Hualien

Hey Party People,

Sorry it's been a while! Hope everyone's doing well. I've been having a great time, as you might have seen on flickr, but I still miss you all! Since my last entry, I've decided to return to the states in December (exact date: December 11), which is a few weeks later than originally planned. I'll be using the time (between the end of November and December 11) to visit Patrick and Lucy in Seoul and then Jeff in Hiroshima and Kyoto. Woot! Anyway, the point is that I'll be home for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to it. If I've learned anything in the last six weeks, it's that I'm a total banana (for those of you unfamiliar with the euphemism, just think about the color of a banana peel and the inside of the fruit...then think about your good friend Maggie's skin...). Taiwan's great, but I miss fresh air, cold weather, salads, Clif bars, and expensive cocktails (they can't make anything right here).

Anyway, the weekend before last was a four-day weekend, and I went to Hualien, Taiwan, a small city on the east coast of Taiwan (Taipei is in the north).


Despite the relentless rain and smelly hostel (Yeah, y'all...I stayed in a hostel. That was the first time and it's going to be the last time that's going to happen.), it was great fun, and really beautiful--sand, surf, and mountains! Plus, I had awesome company. :D Yay, Diana, Alex, and Dave! While we were there, we visited Taroko National Park, which was breathtaking (literally...the trails are really steep), and almost got stranded atop the mountain when we misunderstood the bus schedule. Luckily, some nice people at a neighboring hotel took pity on us and gave us shelter from the rain, a discount on dinner, and had a driver take us to the train station to get back to Hualien. Even luckier, we happened to avoid the rockfalls and mudslides that happened early the next morning. Yeesh.









The next day, we caught a cab out to JiCi/JeeChee Beach, which was a lovely black sand beach with a view of rock cliffs and mountains. True to form, we got rained on while waiting for the bus back to Hualien, and I might have ruined my favorite tunic. Bah. But, everything before that was great. Plus, the food in Hualien rocked and was a lot cheaper than Taipei.

Since our excursion, I've just been going to class, utilizing my gym membership, and hanging out with Jack Bauer, federal agent. Don't hate...I need my American television. Oh, I've also been plotting future escapes to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Kyoto...some things never change, even if you leave the cubicle world.

I miss you, boo boos! xx

You can stand under my umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh

So, after a mere 4 weeks here in Taipei, I've experienced my second natural disaster--a typhoon! (don't worry--it's just an exotic name for a hurricane, which is just a lot of rain and wind) What's important is that school and work were called off today, which was pretty fun, and a good deal since we've got a four-day weekend coming up this weekend (the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival). It's a pretty big deal, and from what I understand, it's the first four-day weekend in Taiwan history!

For the holiday, I'm heading to Hualien, Taiwan with Diana and Dave (see picture above), as well as Diana's friend Alex, who I haven't met yet. We'll be staying at a youth hostel there, visiting the beach, and hiking at Taroko National Park, a welcome change to the copious clouds of dust and soot in the city.

As for what I'm learning in class, we're on my favorite topic (well, technically, we finished my favorite topic Monday...shopping! Er, guanjie in Chinese.)...my second favorite topic: fooooood! Here's to finally being able to read something on the menu when I go out to eat. And for those of you who are interested in what I'm eating here in Taipei, my last week has been all about xiaolongbao, a.k.a. "little dragon buns" a.k.a. pork soup dumplings--pictured here for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, and I also made friends with a lucky radish (below) in Danshui, a sea-side town outside of Taipei, over the weekend. I'm sure it would have tasted delicious, but things would have gotten awkward.

All in all, I'm pretty into my routine now in Taipei, and I'm finding it really satisfying. I'm also playing around with the idea of staying on for another term at ShiDa (NTNU), which would keep me here till around March 2008. Then again, I miss New York a lot, so we'll have to see. At the very least, I'm extending my stay into the first couple weeks of December (instead of the original plan to stay till the end of November) to visit Japan, South Korea, and possibly China. Woot! Hope everyone is doing well--miss you all like crazy. Check back soon for pics from Hualien! Till then, I've updated my Flickr album...enjoy! *mwah

Kids Who Can't Read Good.

Sorry I've been bad about updating this week, y'all--a lot's happened! I had my first week at school, and it went really well. The first day gave me quite a scare, since I was up till the wee hours scrambling to finish my homework. Homework, people! guh. Anyway, we're speeding along quickly and learning about 40 characters a day--definitely a challenge, but I'm really enjoying it. The teacher is really cool, and very animated, so I don't have any trouble staying awake in class, even though 3 hours of intense concentration takes it out of me. I'm also less than fond of the daily dictation quiz and chapter test every three days(!). Oh well. There are 8 students in the class, most of whom are like me and were raised/born in the states and can speak Chinese, but can't read good and want to do other things good too. We're all 19-26 years old, so there's plenty to talk about, and they're cool kids.

My routine day normally goes:

7.15 AM wake up/shower

8.30 AM breakfast/ride with my uncle Sean, so he can drop me off at the metro stop on his way to work

9.15 AM arrive at school/study before class

10.20 AM class starts

1.10 PM class ends/lunch with classmates/obligatory chattering in English/start homework

3.30 PM gym with Diana, my UNC cohort

5.30/6 PM ride public transportation home

remainder of the night: homework

Thrilling, I know. In other news, I tried stinky tofu of the fried variety (the steamed kind really, really smells like a "steamer"...if you know what I mean) for the first time this week. Up until now, the, shall we say, pungent smell of it scared me, but it was actually really good!

Oh, and there was a pretty big earthquake in Taiwan on Friday morning, around 2 AM. It was pretty freaky, but I was half-asleep and therefore half-concious, so I wasn't all that fazed. My very first earthquake...awwww.

More soon! And as always, pics are up on Flickr. xx

Oriental Orientation

Hey Everyone,

So I finally had my orientation at NTNU's Mandarin Training Center yesterday, and it went really well. I met a lot of cool people from around the world--New Zealand, Toronto, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Italy, and even Raleigh, NC! That's right. There's a UNC Tar Heel alum in the program. It's a small world after all.

Other than socializing and speaking in English at what is supposed to be Chinese school, I picked up my course schedule and books. The administration had originally told me that there were no intensive courses available (3 hours/day, 5 days/week), but I somehow got in, so we'll see if I can handle it. As of now, I'm scheduled for 10:20 AM-1:10 PM, M-F. There are also a bunch of free courses and electives like calligraphy, strokes, bopomofo (haha, MoFo), dance, and cooking. Suh-weeeet! I was also pretty glad to hear that there is a gym available, since I'm worried I might be developing asthma from running outside.

After orientation, my aunts took me and my cousin YoYo (a junior in drama school in Taipei) to Chiu-Fen, a really beautiful mountain village overlooking the ocean. Like everywhere else in Taiwan, the food was amazing--dan dan noodles, fresh-made mochi, and gelatinous icees.

Not surprisingly, the next event of the day also involved eating. Din Tai Fung has always been one of my favorite restaurants, but the famous dumpling house on Yongkang Street in Taipei was also named one of the top 10 restaurants in the world by the New York Times in 1993. They even have a copyright on how they make their steamed dessert dumplings (filled with sweet red bean and taro root), which are a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball and each have 18 tiny folds at the top to enclose the paste. As usual, pics are here. More soon on my first day of school Monday! xx

Jack Daniels is not my friend

Sorry I've been a deadbeat about updating lately--thanks to my own idiocy on Saturday night, I managed to still be somewhat hungover today, Wednesday, but I'm optimistic about my full recovery for tomorrow. On Saturday, I had an ueber-wholesome day at JiLung Beach and Miaokow Night Market with my Uncle Sean and his family. I hate a ton of local fare like tempura, shrimp dumplings, and mango icees. mmmmm

Anyway, after our family outing, things took a turn for the worse. My cousin Sean took me out to meet some of his friends from architecture school in the fashionable Da'An and 101 'hoods. In the course of 3 hours, I somehow forgot everything that I've ever learned about drinking--let's just say that Jack and I are no longer speaking, and that I also managed to throw up in front of my entire extended family at lunch the next day...including my grand-uncle, the former head of the Taiwan FBI. Yeah. Not my best moment.

Onward. I had a lovely night yesterday with my Uncle Gary (my dad's brother), my Aunt Irene (his wife), and my cousins Justine (who starts at Stanford under-grad in a couple weeks), Joann, Sean, and Ariel at the Shilin Night Market. Shilin is Taipei's most famous night market with blocks and blocks of food stands, clothing stores, shoe stores, and arcades. Shopping and eating at midnight! Sounds like my idea of fun. For those of you who are interested, I got a pair of black sandals for a whopping 300 NT--roughly 9 USD.

This morning, I went for an extended run on the KeeLung River, since it was a "nice" day (roughly 80 degrees and smoggy, with a slight breeze, instead of 95, smoggy and muggy). I also prepped for school and orientation on Friday by taking my second go-round on the Taipei Metro, which is pretty much the opposite of New York's Subway in every way: clean, air-conditioned, simple to navigate, and precise. Not to say that I don't love the complexity and er...aroma of the NYC Subway. Long post--I'll be writing again soon, and hopefully, there won't be any vomiting involved.

Taiwan Idol

I was unfortunate enough today to witness Taiwan Idol, the new, very popular competition based on American Idol...consider this: the ridiculousness of American Idol combined with Asian hipsters singing bad karaoke. God help us all.

ANYWAY, my eating binge is going strong: Korean for lunch yesterday, sushi and bubble tea today, passion fruit, miniature honeydew melons, mangoes, etc. etc. Woot! My Aunt Fiona also took me and the kids to the Lin Family Gardens, a huge historical mansion that was once home to the wealthiest family in Taipei. It was of course beautiful and a perfect photo opp.


After our stroll through the park, I met up with my cousin Allen and met his newborn son Howard a.k.a. Sour Puss a.k.a. Turnip Head. I also got to see my crazy Uncle Larry-the neurologist-who-talks-too-much and my awesome cousin Sean--both of whom I haven't seen since my last visit to the island six years ago. More soon, y'all! xx

Taiwan is a lot like a big Chinatown...

and you know how I feel about Chinatown...

I had a pretty jam-packed first day in the motherland. Thanks to the time-change, I was up by 5:30 AM, and went to registration at school at around 10 AM, where I forked over a wad of cash (literally, tuition is only accepted in cash) and got my class schedule. I had the choice between 8AM-10 AM or 2PM-4PM, and keeping with my strict UNC policy against any classes before 10 AM, I naturally chose the 2-4 PM block, which will meet Monday-Friday, starting September 3. It works out pretty well, since I can take weekend trips by leaving right after class on Fridays and coming back in time for class on Monday afternoons. I'm already planning ways to get around studying. Good sign, right?

Since my aunt went to school at the university, she showed me around, and I was very pleased to find that it's in the midst of a famous culinary district, and about one block from Din Tai Feng, which is touted as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world (famous for soup noodles and soup dumplings...eat your heart out, Grand Sich.)...I promise there will be more details and photos to follow.

After registration, we headed to Taipei 101, the tallest *completed* skyscraper in the world. It was actually kind of ugly. Leave it to the Chinese. Anyway, the best part of 101 was it's food (above).

For more visuals, check http://flickr.com/photos/magster...and yeah, Amanda, half my pictures are of food. Get used to it. xx