March 28, 2006
Food tally: Sea cucumber. Apparently, it's some kind of sea anemone. But whatever it is, it's weird. It's not so much that it tastes bad; I just can't get past the texture of it. It's like the whole thing is made of the skin that forms on Jell-O.
Tip: Learn Chinese. I'm convinced people are talking about me all the time and I have no idea what they're saying. I hear Meigua (USA) and Meiguaren (American) a lot.
Word: Did I tell you how to say "shit" yet? Go-sa.
Today was a good day. I came home to host family #4. They have three little kids and 6-year-old Bill loves me, even if he never remembers my name. We went to a bookstore and he held my hand and dragged me around showing me things. Bill and his 8-year-old sister Jady speak almost perfect English. It's amazing. We have conversations about chocolate.
Jady is quite the artist for an 8-year-old. I asked if she wanted to be an artist when she grew up, and she said no. This surprised me because she had obvious talent and she had earlier told me that her favorite subject is art. But she said her father said she couldn't be an artist. I found it interesting.
Jady also takes ballet lessons and Bill takes karate. They remind me very much of my niece and nephew. Maybe that's why they make me so happy.
There is also another little boy, Vincent. Vincent is only 3 and a half years old, so he is kinda scared of me. He doesn't know his English name is Vincent and I can't remember his Chinese name, so we just stare at each other. He does most of the staring.
March 29, 2006
Weird food: Frog legs. They're actually pretty good.
Tip: Bring your own shampoo and conditioner. I can't read most of the labels and I think I used conditioner to wash my hair yesterday. It might have even been shower gel...I'm not sure.
Word: tzuh-su-ah. Toilet. It's a hard one to say but I'll probably never forget it. My team leader, Elaine, and I went into some office building looking for a bathroom the other day. We asked the security guy where it was in English, but he didn't understand. We asked for the bathroom, toilet, restroom and wash room; nothing rang a bell. I tried my hardest to remember the Chinese word, but could only come up
with 'tzuh-so.' So Elaine started rubbing her hands together as though washing her hands, in the hopes of finding a toilet and sink. He finally understood, grinned and said "ahhh!" (plus some other stuff in Chinese). Then he led us to the back of the building and pointed at a hose.
April 5, 2006
Food: Fish skin. I didn't know fish had actual skin, nor that it was edible. It doesn't have much taste actually; it just takes on the flavor of the soy and wasabi you dip it in and that's pretty good. But the consistency is like sea cucumber, Jell-O skin. bleh.
Tip: Go to Taroko National Park. Friggin awesome. The mountains are not anything like we have in PA, man. And you get to see stuff outside of the city. There are rice patties everywhere with workers wearing those Chinese hats. And beetle nut girls. Have I mentioned beetle nut girls? They work in these little shacks selling beetle nuts, which I have been told are "Taiwanese gum." They apparently taste terrible and it's a bit like chewing tobacco.
Anyway, the interesting thing about these girls selling beetle nuts is that they are scantily dressed in order to get the truck drivers to stop. I've seen some dressed in little more than a bra and a short skirt and then there are others that are dressed in long sleeves. More often than not, they are just sitting there, watching TV or playing with their cell phone. I've only seen one actually flirting with a potential customer. Although, someone told me they will do anything. They've seen one dancing around and such. I can't dance, otherwise, I might consider selling beetle nut.
Word: Duibuchi. I'm sorry. Good for when people constantly run into you. It's crowded here. People are everywhere and there is virtually no such thing as personal space. Women are especially pushy. I've been pushed aside, dragged away and grabbed.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
More Taiwan nostalgia
March 24, 2006
Weird food tally: Have I told you about the eel? Enough said. The Taiwanese men tell the American men that when you eat eel, it makes you strong like bull...in bed. "Eel like Viagara," they say, and then giggle.
Tip: Bring your own towel. They usually use what we would call a hand towel to dry themselves after a shower. So in an effort to be good hosts, my last two host families have given me brand new towels of the size we are used to (though they're not as fluffy and are much thinner). But because they haven't been washed yet, they are full of lint and fuzz, which then sticks to my wet skin. For the past couple of days, my skin has had a sky blue hue. Today, it was a lovely orange.
Word of the day: We'll go back to the basics. Xie xie (pronounced a bit like shee-ay shee-ay). Means thank you.
Today we checked out Taiwan's legislature. Incredibly interesting. The history between Taiwan and China is insane and the current relationship is even more so. I got the whole lowdown from one the Rotarians who accompanied us. I was completely fascinated and will give the details to those interested when I get back. The Rotarian asked me later what I studied in school. I told him journalism. He
said, "That's why you're so interested." We met with the president of the parliament, which is the equivalent of the Speaker of the House. Cool guy.
I'm going to a hot spring with my host family this evening. Apparently, I need to get naked for this. I'm a Westerner and I know they're all going to stare at my big American fat ass, so I may bring a suit. I'm sure I'll have a story to tell.
Time for dinner. Pray for me.
March 26, 2006
Name that tune: Goin' to the temple and we're
learnin' to med-i-taate.
Goin' to the temple and we're
learnin' to med-i-taaate.
Goin' to a temple of Buddha.
I'm so excited.
March 27, 2006
Weird food: They make life so difficult sometimes. I am used to boneless chicken breasts, boneless fish, boneless pork, boneless everything. Everything here is full of bones. When they serve chicken fillets, it still has the skin and bones in it and probably some other things too. And because we eat with chopsticks, it's virtually impossible to eat. For such an efficient society, I can't believe they don't take out the bones first.
Tip: Bring whitening toothpaste. Otherwise, your teeth will be permanently stained from all the tea they insist on serving you.
Word: Ah-me daba. This is what Buddhist monks and nuns say by way of greeting. They also place their hands in a prayer position as they say it.
So I went naked at the hot springs, but because my host family was awesome, we went to a place where I had my own private room. It was great. And I didn't feel like I was copping out because my host sisters didn't want to get naked in public either.
The Buddhist temple was amazing. It was also not very Buddhist-like in that it was huge and elaborate and ridiculously expensive to build.
It's only about 5 years old and it's the largest temple in Asia, possibly the world. It's also a monastery so there are a whole bunch of monks and nuns there, but I was only in contact with the nuns. The men were often kept separate from us womens. We even ate on opposite sides of the table. It was sometimes hard to tell the difference between the monks and nuns. They all wore the same robes and were all
bald.
We were given a tour of the place and saw rooms that the general public never sees. It was crazy. I don't even know how to explain it, so I won't. Pictures will be better. We stayed over Saturday night then. I found a cockroach in my bathroom; Buddha was testing me. I didn't kill it, but I wouldn't have even if I wasn't in a Buddhist temple. I was never able to kill bugs; I think I'm a closet Buddhist.
I got up at 3:30 am on Sunday to attend a morning meditation service at the temple. Lots of chanting, bowing, kneeling, meditating and for my part, yawning.
Weird food tally: Have I told you about the eel? Enough said. The Taiwanese men tell the American men that when you eat eel, it makes you strong like bull...in bed. "Eel like Viagara," they say, and then giggle.
Tip: Bring your own towel. They usually use what we would call a hand towel to dry themselves after a shower. So in an effort to be good hosts, my last two host families have given me brand new towels of the size we are used to (though they're not as fluffy and are much thinner). But because they haven't been washed yet, they are full of lint and fuzz, which then sticks to my wet skin. For the past couple of days, my skin has had a sky blue hue. Today, it was a lovely orange.
Word of the day: We'll go back to the basics. Xie xie (pronounced a bit like shee-ay shee-ay). Means thank you.
Today we checked out Taiwan's legislature. Incredibly interesting. The history between Taiwan and China is insane and the current relationship is even more so. I got the whole lowdown from one the Rotarians who accompanied us. I was completely fascinated and will give the details to those interested when I get back. The Rotarian asked me later what I studied in school. I told him journalism. He
said, "That's why you're so interested." We met with the president of the parliament, which is the equivalent of the Speaker of the House. Cool guy.
I'm going to a hot spring with my host family this evening. Apparently, I need to get naked for this. I'm a Westerner and I know they're all going to stare at my big American fat ass, so I may bring a suit. I'm sure I'll have a story to tell.
Time for dinner. Pray for me.
March 26, 2006
Name that tune: Goin' to the temple and we're
learnin' to med-i-taate.
Goin' to the temple and we're
learnin' to med-i-taaate.
Goin' to a temple of Buddha.
I'm so excited.
March 27, 2006
Weird food: They make life so difficult sometimes. I am used to boneless chicken breasts, boneless fish, boneless pork, boneless everything. Everything here is full of bones. When they serve chicken fillets, it still has the skin and bones in it and probably some other things too. And because we eat with chopsticks, it's virtually impossible to eat. For such an efficient society, I can't believe they don't take out the bones first.
Tip: Bring whitening toothpaste. Otherwise, your teeth will be permanently stained from all the tea they insist on serving you.
Word: Ah-me daba. This is what Buddhist monks and nuns say by way of greeting. They also place their hands in a prayer position as they say it.
So I went naked at the hot springs, but because my host family was awesome, we went to a place where I had my own private room. It was great. And I didn't feel like I was copping out because my host sisters didn't want to get naked in public either.
The Buddhist temple was amazing. It was also not very Buddhist-like in that it was huge and elaborate and ridiculously expensive to build.
It's only about 5 years old and it's the largest temple in Asia, possibly the world. It's also a monastery so there are a whole bunch of monks and nuns there, but I was only in contact with the nuns. The men were often kept separate from us womens. We even ate on opposite sides of the table. It was sometimes hard to tell the difference between the monks and nuns. They all wore the same robes and were all
bald.
We were given a tour of the place and saw rooms that the general public never sees. It was crazy. I don't even know how to explain it, so I won't. Pictures will be better. We stayed over Saturday night then. I found a cockroach in my bathroom; Buddha was testing me. I didn't kill it, but I wouldn't have even if I wasn't in a Buddhist temple. I was never able to kill bugs; I think I'm a closet Buddhist.
I got up at 3:30 am on Sunday to attend a morning meditation service at the temple. Lots of chanting, bowing, kneeling, meditating and for my part, yawning.
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