Andrea Bocelli Concert

Last Saturday, we had an awesome weekend. My favorite part was throwing a frisbee around in the park with Jess, Steve, and Joe. The weather has been gorgeous...just gotta' soak it up before it gets really hot here.

That night, Tammy, Whitney, Laura, Jessica, Gloria (one of our Taiwanese secretaries) and I went out to eat at a little Italian restaurant that actually has some pretty good food. It's hard to find anything close to American/Italian in Taiwan but Amici's is probably as close as we're going to find around here.

After that, we headed to an Andrea Bocelli concert in Taichung. It was his first concert ever in Taiwan and it was amazing.

I'm not sure why I feel the need to put this video on here except to show what it's like getting around on our scooters. And to show off Jessica'smad driving skills.

The concert was at an outdoor baseball stadium.

Later this week, the girls and I decided to go shopping since I'm told some people are sick of seeing the same clothes on certain people all the time. I won't mention names. Anyhoo...Taiwanese fashion is a sight to behold. Mary decided to educate the public on Taiwanese fashion and I feel the need to do the same...

For the record...I think these pants should be classified as child-abuse.

One of my students came to class wearing these pants...poor kid. And now I'm making it worse by sharing this with the world.

Oh- another blog-worthy note is that Jessica and I splurged and bought this crazy durian fruit from a fruit market. We assembled some major hardware to get the thing open.

Inside was this slimy white stuff that I thought tasted okay but everybody else thought was disgusting. Then it stunk up our fridge and I got grossed out and had to throw it out.

The end.

The "Man-ship"

There is never a dull moment around Steve and Joseph. Friday night, I accepted an invitation to take an inside peek into the obscure lives of the only two male teachers at our school and find out how they're coping with all the attention and adoration showered on them everyday while living and working with 11 girls and several Taiwanese secretaries.

Unfortunately, my efforts to blend in and fully be accepted into their exclusive club failed when I accidentally dumped a cup of ice water into Joseph's lap at KFC. Oops.

Despite my faux pas...I was allowed to continue observing the subjects in an attempt to better understand a phenomena recently named the "man-ship". My findings were both educational and surprising.

After dinner, subject A (hereafter referred to as "Steve") wanted to look for T-shirts at a nearby clothing retail facility known as The Net.

Both subjects were not only willing to wear the same shirts in public, but also purchased matching shirts and then proceeded to shop for shoes. I'm pretty sure these two guys wouldn't be caught dead exhibiting this type of behavior in their natural American habitat, but the effects of living in Taiwan with a colony of women is clearly evident. Although my findings are inconclusive, it is safe to say that the "man-ship" phenomenon is a means of survival here and that more observation and research will not be necessary unless I really have nothing else to blog about.

To read more about this strange occurrence click here.

Taipei

Friday was Tombsweeping Day and we had the day off. They let the cemetaries here get overgrown with weeds and vines and then once a year in April, they sweep and clean the tombs of their ancestors.





Anyway, because we got the day off, we planned a trip to Taipei. We stayed in the temple housing for people who come from out of town to go to the temple. After doing a session on Friday, we headed out for dinner in Taipei.





We found out there was a Macaroni grill near the Taipei 101 Tower so we rode the MRT down-town and walked around until we found it. It was the best meal ever!!!




After that, we had so much fun walking around and shopping. There were a lot of street performers and fun things to see. The weather was perfect!



I don't think we can go to Taipei without getting icecream at Cold Stone Creamery....sooo good!




Later, we hit one of the best night markets I have been to since being in Taiwan...can't wait to go back. I bought this fun watch for just $200NT ($6). Jessica approved my purchase since I can't make decisions on my own and Mary has declared it universally awesome since both she and Jessica like it.

The next day we decided to hike Elephant Mountain. Here's Laura and a view of Taipei 101.





Joseph & Jessica boldly forging new frontiers.

We walked all the way from up here to the 101 Tower where we met up with Steve for lunch.







On the way, we found this fun little park with a rock climbing wall where Jessica and Joseph showed their climbing prowess.

Sun Yat San Memorial

You know you wish you had a picture doing this...

While waiting for the train on our way home, a guy walked up and asked us if we were Mormon. He waved to his friend to come over and she introduced herself to us. We talked to them for a few minutes and they asked if they could get a picture with us. This is Esther on the left...she was really sweet. I swear, there are Mormons everywhere here. I am loving Taiwan way too much and am kind of dreading the day I have to come home and go back to the "real world". Only 3 more months left...

Freedom!

There's a park nearby that has stairs up the side of this mountain where I like to go hiking. One day, I'm minding my own business, walking up the stairs, when I look up and see someone's bare hiney. Up ahead is some guy standing there swinging his arms back and forth with his pants around his knees. Is this normal? Do Taiwanese people like to do Tai Chi in the mountains in the nude? I spun around and bolted back down the stairs. This is a public park with lots of people and children around so...anyway...I haven't been back to that park since.

In other news, I'm done with riding the bus!!!! Jessica and I became the proud new owners of a Fuzzy 150cc scooter. Last week we went to Taichung and met up with this sketchy Canadian (I figured he's Canadian because he says aboot instead of about). We test drove a couple of his scooters. He handed me this crazy helmet and I couldn't resist the Power Ranger photo-op.

Go Go Power Rangers!

Luckily, Jessica and I decided not to pay the $18,000 he wanted for his scooter. Instead, we bought this scooter from Destiny for $11,000. Saturday was our first day of freedom! We christened our new mode of transportation with a fun-filled day of shopping in Taichung!

On our way around town, we saw this guy making a brave fashion statement by wearing a dog purse. I had to take the picture on the sly. Oh- and the dog was wearing a SARS mask.

Had to take a picture of these yummy fruit drinks - they were to die for! I love having a scooter and being able to go eat and shop anywhere I want!


I also love living on the top floor and having access to the roof. Especially when it's raining.

Easter Dinner

Steve and Joseph can complain all they want about having to live with eleven girls, but give them the chance to do something like create a table center piece and they are all over it.




For Easter Sunday, I cut some kiwi to look like little Easter baskets and decided it would be fun to make a table center piece for Easter dinner. I jokingly told Steve to go find some flowers. Five minutes later the boy turns up with a bouquet of flowers he picked outside. Hello! I hired him on the spot!

Then I enlisted Joseph's help in constructing a bunny out of a hard-boiled egg.

The egg was still a little raw inside so, Joseph had to deal with some bunny leakage on his hand, but he pulled through it.

My proteges hard at work.

Look at that attention to detail!

Steve even came up with the idea to use some bed sheets for the table cloth (we're in Taiwan...we have to improvise).

A good time was had by all...

Oh and a shout out goes to my mom and dad for sending me a fabulous Easter package.
They don't celebrate Easter here but our school had planned a big Easter party for the kids. I realized an hour before the party that I needed to fill up 120 water balloons for the balloon toss. Fact: One out of every 3 Taiwanese balloons has a hole in it or completely malfunctions. But amazingly, my Easter package filled with 'Made in America' candy was delivered just in time for the party. Oh and they also sent me a TON of gum! Yay! The gum here lasts about two seconds and for some strange reason, a lot of the gum is cough drop flavored. Anyway, the balloon toss was fun but I forgot my camera so all I have is a picture of me and my gum.

Sun Moon Lake

Saturday we went on a branch trip to Sun Moon Lake. Our first stop was a tour of the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.




We saw some amazing statues and monks and nuns with shaved heads and long robes.












This was our nun tour guide.

This is the first Patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, Bodhidharma
















At the end of the tour, they gave us flowers to make an offering to this Buddha that represents "the transformation Buddha."





























We stopped at the Wenwu Temple overlooking Sun Moon Lake.
This is a picture of the Year of Steps at Wenwu Temple. There are 366 steps representing each day of the year. You can buy a wind chime at the temple where the temple workers pass it through incense and then you can write your wishes on it and hang it next to your birthday.













My birthday!!!










Joseph goofing off on the top of the Wenwu Temple.






Tzuen Pagoda

Walking up the spiral staircase inside the pagoda.


View from the top of the pagoda.



drumming

Later, we ate at this restaurant and Tammy is my new hero for being gutsy enough to eat a fish eyeball.

I miss my I-Pod

I lost my I-Pod. I am very sad. I left it on a bus on my way to Taichung. Very sad. I miss it everyday and hope it comes back to me. Just wanted to put that out there.

Anyway, moving on. Here's a hodge-podge of stuff I've been up to lately:

I have a fourth grader whose parents own a restaurant and invited the teachers who teach their four children to eat dinner there. Tammy's parents are here visiting from Logan, Utah and they came too.

Our table was filled with special dishes that are typically eaten on holidays. I tried everything even though I have a strict policy against mystery meat. On the left, I'm actually about to suck the meat out of a little clam shell...something I would never do under normal circumstances. I even tried some of the eel...not a fan. There were these little fishes that were battered and deep fried whole (I could still see their beady black eyes)...I couldn't do the head and tail but I ate the body. I loved the deep fried shrimp and the veggie dishes that they served us.

The next day, we visited this temple in Chung Wa. There was a huge Buddha statue and a fountain show set to music.

Thursday night, we went to see a performing arts group in Taichung. I just have to give props to Whitney and myself for driving all the way to Taichung by ourselves with only a map and crazy Taiwanese street signs to guide us. Whit drove and I navigated. When we were stopped at red lights, we would try to ask other drivers next to us which way to the University by pointing to our map. We had to pick alternate routes when things like a cement barricade or forks in the road that weren't on our map came along, but we made it. Very few street signs are in English so it's disorienting when you can't always figure out where you are until you match the symbols on the streets signs with the symbols on the map. I would ask Whitney to help me look for symbols that looked like a battle ax or whatever else I could associate a symbol with. But as always, people here are very friendly and helpful. One guy even let us follow him on his scooter to find a parking spot and then helped us by lifting and moving other scooters over so we could squeeze ours into a spot.

The performance was great. I should write more but you can click here if you want to see a little bit more. Afterwards, there were Taiwanese reporters asking what we thought of the show. Whitney and I felt a little ridiculous answering questions, when really the only qualification we have is being American. They took our pictures and our names so we just might be quoted in some Taiwanese paper.

Here's a picture from Bunny's birthday.


We brought her a card and some cookies. (Bunny is one of the secretaries...she's in charge of getting us our requests for things like science experiments or kitchen activities.)

My little pizza makers.

4th grade science experiment