Drinking tea at Ah Mei Cha in Jiu Fen late at night

Dear friends,
Two weekends ago, I went to Keelung City to visit Chia-Ling. We first took the high speed train to Taipei, then took a taxi to Keelung. Coincidentally, it was Chia-Ling's student's graduation ceremony that weekend so we got to partake in some of the delicious food and see an amazing firework display from her office.

The tea house from outside

At the Evergreen hotel after breakfast

Dear friends,
I had an early birthday celebration with some close friends and the ETAs last Thursday. Although my birthday is not until July 12, I wanted to celebrate it early with everyone I met in Taiwan. We went to the Cuckoo Restaurant behind Pasadena on Heping Yi Lu near the Cultural Center. It was delicious and I had a great time. Thank you everybody for the early birthday wishes!

You can find more pictures here!

Dear friends,
Every week, I try a Taiwanese eatery with one of my student's mother. She has this great book that lists all of these famous eateries in Kaohsiung. We've tried many great dishes ranging from spare rib noodle soup, to Ai-yu Jelly dessert, to Mango/Strawberry/Banana Shaved Ice.

Here are some pictures of the eateries we've been to and the food we've tried.

(Picture to the left, Red Bean and Milk dessert)

Spare-rib noodle soup and tofu

To the right is the Mango/Strawberry/Banana Shaved Ice at the place pictured bellow.

I also really like this place:

Be sure to check out more pictures of the food I've tasted in Taiwan in this album.

Dear friends,
Last weekend, Joyce (my co-worker and friend from Ling Zhou Elementary School) took a couple friends and I go barbecuing at Sugar Park in the Nanzih District in northern Kaohsiung. We spent the day barbecuing lots of meats (pork, beef from Costco, and fish!), riding bikes, and playing frisbee.

Nicole and I love to eat the fish balls (picture to the left). You'll see in the picture below that Derek loves to play frisbee.

There is also a special type of barbecuing that takes place in Taiwan. In Taiwanese, it's called Kong Tou Ye. It's a style of barbecuing that takes one full day and the effort of the whole family. A few people use stones to build a little oven (see picture above). Meanwhile, other people use water, newspaper, and mud to wrap eggs, chicken, and other meats they want to bake.

When the stones get hot enough, you take the all the charcoal inside the oven out and put the things you want to bake inside. The Taiwanese call it "men." Then, you cover the entire thing with dirt. That is, you cover the entire oven with dirt so it bakes the entire stuff inside this little mound of dirt and stones. It's really cool. The picture to the right is a picture of all the foods you would want to bake wrapped in newspaper and mud.

You can check out more pictures here.

Dear friends,
To celebrate the new year, I went to Taipei (again). I was just there the weekend before to see Lang Lang play piano. I went with Kate and a friend from college, Chao-Wei.

When we got to Taipei, we walked around a lot because we got there super early. The outdoor concert started at 7pm; we got there at 6pm. It was also lightly raining in Taipei and it was much colder than Kaohsiung. The wind chill is not as awful as Iowa winter weather, but it was colder than the 70 degree weather in Kaohsiung. I borrowed Chia-Ling's coat because I didn't bring any real winter clothes because I thought this tiny little island wouldn't be cold. Well, I sure was proven wrong when I got a cold last month during the weather change. Anyway, thank you Chia-Ling for letting me borrow your coat; it kept me very warm =D.

When the concert started at 7pm, it was pretty cool because Kate, Chao-Wei, and I got pretty good spots considering we were so early. There were many famous singers at the concert, but I don't really remember their names. However, I did see S.H.E. sing several songs, this guy from Tainan who wore cool glasses (see pictures below), and I really wanted to see MayDay (Wu Yue Tian) sing, but they were last. We left our good spot in front of the concert early because we wanted to be near the MRT to beat the mad rush home after the fireworks. I was really grateful that did that because we got to where we were staying at 1:30am and not 2 or 3 am.

The Famous Singers at the Outdoor Concert (at least up until we left for a closer location near the MRT)...

Click to enlarge the pictures

The next day, I was very tired, but I had an excellent breakfast to start the New Year. Check it out:

We met up with some of Chao-Wei's friends in Taipei and we had lunch at Din Tai Feng. After lunch, we headed to the biggest night market in Taipei, Shi Lin Yie Shi. Lots of fun! You can see lots of photos in Taiwan Photo Set 27.

Dear friends,
Every Wednesday, I have lunch with fellow teachers and we try lots of different kinds of food around the Xiao Gang area in Southern Kaohsiung. We've recently tried the-cook-it-in-front-of-you style barbecue (the name of the style escapes me right now) and Korean hot pot.

The cook-it-in-front-of-you barbecue style (above)

I have tried so many different kinds of food while in Taiwan. Be sure to check it out in this album.

Dear friends,
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope my family and friends around the globe are celebrating with their loved ones and giving thanks. My family traditionally celebrates Thanksgiving by inviting my extended relatives and grandparents to our house for a feast. Well, two feasts--one for lunch and one for dinner.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because the whole family gets together and we'll sit around chatting, laughing, and watching movies.

For Thanksgiving this year in Taiwan, all of us went to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to eat a delicious, Thanksgiving meal. It was a feast complete with green bean casserole, fruit salad, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls, and carrots. Some of the Fulbrighters helped bake chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and apple pie. For dessert, I had fruit and my favorite dessert of all--pumpkin pie! On the car ride home with one of the local English teachers, she commented on how there actually weren't that many dishes, which is true according to Taiwan standards where they'll have anywhere from twelve to twenty dishes at one sitting. I thought it was pretty funny, though, because the dishes we had are considered plenty according to American standards =D

While I missed spending Thanksgiving with family this year, it was very nice to spend it with new friends in Taiwan.  I'm thankful for my wonderful local English teachers Chia-Ling & Ashley, my students, my school, my friends, and my family. I love y'all!

Dear friends,
I went to a really amazing restaurant last weekend with my host family. The restaurant was called Wang Steak House.  The food was excellent and so pretty! There are more photos in this album. My friend Margaret B. came to visit me from Nanjing, China so she joined us for the dinner and night out. We had a birthday coupon so we all pretended it was my birthday =D. This restaurant had such great service. They took this picture of us, developed it, and gave us a photo frame to put it in! Amazing, eh?

This post is rather short because I've been really busy gearing up for my school's 10-year anniversary this Saturday. I'll write more about that when it happens! =D

All the students + me + Tai-Shia

Dear friends,
This afternoon I visited Xiao Gang Senior High School for two hours. My Host Mom teaches English at this high school and she invited me to come speak to one of her English classes. The students prepared 41 questions to ask me! Some of the questions we discussed include:
1) How are you adjusting to Taiwanese life?
2) Why did you choose to come to Taiwan?
3) Have you faced any racial discrimination since coming to Taiwan?
4) How is the education system in the United States different from the Taiwanese?
5) What suggestions do you have for preparing a speech?
6) What is the current economic situation in America?
7) How is the food different in America?
8) What is college life like in America?
9) Have you been to any pubs in America and what are the differences between pubs in America?
10) What is your favorite food in Taiwan?

In answering these questions, I delved into issues of:
China-Taiwan relations (Northern Taiwan is more blue or pro-China + Taiwan relationship and the South is more green or pro-independence), American identity (what does it mean to be American? Must you have white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes?),
Differences in American and Taiwanese students (American students: very vocal, may challenge the teacher, Taiwanese students: more obedient & respectful of the teacher),
Obesity (America has larger portion sizes than Taiwan),
Voting (Taiwanese can only vote in person, not by mail),
Teaching styles (American teachers ask students for input a lot--why do you think this? Why do you think that? Taiwanese teachers teach by memorization of sentence patterns),
UV (ultraviolet) Ratings (In America, the UV rating is zero. In Taiwan, the UV rating is seven. So, lots of people in Taiwan where funny arm garments to cover their skin when driving in the car and walking down the streets. Parasols and sunscreen are also very popular. Needless to say, I have already bought myself a parasol, sunscreen, and funny arm garments.)
Scooters (There are virtually no scooters in America, but in Taiwan, they're ubiquitous. I explained to the students that people in America drive motorcycles and they wear leather clothing to protect themselves if they get into an accident. The students did not understand why Americans wear leather because scooter drivers only wear a helmet and the funny arm garments that protect against the sun in Taiwan. If they get into an accident, they deal with the scars.)
and many other topics I can't remember off the top of my head.

I spoke to the students with a microphone, which is very common in classrooms. You're usually teaching about 30 students in each class so a microphone is necessary. When break time came, the microphone automatically turned off to signal to the teacher that it's time to let the kids go. Break time was actually sweeping time, a time where all students clean their school. I think that sweeping is such a great idea because it teaches the students how to keep areas clean and to be responsible for your own messes. I think American schools should adopt sweeping times to make it easier for the school janitor.

I forgot to mention to the students that in America, we not only don't have sweeping time in schools, but we also don't have nap time. Taiwanese students (elementary to high school) all take naps from 1pm to 1:30pm. Additionally, I forgot to mention that the Taiwanese calendar starts on a Monday whereas the American calendar starts on a Sunday. I've been teaching my fourth and fifth graders about those two differences, "no nap time in America" and "calendar starts on Sunday."

Here are some pictures of me with the high school students.

Speaking to the students. On the far right was the student host who selected questions to ask me. All the students wrote questions for me.

Another pictures with all the students

Me with some of Tai-Shia's English students

Isn't this part of the high school so cool?! The students told me that during break time, they'll stand and just look out into the distance on this cool "bridge hallway."

Dear friends,
The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited all the Fulbrighters to Taipei to celebrate the national holiday, Double Ten (October 10). We had to look all spiffy for this event so if you check out this album, you will find all of us in cocktail dresses and suits. A special guest was at this event, President Ma Ying-Jeou! It was such a surprise because all of us didn't know the President was going to be there. A few of us shook hands with him; I only got a few good pictures of him.

The reception was outdoors and the food was laid out buffet style. Many different restaurants came to exhibit their dishes including Din Tai Feng. The food was very good. At the reception a few us got silhouette portraits done for free. I've never had a silhouette picture of myself before and our whole apartment is going to hang them above our television for decoration =D.

The day after 10/10, a few of us went to the National Palace Museum and the National Taiwan University campus. I've already been to the National Palace Museum, but the last time I went I only had an hour or two in the museum. This time around, I spent more time in the exhibitions.

Given I only had two days in Taipei, this trip was pretty packed with fun activities.