Taiwan Adventures

Kindergarten Court

2010-04-26T06:14:00.001-05:00

(Post by Bacon)
A loosely based People's Court parody done with Taiwanese kindergarten students.

New Kitten

2010-04-22T11:06:00.000-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Well it was only a matter of time until we found another kitten. This one was outside a construction site down the road. She is about two weeks old and in perfect health. Unfortunately we will be heading back to America and will have to leave this kitten (Mei Mei) and our other cat (Chou Chou) in Taiwan. Fortunately we have found a happy home for both of them. I made this quick video to document Mei Mei.

Hualien (Part Two)

2010-04-15T09:42:00.004-05:00

Some places are so beautiful that visiting them one time just isn't enough. This is the case with Hualien, Taiwan, located on the eastern coastline. The scenery there is simply stunning; towering green mountains stretch for miles along highway roads as misty clouds roll through the skies. Probably the most breathtaking bit of coastal views we took in were the Cinshuei Cliffs. From heights of almost 1000m, they plunge straight into the teal waters of the Pacific Ocean. The colorful stone beach below is made up entirely of marble, rocks, and pebbles. This spot goes down as one of the most beautiful places we've ever visited.

While there, we also visited Taroko Gorge again. It's hard to capture the sheer magnitude of the marble cliffs and winding river gorge. From the jade-colored pools of falling water to the wide span of ferns jutting from the rock face, we definitely understand why it's labeled one of the most beautiful places in Asia to travel through.

The last day we were there, our group of friends met up with some other foreigners from our hostel and we all went on a white-water rafting trip down the Xiuguluan River in Rui-Sui, an area a little south of Hualien. The trip down the incredibly scenic river started out mild while we all got used to paddling as a group and going down mini-rapids. About an hour and half in, we took a break for a classic Taiwanese lunch of rice, tofu, meat, and veggies called biandang, or lunch box. After the break the second part of the trip began and the river really started to get fun. We paddled down crazy rapids, whooshed down small waterfalls, and maneuvered our way through some rocky spots- we almost tipped our boat on a huge rock formation when when crashed into the side of it and went spinning. Our river guide was hilarious, and he kept zipping by us in his speed raft to splash us and try to trip us up. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures, but we had a great time.

Random highlight: I mentioned to my friend Elle that a life-long goal of mine was to pick and eat a banana off a wild banana tree. When we were scooting back from the Gorge on Saturday, Elle shrieked and made us all pull over. She spotted some banana trees on the side of the road and I finally got to taste my dream!

Less than three weeks and we'll be Stateside again- see you soon!

Quick Pic of the Day

2010-04-05T09:52:00.002-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

On Saturday we took in some sweeping views of Taipei from one of the tallest ferris wheels in Taiwan. It was a pretty night and a cute way to see the city.

One Year in Taiwan!

2010-04-01T10:38:00.004-05:00

(Post by Alisha)
“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”

– Alan Keightly

I thought this quote was apt in describing the way I feel about the year spent living in Taiwan. I'm so glad that "once in a while" came for me. This experience truly changed my outlook on the world and the ways in which I want to expand that perspective. I no longer feel pressure to subscribe to any lifestyle that doesn't challenge or creatively inspire me to live life with a deeper fulfillment of it. So while I feel conflicted about leaving, I know that Taiwan was just the first of many steps in my travels and experiences in this great, big, world.
(Photo credit: Elle McManus)

Wulai Hot Springs Video

2010-03-22T23:46:00.002-05:00

Wuliaojian Hiking Video

2010-03-22T03:22:00.002-05:00

Shrimp Fishing

2010-03-21T08:12:00.011-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Back home, I used to mock places that made you pay to catch stocked fish in a small pond. I believe it's a lame concept for two reasons:

1 - What's the fun in catching something that's already been caught?

2 - Everyone knows that hunting man is the ultimate game.

Well these rules don't apply to Taiwan shrimp fishing because it's awesome. In Taiwan, there are a massive amount of shrimping places that consist of a large grubby building and an indoor pool. The pool is about 10ft x 30ft, and the water is colored dark green so you can't see the shrimp (because that would make it too easy). You simply go into the building, pay for your fishing time, buy a few beers, and channel your inner Benjamin Buford Blue (Bubba).

Catching the shrimp is rather straight forward. On your pole you have two small hooks where you bait two small, dried shrimp. It was really fun to catch our first shrimp until we discovered you needed to grab them tightly to get the hook out. It's a little more difficult than unhooking a fish, and it didn't help that I hate touching crustaceans (the insects of the sea). These things aren't small either, and some of them had pretty big pinchers. But whenever we were having trouble, a local was more than happy to come over and help us out.

Probably the best part of Taiwan shrimp fishing is the locals. They seem to really enjoy this activity, and watching a foreigner struggle to do something they find so easy seems to be great entertainment for them. The atmosphere is very similar to a bowling ally back home. Some people take it extremely seriously and are very skilled. Others view it as a joke, and after a few failed attempts, just start to have fun with it. And like bowling, it's a popular thing to do on weekend nights for a group of friends, a family, or a couple on a date. After your time's up, you get to clean them, salt them, and grill them up right there for some of the freshest shrimp you've ever had.

So if you want to feel like a local while looking ridiculous, I would recommend this to get a taste of Taiwan.

Hiking Wuliaojian

2010-03-21T07:40:00.001-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Whenever a hike comes with prerequisites, you know it's going to be an interesting experience. Some information we found on Wuliaojian warned that attempting hikers should be in good physical condition, wear gloves, and, above all, avoid the trek on a windy or rainy day. While we weren't quite sure we fit a hiker's definition of "peak climbing condition," we were excited to challenge ourselves and try a hike that was actually located in the backyard of our own Sanxia.

The hike started off steep and narrow, and, a few minutes in, we discovered the reason for the gloves. The trail is covered with knotted ropes that you need to use to pull yourself up over rocky walls and steep terrain. It was definitely a workout literally climbing up and up through this tropical, bamboo-lush mountain. Most of the trails we've hiked thus far have clearly marked signs, paths, or even steps, but this was one that was definitely off the map. Thanks to flags and markers left by other hikers, however, we never got lost.

After a little over three hours, the trail started to level out as we approached the ridge. This was the highlight of our trip: we were on the exposed spine of the mountain. The ridge was extremely skinny, from the vertigo-inducing few inches of width to the relative safety of one to two feet . On both sides of the spine was a pretty sheer drop, and there was only a simple rope path on our right for us to hold on to as we made our way across. After taking in some gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains, we found out that the only way to get back was by repelling down a steep cliff wall. It didn't seem so bad to me at first, but I soon found out that going backwards when you're almost vertical with the mountain (with no harnesses or safety equipment,) is a little bit more difficult. It felt like forever (even though it probably only took about 5 minutes) and my arms were sore afterwards, but it was such a cool experience. After that, we had an easier hike back down and were back on level ground in about an hour. This one goes down as my favorite climb by far.

More Taiwan Driving

2010-03-09T08:12:00.000-06:00

(post by Bacon)
A few weeks ago I posted my Taiwan driving video. I thought it would give people a good example of what driving in Taiwan is like. Well, I found an awesome video on YouTube that I think does an even better job. It's called "Taiwan Drift" and it was posted by changster1.

Yangmingshan Flower Festival

2010-03-07T17:54:00.000-06:00

Chinese New Year

2010-03-04T08:07:00.000-06:00

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the powerful and passionate Tiger, (my year!) which should help in warding off thieves, fire, and ghosts- the latter being a very troublesome but important aspect of Taiwanese religious beliefs. CNY in Taiwan is similar to Christmas back home; people clear out of town to visit family, take a vacation they've been planning all year, and participate in age-old traditions like the giving of "hongbaos," red envelopes full of money. The main difference is that the ringing in our ears is not from sleigh bells jingling; it's from fireworks exploding. Of course no Taiwanese holiday would be complete without excessive sparkling explosives- they have literally been going off all week during all hours of the day and night. This is in no small part due to the fact that they are extremely accessible and completely legal, even the ones that look like mini-missiles.

It's been great to have the week off school, but unfortunately the weather has been some of the worst we've had so far- cold, wet, and rainy. Therefore a lot of the plans we had for this week had to be abandoned. Instead of going camping, hiking, and day-tripping, we spent a lot of quality time together just relaxing and rejuvenating. We did find an amazing center that houses a huge selection of Taiwanese handicrafts and works of art from all around the island. It was great to find some beautiful and hand-made items for our friends and family back home.

It's really hard to believe that we're down to the last two months of our year living abroad. These last days will be spent doing all the things we still want to do and journeying to all places we still want to go. In the line-up is a trip to Orchid Island, a ride on Alishan Forest Railway- one of the most spectacular mountain-railways in the world, and a visit down South to the tropical beaches of Kenting. Hopefully we'll have some exciting updates for all of you soon!

*Update: This post is a few weeks late- I got a little behind on posting it- but Chinese New Year lasts through February and most of March, so it's still relevant. The weather is also now in the 80's with sunshine- it changed just in time for our vacation to end.

Taiwanese TV

2010-03-04T07:26:00.000-06:00

(Post by Bacon)
Back home I used to watch way too much television. I really only had a few shows that I would want to watch on the DVR and then after that I would channel surf. In Taiwan any American show I want to see I can watch online, but any kind of casual watching habits I had have now been destroyed by Taiwanese television. The standard show here is filled with unnecessary sound effects, constant graphics popping up, and awkward laughing. Explaining it in words does not give it justice so I decided to just grab a few clips off youtube.

This is the basic Taiwanese formula at work.

Standard commercial formula.

This is actually a Japanese commercial, but it's not any weirder than anything I've seen here.

Adventures in KTV Land

2010-02-14T01:48:00.001-06:00

The people of Taiwan have several favorite pastimes: eating stinky, stinky, stinky tofu, driving like maniacs, and, perhaps most favored of all, KTV-ing (singing karaoke). The latter is something that we generally associate in America with perhaps one too many pitchers of domestic beer and an odd desire to embarrass ourselves publicly. In Taiwan, however, KTV is a little bit of a different matter. You can barely turn a street corner without seeing a Party World or a Holiday- giant buildings devoted solely to the art of singing along with a teleprompter. But it doesn't stop there. Oftentimes you'll be strolling around in Taipei and run into some serious, live KTV action right on the street- we've even witnessed a KTV battle. Oh yes, and talent, you ask? Irrelevant. Just grab a mike and sing your heart out- we've seen, and unfortunately heard, some pretty tone-deaf people draw a huge crowd of devoted listeners.

Well a few weeks ago we were finally convinced by our Taiwanese friend to give this whole phenomenon a try. So we got a group together and headed out to Taipei. First we stopped at a night market to load up on cheap and tasty goodies- dumplings, spicy crab legs (a whole box for under $4 U.S.), sweet potato fries, noodles, and chicken soup.

An awesome thing about these big venues like Party World is that you actually rent your own private room. We had a wrap-around leather couch, bathroom, bar, flat-screen, and of course, all the KTV equipment we could want- song lists, stage, mikes, etc. We had this room reserved for around four hours and it only cost $15 a person- unbelievable. So far so good- our next concern was that there wouldn't be a decent selection of songs in English. While it was true that a few classics were missing (no Queen?), for the most part we all found some fantastic tunes to belt out in our wonderfully sound-proof room- thus eliminating the humiliation factor. One thing the experience had in common with back home was the drinks. The mini-kegs of Taiwan beer kept us able to stand the sound of each other's voices :) I think we're starting to understand this trend a bit more...

Overdramatic Alphabet Wizard

2010-02-03T07:28:00.002-06:00

(Post by Bacon)

It seems like every month at school we have some sort of competition for the kids. Usually it's like a song and dance for the kids to perform. It's supposed to be about the students, but because of the way the school is set up it is really about the teachers. How your students perform can actually affect your bonus down the road. I know it's funny to think that children singing and dancing is connected to monetary gains, but it's true. The classes are set up in a competitive fashion and while most of the English teachers don't take it seriously, some of the Taiwanese teachers do. I made this video to mock the whole thing.

Slow Motion Chou

2010-01-24T09:33:00.001-06:00

Driving in Taiwan Video

2010-01-17T18:13:00.002-06:00

Out and about

2010-01-17T07:49:00.010-06:00

(Post By Alisha)

Saturday night a few of us went out for a friend's birthday. We found our way to a little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant tucked down an alleyway in the Shida area (swarming student hang-out). The decor was slightly kitsch, but in a delightful and cozy kind of way. As Bacon and I have never eaten Indian food, our friends recommended a couple of great menu items: we scooped up our yummy tikka masala and eggplant curry with the hot buttery naan bread, and toasted the whole evening with India's famed Kingfisher Beer. I think Bacon and I have a new favorite ethnic eatery...

After that we headed to a casual bar/pool hall called Roxy Jr. Cafe, where we played pool (albeit horribly) and showed off our hand-turning skills during a foosball tournament. The basement was stuffed with over-sized couches and it was a great place to kick-back and relax with friends. Some people complain that Taipei isn't as jam-packed with dynamic night-life as other big cities, but I think they often just don't know where to look.

New Look & Some Music

2010-01-14T05:02:00.009-06:00

(Post By Bacon)

So I finally got around to putting some design work into the blog. I hope these changes make reading our blog more enjoyable. I also have added a menu bar at the top of the page and slideshows to previous blog posts that include more photos.

Click the read more link below to see an updated list of songs that I used in all my videos with an iTunes link.

"Beitou Hot Springs"

Artist: Steel Train | Song: Firecracker | Album: Trampoline | Listen

"Yehliu"

Artist: Sufjan Stevens | Song: No Man's Land | Album: Illinois | Listen

"Peace Memorial Park and National Palace Museum"

Artist: The Morning Benders | Song: Waiting For A War | Album: Talking Through Tin Cans | Listen

"Shilin Night Market"

Artist: Vampire Weekend | Song: A-Punk | Album: Vampire Weekend | Listen

"Our Swimming Spot"

Artist: Vampire Weekend | Song: M79 | Album: Vampire Weekend | Listen

"Taroko Gorge"

Artist: Eels | Song: Fresh Feeling | Album: Souljacker | Listen

"Penghu Islands"

Artist: Matt & Kim | Song: Daylight | Album: Grand | Listen

"Finding Chou"

Artist: Lou Barlow | Song: The Ballad of Daykitty | Album: Emoh | Listen

"Taiwan Manyueyan Waterfall Hike"

Artist: Jesse Harris | Song: The Secret Sun | Album: The Secret Sun | Listen

"Downtown Sanxia in 2 Minutes"

Artist: Spoon | Song: I Turn My Camera On | Album: Gimme Fiction | Listen

"C.K.S. Memorial Hall"

Artist: Phoenix | Song: Lasso | Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | Listen

"Yangmingshan National Park"

Artist: Kyle Gabler | Song: Best of Times | Album: World of Goo Soundtrack

(download this whole soundtrack for free on the World of Goo website)

"Our First Weekend in Taiwan"

Artist: Kyle Gabler | Song: Red Carpet Extend-o-Matic | Album: World of Goo Soundtrack

New Years Taiwan Video

2010-01-02T07:34:00.001-06:00

Christmas Cheer

2009-12-29T06:52:00.019-06:00

(Post by Alisha)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We missed all of you at this time of year, but we loved and will cherish the unique experience of the beautiful Christmas weekend we spent together here in Taiwan.

I was a little nervous that Christmas was going to be a holiday letdown akin to the turkeyless Thanksgiving we suffered through, but I was very happy with the way our festivities turned out.

The school allowed the foreign teachers to take off Friday (without pay, however), but we were happy at least to be granted a three-day weekend. Bacon and I spent a delicious morning enjoying a late brunch filled with some goodies from the Christmas package his parents sent, sipping eggnog, and watching a few classic holiday films. Christmas night we went to a hip restaurant in downtown called People Restaurant. The Chinese fusion cuisine was amazing and the atmosphere had a very sleek post-industrial feel with romantic touches like a wall dotted with fresh roses- it was well worth the slightly pricey menu. After dinner, we took a leisurely walk through the city among all the twinkling Christmas lights and decorations.

The next day we headed off mid-afternoon for our weekend in Beitou, an area 20 minutes north of Taipei filled with natural sulfurous hot springs. Because of the Japanese occupation, many of the older buildings, temples, and resorts in Beitou are built in beautiful Japanese tradition. We were able to view the Geothermal Scenic Area more commonly known as Hell Valley, so named because of its boiling springs shrouded in pillars of steam. Shortly after dipping our feet in the steamy public hot springs river, we headed up the mountain to check into our springs resort, Whispering Pine Inn.

The resort pipes in the hot springs straight from the natural sources in Beitou, and in addition to a large stone tub for guests of the resort, we also had our own private stone pool in our room. We checked in and soon trekked further up the winding path until we found a restaurant our guide book recommended, Shann Garden. It was tucked away high up in the mountain with a beautiful view of the city below, and it was one of the best eating experiences we've had so far in Taiwan. It was an upscale buffet that featured Mongolian-style BBQ, where you get to pick your own thinly sliced meats and veggies and have them cooked on a huge stone slate in front of you. Bacon and I had beef, pineapple, green tomato, onion, peppers, and fiery red chilis all cooked in sesame oil and soy. We also enjoyed dumplings, stir-fried veggies, salad, noodles, shrimp, fresh fruit, mango frozen yogurt, and, of course, all you can drink teas and soda. After dinner, we spent the rest of the night soaking away the winter chill (yes, it was a very frosty 55 degrees) in the hot springs and drinking champagne. It was a wonderful weekend getaway.

Now we're looking forward to another short week with Friday off for New Years. This will be the last post in 2009- ready to see what will unfold in 2010!

Beitou Hot Springs Video

2009-12-28T08:53:00.001-06:00

Staring Contest: You and Me

2009-12-14T02:47:00.012-06:00

(Post by Alisha)

Last Thursday night, a few of the Chinese teachers we work with took us out to a Taiwanese restaurant for dinner. It's such a treat going out with people that speak the language, especially in Sansia as translated menus or even ones that include pictures are scarce. We often reluctantly pass by restaurants that look fun or smell tempting because we wouldn't know how or what to order.

The restaurant they took us to was very darkly lit and completely decorated in black and red. The menu was split into two categories: big hot pot or teppanyaki with small hot pot. We all chose the second option- I got a spicy pepper chicken teppanyaki and Bacon got a sesame Asian barbecue chicken teppanyaki.

In case you forgot, Hot Pot is an extremely popular Taiwanese dish where several items- oysters, shrimp, meat, rice noodles, mushrooms, fish paste, and tofu- are boiled together in a pot with broth. We have yet to discover the reason for its popularity, but a small pot is okay to pick at the few tasty items- love the oysters. (Game: How many items can you identify from the hot pot in the picture?) Like a lot of Taiwanese restaurants, it was b.y.o.b so we also got to bring in our own drinks, cheap and fun. Speaking of cheap, our whole meal only cost 120 NT, or under $4 U.S.

The food was surprisingly very delicious, and we had a blast hanging out with some of the Chinese teachers sharing cultural observations back and forth. One example of this that came up during the course of eating is the fact that in Taiwan, they usually keep the head, feet, eyes, etc. on their food, and obviously in America, that is not the norm. It's a little unappetizing to see a whole shrimp looking up at you from your pot of food - beady eyes and all, but of course Bacon couldn't resist a staring contest with it.

Sweet somethings

2009-12-14T02:29:00.004-06:00

(Post by Alisha)

Here's just a quick picture of a beautiful flower Bacon bought me this weekend at a Farmer's Market on Old Street. Every night it's petals close tightly and the next morning they open widely to reveal this vibrant purple blossom.

Directions to the MRT from Sanxia

2009-12-11T19:20:00.018-06:00

(Post by Bacon)

Many people find directions confusing back home. For many it's a big hassle trying to get around without a GPS. Well those people would go crazy here in Taiwan. The roads constantly change names for no apparent reason, they never run in a straight line, street signs are a luxury to find and even then they'll only have English on them 50% of the time. Add that to the fact that there are no real driving laws and you'll have a very frustrating/scary time trying to get around.

I'm posting my directions to the Far Eastern Hospital MRT stop via scooter to show everyone back home how crazy the roads are here, and this post should really help the foreigners who already live in Sanxia/Shansia/Sansia/SOONSIAA (or whatever way you insist on spelling it). It's only a 20 minute scooter ride, but it's crazy. Click the read more link below to get the directions.

STEP 1 LEAVING SANXIA: Take Min Sheng Road towards the highway. Min Sheng Road turns into San Shu Road for a couple blocks and then into Long Bu Road for no reason, but that's not important because you just drive straight. After you drive under the highway you'll come to a T intersection. I don't know the name of this road because it's only in Chinese but you take a right. (click on the image below to make it larger)

STEP 2 CRAZY ROAD: You'll be singing some Sheryl Crow to yourself while driving because you'll be driving on this winding road for awhile. After driving over a large bridge you'll take a left on Huan He Road (The map makes it look like you can drive straight after the bridge, but you can't.). Huan He Road is actually fun to drive on because it has two scooter lanes. This means that 95% of the time you won't have to worry about cars. The other 5% of the time some Taiwanese person won't care/understand that your in a scooter lane and they'll run you off the road. (click on the image below to make it larger)

STEP 3 INVISIBLE STREET SIGNS: After you pass through a bunch of construction (if it's still there when you read these directions) you'll start driving under a light blue overpass. Take a right at the first working street lights (there are several street lights that don't work for some reason). This is Yuan Fu Street, but don't look for a street sign because there is none. You'll only be on Yuan Fu Street for a second because your going to take a left at the next intersection Zhong Hua Rd. (click on the image below to make it larger)

STEP 4 CITY DRIVING: Now your in the city and driving will become a little more difficult. Stay on Zhong Hua Rd for awhile and it will turn into Zhong Yang Rd for no reason (you won't notice either). After driving through a crazy T intersection you'll come to a slight fork in the road. Take a left at the fork on Nan Ya South Rd. The MRT is on this road. After you pass the hospital you'll see exit 3 on your right. You can park your scooter behind exit 3. (click on the image below to make it larger)

That's it, you've made it to the MRT! (Sanxia google map)

Spiderman

2009-11-21T07:40:00.007-06:00

(Post By Bacon)

One bad thing about living in a warm climate has to be the giant bugs. Many of the insects here are large enough to drive cars. I have been lucky enough so far to not find any large creatures in the apartment, but some of the other teachers have not been so lucky. A few of our friends have found cockroaches larger than a deck of playing cards in their apartments. It gets talked about a lot and I knew it was just a matter of time before I would have to battle one of these beasts.

Well my day came on Friday at school. One of the Chinese teachers came into my classroom in the middle of one of my lessons and said she needed my help. I left my classroom and went to her classroom to discover the largest spider I've ever seen. This thing was about as big as my hand, had thick brown legs, and could probably beat me in hand to hand combat. I didn't have a camera with me so I couldn't take a picture, but thanks to a quick google search I was able to find it. (it's actually a screen shot from this youtube video).

After a futile attempt to reason with it I decided it was time to fight. I took off my sandal and attempted to smash it, but this thing was way too fast for my ogre-like reflexes. I took several more swipes at it and missed every time. The spider ended up running away (it must have been a French spider) under a desk and we couldn't find it for a good 5 minutes. During this whole ordeal the students started flipping out and we had to move all of them to the opposite side of the room. We eventually found it under the teacher's desk (probably trying to learn English so we could reconcile our differences) and I was able to slow it down with some whiteboard cleaner. After using about half the bottle of cleaner it still wouldn't die so I was forced to river dance on its face. Once the spider was dead the whole class cheered and I went back to my class to finish teaching Language Arts.

This event has scarred me for life.

Yehliu Geological Rock Park Video

2009-11-16T08:59:00.001-06:00

Peace Memorial Park, National Palace Museum, and Taiwan Beer Bar Montage

2009-11-06T23:17:00.001-06:00

Shilin Night Market Video

2009-11-04T08:00:00.004-06:00

Eating Taiwan

2009-11-01T08:14:00.025-06:00

(Post by Alisha)

Pig's blood soup (pictured above), tofu squares, tubes of fish paste,
oyster egg pancakes: ah, just some of the delightful delicacies we've experienced, in sight, smell, or taste, since we've been here. Now I know that most of you are wearing a a genuinely perplexed look right now (hey, you mean authentic Chinese food doesn't come from a Li Yang's-esque establishment with General Tsao's chicken combos and neat little sweet-and-sour packets?) but a lot of Taiwanese cuisine we've tried is generally unidentifiable at best, and cooked in sweet, briney oils at worst. Even the deserts fail to strike any chord of familiarity (think dense cubes of gelatinous goo). This isn't to say we haven't found several foods that we can't get enough of- namely, pork and cabbage dumplings, beef noodle soup, taro balls, steamed layer cake, shaved ice, fresh fruit teas, fried squid, and rice, rice, rice with just about any vegetable, egg, or brothy topping- but the craving for American food is slowly over-taking the desire to expand our palate as the days go by. While we may be getting slightly less adventurous on our weekend dining excursions, we do, however, eat Taiwanese food every day for lunch. At school, "Auntie" prepares a huge pot of white rice and about three to four trays of, for lack of a better word, toppings- no pre-packaged Sysco school lunches here. All the teachers take a small bowl and fill it about 2/3 of the way up with rice, saving a bit of room at the top to pile on whatever new dish Auntie has concocted that day. Here is a sample schedule of what any given week is like for food:

M- Fish-flavored wheat gluten, spongey tofu, cabbage, mixed vegetables

T- Pork and onion stew (one of my favorites) and a watery egg and eel soup

W- Brown tofu squares, egg and tomato mix, oily Chinese eggplant and a whole fish

T- Curry day- horray! Big chunks of carrots and potatoes in a spicy/sweet curry sauce

F- Green vegetables, sweet garlic sausages (another favorite) and cabbage

Bonus: One great thing about Auntie's lunches is her delicious, homemade soy sauce that we always drizzle on top of whatever we get- and some days, it's just rice and soy.

Taiwanese fun food fact: One of the few foods that Andrew Zimmerman- the bizarre foods guy for the Travel Channel who eats bugs and intestines like they're popcorn- cannot stomach is a particular Taiwanese fruit called Durian. It's a large, melon-shaped fruit with spikes on it similar to a pineapple. Cut it open to reveal a slightly stringy, squishy interior that honestly tastes and smells like a rancid arm-pit. Yes, I tried it- I'm glad I did for the bragging rights, but it is a truly hideous fruit.

So where is all this going? Well, up until a few weeks ago, our favorite restaurant to savor some flavors from back home was a place called "The Diner" that has- you guessed it, diner food. The menu features items like banana pancakes, Denver omelettes made with organic eggs, and breakfast burritos- all complete rarities for Taiwan. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of their food out-does most American diners. The main caveat we had was the travel time it took to get there- it's in the heart of downtown Taipei, and it took us close to an 1 1/2 trip, basically making any quick brunch we wanted to have into an all-day event.

But no longer! Sansia now has its very own The Diner rip-off, literally seven minutes away from

us. It's called "The Door," and in true Taiwanese fashion, it's pretty much a blatant copy-cat establishment- which of course is fine with us, considering our love of original! (There seems to be very few qualms here with copyright issues, and we've seen several hilarious rip-offs, including, but not limited to: Abercrombie and Fith, R.Q. Polo (instead of Ralph Lauren Polo) and Blueberry (Burberry, anyone?) The decor is very cozy and cool, with hard-wood floors, black and white photos, lime green ceilings, and brick walls. Every menu item we've tried so far has been a great success, and we absolutely love having this place right around the corner. It's open late and has all-day brunch, but the dinner items are excellent as well. Although I'm sure our days of adventurous Taiwanese eating are far from over, it's comforting knowing that a meal that reminds us of home is just a walk away.

Livin, Lovin Taipei

2009-10-18T10:01:00.022-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

This past weekend, though nothing particularly outstanding happened, was one of those great weekends where we really felt happy here in Taipei. Saturday we met up with some friends at an outdoor flea market, which is rare for image-conscious, trendy Taipei. It was crowded- but what event, store, or sidewalk in Taipei isn't?- and while it might have been overwhelming for the average claustrophobic individual, it was otherwise a really fun afternoon spent wandering through stalls of friends and families hawking their old items. I found a cool postcard from the 70's showing an old map Taiwan that I'm probably going to reframe at some point. Afterwards, Bacon and I stopped for a few beers at Ireland Potato to chill and enjoy the absolutely perfect 75 and sunny weather that we've been loving these past few weeks. October and November are probably the most beautiful and temperately ideal months in Taiwan.

On a friend's suggestion, next we hopped on the MRT and made our way over to Shida Night Market, one famous market we had yet to visit. Shida is a student area and has a really funky, cool vibe. The night market is definitely a favorite place to hang out with friends on the weekends, try lots of different foods (goose head, anyone?), and shop at a place that's basically an inexpensive open-air mall. The night market slightly resembles a maze, with many forking streets and alleys that veer off in all different directions. Robert actually came up with a system (why wouldn't he?) of going left, right, and then straight at each intersected point so we wouldn't get stuck holding our breath and walking past the same stinky tofu vendor four times like we did at our first night market. We eventually wound up at an unassuming, but extremely popular little dumpling cart. In fact, we actually had to take a number and wait about 1/2 hour to get our piping hot, fresh box of dumplings. It was totally worth the wait- for 72NT (less than $2 U.S.) we got a box of 12, and they were gooey, fresh, and loaded with flavor. For another dollar, we each got a fresh-squeezed raspberry lime juice drink and took our treats over to the adjacent park to sit down and enjoy.

Sunday we had brunch with another couple at our school at an awesome little diner that just opened up in our area. It has a little wooden outdoor deck and fresh-squeezed orange juice comes with each meal. Later in the day we scooted up to the mountains for a break from the city and some fresh air. So far, fall has been superb- the only thing that would make it complete would be football :)

Hope you're all still enjoying reading about our adventures here in Taiwan as much as we are living them! We miss you all~

Bacon Gets a Scooter

2009-10-18T09:40:00.007-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Yeah that's right post by Bacon. I can do more than just edit and upload videos. I can poorly construct a written story.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I got a scooter. When we first arrived in Taiwan and I saw traffic I said there was no way I would ever ride a scooter. Well, after a few months here I got used to the horrible driving and thought I would give it a try. What it really came down to was convenience. Alisha and I don't mind using the MRT system, but we hate waiting for the bus. We also don't mind going for little walks to get food or go shopping, but we hated walking to go do a chore like grocery shopping.

(I like to drive around kicking small Taiwanese people.)

So after a few weeks of debating, we decided that it would be a good idea to get one. Buying the scooter wasn't difficult at all thanks to our Chinese tutor Twinsen. He drove me to a place to test out a few models and did all the translating with the sales lady. After a couple of hours I had a scooter and was driving home in Taipei traffic.

So far we've had the scooter for a week and it's been great. We love having the freedom to go wherever we want whenever we want. I even found an easy route to the Far Eastern Hospital MRT stop that should really cut down on our travel time. I already feel accustomed to the horrible driving habits of the people here and always do my best to be a defensive driver. The only thing I'm missing is a lame "Eat My Dust" shirt. Wish us luck!

Swimming with the fishies

2009-10-10T07:09:00.009-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

As I mentioned in the Penghu post, a highlight of our trip was going snorkeling. We showed up bright and early at the snorkel place and geared up (just barely squeezing into their largest wetsuit sizes) with a group of about 8 other snorkelers and three instructors. When we arrived at the part of the ocean where we'd be snorkeling, one of the instructors began to give a ten minute speech- all in Chinese of course. The one instructor who spoke a little English turned to us and said- "safety speech." He then proceeded to give us the one-minute basic version- basically just "not good go out too far." I mean, who needs a safety lesson when they're about to swim about in deep ocean waters surrounded by odd fish?

As soon as we put on our masks and looked down, it was like being in the Little Mermaid movie. Neon-colored rainbow fish darted inches from my face, long, pointed nose skimmer fish zipped on the surfaces of the water, and mini starfish crawled about. Brightly colored sea anemones lined the bottom of the seabed along with coral and weird eel-looking fish. One of the instructors actually caught a puffer fish and we all got a chance to hold him with his spikes poking out. They also gave us mushy bread to feed the sea creatures, and electric blue fish and some creepy gray ones literally swarmed us to feast on the snacks. After snorkeling for a while, our whole group took turns doing jumps, dives, and flips off one of the out-cropping rocks into the water.

Some of the instructors even asked Bacon to help them hoist the girls way above their heads and launch them off flailing into the water- that's when I knew that all pretenses of safety protocol were mere formalities haha. By the end of the day, we all agreed that it was one of the coolest experiences of our trip. Next time I'd like to get my scuba diving certification and give that a try- maybe on a future trip.

Video from our "Swimming Spot"

2009-10-04T05:23:00.003-05:00

A couple posts ago Alisha describes a "Beautiful Oasis". Here is a quick video of the swimming hole described in that post.

Penghu Love

2009-09-25T04:35:00.025-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Visiting Penghu Island was without a doubt the favorite part of our vacation. We island-hopped, snorkeled in tropical zones, swam in blue waters, scootered through beautiful landscapes, and visited one of the oldest temples in Taiwan. Staying at the awesome Penghu Whale Homestay was part of the reason we got to experience as much as we did. Each morning they made us a freshly prepared Taiwanese breakfast- my favorite was a seafood rice porridge (complete with squid tentacles) and a giant pork and veggie puff. And for $15 per person a night for a place a few minutes away from the beach, you can't really beat it. The first night we arrived, one of the Homestay staff members took us out to see a couple of century old houses, sample wild cacti blossoms, and check out the gorgeous views from some basalt cliffs. The cactus she carefully cut off for us to try was bright pink in color and tasted sweet with a sour grapefruit-like after taste.

On day two we took a ferry on a multi-island tour, which probably ended up being my favorite day. I was overwhelmed by the peaceful atmosphere and break-taking views; the simple beauty of everything we saw had a very euphoric affect on me and I felt as if I could have spent all day just observing and wandering around this tiny, stunning island of Taiwan. It was one of those times that yanked me out of the reality of my daily life and shook me with the realization- "You're in Taiwan!" We spent an hour and a half touring the first island and taking in sights like Twin Hearts Stone Weir, pictured above, and then took a half-hour ferry trip to the next island, where we had a secluded beach all to ourselves. On the third day we went snorkeling, another highlight of our Penghu experience, but I'll save that for another post.

(Click image to enlarge)

The nightlife and going out to eat was also a great part of Penghu. One night we had dinner at a delicious, laid-back restaurant called RipCurl that's owned by an Australian surfer and went out afterwards for some of the island's specialty purple cactus drinks at a fun bar and restaurant called Sunny Colony. The last night of our trip, one of the homestay workers invited us out for "barbecue" with her and her friends. In America, usually when you hear barbecue you think of a casual burgers and hotdogs event, so we weren't really sure what to expect since those aren't typical Taiwan menu items. We ended up scootering to a cool outdoor patio filled with wooden picnic tables that were all set up with simple grills in the middle. You go up and pick your seafood, meat, and veggies, grab a few beers, and you're set. We tried some fantastic salty oysters and had a really fun time hanging out with some of the Penghu locals. We considered it a great end to an even better vacation. We'll definitely be going back at some point before we leave Taiwan.

A beautiful oasis

2009-09-24T09:05:00.008-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

This excursion still lingers on my mind as a day of pure enjoyment. There is nothing quite like taking a 15 minute cab out of the smoggy city only to discover yourself wonderfully enclosed in a paradise of green leafy vegetation and teal-green rivers. Jenny, Bacon and I hiked for a few humid hours, drinking in the sights of waterfalls and tropical canopies along the way, until we decided we were ready for the second half of our trip. Our plan was to get roasting hot with a nice-paced hike and then catch a cab or bus to a place further down that had some pretty good swimming spots. However, when we emerged from our hiking trails back out onto the main road, we were dismayed to discover that taxis would take us to our hiking spot, but would not be waiting around for a return journey. Luckily, I am used to plans going awry and just going with the flow, so while level-headed Bacon and Jenny were starting to get flustered, I suggested we just keep walking along the road to see what we might happen upon. After about 15-20 minutes of trudging along in the unrelenting sun (and still about 45 minutes from the swimming place we had planned on going to), we all heard the faint sounds of splashing and rushing water. Without a second thought, we turned off the road and followed a little dirt path around the corner, stumbling right into our very own desert's oasis. In the midst of a circlet of fern-like trees blowing in the wind there was a fairly large, crystal-clear pool of water with a small cliff towering on one side and a mini-waterfall pouring into it from the back end. A few Taiwanese people sat on the rocky banks and motioned us down. We had to cross about 10 feet of thigh-high rapids to make it to the spot ideal for swimming. For the rest of the afternoon, we swam around and did some very fun, probably semi-dangerous cliff-jumping under the tutelage of a Taiwanese man who went before us to "prove" it was safe. When the sun dipped behind the clouds we finally decided to drag ourselves away and managed, by a stroke of luck, to find a cab ride home. It was definitely one of the highlights of our time spent in Taipei.

(Click image to enlarge)

228 Peace Memorial Park

2009-09-20T07:49:00.019-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

So for the first few days that Jenny was in Taiwan we decide to "do" Taipei. A couple of days were devoted to the standard musts, such as gazing up at Taipei 101 and ordering plates of dumplings at Din Tai Fung, but we did enjoy finding several new places to traipse around as well. The 228 Peace Park was one of our favorites for a quiet stroll through pretty landscaping, a sobering reflection on a period in history, and a look at some impressive architecture. The 2-28 Incident was an utter massacre by the KMT of peaceful demonstrators and a violent suppression of the anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947. The park is a great and beautiful memorial; I just wish that some of the plaques and statues would have been written in English.

Another cool place Jenny and I found on one of our girls shopping day was a restaurant called Slack Season Tan Tsi Noodles. The chefs cook large pots of long, sinuous noodles over charcoal-fired pots right near the entrance. For 50NT ($1.50 U.S.) we each got a steaming bowl of beef Tan Tsi noodles with a pink shrimp on top. After our lunch, we stopped at a funky little frozen yogurt shop right next door and split a tasty bowl of raspberry delight topped with fresh strawberries. Although on a small scale, the combination of the two eating experiences is a classic example of the harmonious nature between traditional Taiwanese culture and the contemporary economic trends. Another example of this would be the fact that there is excellent modern health care here as well as authentic Chinese herbal medicine practices. Rather than creating a culture clash, as one may expect, the mix of new and old works side by side in a remarkably balanced fashion.

(click to enlarge)

We're back!

2009-09-20T03:10:00.004-05:00

In true Alisha fashion, I've been dealing with the incredible amount of information we have about our vacation by simply trying to avoid it for a bit :) However, Bacon has started to compensate for this by posting a few awesome videos that definitely capture the beauty and spirit of some of the places we visited. Now I will try to overcome my fear of organization by trying to sort through some of our experiences to give you a few hodge-podge peeks at what our trip was like. 高兴回来! Happy to return...

Taroko Gorge Video

2009-09-19T21:48:00.002-05:00

Penghu Island Video

2009-09-07T03:34:00.005-05:00

We had an awesome time at Penghu and the surrounding islands. Here is a video montage (Artist: Matt & Kim, Song: Daylight).

It wouldn't have been half as much fun if we didn't stay at the Penghu Whale Homestay. They literally helped us with everything: snorkeling, scooters, ferry rides, food, airport pick-up and drop-off. If you're a Taiwan visitor and reading our website then check out their website HERE.

Vacation Itinerary

2009-08-16T02:36:00.003-05:00

As we'll soon be taking a glorious vacation all around Taiwan with my friend Jenny from home and won't be able to post for a while, I thought everyone would at least like to know a rough guideline of what we'll be doing and where we'll be going. Full updates, pictures, and excellent video footage are promised upon return!

Our (tentative) Itinerary:

Saturday-Wednesday: Taipei
*Of course, the main sights: 101 building, temples, and all the markets and old streets.
*Mountain tea house in Maokong overlooking the city at night
*Lots of restaurants and food, including a famous beef noodle house we have yet to try, and Yongkang Street- a long street featuring traditional Taiwanese food.
*River-tracing the JiaJiuLiao Stream to the natural rock-slide and swimming holes
*Taiwan Brewery Tour and Beer Bar.
*Shopping all over the city

Thursday p.m.-Monday a.m.: Makung/Penghu Island and the North Sea Islands
*We've booked a round-trip flight (45 minutes each way) to this beautiful archipelago off the coast of Taiwan. White-sand beaches, snorkeling, sea kayaking, whale watching, and visiting historic sites and temples are just a few of the things on the schedule for this trip. This area is also known for its impressive basalt structures that create beautiful statuesque scenery all over the islands. Penghu island is the main hub, and from there we'll take ferries and boat tours to the surrounding North Sea Islands.

Monday & Tuesday: Taipei again
*National Palace Museum, the famous building that (arguably) houses the largest collection of high-quality Chinese artifacts in the world.
*228 Peace Park- beautiful park and memorial to the 1947 anti-government uprising, called the 228 massacre, that ended in thousands of deaths and marked the start of the White Terror Period in Taiwan.
*Spicy Hot Pot dinner- Highly popular in Taiwan- cook your own meat and vegetables in a pot of spicy soup broth

Wednesday-Friday: Hualien, located on the mountainous east coast of Taiwan
*Since the islands trip will be our pampered, beach-laying vacation, we'll be camping and roughing it out a bit when we go to Hualien. We can rent a 4-person tent and necessary supplies for around 800NT (U.S. 25).
*The main attraction here is Taraoko Gorge National Park, one of the wonders of Asia. There are numerous hiking trails, sheer cliffs, the gorge that it is named after, dark caves and tunnels, waterfall walls, and breath-taking views.
*We'll try some of the highly recommended white-water rafting on a stretch of the river that leads to the ocean

Saturday-
*Goodbye dinner at our favorite restaurant and going out to the bars or clubs!

---These two weeks are going to fly by. Can't wait, wish us luck!

Picture This

2009-08-12T09:44:00.007-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Taipei is a great city- you will be walking in a maze of crumpling buildings and crowded sidewalks breathing in air from the incessant scooter traffic when suddenly you turn the corner to find a beautiful, spacious park. Here's a few pictures from Daan Park; it's filled with palm trees, plants, cobbled paths, and best of all, this pretty vined archway we found.

Our own city in Taipei County is slightly more humble, but has plenty to boast about as well. Because the MRT will soon be reaching Sanxia, probably around when we will be leaving, go figure, city development and architectural improvements are really on the up-swing. There's some new noodle restaurants and tea shops and a Hot Pot Restaurant with mini sharks swimming in a tank on display. We also recently got a Carrefour that's a short 15 minute walk from our place- it's slightly akin to a Walmart, and it's nice because it has some items that have been really hard to find or that we've had to travel far into the city for. Here are some pictures by a new stretch of classy apartments on our walk to the Carrefour. Below is a shot of Robert standing by these giant bamboo structures, homage to the beautiful bamboo that grows all over Taiwan, and a mosaic of the Zushi Temple downtown.

Lastly I have a picture of one of the giant snails that inhabit what I have dubbed as "cockroach alley." It's located at the bus stop we always get off on when coming back from Taipei, and it's the perfect environment for all sorts of creepy crawlies. Large shady trees, little pools, and fountains of water mean tons of cockroaches that never fail to make me leap in the air and ogre-sized snails that can get as big as your fist. We named this one Seymour.

Taiwan Images: Picture Collage

2009-08-03T07:15:00.005-05:00

(Click on image to make larger)

Graduation Preparation

2009-08-02T05:19:00.009-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Since Uncle Sam's is a kindergarten school, the entire months of July and August are spent rehearsing for an elaborate graduation ceremony for the K6 students that will be moving on from the school and attending their Chinese elementary school full-time. Many of the students will still come back for night classes, so it's mostly a lot of hype and show for the parents. (It's really fun to be a Taiwanese student... school year-round from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and some of them even get to go home to private tutoring. Joy. Oh, and let's not forget that you need to be able to play an instrument, so after you come home and do your homework you can practice until 11 at night.) Anyway, to commemorate this not-so-momentous event, all of the foreign teachers at our school were required to write a script for our homeroom classes (with a dance sequence) based on a well-known kid's movie. Each child needed several speaking roles and we had to find music, sound effects, and designate staging and lighting. Did I mention that my homeroom class is composed of ESL 3 and 4 year olds? This has been no easy task by any means, and we are all feeling the stress of trying to get kids to memorize lines they can barely read and learn actions, songs, and dancing on top of it.

Teacher Bacon is doing Willy Wonka with his class, the K4 Gorillas, and I am doing Finding Nemo with my K2 Dolphins. The end result will probably end up being cute and funny, but the pressure and expectations in the mean time are becoming a bit overwhelming. It's all over on August 22nd though, and after that my friend Jenny from the States is coming to visit. Bacon and I finally got our vacation time approved from the owner of the school, and we'll be taking two weeks off to tour the whole island of Taiwan. We plan on staying in Taipei for a few days and then venturing down South and maybe even to a small island off of the coast! The image of us snorkeling and laying on white-sand beaches is what is going to get us through these next few weeks...

*Below is a drawing by one of my students of Teacher Bacon and I. The orange spot above us is a "fire so hot" that is coming to get us. I think it's a pretty accurate representation of us. Notice how Bacon is wearing a dress-like outfit and has only four hairs. My arms are rather disproportionate, but given the age of the artist, 4, I think I can let that slide :)

Swimming in the Danbau River

2009-07-27T07:23:00.016-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

I've been really wanting to do some swimming in the rivers of Taiwan, so this weekend we ventured out to Manyueyuan again. It's near the same area we went hiking a while back, but in a different location well before the trails and mountains begin. We got dropped off by our crazy cab driver (he took corners he couldn't see around on winding mountain roads) and walked along the roadside until we spotted the place to swim. (Side note: I love just walking down a busy street and seeing strange fruit growing in clusters and banana trees towering above. I've said it before, but Taiwan's lush and varied natural scenery continues to amaze me- especially in comparison to the urban industrialism that surrounds it). We walked down some rickety stairs built into the hillside and down a dirt trail leading towards the river. A vendor selling sweet pork sausages and tangy ice cream directed us on our way- after, of course, grilling us up some of his tasty food :) A few beers and we were set for a little Taiwan river picnic.

We snaked through a very narrow grassy pathway and through a small tunnel before arriving at the river. This spot seems to me to be a perfect example of local Taiwanese culture: multitudes of families and friends gathered on the stony banks of the green and blue river under brightly colored umbrellas "grilling out." This basically amounts to making a little fire between a few large rocks, setting a small metal grate on top of them, and cooking up an assortment of vegetables and meats. Children were splashing in the river armed with many floating devices and catching little fish and minnows with nets while the adults enjoyed some pi jui (beer). The first picture is my favorite; it's such a beautiful representation of a classic Taiwanese scene.

We ate some food here and then carefully picked our way across the rocks down the banks to where the river turned into mini-rapids. There was an awesome little swimming hole next to a rocky cliff and waterfall- complete with a very unsafe rope swing. We wanted to cross the river to get to this side, but the current was very strong even in the parts of the river where the water only reached below our waist. we observed that many people started crossing until they found a rock jutting out in the water they could hold onto while the water rushed and pulled around them. That's exactly what we did, and it felt unbelievably cool, like being bombarded with pressure jets from a hot tub while trying not to succumb to the beckoning current. The water was yanking at us as we struggled to resist being sucked down the rocky stream (although this ended up happening to me later haha).

I eventually worked my way to the other side, slowly going from underwater rock to underwater rock, and finally convinced Bacon to attempt as well...he was a bit more hesitant that I was. After we crossed, we walked over to the swimming hole and watched some Taiwanese boys swing from the slippery rope, hitting the sides of the wet rocks surrounding them before dropping into not very deep water under the whooshing waterfall. Bacon said if I wouldn't let him get a scooter, there was no way he was letting me attempt the "roped death machine."

Later in the afternoon a Taiwanese boy saw me swimming about like a little fish in the water and pulled me by the hand over to him and his friends on the shore. I was excited- here was an opportunity for me to practice my Chinese! He was a big jokester, and he kept teasing me and asking me rapid questions. I was, however, much to my surprise, able to understand some of it and we talked for quite a while. Obviously much of the conversation was strengthened with actions and his little bit of English, but I still felt accomplished that my Chinese lessons were paying off in a real-life situation. One of the girls in his groups spoke really good English (she said she had been studying for three years) and she came over and did some translating. Irene was so incredibly nice, just like the majority of locals we meet here. Among the questions they asked me were:

"What do you think of Taiwanese people?"

"How do you like living in Taiwan?"

"Where are you from in America and what did you do there?"

"Why did you come to Taiwan/how long will you stay?"

...and of course, the classic: "How tall are you?!"

They kept giving us food and beer, and when I protested, they motioned to their circle of friends in a circular fashion and kept saying the Chinese word for share. They insistently informed me that sharing with friends and strangers is a major part of Taiwanese culture and to refuse is considered "unhappy to your hosts." Irene complimented my Chinese (which was nothing compared to how much English she knew) and said I was so sweet and pretty. The guy kept pretending that Bacon was going to beat him up for talking to me, and we all cracked up when they acted out a little fight scene. They asked me and Bacon, "Do you want play with us?" and we all jumped in the deep part of the river for the rest of the afternoon and splashed around.

I gave the boys some swimming lessons, which was hilarious because they're our age and don't really know how to swim at all. It was so fun making some local friends and great feeling like Bacon and I are slowly breaking down the communication barrier, at least at a very basic level.

New Kitty Cat

2009-07-24T12:47:00.005-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Most of you already know that Alisha and I are huge cat people. We almost didn't come to Taiwan because we didn't want to leave our cats. Well a couple days ago, on our way to a Chinese lesson, we found a cute kitten looking for a home. It was sitting in the bushes next to the Yongning MRT station meowing like crazy. It was dirty and covered in fleas, but too cute to leave alone. We took him home and instantly fell in love with him. I just happened to have my video camera with me when we found the cat, and this is the video I made about him. I hope you enjoy. (His name is Chou, it's Chinese for stinky.)

A lovely afternoon in Danshui

2009-07-21T06:04:00.008-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Danshui:

Step off the MRT and into the lively commotion of Danshui, a sea-side town in Northern Taipei. Fish bodies glisten and pigs feet sway in the crowded, colorful Old Street, where the fresh fish smell overwhelms the narrow alleyways. It was a great place to get a feel for a traditional fisherman's marketplace, complete with peachy pink squid and shrimp as big as my hand.

We then followed the river down to a fun little stretch of waterfront bursting with carnival games, salty snacks, and great views, often referred to as the Coney Island of Taiwan. We enjoyed some ice cream and sampled a variety of local food, from crispy fish balls to shrimp roll-ups, before finding the ferry docks. Two tickets across the river to Fisherman's Wharf cost less than $1 American and got us there in around 15 minutes.

Fisherman's Wharf features a funky little boardwalk with smoothie shops, shaved ice vendors, sidewalk artists and little benches. The towering "Lover's Bridge" creates a bright white silhouette against the sky and was created to resemble a sailing mast. It's beautiful for a stroll and a great place to view the setting sun over the river. We read books by the river for a while and munched on some delicious hand-battered and spicy-salted squid.

We wrapped up out night with dinner at Waterfront restaurant with a booth peeking right out at the water. A ferry ride back as the sun was going down was a great end to our outing in Danshui.

Hohaiyan Rock Festival at Fulong Beach

2009-07-15T08:33:00.016-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Wow. This past weekend was hot, sandy and fantastic. I found out the 10th annual Hohaiyan Rock Festival was taking place directly on Fulong Beach, which is on the Northeast Coast of Taiwan. As soon as I heard the unbeatable combination of music and ocean views, I was in.

We (over) packed Friday night and left at 7 a.m. Friday morning, which should establish my level of eagerness to get there. Actually, the main reason we left so early was to beat the insane crowds of people that would be jamming in every nook and inch of floor space on the 1 and 1/2 hour train ride there. A friend who was going to moped there later asked if we would meet up with two girls new to Taiwan who would also be taking the train. We set off with our two awesome new friends bright and early, practically all glowing in our pale skin, blissfully unaware of the degree of sunburn that was in store for us later...

The Longmen Campsite has beautiful grounds just ten minutes from the beach and is only 800NT a night for a four-person tent, so we thought that would be the perfect accomodation for the night. I tried to call earlier in the week and make reservations, shakily asking in Chinese if they spoke English, but to no avail. We decided we would just chance it and check it out when we got there. Well the fact that we ended up camping on the beach under the stars should tell you how that went.

It was literally one of those perfect, straight-from-a-movie days. Deep blue skies, fluffly clouds rolling over the mountains, and waves strong enough to knock you over standing up at knee-level. We set up far enough down the length of the beach to be away from the crowds, yet close enough to hear the music playing in the background as they were setting up the stage. In the afternoon we wandered down the beach to where there were endless rows of red and white striped tents selling drinks, ice cream, snacks, beach apparel, sunglasses, etc.

We loaded up with treats and spent the rest of the morning/afternoon jumping in the waves and hanging on the beach. After we finally noticed that, despite our repeated slathering of sunscreen, we were getting fried, we went over by the pay part of the beach to where the Taiwanese were (wisely) all taking refuge from the sun under giant umbrellas, over-sized floppy hats, and tented shelters. It was too late to rent one of our own, but we made some friends and shared their shade.

Night finally rolled around, and we had some great Taiwanese food- delicious pork and vegetable dumplings covered in soy and a sandwich loaded with grilled veggies and meats, covered in different spices. A few cold Taiwan beers and our group of about 10 was all set for the music festival. We arrived at the concert area, and noticed that virtually everyone had dug deep trenches in the sand, kind of like the beach version of concert bleachers. We started digging and soon had our own comfy sand seats- we lined them with our towels and settled back to enjoy the tunes. The music from mostly local bands ranged from rock to beach reggae- Some of it was great, some was terrible, (most of it we couldn't understand) but we had a blast anyway. Randomly a band would throw in English in a song and then we would all try and sing along to the few words we recognized :)

We finally all got kicked off the concert area of the beach when the show ended, which left us all wondering what to do. We were unsure if we were going to be allowed to stay on the beach, but finally succeeded in convincing the officials we would be staying far, far down on the beach (therefore we wouldn't be a liability, as last year someone drowned). We made a bonfire and had a great time hanging on the beach until we finally succumbed to our exhausted state from the day in the sun and decided to skip the midnight swimming and try and get some sleep. Some of our friends had the foresight to bring tents, but Bacon and I just had a blanket and pillow each. It was definitely a cool experience camping out right under the stars and waking up to the sunrise, though our sunburns and sand whipping in our faces all night made it hard to get a good sleep.

We were planning on staying the whole next day, but we knew it would be not be a good idea as we were literally burned out :) We trudged back to the train station, sticking out even more than usual. All said and done, an awesome weekend that will stick out as one of the highlights of the summer thus far.

Celebrating the 4th- in Taiwan

2009-07-13T07:18:00.007-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Two weekends ago, in honor of the 4th, Bacon and I decided to have a thoroughly "American" weekend. It was the first occasion tinged with wistful thoughts of home that we've had since being here. However, the feeling has since passed and we just commented to each other the day how much we thoroughly feel at home now in this country so far from anything resembling the land from which we came.

Friday night we went to a funky outdoor bar and restaurant area in Ximen for some piping hot stone-oven pizza and tasty beverages. We ate on a cute deck upstairs overlooking the action down below at a pizzeria called Alleycats. The pizza was pretty good, and on our way out the owner came up to us and asked us: "You stay in Taiwan- long time or short?" When we told him we were going to be here for quite a while, he asked for our names, snapped a picture of us, and told us we get a free pizza the next time we come in. Ah, just one of the perks of sticking out as over-sized foreigners.

Saturday night rolled around and we were armed with dangerous explosives and cold drinks, but sans the grill we wanted for a cook out in the courtyard. We ended up just ordering pizza and garlic bread, which we figured could still pass as Fourth of July food. We spent the night with friends reminiscing about American pastimes (like eating lots of food) and shooting off fireworks in a large field behind the apartments.

Though most of them were hardly what could be considered amazing, there was one rather large rocket at the end that burst into a huge sparkly display- our mission was accomplished- we felt at home :)

*We miss and love all of you-!*

New Camera and New Video

2009-06-29T19:02:00.004-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

As many of you already know I lost my camera on our last hike. After going to two technology markets in Taipei I found the perfect replacement camera - the Sanyo Xacti FH1. It's a full HD camera (1080p with 60 frames per second) with 16x zoom, and it's also a still camera that takes 8 megapixel photos.

I just finished editing my first video with it and uploaded the video to youtube. Unfortunately youtube downgrades the HD quality and it only looks half as good the original edit on my computer, but it's still a lot better than my old camera.

Here is the link to the HD video: Sanxia in 2 Minutes . You have to click the HD button to see it at full quality.

Sansia Bridge

2009-06-28T03:44:00.004-05:00

(Post by Alisha)
Right off of Old Street in Sansia is the very beautiful Sansia Bridge that crosses the (not so beautiful) river. It's a great place for a leisurely stroll with a fantastic view of the city and mountains in the distance.

Taiwan Dining: Din Tai Fung

2009-06-28T02:24:00.007-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

On Friday night, Robert and I decided we were in the mood for a meal at an excellent- and inexpensive- Taiwanese restaurant. We ended up at Din Tai Fung, a world-renowned restaurant famous for their very tasty steamed dumplings.

Because it's so popular, we called ahead of time for reservations and got a table within minutes of arriving. The decor is bold and simple, with bamboo seating and black and white photographs on the wall. The restaurant has a central, glass-encased kitchen where you can watch the chefs as they prepare each delicious dish. Waitresses were busy running around with giant bamboo steamers that lock in the heat of each order, and as soon as we sat down we were poured two hot cups of ginger tea. Our first impressions were very good, and we were excited to try the food as we looked over the menu.

We ended up deciding on the juicy pork and shrimp dumplings and a huge plate of shrimp and egg fried rice. Each dumpling order comes with ten, and they are meant to be eaten with the spices, soy, and little slices of ginger set out at each table. You poke a hole in them with your chopstick to release some of the heat and the steamy broth inside, and all the sauces run together to make a truly delectable tasting experience.

As good as those were, our favorite part of the meal was the steamed Chinese layer cake we got for desert. It did not at all resemble the taste or consistency of a "normal" cake, with no frosting or sugary sweet flavor. It was beyond good.

When our bill came, we couldn't believe it- we had tons of food, tea and Taiwan beers, and desert, and our total came to 710 NT- that's about 21 U.S. dollars. We will definitely be back!

How to Comment (updated)

2009-06-23T09:42:00.004-05:00

We have now updated how to leave a comment on our blog posts. It used to be that you needed a google or openID account to leave a message, but now you can just post anonymously. So how about we get some more feedback... jerks. Simply click the comment below each post to do so.

The Wulai Adventure

2009-06-22T09:36:00.011-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

So Alisha had the grand idea to go on another waterfall hike. Of course I didn't have any objections because I love waterfalls - they combine all the action and adventure of rocks, water, and falling. This particular hike would have three spectacular waterfalls and natural crystal clear pools to swim in.

In order to get to Wulai we had to take the 908 bus to the MRT, then take the MRT to the end of the green line, take a 40 minute bus ride on the 1060, and then take a 15 minute taxi ride to the national park. Overall it took us 2 hours of travel to get there, but the entertainment we received on our taxi ride was well worth the trip. Our taxi driver was a rather rotund fellow who wore a straw hat accompanied by a red, white, and blue spandex tank top. If that wasn't enough weirdness for us, the dashboard of his cab was filled with inappropriate wooden bobble head dolls. I got some great footage of him saying goodbye to us when we left his cab.

Once we arrived, I couldn't wait to get some awesome footage on my video camera with the new steady cam I made, thanks to this website (http://steadycam.org/). The steady cam was a pain to carry around with its five pound weight and metal-pipe bulkiness, but I thought it would be worth it to get some great waterfall shots. It was a rather easy walk to see the first two dramatic waterfalls located right on the main path. The cooling effects of the waterfalls felt amazing considering it was a 95 degree day with 90% humidity.

We then went off the main path towards the third waterfall. We had just started our hike when a horrendous mishap occurred: I lost my camcorder. I was unscrewing it from the steady-cam and on the last, fatal turn it slipped out of my damp palms and shot straight down an escarpment. I guess I should have predicted it. I was covered in sweat and the air was so saturated that I couldn't get a good grip on the camera. Add this to the fact that I was inching my way down a slippery ledge and mostly focusing on not falling down it myself. As you can imagine, I was a little upset about the whole situation. Not only did I lose my camera, but I lost all the great footage I acquired from our day- not to mention all the work I put into getting the supplies and building this steady-cam that I now had to carry around for the rest of the day without any camera.

After about 10 minutes of me seriously contemplating risking all to fetch my camera, we decided to try to make the best of the rest of our day. After all, it's only a camera and I can always buy another one (plus I now have an excuse to get an HD one). We continued on our hike that got progressively harder. The mountain seemed to continue on forever and the trail was very steep. After a strenuous, drenching, hour and 1/2 hike, we reached the end of our trail and were greeted with a sign that was mostly in Chinese but had a small portion in English that read: "This is the end of the Green Shower trail. Please turn around." Alisha and I were so upset we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Where was the waterfall? Where was the crystal clear pond that we could swim in? What was the whole point of that difficult hike? We were very upset with our day at this point so we turned around and basically fell down the mountain. Once we got back to our original trail we searched in vain for any other way we could take to find our magical swimming spot. We even tried to follow the vague directions given to us by our guide book and fellow bloggers on the internet, but there seemed to be no way to continue. After about an hour of exploration, we gave up and decided to go home.

Overall the trip wasn't a bust. We were able to see some remarkable bugs, prove to ourselves we could hike a difficult trail, and take in some fantastic waterfalls and grand scenery, but after sacrificing my camera to the mountain ghosts and not finding our swimming pond, we were a little disappointed.

Hot days, cool eats.

2009-06-21T10:03:00.015-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

My new favorite Taiwan treat: shaved ice. Not only is it delicious, it's the most refreshing way to take a break and cool down on a stifling hot summer day here. We had heard about this famous Asian delight before coming, but had yet to try some. After hearing there was a place right in downtown Sansia, we took a stroll to try some for ourselves. We found it easily- I had walked by it a thousand times, but never knew what it was.

Shaved ice is basically exactly what it sounds like- the guy behind the counter takes a huge block of ice and hand grinds it down into a mound of icey goodness- then you pick your toppings. There is a myriad of different tasties to choose from, but we opted for some fresh strawberries and mangos. This is then piled into a large bowl and a little candied syrup is drizzled on top- two spoons and we were set to enjoy.

A little taste of life in Taiwan...

2009-06-15T08:13:00.013-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

So now that two and a half months have passed and we've started to carve out a little hole called home in this fascinating country, I feel I can finally comment on life in Taiwan from a perspective at least slightly more informed than that of a traveling tourist. I think that we've learned a little and grown a lot even in the small amount of time we have been here.
While walking through downtown Sansia the other night, I had probably one of the coolest experiences as far as truly stepping outside of my comfortable Western shell and experiencing some local color.

I was walking through a familiar, semi-run down section of town before entering the downtown area, and a group of locals were sitting outside their moped repair garage perched on upside-down buckets and stools gathered around a large bowl. They were a jovial bunch, and I knew as I walked past they were going to wave and smile and beg me to join -- tall, unusual, blonde, foreigner that I am. Usually I just smile and say "xie xie, thank you" and point to my wrist as if I'm in a hurry to get somewhere.

However, this particular night, I thought, "Why not?" After all, that's partly what I'm here for- to really see what another culture is like. And while I have been doing this to a point, the menus in English, the malls, and the generally English-speaking Taipei itself can sometimes feel like I'm getting a safe and foreigner-friendly dose of this reality. So this time I did accept their invitation- granted it was given completely in Chinese, but waving hands and pointing at a dish of food can only mean one thing. As soon as I shook my head yes, they literally ran around wildly searching for a bucket for me to sit on and gestured insistently towards the bowl of food in the middle.

Here's where I found myself suddenly unsure of my decision. It was a large sea of broth with unidentifiable vegetables and thick, greenish bodies of fish floating inside. Just as I began to frantically imagine some excuse I could communicate to try and get out of this, they pulled out a clean bowl and new pair of chopsticks and motioned for me to help myself. Knowing there was no turning back at this point, I scooped up some of the soupy-looking concoction and a big piece of the fish. They all stared at me as I brought the fish to my mouth in false confidence, masking my trepidation, and took a big bite...only to find it was delicious! I couldn't believe it- fresh fish cooked in this steamy seasoned broth tasted great. They laughed and laughed- in the joking way of good cheer- and indicated they were very pleased with the way I ate with the chopsticks and enjoyed the food. They broke out a cold Taiwan beer and kept saying "Taiwan pi jui, (beer) good good good!" I couldn't help laughing too, mostly at myself for how nervous I was at trying something new, and responded "dui, hao! (yes, good)." We sat around "talking" for about 15 minutes, though they couldn't speak any English and my Chinese is very limited. I finally left after much protest, and continued on my way.

On my return home, I brought them a small bag of candy and dried fruit I bought from a street vendor and tried to give it to them, having read that gifts are expected in Taiwanese culture in return for a meal or invite to someone's home. They adamantly refused to accept it, as I had anticipated, but after much insistence on my part, they finally took it and shared it around. Wow, what an awesome glimpse into a different way of life.

Manyueyan Video

2009-06-11T05:27:00.004-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Alisha already went into detail about our Manyueyan hike in the last post so I'll just show you the video.

Hiking at Manyueyuan

2009-06-10T07:11:00.007-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Who knew a little piece of paradise was located in our very own Sansia? After a long and stressful six-day work week, a group of us went off for a beautiful hike in the Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area. Our friend Liz had been there before and said it was a must-see with its cascading waterfalls, butterflies, and easy-going hiking trails. The steep and varying landscape creates the perfect atmosphere for all kinds of flowing water, from the powerful Virgin and Manyueyuan Waterfalls to the numerous winding trails of humble rocky waters. My favorite stop was Virgin Waterfall, where the mist from the falls sprinkled our skin after the humid trek it took to get there. It was a very refreshing experience, both in the literal and figurative sense. We saw a rock shaped like a turtle and several large and stunning butterflies while walking, but alas did not see the groups of monkeys that are rumored to travel the forests of Manyueyuan. Maybe on our next trip...

Below are some pictures. A video of the trip made by Robert will follow shortly-

Learning Chinese 北方話官話

2009-06-08T03:36:00.004-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Up to this point in our journey in Taiwan, Bacon and I have found three ways to communicate:

1. Hand gesturing/miming the intent
2. Our limited vocabulary of Chinese words and phrases we've acquired since our arrival in Taiwan
3. Relying on the abundance of Taiwanese that can speak English- this ranges from small conversation phrases to fluency.

As we're tired of all three, (especially the third item- we feel ignorant living in a country and "expecting" them to speak our language just to be able to converse), we have decided to get a Chinese tutor so we can at least learn enough for basic conversation and speaking.

We met with Twinsen on Sunday night, and it was a success! He offered the first hour as a trial period to see if we liked his style of tutoring, and we both decided that he was a great teacher. He provided us with a clear introduction to the Chinese language, includingㄅbo ㄆpo ㄇmo ㄈ fo and pinyin (slightly akin to learning the abc's in English), pronunciation and blending of sounds, explanation and examples of the four tones, and basics like pronouns and "be" verbs. Some sounds are extremely hard to pronounce because we never use those sounds in English, and the tones mean that one word can have four different meanings. Chinese is rated as one of the top three hardest languages to learn as a second language, but we are hoping that with weekly lessons and practice, we will slowly be able to break the communication barrier. As of now, we are going to meet at a tea house in Taipei, Ximen area, Sunday nights at 7:00 for an hour and a half. He charges $500 NT/hr ($15 American dollars), so it will work out to be less than $10 each a week- awesome. We are also buying the book he teaches with: "Practical Audio-Visual Chinese," (實(shí) 用(yòng) 視(shì) 聽(tīng) 華(huá) 語(yǔ), so that we will be able to do homework during the week and practice with each other.

Wish us luck!

C.K.S. Memorial Hall Trip

2009-06-03T10:04:00.003-05:00

(Post by Bacon)
Last Friday Alisha and I took a trip to go see C.K.S. Memorial Hall (find out about it here). The whole place is very stunning and features classic Chinese architectural style. The grounds are also home to the National Theater, National Concert Hall, Taiwanese art exhibits, and lush, scenic gardens. Below is a quick video I made showcasing the highlights of our trip.

Quick MRT Video

2009-05-26T09:12:00.010-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Because we will only be in Taiwan for a year it would be very impractical for us to by a car. I would love to by a moped, but because people drive crazy go nuts it would probably result in me getting into a horrible accident. So like many people here in Taiwan, we use public transportation - so far we have been surprised by how convenient and easy it is. The bus routes are pretty simple once you get used to the schedule and the MRT (subway) is great. I decided to make a 30 second video giving a quick explanation of the MRT for all you back home wondering how we get around in the large city of Taipei.

Fulong Beach 福龍

2009-05-18T08:15:00.012-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

On my birthday weekend, Robert and I decided to go to Fulong Beach in Northern Taiwan. It took us around 2 hours of total travel time to get there: 45 minutes to Taipei Main Station on the MRT and an hour and 15 minutes by the TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration). The weather was sunny and sticky, but there was a nice breeze that brought some relief from the baking sun and humidity. We had heard there was a free section of the beach, but now knowing where this elusive entrance was located, we made our way in through the private section where we paid the small fee of 80 NT (around $2.50 U.S.). The beach was beautiful, with golden sand, small blue and white-capped waves, and best of all, no crowds. At first we thought this was due to the fact that it was Mother's Day weekend, but when we left around 5 p.m., hordes of people were starting to cram their way down the bridge walkway towards the beach. (In contrast to American culture, where people will pay money to sit in tanning booths or at the very least enjoy the effects of the sun and a little color that comes along with it, most Taiwanese avoid the sun as much as possible. You will see the same number of umbrellas up on sunny days as you will rainy ones, and most of their lotions and makeup feature skin-whitening. I've had women run up to me in the street while I've been wearing a tank top in 90 degree weather and point at my arms in genuine concern!)

In addition, we discovered that a large portion of Taiwanese don't know how to swim- we find this slightly odd considering they live on an island. However, this is starting to change with the younger generation and the effort towards a greater emphasis on leisure activities. (The Taiwanese work ethic makes it hard to have a life and identity separate from their jobs, let alone room to idly participate in recreational activities).

As we walked down onto the beach, we saw about 100 feet of buoyed area where people could "swim" in. For Bacon and I (granted we're American-sized ogres,) it only reached about mid-calf- so about waist-deep for Taiwanese....ahh, just kidding. But if anyone even went out a foot further, the lifeguards started furiously blowing their whistles and waving their arms. After about 5 minutes of this annoyance, we looked to our left at the expansive stretch of beautiful beach and ocean, sans the lifeguards and safety devices, and quickly made our way over to the free section.

We spent the rest of the afternoon laying in the sun, playing in the waves, and taking walks down the length of Fulong. I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate my 23rd :)

Yangmingshan National Park Video

2009-05-04T10:05:00.007-05:00

(Post by Bacon)

Below is a video that I made from our trip to Yangmingshan National Park. The park is absolutely huge and there was no way that we would be able to see everything in one day, but I think the video does a good job of capturing the park's natural beauty. We are planning on heading back to the park a few times before our year trip is over and maybe I'll add to this video later on.

Street Food: Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

2009-05-04T03:55:00.012-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

I thought everyone would be interested in seeing some of the traditional street food , or "little eats." A couple of weekends back we went to the Shilin Night Market- it's one of the biggest and most famous in Taipei. You can almost taste the food in the air here with every other vendor selling some kind of Taiwanese treat. Teas, juices, sweet potato fries, dumplings, bbq squid, stinky tofu, Shilin sausages- it's all here...along with plenty more we couldn't identify. Enjoy-!

Squid on a stick

Jianguo Jade/Flower Market

2009-05-02T11:26:00.012-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Hey everyone! The weeks are flying by here, so every weekend we try to pack a lot in and experience what Taipei has to offer. This Saturday was one of my favorites so far- we went out and explored the Jianguo Jade/Flower Market and, for Robert, Guanghuo Market (computer nerd-heaven).

We hit the Guanghuo Market first, which is an enormous building that houses a maze of computers, video games, and every other electronic device and accessory you could imagine. It had enough technological trinkets inside to keep him busy for a while...suffice it to say that he enjoyed it immensely.

Next up, we eventually found our way to the Jade Market, and it was amazing. It takes place under the Jianguo Elevated Freeway, and there are seemingly endless rows of stalls and vendors showcasing and selling their jade products. There was a wide range of jade jewelry, carvings, stones, teapots, and antiques, and about the same variance in quality. We read a few tips before we went in determining the quality and authenticity of jade, and it was pretty easy to tell what was real and what was fake or low-quality.

Beautiful pieces of jade

In addition, we have found that Taiwan, in contrast with several other Asian countries, is very helpful to foreigners, oftentimes giving them discounts rather than trying to rip them off. We have encountered enough of this Taiwanese friendliness ourselves to know this to be true. It ranges from simple things like helping us to the right bus stop/pointing us in the right direction (when we obviously have the look of clueless Westerns on our faces,) to a man in the flower market trying to give us a giant bag of planting mulch free of charge.

As we perused the jade jewelry section- my area of interest- I noticed one beautiful cream jade flower necklace in particular that I happened to like...hmm, with my birthday in a week, I'm hoping someone may have gotten the hint :)

***
The Flower Market is conveniently located right across the street from the Jade Market, and it is filled with gorgeous flowers and interesting plants, my favorites being the orchids. For about 6 dollars I got some beautiful magenta orchids in a ceramic pot.

***
After walking around the markets for about 6 hours, we finally headed over to a NY-style pizzeria a friend at work told us about. Larry's Pizza did not disappoint- it was our first good slice of pizza since being here! Delicious, thin-crust, topping-filled pizza on the outside deck was a great (and tasty) ending to yet another outing in Taipei.

Check Out Our Apartment

2009-04-29T18:53:00.005-05:00

Hiking in the Mountains

2009-04-19T09:36:00.014-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Mmmmm... sweat face.

The humidity soaked us almost instantly as we began our little trek up the beautiful mountains in our own city, Sanxia. A small breeze carried the scent of the flowers and the damp, earthy odor of the trees. As we followed the winding road up and up, we paused to take in all the beauty around us: the tall, stiff bamboo stalks, the bright orange and pink lilies, and a butterfly with red, black, and white wings that was the size of a hummingbird. As a coworker of mine commented, after living in Taiwan, it would be hard to go back living somewhere without the ever-present beauty and tranquility of the mountains.

We stopped a little further on the way at a stony oasis to down some water and munch on the cashews, jerky, and fruit we brought with (Bacon also enjoyed a marshmallow choco pie). When we finally arrived at the peak, we were rewarded with an amazing mountain-top view of the city and the other lush mountains looming in the distance. The tropical plant life here is just one more thing that is so different from anything we can experience back home.

As you can probably tell, we love the mountains here—especially after coming from the Midwest. More mountain trips are definitely on the agenda :)

☺

Muppers the Dog

2009-04-15T09:00:00.006-05:00

This is our dog, Muppers- also referred to as The Mupp Master. Technically he is not so much ours as he is a random stray, but he sticks around our neighborhood and we see him everywhere we go. In the picture above, he made himself a nice little spot to lay in a beautiful Taiwanese flower bed. Needless to say, we like his style and keep an eye on him.

UPDATE 2/7/2010 - It's been almost a year and we still see Muppers. He has moved over a couple blocks so we don't see him as much, but whenever we go to Carrefour (the grocery store) we see him. We've tried to give him food several times, but he refuses it. We are pretty sure he doesn't like us.

Teaching in Taiwan

2009-04-11T02:26:00.005-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

I teach four classes at Uncle Sam School, but my homeroom classroom is the Dolphins- I love them! They are around 3 or 4 years old, but extremely bright for their age and they get so excited about learning. When you talk to the students here, everything is in very simple English because too much wordiness would confuse them, but they are able to understand and speak quite a bit of English. It's a lot of conversations like, "Uh-oh Sandra, sit back down. No star for you unless you sit so nice! Hands back, no talking- if you are so good, you can come help Teacher Alisha write the number six!"

We both like teaching, but find it requires a lot of energy and hard work. The older children can be pretty naughty; they will talk in Chinese, get out of their seats, push each other, etc. The thing that works the most to keep them in line is taking away their points/stars or giving them more Vocab homework. There are also cameras in each classroom that stream online so the parents can watch their kids and see if they're misbehaving.

Going from college students to elementary teachers was a big switch, but I think we're adjusting to it pretty well.

Traffic and Trying Not to Die

2009-04-07T07:39:00.004-05:00

(Post by Bacon and Alisha)

Trying to describe the traffic here is like trying to describe pure and utter chaos. There seems to be no set standard of rule; people do as they please. Any street sign or traffic light is just a mere suggestion in the minds of 99% of drivers here. These "unrules" do not only apply to the road, but to pedestrians as well. It is not an uncommon sight to see a car or moped on the sidewalk or turning on the street when they do not have the right of way. In fact, it is more uncommon to actually see someone wait their turn at traffic lights. Also, street lines have NO PURPOSE here at all, if there's "space" for three cars, three cars will be there- and a moped as well. If you're a pedestrian and trying to cross the street, cars and mopeds will zoom in front of you while taking left hand turns- they will only pause momentarily if they are going to hit you head on. Needless to say, it is an adventure walking to school every day. This wouldn't be a problem, but when talking a leisurely stroll in downtown Sansia the other day, we almost got hit about 20 times while trying to take in all the sights around us. You get used to it, but I don't think we'll be driving a moped any time soon.

Right before rush hour.

Painting a Picture of Taiwan

2009-04-05T00:49:00.007-05:00

(Post by Alisha)

Hello everyone! There is so much to tell about our first days in Taiwan, but for now I'm just going to try and give you all a general feeling of what it's like and how our first trip to Taipei was:

Warm, humid air sticks to our skin, the way the rice is thick and sticks to our insides. The smells and sounds of Sansia rise around us: foreign voices are starting to blend with the chirp of the exotic birds and the daily song of the street-sweeper, creating a new language of the city, the Taiwanese--home. Some words still feel clumsy on my tongue, but my attempts bring a smile from the locals, some of the nicest people you will meet. As we awkwardly try to decipher our way through this new environment, people continue to surprise us with their willingness to teach.

Taiwan is a land of contradictions- the beauty of the landscaping clashes with the grainy feel of the smog in our lungs. The streets and subways are impeccable, but we can't drink the water from the tap. Our apartments have six locks, two doors, and a security-guarded building, but people leave their shoes on mats outside their doors. People walk around with their own pampered pets, but shoo away the many homeless dogs that roam the streets.

Our first trip into Taipei found that it is vibrant, full of color- literally- and alive with the movements of the culture. The smells of the fried street foods and sushi bars mingle with the traffic and hundreds of little shops in the trendy Ximen area. The staggering presence of Taipei 101 matches the ritzy vibe of its downtown area, where the beautiful people flock. Little benches and parks, palm trees and clean-cut architecture dot this part of the city. In contrast, the Longshan Temple area is an entirely different view of Taipei. Completely non-Westernized, it beats with the pulse of traditional Taiwan culture. The actual Longshan Temple is beautiful, intricate, and a great example of authentic Taiwanese architecture, though it has been renovated and rebuilt countless times due to natural disasters.

While we are finding foods we enjoy, like the meat-filled dumplings, sticky rice, sesame balls (their sweetness dissolves in your mouth) and a crunchy red fruit, after a long day of walking around, it was nice to come home to some delicious Taiwan Beer and Pizza Hut :)

We Arrived

2009-04-01T07:17:00.002-05:00

Just to let everyone know we have safely arrived in Taiwan. We will have full updates once we have recovered from our extreme jet lag.

Missing the Kitty Cats

2009-03-18T22:05:00.008-05:00

(Post by Bacon)
Sadly Alisha and I will not be able to take our cats with us to Taiwan. Taiwan is a "rabies free" country and America is not. This means that if we did take the cats, they would need to be quarantined for no less than 21 days in Taiwan and have a long series of tests performed on them. So we felt it would be selfish of us to take them with.

Alisha and I are very much cat people. We love Tinkerbell and Mayor McCheese so much and will miss them every day while we're gone (probably more so than any of you peoples). I made this short video to remember them while we're away. I basically ripped off the Sarah McLachlan commercial.

We Have Jobs

2009-03-15T20:20:00.006-05:00

(Posted by Bacon)

Alisha and I received our second job offer from the recruiting agency (Reach to Teach) and it's perfect so we accepted it. The name of the school is Uncle Sam American School and it's located about 40 minutes outside of Taipei. Besides having the most stereotypical name ever it seems pretty cool. Here is a link to their website.

The recruiting agency gave me the e-mail address of one of the current ESL teachers (Melanie) and she was able to tell us a lot about the school. I was also fortunate enough to find a blog by a girl named Jenny Reynen who taught at Uncle Sam American School a year ago. She was also able to give me a lot of good information regarding the school. We feel lucky to have two outside sources that can give us candid information. Otherwise we would be depending on the word of the school and recruiting agency.

Here is a list of things that we love about the school:

1. Alisha and I will be working at the same school.

2. We will be teaching different ages at different times of the day.

3. There are always 7 ESL teachers at this school so we won't be the only foreigners.

4. The school itself is actually very nice and it looks beautiful.

5. We will not only teach english, but other subjects like P.E.

6. We get 8 to 10 days of paid vacation.

7. After 6 months we have a performance review and can receive a pay raise.

The only bad thing is that they need us to arrive April 1st, so we had to change our plane tickets. We will now be leaving Wisconsin on March 30th at 7:30 pm. We will arrive in Los Angeles at 10:00 pm and have a 3 hour layover. This is actually kind of convenient because it gives me time to say goodbye to my family in LA before leaving. Our flight to Taipei will be almost 14 hours and we will arrive at 6:25 am the next day.

More info to come...

Welcome

2009-03-02T12:02:00.007-06:00

(Post by Bacon)
Alisha and I decided that we should create a blog for our family and friends to see while we're away in Taiwan. On this blog we will post photos, videos, and stories from our experiences in Taiwan. So if you're crying yourself to sleep at night missing us, just come to this blog and read about all the fun we're having without you.

-Update on our trip-
We bought our tickets and will be leaving April 8th. When we arrive we will be signing a year long contract with a school and getting situated.

Taiwan Adventures

Kindergarten Court

New Kitten

Hualien (Part Two)

Quick Pic of the Day

One Year in Taiwan!

Wulai Hot Springs Video

Wuliaojian Hiking Video

Shrimp Fishing

Hiking Wuliaojian

More Taiwan Driving

Yangmingshan Flower Festival

Chinese New Year

Taiwanese TV

Adventures in KTV Land

Overdramatic Alphabet Wizard

Slow Motion Chou

Driving in Taiwan Video

Out and about

New Look & Some Music

New Years Taiwan Video

*Christmas Cheer*

Beitou Hot Springs Video

Staring Contest: You and Me

Sweet somethings

Directions to the MRT from Sanxia

Spiderman

Yehliu Geological Rock Park Video

Peace Memorial Park, National Palace Museum, and Taiwan Beer Bar Montage

Shilin Night Market Video

Eating Taiwan

Livin, Lovin Taipei

Bacon Gets a Scooter

Swimming with the fishies

Video from our "Swimming Spot"

Penghu Love

A beautiful oasis

228 Peace Memorial Park

We're back!

Taroko Gorge Video

Penghu Island Video

Vacation Itinerary

Picture This

Taiwan Images: Picture Collage

Graduation Preparation

Swimming in the Danbau River

New Kitty Cat

A lovely afternoon in Danshui

Hohaiyan Rock Festival at Fulong Beach

Celebrating the 4th- in Taiwan

New Camera and New Video

Sansia Bridge

Taiwan Dining: Din Tai Fung

How to Comment (updated)

The Wulai Adventure

Hot days, cool eats.

A little taste of life in Taiwan...

Manyueyan Video

Hiking at Manyueyuan

Learning Chinese 北方話 官話

C.K.S. Memorial Hall Trip

Quick MRT Video

Fulong Beach 福龍

Yangmingshan National Park Video

Street Food: Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Jianguo Jade/Flower Market

Check Out Our Apartment

Hiking in the Mountains

Muppers the Dog

Teaching in Taiwan

Traffic and Trying Not to Die

Painting a Picture of Taiwan

We Arrived

Missing the Kitty Cats

We Have Jobs

Welcome

Christmas Cheer

Learning Chinese 北方話官話