I want to add one comment that one of the pictures is a shrimp that wouldnt let go of the bucket. Its grip was so strong it seemed like it was going to pick up the bucket! We couldnt get it to let go, they hardly even seem like shrimp but more like lobster with how big and strong they are. Although, they do have a nasty habit of losing their arms when you are pulling them up. One time, one got away from me but I pulled up his arm!
Also, when I said they put salt on the shrimp, I didnt mean a little bit. They dumped 5 or 6 scoops full of salt on it. Each scoop was probably around a cup of salt.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Shrimp Fishing
Hello again,
So we finally got to go shrimp fishing! Something that I have wanted to do since I discovered we were going to be coming to Taiwan, and it was as amazing as I thought it was. It’s a relatively inexpensive activity, a lot cheaper than going to a KTV or bar. You can rent a pole, or you just pay for two hours at a time. Everything you catch you put on the grill when your time is up and eat! We went with some of our fellow NST’s, which was a good thing as we are not professional fisherman like most of the Taiwanese that were there. One guy pulled up 27 shrimp by himself! As a group of eight, I believe we got 16 or 17. The very nice man gave us some of his shrimp, which are absolutely amazing. How you cook it up is wash the shrimp, put some salt on it, put it on a rack, and throw it on the grill! The shrimp are really huge, unlike anything I have seen back home! The “small” ones are like four inches long, and the large ones are like ten to twelve inches long. As a group we got two really large ones, Andy and Nicole (who were fishing together) and a different Matt caught two that must have been at least a couple pounds. The first catch was very exciting for everyone! A nice man helped me, so I never completely got a catch by myself. They did teach us some shrimp fishing techniques though. I look forward to going again. The fishing was a lot of fun, place it tastes absolutely amazing!
So we finally got to go shrimp fishing! Something that I have wanted to do since I discovered we were going to be coming to Taiwan, and it was as amazing as I thought it was. It’s a relatively inexpensive activity, a lot cheaper than going to a KTV or bar. You can rent a pole, or you just pay for two hours at a time. Everything you catch you put on the grill when your time is up and eat! We went with some of our fellow NST’s, which was a good thing as we are not professional fisherman like most of the Taiwanese that were there. One guy pulled up 27 shrimp by himself! As a group of eight, I believe we got 16 or 17. The very nice man gave us some of his shrimp, which are absolutely amazing. How you cook it up is wash the shrimp, put some salt on it, put it on a rack, and throw it on the grill! The shrimp are really huge, unlike anything I have seen back home! The “small” ones are like four inches long, and the large ones are like ten to twelve inches long. As a group we got two really large ones, Andy and Nicole (who were fishing together) and a different Matt caught two that must have been at least a couple pounds. The first catch was very exciting for everyone! A nice man helped me, so I never completely got a catch by myself. They did teach us some shrimp fishing techniques though. I look forward to going again. The fishing was a lot of fun, place it tastes absolutely amazing!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Temple and Glass Museum
Hello,
One of my favorite things about teaching is that we get to go on field trips! Today we went to Lugong, to a glass factory/museum. It was really pretty. It had beautiful blown glass from little trinkets to 4 foot high temples build all from glass. I didn’t get too many pictures, as I had other things I had to do, but I plan on taking Matt there soon enough so he can see it too. My favorite was a beautiful glass water lily pond, with a pretty bridge. There was also a really cool mirror map of Taiwan.
On our way back from the field trip, I saw a temple not too far from school that I had not seen before. So I directed Matt back there when we got off. It was really beautiful, although my pictures are pretty terrible because everything was so big that they couldn’t get in focus. Although we did find a charger for our nicer camera, so our pictures should be prettier now. Our old camera was just a 7 mega pixel camera, and is pretty outdated now. Especially since we want nice pictures of our time over here! Well, there was one nice man who was at the temple who spoke a little bit of English. Basically, it’s a temple dedicated to a general of the gods, as best as the guy could translate anyways. Well, it was pretty so I thought I would put up a few pictures.
By the way, it’s been pretty cold over here! We know you don’t feel bad for us, especially since you have already had a bit of snow, but for us it’s very chilly! It’s now even getting chillier in the evenings, maybe down to the 60’s or 70’s. You see a lot of people here now wearing big puffy jackets, or at least sweatshirts. We wear sweatshirts, and if you are in capri’s or sandals at night you will be cold, as I often am. We definitely will have to get jackets before we can attempt a longer drive, especially if it will extend into the evening.
We have an amusing little story about life here in Taiwan. We live in a quieter area, at least by Taiwanese standards. There is a road out front of our place, and every so often a lane will be blocked for a day or two for what seems to either be a mini-festival or something to the gods, or a funeral. Well, a while back a lane was blocked off for two days, and all traffic was diverted into the other lane. (That at least is not uncommon; lanes here are more suggestions than rules for a lot of streets.) The first night was relatively normal looking; they had food offerings and some traditional music. The second night however was a different story! They still had the tent up, but they were feasting on food, and watching Avatar!! They had set up a big projector, and it was playing on the side of the apartment building. We felt kind of bad driving right through it, but it was too late by the time we knew what was going on.
One of my favorite things about teaching is that we get to go on field trips! Today we went to Lugong, to a glass factory/museum. It was really pretty. It had beautiful blown glass from little trinkets to 4 foot high temples build all from glass. I didn’t get too many pictures, as I had other things I had to do, but I plan on taking Matt there soon enough so he can see it too. My favorite was a beautiful glass water lily pond, with a pretty bridge. There was also a really cool mirror map of Taiwan.
On our way back from the field trip, I saw a temple not too far from school that I had not seen before. So I directed Matt back there when we got off. It was really beautiful, although my pictures are pretty terrible because everything was so big that they couldn’t get in focus. Although we did find a charger for our nicer camera, so our pictures should be prettier now. Our old camera was just a 7 mega pixel camera, and is pretty outdated now. Especially since we want nice pictures of our time over here! Well, there was one nice man who was at the temple who spoke a little bit of English. Basically, it’s a temple dedicated to a general of the gods, as best as the guy could translate anyways. Well, it was pretty so I thought I would put up a few pictures.
By the way, it’s been pretty cold over here! We know you don’t feel bad for us, especially since you have already had a bit of snow, but for us it’s very chilly! It’s now even getting chillier in the evenings, maybe down to the 60’s or 70’s. You see a lot of people here now wearing big puffy jackets, or at least sweatshirts. We wear sweatshirts, and if you are in capri’s or sandals at night you will be cold, as I often am. We definitely will have to get jackets before we can attempt a longer drive, especially if it will extend into the evening.
We have an amusing little story about life here in Taiwan. We live in a quieter area, at least by Taiwanese standards. There is a road out front of our place, and every so often a lane will be blocked for a day or two for what seems to either be a mini-festival or something to the gods, or a funeral. Well, a while back a lane was blocked off for two days, and all traffic was diverted into the other lane. (That at least is not uncommon; lanes here are more suggestions than rules for a lot of streets.) The first night was relatively normal looking; they had food offerings and some traditional music. The second night however was a different story! They still had the tent up, but they were feasting on food, and watching Avatar!! They had set up a big projector, and it was playing on the side of the apartment building. We felt kind of bad driving right through it, but it was too late by the time we knew what was going on.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Hiking in Changhua
Hello,
So, today we did a little bit of hiking. We just went back up Mt. Bagua in Changhua to explore some more trails. There are quite a few, several miles worth anyways. So today we went up, intending to explore this area with some really cool planes, but instead stumbled upon this exhausting trail. There was easily 150 stairs, just on the section that we hiked. Wasn’t so bad going down, but it was terrible going up. The pollution wasn’t terrible either, so from the top of the mountain we could see all the way to Taichung. We were so tired from hiking back up the stairs that we didn’t even really explore the airplanes very much. We just wanted to get something cold to drink, so we headed back home. I am still scared to try sometimes some of the random things around town, so I mostly stick to bottled beverages instead of the stuff random carts will sell. Plus you don’t know what you’re getting. Matt and I tried a tea up at the Buddha a few weeks ago, that was really unique to say the least. Can’t really even say what the flavor was supposed to be, and it wasn’t horrible, but I like to know what I am getting. This is why we don’t play restaurant roulette as much as we used to. I am hoping to start learning Chinese soon, more than what I just pick up in school and stuff. There are a few places I have been picking stuff up, and I think I will be learning more formally soon. Best wishes to everyone at home!
So, today we did a little bit of hiking. We just went back up Mt. Bagua in Changhua to explore some more trails. There are quite a few, several miles worth anyways. So today we went up, intending to explore this area with some really cool planes, but instead stumbled upon this exhausting trail. There was easily 150 stairs, just on the section that we hiked. Wasn’t so bad going down, but it was terrible going up. The pollution wasn’t terrible either, so from the top of the mountain we could see all the way to Taichung. We were so tired from hiking back up the stairs that we didn’t even really explore the airplanes very much. We just wanted to get something cold to drink, so we headed back home. I am still scared to try sometimes some of the random things around town, so I mostly stick to bottled beverages instead of the stuff random carts will sell. Plus you don’t know what you’re getting. Matt and I tried a tea up at the Buddha a few weeks ago, that was really unique to say the least. Can’t really even say what the flavor was supposed to be, and it wasn’t horrible, but I like to know what I am getting. This is why we don’t play restaurant roulette as much as we used to. I am hoping to start learning Chinese soon, more than what I just pick up in school and stuff. There are a few places I have been picking stuff up, and I think I will be learning more formally soon. Best wishes to everyone at home!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Scooter!!
Hello,
So we have got a scooter!! Just a day ago, so we just took a few pictures of it so you could get an idea. It’s a 125cc Yamaha something or other. We have been taking it on some adventures around Changhua, which has been a lot of fun! We have spent several hours with just the wind in our hair since we got it…seeing some things we have seen before, but with a different perspective, and many things we have yet to see. We went and visited all of Baguashan Scenic Area tonight, which has some cool stuff. Unfortunately, it got dark so that picture taking became impossible at a point, although there were many cool things we saw we didn’t photograph. We also ate some really good squid, ostrich, and sashimi at a place in town that was before a very long, long walk. Here are a few pictures, I hope you enjoy!!
So we have got a scooter!! Just a day ago, so we just took a few pictures of it so you could get an idea. It’s a 125cc Yamaha something or other. We have been taking it on some adventures around Changhua, which has been a lot of fun! We have spent several hours with just the wind in our hair since we got it…seeing some things we have seen before, but with a different perspective, and many things we have yet to see. We went and visited all of Baguashan Scenic Area tonight, which has some cool stuff. Unfortunately, it got dark so that picture taking became impossible at a point, although there were many cool things we saw we didn’t photograph. We also ate some really good squid, ostrich, and sashimi at a place in town that was before a very long, long walk. Here are a few pictures, I hope you enjoy!!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Baguashan Buddha & Moon Festival
Hello!
So we have had a very busy last two weeks! I told you that there was a typhoon coming, and I have to say, that that typhoon was probably the most boring storm I have ever seen. We woke on Sunday morning, extremely excited, hoping to see some crazy rains and cool winds. Enough that would at least cancel school the next day. Instead we woke up to see that we had winds of about 20 mph and it rained for maybe 20 minutes all afternoon and evening. Needless to say, we had school the next day. However, we only taught Monday before we had a really long training on Tuesday (sad...our day off) and then it was Moon Festival!!
Moon Festival was very cool. One of my favorite things about Moon Festival was Tuesday night and all day and night of Wednesday, there were fireworks getting shot off everywhere. We could sit out on our balcony, under a brilliant full moon, and watch them go off in every direction. There is a wide variety of fireworks that people have. They have the ones that are legal probably nationwide back home that kids, and everyone else, plays with on the 4th of July like sparklers, noise makers, and little fountains. However, they also have the cool illegal ones that people in Minnesota will drive to South Dakota to get. Some people also manage to shoot off the ones that towns buy for the huge firework festivals! Im not sure if there are any laws regarding this, because there was a guy shooting the big ones off in the major intersection right by our balcony, and I watched a police man drive right by! I would have been very sad if the guy had stopped him, but it is a serious public safety hazard!
Moon Festival is actually several different myths important to Chinese culture, in which I am learned because we taught this in my Kindy class. One story is about the Moon Lady. Her husband had done the earth a great favor when he shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, he was given a pill of immortality by the Queen. However, his wife took the pill and discovered she could fly. She flew away in terror when she heard her husband calling her, all the way to the moon, where she remains to this day. Another legend surrounding Moon Festival is the Jade Rabbit. Three fairies turned themselves into old men and asked for food offerings from various animals. They all gave them food, but the rabbit had none, so he offered his body by jumping into the fire. The fairies were so touched that they asked the rabbit to come live on the moon in the Jade Palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit. The big traditions to do on Moon Festival are to eat Moon Cakes and grill with your family. It smelled absolutely fabulous all day on Moon Festival with people grilling outdoors, all sorts of fabulous food. Seafood, tofu, duck, eggs, and basically anything you can put on a skewer.
What we decided to do on Moon Festival was to go up to Baguashan and visit the Buddha. Also explore around as there is a ton of trails and other things to do up there. Its actually Baguashan Scenic Area, and its what is probably one of the most famous things about Changhua. Its what gets it in the foreigners travel guides anyways. It was a very pretty place. I wasn't feeling too well, which is a whole different story, so we didnt get to explore as much as we would have liked. I was just too hot and exhausted for much of that after the mile to 1.5 mile hike to get there, with the last little bit taking you up the mountain. This is the mountain you can see off the balcony pictures, unfortunately a building is in the way of the Buddha. I know this is the biggest Buddha for sure in Taiwan, I couldnt really say about any place else, but its enormous. Since I wasn't feeling well, I left the camera to Matt, so we didnt get the million and ten pictures I would have felt required to take, but we did get some nice ones of the trail we took to get up to the Buddha (which I took before I got too exhausted) and some great ones of the city. The view from up there is spectacular, high above the city with panoramic views. Its not the most beautiful city, but it gave us some idea of how large the place was we were living in. The Buddha looks no where near as huge on the picture as it does in real life. We also found a very cool snail on this really pretty water trail leading up to the top. Some of the bugs, snails, and things around here are just crazy, usually in an interesting way. I just love the tropical trees and vines up in the mountains, although this is not very rugged at all, and actually very well groomed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
So we have had a very busy last two weeks! I told you that there was a typhoon coming, and I have to say, that that typhoon was probably the most boring storm I have ever seen. We woke on Sunday morning, extremely excited, hoping to see some crazy rains and cool winds. Enough that would at least cancel school the next day. Instead we woke up to see that we had winds of about 20 mph and it rained for maybe 20 minutes all afternoon and evening. Needless to say, we had school the next day. However, we only taught Monday before we had a really long training on Tuesday (sad...our day off) and then it was Moon Festival!!
Moon Festival was very cool. One of my favorite things about Moon Festival was Tuesday night and all day and night of Wednesday, there were fireworks getting shot off everywhere. We could sit out on our balcony, under a brilliant full moon, and watch them go off in every direction. There is a wide variety of fireworks that people have. They have the ones that are legal probably nationwide back home that kids, and everyone else, plays with on the 4th of July like sparklers, noise makers, and little fountains. However, they also have the cool illegal ones that people in Minnesota will drive to South Dakota to get. Some people also manage to shoot off the ones that towns buy for the huge firework festivals! Im not sure if there are any laws regarding this, because there was a guy shooting the big ones off in the major intersection right by our balcony, and I watched a police man drive right by! I would have been very sad if the guy had stopped him, but it is a serious public safety hazard!
Moon Festival is actually several different myths important to Chinese culture, in which I am learned because we taught this in my Kindy class. One story is about the Moon Lady. Her husband had done the earth a great favor when he shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, he was given a pill of immortality by the Queen. However, his wife took the pill and discovered she could fly. She flew away in terror when she heard her husband calling her, all the way to the moon, where she remains to this day. Another legend surrounding Moon Festival is the Jade Rabbit. Three fairies turned themselves into old men and asked for food offerings from various animals. They all gave them food, but the rabbit had none, so he offered his body by jumping into the fire. The fairies were so touched that they asked the rabbit to come live on the moon in the Jade Palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit. The big traditions to do on Moon Festival are to eat Moon Cakes and grill with your family. It smelled absolutely fabulous all day on Moon Festival with people grilling outdoors, all sorts of fabulous food. Seafood, tofu, duck, eggs, and basically anything you can put on a skewer.
What we decided to do on Moon Festival was to go up to Baguashan and visit the Buddha. Also explore around as there is a ton of trails and other things to do up there. Its actually Baguashan Scenic Area, and its what is probably one of the most famous things about Changhua. Its what gets it in the foreigners travel guides anyways. It was a very pretty place. I wasn't feeling too well, which is a whole different story, so we didnt get to explore as much as we would have liked. I was just too hot and exhausted for much of that after the mile to 1.5 mile hike to get there, with the last little bit taking you up the mountain. This is the mountain you can see off the balcony pictures, unfortunately a building is in the way of the Buddha. I know this is the biggest Buddha for sure in Taiwan, I couldnt really say about any place else, but its enormous. Since I wasn't feeling well, I left the camera to Matt, so we didnt get the million and ten pictures I would have felt required to take, but we did get some nice ones of the trail we took to get up to the Buddha (which I took before I got too exhausted) and some great ones of the city. The view from up there is spectacular, high above the city with panoramic views. Its not the most beautiful city, but it gave us some idea of how large the place was we were living in. The Buddha looks no where near as huge on the picture as it does in real life. We also found a very cool snail on this really pretty water trail leading up to the top. Some of the bugs, snails, and things around here are just crazy, usually in an interesting way. I just love the tropical trees and vines up in the mountains, although this is not very rugged at all, and actually very well groomed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Our apartment in Changhua
Hello again!
So sorry that we haven’t written! It didn’t seem as long for us as it actually has been since we have been so busy. We are starting to get adjusted and feeling more comfortable as teachers. At first it was a lot of hard work (not that it still isn’t) and a lot of hours spent agonizing over lesson plans and grading. It still takes us a lot longer than the other teachers, but that is to be expected since it has only been a month.
We are starting to settle in some in Changhua. We have two wonderful little kitties that were rescued from the streets! Pizi, which we are told in Chinese means something like Lothario, and Xiao, which means little or small, have helped made this place feel much more like a home. And Xiao is super little. You can see in a picture below that she is about the size of a neck pillow. Pizi is a very cute, funny looking city. I think he looks like one of those black and white cows, in the best possible way. Our apartment could still use a lot of work, but things move slowly around here and as for cosmetic fixing up that is pretty much for the residents and not the building management. So that means we have some gross areas on the walls that could use a coat of paint and the tiles on our balcony are falling off, but it’s structurally sound for the most part! The AC in the living room is broken, which is a huge pain. Although it’s not as hot as when we got here, it’s still in the 90’s every day. We have temporarily moved the TV into our bedroom, just so that we can have a space where we can cool off and relax after teaching long hours or when it is raining outside. Its typhoon season, and although we have not gotten one yet we have our fingers crossed! We are supposed to be getting one this weekend, but I am not so secretly hoping that it holds out a little longer and we will get Monday off work :) Typhoon days here are the snow days of back home, so a teacher can dream.
Sorry for not getting pictures of our apartment up sooner! We actually are having some difficulties locating the camera charger, so we might have to replace it. We’re hoping it’s not too difficult to replace, because I believe it was made in Taiwan, or that it just shows up one day soon. So I have had to take these pictures from our old camera, making the quality really not that great. Most of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, just basic ones from around our apartment. I also have a few pictures of the view from the 2nd balcony, where we do laundry and which looks over the park, some buildings, and on to the mountains. Also, I really love our Koi and turtle pond/fountain, but the turtles where not cooperating and the weather was starting to get bad so use your imagination. It actually looks a lot cooler than it is. We do have a really weird elephant slide out front too. Mostly I have seen children play on it (you can’t actually slide down it because it’s concrete) but I have seen a neighbor’s very cute beagle play on it also. I’ll try to write more often! I hope everything is going well for you back home!
So sorry that we haven’t written! It didn’t seem as long for us as it actually has been since we have been so busy. We are starting to get adjusted and feeling more comfortable as teachers. At first it was a lot of hard work (not that it still isn’t) and a lot of hours spent agonizing over lesson plans and grading. It still takes us a lot longer than the other teachers, but that is to be expected since it has only been a month.
We are starting to settle in some in Changhua. We have two wonderful little kitties that were rescued from the streets! Pizi, which we are told in Chinese means something like Lothario, and Xiao, which means little or small, have helped made this place feel much more like a home. And Xiao is super little. You can see in a picture below that she is about the size of a neck pillow. Pizi is a very cute, funny looking city. I think he looks like one of those black and white cows, in the best possible way. Our apartment could still use a lot of work, but things move slowly around here and as for cosmetic fixing up that is pretty much for the residents and not the building management. So that means we have some gross areas on the walls that could use a coat of paint and the tiles on our balcony are falling off, but it’s structurally sound for the most part! The AC in the living room is broken, which is a huge pain. Although it’s not as hot as when we got here, it’s still in the 90’s every day. We have temporarily moved the TV into our bedroom, just so that we can have a space where we can cool off and relax after teaching long hours or when it is raining outside. Its typhoon season, and although we have not gotten one yet we have our fingers crossed! We are supposed to be getting one this weekend, but I am not so secretly hoping that it holds out a little longer and we will get Monday off work :) Typhoon days here are the snow days of back home, so a teacher can dream.
Sorry for not getting pictures of our apartment up sooner! We actually are having some difficulties locating the camera charger, so we might have to replace it. We’re hoping it’s not too difficult to replace, because I believe it was made in Taiwan, or that it just shows up one day soon. So I have had to take these pictures from our old camera, making the quality really not that great. Most of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, just basic ones from around our apartment. I also have a few pictures of the view from the 2nd balcony, where we do laundry and which looks over the park, some buildings, and on to the mountains. Also, I really love our Koi and turtle pond/fountain, but the turtles where not cooperating and the weather was starting to get bad so use your imagination. It actually looks a lot cooler than it is. We do have a really weird elephant slide out front too. Mostly I have seen children play on it (you can’t actually slide down it because it’s concrete) but I have seen a neighbor’s very cute beagle play on it also. I’ll try to write more often! I hope everything is going well for you back home!
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