Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sweet Home Missouri
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Rain rain go away
I know I haven't been keeping this blog updated as I should, and I apologize for that. Lately when the weekend rolls around I am stuck in my apartment due to the incessant rainfall. I will try and be better at keeping you updated at what is going on. Yesterday I was invited by my 5th year students to have a lunch in appreciation for my excellent skills in teaching. It was a wonderful time, we went to a restaraunt named Rock, whose specialty is Hot Pot. Hot Pot is where you have a pot with broth and veggies and meat and it cooks up at your table. Your table also has little bbq grills on it so you cook your own food, while the Hot Pot is going. It was wonderful, lots of different types of meats and at the end the Hot Pot was spectacular, all the different flavors of the ingredients had merged to make one overwhelmingly wonderful taste. Now I am going to include a few pictures I took a couple weekends ago when I went to a the third largest temple in the world. It is a buddhist temple and I was there on Buddha's birthday ( whatever ) It is a huge celebration for the buddhist's and the temple was very cool. I hope you enjoy the few pics, I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
It's the Ice cream man..... well not really
Driving Miss Daisy
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
My gift is my song and this ones for you....
Well I spent the weekend pretty much doing nothing. Did laundry and watched some movies I had downloaded during the week. I watched "The Forbidden Kingdom" pretty good movie it had all the things I have come to love in a Jackie Chan film. I found a gym, well sort of it is a weight room and I am starting to go, trying to get back in to shape. Everything here has been good. Yesterday I got completely soaked, since I had to ride my scooter home in a downpour. I gotta tell you it is hard to see in the rain when you don't have a windshield, my sunglasses unfortunately didn't come with their own wipers. Well that's all for now, I miss you all and will talk to you soon. Oh and I wanted to especially congratulate Johnny's little Troopers they did their job and Arlie is totally preggers! I'm gonna be an Uncle..... How cool is that!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Bringing the Flavor of the West to the East
Sunday, April 6, 2008
North vs South
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Into The Great Wide Open
So my first morning in Taipei, I woke up at 5:30 because I went to bed around 11. After I took a shower and got dressed, Jennifer’s older Auntie, who is staying here until Tomb Cleaning Day, was awake and opened the security gate for me so I could take a walk. I walked down to the corner 7-11 for a Cafe Au Lait, which here in Taiwan I had to settle for cold (7-11 has no hot drinks, kind of strange). It is lightly raining on and off, so the streets are wet and early in the morning the city, at least in this area is just waking up. It was a very nice walk, I enjoyed it. I think we are going to the National Museum and some other places today. I will try and update tonight, if not it will be an early morning memory session. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
Today I started my Spring Vacation trip to Taipei. I met Jennifer in front of the school at 3pm, well it was supposed to be 3, but she runs on Island-Time like everyone here. Jennifer’s Auntie took us to the Chiayi HSR (High Speed Rail) Station. There we had to exchange the tickets I had purchased online earlier in the week, because we changed stations and time. High speed rail travel is the way to go; we went from Chiayi to Taipei in an hour and 32 minutes. We paid about ten dollars extra to ride in the business class car, it only has two seats per row and they give you complimentary drinks. A very smooth and fast ride, everyone should try it at least once. We arrived in Taipei and took a taxi to Jennifer’s Grandmother’s house, where we will be staying. Jennifer’s Mother lives about ¼ mile away and she prepared a dinner for us. Jennifer’s family is so sweet, they are all afraid that I am not being taken care of well enough. Jennifer’s mother was making curry for dinner, and after about five minutes of them trying to get me to understand that she was making curry, I mentioned Thai curry. They had never tried curry with a coconut base, so Jennifer’s mom reached under the counter and pulled out a container of coconut milk and put it in the curry, it was a huge hit. I met Jennifer’s younger sister and her voice just busted me up, I had to constantly bite back laughter. She has the voice of an Anime girl when she isn’t getting her way, it slays me. After dinner we sat around and Jennifer caught up with her family. We headed back to her Grandmother’s where they were talking on Skype to Jennifer’s Auntie that lives in Texas. Her Auntie married an American 25 years ago, so after a while Jennifer dragged me in to talk with her auntie. I had a wonderful conversation with her Auntie for about an hour; well it was Jennifer, her Auntie and I talking. Her husband is in Taiwan right now, and will be taking us out for dinner Friday. Jennifer’s Auntie had a lot of good ideas of things to see while I am here. I am going to sign off now; I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
We all live in a Yellow Submarine.....
Today I had the best sashimi, I have ever tasted in all my life. Probably because it was swimming in the ocean hours before it was put down in front of me. I spent the day in Budai, it has a very famous fish market, well known throughout Taiwan. I snapped some pictures of the fish market but I left my camera in my Scooter and I am too lazy to walk downstairs and get it. So I am posting a photo, from caveman_lee (go check out his photo's, he is pretty talented), that best represent the wonderful sashimi I ate. Not only did I have wonderful sashimi, I was treated to a 8 course meal by one of my students Aunt's. All super fresh seafood, sea bream, prawns, chow mein, chow fun, some kind of small fish that was heavenly and two different types of clams, one in a broth and one in a sauce, amazing food. Budai is about a half hour ride from my apartment. The seafood there is so cheap, Jennifer (my student) bought 6 tuna steaks to take home nice large cuts for 350nt, that's less than 12 dollars. There were so many types of sea life in the market, some fish I have never seen. The only problem is I have no idea what their English name is. Well I am going to end this post I am heading out to the night market for dinner. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Feast for the Senses
I spent my Easter Sunday wandering around the streets of Kaohsiung. After a 1 1/2 train ride I arrived in Kaohsiung. The MRT Kaohsiung's new subway, is free to ride for the first month. It was insane how many people were taking advantage of their new public transportation. I got on the MRT and went to the shopping district, 3 stops away. There were their major department stores, each at least 10 stories high. I went in one store and browsed around for a while, until I made my way to the 14th floor. There I had lunch at a wonderful tea house, where I had some excellent Dim Sum. After a very filling lunch I made my way back to the MRT and travelled to the Love River, there I took a boat down the river to Kaohsiung harbor. I walked around the harbor for a bit and then grabbed a cab and went to Central Park. The shopping around Central Park is amazing, anyone that enjoys shopping would be in heaven. I snapped some pictures of the crowds shopping, I also took a picture of a stores sign, the store was named Marijuana. You have to realize in Taiwan there is no illegal drug culture, mainly due to the fact that they put drug traffickers to death. I also took a few pictures from the boat on Love River. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. The sights and sounds and smells of the shopping district all swirl together to make for a most enjoyable experience. I imagine Harajuku must be something close. Tweeter you would love the stores there, they have many shops from all around the world, and little boutique stores. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A flower by any other name.....
Let's see it has been a little while since I last updated. I went to an Orchid Show last Friday, because 2 of my students were working there. I got a few good macro shots of some Orchids, and I was introduced to the fact that there are hundreds of different species of Orchids. They also had some Bonzai s I will put a picture of my favorite. The two girls are my students Jen and Judy, Jen was my tour guide for the show. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Just another day in Paradise
So another week of school has gone past, had a lot of fun teaching. I have some pretty cool students, went to lunch with a group of them yesterday and then they invited me to the Yenshui night market. A lot of fun, even though after a while I began to feel like an ape in a zoo. People can't help but to stare when they see the giant white guy, it kinda cracks me up. Some of the girls from my class today wanted to have their picture taken with "Teacher". I only took one picture of the group, trying to maintain the teacher student relationship at least for a little while. I will include the pic of the girls, and some random shots on campus. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Swan Lake - SinYing City, Taiwan
Swan Lake
Friday, March 7, 2008
Temple Time
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Shake Rattle and Roll
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
An Apple for Teacher
Monday, March 3, 2008
Classes Begin
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Meet the Neighbors
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Quick Update
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Lantern Festival
Friday, February 22, 2008
Rain Rain Go Away
Well I don't have all that much to add for today due to the rain. I went for a walk this morning to get some breakfast and found a really cool Temple less than a block from my apartment. If the rain lets up I will get some pictures tomorrow. In addition to my taking a chinese class and teaching an english one, I was offered the opportunity to take a beginners french course, so I say what the heck let's go for it. I also found out I will be paid to teach the english course, how cool is that. Here is something really different; they pick up trash here everyday! They come by in this bright yellow garbage truck that blares ice cream truck music. I missed getting a picture of it today, but count on a picture of it tomorrow. Well this will be all for today's installment. Talk to you all soon. By the way here is my attempt at a panorama of the view from my window.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Yenshui Beehive Festival
On another note, the University threw a welcome dinner for me tonight, which was wonderful. I was seated at a table with only beautiful Taiwanese Girls. Can I get a woohooo? I am writing this to all of you from the desk in my new apartment in Sinying City. I got here today and found an apartment and moved in. I have to go to the government so I can open a bank account and get a cell phone out here. I will update that little piece of trivia when I get more information. I am currently dead tired, so I am going to end this diatribe and get some shuteye. Just to let everyone know I am 16 hours ahead of Missouri.
One Night in Kaohsiung
Well my plane got in too late to make the night market, but here I am in my hotel and all I can say is wow. Here are some pictures of this splendid establishment. Imagine I had to fly half way around the world to find a shower taller than me. I will try and update with pictures from the beehive festival tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I'll Fly Away
Monday, February 18, 2008
California Luv
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Leaving Missouri
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Final Countdown
Well yesterday I drove up to Kansas City to get my Visa squared away. I also stopped by AAA and picked up an International Drivers Permit, I whole heartedly recommend this for anyone traveling abroad, a small $15 fee and you can drive legally in almost every country. Well thats all for today