I just got home from my Chinese class. As I was riding the metro, and it was running above ground north of Taipei, I was thinking about how it gave a good view of the city. You don't see the details, but you get an overview of what things look like here. And for some reason I was thinking about seeing Taipei on TV. My grandmother told me about seeing a travel show about food in Taiwan. And I recently saw a few minutes of, I think it's called the Great Race: the world-wide scavenger hunt-reality show. I hate those shows, but the race was running through Taipei.
Marie and I've seen a few things, but not much, so I wondered if they'd go someplace I knew. They didn't, and the way the show works, they weren't showing much about the city. But it occurred to me that most travel shows are like an overview of an overview. Like taking a picture of a picture.
Mostly I'm thinking about this because my parents are talking about visiting next summer. And I'm thinking about how much different things seem when you're here (or where ever) versus just watching on TV. The immediacy of the place is paramount. The view is no longer surrounded by the rest of your living room. And the sounds and smells (especially the smells) come into play much more forcefully. And I'm thinking this because I would like to be able to play host for a bit and show mom and dad (or anyone else who'd like to visit) another pretty unusual part of the world (they've already seen a bit of Russia and Tanzinia). But I'm also thinking of the immediacy of the freakin' heat!
We thought we were getting into fall here, finally. I've been hearing nothing but how cool or even cold it's getting practically everywhere in the U.S., like the snowstorm on the east coast. It's still getting up to 30 C here and humid. I still sweat through a shirt just walking three blocks to the air-conditioned metro station.
This's our lesson for the day, ladies and gentlebeings. Taiwan, even tho' it's about the same latitude as Florida, clings to summer like a fat kid clings to cake. It's not really miserable, like the first few weeks, when it was five or ten C hotter and even more humid and we just weren't prepared for it, but it's not cooling like I was expecting, hoping, and making Faustian deals for.
So maybe I'm saying, enjoy your cooler weather. I'd kill for 70 F, as proven by the couple of cockroaches and dozens of ants I've doomed.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Not quite three months in...
...and it's already time to say goodbye to new friends.
Jenn, on the left, went back to the States last week to start work on a post-grad degree. LeeAnne will be leaving soon to travel southeast Asia with a friend. Keith and I spent quality time with these girls and they have really helped us settle in.
I suppose it's logical, in a place where we're in such a minority, that the western teachers would come together, welcome each other and offer assistance. But I've been surprised at how much good advice we've received, and how much people really make us feel welcome. And I don't think it's just that so many of them are Canadians ;)
The party Keith mentions in the last post was for these two. But even as we say goodbye we've already welcomed other new teachers who now can use our help. I'm glad we have such good examples to follow.
Jenn, on the left, went back to the States last week to start work on a post-grad degree. LeeAnne will be leaving soon to travel southeast Asia with a friend. Keith and I spent quality time with these girls and they have really helped us settle in.
I suppose it's logical, in a place where we're in such a minority, that the western teachers would come together, welcome each other and offer assistance. But I've been surprised at how much good advice we've received, and how much people really make us feel welcome. And I don't think it's just that so many of them are Canadians ;)The party Keith mentions in the last post was for these two. But even as we say goodbye we've already welcomed other new teachers who now can use our help. I'm glad we have such good examples to follow.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Party party
Hi everybody! Hi Dr. Nick!
We went to a party at a friend and former co-worker of Marie's last weekend. Emma and Grant have this amazing apartment with a ridiculous view. They'd been working here as teachers, like Marie and I (Marie worked with Emma for a couple of weeks before she got her great job) and we'd met them just after we arrived. They're a couple of very friendly, helpful, and generally agreeable people. I wish I were more like them.
This's Emma. Any necessary apologies to her. I was taking pictures without a flash, so I wouldn't seem so obvious and a little more candid. But I did get a lot of blur.
We had a great time talking with people Marie works with and eating food everyone brought. Notably, someone brought these sandwiches that were a little like pizza, with spicy meat and cheese, and I asked where they came from, thinking it was one of the more homey tastes I'd had in a while. The answer was, "Costco." Oh. Figures.
This's Marie (center) with (left to right) Jenn, Lee-Anne, and Rowan in Grant and Emma's huge and well lighted living room.
Every place here has tile floors. No carpet. At first we were assuming it was for easier cleaning and we were marveling at how much difference carpeting made, and how dirty our carpets must've been. But I'm rethinking that. A local I'm tutoring noted it was because of the pollution. And there is a lot of dust or dirt or soot that seems to collect in a few days. So maybe it is more about the city than just not having carpets. I'll have to find a way to test that theory.
Isn't Marie cute.
This's Katie taking a picture off the balcony of the seventh floor apartment, which has no building opposite it. This's far north of the core of Taipei (and where Marie and I live) so there are still open spaces. You can just see the field, of maybe rice, opposite the building. They have a very long view, at least when the pollution and clouds aren't bad. But it was amazing to see the view and their apartment. They even have an entire half of the apartment they don't even use. At the risk of divulging details, Emma said she gets paid more than Marie does (which is enough to support the two of us on a frugal budget) to just be on call in case her employer has time to work on learning English. And the apartment comes with Grant's job.
It was at this party Marie and I had a really odd conversation about recognizing people. I thought I saw someone I recognized from work on the street below, which I do almost every day on the metro, but then I think, "that's absurd, what're the odds in a city of 2.5 million you're seeing one of the twelve people you know?" And I look again, and it's never them. I mentioned this to Marie who said it's the other way for her. She's probably not recognizing people she does know, for the same reason of similarity. But for the height of irony, the guy I saw from seven floors up, was in fact one of my co-workers coming to that party. I don't know what any of that means, but it was an interesting occurrence.
And Marie and I have begun Chinese lessons. Marie's been taking lessons for a couple of weeks now. I'm only just starting, so she's got an advantage, but I'm remembering that I'm really bad in the early stages of language acquisition. I can't hear a word and understand it. I have to read it and think about it before I can actually use it. So I'm ridiculously slow in classroom conversations. Marie kills me when we play games in class that involve answering questions in Chinese.
But I've got more hours at my school now. It's not what I was expecting. I thought I'd be more tired, but I'm not tired from working or standing for hours or being energetic and controlling 20 seven-year-olds, or energizing 20 fifteen-year-olds. I'm just run down from thinking about the next thing I have to do, what do I have to do at school and when does that mean I have to be there so I have to leave at what time? My schedule is different every day; I can't count on going to work at a certain time every day, so it's a little tough to keep track of.
But it's not boring, and the money is beginning to be what we'd expected, so we're both pleased with that. And it is getting just a bit easier every time. There are still set backs and mistakes, but I don't seem to be making the same mistakes, so things are getting easier, I think.
Next week Marie and I and a bunch of people are going on a rafting trip on our one day off, so we'll have some really good photos and tales to tell, provided my camera's waterproof, otherwise one of the tales will be about the photos that got away.
We went to a party at a friend and former co-worker of Marie's last weekend. Emma and Grant have this amazing apartment with a ridiculous view. They'd been working here as teachers, like Marie and I (Marie worked with Emma for a couple of weeks before she got her great job) and we'd met them just after we arrived. They're a couple of very friendly, helpful, and generally agreeable people. I wish I were more like them.
This's Emma. Any necessary apologies to her. I was taking pictures without a flash, so I wouldn't seem so obvious and a little more candid. But I did get a lot of blur.
We had a great time talking with people Marie works with and eating food everyone brought. Notably, someone brought these sandwiches that were a little like pizza, with spicy meat and cheese, and I asked where they came from, thinking it was one of the more homey tastes I'd had in a while. The answer was, "Costco." Oh. Figures.
This's Marie (center) with (left to right) Jenn, Lee-Anne, and Rowan in Grant and Emma's huge and well lighted living room.
Every place here has tile floors. No carpet. At first we were assuming it was for easier cleaning and we were marveling at how much difference carpeting made, and how dirty our carpets must've been. But I'm rethinking that. A local I'm tutoring noted it was because of the pollution. And there is a lot of dust or dirt or soot that seems to collect in a few days. So maybe it is more about the city than just not having carpets. I'll have to find a way to test that theory.
Isn't Marie cute.
This's Katie taking a picture off the balcony of the seventh floor apartment, which has no building opposite it. This's far north of the core of Taipei (and where Marie and I live) so there are still open spaces. You can just see the field, of maybe rice, opposite the building. They have a very long view, at least when the pollution and clouds aren't bad. But it was amazing to see the view and their apartment. They even have an entire half of the apartment they don't even use. At the risk of divulging details, Emma said she gets paid more than Marie does (which is enough to support the two of us on a frugal budget) to just be on call in case her employer has time to work on learning English. And the apartment comes with Grant's job.
It was at this party Marie and I had a really odd conversation about recognizing people. I thought I saw someone I recognized from work on the street below, which I do almost every day on the metro, but then I think, "that's absurd, what're the odds in a city of 2.5 million you're seeing one of the twelve people you know?" And I look again, and it's never them. I mentioned this to Marie who said it's the other way for her. She's probably not recognizing people she does know, for the same reason of similarity. But for the height of irony, the guy I saw from seven floors up, was in fact one of my co-workers coming to that party. I don't know what any of that means, but it was an interesting occurrence.
And Marie and I have begun Chinese lessons. Marie's been taking lessons for a couple of weeks now. I'm only just starting, so she's got an advantage, but I'm remembering that I'm really bad in the early stages of language acquisition. I can't hear a word and understand it. I have to read it and think about it before I can actually use it. So I'm ridiculously slow in classroom conversations. Marie kills me when we play games in class that involve answering questions in Chinese.
But I've got more hours at my school now. It's not what I was expecting. I thought I'd be more tired, but I'm not tired from working or standing for hours or being energetic and controlling 20 seven-year-olds, or energizing 20 fifteen-year-olds. I'm just run down from thinking about the next thing I have to do, what do I have to do at school and when does that mean I have to be there so I have to leave at what time? My schedule is different every day; I can't count on going to work at a certain time every day, so it's a little tough to keep track of.
But it's not boring, and the money is beginning to be what we'd expected, so we're both pleased with that. And it is getting just a bit easier every time. There are still set backs and mistakes, but I don't seem to be making the same mistakes, so things are getting easier, I think.
Next week Marie and I and a bunch of people are going on a rafting trip on our one day off, so we'll have some really good photos and tales to tell, provided my camera's waterproof, otherwise one of the tales will be about the photos that got away.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Really, I know geography, I swear!
Kinda embarrassing, but I just realized how wrong I was about where New Zealand is. A couple of entries ago I was talking about how it really isn't that hard to fly here, so a few more hours to New Zealand wouldn't be that bad. Of course, this might be true if New Zealand was where I thought it was, in Papua New Guinea.
I learned the hard way when Marie and I were just talking about big vacations we might take next year. New Zealand popped into my head immediately because I've heard stories from Mike and Becky. And, I thought, "it's on this side of the ocean so it's really close." Sadly, maybe because I'm an American and there's been no war there I don't know where it is.
We did a quick search for flights and of course it really isn't that close. All the flights were ten, twelve, fifteen hours. I couldn't understand (and prices were $1,200, $1,500, etc.) how that could be. So Marie pulled up a map and I had one of those "ohhhh" moments, after which I wondered where the heck I got the idea that New Zealand was north of Australia, instead of a couple thousand miles southeast. Whose job was it to teach me geography?
But that's one way to really learn something. Forget writing it down and listening to it and teaching it to someone. Make a fool of yourself telling it to people incorrectly. Good luck ever forgetting that fact again.
But, we are closer to New Zealand, by about half the distance. All the flights from the U.S. claim it's a 24 hour flight (two-four) to New Zealand. Whew. That's hard to even imagine. I didn't suffer too much to fly overnight to get here, but I dunno. I'm not sure that trip's gonna happen. Even Australia's still ten hours and $1,200 apiece away. That might be a bit much for a couple of weeks. We'll see, I suppose.
So, that's the educational bit for me. Let this be a lesson to you!
I learned the hard way when Marie and I were just talking about big vacations we might take next year. New Zealand popped into my head immediately because I've heard stories from Mike and Becky. And, I thought, "it's on this side of the ocean so it's really close." Sadly, maybe because I'm an American and there's been no war there I don't know where it is.
We did a quick search for flights and of course it really isn't that close. All the flights were ten, twelve, fifteen hours. I couldn't understand (and prices were $1,200, $1,500, etc.) how that could be. So Marie pulled up a map and I had one of those "ohhhh" moments, after which I wondered where the heck I got the idea that New Zealand was north of Australia, instead of a couple thousand miles southeast. Whose job was it to teach me geography?
But that's one way to really learn something. Forget writing it down and listening to it and teaching it to someone. Make a fool of yourself telling it to people incorrectly. Good luck ever forgetting that fact again.
But, we are closer to New Zealand, by about half the distance. All the flights from the U.S. claim it's a 24 hour flight (two-four) to New Zealand. Whew. That's hard to even imagine. I didn't suffer too much to fly overnight to get here, but I dunno. I'm not sure that trip's gonna happen. Even Australia's still ten hours and $1,200 apiece away. That might be a bit much for a couple of weeks. We'll see, I suppose.
So, that's the educational bit for me. Let this be a lesson to you!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
What's new at the zoo?
Taipei does have a very good zoo. It's larger than I thought it would be, and for only 30 NT it's really worth going. We were there for four hours on Friday, and we didn't get to see everything.
We did, however, learn that going on a major national holiday is not the best idea.
I think this illustrates something I just learned (notice that the river of people goes right up the hill in the distance). In Taipei, there are about 25,000 people per square mile. It sounds pretty scary, but it actually makes it easier to know, yes, it really is crowded. You're not imagining it.
I shouldn't be surprised that the zoo here is so well done. The island's population is 25 million or so, most within a couple of hours by train, but I was still impressed by what they had, like Insect World, here.
We considered adding this guy, a black beetle, to our list of giant inflatable animals, but he's neither inflatable nor animal. But we did take a photo 'cause he is giant.
But part of Insect World is a butterfly house. Marie and I got to see the new butterfly environment at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha over the summer, but this one was a little more fun. The H-D Zoo had many more butterflies and moths, but they seemed a little standoffish. The ones in the Taipei zoo would float and flit around the patrons, daring people to try and photograph them in mid-air. I tried a couple times, but all for naught. But they were very photogenic insects. They'd sit very still while I got the camera right next to them for a photo.
I realize now that I didn't get the names of these. Not that it really makes a difference, I suppose, but somehow it feels incomplete that I can't remember even a common name of one of these.
Okay, except for this Monarch, here. I suspect that these are common butterflies to the region. In Omaha they had this complicated airlock system to keep butterflies in, either 'cause they're hard to raise or they could contaminate the environment. Here, we walked through a draft of air, and that was considered enough to prevent the butterflies from escaping. When we walked outside, it looked like the same butterflies were harassing the flowers just outside the building. I suspect that the environment is so people can walk among butterflies year-round.
Oh, but most of you will be happy to know I decided not to post the photo of the giant snail we saw in the butterfly house.
And we saw many more expected zoo residents.
Most of the animals seemed either pleasantly bored like this Meerkat, or, frankly, a little crazed.
Mama lion here was doing laps back and forth (that's a serious pane of glass between me and her). There were only a couple of lions in here, and the space was wide, but she seemed pretty wound up. Her cub was really cute. I couldn't get a decent shot of him as he stalked and pounced on her as she walked, but it was keeping a couple dozen patrons amused.
And we watched the Macaques for quite a while. There were maybe a dozen of different ages on this island. I don't understand the barbed wire around the trees. It certainly didn't stop them from climbing the trees; at best it slowed them down a little. And I tried very hard to get a couple of action shots of the younger ones tumbling and playing, but they're just to fast for my camera.
And there's always a problem person in any group. We'd been watching for fifteen minutes and someone threw a handful of food across the water. It was pretty funny to see the big Macaque dive into the water after it, but it didn't seem very good for the animal. Worse still when the twit threw a tied plastic bag of food onto the island, which the animals wrestled over and chased until after we left.
Personally, I liked the Austrailian tortise. Very camera friendly. I think Marie actually asked, "how do they tell them apart?" And this guy turned around and there was a big "4" on his shell. And you can't really tell, but this guy is not small. That shell is bigger than a manhole cover.
This actually scared me a bit. There was only a concrete, knee-high wall with the chest-high rail, and a trench a couple of feet deep and a couple of feet wide between us and these couple of White rhinos. They seemed either bored or complacent, but it still felt like being a little too close. Especially after seeing the bit with the Macaques and the food. I was waiting for someone to throw something or just generally tick the rhino off. Standing here I could only remember that elephants can't jump, but I dunno about rhinos. And if they can we'd be in serious trouble 'cause I don't think that little wall would slow him down if he was even mildly grumpy.
The giraffes were big here (at the end of Marie's nose), pardon the pun. Maybe 'cause they had a large paddock and a long rail where people could watch 'em. This was from the back of the yard 'cause I thought the photo was funny.
We didn't get to see the arctic animals or the asian ones. So we have a reason to go back, hopefully when it's not so warm or crowded.
And on Sunday we went to a movie with a friend of Marie's and a friend of hers. "Burn After Reading" by the Coen brothers was pretty good, and pretty funny, but we we all a bit surprised by the amount of violence. Marie and I had the idea it'd be more humor, less blood. There was a really funny scene when Brad Pitt's nose is bleeding, but it seemed more about the amount of comedy and stupidity in some dramatic events. Weird.
But we learned a couple of ins and outs (literally) of seeing a movie, here. One was they'll sell you popcorn and soda with the ticket, then you have to go find the stand to get the popcorn and soda. But there's no benefit to buying it with the ticket. Odd. And the really funny part was we had to buy the tickets then leave the building, cross a pedestrian area and go into another building to find the right theater.
I also have to say, I'm really glad I wasn't a teenager around here. They don't give the poor kids working at the theater an inch of self-respect. They have to wear these hats with big cardboard signs on 'em with ads for a movie or the theater.
And in our animal-zoo theme, I'll end with this, because it's funny.
Next time, really, beach, I swear.
We did, however, learn that going on a major national holiday is not the best idea.
I think this illustrates something I just learned (notice that the river of people goes right up the hill in the distance). In Taipei, there are about 25,000 people per square mile. It sounds pretty scary, but it actually makes it easier to know, yes, it really is crowded. You're not imagining it.
I shouldn't be surprised that the zoo here is so well done. The island's population is 25 million or so, most within a couple of hours by train, but I was still impressed by what they had, like Insect World, here.
We considered adding this guy, a black beetle, to our list of giant inflatable animals, but he's neither inflatable nor animal. But we did take a photo 'cause he is giant.
But part of Insect World is a butterfly house. Marie and I got to see the new butterfly environment at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha over the summer, but this one was a little more fun. The H-D Zoo had many more butterflies and moths, but they seemed a little standoffish. The ones in the Taipei zoo would float and flit around the patrons, daring people to try and photograph them in mid-air. I tried a couple times, but all for naught. But they were very photogenic insects. They'd sit very still while I got the camera right next to them for a photo.
I realize now that I didn't get the names of these. Not that it really makes a difference, I suppose, but somehow it feels incomplete that I can't remember even a common name of one of these.
Okay, except for this Monarch, here. I suspect that these are common butterflies to the region. In Omaha they had this complicated airlock system to keep butterflies in, either 'cause they're hard to raise or they could contaminate the environment. Here, we walked through a draft of air, and that was considered enough to prevent the butterflies from escaping. When we walked outside, it looked like the same butterflies were harassing the flowers just outside the building. I suspect that the environment is so people can walk among butterflies year-round.
Oh, but most of you will be happy to know I decided not to post the photo of the giant snail we saw in the butterfly house.
And we saw many more expected zoo residents.
Most of the animals seemed either pleasantly bored like this Meerkat, or, frankly, a little crazed.
Mama lion here was doing laps back and forth (that's a serious pane of glass between me and her). There were only a couple of lions in here, and the space was wide, but she seemed pretty wound up. Her cub was really cute. I couldn't get a decent shot of him as he stalked and pounced on her as she walked, but it was keeping a couple dozen patrons amused.
And we watched the Macaques for quite a while. There were maybe a dozen of different ages on this island. I don't understand the barbed wire around the trees. It certainly didn't stop them from climbing the trees; at best it slowed them down a little. And I tried very hard to get a couple of action shots of the younger ones tumbling and playing, but they're just to fast for my camera.
And there's always a problem person in any group. We'd been watching for fifteen minutes and someone threw a handful of food across the water. It was pretty funny to see the big Macaque dive into the water after it, but it didn't seem very good for the animal. Worse still when the twit threw a tied plastic bag of food onto the island, which the animals wrestled over and chased until after we left.
Personally, I liked the Austrailian tortise. Very camera friendly. I think Marie actually asked, "how do they tell them apart?" And this guy turned around and there was a big "4" on his shell. And you can't really tell, but this guy is not small. That shell is bigger than a manhole cover.
This actually scared me a bit. There was only a concrete, knee-high wall with the chest-high rail, and a trench a couple of feet deep and a couple of feet wide between us and these couple of White rhinos. They seemed either bored or complacent, but it still felt like being a little too close. Especially after seeing the bit with the Macaques and the food. I was waiting for someone to throw something or just generally tick the rhino off. Standing here I could only remember that elephants can't jump, but I dunno about rhinos. And if they can we'd be in serious trouble 'cause I don't think that little wall would slow him down if he was even mildly grumpy.
The giraffes were big here (at the end of Marie's nose), pardon the pun. Maybe 'cause they had a large paddock and a long rail where people could watch 'em. This was from the back of the yard 'cause I thought the photo was funny.
We didn't get to see the arctic animals or the asian ones. So we have a reason to go back, hopefully when it's not so warm or crowded.
And on Sunday we went to a movie with a friend of Marie's and a friend of hers. "Burn After Reading" by the Coen brothers was pretty good, and pretty funny, but we we all a bit surprised by the amount of violence. Marie and I had the idea it'd be more humor, less blood. There was a really funny scene when Brad Pitt's nose is bleeding, but it seemed more about the amount of comedy and stupidity in some dramatic events. Weird.
But we learned a couple of ins and outs (literally) of seeing a movie, here. One was they'll sell you popcorn and soda with the ticket, then you have to go find the stand to get the popcorn and soda. But there's no benefit to buying it with the ticket. Odd. And the really funny part was we had to buy the tickets then leave the building, cross a pedestrian area and go into another building to find the right theater.
I also have to say, I'm really glad I wasn't a teenager around here. They don't give the poor kids working at the theater an inch of self-respect. They have to wear these hats with big cardboard signs on 'em with ads for a movie or the theater.
And in our animal-zoo theme, I'll end with this, because it's funny.
Next time, really, beach, I swear.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Greetings sports fans!
It's 2:30 a.m. here but this's the only way I get to sorta participate in Seattle getting whomped by the Giants, through nfl.com's play-by-play. And thanks to Dov for showing me that. It's a little bit of home that's much better than reading all the commentary on Monday. I might rethink this habit if the Seachickens don't figure out a way to win, but it does give me time to say hi to you all.
Oh, and I've been meaning to say thanks to Karl. He recommended the camera I'm using, and it's been a really good tool for what we're doing. On that note, on with the photos: food first.
I know what you're thinking: that looks like a bag of squid, but that's just ridiculous. And you'd be right, it is ridiculous, but it's also a bag of squid. The ridiculous part is it's sold next to ice cream. Seriously, the two things this little shop sold: ice cream and bags of squid. I am beside myself with both mirth and disgust. Whether that means there are four of me, I'll leave to you, dear reader. But this little experience reminds me that culture shock seems to be starting to set in.
I was walking to a bus stop in an unfamiliar neighborhood the other day, and I suddenly had a very strong sense of anxiety and frustration over not being able to walk on the sidewalk. Very early I took pictures of parked scooters filling the sidewalks. In the less planned neighborhoods, scooter parking takes precidence over space for people to walk, so everyone ends up in the street. The drivers are surprisingly good about this and there really isn't much honking about the herds of people filling the streets to go around the scooters. But I just had a twinge of "why?" accompanied by a sort of homesickness for Redmond, Seattle, Phoenix, and even Norfolk where the sidewalks were not filling in as parking lots. They all also differ in not being filled with people like here, but that's a different set of emotions.
In that vein, I'm really glad we went south of Taipei this weekend.
This's near the end line of the Muzha (said kinda like Mu-ch-zha) metro, where the Taipei zoo is. I took this photo for several reasons: the green hills are the most vegetation I've seen I think since we got here; very refreshing. Also the parking lot is the largest one I've seen here. It surprised me to see this much concrete dedicated to cars, but it makes sense, with whole families coming to the zoo, scooters don't make as much sense, and lots of people just take the metro. Next, it's raining and it was cool. It felt really good to be outside on a finally coolish day, even if we did get a bit wet. And it's hard to see from here, but they have huge sidewalks. Lots and lots of space for the really big zoo crowds, which weren't out today. So it was also a great time of not having to dodge people every few steps.
We were actually too late to get into the zoo, but we knew it was too late; we just wanted to find it and see if it was worth another trip, probably next Friday when we have a national holiday. Around here we've learned if we really want a trouble free excursion, we need to be willing to make a dry run at finding a place. But it definitely is worth coming back for. It has several environments with several dozen animals. It's not the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, which can charge $15 or $20 per person, but it only charges 60 NT. That's about $2, so, good deal.
And the trip gave us another installment in our giant inflatable animal series.
It's not really giant, except relatively, and it's not the whole animal, but man these things were popular. I never did figure out what they were good for, except whacking your little sister with.
And here we are having a surprisingly expensive, but surprisingly appetizing dinner. It was about 900 NT each, and then a half bottle of wine, totaling about 2500 NT, or around $80. So, pretty expensive, even for Seattle, but it had an appetizer, soup, salad, entree, dessert, and tea. And I was really surprised by the flavors. I had what they called a chef salad as the salad. It was like a mini chef salad, with a zippy orange-kinda dressing, unexpected but very good. And it's the first time we've had steak since we've been here, so that made everyone happy. And they were both good cuts of meat and done about the way we wanted, which's kind of a miracle with language barrier, and it felt like the server was surprised by us ordering medium rare. I wonder if that's an unpopular choice or if I was just reading her wrong. Whatever it was, we had a very good meal and evening.
This was also kind of a celebration for finally making enough money to live independent of our savings, tho' the celebration might've pushed us back into the red.
This's why there aren't more pictures of me. This's our night out, but I really don't know why Marie kept turning the camera every which way but level.
And I'm just learning that my wife has a juvenile sense of humor. She demanded that I take this picture. Maybe this's where I'm wrong. I thought it was kinda funny, but I didn't think we needed proof. This sorta thing is on every other sign, t-shirt, you name it. This's probably the record holder for size, prestige, and unfortunate meaning, but I just didn't think it was that funny. I thought the squid and ice cream was a lot funnier. I mean, if they sold bras or swimsuits that would've been funny!
But some of us are on the lookout for culture.
This's obviously a street performance, and that is a basket over what I'm assuming is her head (assuming the her, not the head). I couldn't read any of the descriptions, so I don't know if this's traditional music and attire, but I have the impression it is. And I'm sorry to say I didn't listen to much of the music, but it was pleasant to hear after the kids covering pop songs on the other end of the block.
Finally, I've been reading a little of the ongoing complaints from Seattlites about the new light rail and how much it costs and won't be cost efficient even if people ride it and blah blah blah. I'd really like those people to come here and see things like this. This's about ten o'clock on a Saturday night, when people in the U.S. are taking their cars because anything else's too much of a pain. They have a really good system in place here, so people use it. And you have to start building somewhere. And if anyone saw the amount of people this thing carries on a regular basis and calculated what would happen if all these people were even riding two to a scooter, they'd see how this system is the only thing standing between Taipei and mass gridlock.
Personally, it seems like a good idea to build the emergency release valve before you need it. But, the fact that Seattle couldn't get it's act together on this until just recently and is still whining about it, and Portland saw the need ten or fifteen years ago, is part of the reason we're seriously thinking about moving there when we've seen enough of the world.
So, sorry, still no beach trip, but confidence is high! We have next Friday off, so I'm hoping we can go to the beach either Friday or Sunday and the zoo the other. So I hope I'll have lots of stuff to show how much more fun we're having than you!
Oh, and I've been meaning to say thanks to Karl. He recommended the camera I'm using, and it's been a really good tool for what we're doing. On that note, on with the photos: food first.
I know what you're thinking: that looks like a bag of squid, but that's just ridiculous. And you'd be right, it is ridiculous, but it's also a bag of squid. The ridiculous part is it's sold next to ice cream. Seriously, the two things this little shop sold: ice cream and bags of squid. I am beside myself with both mirth and disgust. Whether that means there are four of me, I'll leave to you, dear reader. But this little experience reminds me that culture shock seems to be starting to set in.
I was walking to a bus stop in an unfamiliar neighborhood the other day, and I suddenly had a very strong sense of anxiety and frustration over not being able to walk on the sidewalk. Very early I took pictures of parked scooters filling the sidewalks. In the less planned neighborhoods, scooter parking takes precidence over space for people to walk, so everyone ends up in the street. The drivers are surprisingly good about this and there really isn't much honking about the herds of people filling the streets to go around the scooters. But I just had a twinge of "why?" accompanied by a sort of homesickness for Redmond, Seattle, Phoenix, and even Norfolk where the sidewalks were not filling in as parking lots. They all also differ in not being filled with people like here, but that's a different set of emotions.
In that vein, I'm really glad we went south of Taipei this weekend.
This's near the end line of the Muzha (said kinda like Mu-ch-zha) metro, where the Taipei zoo is. I took this photo for several reasons: the green hills are the most vegetation I've seen I think since we got here; very refreshing. Also the parking lot is the largest one I've seen here. It surprised me to see this much concrete dedicated to cars, but it makes sense, with whole families coming to the zoo, scooters don't make as much sense, and lots of people just take the metro. Next, it's raining and it was cool. It felt really good to be outside on a finally coolish day, even if we did get a bit wet. And it's hard to see from here, but they have huge sidewalks. Lots and lots of space for the really big zoo crowds, which weren't out today. So it was also a great time of not having to dodge people every few steps.
We were actually too late to get into the zoo, but we knew it was too late; we just wanted to find it and see if it was worth another trip, probably next Friday when we have a national holiday. Around here we've learned if we really want a trouble free excursion, we need to be willing to make a dry run at finding a place. But it definitely is worth coming back for. It has several environments with several dozen animals. It's not the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, which can charge $15 or $20 per person, but it only charges 60 NT. That's about $2, so, good deal.
And the trip gave us another installment in our giant inflatable animal series.
It's not really giant, except relatively, and it's not the whole animal, but man these things were popular. I never did figure out what they were good for, except whacking your little sister with.
And here we are having a surprisingly expensive, but surprisingly appetizing dinner. It was about 900 NT each, and then a half bottle of wine, totaling about 2500 NT, or around $80. So, pretty expensive, even for Seattle, but it had an appetizer, soup, salad, entree, dessert, and tea. And I was really surprised by the flavors. I had what they called a chef salad as the salad. It was like a mini chef salad, with a zippy orange-kinda dressing, unexpected but very good. And it's the first time we've had steak since we've been here, so that made everyone happy. And they were both good cuts of meat and done about the way we wanted, which's kind of a miracle with language barrier, and it felt like the server was surprised by us ordering medium rare. I wonder if that's an unpopular choice or if I was just reading her wrong. Whatever it was, we had a very good meal and evening.
This was also kind of a celebration for finally making enough money to live independent of our savings, tho' the celebration might've pushed us back into the red.
This's why there aren't more pictures of me. This's our night out, but I really don't know why Marie kept turning the camera every which way but level.
And I'm just learning that my wife has a juvenile sense of humor. She demanded that I take this picture. Maybe this's where I'm wrong. I thought it was kinda funny, but I didn't think we needed proof. This sorta thing is on every other sign, t-shirt, you name it. This's probably the record holder for size, prestige, and unfortunate meaning, but I just didn't think it was that funny. I thought the squid and ice cream was a lot funnier. I mean, if they sold bras or swimsuits that would've been funny!
But some of us are on the lookout for culture.
This's obviously a street performance, and that is a basket over what I'm assuming is her head (assuming the her, not the head). I couldn't read any of the descriptions, so I don't know if this's traditional music and attire, but I have the impression it is. And I'm sorry to say I didn't listen to much of the music, but it was pleasant to hear after the kids covering pop songs on the other end of the block.
Finally, I've been reading a little of the ongoing complaints from Seattlites about the new light rail and how much it costs and won't be cost efficient even if people ride it and blah blah blah. I'd really like those people to come here and see things like this. This's about ten o'clock on a Saturday night, when people in the U.S. are taking their cars because anything else's too much of a pain. They have a really good system in place here, so people use it. And you have to start building somewhere. And if anyone saw the amount of people this thing carries on a regular basis and calculated what would happen if all these people were even riding two to a scooter, they'd see how this system is the only thing standing between Taipei and mass gridlock.
Personally, it seems like a good idea to build the emergency release valve before you need it. But, the fact that Seattle couldn't get it's act together on this until just recently and is still whining about it, and Portland saw the need ten or fifteen years ago, is part of the reason we're seriously thinking about moving there when we've seen enough of the world.
So, sorry, still no beach trip, but confidence is high! We have next Friday off, so I'm hoping we can go to the beach either Friday or Sunday and the zoo the other. So I hope I'll have lots of stuff to show how much more fun we're having than you!
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