Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Springing It Up
I've decided the blog here was suffering from a serious case of the February bleaks, so I've punched up the color. It's still not as colorful as I had hoped (I could not find a suitably sunshiney yellow), but it's an improvement. You all can register your approval or disapproval in the usual manner with the usual lack of bindingness. Not much is going on here, we attended the local Lantern Festival which was rather sedate. I should have some pictures up at the end of the week or so. Ellie leaves for Hong Kong tomorrow to apply for another visitor visa so she can stay for another two months (and work illegally). She's nervous because the last teachers who did that were held in Hong Kong for five days before being approved. Apparently being stuck in Hong Kong just doesn't appeal to her. I keep reminding her of the bright side, being deported still means going home (well, to Belgium at least). Don't worry too much about her, her grandfather has made "arrangements" with his "Italian" business acquaintances in case of trouble. (That's really how she said it too, though "Sicilian" is more accurate, if we're going to be pointing fingers.) Besides, those are the best "arrangements" to have--they work!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
BREAKING NEWS--I'M IN--WITH MONEY!!!
This just in--Boulder says yes!!! They want me to come to their graduate program. So much, they're offering financial support. Multiple forms of financial support. I don't know how good it is, but I think they might like me. I'm just so relieved it wasn't a rejection. That I could have dealt with, except this was in an e-mail and from a person named Stormy. Rejection is a fact of life, but being told you're not good enough to make the cut by a person named Stormy? That's just too cruel.
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Rise and Fall of a Great Beard
Paul finally broke down and purchased himself a razor (the first such purchase in 8 months--and no, disposable razors do not last that long, even four of them) after much forgetfulness on the part of his wife and what happens? He decides to renounce shaving completely and embrace his inner woodsman. It's been exactly two weeks now and I must say, the beard is coming along nicely. I don't know how long it actually takes to grow a fabulously full beard, but it seems on-track. We're well out of the out of pokey hedgehog stage, so that's nice. I really like it right now, but I guess we'll see how everything looks when it's done. I don't want any crumbs getting caught. I'll try to take a picture, but you know how elusive the Paul can be. I might have to ambush him while sleeping. It's mean, but you should all be able to gaze upon the growth (in wonder, no doubt) yourselves.
Addendum:
Sadly, there will be no pictures or full beard, for it met an all-too-soon demise today. Our boss didn't feel the love, despite ILP's previous assurance that they were down with beards. The fates continue to conspire against facial hair, as Paul has been beardless by force (of grooming standards) for the last seven years between the mission, BYU, and now Taiwan. Is there no rest for those weary of shaving?
Addendum:
Sadly, there will be no pictures or full beard, for it met an all-too-soon demise today. Our boss didn't feel the love, despite ILP's previous assurance that they were down with beards. The fates continue to conspire against facial hair, as Paul has been beardless by force (of grooming standards) for the last seven years between the mission, BYU, and now Taiwan. Is there no rest for those weary of shaving?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Someone ate my Pickles and Messed with my Ginger Ale
Someone ate my pickles and messed with my ginger ale. I'm not pointing any fingers, but only one other person in this house has a jar of pickles--a jar that has remained suspiciously full--and my ginger ale is woefully lacking in sugar. (Never thought I would complain about that.) J'accuse you, Swcheppes Australia Ltd.!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Alas!! They Were So Sacrificial!
Paul and I boldly sallied forth today to visit Tainan, a city an hour-and-a-half away by train. It was mainly Paul's doing since I was sick and grumpy after three-ish hours of sleep (yeah, not good, but not my fault. I went to bed at a near-to-reasonable hour. If my body refuses to sleep, that's its problem).
Our first stop was the Confucian Temple complex, which was very nice. It was well-preserved and run by adorably friendly people (they gave us an extra map). It was the only Confucian temple where I've ever since people worship. There was a little musuem in the outlying buildings with artifacts, pictures, and English explanations. Paul was really put off by the animal sacrifices. Apparently, Tainan celebrates Confucius' birthday with a big ceremony that includes the sacrifice of a cow, goat, and pig. Paul wishes to mention that the pond in the complex had swimming turtles in it, not turtles just chilling on logs or whatever, but actually swimming around. They were cute.
After that, I was a little cheerier and Paul talked me into stopping at Lily Fruit Shop, where we got a bowl of shaved ice topped with passionfruit syrup. Here's a rare picture of a smiling Paul at the shop. (It's rare to see a picture of the elusive Paul, not that it's rare for him to smile.) We continued on to the South Gate, which was fun and had a random collection of steles. My favorite was one commissioned by the town's salt merchants to thank the magistrate for releasing emergency salt after some ships sunk in a storm in 1784. Here, we met an elderly woman (80s) who was amused to see us foreigners reading signs about monuments we couldn't read. (I know this, because she said it to us in Chinese.) She was sweet, but what was distinctive about her was her feet. The first thing Paul said when we were out of earshot was, "Did she have bound feet?" I agree there was something unusual about her feet in both small size and uncommon shape, but I'm fairly certain anyone who ever had bound feet in Taiwan is long dead. It was at any rate an unexpected sight and while admittedly fascinated, I didn't dare to look for too long, lest we be caught staring.
We bravely walked on to the Temple of the Five Consorts, which was Paul's favorite temple of the day. It's dedicated to the five wives of the last king of Taiwan, who committed suicide after learning that he had committed suicide in anticipation of losing his throne. The temple was small, but had a lot of open ground (green space is very rare here and usually found as part of a temple's grounds) and a beautiful little flower garden. The second memorial (the first is in the South Gate's collection) to the women praised their virtue in such exaggerated moralistic tones, it was unbelievably over-the-top in English. The title of this post is a direct quote from the memorial. The last line was "The effects of their good virtue will eternally spread." The whole site had the appearance of someone's pet project. (A smaller related shrine was getting all of its interior decoration replaced and had a pad for kneeling--very unusual for such a small public shrine.)
We got a little lost after that, but my mediocre Chinese and Paul's navigational skills pulled us through and we were eventually able to find our destination of Koxinga's Shrine. Paul argued that since it was built in 1967, it really couldn't be considered a historical site. He's right, but I'm glad we went because the decoration on it was lovely and they were getting ready for a big festival to be held there next week, so everything was being repaired and painted. It also had nice grounds, though no flowers.
Across the street was the Lady Linshui's temple, which was the second-best temple we've seen in Taiwan. (Longshan in Taibei is still the best.) It was packed with families (Lady Linshui and her helpers are dedicated to helping women and children) and dozens of small shrines and three big ones. This was the first temple where a religious ceremony was taking place while we wandered by. It was very cool.
By now we were starting to flag, but we squeezed in two more temples, both of which were minor disappointments. If you bill yourself as having horrific murals of hell, you better have horrific pictures of hell, not a single etched metal sheet showing general demon poking of humans.
Completely flagging, we dragged ourselves to a restaurant recommended in the guidebook, where I couldn't read any of the dishes to save my life. Eventually, the one employee with some English was sent our way. She set us up with what we requested (dry--which means cooked and not in a soup--noodles) and a shop speciality. It was all very cheap, so we said yes. I really liked the noodles, Paul was indifferent. (I wound up finishing his bowl.) The speciality was gross on all accounts, but oh well. 1 for 2 isn't bad.
Somewhat restored, we walked down a block to the Chikan towers. The towers themselves aren't that impressive--just two big, kind of old towers, but the ground were pretty and packed to the gills with families. It was a happening place, where you can borrow costumes to dress up in for a picture and there are billions of GIANT goldfish eager to be fed (which is surprisingly fun). The towers weren't overly exciting, but it was fun to be where people were. There was live "folk" music which was pleasant. This was also where I learned the harsh lesson that they do make squatter portapotties.
We managed to pack in two more temples--one had very cool detail work--but were out of time and I was so exhausted, I thought poor Paul might have to carry me back to the train station. We successfully boarded our train home and I slept in between stops. It is now 9:30 pm and if I can stay awake until 11 pm, it will be a) a miracle and b) hopefully a solid step in fixing my sleeping schedule.
P.S. I can't get the images button to work, so there are no pictures, but I will try to fix it and get some up soon.
Our first stop was the Confucian Temple complex, which was very nice. It was well-preserved and run by adorably friendly people (they gave us an extra map). It was the only Confucian temple where I've ever since people worship. There was a little musuem in the outlying buildings with artifacts, pictures, and English explanations. Paul was really put off by the animal sacrifices. Apparently, Tainan celebrates Confucius' birthday with a big ceremony that includes the sacrifice of a cow, goat, and pig. Paul wishes to mention that the pond in the complex had swimming turtles in it, not turtles just chilling on logs or whatever, but actually swimming around. They were cute.
After that, I was a little cheerier and Paul talked me into stopping at Lily Fruit Shop, where we got a bowl of shaved ice topped with passionfruit syrup. Here's a rare picture of a smiling Paul at the shop. (It's rare to see a picture of the elusive Paul, not that it's rare for him to smile.) We continued on to the South Gate, which was fun and had a random collection of steles. My favorite was one commissioned by the town's salt merchants to thank the magistrate for releasing emergency salt after some ships sunk in a storm in 1784. Here, we met an elderly woman (80s) who was amused to see us foreigners reading signs about monuments we couldn't read. (I know this, because she said it to us in Chinese.) She was sweet, but what was distinctive about her was her feet. The first thing Paul said when we were out of earshot was, "Did she have bound feet?" I agree there was something unusual about her feet in both small size and uncommon shape, but I'm fairly certain anyone who ever had bound feet in Taiwan is long dead. It was at any rate an unexpected sight and while admittedly fascinated, I didn't dare to look for too long, lest we be caught staring.
We bravely walked on to the Temple of the Five Consorts, which was Paul's favorite temple of the day. It's dedicated to the five wives of the last king of Taiwan, who committed suicide after learning that he had committed suicide in anticipation of losing his throne. The temple was small, but had a lot of open ground (green space is very rare here and usually found as part of a temple's grounds) and a beautiful little flower garden. The second memorial (the first is in the South Gate's collection) to the women praised their virtue in such exaggerated moralistic tones, it was unbelievably over-the-top in English. The title of this post is a direct quote from the memorial. The last line was "The effects of their good virtue will eternally spread." The whole site had the appearance of someone's pet project. (A smaller related shrine was getting all of its interior decoration replaced and had a pad for kneeling--very unusual for such a small public shrine.)
We got a little lost after that, but my mediocre Chinese and Paul's navigational skills pulled us through and we were eventually able to find our destination of Koxinga's Shrine. Paul argued that since it was built in 1967, it really couldn't be considered a historical site. He's right, but I'm glad we went because the decoration on it was lovely and they were getting ready for a big festival to be held there next week, so everything was being repaired and painted. It also had nice grounds, though no flowers.
Across the street was the Lady Linshui's temple, which was the second-best temple we've seen in Taiwan. (Longshan in Taibei is still the best.) It was packed with families (Lady Linshui and her helpers are dedicated to helping women and children) and dozens of small shrines and three big ones. This was the first temple where a religious ceremony was taking place while we wandered by. It was very cool.
By now we were starting to flag, but we squeezed in two more temples, both of which were minor disappointments. If you bill yourself as having horrific murals of hell, you better have horrific pictures of hell, not a single etched metal sheet showing general demon poking of humans.
Completely flagging, we dragged ourselves to a restaurant recommended in the guidebook, where I couldn't read any of the dishes to save my life. Eventually, the one employee with some English was sent our way. She set us up with what we requested (dry--which means cooked and not in a soup--noodles) and a shop speciality. It was all very cheap, so we said yes. I really liked the noodles, Paul was indifferent. (I wound up finishing his bowl.) The speciality was gross on all accounts, but oh well. 1 for 2 isn't bad.
Somewhat restored, we walked down a block to the Chikan towers. The towers themselves aren't that impressive--just two big, kind of old towers, but the ground were pretty and packed to the gills with families. It was a happening place, where you can borrow costumes to dress up in for a picture and there are billions of GIANT goldfish eager to be fed (which is surprisingly fun). The towers weren't overly exciting, but it was fun to be where people were. There was live "folk" music which was pleasant. This was also where I learned the harsh lesson that they do make squatter portapotties.
We managed to pack in two more temples--one had very cool detail work--but were out of time and I was so exhausted, I thought poor Paul might have to carry me back to the train station. We successfully boarded our train home and I slept in between stops. It is now 9:30 pm and if I can stay awake until 11 pm, it will be a) a miracle and b) hopefully a solid step in fixing my sleeping schedule.
P.S. I can't get the images button to work, so there are no pictures, but I will try to fix it and get some up soon.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Stop Raining Continuously On My Parade!
Stop raining continuously on my parade, Taiwan! First it literally rains, then it's bitter cold (okay, mid-fifties) and damp and gale-force winds--which are both very cold and hard to bike against--and my movie's sold out of the first time in like the history of the country and I'm miserably sick and we tried again today to go to the movie and it was sold out again and dubbed into Chinese so we couldn't even go to the next showing. We tried to go buy sandwiches at Casa Minierva, but it was closed. Then we tried the new restaurant next to it and it looked great--except everything was at least 500 dollars (NT), which would have been acceptable if we had more than a couple hundred on us total. We then contemplated out food options since a) food street is still closed for the freakin' New Year (which was Thursday) , b) sandwiches were out, c) we couldn't make much at home; also, we have no bread which has been sold out since New Year's, and d) the only things open were McDonalds and KFC, neither of which appealed, but we had to eat somewhere, so McDonalds won out on the basis of its heat and menu diversity.
Before we could eat, we had to go to the train station to pick up our tickets for Tainan, which had been successfully ordered online the night before. The first clerk, apparently freaked out by our foreignness (and presumed no Chinese abilities) kicked us right quick over to information, which was okay because I wasn't sure if you picked up the tickets at a special window or something. The information lady passed us onto the Deputy Station Manager, who said we could pick up our tickets at any window. So we got back in line and picked a new teller, who was baffled by our request, despite having Paul's ARC card (the tickets are reserved under your ARC or passport number, not by name) and my repeated statements in Chinese that we had already ordered our tickets online and we were trying to pick them up. (Note: Paul was not impressed with this teller, considering him to be possibly new and grumpy.) He passed us over to teller #4, who was being surpervised by our friend the Deputy Station Manager. He at least did not seem baffled by request, although it took him a minute to figure things out on the computer. (He seemed very pleased when he realized we had two sets of tickets because they were round-trip tickets.) Once that was clear, everything moved along quickly, although we had to pay by debit card, which we had not planned on, because the tickets were NT$1100. (They don't tell you the price when you reserve the tickets.)
Anyways, that's enough of the grumbles from me. I feel better now. I am excited to go to Tainan on Monday and both Paul and I are enjoying our New Year's "gifts" (Devil May Cry 4 and the Sims 2 Seasons!), so life really is worth living (in case you were worried).
Before we could eat, we had to go to the train station to pick up our tickets for Tainan, which had been successfully ordered online the night before. The first clerk, apparently freaked out by our foreignness (and presumed no Chinese abilities) kicked us right quick over to information, which was okay because I wasn't sure if you picked up the tickets at a special window or something. The information lady passed us onto the Deputy Station Manager, who said we could pick up our tickets at any window. So we got back in line and picked a new teller, who was baffled by our request, despite having Paul's ARC card (the tickets are reserved under your ARC or passport number, not by name) and my repeated statements in Chinese that we had already ordered our tickets online and we were trying to pick them up. (Note: Paul was not impressed with this teller, considering him to be possibly new and grumpy.) He passed us over to teller #4, who was being surpervised by our friend the Deputy Station Manager. He at least did not seem baffled by request, although it took him a minute to figure things out on the computer. (He seemed very pleased when he realized we had two sets of tickets because they were round-trip tickets.) Once that was clear, everything moved along quickly, although we had to pay by debit card, which we had not planned on, because the tickets were NT$1100. (They don't tell you the price when you reserve the tickets.)
Anyways, that's enough of the grumbles from me. I feel better now. I am excited to go to Tainan on Monday and both Paul and I are enjoying our New Year's "gifts" (Devil May Cry 4 and the Sims 2 Seasons!), so life really is worth living (in case you were worried).
Thursday, February 7, 2008
In Conclusion, Taiwan is a Land of Many Contrasts
Paul and I kicked off the exciting New Year by sleeping until 3:30 pm and then it was only the lure of delicious American food that could get us out of our warm bed and into the cold, damp world. We took our friendly 102 to Taichung where we dined at a fine bastion of American culinary culture, TGI Fridays. It was especially fine because this TGI Fridays had finally got the memo about the chain's trademark Jack Daniels sauce. I lapped it up in both sesame chicken and hamburger form. Paul, meanwhile, indulged buffalo wings and a bacon cheeseburger. (Naturally, we could only finish half of each dish, but taking some home just spreads the goodness out over two days.)
Next we hightailed it over to Jason's where I spent with wild abandon--truffles, butterscotch chips, Miracle whip, fancy jam, gravy, ginger ale, even the holiest of grails spiral Mac and Cheese. But no sour cream, no salami, no provolone, and no Dr. Pepper!!! Lucky that I hoard that stuff like it will never be here again. The somewhat bizarre selection at Jason's was struck home when I discovered that they carry all flavors of those delicious Boulder Canyon natuarl potato chips and live King crabs (which are HUGE; I felt very sorry for one who kept trying to use the other crabs as a step ladder out of the tank, but the tank was too small for him to stretch out his legs far enough to quite reach the edges. If I had a couple thousand dollars lying around and knew where a king crab could be released into the wild, I would have liberated him.). I don't understand why you would have to take hostages to get sour cream (and would still probably be unsuccessful), yet have no problem finding jalepeno flavored natural potato chips. Despite what Heloise may tell you, Taiwanese yogurt is a poor substitute for sour cream.
Well, that was the exciting second day of our Chinese New Year vacation. Tomorrow if we wake up before noon, we're going to finally make it to Tainan and maybe even the beach in Kending if the awful weather clears up. Tonight was the first time I was cold while wearing my cardigan, a long-sleeve tee, and a windbreaker and moving. It also rained off and on today.
As a tantalizing preview of my next post, I'll just say this: Ellie and Katrina (the new teachers) celebrated the New Year by getting into a drinking contest with an elderly Taiwanese man.
Next we hightailed it over to Jason's where I spent with wild abandon--truffles, butterscotch chips, Miracle whip, fancy jam, gravy, ginger ale, even the holiest of grails spiral Mac and Cheese. But no sour cream, no salami, no provolone, and no Dr. Pepper!!! Lucky that I hoard that stuff like it will never be here again. The somewhat bizarre selection at Jason's was struck home when I discovered that they carry all flavors of those delicious Boulder Canyon natuarl potato chips and live King crabs (which are HUGE; I felt very sorry for one who kept trying to use the other crabs as a step ladder out of the tank, but the tank was too small for him to stretch out his legs far enough to quite reach the edges. If I had a couple thousand dollars lying around and knew where a king crab could be released into the wild, I would have liberated him.). I don't understand why you would have to take hostages to get sour cream (and would still probably be unsuccessful), yet have no problem finding jalepeno flavored natural potato chips. Despite what Heloise may tell you, Taiwanese yogurt is a poor substitute for sour cream.
Well, that was the exciting second day of our Chinese New Year vacation. Tomorrow if we wake up before noon, we're going to finally make it to Tainan and maybe even the beach in Kending if the awful weather clears up. Tonight was the first time I was cold while wearing my cardigan, a long-sleeve tee, and a windbreaker and moving. It also rained off and on today.
As a tantalizing preview of my next post, I'll just say this: Ellie and Katrina (the new teachers) celebrated the New Year by getting into a drinking contest with an elderly Taiwanese man.
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