Kenting

Day 1- a six hour drive with bathroom and lunch stops, then some hiking

This is what water chestnuts look like in the shell.  

Our hotel

It rained for a few minutes, so we hung out under a pavilion

Tea time

Kenting is a busy place, even more so on this weekend, the music festival was going on.

Day 2- More hiking and beach walking

The Nixon rock

It was so windy on this cliff!  We were trying to take pictures, but there was a beer can on the ground.  I tried to throw it off of the cliff, but the wind caught it and it came back, almost getting Linda in the head.  Sorry Linda :)

Day 3- More hiking, and a few caves thrown in along the trail

Adventures in Taipei

Had an awesome day in Taipei yesterday, I wanted to see the panda exhibit before it closed today. It was at the Chang Kai Shek Memorial, so we got to see that and the museum.

Changing of the guard ceremony

The ceiling in the memorial hall.  The 12 stars represent 12 months of the year, and 12 hours in the ancient Chinese day.  The ceiling is a series of squares because Chiang Kai-Shek's birth name meant "square."

Chiang visited Washington DC at one point, and you can definitely tell he liked the design of the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial.  And the marble on the walls came from Vermont.

They're not allowed to move.  If it's hot, every once in a while, a volunteer will come and wipe the sweat off their faces.

Changing of the guard

Interesting stuff we learned at the museum:

1.  Chiang Kai Shek was born a Buddhist, but converted to marry his second wife, the famous one.  He was interested in the Bible, and read it every morning.

2.  Madame Chiang Kai Shek spent a good portion of her life on the East Coast, and she graduated from Wellesley College.  According to Wikipedia, she spoke English with a Georgian accent. I can kind of hear it in this video

After the museum, Linda and I found a tea house and had crepes and tea.

 We strolled around for awhile, then took the MRT back to Banqiao.  We had dinner at the station, and then got on our separate trains to go home.

My daily Chinese lesson

Brought to you by Ruby, and the fifth graders that clean the office.

Yangmingshan and Beitou

Yesterday the FET's took a field trip to Yangmingshan National Park, near Taipei.

Peggy, Thomas, Tara, Mandy, Bryce, Me, Adrian, and Van is down in front

Flower clock

After Yangmingshan, we got back on the road and went to Beitou.  The trip was supposed to be 30 minutes, but the driver's sense of direction was a little off, and it took 90 minutes, lol.  Beitou has lots of hot springs.

Hot springs museum

Hot springs egg.  Not bad.

The sulfur turns the rocks green.

Thermal Valley.  The water is between 175 and 200 degrees.

We soaked our feet in one of the small creeks.

Teacher Allison and the Mysterious Junk Food

Today was a good day, I was in Zhunan filming TV clips with Linda, bought a new purse, and walked barefoot around Zhunan.  Long story.  When I got back to Tongxiao, it was just around dinner time, so I stopped by 7-11 and got dinner, and a snack.  That's when the trouble started.  I like Pringles, and they're one of the more popular junk food items here.  They have the usual flavors, pizza, sour cream and onion, seaweed.  And some in a can that I didn't recognize.

So I bought them and tried them when I got back to the apartment.  They're good, a cheesy, almost citrus flavor.  But I still have no idea what flavor.  I can't tell from the can, it's a couple of Pringles dancing in a cheesy(?) river.  But they're wearing scarves.  Yarn flavored?  I've tried Google Translate, even a program where you draw the characters and it will translate.  No luck.  All I've gotten is cupboard door-one-July.  So if anyone can interpret, let me know.  I'm going to live in ignorant bliss, just me and my mystery flavored Pringles. 

 Update:  I think it's written in Japanese.  It means (according to Google Translate) Support ~Wa Ichi勹 one re A / Isuzu data one

This is not helpful.

Mystery solved! Sour Cream and Butter
Weird, but edible.  I guess the river is butter, not cheese.  But what's with the scarves?

Seven down, four to go...

Not much happening lately, school is back in full swing, but my schedule seems to be different each week.  There's testing going on, and stuff with the ETRC keeps me busy.  Yesterday was a professional development meeting.  I think we all have a little too much fun at those.  I realized a few days ago, that I need to start looking at plane tickets for July.  For real this time, not "I'msosickofeating7-11foodandfightingbugsIhavenoideawhat'sgoingonI'mleaving" tickets.  Some days, I can't wait to get back, and some days, I don't know how I'm going to leave these kids.

One of the fifth graders keeps coming in here, but all we know how to say to each other is "Hi, how are you?" and "Ni hao?"   She's adorable though.  

I feel really bad when the phone rings in the office, and someone has to run and answer it.  I'm going to answer it one day, just to see what happens.

I've been doing a lot of cross-stitching lately, I spent Saturday afternoon in Toufen, and found the cross stitch shop.  It doesn't carry supplies though, just kits.  I have a supplier in Utah though, the only one I've found that will ship to Taiwan.  They're going to have a very good year, ha ha.

My next adventure will be next weekend, a field trip to Yangmingshan.  "Shan" means mountain in Chinese, and any mountainous area in Taiwan is bound to be gorgeous.  I just hope the weather holds up.  It's still rainy and cold, and I keep asking when Spring is coming.  Although I'm grateful I'm not in Ohio, I just checked the temperatures, it's 65 degrees here, it's 16 degrees in Ohio.