Pupkin Noodles: the new pumpkin pie

I've finally gotten a chance to see the beauty of Taiwan, outside of the chaos that is city life. I took a trip to Kenting this weekend with some friends and it turned out to be exactly what i've been missing since I got here. Kenting is at the southern tip of Taiwan and the area is absolutely stunning. We took a taxi down but of course had to rent scooters as soon as we got into town. I totally forget how people get around without them in the less fortunate areas of the world where scooter-driving isn't the norm. The Taiwanese are very funny becaue they wont go to the beach during "winter" even if winter days average in the 80's. Their loss is definitely my gain.

We rode down to the southernmost tip of the county and then to the sight of a shipwreck that happened during the taiphoon earlier this year.

Rob, Kristen, me and Julie at the southern tip of Taiwan

No Pasha Bulker, but still very impressive

After a little hike we drove our grumbling stomaches back to town for some Thai food and night market mayhem- the perfect way to end any day. The next morning we hit the National Park pretty early and I finally got to see wild monkeys!!!! I had a minor freak out but was unfortunately the only one of the group not yet jaded by the presence of monkeys. After the park we were going to return our scooters and head home but I was definitely not ready to leave... so I waved off my friends and found a hostel for the night. The hostel was a surfing hostel right across from a beach and my biggest adventure of the day involved travlling between the beach and hostel. I met two girls who were travelling around the country and sat outside: playing cards and listening to the waves. It was a relaxing quite night until chaos came a'knocking. All of a sudden about 20 scooters pulled up and guys jumped off and started lighting fireworks in the street. Kids came running out of every street. Somehow we wound up in the middle of a political rally in the previosly deserted street with the anti-China Kuomintang party. After about 10 minutes of struggled conversation with a bunch of men in matching hats everyone left as quickly as they came and we were left dumbfounded at the picnic table. While we were talking about how weird the whole thing was, another group came though in the same fashion except this time it was the pro-China politcal party. I think the top candidates from both parties were travelling to pai-pai at the temples around the town and we just happened to be stationed near one. I wonder if I'll ever stop being shocked when things like this happen.

My next adventure of the week was on Thanksgiving Day. My friend, Luke, and I went to Cijin Island which is a stone's throw away form Kaohsiung. After Chinese class we rode down to the ferry and boarded with our scooters. In honor of Thansgiving, we treated oursleves to a little feast. First we had to choose what we wanted to eat among the fish, crustacions, and frogs that were sitting on ice (or swimming in tanks).

There was one fish in particular looked like it really wanted to be sitting in my belly so I happily obliged and we got some pumpkin noodles (a close second to pumpkin pie), scallops, veggies, and Taiwan beer to go with it. We ate like kings... until the second Taiwan beer inspired us to eat the fish's eyeballs (1 each) which we swallowed like pills. When in Rome.....

Today I played Ultimate Frisbee with a group of foreigners- Pilgriims vs. Indians. Unfortunately, history repeated itself an the Indians were massacred once again. We followed the game with a trip to cold-stone which is always a little piece of heaven delivered a waffle cone. Although I my Asian interpretation of Thanksgiving was quite enjoyable, it didn't quite compare to the holiday as I know and love it. It's a little sad not to have family and close friends around. This is one holiday I wont make a habbit of missing at home.

Traditional Dances of the World

Feeling a little artistic at Central Park on a beautiful day

This is the entrance to the subway station near my Chinese school

I've got quite a few stories since the last one but i'll do you all the favor of trying to only write the most fundamental and entertaining. My fingers always get ahead of me when i'm writing and all of a sudden i've got a mini-novel with no plot or inspirational message.... just me (the protagonist) and a few crazy experiences that I (the writer) think some of you might enjoy.
I moved into a new apartment two weeks ago which is absolutely beautiful. I'm living with another American and a Hungarian girl. We all get a long really well and i've already shared some great experiences with them. The apartment is on the 19th (top) floor of a great building with roof access right outside our front door.

Last saturday, we were all feeling adventurous so we decided to walk to this great park near the apartment. If there's one thing you should know about Asians, more specifically more mature aged Asians, it's that they LOVE to exercise in the parks. So we were walking past huge groups of people doing all sorts of tai-chi type things until we found the group we were looking for: the dancing ladies. They were just warming up when we got there so we cast our purses aside and joined the ranks. We were shuffled among the lines and in no time were mimicking the instructor (having no idea what she was saying) and having the time of our lives. We learned traditional taiwanese dances, hip hop dances ("Who let the FROGS out?!?!") and other popular dances. We danced for over an hour until we were finally finished. We thought. We were just about to grab our bags when the instructor said there was one more dance we should do.... a traditional English folk dance. The english speaking lady who had been helping us told us we'd know what to do, just listen to the lyrics. So we got in a huge circle and the music started. "4...3....2....1.... you put your right foot in, you put your right foot out..." I literally fell to the ground laughing when I realized I was about to do the hokey pokey with these women. I apologize to all the hokey-pokey lovers out there but that's got to be the most annoying song we've got to offer. It was such a relief when we finally got to "shake our whole selves all about" but they thought we loved it so much (because of all the laughter) that they so kindly played it again and we did the freakin' hokey pokey twice. None the less, I'll defintiely be joining these women again.

Halloween at the school.... i was in charge of the "Monster Walk" costume show

Other news: Yesterday I got to check out this lab where they're working on developing drugs for cancer treatment and helping hospitals with disease identificaiton. I really miss the lab atmosphere! They invited me to come by now and then for an internship type thing. I think i'll pretty much be the sporatic lab guest who watches people and askes annoying questions. There was a biotech professor there who invited me to visit his lab where they're also working on developing a drug that specifically kills breast cancer cells. Sounds like it could be a very promising connection. Maybe i'll just cure cancer while i'm here.
I'm defintiely settling in well. I don't feel like a toursit anymore but I still continually encounter things that make my jaw drop, or make me burst out in laughter because they're so extraordinary. I'm making friends of all varieties but I definitely miss everyone from home a lot. This morning, my Hungarian roommate put on Mika's "Big Girl You are Beautiful" which was a classic dance party in the Camelot kitchen song. It's always music that brings you back to the places and people you love. Well, tonight I'm off to a "Thanksgiving" dinner with a friend from Chinese class. We'll see if I remember how to use a knife and fork.

Monks (and me) on Scooters

There’ve been a number of monumental changes in my life over the past two weeks. I went from having no job, no Chinese class, and no means of transportation to having all of the above. I was hired at a cram school (in Chinese they pronounce it boo-she-ban) as an English teacher. I have three different level classes from the “baby” 5 year old class to 12 year old kids. You can’t imagine entertainment that a classroom full of 5 year old kids can bring when they only understand half of what you say (on a good day). My other classes are pretty good too although I’ve got some tuff shells to crack with the older kids.
I’m also into my second week of Chinese lessons and it feels good to be learning again. I have to admit that I really miss the classroom environment. Every morning I am joined by an American-Pakistani man named John for two hours of Chinese with teachers Fong and Xu. I’ve reached the monumental point where I can successfully order an iced coffee or green tea and the shopkeepers actually understand what I say. Every time that happens I give myself a mental “pat on the back” for a job well done. After the lesson my classmate and I go to a coffee shop for our daily caffeine pick-me-up and life discussion. Through him I’ve learned about Muslims and yesterday he even read my hands. Turns out I’m not good at saving money and overall, I’m complicated person to read... Tell me something I don’t know.
My last and possibly most exciting piece of news is that I am the proud owner of a beautiful scooter! It’s tried and true (for over 10 years), and has improved my life immensely. It’s actually quite easy to drive and I love exploring the streets on my new wheels, especially at night when the streets are all lit up like only Asian streets can be. When I’m waiting at a red light in the middle of a hundred scooters, I like to pretend I’m either in a big race and waiting for the start gun or that we’re all a huge biker gang. Both are equally entertaining at 7:30 in the morning when I’m on my way to class. My favorite biker-gang members are the families of 4 that somehow fit on a single scooter and the Buddhist monks in their long flowing robes.
It takes me about 30 min. to drive to work and I have no idea how I actually wind up there. The first time, I wrote extremely vague directions on my hand that I followed half way until I couldn’t find a rode I was supposed to turn on. From that point on, I just drove in the same direction until I got to a dead end, then turned and rode for a while and turned again down some random street. I hadn’t seen a familiar road name for a while and was just about to turn around at the next intersection but luckily I read the street name first. Somehow I had wound up on the same street and just a few blocks from my school. I have always been absolutely terrible at directions, even when they’re on a computer screen in front of my face and a little voice is saying “turn left now”. (Amy- I think if you were here we’d still get lost and somehow wind up in Newark) How I found anything on the winding roads of Taiwan with directions that had smeared off my sweaty hands remains a complete mystery.
Two nights ago when I was driving home from work I found myself in the middle of a big festival. I remember walking through one and thinking ' I would never be caught dead driving through this chaos'- turns out they're completely unavoidable. I guess I was a little lost in my thoughts because I just thought the traffic was normal friday night traffic until I pulled up to a stop light and there was a person in a huge Buddha costume dancing in the street right in front of me. Nothing weird about that- just make sure you aren't next to a bus or taxi when you swerve around the dancing buddha. About a block down the road I got caught up behind a huge gong/ drumb combo that were a little bit harder to maneuver around but luckily I got away right before they started setting off fireworks in the street. Just another Friday night in Taiwan