are not the greatest.  What beef they do have has been imported from Australia.  Watermelon though.  That they have in the bag!  The watermelon here is delicious!  The only problem is that they don't really do seedless.  However, the fruit is so sweet that it is easy to get over the pain of picking out seeds.  

4) What kind of animals and insects do you encounter there?  Anything different than the US?  (From Ellen P. )

I have had a few run ins with critters lately.  It seems that if you live on the first or second floor of a building or in an older structure that you are bound to get a few cockroaches, an occasional spider, some geckos, and probably some mice.  I think because it never gets cold enough to freeze here insects thrive.  I don't mind the geckos.  They eat mosquitoes (of which there are a lot!) and so I can tolerate them.  Mostly, they are quite skiddish and do not come near people.  However, they do screech.  It sounds like a bird call almost.  It caught me off guard the first couple times I heard it.  The cockroaches and spiders are my least favorite.  Earlier this week we had a simultaneous run-in with a massive (3 inch) cockroach upstairs and a HUGE black spider (5 inches across) downstairs.  I felt like Germany in WWII and fighting our best on both fronts.  The spider met a gruesome end by decapitation and amputation.  The cockroach got away but we will fight again another day.  The mice don't come out often, the only sign of them come in the form of droppings.  They are the least of my worries.  

5) Do you see a lot of trains? (Linda)

Yes ma'am.  Train travel is really big here.  The HSR (High Speed Rail) is AWESOME!  It can go up to 300 kilometers an hour (186 mph).  You can traverse almost the entirety of Taiwan (Taipei to Kaohsiung) in 90 minutes.  Andrew says the most impressive thing about the trains here is that they are always ALWAYS on time.  It reminds me of Germany and how efficient the public transportation is.  I am taking the HSR to Taipei from Taichung tomorrow so I will give you a first hand account next week.  For right now I have just been going off of what Andrew has told me.  I have taken regional trains and they match right up with European trains.  I've always liked train travel and I hope to take advantage of the system in place here in Taiwan.  

Remember to submit questions for the next Q&A Friday!  I always want to hear from you guys.  I will post on Sunday or Monday about my weekend and hopefully I will have a lot of photos for you guys!  

A Teacher in *almost* every way.

I apologize.  I've gone far too long without a post. 

The last week has been filled with classroom preparation, securing materials for experiments, writing lesson plans, and printing... oh so much printing.  Additionally, we have had some major issues with internet.  In fact, we are still having major issues with the internet here.  I hope we get them resolved soon. 

I am thankful for my coworkers and the ever positive attitude we have all tried to keep.  It has been somewhat stressful at times, highly confusing at others.  The Taiwanese attitude toward education is much different than what we are used to and sometimes it is hard to know how to react. 

Parental involvement is really high here.  Actually, I should say that mother involvement is really high.  I haven't seen or spoken to a single father but I have had my fair share of mothers - specifically the tiger mom variety.  My students are almost all incredibly intelligent and seem to be right on par with their American counterparts for the most part. 

This summer I am teaching an Art of English class to 9th and 10th grade students.  A class of 15, they are a smart bunch and they all seem to really love me and my class.  I am doing my best to teach them better writing and vocabulary skills.  The holy grail of all education and high school success here is the SAT.  People obsess over it.  We had one mom who tried to insist her two 7th grade sons be put into the SAT prep class.  For those of you who do not know, students take the SAT as a college entrance exam usually the summer before 12th grade.  It is impossible to prepare for the SAT without a solid and extensive foundation of English.  The students in my English class are in the final stages of developing the writing skills and reading comprehension to transition into an SAT prep class this fall or next year. 

In direct contrast to that I am teaching a 2nd grade Science and Story-time class.  It is a really small class with only 3 students but they are adorable and amazing in so many ways.  The youngest girl is actually only going into 1st grade.  When I first met her mom she told me things like, "She is so lazy," "She has no self-motivation," and "She is not very smart."  However, when I tested this little girl's reading abilities she cruised through words like accurately, frightened, amazing, and difficult.  She can also do triple digit addition and subtraction in her head faster than I can!  It is a little discouraging to see such a smart girl get put down so hard by her mother.  I hope I can be a positive and encouraging influence in this little girl's life.  Sometimes I just feel like sitting her down and telling her, "You are smart.  You are kind.  You are important." like Aibileen in The Help.

My little Angelie.  (She picked and spelled the princesses names all by herself.)

For the most part I end each day in a complete state of exhaustion.  It has been pretty hard to get my brain to shut down enough so I can go to sleep at night.  I have been putting everything I have into my teaching and it has paid off.  Many students were only signed up for the first week of classes so they could get a feel for things before they committed to the whole summer.  At least 3 of these students called to register for the rest of the summer within a half hour after the end of class on the first day.  I have been able to get a lot of positive feedback from the parents and my students.  I am thankful that my boss also recognizes the effort I am putting in as well as the results I have been receiving.  There is nothing more rewarding than knowing you are truly good at your job and someone else sees it. 

All of that being said, when this weekend comes I am going to want to have some fun!  Lesson plans are only fun for so long!  Although, I am going to watch Magic School bus with my little ones this week so I am looking forward to that! 

I had my first major moment of missing home this week.  My first day of teaching went so well and I had so much fun I really wanted to celebrate it with my family and friends.  I felt like an ice cream sundae was appropriate but they don't have custard shoppes here and most of my family and friends are back home.  However, I give a huge shout out and major hugs to all of those people who commented and supported me on facebook over the last couple of days.  I don't know that you guys understand how much it means to have that, it certainly helps a lot.  I wish I could send digital ice cream sundaes to everyone and we could all just plop down and dig in!  Actually, it would seem more appropriate to send you guys some mango bing.

More on that later.  There are lesson plans and then a nap calling my name!

Slice of Home

Okay.  Maybe "Cup of Home" would be a better option.  

I've been making a point to immerse myself in Taiwanese culture as much as possible for the last couple of weeks.  I've had traditional food for almost every meal, I've always used chopsticks (though that isn't a problem for me anyways), and when I can I've spoken mandarin (which is hardly ever, but I try!)  My coworker and friend Andrew has been doing the same and by this week we were simply aching for a little bit of home.  A friend of ours through Morrison Academy volunteered to take a few of us out for some American food.  It turned into quite a lot of American food over a few days time but it was exactly what we needed!  

Monday we went to Pizza Rock and had "American" pizza.  The Taiwanese have pizza but the sauce is usually quite sweet (vs tangy or spicy in the states) and they put really bizarre things on it.  This place has Italian American style pizza.  The thin, hand pulled crust that they cook off in a brick wood fired oven.  It has great flavor, really good chew, and goes splendidly with toppings.  I had my favorite with pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives.  It was really, really quite good.  

 

Commence drooling.

Oh.  And the root beer.  I am a big root beer fan.  It is far and away my drink of choice when it comes to soda.  They DON'T have root beer here.  I was so excited for A&W (my aunt and uncle should be proud) and it went really well with the pizza!

Tuesday night we went out for burgers.  Morrison Academy has been kind enough to let us use their weightlifting equipment while we are here for the summer so we are attempting to get fit together, as a house.  In direct contradiction to that the majority of us could be firmly classified as "foodies" and I love to cook and bake.  Anyone else see a problem here?  Me neither ;)  Anywho, after working out really hard all of us were craving true beef.  The Taiwanese are not huge into beef and when they do use it it is always cut up into small pieces or strips.  I guess you don't realize how great biting into a slab of beef with delicious toppings crushed between two amazing orbs of bread is until it isn't an option anymore.  

We needed burgers.  It wasn't a question.  Burgers had been suggested earlier in the day as a potential for dinner and by the time we were done working out all anyone could think about was beef.  Just lots and lots of BEEF.  Where's the beef?  Bring it on.

It was brought.  The place we hit up was aptly named Burger Joint.  Creative, eh?  It was opened by a Taiwanese man who spent some time in the American restaurant business and his Western friend.  Eventually the Western friend stepped back and it is just a Taiwanese man doing the best that he can.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is made fresh.  He has high standards of his staff and he loves when Westerners come in and they can size up his burgers to home and give him feedback.  Let me tell you.  It blew my mind.  It was really, really good.  I had a bacon cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms.  It was cooked perfectly and so juicy.  The mushrooms were sauteed with bits of spice and it really added another dimension to the flavors of the burger.  That, paired with true french fries and ketchup, dear me I was in heaven.  

Erm.  Excuse me.  You have a little drool... yeah, right there.  Yup.  You got it.  

 Here is Andrew showing off his magnificent burger.  I don't remember what it was called but I remember it was spicy.  The kid likes spice.  You can probably predict by the way he is gazing at it that the burger was gone in approximate 2.5 minutes.  Mine was too.  

Right at the bottom you can see the top of some of my fries.  So good. 

He actually asked me to get out my camera to take a shot of his burger.  Clearly he knows beauty when he sees it!  

After a few more stops Tuesday night, we rolled ourselves home gingerly and swore up and down we would workout hard on Wednesday.  Mmmhmm.  Not so much. 

We had some decent thunderstorms today so our original plan of going for a swim got swept away.  Instead we braved Asian Costco.  Holy guacamole!  It was exactly like Costco (or Sam's Club) in the States except it felt like someone transported 400 Asian people into it.  It was packed wall to wall with people.  The first thing we did when we got there was send someone with a cart to stand in line to check out.  Then the rest of us went out on little missions and would bring stuff back to the cart. Even after we got a printer, 25 notebooks, 5 reams of paper, 125 juice boxes, and about fifteen other things we still had time left to spare.  Consequently two of us headed down to the food area and started waiting in line there to order food.  Just as we began to order the folks who were checking out reached us.  Then we spent ten minutes hawking people's tables until they got up so we could have a place to sit.  It was insane.  Absolutely insane.  

By the time we got back I was exhausted.  I laid down for a short nap and then felt like trying to get something accomplished but was also craving a little more of home.  I decided to make us a treat.  I whipped up a chocolate cake.  Rather a few of them.  In coffee mugs.  In the microwave.  Ever done this?  It is really simple, takes no longer than 5 minutes, fool proof, and very, very dangerous!  At least for those of us who are trying to get fit!  

Exhibit A.  And B.  And C.  And... well isn't this all the evidence you need?

Gooey, chocolatey goodness is at the tip of your fingers folks!  I made a simple chocolate ganache to go on the top but that was only because I didn't have any whipped cream.  I strongly suggest you try this with a dollop (:-o) of Reddi Whip or (GASP!) Cool Whip.  

Here's what you need:

4 Tablespoons Flour (I used cake flour but only because that is what I had - all purpose works just fine)
4 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa 
1 Egg (room temperature ideally)
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons Oil (I used grape seed oil again because that is what I had but regular vegetable or canola would be fine)
Splash of vanilla (let's be real - two splashes of good vanilla will do!)
2-3 tablespoonsDark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips (Optional)
1 large coffee mug

Here's what you do:

Put your dry ingredients in the mug.  Mix them together with a fork.  Add the egg.  Mix that in.  Add the milk, oil and vanilla.  Mix again.  Scrape sides clean.  Toss in your chocolate chunks.  Mix them if you'd like or just leave them on the top.  Whatever your preference.  Microwave for three minutes. 

Don't be afraid.  The mixture will rise above the top of the mug while it is cooking but as soon as it starts to cool it will fall back down.  This version will be very, very fudgy.  Very chocolatey.  Very delicious.  Cut back on the cocoa or omit the chocolate chunks if you aren't a super duper chocolate trooper.  I also think you might get away with a smidgen less oil for those of us who are trying to be good, but I haven't tried it so don't take my word for it.  I might try to work out a vanilla version of this for the non chocolate folks.  I also heard tonight that there is a gluten free/cane sugar free version floating around out there, I will try to obtain a copy of it and pass it along to my GF friends (wink wink Heather) I'll get back to you.  

Okay.  This little piggy needs to roll herself on to bed.  I've been teaching some private classes this week as well as prepping for the real summer session.  It's been tiring.  I can report though that I am absolutely loving it here.  I adore this country so far.  You all might have a Taiwanese blog to read for a while yet! ;-) 

What do you think your "Slice of Home" would be if you were far away for a long time?  What couldn't you live without? 

Taiwanese 101 - Beach Edition

Due to the fantastic response to the Taiwanese Scootering 101 post I thought I would try to do a little more of the "You might be Taiwanese if..." and per your requests I will be including photos when I can!

Since I was just at the beach in Kenting (pronounced Ken-Ding) and the Taiwanese beach culture was presenting itself loud and clear, I present to you Taiwanese 101 - Beach Edition

You might be Taiwanese if you...

1) Think to yourself, "I'm going to the beach, better grab a jacket, scarf and umbrella."

2) You go to the beach.  Stand and look at the beach.  Stand and look at the ocean.  Take pictures of the beach.  Take pictures of the ocean.  Laugh and point and exclaim at how amazing everything is.  Then you leave.  Why go in the amazing cool, refreshing, and clean water?  That would be no fun.

This couple also adhered to Rule #5.  It's just hard to tell in this photo.

3) Live on a tropical island but don't know how to swim.

4) Live on a tropical island but refuse to go in water over your head.

This ladies were so funny!  They kept posing for funny photos and would scream like little girls every time a tiny wave came in. The center woman is a prime example of Rule #6.  What is she taking a photo of anyway?

5) Go to the beach wearing a matching suit to your boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend, or all of your friends!

If you look closely you can see his swim trunks are the same pattern as her top.  This is just only one of many examples.

6) Heedlessly rush into the water while holding your digital camera, iphone, or ipad to photograph the shocking position of you in the ocean.

7) Engage in the "Taiwanese selfie" by posing for a photo of yourself, most often involving one or two peace signs.
See above!

8) Use an old, brightly colored tractor to pull your jetski around the beach.  (Trailer optional)

9) Rush from the shade of your umbrella to take a photo in the sun and then scramble to get back into the shade, spending no more than 30 seconds in the sun.

10) Do science experiments on the beach (!?!?!?!)

She was at this for a good twenty minutes.  I have no idea what she was doing but occasionally she would take a photo of whatever was in that little yellow scoop.

I am sure I missed some but these are the trends I picked up in just two days at the beach! 

Q&A Friday - Week 1

Some of you ended up really stepping up and hitting me with a lot of good questions.  I picked some of the ones that I had the best answers to and they are below.  I plan on normally having Q&A Friday posts up earlier on Friday for you guys but the last couple of days have been really busy.  I made it safely to Taichung.  I am settled in (for the most part) into our new house.  I have my own room.  We have a week to get acclimated to our new environment and to do some lesson planning.  

1. What is your favorite new food that you have had while there? (From Ellen)
I think my most favorite staple food has been Dan Bing.  I've talked about it a few times.  Just google Dan Bing, it will give you a great idea of what it looks like.  I have never been a huge fan of eggs (right, Ma?) but when Dan Bing was the breakfast offered my first day in Taiwan I was freshly determined to try many new foods and so I dug in.  Thus a love affair began.  A Dan Bing with cheese and bacon/ham is really the best way to start the day.  Especially if it is chased with some green tea with lemon! I never thought I would love something egg based so much.  I have to learn out to make it and I will whip up a batch for everyone when I get home!

 2. Do you stand out with your blond hair? (From Linda)
Oh yes.  Yes I do.  Very much so.  Because it has been so hot my hair has been pulled back about 90% of the time I've been here.  When it is pulled back I get stopped occasionally for my skin and just being different.  However, when I have my hair down I get stopped significantly more.  Just tonight we were at the night market in Taichung and I had many people stop and stare at me, a few people tried to inconspicuously take pictures, a young girl called me an angel, and a few people just really wanted to say hello.  As we were driving down here we encountered many tolls.  As the driver the toll keepers would see me coming and they all had some pretty great responses.  One man just kept bowing as the car came up to his booth, he really didn't know what to do.  One woman just stared at me with her eyes wide open, she was absolutely speachless.  I think it is really rare for them to see a Western woman with blond hair driving a car, let alone a car that looks like a cow! (I'll explain that later.)  My Taiwanese and Singaporean friends here tell me that the people I talked with tonight probably ran home to their families and told them ALL about the blond girl they saw today.  They will tell everyone they see for weeks about the white girl.  At first it really made me nervous but I am starting to feel okay with it.  It makes me more conscious of what I am wearing and how I look when I go out.  I am aware that I am representing an entire country to some of the people I meet.  

3. Are there many cars? Small? Do you see a lot riding bicycles? (From Linda)
There are many cars here and for the most part they look exactly the same as the states.  You see new Toyota Corollas and Ford Fusions and Honda Civics a lot.  They have some oddly shaped trucks and vans but I think actually American versions of those things are the weird ones and that everyone else does it the same as they do it here in Taiwan.  There are more cars in Taichung than in Kaohsiung and the traffic here can get pretty bad sometimes.  There are not many people riding bicycles because it is SO hot.  Most people drive scooters.  There is a road biking culture here.  We've seen whole groups of Taiwanese people training for bike races.  There are also apparently a lot of mountain bikers - I haven't seen any but I've heard about it.  

4. Do they have places for massages? Spas? (From Linda)
Yes.  In fact, I just got a massage this week.  I went with my boss and his family who were visiting.  They invited me a long since I hadn't had one here and it is very much a thing to do.  For a 90 minute Thai massage I paid 600 NT which is the equivalent to USD$20.  Yes, that is correct, no typo.  It was amazing.  The woman was Vietnamese so I had no hopes of understanding her.  It was the type of massage where they hold on to a grip in the ceiling and walk on your back.  I thought it would hurt but it was great!  It was very aggressive though.  I grunted a few times and occasionally I would start laughing really hard but the next day I felt so great I think I might go pretty often.  There are spas as well.  It is fairly cheap to get manicures here although I think hair cuts for women still might be equally as expensive.  I will let you know.  
*** Speaking of haircuts.  I am thinking of getting my hair cut really short, like a pixie cut, for those who know.  Any input?***

5.  Do they have shopping malls? Are there American stores?  How does pricing compare? (From Janet)
Yes, they do.  They are exactly like big malls you would find in any American metropolis.  In a Taiwanese mall you could easily convince me that if I walked through the doors I would step out onto a NYC street instead of a Taiwanese one.  The stores are not the same for the most part.  They have a lot of Prada, Gucci, Michael Kors, etc.  The Taiwanese really like to shop and they like to have good brands.  There are definitely status symbols here.  I have a post in the works regarding socioeconomic classes and the most definitive status symbol - the bag.  Pricing here is really confusing.  Sometimes something is so insanely cheap it hurts your brain, other times it is far more expensive than you were thinking.  I got a scooter helmet yesterday in perfect condition for USD$5 but at the same time a tiny bottle of Aloe Vera can be USD$11.  Tonight I bought a new watch and a new pair of shoes for a grand total of USD$20. 

I apologize for the lack of picture in this post.  I have a few questions I will save for next week but if you have anything to ask just send it in.  Thank to those who have contributed thus far!

Kenting

Well, it's begun.  I've been SO busy the last couple of days I haven't had a chance to get a post out.  I've started a few, I've thought of many future posts, I've even written a bit but nothing has been posted and I apologize.  I'll make it up to you.  Not sure how, but I will!  

A quick note before we get to the Kenting business, just a friendly (but seriously, come on folks) reminder to send in some questions for Q&A Friday.  Big, big B.O.O.B.s (Bess Out Of Bounds - yes you should be giggling right now) shout out to Linda S. for being the first to submit some really great questions.  WooHoo Linda!

We got word on Sunday that our employer wanted to send us to the resort town Nan Wan (pronounced Non-won) for a couple of days this week.  Nan Wan is a smaller section of Kenting (pronounced Ken-Ding) which is the absolute southern most town of Taiwan.  Look at a map, look at the bottom of the island, that is where we were!  We hopped on the Kenting Express Bus at the High Speed Rail station here in Zuoying district and before we knew it we were in Nan Wan, our home for the next few days.  

It was a great time to bond with my coworkers.  We played a lot of Settlers of Catan, hung out on the beach, played in the ocean and ate a lot of delicious food.  I saw a lot of really hilarious things at the beach and took many photos as proof.  The Taiwanese beach culture will be the body of a coming post so watch out for that.  However, I will share this photo of my coworker Andrew and a friend that we made while relaxing under the shade of our umbrella.  

This dog was sneaky.  All of the sudden I looked back and poof he was there just sitting quietly and staring at the chips Andrew and I were eating. As soon as I brought out my camera he started hamming it up.  This was his smile, it was pretty awesome.  He hung out for a bit and then wandered away.  We had no idea who's dog he was, if anyone's, but he didn't harm anyone and wasn't annoying so we let him stay as long as he wanted. 

We went to the night market in Kenting which was a lot of fun.  Night markets are a big part of the culture here.  They are only open at night (shocker there!) and it feels a lot like a carnival.  The street is lined with food stands selling all kinds of foods.  Occasionally you will come across a balloon popping game or a ring throwing game.  It is a great place to try new food cheaply.  It is also really fun to see them cooking, grilling, and preparing food fresh.  

A few of my favorites were the scallion pancake wrapped around roast beef and more scallions, soup dumplings, and the ice cream/pancake sandwich.  Soup dumplings are like traditional Chinese dumplings (or potstickers) but they have more liquid inside.  They are really, really good but if you eat them too quickly there is a high potential for mouth scalding.  I wouldn't know anything about that.  Teehee!  Here is a photo of me with the ice cream/pancake sandwich.  

 

Jealous?  Yeah, you should be. 

  This is what the night market looked like from the end.  

These happen EVERY night.  All over Taiwan.  They do know how to eat in this country. 

Here is one of those carnival type games, just the Taiwanese version. 

Yes.  Taiwanese men wear baggy basketball jerseys. 

Our vacation was sadly pretty short, we came back after just two days.  After arriving back in Kaohsiung I realized two things.  The further north you go on the island, even a little bit, it really cools off quickly.  In comparison to Kenting, Kaohsiung is practically the tundra.  I also noticed the pollution in Kaohsiung for the first time.  It wasn't bad by any means but it hasn't rained in many days (abnormally) and so the smog is starting to build up.  Hopefully the rains will come soon, they tell me not to wish for that and soon I will regret it but I miss falling asleep to the sound of rain on the window.  

Tomorrow I will have a brand new experience.  I am driving myself and two other teachers from Kaohsiung to Taichung.  I am the only one with an International Driving Permit so... bring on the adventure!  Thankfully one of the teachers is Singaporian so she can translate signs for me and we are borrowing a friend's GPS. 

Don't worry.  I have a couple of posts already scheduled so if anything happens you all can still get your Taiwanese fix. :-p  I am kidding.  Nothing bad will happen.  It is going to be a lot of fun!

I'm Okay.

I am not sure if or when the news will reach you guys but we had a 6.4 magnitude earthquake here today.  I am okay.  Everyone here is okay.  I was actually napping at the time and woke up to the sound of my door shaking in the frame and my bed moving about. 

We have friends who live on the 16th floor in the same complex and they felt the buildings swaying. 

I am going to Kenting for a few days this week so I will have a new post after that. 

Remember to send your questions in for Q&A Friday!