Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart (Almost Famous soundtrack)

I've decided to tell my story in picture because I'm tired of writing things, but I know that it's time for an update here. Also, many (most) of these pictures are already on Facebook but whatever. There may be a few more details here. Who knows.

Last Saturday at the Organic Farm we started out the day by digging for sweet potatoes (地瓜). It was really hot outside (surprise) but we all dug up one or two. They let us take some home and Leechew took them to school on Monday to cook them, as our dorms have nothing close to a kitchen. Liu Laoshi and Bai Laoshi ended up cooking them in a rice cooker I'm pretty sure, then Leechew shared the 地瓜 with all the teachers and everyone else. This all went on during our study hours in the afternoon.

Back to the farm, after gardening we went to a table and ended up making plant boxes, in which we planted sprouts. I re-discovered my lack of ability in the carpentry department. We had some fun though -  Courtney was a creeper as usual. After lunch, we put dirt in the boxes. I discovered some bugs in the dirt and freaked out a bit - and tried to check that I didn't have any in my box. Anyway, we brought them home and they've grown quite nicely without much help. All of our sprouts are growing toward the window, which means sideways, and it's rather funny looking.

I like smelling flowers. Actually, it doesn't smell. It was really pretty in this area, with a bunch of lotus flowers and various others. There were some pretty awesome really tall orange ones. 

Ryan is fishing in the tiny stream, using a flower petal to catch a fish to put into the giant leaves that repel water. We're not quite sure how he's doing it though. 

We got a tour of all the various plants and flowers growing around the field and restaurant. One of them was a tree which grew very tiny limes (or lemons as they're called here?). They were quite tasty, but also quite sour. 


This is my desk set up for doing my calligraphy homework. I'm going to do my homework for this week as soon as I finish up here. Calligraphy class is pretty much awesome, though I still really can't do it. They split the class so now it's just the four of us Puget Sound kids together. Last week, we talked with Bai Laoshi about how he can tell our personalities by looking at our calligraphy. Also, whenever he left the room, we talked about how epically we fail at calligraphy and generally started laughing. Then Bai Laoshi would come back and we would be in hysterics. Good times.

Courtney, Leechew and I went on an adventure to find the ice place Liu Laoshi took us to the first day we arrived in the university. It took us a while. We had a bad map, people sending us to the wrong kind of ice place, finding some sketchy shops up alleys, and after a phone call and some more wrong turns we found it.

So delicious! I don't know how to describe it. Shaved ice (冰) plus three things you choose out of a selection. I have tapioca balls (珍珠), another kind of balls that are pink and white, and green beans(綠豆). Then there's some sugar and milk (牛奶) on top. 

Yesterday (Friday) we made jiaozi (餃子) during the afternoon. I don't like any of the translations, but generally we made either dumplings or pot stickers. In reality we make jiaozi, both shuijiao (水餃) and guotie (鍋貼). Chen Laoshi and Liu Laoshi are here preparing the filling. Courtney chopped vegetables and I washed some. In this picture I am being very helpful. Clearly.

The insides all mixed and ready to go. Pork, vegetables, and sauces.

Here we are learning how to make (抱) the jiaozi. Ours didn't look so good, but I think got a little better after some practice. Or that what the teachers said (越來越好).

Liu Laoshi and his wonderful jiaozi, which he does know how to make. 


Cooking in the jiaozi.

And eating the jiaozi.


And that's my story for today. Comment! Or something. Or not. 

Two farms in three days?

Hello! Look at this: a somewhat timely update!

Tuesday we had our first calligraphy class (書法). We legitimately spent more than two hours writing the numbers one, two, and three (一，二，三). We have to start with the basics and as Bai Laoshi says, this character is the most important because all other characters have it in them. I showed some of the sheets I practiced on while we were chatting on skype and what she said pretty much explains it: They just look like lines to me. :-) We have class again on Monday and I am determined to take more pictures on a regular day basis instead of just on trips and such. So I'll see how that actually goes. (I do have some from today which I will attempt to upload here shortly). 

Wednesday nothing really extraordinary happened. We (girls) ate delicious dinner because the boys continually fail to be cool and go out and do things when we ask. :-) Oh, we've had really delicious lunches this week because we go out to eat with other students from the language center who have been here longer. Wednesday I think we had cheesy noodles that are baked in the oven. They were actually extra cheesy. Today (Friday) we had saucy rice (燴飯) - Caralee you had better read this one because you'll appreciate that the most.

Thursday I went met up with my first host family!! It was relatively spontaneous because they emailed me Wednesday night and we arranged it. I woke up super early to take the bus to the train station in Taichung, then I took the train to Dalin (大林 - where I lived the first time I was here). Fun fact or two: The price of a train ticket from Taichung to Dalin has not changed in four years (NT$123) and Dalin has a new fancy train station. That kind of threw me off a bit. Anyway, I called my host father to say that I had arrived and a few minutes later they pulled up in the van I remember and it was wonderful. I pretty much love the whole family. It was nice to spend some more time with my host sister because she was in the US when I was at her house. And my little brother was all grown up. Crazy. But my mother and father were very much as I remember them. 

We then drove for another hour or so north to the mountains. Quick recap: 30+ minutes on the bus, 30+ minutes waiting for the train, 90 minutes on the train, 60+ minutes driving. It was worth it though. We stopped in Puli (I think?) where they make some famous alcohol (Shaoshing? that's what one of the boxes of candy they bought me says). We toured the little museum explaining how it's made and it's history and such. Then walked around the little shopping area. Everything they had to sell there was prepared with the special alcohol. Also, I ate a duck's foot. 

Then we went further up the mountain to Qingjing nongchang (情境農場) which is a farm with sheep. We went to watch the sheep show but it was ridiculously foggy that afternoon. So it was a little hard to see at times. 

After walking around some more we headed back down the mountain toward Taichung because they were going to drop me off the Tunghai before going back south. The farm was basically east of Taichung up in the mountains. So another car ride, I got a painful headache, we ate dinner and a relatively fancy restaurant with knives and forks, and they dropped me off with a bunch of things they bought throughout the day because they're too wonderful and nice. Then I took a nap to try and get rid of my headache and let the medicine kick. That didn't really work so when I started studying at 10 I only lasted a little bit and then went to bed. 

I studied in the morning before class and my tests today were fine. This afternoon we watched another movie with Liu Laoshi. It was really rather good but also intense at points. It was about Grandmaster Ip Man, who is master of a type kungfu . It was the story of the guy Bruce Lee studied under, if that rings a bell for anybody. There was some pretty bad ass kungfu scenes. Seriously. But a few were stressful to watch because of the violent pain. Also, we watched it in the computer lab because somebody was in the room we used before. The projector was too low and the wall was too close so we stacked all of our text books up to raise the machine a bit. 

Later tonight we're planning to go check out another night market in the city. And tomorrow we have another trip with Liu Laoshi that the school scheduled. We're going to another farm oddly enough, but I'm pretty sure this is a farm that grows things organically. 

P.S. My next plan is to go add some pictures to the last blog now that I've successfully put these pictures up here. 

a trip to the mountains and starting school.

Sunday night (a week ago) we arrived at our university and spent the night in the guest hotel. Liu Laoshi met up with us for dinner, but none of us were hungry so we went out to eat ice （吃冰）. It's shaved ice (?) with things in it and some sauce. You can get things like red beans, fruit, jelly things, tapioca pearls, and such. I'm not sure if it's really coming across but it's delicious. Then we went and played some pool. However, nobody really knows how to play it very well at all. No big deal though. :-)

 The next morning we dropped all our things off in our dorm room then left on an overnight trip to Xitou（溪頭） - which is a little east and a little more south of Taichung（台中）. That first day we went around to various establishments seeing the various stages of making tea. We saw it laying out in the sun, a farm growing the tea plants, and a factory drying and breaking up the leaves (?). By the way "we" means the five students from UPS, two of our tutors/teachers, and our tour guide for the day. 

We stopped for lunch at some place and everybody had the chance to set off a way of communication - bamboo explosive - thing. It was rather frightening the first time because nobody really knew what was going on slash what to expect. 

We ate lunch out of some pretty awesome bamboo bowls that we got to take home. After lunch we took a ridiculously stressful hike through a bamboo forest. First there was a dead snake that was poisonous and bright green at the bottom of a stream next to the path. Then there were a ton giant spiders just hanging out. There were next to the path, over head, and between trees. They were legitimately the size of a hand - the legs were crazy long and the bodies a few inches long. 

After that, our tour guide lady took us back to her house where her husband served us tea and her daughter played an instrument similar to a piano (?). Eventually we left to go to our hotel. I'm pretty sure we stayed at the Shi-tou Youth Corps Activity Center and/or in the Sitou Nature Education Area (Sitou Forest Recreation Area). Those are the two brochures I have anyway. We just hung out and chatted and played a bunch of cards all evening. 

The next day we hiked around the recreation area all morning. There was another snake - also poisonous and alive this time. It was rather traumatic for me. We walked on the skybridge in the trees, saw a giant tree, saw a pretty sweet pond and semi-sketchy bridge. It was really beautiful walking around in the trees and  such. Fortunately it wasn't too hot that day and we were in the shade much of the time. Lunch was wonderful and delicious - I have a picture of the table. They kept bringing out more and more dishes. 

We arrived back at school in the early evening of Tuesday. We met up with another student from UPS who has been in Taiwan for a few weeks staying with family. So the six of us and another kid from the US who's living in the boys' dorm room went out for karaoke - which is always a good time. :-) 

So Wednesday we went to the Language Center for the first time. The teachers talked to us a bit and gave us a lesson to prepare for Thursday's class. I can't remember what all we did the rest of the day. It was our last free day - I feel like we explored the campus a bit, and walked around Dongbie (a market-type area just up the hill from the school). Ah, I think we went and bought some necessities for our dorm room to get settled in a little more. 

The first day of class was alright. It was somewhat frustrating. At this point a lot of things weren't going well. None of us could get online in our dorm. We (the three girls) were alone in our room. Our fourth roommate was completely missing. She had some things here but we hadn't seen her and we didn't know when she would come back. It was lame because with no Taiwanese student in the room we had no real incentive to speak Chinese in the room. And part of the whole experience is to speak Chinese (oddly enough) and we didn't know how to make more Taiwanese friends without a roommate. Anyway, by Thursday night we were all very grumpy and called our professor back at UPS, but didn't get a hold of her. She called back the next morning while we were in class (taking a test actually) and I talked to her. It's wonderful how many problems were solved in less than two hours. My internet sign on still doesn't work, but the other four all are able to get online - I'm actually on with Leechew's info because she doesn't have a laptop here. This is mostly why I have failed to blog or update much in the last week. We were able to check email briefly before or after class but that was if for the first few days. 

Friday was more successful and we all have two textbooks to work out of, except Leechew who rocks and has three. Her classes are super intense though. Friday night Courtney and I went out to play and Leechew slept for 13 hours. For serious - she didn't sleep the night before because she already had two tests and a presentation to prepare for. Saturday Liu Laoshi took the five of us the the Science Museum and around the town a bit. We had lunch and drank tea at a teahouse, sitting on the floor and everything. Everybody had their turn at pouring the tea too （泡茶）. For the fourth of July, the boys were lame and stayed in while the three of us girls went out to find a hotdog to eat （熱狗）. Sketchiest hotdog ever. Really. Get this: under the hotdog in the bun was cabbage, apple, corn, onion, pickles - then the hot dog. On top was ketchup and possibly mustard, possibly something else. The best part is the menu said this was "american style". We have pictures. Well I think Leechew has them. Our celebration lacked any sort of fireworks or sparklers though. 

Sunday (yesterday) we spent the entire day studying. Truly. I don't remember spending so much time sitting at a desk in one day. It paid off because I rocked my 聽寫 （tingxie） test this morning. Classes went well but I have a bunch of homework still, which I will return to shortly as soon as I finish this epic blog. This is what happens when I don't update for a week! By the way, if you want more detail (!), pictures, or more frequent updates I kindly direct you to Ryan's blog: ryantateintaiwan.blogspot.com. I may see about setting up a flickr account. That's really testing my motivation though. I'm pretty proud that I've put up a few pictures on facebook and written this entry. :-) I will try to be more consistent now that things are settling down and we're getting into more of a routine. 

好了。再見！

PS. I like how I already directed you to Ryan's blog in the last post. It's mostly for the pictures. But I'll let you know if I set up flickr or something. 

PPS. This website lies about the time. Currently, I'm posting this at 6:30pm on Monday July 6.