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

Nippon

Help! Everything is in Japanese! (Including Blogger.com...hope this entry actually posts, b/c I have no idea what button I'm clicking on.) After about 20 hours of travel and connecting, I'm in Tokyo, awaiting my flight to Taipei. So far, my flights to Washington-Dulles and Tokyo Narita have been ahead of schedule, which is pretty unusual. The flight around the world was relatively bearable, compared to my past experiences, but I still feel like crap...apparently Simply Sleep isn't going to cut it, so I might abuse my connections when I'm in Taiwan and get my uncle to write me an Ambien prescription.

One thing--I had forgotten how bad airplane food is...ugh. Good thing I stocked up on Trader Joe's trail mix and Cliff Nectar Bars. Interestingly enough, the guy sitting next to me on the plane was a UNC alum living in China with this wife and four kids. Crazy.

For now, I've got about 2 hours until we board for Taipei, but I'll have more when I get to the motherland. xx

The Motherland

Greetings Friends and Family,

As you all probably know by now, I'm leaving for Taipei, Taiwan on Monday, August 20 for a three-month-long food frenzy as well as an intensive language course focusing on readin' and writin' them crazy Chinese characters. You can check out the university that I'll be studying at here. Since I'm a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker (it was actually my first language even though I was born in Charlotte, NC), my intention is to save myself from illiteracy and hopefully find a job in NYC that will utilize my new skillz...oh, and of course, I plan on getting in touch with my roots.

For those of you who haven't met them, my parents are originally from Taipei (they moved to The States about 26 years ago), and the majority of my extended family lives on the glorious island of Taiwan, also known as the "Gold Coast" of China. During my stay, I'll be living with my mom's younger brother, Sean Chang, his lovely wife Fiona, and their two kids Wesley (12) and Shannon (10). There they are above.

At the moment, I'm still struggling with the notion of packing light for a 90-day trip, but I'm getting pretty pumped about the food that awaits me--I'll be sure to properly document my culinary adventures for your viewing pleasure. The flight itself is a different story, since I've loathed this 26-hour+ trip since I first visited Taiwan when I was a wee baby. But, such things can't be avoided, so I'm stocking up on sleeping pills. Hope you enjoy my blog! I'll miss you all very much. xx