Catch-Up: Neighbors, Milk, and Grad School

Well, I've given up having anything remotely interesting to say, but certain parties just keep clamoring for a blog update. Here it is. Since the sixth, I've 1)visited the sweet temple next door, 2) resumed my quest for milk worthy of consumption, and 3)started applying for grad school.

1)--I've included pictures of the temple and convent next door artfully taken by Paul. The near-absurd level of detail is characteristic of all of the large temples I've seen here so far. The pictures really don't do it justice, nor can you get a scale of the statues inside the temple. They are huge; the Buddha is much larger than life-size. We've discovered an English tour guidebook specifically for our city, so there'll be tons more pictures of temples. You'll probably get sick of them. One of the temples in the historical section of town is supposed to have an image of Guanyin from the T'ang period, so you'll definitely see pictures of that if we can find it.

2)--I assume my milk tastes are legendary by now, but if you somehow missed the Great Milk Debate of 2003, I have very high standards for my milk. I should, it's my favorite beverage. The very best is 2% milk from the BYU Creamery. For the record, I was even back by an award-winning former 4H milk judge on this. Anyway--because Oreos just aren't worth eating without milk--I have been searching among Taiwan's approximately four brands of milk (hey, when it's all imported, you don't get a lot of choice) and I have found a winner. It's Superior Quality Milk and indeed it is. It is only sold by the quart (in nifty glass bottles), costs $2.30 (but then, all milk here does), and is only available at Carrefour (France's exported version of Walmart). For the interested, it beat out I Heart Milk, High Quality Milk, and Dr. Milker, and won because it lacks the strong corn taste that plagues all the other brands. Forgive me, but I feel very strongly that the only food that should taste like corn is corn.

Finally--3)I've begun apply to grad schools. I'm applying to ASU, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the University of Kansas. All are excellent choices with varying strengths. ASU has the best faculty for medievel Chinese studies, Boulder has the biggest name (and editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society), and University of Kansas offers an "East Asian Cultures" emphasis which allows a combination of history, art history, geography, literature, language, and religion courses. Unfortunately, I find the process a tad stressful and frustrating (ASU wanted a combined Junior and Senior GPA, which BYU doesn't give, but can be done using a GPA calculator in a three-step process, and Boulder wanted pretty much everything except my maternal grandmother's blood type).

I'm sorry I don't have anything more exciting to offer, but if you tune in next week, we're going to Taipei for 4 days for the Moon Festival and I'm sure fun stories and pictures will ensue.