Raisins. And a toy snake.

Today is Christmas Eve, and we attended another small Christmas party on campus.

We were told to buy $50NT gifts to the party (to exchange). I bought chocolate and Jake bought raisins. I scoured the Carrefour for Christmas gift bags ... but had to settle on flowery ones instead (below).



There were various snacks - including hot tea from our favorite coffee shop in Yanshuei (5 degrees). There was also ...



(above) Those little airplane shaped snacks were Jake's favorite - they tasted like a mix between goldfish and animal crackers - mildly sweet with a bit of salt.



(above) This had a good taste - similar to a waffle cone, but much tougher to chew... I nearly broke a tooth tackling this one.



(above) This is a Japanese snack called "Daifuku mochi" (meaning either "big belly rice cake" or "great luck rice cake"). The outside is very doughy, and the inside is filled with red bean paste and a single strawberry. These I liked a lot.

When we first walked in, we were told that they'd be playing a few games ... and the losers of some would have to submit to some sort of "punishment", such as having his/her face drawn on by everyone else. Well, we like our faces the way they are ... and apparently so did everyone else, because this idea was quickly voted down.

The game we DID play was similar to the T.V. show "$100,000 Pyramid," where contestants try to guess a certain phrase based on a description given to them by their teammate.



(above) Jake and the other players drawing numbers to see who got to go first in the game.



(above) Alice trying to make her friend guess their phrase.



(above) Cindy (on the left) holding up the phrase.

So, Jake and I didn't win, but that's ok. After this, we exchanged the gifts everyone brought.



(above) We lined up to draw numbers to see which random gift we ended up with.

Jake got candy. I got a wooden toy snake ... at least I didn't get raisins.





(above) As Americans we're "exotic," and so everyone wants to have their picture taken with us. Maybe we should start charging.




That's all. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

a Nan-Jeon Christmas

The foreign lanuage department at Nan-Jeon held a Christmas party today. Students spoke about their study abroad experiences in Japan, France and America (Joplin, to be specific). Unfortunately, the speakers all spoke in Chinese -- but, there was cake, which requires no translation.



(above) Kristy, whose home we visited a few weeks ago (see previous post).



(above) A woman who works in the English department.



(above) Mr. Zhen, the director of applied English. When passing by his office, we sometimes hear him playing his guitar and singing various Chinese and French songs.



(above) Chris, a student at Nan-Jeon.



(above) The Japanese exchange student along with his two Taiwanese friends.



(above) Jean, one of the French exchange students. He knows more about American politics than most Americans.



(above) The 3 remaining French students - there used to be 8.



(above) Jake and Linda, who is constantly switching from Chinese to French to English.





(above) Jake and Sophia, one of the student workers in the English department.





(above) One of the Nan-Jeon students ... I'm terrible with names.



(above) One of the soups that was offered - it was actually quite tasty and was a mixture of vegetables, noodles and dumplings (if you could find them).

I would have taken a picture of the various cakes ... if only there had been some left.



(above) On the front steps of Nan-Jeon.





(above) Some Christmas decorations on campus.




That's all for this post. As always, thanks for reading.

yellow watermelon?

First of all, let me announce that our finals are over. Finished, complete, done with. We still have our Nan-Jeon classes, though, since there is no Christmas break here. But, that aside, no more eight page papers or mounds of algebra! *cheers* On that congratulatory note, here's the new blog.


A student of mine, Kristy, invited Jake and I to her family's house for lunch last Sunday. Being the food connoisseurs that we are, we happily agreed. Our friends Jennifer and Moss showed us the way via scooter to Kristy's home, which was in a little town near Yanshuei.



(above) The absolute worst road for scooter travel. It felt nearly the equivalent of taking our scooter down a flight of stairs. Note to self: avoid at all costs in the future.



(above) In America, families make homemade lemonade - in Taiwan, its homemade sugarcane juice.

When we arrived, we were met with mounds of sugarcane and sugarcane peelings. In Taiwan, sugarcane juice is very popular - every night markt has at least one vendor for it. As it turns out, Kristy's family makes its own. The juice is either green or yellow, depending on whether the skin is removed first. The taste is hard to describe - it has a mild, sweet taste and is supposed to be beneficial for health (since it contains protein, iron, vitams A, B1, B2, C, etc). To extract the juice, the cane is pushed through a machine that squeezes and siphons the juice into a container.



Kristy's brother and Moss taught Jake and me how to play Chinese chess (known as Xiangqi, or Elephant chess), which is easy to understand if you're familiar with Western chess.

The pieces include the following: King (aka: General), advisor, elephant, horse, chariot, cannon and soldier (aka: pawn).

Jake and I now have our own set.



(above) Moss and Jennifer.



Kristy's mother cooked delicious food - including a mound of noodles that replenished itself whenever the bottom of the platter was visible, and a delicious cabbage and fish ball soup. Her father also brought out fruit after fruit - and we tasted some that aren't available in America.





(above) Ever seen yellow watermelon before? Now you have.



According to Kristy's father, yellow watermelon tends to be juicier, while the red version is sweeter.





starting from front left: Moss, Jennifer, Kristy, Kristy's mom, Lola (Kristy's twin sister), Kristy's younger brother, and her dad.









(above) It was hard to catch them unawares - the Taiwanese like having their photo taken and pose as soon as they spot a camera in the vicinity.






That's all for this adventure.

Taipei: land of the big dome ... and the big Santa

Well, we took a trip to Taipei over the weekend - a 4 hour bus ride from Sinying (we'll just say it wasn't excessively comfortable). Luckily, Jake is a highly intelligent individual and bought us a Taipei map beforehand, because Taipei is huge.

I lost count of how many Westerners we saw in the city. In order to understand the amazingness of that, you have to realize that we've been living in Yanshuei for the past 3 months where only a few foreigners reside. So, seeing someone who isn't Taiwanese is extremely rare for us - and, furthermore, having a fluent English conversation with someone other than eachother is a pretty non-existent possibility.



We stayed at a hotel in the Ximen district of Taipei which was an area with shop on top of shop. During the nighttime, it was completely crammed with people (and was obviously the "happening" place). We spotted a noodle shop that was so busy we couldn't even see the counter - but, there were no places to sit(many of the food places here are more like food stands and not actual restaurants)and so their customers were just standing all over the street sipping from their soup bowls - it was an interesting sight. When we woke up the next morning, however, the streets were almost completely empty (like the above photo) and most of the shops were closed - it was quite a transformation from the bustle of the night before.











(above 5 photos) Ximen at night. I thought the Starbucks on top of the 7-11 was an ineresting combo. By the way, Taiwan is overrun with 7-11 stores and I'm not sure what the obsession is - but they're good for 2 a.m. snacks.





(above) You can see the Taipei 101 building on the right.

















It was a bit tricky finding our hotel - we ended up getting directions from a few police officers who were roaming the streets. As it turns out, our hotel occupied the 7th, 8th and 9th floor of a building - meaning that it was hard to spot from the street - especially since the ground floor level was a massage parlor (above).



This was easily the most awesome Starbucks I've ever been to (above) because it was 4 stories. Brilliant.




Kaohsiung has Dream Mall and Taipei has Living Mall (above is the dome side entrance).







An escalator connecting the dome building to the other building inside the mall (above).



Now that's a cool elevator.





Though the mall had very interesting and intricate architecture, it really wasn't that great for shopping. In all, we preferred Dream Mall (see last post).



(above) A really big Santa in the mall.







(above) The mall food court.


That's all for this post. Until next time.