No, it's not a big deal. I mean, the winds in the latest typhoon were clocked at 140 m.p.h. or maybe 165 (my dad heard 165 but BBC said the wind measuring system topped out at 140, so who knows), but we're fine. Some siding or roofing plastic was littering the streets the day after, oh, and I forgot to get a photo of this guy working on his roof in the middle of the storm. But really, no problems for us. No flooding, we got a day off school, which we couldn't do much with, but it was still nice to have a two day weekend. Normally we have to work some on Saturday, get Sunday off, and then have to put in hours on Monday, so that was kinda pleasant, tho' we don't get paid.
So, we didn't go to the beach like we'd planned. Bummer, but I did go running just ahead of the storm again. Running in Taipei is an odd exercise, pardon the pun. I do see other people running, but it seems like an unusual activity. I think 'cause of the heat and humidity. Personally, I gave up running during the day weeks ago. Running in the evening isn't bad at all, and I think it makes the days a bit more tolerable. I still come home covered in sweat and probably a fair amount of condensed humidity, but I'm surprised every time by how the heat helps me loosen up while I'm moving.
Getting out of the city is an odd adventure. What I can't figure out is how I found a path to the park in the first place. I knew where the river was, so I started running east, but I had to bend right after a couple of blocks, then cross a major street and bend a little left, then cross an off ramp and run up three flights of stairs, run over the bridge and back down (which includes running down stairs, under the bridge, back up stairs and finally down more stairs). This takes about six minutes.
This's the Wild Duck, Goose Park Marie and I visited a couple weeks ago. Here, I can run without worry of scooters, cars, bikes, random pedestrians, and cumulative exhaust. Well, the bikes and pedestrians are still there, but in the evening there's far fewer of both on the river trail. Not a lot of lights there, but it's a comfortable trail. I haven't tripped yet. And the city views are just great. I keep thinking about taking the camera, but 360 degree views of a major city at night from a dark nature preserve just don't translate to film.
Oh, really funny. Go running in Taipei with your iPod and have James Brown's "Living in America" and Blues Brothers doing "Goin' Back to Miami" on there. First, it's a ridiculous sense of juxtaposing the location and the music, then it really hammers in that you're not in the U.S. any more.
Next time, I expect, we'll go to the beach and I'll have plenty of photos of playing in the sun, surf, and sand. There has to be an upside to 30 C this late in the year, right?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Bit o' history
So, this week we have some Taiwanese history. I won't inundate you with the details here, but it was interesting that we'd talked with my uncle Max just a week or so before we came here and he remembered flying supplies here for the Navy just after World war II, so he knew it as Formosa; I can tell you that Formosa is Portuguese for "beautiful (in this case, island)" not that I needed to come here to find that out. But it was interesting to find that people here still call the island Formosa once in a while without speaking a bit of Portuguese.
I was also interested to find out that Taipei, at about 25 degrees north, is actually farther south than tropical cities like Miami, Florida and Nassau in the Bahamas. And the rest of the island is in the range of much of Mexico and Saudia Arabia, and it's only a couple of degrees north of Honolulu. I was interested because it explained the heat and humidity that is still continuing. Wait, not interested, what's the word... ahhh... horrified. I was horrified to learn we were in such a tropical locale. Mostly, I'm just really ready for less heat or less humidity. We're still getting mid-eighties and the occasional low ninety, and sticky. It's not as bad as when we arrived, but it's still sweat-through-shorts-and-t-shirt weather. So if we don't have as many adventures just yet, we're waiting until it's not Washington D.C. in August.
But we did have a fun and photogenic history lesson last week. We went to the museum and memorial of Chiang Kai Shek (apologies for the spelling, I'm having a hard time getting consistent English on some names), a dominant figure in Chinese history in the late 30s and early 40s and the first President of Taiwan.
This is the avenue that leads to the memorial. This photo also illustrates the adage about how it's better to have a bush in your hat than two in a bird.
The size of the memorial is impressive. It's on the scale of the monuments in D.C. A third of the way up we agreed, no more outdoor adventures until the weather really cools.
Obviously, it brings to mind the Lincoln memorial. But there are aspects, like the intricately carved ceiling, that make it as much Chinese and Taiwanese as western. I was also impressed to notice that the sculpture is in bronze. That seems more difficult to mold than marble.
This's looking back out of the memorial. In the first photo, I was standing just this side of the large white archway in the distance. The two massive buildings on either side are the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. We've looked into seeing something here, but we haven't seen anything upcoming that really grabs our interest.
We almost left after seeing the monument, not really thinking there was anything else. But Marie noticed there was a museum under the memorial level. Which brings us to the next installment in our parade of inflatable animals!
The woolly mammoth! There's an exhibit there for the next couple of months on the mammoth. We tried to find the entrance, but we'd spent a couple of hours roaming through the life of Chiang Kai Shek, so we weren't up to seeing a mammoth display... of mammoth, I guess. But I think we'll go back. The history of Chiang Kai Shek was well done, almost too thorough, though I was surprised that there was little mention of the government's move to Taiwan. I can understand the emotion behind it, but it's history, y'know? Especially considering the success the Taiwanese have here, it doesn't seem terrible to acknowledge coming here. But, that's just what they decided. It was a good crash course in some near-recent Chinese and Taiwanese history.
And these are some of the gardens surrounding the memorial. You can just see the edges of this in the wider photos. The incredible thing about this is, when you experience the compactness of Taipei, the urban compression, and then come here, it's almost a physical shock to see and have so much space and greenery.
This's on a bridge over a Koi pond. The views around here are in such demand by painters that we saw several almost in stadium seating. I was wondering if they have a reservation system, or if they should get one.
This's the other side of the bridge. I wanted a shot of this bird, because there aren't many birds in the city. There seems to be so little space and vegetation, that we don't hear or see many birds at all.
So the sudden appearance of this amazing stork-heron-crane thing, that it was about as big a shock as the memorial itself.
Now, before you go running to the next photo, a word on walking around this city: this is a pedestrian heaven or nightmare, depending on how many people you like to see in your pedestrian heaven. There are always people on the sidewalks. There are always people walking. People use scooters in huge numbers, but there are buses and the metro, so this's like the core of Seattle, but damn near all the time, and everywhere in the city. Sometimes it's impossible not to bump into people, though most of the time there's enough space, you just have to accomodate each other. But there are places called Night Markets that make it almost impossible to explain in terms of U.S. crowds. Maybe sports events, like a Huskers football game (not just volleyball), or some pro-team that's actually winning.
The amazing thing is, they do this every night. This's only the main, call it a concourse. It goes for two blocks. Little shops squished next to each other and the occasional restaurant. The really astounding thing, there's a street behind me, and off to each side are just like this.
There must be six blocks of people just wandering around, looking at the stuff on sale, looking for deals, getting food that ranges from a sit down multi-course meal to something you get in a bag and snack on as you walk. This is something tourists are supposed to see. Probably 'cause the locals come here. This's like the Taiwanese thing to do instead of watching TV. You come out here, get dinner cheap, and look around at the things and people.
This's for friends in Seattle who know Matt and Jenn. Normally I don't care about seeing somebody's name, even mine, on a store or anything, but seeing it here was seriously unexpected. And on a coffee shop, that just made it insane. Marie noticed that the characters next to the name do not mean coffee in Chinese, so we're not sure how Chinese readers know this shop.
And now, a word from our sponsor. Coming here, I was thinking that Taiwanese would be better about packaging, or somehow more enviornmentally friendly. They do the transportation thing light-years better than the U.S., but their packaging is massive overkill and I will say I'm disappointed.
This's a package of tiny cream sandwich cookies. You can see how small. And each one is individually wrapped. Then the entire batch is wrapped in another bag. I suspect there's a couple of cultural habits at work. One is preventing food from spoiling in the humidity, then there's a habit of not eating an entire bag of oreos at once, and I think there's a little paranoia about disease. Just to point out the interesting food habits, there are no family-sized bags of Doritoes. The largest bag I can find is about as big as one of those Grab bags from the kwikie mart. A can of Pringles is about the largest single container of chips I can find. Crackers are wrapped four or five to a pack, and then wrapped a couple more times. I have repeatedly reached for a box of cookies or crackers, and picked up an apparently empty box there is so much packaging. I'm sure it's healthier, to get treats in much smaller portions than I'm used to, but my guilt over the wrapping is kinda at odds with health.
Finally, I'll mention several food discoveries.
One is the Pocari Sweat. It's like a sweet Gatorade (and if anyone wants to send something, I can't find Gatorade here, and the powder is a lifeline after running in this humidity). I have tried it. I didn't think to take a photo of Marie actually drinking it. Sorry Michelle, we'll have to try again for better proof. But I have discovered what tea eggs are!
When last we saw our intrepid traveler he was contemplating the egg things on the right. They are in fact eggs that have been hard boiled in tea, so they have some of the taste of the tea and are meant to be eaten. Apparently Marie knew this all along. What's strange is how available these things are, but I've never seen anyone eating one. It's almost like they're supposed to be an on-the-go snack, but they aren't.
And I still don't have a name for these but they are indeed a fruit. You pluck them off the branch like a grape, then you have to peel the tough skin, but you only need to take off a small section, 'cause then you can just squeeze the thing outta the husk into your mouth. It feels like a peeled grape but tastes like sweet coconut. They aren't easy to eat (there's also a pit you have to spit out), not like grapes or an apple, you have to work on 'em, but they are fun, and pretty good.
And that's all the time we have, boys and girls. Come back next time when we'll talk about our visit to the beach and the complete absence of dumpsters. See ya real soon!
I was also interested to find out that Taipei, at about 25 degrees north, is actually farther south than tropical cities like Miami, Florida and Nassau in the Bahamas. And the rest of the island is in the range of much of Mexico and Saudia Arabia, and it's only a couple of degrees north of Honolulu. I was interested because it explained the heat and humidity that is still continuing. Wait, not interested, what's the word... ahhh... horrified. I was horrified to learn we were in such a tropical locale. Mostly, I'm just really ready for less heat or less humidity. We're still getting mid-eighties and the occasional low ninety, and sticky. It's not as bad as when we arrived, but it's still sweat-through-shorts-and-t-shirt weather. So if we don't have as many adventures just yet, we're waiting until it's not Washington D.C. in August.
But we did have a fun and photogenic history lesson last week. We went to the museum and memorial of Chiang Kai Shek (apologies for the spelling, I'm having a hard time getting consistent English on some names), a dominant figure in Chinese history in the late 30s and early 40s and the first President of Taiwan.
This is the avenue that leads to the memorial. This photo also illustrates the adage about how it's better to have a bush in your hat than two in a bird.
The size of the memorial is impressive. It's on the scale of the monuments in D.C. A third of the way up we agreed, no more outdoor adventures until the weather really cools.
Obviously, it brings to mind the Lincoln memorial. But there are aspects, like the intricately carved ceiling, that make it as much Chinese and Taiwanese as western. I was also impressed to notice that the sculpture is in bronze. That seems more difficult to mold than marble.
This's looking back out of the memorial. In the first photo, I was standing just this side of the large white archway in the distance. The two massive buildings on either side are the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. We've looked into seeing something here, but we haven't seen anything upcoming that really grabs our interest.
We almost left after seeing the monument, not really thinking there was anything else. But Marie noticed there was a museum under the memorial level. Which brings us to the next installment in our parade of inflatable animals!
The woolly mammoth! There's an exhibit there for the next couple of months on the mammoth. We tried to find the entrance, but we'd spent a couple of hours roaming through the life of Chiang Kai Shek, so we weren't up to seeing a mammoth display... of mammoth, I guess. But I think we'll go back. The history of Chiang Kai Shek was well done, almost too thorough, though I was surprised that there was little mention of the government's move to Taiwan. I can understand the emotion behind it, but it's history, y'know? Especially considering the success the Taiwanese have here, it doesn't seem terrible to acknowledge coming here. But, that's just what they decided. It was a good crash course in some near-recent Chinese and Taiwanese history.
And these are some of the gardens surrounding the memorial. You can just see the edges of this in the wider photos. The incredible thing about this is, when you experience the compactness of Taipei, the urban compression, and then come here, it's almost a physical shock to see and have so much space and greenery.
This's on a bridge over a Koi pond. The views around here are in such demand by painters that we saw several almost in stadium seating. I was wondering if they have a reservation system, or if they should get one.
This's the other side of the bridge. I wanted a shot of this bird, because there aren't many birds in the city. There seems to be so little space and vegetation, that we don't hear or see many birds at all.
So the sudden appearance of this amazing stork-heron-crane thing, that it was about as big a shock as the memorial itself.
Now, before you go running to the next photo, a word on walking around this city: this is a pedestrian heaven or nightmare, depending on how many people you like to see in your pedestrian heaven. There are always people on the sidewalks. There are always people walking. People use scooters in huge numbers, but there are buses and the metro, so this's like the core of Seattle, but damn near all the time, and everywhere in the city. Sometimes it's impossible not to bump into people, though most of the time there's enough space, you just have to accomodate each other. But there are places called Night Markets that make it almost impossible to explain in terms of U.S. crowds. Maybe sports events, like a Huskers football game (not just volleyball), or some pro-team that's actually winning.
The amazing thing is, they do this every night. This's only the main, call it a concourse. It goes for two blocks. Little shops squished next to each other and the occasional restaurant. The really astounding thing, there's a street behind me, and off to each side are just like this.
There must be six blocks of people just wandering around, looking at the stuff on sale, looking for deals, getting food that ranges from a sit down multi-course meal to something you get in a bag and snack on as you walk. This is something tourists are supposed to see. Probably 'cause the locals come here. This's like the Taiwanese thing to do instead of watching TV. You come out here, get dinner cheap, and look around at the things and people.
This's for friends in Seattle who know Matt and Jenn. Normally I don't care about seeing somebody's name, even mine, on a store or anything, but seeing it here was seriously unexpected. And on a coffee shop, that just made it insane. Marie noticed that the characters next to the name do not mean coffee in Chinese, so we're not sure how Chinese readers know this shop.
And now, a word from our sponsor. Coming here, I was thinking that Taiwanese would be better about packaging, or somehow more enviornmentally friendly. They do the transportation thing light-years better than the U.S., but their packaging is massive overkill and I will say I'm disappointed.
This's a package of tiny cream sandwich cookies. You can see how small. And each one is individually wrapped. Then the entire batch is wrapped in another bag. I suspect there's a couple of cultural habits at work. One is preventing food from spoiling in the humidity, then there's a habit of not eating an entire bag of oreos at once, and I think there's a little paranoia about disease. Just to point out the interesting food habits, there are no family-sized bags of Doritoes. The largest bag I can find is about as big as one of those Grab bags from the kwikie mart. A can of Pringles is about the largest single container of chips I can find. Crackers are wrapped four or five to a pack, and then wrapped a couple more times. I have repeatedly reached for a box of cookies or crackers, and picked up an apparently empty box there is so much packaging. I'm sure it's healthier, to get treats in much smaller portions than I'm used to, but my guilt over the wrapping is kinda at odds with health.
Finally, I'll mention several food discoveries.
One is the Pocari Sweat. It's like a sweet Gatorade (and if anyone wants to send something, I can't find Gatorade here, and the powder is a lifeline after running in this humidity). I have tried it. I didn't think to take a photo of Marie actually drinking it. Sorry Michelle, we'll have to try again for better proof. But I have discovered what tea eggs are!
When last we saw our intrepid traveler he was contemplating the egg things on the right. They are in fact eggs that have been hard boiled in tea, so they have some of the taste of the tea and are meant to be eaten. Apparently Marie knew this all along. What's strange is how available these things are, but I've never seen anyone eating one. It's almost like they're supposed to be an on-the-go snack, but they aren't.
And I still don't have a name for these but they are indeed a fruit. You pluck them off the branch like a grape, then you have to peel the tough skin, but you only need to take off a small section, 'cause then you can just squeeze the thing outta the husk into your mouth. It feels like a peeled grape but tastes like sweet coconut. They aren't easy to eat (there's also a pit you have to spit out), not like grapes or an apple, you have to work on 'em, but they are fun, and pretty good.
And that's all the time we have, boys and girls. Come back next time when we'll talk about our visit to the beach and the complete absence of dumpsters. See ya real soon!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
An actual event
So we had something actually happen here! It was called typhoon Sinlaku. It was happening just as Ike was hitting the U.S. We thought it was probably for the best 'cause everyone back home wouldn't hear a thing about our circular weather and they wouldn't be worried.
This's what it looked like from our place. It was like a midwestern thunderstorm (minus the lightening) or a winter downpour in Seattle, but it didn't stop for three days. Really. They were expecting 50 cm of rain or a couple of feet. I think we got about 30 cm. You understand it's hard to be sure since we're still basically illiterate in Chinese and that's how most of the weather is reported.
We knew about it in advance, our schools closed down early, kinda like a snow day. And lots of people at our schools speak very good English and they'd talk about it with and around us, so we had some warning. There were also rumors of winds as high as 200 kilometers an hour, something like a class four hurricane, I think.
The TV news stations do the same thing here as in the States, they put some poor schmuck in a rain coat out on the coast with a microphone so we can see how bad it is. So the coastal areas and towns got hammered, but Taipei is more on the west of the island and the typhoon came in from the east, bounced off the island, and headed north. So we saw a lot of rain, and the winds were enough to keep most people indoors.
There were breaks that were quite pleasant, on Sunday we went out to breakfast and did a little shopping in the neighborhood. We were chased home by the heavy stuff and it didn't stop for at least the next ten hours. The damage to umbrellas here was just horrific, but that's about all we saw. Heck, I went running in the leading edge of it. How many times can you say you went running in a typhoon? It was windy, but not dangerous (there were still lots and lots of scooters around, how windy could it be?) and finally cool. Tho' I did get pretty wet. But here in the city we had some wind, lots of rain, and a day off from work.
But by Monday things had lightened and we had to go back to work. And by Tuesday we were back to clear skies.
On a completely different subject: I've been trying to get decent night shots for weeks. I finally figured out I have to use the fireworks setting and hold very still.
The neon and colored signs go up about three floors (in other parts of the city they go up four or five) so it makes for some pretty amazing city views. I always think of futuristic movies, like Blade Runner. But the colors and all the movement makes for an almost artistic collage of color and motion that can be almost overwhelming.
This's the same corner. The low yellow roof on the right is an open mall and Longshan Temple (that's the name of our neighborhood, Longshan Temple, we live across the road on the left, a block or two into the residental area).
This's downtown Taipei. You can see the size of the buildings and how far they go. This's a shot from the metro, and this line runs as an elevated train, so it's a couple floors above street level. I love seeing down these streets at all the things that seem familiar, like the buildings and the taxis, and the unfamiliar, like all the signs in Chinese. This's near my school. It's just past the trees on the right of the photo. You can't see anything, but there it is. Good 'ole #3 Kojen on Nanjing Road.
And this's looking over Wild Goose or Wild Duck park. It's a preserve or reserve, I think. The title in English changes depending on where you read it. But they have many sculptures of ducks, so maybe that's the name.
Right here we're under the highway. They have this huge wall (two or three floors) between the city and the traffic (which the highway above us goes over), and this park. So you have to walk up a couple flights of stairs to get here, but it you get some good views like this. We came from the right of this photo; we didn't walk from the cityscape in the background. This park follows the Danshui River, which runs through the city. So there's city in all directions from here. The core of Taipei is to the right, and the city in the background here is actually across the river. And it might look big, but it's a very compact city for 2.5 million or so.
This's an evening out. We do have friends here, well, mostly they're Marie's. Nick, on the right here, had turned 23. I don't even want to know how old the rest of our coworkers are. Jennifer is next to him, then Spencer, and Lee Anne is on the far left. These are some of the people Marie works with. And this's at a restaurant near Marie's school in a neighborhood called Shilin. I don't know the name of the place, but the teachers all call it the Indian Bar because of the neon Native American over the door. Hmm, should've gotten a shot of that.
This's the rest of the group. Several of these people are just friends of other people and met each other because they arrived through Reach to Teach. The green thing is the beer. The really cheap way is to have a bunch of friends and you order one of these things, which has four liters of beer for, I think I heard 300 or 400 NT. That's about $10 or $15. It's drinkable, but it's kinda like Bud or Coors. After living in Seattle and all the microbrews, it's a little short on taste. You can get lots of other beer here, but it's pretty pricey.
I did take pictures of the menu, for proof of we could've had Three Cups Frog, but the photo doesn't want to rotate, so it's tough to read. We also could've had Three Cups Chicken or Squid, Fish Chin, Fish Stomache, or Tentacles. I don't remember what we ordered, but it was good noodles, rice, battered fish, and peppered beef. Pretty cheap, too.
And just for fun, here we are waiting for the metro. Really, that's how I look when I'm waiting for the train. This far north, this line actually moves from underground to elevated. Pretty cool.
And this's riding the train home after a long day of teaching and an evening out. Good thing we don't have to be anywhere until tomorrow afternoon.
And I just realized that I'm slow on writing 'cause I like photos. Photos help and are more interesting than just a wall of text. But stupid Blogger takes minutes to upload just a couple of photos, so when I have eight or nine, it takes ten minutes or more before I have all the photos up. So, that's a bit of a speed bump between me and regular writing. But I'll keep on it. And maybe I'll get Marie to play along, soon.
This's what it looked like from our place. It was like a midwestern thunderstorm (minus the lightening) or a winter downpour in Seattle, but it didn't stop for three days. Really. They were expecting 50 cm of rain or a couple of feet. I think we got about 30 cm. You understand it's hard to be sure since we're still basically illiterate in Chinese and that's how most of the weather is reported.
We knew about it in advance, our schools closed down early, kinda like a snow day. And lots of people at our schools speak very good English and they'd talk about it with and around us, so we had some warning. There were also rumors of winds as high as 200 kilometers an hour, something like a class four hurricane, I think.
The TV news stations do the same thing here as in the States, they put some poor schmuck in a rain coat out on the coast with a microphone so we can see how bad it is. So the coastal areas and towns got hammered, but Taipei is more on the west of the island and the typhoon came in from the east, bounced off the island, and headed north. So we saw a lot of rain, and the winds were enough to keep most people indoors.
There were breaks that were quite pleasant, on Sunday we went out to breakfast and did a little shopping in the neighborhood. We were chased home by the heavy stuff and it didn't stop for at least the next ten hours. The damage to umbrellas here was just horrific, but that's about all we saw. Heck, I went running in the leading edge of it. How many times can you say you went running in a typhoon? It was windy, but not dangerous (there were still lots and lots of scooters around, how windy could it be?) and finally cool. Tho' I did get pretty wet. But here in the city we had some wind, lots of rain, and a day off from work.
But by Monday things had lightened and we had to go back to work. And by Tuesday we were back to clear skies.
On a completely different subject: I've been trying to get decent night shots for weeks. I finally figured out I have to use the fireworks setting and hold very still.
The neon and colored signs go up about three floors (in other parts of the city they go up four or five) so it makes for some pretty amazing city views. I always think of futuristic movies, like Blade Runner. But the colors and all the movement makes for an almost artistic collage of color and motion that can be almost overwhelming.
This's the same corner. The low yellow roof on the right is an open mall and Longshan Temple (that's the name of our neighborhood, Longshan Temple, we live across the road on the left, a block or two into the residental area).
This's downtown Taipei. You can see the size of the buildings and how far they go. This's a shot from the metro, and this line runs as an elevated train, so it's a couple floors above street level. I love seeing down these streets at all the things that seem familiar, like the buildings and the taxis, and the unfamiliar, like all the signs in Chinese. This's near my school. It's just past the trees on the right of the photo. You can't see anything, but there it is. Good 'ole #3 Kojen on Nanjing Road.
And this's looking over Wild Goose or Wild Duck park. It's a preserve or reserve, I think. The title in English changes depending on where you read it. But they have many sculptures of ducks, so maybe that's the name.
Right here we're under the highway. They have this huge wall (two or three floors) between the city and the traffic (which the highway above us goes over), and this park. So you have to walk up a couple flights of stairs to get here, but it you get some good views like this. We came from the right of this photo; we didn't walk from the cityscape in the background. This park follows the Danshui River, which runs through the city. So there's city in all directions from here. The core of Taipei is to the right, and the city in the background here is actually across the river. And it might look big, but it's a very compact city for 2.5 million or so.
This's an evening out. We do have friends here, well, mostly they're Marie's. Nick, on the right here, had turned 23. I don't even want to know how old the rest of our coworkers are. Jennifer is next to him, then Spencer, and Lee Anne is on the far left. These are some of the people Marie works with. And this's at a restaurant near Marie's school in a neighborhood called Shilin. I don't know the name of the place, but the teachers all call it the Indian Bar because of the neon Native American over the door. Hmm, should've gotten a shot of that.
This's the rest of the group. Several of these people are just friends of other people and met each other because they arrived through Reach to Teach. The green thing is the beer. The really cheap way is to have a bunch of friends and you order one of these things, which has four liters of beer for, I think I heard 300 or 400 NT. That's about $10 or $15. It's drinkable, but it's kinda like Bud or Coors. After living in Seattle and all the microbrews, it's a little short on taste. You can get lots of other beer here, but it's pretty pricey.
I did take pictures of the menu, for proof of we could've had Three Cups Frog, but the photo doesn't want to rotate, so it's tough to read. We also could've had Three Cups Chicken or Squid, Fish Chin, Fish Stomache, or Tentacles. I don't remember what we ordered, but it was good noodles, rice, battered fish, and peppered beef. Pretty cheap, too.
And just for fun, here we are waiting for the metro. Really, that's how I look when I'm waiting for the train. This far north, this line actually moves from underground to elevated. Pretty cool.
And this's riding the train home after a long day of teaching and an evening out. Good thing we don't have to be anywhere until tomorrow afternoon.
And I just realized that I'm slow on writing 'cause I like photos. Photos help and are more interesting than just a wall of text. But stupid Blogger takes minutes to upload just a couple of photos, so when I have eight or nine, it takes ten minutes or more before I have all the photos up. So, that's a bit of a speed bump between me and regular writing. But I'll keep on it. And maybe I'll get Marie to play along, soon.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The trip
So I just realized that we never mentioned the trip here. That's part of the experience, right? I mean, we started in D.C. and we're exactly twelve hours ahead of them now, so we're really close to being exactly on the other side of the world. That's not something most people do on a regular basis, although my brother practically has a punch card for his trips.
Part of it is wanting to tell one of my favorite jokes. Lewis Black once said, "if you ever have the chance to visit New Zealand, my advice is: don't take it. 'Cause even after you've had a drink, a movie, a nap, a meal, another drink, and another movie, you've still got thirteen hour to go!"
I just wanted to say that flying to Taiwan, which isn't too far from New Zealand, wasn't like that at all. Marie struggled, but she has a hard time sleeping on planes, period. We got on our flight about 1 am (the China Air counter in Seatac doesn't even open until 9:30 or 10 in the evening) and about two we were airborne and I was drifting off to sleep. They had to wake me for the meal and I don't remember the attendant picking up the tray.
That was the weirdest part. After all the flying we did, from Omaha to D.C., then back to Seattle, China Air was the most accommodating airline. One airline charged us for two extra bags and you could get one drink for free. U.S. Airways charged us for all four checked bags and pop and juice all cost a couple bucks. Not even a dollar for an airline glass of pop. Two bucks. China Air fed us the minute we were at altitude. No charge, just "here's your hot meal of meat, potatoes, and mixed vegetables."
Then they came around with wine and water. I don't know the logic of the wine, and there didn't seem to be a lot of takers, but there it was.
They also had mini movie screens in the back of each headrest with a bunch of movies on tap. You can watch whatever you want, whenever. Heck, they already had "Iron Man" and it was still in theaters.
I say this 'cause Marie and I spent time and money to have plenty of books to read, and music to listen to, and charged computers to watch movies, but I didn't need any of it. Marie watched a couple of the movies the airline provided. I was asleep most of the time. But we dragged all this entertainment stuff on the plane with us, and I wouldn't suggest it.
Then, an hour before we were scheduled to land they came around with breakfast. You could pick an eastern or western breakfast. The western was a scrambled egg thing that tasted powdered, and the eastern was a porridge thing that's common here. I wonder if the porridge tasted as bad to someone from Taiwan as the eggs tasted to us. But it was a hot meal.
This was all a surprise to me 'cause we thought we'd gotten a pretty good deal for flying to the other side of the world. We were told it would cost between $600 and $1,200 apiece, and we were closer to $600, and we could've spent less but we wanted to go through Seattle. I was expecting to have to pay for a seat cushion. I wonder if China Air flys from Seattle to Phoenix?
I guess I'm telling this story in case people are interested in visiting or just thinking about flying across the Pacific. Places like New Zealand and Australia are farther 'cause they're in the southern hemisphere, but I wanted to say I was generally surprised that a twelve hour flight could be that easy. That is, if you can sleep on planes, it's unexpectedly easy. And if you have suggestions for how to sleep on a plane, we'd like to hear them.
Part of it is wanting to tell one of my favorite jokes. Lewis Black once said, "if you ever have the chance to visit New Zealand, my advice is: don't take it. 'Cause even after you've had a drink, a movie, a nap, a meal, another drink, and another movie, you've still got thirteen hour to go!"
I just wanted to say that flying to Taiwan, which isn't too far from New Zealand, wasn't like that at all. Marie struggled, but she has a hard time sleeping on planes, period. We got on our flight about 1 am (the China Air counter in Seatac doesn't even open until 9:30 or 10 in the evening) and about two we were airborne and I was drifting off to sleep. They had to wake me for the meal and I don't remember the attendant picking up the tray.
That was the weirdest part. After all the flying we did, from Omaha to D.C., then back to Seattle, China Air was the most accommodating airline. One airline charged us for two extra bags and you could get one drink for free. U.S. Airways charged us for all four checked bags and pop and juice all cost a couple bucks. Not even a dollar for an airline glass of pop. Two bucks. China Air fed us the minute we were at altitude. No charge, just "here's your hot meal of meat, potatoes, and mixed vegetables."
Then they came around with wine and water. I don't know the logic of the wine, and there didn't seem to be a lot of takers, but there it was.
They also had mini movie screens in the back of each headrest with a bunch of movies on tap. You can watch whatever you want, whenever. Heck, they already had "Iron Man" and it was still in theaters.
I say this 'cause Marie and I spent time and money to have plenty of books to read, and music to listen to, and charged computers to watch movies, but I didn't need any of it. Marie watched a couple of the movies the airline provided. I was asleep most of the time. But we dragged all this entertainment stuff on the plane with us, and I wouldn't suggest it.
Then, an hour before we were scheduled to land they came around with breakfast. You could pick an eastern or western breakfast. The western was a scrambled egg thing that tasted powdered, and the eastern was a porridge thing that's common here. I wonder if the porridge tasted as bad to someone from Taiwan as the eggs tasted to us. But it was a hot meal.
This was all a surprise to me 'cause we thought we'd gotten a pretty good deal for flying to the other side of the world. We were told it would cost between $600 and $1,200 apiece, and we were closer to $600, and we could've spent less but we wanted to go through Seattle. I was expecting to have to pay for a seat cushion. I wonder if China Air flys from Seattle to Phoenix?
I guess I'm telling this story in case people are interested in visiting or just thinking about flying across the Pacific. Places like New Zealand and Australia are farther 'cause they're in the southern hemisphere, but I wanted to say I was generally surprised that a twelve hour flight could be that easy. That is, if you can sleep on planes, it's unexpectedly easy. And if you have suggestions for how to sleep on a plane, we'd like to hear them.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Finally, being tourists.
Sorry I haven't been writing much lately. A lot of things have become common place, and important things like getting our alien residence cards would be just like pictures of us sitting in a DMV office. But I finally remembered to take the camera on a couple of trips. So we have the proverbial several thousand words to discuss.
Now, this's not to make fun of Taiwanese people or any group, because comparing English to Chinese is like comparing bananas and volcanos. So, when I bring you some of the mistakes (dubbed Chinglish by one of the teachers here) it's just a wonderful sense of the confusion that keeps the two languages and cultures apart. And we could do this for days if I could show you the shirts people wear here. But taking that many pictures of people's chests and tummies would get pretty weird.
For instance, Marie and I have no idea what an omnifarious concert would sound like, but I admit, it's made me a little curious.
This one's pushed me the other way, tho'. I can't bring myself to try Pro Sweat. Maybe at some point, but not yet.
On the food front, we just keep finding more things that entertain us without actually feeding us.
These guys are staples in the local sushi places and a couple other restaurants. The redder thing at the bottom is a tail, the tentacle things above it are legs and that black thing is an eye. This's a dish of about three shrimp. They're cooked, but legs on, head on. I'm just not ready to try one. I hope I'll be able to before I leave, 'cause they're all over. There must be some redeeming value, but I'm not there yet. We saw something like this in Spain, but somehow, here, it's weirder.
And these photos aren't to scare people with how bad the food is. There's lots and lots that is really good, tho' some of it's really bad for you. But we're having no trouble feeding ourselves. (I talked with my grandmother recently, and she'd just seen one of her first travel channel episodes, of course all about the weird and scary food of Taiwan.)
I don't remember what this is, but it looks like a sea sponge or something.
I think the meat on the left is tounge, I'm not sure, but I've seen that in Nebraska. And I think the eggs on the right are tea eggs. I haven't figured those out yet, but it's odd because you can buy them everywhere, almost literally. They have them in crock pots in 7-11s. I don't know how you use them but they're very popular.
I do not know what these are. They are also very popular. I think they're a fruit, 'cause I see them sold with other fruit, and I think I saw them on a nature program so I wonder if they're figs. But I can't quite make myself buy a bunch and experiment. I swear I will, if only because it's asinine of me to be buying plums and peaches from freaking California (I'm not kidding, they have the stickers on them), or apples from Chile. I will eat the local fruit soon, if only kiwis from New Zealand, which's almost local now. But those plums were so cheap when we got here, and they were really good, so now I'm kinda hooked.
And I just loved this. Who wouldn't want almond fish? It's like nuts and gum! Together at last! Another thing I might buy just to find out what it's like, at some point, but not quite yet.
Oh, I did get chicken Cheetoes. Seriously. There was a picture of a chicken nugget on the outside of the bag. It was kind of an accident. I wanted Cheetoes, as a kinda friendly food, and they tasted... like chicken. No, not exactly, I really wouldn't have guessed chicken until I looked at the bag to see what it was supposed to be. But it was funny, and I'm getting a lot more careful about what I'm buying.
But the real point of this entry is today's trip. We were visiting the historical neighborhood of the Beitou hotsprings, in the northern edge of Taipei. It takes a while to get there by metro, but it's a really nice ride 'cause the train comes out of the ground and becomes an elevated train half way through the city.
Marie and I passed a small park while we were up there. We saw this kid all tied up in this wheel like a boat steering wheel, and then his friend would come over and spin him around a couple times, but he was laughing like it was high entertainment. It was pretty entertaining for us, too.
I won't bore you with the details of the historic bathhouse. It was a fun little touristy thing to do. And we looked through the Taiwanese Aboriginal cultural center as well. The most interesting thing I noticed about the two places were the lack of English titles. The bathhouse had quite a few translations, but a lot weren't. It was almost pleasant to think that they were more interested in educating the locals, instead of the few real outta-towners. And there was enough to occupy us for a little while and give us an idea of the history. I'd like to go back when our Chinese is better, but I doubt it'll ever be good enough.
And here we are at lunch. There's a chain called I heart Sushi or Sushi Express (I can't tell) here that has the conveyor belt system (that's it behind Marie). We love the one in Seattle called Blue C Sushi. But this one has a little more authentic sushi. And yes, sushi is Japanese, but there's a very long tradition of Japanese living here, and the locals seem to enjoy it as well. And it works for me 'cause Marie's always happier around food, and sushi is a favorite of hers. So despite being a hot, humid day of walking around outside, it was a good day 'cause we had sushi for lunch.
And here's the proof that we're here and actually in Taiwan. I've been looking for quintessentially Taiwanese things, and this's what I came up with. A street so narrow that I can touch both sides at the same time, but it actually has an address. This's XiYuan Rd. Lane, 220, Alley 48. Roads are the big arteries, then the lanes branch off and are smaller, and the alleys smaller still. Technically, I think we live on an alley, but it's no where near this tight. And of course, there are scooters parked in this little bit of space.
Finally, I don't know where else to stick this photo. I held off on it 'cause Marie thinks I'm spending too much time on the scooter thing, but it was just ridiculous how cute this little girl looked in her little helmet on her big scooter.
Kids ride with mom or dad all the time. I've seen two kids and a parent on a scooter several times. They even have these weird bikes with a small seat in front of the rider's with footpegs, so kids who are too big to ride behind mom or dad can ride in front of them. It makes sense in a scooter-focused system, but it sure was unexpected.
I hope these entries are of some interest. If they're too few, it's only because so many things about our lives are becoming common. Riding the subway, going shopping, getting dinner is all old hat by now.
I have finally taught a couple of classes, tho' Marie's taught probably more than a dozen. I don't have a lot of experience, and I dunno what Marie thinks, but it feels like teaching is less a part of the experience, maybe, than if we were working for the Peace Corps. Teaching here is a job, we're employees and treated as such. So it feels like teaching is what we do to fund the rest of our time here. Maybe that'll change as I get some more experience and work more with the other teachers, but for the moment, there's work, and the stuff we do that's more touristy, so that's the stuff I like talking about.
Now, this's not to make fun of Taiwanese people or any group, because comparing English to Chinese is like comparing bananas and volcanos. So, when I bring you some of the mistakes (dubbed Chinglish by one of the teachers here) it's just a wonderful sense of the confusion that keeps the two languages and cultures apart. And we could do this for days if I could show you the shirts people wear here. But taking that many pictures of people's chests and tummies would get pretty weird.
For instance, Marie and I have no idea what an omnifarious concert would sound like, but I admit, it's made me a little curious.
This one's pushed me the other way, tho'. I can't bring myself to try Pro Sweat. Maybe at some point, but not yet.
On the food front, we just keep finding more things that entertain us without actually feeding us.
These guys are staples in the local sushi places and a couple other restaurants. The redder thing at the bottom is a tail, the tentacle things above it are legs and that black thing is an eye. This's a dish of about three shrimp. They're cooked, but legs on, head on. I'm just not ready to try one. I hope I'll be able to before I leave, 'cause they're all over. There must be some redeeming value, but I'm not there yet. We saw something like this in Spain, but somehow, here, it's weirder.
And these photos aren't to scare people with how bad the food is. There's lots and lots that is really good, tho' some of it's really bad for you. But we're having no trouble feeding ourselves. (I talked with my grandmother recently, and she'd just seen one of her first travel channel episodes, of course all about the weird and scary food of Taiwan.)
I don't remember what this is, but it looks like a sea sponge or something.
I think the meat on the left is tounge, I'm not sure, but I've seen that in Nebraska. And I think the eggs on the right are tea eggs. I haven't figured those out yet, but it's odd because you can buy them everywhere, almost literally. They have them in crock pots in 7-11s. I don't know how you use them but they're very popular.
I do not know what these are. They are also very popular. I think they're a fruit, 'cause I see them sold with other fruit, and I think I saw them on a nature program so I wonder if they're figs. But I can't quite make myself buy a bunch and experiment. I swear I will, if only because it's asinine of me to be buying plums and peaches from freaking California (I'm not kidding, they have the stickers on them), or apples from Chile. I will eat the local fruit soon, if only kiwis from New Zealand, which's almost local now. But those plums were so cheap when we got here, and they were really good, so now I'm kinda hooked.
And I just loved this. Who wouldn't want almond fish? It's like nuts and gum! Together at last! Another thing I might buy just to find out what it's like, at some point, but not quite yet.
Oh, I did get chicken Cheetoes. Seriously. There was a picture of a chicken nugget on the outside of the bag. It was kind of an accident. I wanted Cheetoes, as a kinda friendly food, and they tasted... like chicken. No, not exactly, I really wouldn't have guessed chicken until I looked at the bag to see what it was supposed to be. But it was funny, and I'm getting a lot more careful about what I'm buying.
But the real point of this entry is today's trip. We were visiting the historical neighborhood of the Beitou hotsprings, in the northern edge of Taipei. It takes a while to get there by metro, but it's a really nice ride 'cause the train comes out of the ground and becomes an elevated train half way through the city.
Marie and I passed a small park while we were up there. We saw this kid all tied up in this wheel like a boat steering wheel, and then his friend would come over and spin him around a couple times, but he was laughing like it was high entertainment. It was pretty entertaining for us, too.
I won't bore you with the details of the historic bathhouse. It was a fun little touristy thing to do. And we looked through the Taiwanese Aboriginal cultural center as well. The most interesting thing I noticed about the two places were the lack of English titles. The bathhouse had quite a few translations, but a lot weren't. It was almost pleasant to think that they were more interested in educating the locals, instead of the few real outta-towners. And there was enough to occupy us for a little while and give us an idea of the history. I'd like to go back when our Chinese is better, but I doubt it'll ever be good enough.
And here we are at lunch. There's a chain called I heart Sushi or Sushi Express (I can't tell) here that has the conveyor belt system (that's it behind Marie). We love the one in Seattle called Blue C Sushi. But this one has a little more authentic sushi. And yes, sushi is Japanese, but there's a very long tradition of Japanese living here, and the locals seem to enjoy it as well. And it works for me 'cause Marie's always happier around food, and sushi is a favorite of hers. So despite being a hot, humid day of walking around outside, it was a good day 'cause we had sushi for lunch.
And here's the proof that we're here and actually in Taiwan. I've been looking for quintessentially Taiwanese things, and this's what I came up with. A street so narrow that I can touch both sides at the same time, but it actually has an address. This's XiYuan Rd. Lane, 220, Alley 48. Roads are the big arteries, then the lanes branch off and are smaller, and the alleys smaller still. Technically, I think we live on an alley, but it's no where near this tight. And of course, there are scooters parked in this little bit of space.
Finally, I don't know where else to stick this photo. I held off on it 'cause Marie thinks I'm spending too much time on the scooter thing, but it was just ridiculous how cute this little girl looked in her little helmet on her big scooter.
Kids ride with mom or dad all the time. I've seen two kids and a parent on a scooter several times. They even have these weird bikes with a small seat in front of the rider's with footpegs, so kids who are too big to ride behind mom or dad can ride in front of them. It makes sense in a scooter-focused system, but it sure was unexpected.
I hope these entries are of some interest. If they're too few, it's only because so many things about our lives are becoming common. Riding the subway, going shopping, getting dinner is all old hat by now.
I have finally taught a couple of classes, tho' Marie's taught probably more than a dozen. I don't have a lot of experience, and I dunno what Marie thinks, but it feels like teaching is less a part of the experience, maybe, than if we were working for the Peace Corps. Teaching here is a job, we're employees and treated as such. So it feels like teaching is what we do to fund the rest of our time here. Maybe that'll change as I get some more experience and work more with the other teachers, but for the moment, there's work, and the stuff we do that's more touristy, so that's the stuff I like talking about.
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