A fun-filled week for me, which is why nothing was written earlier

On Monday after class Hiyoshi and I headed to the Yong He area for some lunch. We got off at Ding Xi station and worked our way to the shui jiao/guo tie shop, where we had a very satisfying meal of guo tie, xiao long bao, and dou jiang. Then we explored the little back alley market for awhile, and then discovered a shop that sold really nice Japanese-made T-shirts for dirt cheap (like less than $5 each), so we bought some Goddess Surf Team ones. After our purchase we wandered around the not-yet-open night market, where I spotted this "shuai" guy advertising men's fashions. Too funny :)


We both wanted to check out the night market, so we found the nearest Dante Coffee and sat sipping and chatting until it was time for the shops to open. I really enjoyed this market, lots of cheap clothing and great food, including some way cheap xue hua bing (only $25NT! less than $1.00US!). Got to see my first civet cat for sale at a small pet store. Darned thing tried to bite me. Had to head home early Monday for a lesson with Guoxi, so parted company with my faithful friend around 5:30 p.m. By the time Guoxi left on Monday, it was almost 10:00, so no journal entry.

Tuesday afternoon I asked Hiyoshi to go with me to Xinbeitou because I'd been reading about the area in a magazine & wanted to check out some of the parks. We checked the station map when we got there and headed in the direction of the one park that looked interesting, stopping to eat some "mian xian" at a little restaurant. Dang, it was good. Mian xian, called "e ah mi sua" in Taiwanese (that's the closest I can get to spelling it, sorry, and there's no way to write the nasal sound you have to make when you say it) is thread-fine noodles in a broth with tiny oysters and some other stuff. Yummy yummy - and cheap, only $35NT. Fortified by food, we continued.

And continued. And continued. By this time I was pretty sure we'd missed the park, but we kept going and found a large Buddhist temple that we checked out. It was very quiet, hardly anyone around, so we spent a little time "bai bai-ing" and then headed off again. We saw what looked like a park up ahead, crossed the street, and discovered a flood-control sluice that ran up the mountainside, with a funky imitation bamboo railing, paited an bright green. Since there was a pathway, we decided to check it out. Keep in mind that I'm carrying a backpack filled with two dictionaries, one school textbook, a notebook, some folders with papers, an umbrella, and the miscellaneous odds & ends that a girl just can't leave home without. And it was hot, full sun, no shade. By the time we reached the first set of stairs (the first of many), I was ready to toss Hiyoshi into the sluice, since he was the one who actually suggested we climb. And the stinker wouldn't even carry my backpack.

No matter, we climbed. Finally reached a spot where we could go either left or right, saw a sign indicated temples in both directions, and picked the right hand side first, since the left had a very steep set of stairs going up, while the right had a more gentle incline. We found a very small, very charming temple that had some relatively fresh water we could use to cool off (but not drink, and I did not have the foresight to bring water with me, dammit). More bai-bai at this temple, then back down to check out the other one.

Man, it was rough going up that last hill. I opted for the road since the steps were very shallow and it just seemed easier to hike the road. By the time we reached the top, I was soaked with sweat head to foot and my poor heart was letting me know just how out of shape I am. But it was worth the climb, because the view was fabulous. All I had with me was the phone camera, but I got a few shots you can check out by clicking the link. I plan to go back here again, and next time I'll leave the backpack at home and take the digital camera! http://www.pbase.com/500fan/xinbeitou_taiwan

The walk back down was much nicer, and we found a very cool park halfway down the mountainside, but we were so thirsty we didn't stop to play. Water was all I could think about at this point. The first 7-11 we found we bought water for our tortured throats and we did find the park that was our original destination on the way back. We didn't realize the children's playground we had seen was the entrance to the park. Nice place, with some very fun exercise equipment to play on, must go back again one day and act the child ;)

I was so exhausted by my day that I went to bed at 9:30 p.m., after sitting on the couch trying to stay awake enough to read my book. No journal entry.

Wednesday I went with Guoxi and his English class on an outing to the bowling alley. Whoa, fun, hadn't been bowling for over a year! I did much better than I expected, too, and bowling with a passle of youngsters was a blast. Most of Guoxi's classmates are in their early 20's, with Guoxi and two others being a bit older. I got to be team captain once, too, yeah! Next week I think Kieko and Hiyoshi and I are going to go give it a try.

After bowling, Guoxi took me to the pet store so I could buy a kitty tower for DZ to play on (too big to try to carry on the MRT), then I tagged along with him while he fed a friend's dogs. Was too lazy to write anything when I got home :)

Thursday afternoon was kinda regular, just spent some time at the library with Hiyoshi, studying for the test we had yesterday, then just wandering around, having our usual Dante Coffee break. Met up with Guoxi and some of his friends for dinner at a hot pot place, drank lots of beer and had lots of fun. As usual, the Taiwanese friends ate way more than I did, still can't figure out how they do that and still stay thin. Went back to Guoxi's friends' guitar shop and saw this cute little amplifier made from a teakettle. Isn't it cute?



Another late arrival at home, somewhere close to 10:30 p.m. Had to listen to DZ scolding me for leaving her alone so much. Didn't even bother to turn on the computer before I went to bed.

Yesterday I had planned to just come home after school, but Hiyoshi invited me to go with him to his Taiwan friends' home. He goes there every Wednesday and Friday to teach Japanese, and he assured me I'd be welcomed. Boy howdy, was I! Great family, mom, dad, son, and daughter. Not that the son and daughter had anything to say....typical 20-somethings, too involved in their own things to care who's visiting....but the mom, Sherri, was great. Dad (didn't get his name) was busy working (their home is also their office), but I did discover he's a big fan of rock & roll. After Sherri, Hiyoshi, and I had chatted for awhile and eaten some pizza and zong zi, Sherri fired up the karaoke machine so we could sing some Wu Bai songs. After we ran out of Wu Bai songs, and after Hiyoshi and Sherri sang a few Japanese songs, we started on English ones. There were times when I was laughing to much to sing, and times that songs were making me cry (Puff, the Magic Dragon does it to me every time). Then Sherri dragged out all the concert DVDs they have, and I couldn't believe how many! We watched a bit of Heart on tour, Dream Theater, Journey (oh man, I used to love them so much, and their new singer sounds *exactly* like Steve Perry, but doesn't look as good), some special in England with tons of bands.

We'd been drinking tea, but somewhere in the middle of all this Sherri brought out a large bottle of sake, which Hiyoshi and I managed to polish off, with only a little of it going into Sherri's tummy. Hiyoshi is quite funny when he drinks, because his face turns bright red. Someday I'm going to see what tequila will do to him...... One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. What, me, evil? Who says? I deny it!

And here it is, almost 1:30 p.m. on Saturday (and I've spent an hour writing this entry), and I'm still in my jammies, because I stayed up until almost 1:00 a.m. and got up late today. Gotta get dressed soon and head out to buy more gas, because my bottle is now empty. Tried to boil some water this morning, and the flames went "phhht" after about a minute. This bottle has lasted since May 8, so that's pretty good.

Here's hoping next week will be just as much fun as this one. Oh, did I mention how much I love not having a job? ;)

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The Gates of Hell are open

Last Friday marked the beginning of Ghost Month here in Taiwan, which will continue until September 3, with the highlight coming on the 15th day (I'm looking forward to that). To ensure that wandering ghosts will not disturb the peace and prosperity of the living over the next year, many Chinese burn enormous amounts of paper money, sometimes called "hell money," (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_money) so the dead can have money to spend on the other side, and set up tables laden with food and alcohol during this time. Chinese people really believe in taking care of the ancestors.

There are many "no-no's" for Ghost Month. Our teacher was telling us about a few of them, such as no flute playing, no whistling, no opening umbrellas inside the house, no hanging your laundry outside to dry in the evening, no surgeries, no burials (and boy, are you ever unlucky if you die during Ghost Month). Also, you don't call them "ghosts" - you call them "little brothers" so they don't get offended. I also read that children don't stay out late during Ghost Month, because parents are afraid a ghost will possess them.

You can read more about Ghost Month at the following link.
http://www.festivals.com/00-10-october/afterlife/ghostmonth.cfm

Humdrum life

You haven't seen a post for a week, because last week didn't have much of note, just the usual going to class, hanging out with Hiyoshi and Kieko, etc. I did have quite a good time Wednesday evening going with Guoxi to see the Air Force band perferm at the National Music Hall at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. When Guoxi invited me along, I didn't expect that I would enjoy it as much as I did. The band's best performance, for me, was the Nutcracker, which I love.

And then on Friday night Caroline arrived! I met her in May 2002 when I came here for my first Wu Bai & China Blue concert. She's from Scotland and was here studying and was also a Wu Bai fan. We've kept in touch ever since, and she'd gone back to Scotland in December 2002 to complete her studies there. Now she's taken a job with Hess English school and has returned to the home of her heart. She got in quite late on Friday, but even after a flight (with two stops/layovers) of almost 24 hours, she still wanted to get out and about a little. We ended up going to Danshui and walking around. The wind was pretty fierce, due to another tropical storm that was whipping things up, but at least it was cooler than usual. We missed the last train (midnight) and had to take a taxi back to my place, where we stayed up chatting and watching some Wu Bai & China Blue music videos :)

Last night Caroline and I met up with Katsu, one of her friends from her school days. He's half Japanese, half Taiwanese, and he was working at a great little restaurant (might actually be part owner of it) called Kushiyaki. Katsu treated us to some yummy food, chunks of beef and lamb and whole prawns on skewers, tempura squid, bell pepper chunks filled with savory meat, pao cai (similar to kimchee but not quite Korean), and something I couldn't give a name to but was incredibly tasty. All this food, along with many, many bottles of Taiwan beer made for a fun evening.

What made me happiest was that I actually understood 99% of the Chinese conversation going on around me, and I understood it when people talked to me! I've been worried that I still don't usually understand people when they start talking to me, thinking I'm just not doing very well with the language, but this was a piece of cake. And the Chinese speakers at the restaurant (Katsu, the cook, a girl whose name I've forgotten, some of the customers) all understood me just fine. When I first asked them to speak just a little slower for me, they told me the reason they were speaking so quickly was because I was, so they figured I was fluent. Once they slowed down just a tad, no problem. So hey, yeah, I'm getting it! I think maybe it's just when people speak to me unexpectedly that my brain refuses to process it, like in the stores and such. Or if they're going at it a mile a minute and peppering their speech with Taiwanese words as well as standard Mandarin, like so many of my friends do. I think that will take more than five months to get used to.

And guess what? No hangover this morning, despite the beer ;)

Feeling a little regretful

Yesterday I had had plans to go to Fulong with Natari for the Ho-Hai-Yan Music Festival (http://hohaiyan.com/2005.htm) but, for the second time, a typhoon canceled it http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2005/08/05/2003266544. So, my day was freed up to do other things.

There was another big event happening yesterday, but it was in Gaoxiong. Originally I told Charlene I wouldn't go, because I had the prior plans with Natari. When I realized there was a good chance the typhoon would wipe out those plans, I began to consider the trip to Gaoxiong, a long bus ride and an expense of around $50 US (remember, I still don't have a job). I thought about it for a long time, vacillating between yes and no, weighing the pros and cons. What was the event? Oh, it was a Wu Bai & China Blue autograph session. Apparently ticket sales for the September 10 concert in Gaoxiong haven't been good, so the guys headed down there for some promotion.

My ultimate decision was not to go. I know, most of you think I'd do anything to get close to Wu Bai, right? Well, you're wrong. I love the concerts, but I'm not too keen at standing directly in front of the man and having his undivided attention. And with this horrible "Little Dutch Boy" haircut I'm currently sporting, I'm even less willing to plant myself in his line of sight! At least by the September 10 show my bangs might actually be down to my eyebrows again, or at least close to them.

Charlene got all our tickets signed by Wu Bai, Xiao Zhu, and Da Mao. Dino wasn't there, because he's still in the US. I'm sure his absence caused a lot of sadness for the fans, because he truly is well-loved here, probably the most popular of the group besides Wu Bai. I'm a tiny bit sorry that I didn't go, but at least now my fantasy Wu Bai will stay intact and not melt away because I got close enough to realize he smells like an ashtray from all the smoking he does.

It's a holiday!

Just got the word that there's no school tomorrow, because another typhoon is whipping up the wind and rain here. The eye won't even make landfall, but they're expecting some high winds tomorrow, so schools are closed. Darn, have to stay home and play, ha. That's fine with me, because tomorrow is a military exercise at 2:00 p.m., and I would have had to remember to be underground or in a restaurant, because no one will be allowed on the street from 2:00-2:30. Like being in the underground mall will save anyone's butt if the Chinese decide to bomb us.....

It's been a quiet week, not really much going on. My "better-than-a-boyfriend" chum Hiyoshi returned from Japan on Tuesday, but didn't get back to class until yesterday. He graciously consented to go along with Guoxi (who also falls into the "better-than-a-boyfriend" category) and me to Carrefour to buy stuff. I hope the women these two guys end up marrying will thank me for all the husband training I'm doing by taking them shopping with me. I know Guoxi is doing it because he feels he owes me favors for the help I'm giving him with his English, but I'm not quite sure why Hiyoshi is willing to tag along after me through a crowded supermarket! I guess life way out in Wan Li is pretty boring and almost anything is preferable to being stuck out in nowhere alone. Anyway, I finally got a cute little vacuum cleaner and a blender - and a full-length mirror. No more kidding myself about how I look, because now I'll be able to see the full picture .

Today, since it was raining so hard, Kieko, Hiyoshi, and I headed for the underground shopping mall to have lunch and wander around. I like listening to the two of them chatter away in Japanese, even though I don't understand it. I get a completely different view of Hiyoshi when he's speaking his own language. His Chinese is better than his English, but it's still difficult to converse with me, because my Chinese isn't as good as his, so he can't really express himself well. I knew he was good at making jokes, but the way Kieko laughs when they talk, I can tell he's funnier than I imagined. She thinks he's pretty strange, and we constantly tease him that he's an alien from outer space, not a real Japanese, because he seems unfamiliar with so many popular Japanese things. I think he's just led a rather sheltered life.

After Kieko took off for work at 3:30, Hiyoshi and I went up into the rain to get to our favorite coffee hangout, Dante Coffee. It was, for once, very quiet in there, no obnoxiously loud music playing, so we sat drinking iced coffee and talking in English to give him practice until 7:00. We kept hoping the rain would let up a bit, but it didn't, so we just decided to hell with it and got wet. By the time I got back to Zhuwei, it was a downpour that had water three inches deep in places. Of course, as soon as I got in the door, the rain stopped. Figures, huh? Hasn't been too bad since then, and the wind is pretty minor, and it's nice and cool in the apartment, yay!

So tomorrow, play with the new vacuum and put the mirror together. And make a smoothie with the new blender. And maybe read the last of the four new books I got. Heck, who knows, maybe I'll even study!

I'm a good girl

Since I sat on my heiny all day yesterday reading, I forced myself to go for a walk today. I took the MRT to Danshui and walked back on the bike path, about one hour. It was frickin' hot today, and there's precious little shade along the path. I was soaked when I made it back to Zhuwei, and I ducked into the grocery store for a six-pack of diet Pepsi. Unfortunately, the peanut M&Ms were screaming my name, so I picked up a small package of those, too, just to shut them up. Ate 'em all when I got home. So much for the walk, huh? Perhaps I should consider getting my lips sewn shut.

Time for a bitch session

I don't want my friends to think I've morphed into someone completely different, so I guess it's time to air some of my gripes about Taiwan life. Nothing is major, nothing makes me hate it here or hate the people, but I do tend to get annoyed a lot. It's still better than driving in the US! And since I'm not alone in my observations, I thought I'd share.

Taiwan people have this weird way of walking. It seems to be completely impossible for them to walk in a straight line. And they apparently have zero peripheral vision, because they are constantly veering into me when I'm walking alongside them. My Japanese friend, Kieko, relates the same experiences. We laugh about it a lot as we're walking together, trying to avoid the people who are so intent on crashing into us. And they will come out of a store without bothering to check the sidewalk for other people (and there are always other people), but will just walk right in front of me (I'm usually charging along pretty rapidly) and proceed to mosey along at a snail's pace.

Their speed of walking is the other thing that bugs me. I can't walk that slowly if I try. I just can't. My normal pace leaves most of them in the dust, and if I'm trying to exercise and walking at my three-mile-per-hour stride, it's like I'm running compared to them. This is probably my biggest frustration here, trying to get somewhere fast and being unable to because I'm in a traffic jam of slow people. I'm pretty good at weaving, but there are parts of town that are so clogged at lunch time that I just have to grit my teeth and slow down a bit. I'm hoping that in time I'll be adopting more of this lazy, I-don't-have-to-be-anywhere-soon way of walking.

Apparently Taiwan people drive much the same way that they walk, because I hear the guys who ride scooters to school complaining about the way the cars just veer from one lane to the next without looking. I guess my friend drives like that, too, but it's not so noticeable inside the car, and she's a darned good driver (anyone who can navigate their way through Gaoxiong traffic deserves a medal, in my opinion). I still can't figure out why it can take 8 hours to drive to Gaoxiong on a weekend, when it's only the same distance as from Chico to San Francisco, a drive I could make in 3 hours, no sweat. Granted, the roads here aren't quite as wide as California highways, but 8 hours??!! Sheesh.

My final gripe of the day is reserved for the people at the convenience stores who don't seem to understand the concept of a line and the person who got there first being served first. It's kind of funny that this very polite society can be so pushy and rude at a 7-11! It just doesn't fit with the rest of the place. You gotta be quick here to get your items rung up, because if you hesitate for an instant, looking for your wallet, someone will barge in front and get their stuff paid for before you have a chance to say, "Hey! I was here first!" And heaven help you if you aren't fast enough to get out of the way after you paid for your things, because whoever is behind you will push. That seems to work at the other stores, too.

So, why are these people who are in such a hurry at the stores unable to walk a little faster to get to their destinations outside the stores? It's a mystery.

None of the above makes me love Taiwan people any less. I prefer their company to that of any other place on earth and will gladly put up with these minor annoyances to live here. At least here I don't read the headlines every day to see that a child was murdered, a family was killed by the father because the wife wanted to leave, police officers were shot at while on a simple domestic disturbance call, etc. Yes, we have crime, but not on the same scale as the US. It was a complete shocker last week that a teenager was kidnapped and killed because the kidnappers grabbed the wrong kid. That's an infrequent occurrence here, not a daily one. And when they catch the perps, it's likely they'll be executed, not stuck in a posh jail for a few years.

How I Spent My Saturday

Got up at 8:30 a.m. Made coffee, turned on the computer. Answered massive amounts of overdue e-mail while drinking coffee. Didn't get entirely caught up, but managed to cut the in-box down to 28 messages. Figured I should take a shower just in case Kieko called about going to the computer expo. Ate some cereal. Started reading The Twelfth Card. Finished reading The Twelfth Card.

Yup, I sat my ass on the couch all afternoon and read, except for 40 minutes I spent on the phone with Nat when she called. Never heard from Kieko, so never stirred out of the house.

I consider today to be a rousing success!

Just in time for the weekend

When I left for school this morning, I discovered my box of books from Amazon.com - yay! Would have been nice if the delivery person had actually buzzed my apartment yesterday when he/she dropped them off, because the box wasn't there when I got home in the afternoon, so I must have been here when it arrived - but I didn't go out again last night.

Already read one of the books this afternoon - Eleven on Top, the latest Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. I love Stephanie and her adventures in bounty hunting. Just wish I knew how she can eat so much cake and donuts and still retain her figure. Oh, maybe it's because she's a character in a book and not a real person......

So, although I have tentative thoughts about getting out and doing something constructive this weekend, I may get sidetracked by The Twelfth Card (the latest Lincolm Rhyme novel by Jeffery Deaver), Broken Prey (the latest Lucas Davenport by John Sanford), or Long Time Gone (the latest JP Beaumont by J. A. Jance).

I will try to go to the computer expo at the Taipei World Trade Center, because I hear they give away a lot of cool stuff to the people who attend. We'll see if Kieko gets up early enough tomorrow to make the trip.

OK, when do I see the results?

Felt ambitious today, and walked from school to Shilin Station, approximately 7 kilometres (4.35 miles). This time I was bright enough to buy two bottles of water before leaving Shuang Lian Station, and I stopped to rest a couple of times, so I didn't feel as if I were going to pass out from heat exhaustion. The temperature today is around 33.5C (92F), but the humidity is way down, only around 57%, so it doesn't feel as hot as it did yesterday. Plus, there's a decent breeze blowing. All in all, it was a pleasant walk, and I discovered two new parks and found out where the fine arts museum is. Check out the route on the map (it's the lime green line):

Me, tired? Why do you ask?

I just want to know when the weight will start coming off. How many hours of walking do I have to do each day, huh? What's that? I need to stop eating so much, too? WAAAAAHHHHH!

Nothing like a good book

On Tuesday I got ambitious. On the way to school, I got off the train at Yuan Shan Station and walked all the way into Taipei. Took about 45 minutes, felt pretty good. After class I got the bright idea to walk back, go across the river, and go all the way to Jian Tan Station. Note to self: next time you decide to walk in stifling, humid weather for over an hour, bring a bottle of water with you. By the time I got to Jian Tan, I was parched and feeling dizzy, so I walked even farther, to the 7-11, and bought a bottle of Pocari Sweat. I don't like the stuff, but when you've been sweating rivers, it's a good idea to replete the body of all the crap you just sweated out. I gulped that down and staggered to the train, gratefully collapsing in an empty seat.

As I dragged my poor, exhausted self up to my front door, I spied a box on the ground by the mailboxes - my Amazon.com order! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! Oh joy joy joy! I'd assumed I'd get a notice in the box and have to hoof it to the post office to pick up the package, but I forgot that this is Taiwan, a country where the mail can be left out on the steps and no one will touch it, because it's not theirs. Even the letter boxes have openings wide enough that I can fish my mail out from the outside sometimes. Can't do that in the US because someone would certainly steal your mail. Ah, this is a great place! I'd ordered the book from Amazon, because even with the shipping charges, it was cheaper than buying it here. So funny that it was shipped to me from Germany - but it got here fast, that's for sure.

Of course, I immediately plunked down on the couch with the book and managed to get a couple hours of reading in before I headed back to Taipei and dinner with Betty. I walked more, from Taipei Main Station to Xi Men Ding. Not really that far, but after the walking from earlier, I was pretty wiped out when I arrived. Some damned taxi almost killed me in the crosswalk (note to travellers - just because the little man is green does not mean that cars, especially taxis, will not try to run you down when you're crossing - this is not Hong Kong), and I was so angry that I thumped his trunk HARD with my fist as he barely avoided running over my toes when he passed in front. I hope that shook him up, at least for a second, thinking he'd actually hit someone. Probably not, but one can dream.

I didn't get home until 6:00 last evening, and as soon as I fed the cat and started my laundry, it was back on the couch with Harry and the gang. I finished the book at 11:00. There's always a little bit of a letdown when one wraps up a good read, and with Harry Potter it's rough, because I know it will be a long time before the next one. I know this series will have to end someday, and I dread that! Yeah, I'm just a kid at heart, I know, but I could cheerfully read about Harry's adventures for the next 20 years.

Ah well, am now awaiting the next Amazon order, four new books from some of my favorite authors. The package has been shipped, and let's hope it's arrival is a timely as Harry was.

Question for today: do I walk or not? The knee that I injured the week I got here is still not healed, and after the exertions on Tuesday, it was complaining loudly yesterday. I was nice to it to hush it up, but I think today I need to get my fat self back out there for some serious exercise.....

Now that's what I call getting your hair washed!

Wow, just back from my first visit to a Taiwan hair salon, and it was nothing like the US! I'm used to a quick wash with the back of my head hung uncomfortably over a sink, then a cut and a blow-dry. Usually doesn't take more than half an hour for the whole thing. It's a teeny bit different here.

First came the cut, with me trying to convey to the stylist what I wanted done. I can say "haircut" and "just a little" in Chinese, but she was asking me stuff I didn't understand. Oh well, go with the flow. Instead of hanging me over a sink to wet my hair, she began spraying it from a spritzer bottle and cutting a section at a time. I was leafing through the hair magazines, being envious of all the cute little Asian girls with their perky smiles and tiny figures. When I finally looked up, I realized my hair was waaaay shorter than I'd wanted! Yikes. OK, it will grow back. Then we got to the bangs, and I stressed "just a very little." They got chopped pretty short, straight across. Ugh, not a good look. OK, they will grow back.

Then it was time to wash my hair, so I got up to go to the sink. "No, no, wait there." Huh? OK.... A different girl came over while the woman who cut my hair started on the next client. The girl put a towel around me and then proceeded to squeeze a watered-down shampoo onto my head, being very careful and working up a lather. Ooooohhhhhh, magic fingers! This was not just a hair washing, this was a full-on head massage! The wash took much longer than the cut, with the girl using her nails to systematically scratch all over my head a few times, scraping from neck to top and face to back. Then she started massaging the very back of my neck, then my temples. Then she repeated everything. I thought I was gonna melt. Now I see why Doris from Hong Kong always goes to get her hair washed when she visits Taiwan!

When she finally done working my head over, then it was time to lay down with my head over the sink, but it was far more comfortable than the US style, more flat with the head over a drainboard and supported. And the water pressure, yeah! You can't get water pressure in California because of the water conservation gadgets but here, oh my. The rinse took quite awhile, too, and felt mah-velous.

Now it's time for the blow-dry, back to the woman who cut my hair. And by the time she finished, I looked kinda cute. The cut is almost flapper-like, probably better suited to a younger gal, but not too bad. I think I can get used to it. And it's sure a lot cooler without all that hair on my neck. It's all about chin length now. The whole process took just over one hour.

And the cost? $250NT for the cut, $120NT for the wash (yes, you can do just one or both here), which is about $11.60 US. Dealio! I'm going back to the same salon (it's a couple minutes walk from my house) to get re-highlighted, since the cheap-ass Revlon color I used has already mostly washed out. Back to blonde highlights in time for Wu Bai's next concert on September 10!

Day trip to Taoyuan

On Saturday, July 23, 2005, I went with my friend Betty and her co-workers on a trip to Wei Chuan (Wei Quan in pinyin) Amusement Park. Betty works for a computer company in Taiwan, and they took all their employees on a day trip to show their appreciation. Each person could bring a friend for free, and Betty picked me (because her boyfriend works on Saturdays, ha). I've posted the photos here: http://www.pbase.com/500fan/weiquan so have a look as you read about the day. There's a website for the place, and it's in Chinese, but you can still go have a look around. Just keep clicking stuff :) http://www.weichuan_ranch.com.tw/home.htm

The bus ride was about one hour, and we got to see most of the new animated movie, Madagascar, on the way. Unfortunately, they had the sound turned way down, and I had to resort to trying to read the Chinese subtitles to know what was going on. I finally gave up and fell asleep, so I missed a lot of the movie.

We arrived at Wei Quan at 9:00 a.m. First order of business was getting some iced coffee to keep us awake (I'd gotten up at 5:00 a.m.), so we hit eCoffee for some of the best and cheapest "bing ka fei" that I've had in Taiwan. Only $35NT per cup, what a deal! That's around $1.10 US, and compared to what Starbucks charges, cheap cheap cheap.

The company-sponsored BBQ wasn't scheduled to begin until 10:30 a.m., so Betty and I started wandering around to check things out. Thankfully, the weather was relatively cool, lots of clouds, low humidity, so we didn't suffer too much. We noticed a place where we could rent bicycles and determined to return there in the afternoon.

There were loads of families there with their kids, but it still didn't seem very crowded. People were cruising around on tandem bicycles, regular bicycles, motorized scooters pulling carts, in horse-drawn carriages, and on a cute little train. As usual in Taiwan, the cars, small trucks, and motor scooters were trying to run over the pedestrians but at least there weren't many of those.

We wandered first through a nice garden area that had some cute little fountains and some statuary, along with some bamboo sculptures (including a huge peacock that one could walk through). We then found a path along a little stream, teaming with koi carp. And, oh joy, they had a fish food vending machine! Now, you know how much I love to feed the fish and watch them scramble for the pellets :) I sat on a rock right down at the water and was even able to pet the fish as they came up for the food, tumbling across each other in their frenzy to grab that little snack. As soon as they see people on the shore, they make a beeline (fishline?) for them, knowing the chances of food are pretty good.

Right before it was time to head to the picnic area to start barbecuing, we found a nice little lake that had paddle boats for rent. Cool! Another thing to add to our list of what to do after lunch. OK, time to eat, save the rest of the park for later.

The picnic area was huge (and one of the few places I didn't photograph, sorry). Loads of tables and a grill for each. Taiwan people use REAL charcoal to BBQ, not those manufactured briquets used in the US, and no nasty charcoal lighter fluid. They have lighting a BBQ down to a science, and before long the coals were bright red and the food began to sizzle. We had been supplied with bacon wrapped around green onions and skewered, sliced pork, chicken chunks, steak with black bean sauce, some small fish, sausage (Taiwan sausage is yummy, kinda sweet), squid balls (no, not THOSE kind of balls), green peppers, bean sprouts, and corn, along with sliced white bread, which is what Taiwan folks use sort of like a hot dog or hamburger bun. Betty loves to BBQ, so she jumped in and started cooking. Since I still don't feel my Chinese is very good, I didn't have much to say to the rest of the group, which consisted of three guys and three girls, so I just watched Betty cook and listened to the karaoke (some good, some quite awful) going on over at the play area. During the BBQ the company had all sorts of games for the families to play, which was great because there were so many little kids. And all of them extremely well behaved, I might add.

After lunch we cleaned up and then Betty and I headed back to the lake to rent a boat. We had to wear life vests, which made it a little hotter and a little uncomfortable, but since I can't swim I didn't mind too much. We paddled off and quickly realized that both of us would be sorry the next day because our legs would hurt! That was when we decided drifting was preferable. We only had a half an hour, and it went by fast. While on the boat we spotted a little pavilion that looked inviting, so after pulling back into shore we walked over there for a rest. There was a lovely rock garden called "Stone Forest" at the back, so pretty. If I ever manage to own a house here in Taiwan, I want a garden like that. The pavilion was cool, with a great breeze blowing off the lake, and we actually fell asleep for about 15 minutes.

Time to stretch the legs again, so we walked the path around the lake, discovering more beautiful gardens and bridges and streams. So peaceful, could have just sat with a book and read for hours. But, too much to do and see! So we headed for the bicycle rental area, on the way deciding not to stress our poor legs anymore by renting something we had to work at pedaling and opted for the motorized scooter with cart. We took turns, first Betty driving and pulling me, and then I got to drive. Woohoo, look out! Can't go too fast on those things, but it sure was fun, and maybe I can actually learn to drive a real motor scooter, huh? We made a brief stop so Betty could go feed the calves (did I mention this was some sort of diary farm? It is...), then we drove up past the lake and found an absolutely incredible garden that looked like something out of a Greek myth, very out of place in Taiwan. OK, we gotta come back on foot to explore this. Our half hour on the scooter was over too quickly, and then we headed back for that garden.

All this traipsing around made me suffer from thoughts of ice cream, since I'd already seen it at the little store and also at the various vending stands. After we finished checking out the Greek garden, we went back to the BBQ area and got ice cream for me and Coke for Betty. She was tired of walking by that time, so we sat at a table to eat/drink. We were close to an area where there was some sort of show going on, but we couldn't really see it, just heard the music. Eventually we moved closer to see what it was. Turned out to be a group of four foreigners (and for some reason they looked Russian to me) doing acrobatics and gymnastics. One girl was so amazing, lying on her back and spinning a cylinder with her feet, then spinning two pieces of carpet with her hands while kicking the cylinder all over, then adding hula hoops to her arms - she was going four different actions in different directions at the same time! Jeez, I can't even chew gum and walk. And the thighs on this chick, my lord. I wasn't close enough in my first photos of her to see her clearly, but when they all came to bow, I got a good one she's the one in the red. Proof positive that one doesn't have to be the size of a stick to look marvelous! If my legs were as powerful as hers, I wouldn't care what size they were. Hen li hai!

Well, now the day was done and it was time to go back to the bus. The movie on the ride back was a recent Hong Kong flick titled House of Fury, starring Stephen Fung (who also directed), Anthony Wong, and Daniel Wu. Didn't get to see the beginning, and we got back before the end, so now I have to go rent it, because it was darned good! And they had the sound turned all the way up for this one, humph. It was dubbed in Mandarin, so I got some practice listening and trying to understand. I was able to get quite a bit of it, reading the Chinese subs along with listening to the dialogue. Hey, I'm learning!

The bus dropped us off at 6:00, and I got back to my place around 7:20 (bus ride from Neihu to Yuanshan Station, then MRT back to Zhuwei), and I was pooped. I managed to stay awake until 10:15 then gave it up and hit the sack. And slept until 9:00 this morning, too!

What the hell is that sound?

Since I finally got to see one of these things when I was at Wei Quan, I thought I'd bump this post up to the top. There were quite a few dead on the ground, so here's a photo with Betty's finger to give you an idea of the size.

Every day, from my office window or from the kitchen, I hear a noise that sounds like large sprinklers, the kind that pulse out water back and forth across a lawn. It goes on all day long, and I knew it couldn't possibly be sprinklers, because there aren't any lawns to water! There is, however, a forested hillside a short way down the street from me, but I didn't think anyone was watering that. Just couldn't figure out where that sound was coming from.....

When my friend Li Hua was here on July 2, I asked her if she knew what the sound was. Turns out it's an insect! Must be a type of cicada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada), and the little buggers (well, maybe these are the big ones, I haven't seen any yet) are incredibly loud. It's not really an annoying sound, because it's easy to tune out, and I'm happy to finally discover the source!

Hm, so that was a typhoon.....

I'm sure if I was living on the eastern coast or in central Taiwan, where they really got pounded, I'd feel differently, but this typhoon in my area was (thankfully) rather ho-hum. Nothing of any note happened in Zhuwei last night, and today it just rained all day, not even hard, more like a good, steady sprinkle. I hear the south is still going to be having heavy rain through tomorrow, but we're scheduled for just light rain. Nice to have it cooler, though, that's a huge bonus. It's about 78F (25.7C) now, and I'm sure feeling sorry for the folks back in Chico who are sweltering in 106F (41C) heat!

"Haitang, the worst typhoon to approach Taiwan in five years"

That's what the Taipei Times calls it. The TEALIT typhoon alert site says, "From around 6am Monday July 18th the storm stalled over its position and began making a looping motion. This process went on for some 6 hours. Weather officials have not seen this stall/loop behavior since 1992."

Last night the wind started howling, and it was raining pretty good at times, and I closed up all my windows. Went to bed around 1:00 a.m. with the fan blowing on me because it was so hot. Not sure what time I woke up, drenched with sweat because the power had gone out and I no longer had the fan. Tried to go back to sleep, was miserable, so I opened my bedroom windows, which helped a little. Sometime later I was awakened by the feel of cool air from the fan. Ah, power for morning coffee! I made sure I ground enough beans this morning to last a couple days. I can always boil water on the gas stove if we lose power again.

Right now the sun is shining a bit, but that's because my little area of Taiwan just happens to be underneath an open spot in the typhoon that is completely obliterating the tiny island on the satellite picture. I think the center is heading directly for me, and I have no idea what sort of weather that will bring. "Currently winds are 114 miles per hour at the center." Sounds like fun, huh?

Today has actually been pretty mild, with some periods of heavy rain and some wind gusts, but really nothing any worse than the winter storms in northern California. People have been outside, some of them riding their scooters, and while the street outside is littered with some plants and other things (someone is missing a bra), it's not total devastation, and there haven't been any floods here (and since I'm on the fourth floor, even if it floods, I'm OK). The cicadas are in full swing in the little forest, and the temperature is steadily rising (dang it). I have all the windows open, and when I'm lucky enough to catch a good breeze, I'm happy for it.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, don't know if school will be closed again or not. The train service was suspended nationwide today, and if it's not running tomorrow, I can't get to Taipei anyway.

Keeping fingers crossed for continued power for playing online and watching movies ;)

Argh, just lost everything I typed!

I had a nice little post going here, detailing my adventures (such as they were) last week, and then I hit the wrong button and lost it. Damn it anyway!

Here's a picture of mango xue hua bing (frozen snow flower), a delightfully icy treat that Hiyoshi and I like to indulge in when we've been walking all over Taipei for an afternoon and are loaded with sweat. A new shop called Red Coffee opened in Taipei Main Station, so we've gone there twice to cool off before saying goodbye for the evening. Last night we found an even better shop in Ximen Ding, one that has tons of flavors and cheaper prices, so I'm sure we'll be going there frequently.


On Friday afternoon we made a return trip to Ying Ge so Hiyoshi could pick up the cup he'd made on the first trip (Betty was a driving force in the adornment of the cup - left to his own devices, I'm sure Hiyoshi's plain and simple Japanese character would have produced a cup with a lot less decoration!). We didn't spend too much time wandering around the town this time, because we'd gotten a late start. We first walked from school to Shida Road for lunch and to pick up Hiyoshi's plane ticket from his friend's office, so we didn't get to Ying Ge until around 4:00 or so. Once again I successfully avoided buying the $68,000NT vase ($2,131 US) that the shopkeeper graciously offered to let me have for only $20,000NT ($627 US). Whew! Maybe I can just talk Hiyoshi into giving me his work of art, huh?


Yesterday we went to the weekend jade market so Hiyoshi could shop for some gifts for his family and wandered through the flower market ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the gorgeous orchids. Then we went to Da'An Forest Park and stretched out on the grass in the shade for awhile. It wasn't too bad being in the shade, and the clouds were rolling by quietly in a blue, blue sky. We walked around the park and Hiyoshi made a new friend.


I think we spent most of the day walking yesterday, starting at 12:15 and ending around 7:30 p.m. Hiyoshi stuck around with me in Ximen Ding until Charlene and Shun showed up, then he headed home to Wan Li and the rest of us went to my place to drink some beer and wait for Natari. Around 10:30 p.m. the four of us headed to San Zhi to our favorite beach cafe and sat out on the deck talking and drinking coffee/tea, enjoying the sea breeze. It was about 2:00 a.m. when I finally got to sleep.

All in all, it was a great week, lots of fun, and I'm not looking forward to the next two weeks without Hiyoshi :( It's not as easy to force myself to walk alone, but maybe I can get Kieko to go here and there with me - after the typhoon has gone, that is!

Typhoon coming

http://www.tealit.com/typhoon.php Typhoon Haitang is due to hit Taiwan early Monday morning. This one is a Category 3, pretty big, but Charlene tells me that it will just be more wind and more rain, and that the weather gets a little cooler. I certainly won't complain about that! I know it's not as hot as it is in Chico right now, but this humidity makes it feel hotter. Likely I will not have to go to school Monday, maybe not Tuesday, either. Oh darn!

China cuisine

Reading this article http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Weekend/GG09Jp08.html made me very glad to be living in Taiwan, where the oddest food I've seen is probably "ya xie" - congealed ducks' blood mixed with rice. The Mainland definitely has us beat for food oddities.

Oh, and another thing or two

Can you believe this? I'm forgetting my English! I had to buy a dictionary just so I could find the words that have been pushed out of my head by all the Chinese (and a little Japanese) that I'm forcing in there.

And a note on the weirdness of Taiwan: yesterday Hiyoshi and I went to Ikari Coffee to kick back out of the heat and chat. My ears were treated to the sounds of good old American classic rock & roll. The first song I noticed was "Love Potion No. 9" which, of course, I remember the lyrics to. I lamented to Hiyoshi that if only I could purge my memory of the things I *don't* need, I'd have room for the things I *do* need! Where's the delete button anyway? As we were getting ready to leave, the song in the air was, "Davy, Daaavy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier!" And let me tell ya, it's flat-out weird to be hearing that in a coffee shop in Taiwan....

Blonde no more

For years my hair was either purple or red. I mean, years. I can't even remember when I started coloring it those colors, but if it wasn't Plum it was Black Cherry, or Dark Auburn, even Bright Copper. Then I got the wild idea to live the life of a blonde and see if they really did have more fun, so I started highlighting my hair, with just a few streaks of red. Surprisingly, I liked the look (even though my level of fun did not noticeably increase), so I kept it.

Well, I've been hesitant to try to find a hairdresser here in Taiwan who is used to working with non-Asian hair and could duplicate the great effect my stylist (Terri, I miss you!) in California could do. So today I reverted back to the old days of do-it-yourself hair color, and I am now a vivacious redhead ;) Since I went from mostly-blonde to red this time, it's really red! And dang, I forgot how friggin' stinky Revlon hair color is, phew. I guess now I'll blend in a little more, since red seems to be a favorite color with the Asian crowd, so maybe Wu Bai will have to try a little harder to spot me in the audience at the next concert.

If I can get someone to take a decent picture of me, I'll post it. However, we all know the chances of getting a decent photo of yours truly, now don't we?

Antiques and Fish

Yesterday Hiyoshi's Japanese student canceled, so he was free to make the trip to The National Palace Museum that we weren't able to make on Thursday. After class we hopped on the MRT to Shilin Station and then caught a little bus to the museum. As usual, it started to rain on us. Everytime we go somewhere it rains on us. We're getting used to it by now. No matter, the museum would keep us dry!

Although I've been to the museum three times before, each trip is just as awe-inspiring as the first. Sadly, the museum is currently undergoing extensive renovation, and many of the items are not on display. I'll be looking forward to the end of all this construction so I can see some of the things I remember from my first visit in 2002. The items they currently show are some of the most exquisite things I've ever seen, and I just want to touch them, to feel each tiny detail. I have a lot of photos of my Sept. 2004 visit posted, if you haven't seen them: http://www.pbase.com/500fan/treasures

After finishing up at the museum, we decided to take a stroll through Chishan Gardens, which is right next to the museum. Even though it was raining, it was just a light sprinkle, so we headed into the almost-deserted garden, stopping to rest a bit at a covered pavilion, sitting on small stools carved from some beautiful wood. One could almost believe one had travelled back to ancient China - until the pounding and sawing from the construction shattered that illusion :) We walked a bit more (and I somehow managed to convince Hiyoshi to sing me a Japanese children's song, that was fun - and no, he can't really sing), stopping again at another pavilion on the lake to watch the fish. They were swarming at the top of the water, thinking the raindrops were bugs landing. The fish range from tiny black ones that can barely be seen under the water to huge koi carp in all sorts of glittering colors. Hiyoshi must have been quite hungry, because he kept talking about fishing, saying the black ones were the tastiest ones. We watched some girls feeding the fish from the bridge, and when we continued our walk, we discovered the fish food dispenser! Oh, what fun. We each bought a packet of food and headed to the bridge. I laughed myself silly watching the fish swimming on top of each other, right out of the water, trying to get the little nuggets of food. Some of the tiny fish would even swim into the mouths of the bigger fish trying to grab it! I would have happily spent a lot more money buying food and feeding them, but we had other plans. If you'd like to see my prior photos of Chishan Gardens, here they are: http://www.pbase.com/500fan/chihshan_garden

As we were leaving the museum, I heard a woman calling, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" Turned around, and the group of people we'd seen inside, filming some of the exhibits with a movie camera (and managing to block my way so I couldn't see some of the best porcelain) were coming our way. One woman asked me if I could speak Chinese, and I said I could speak a little. She asked if they could interview me for a TV program they were filming. Yeah, just what I wanted. I'm wet, my hair is a frizzy mess, I'm wearing a huge black t-shirt over biking shorts, and my face is a greasy blob from all the humidity. I said no. They didn't listen to me. Next thing I knew, I have a TV camera in my face and I'm giving an interview, in Chinese. Why does this always happen to me? I had the same experience last September when Romita and I were walking by a temple! Do I have a sign on my back that reads "Media persons please accost me!"? At least I don't have to suffer through seeing myself on TV, since I don't have cable. Hopefully no one I know will watch that program.

Thursday night Hiyoshi had watched a TV show which featured a night market called Tong Hua Night Market, close to Liuzhangli Station. He wanted to go check it out, and since I hadn't any other plans, I agreed to go with him. And yes, it was still raining. We were soooo hungry by the time we got back to Taipei Main Station, but we wanted to find something good at the night market, so we made ourselves wait. It turned out that the market was quite a long walk from the station, but we finally found it and started cruising for food. The rain was keeping away a lot of people, so it was very easy to navigate the narrow street. It was around 7:00 p.m. before we found a spot that had seats inside out of the rain, cheap prices, and an interesting menu. I got mixed seafood fried rice, and Hiyoshi got some noodle soup with seafood. We shared that plus a little plate of huang gua (tiny cucumbers marinated in sesame oil, vinegar, and red peppers). Afterwards, we really wanted to get something icy for desert, but those places didn't have seats, and it would have been too hard to walk and eat while holding our umbrellas.

We got Hiyoshi back to the station in time to catch his bus to Wan Li, and I actually managed to find a seat on the train home (yay!). I got home around 10:30 p.m., and I was exhausted! DZ was very happy to see me, so I stayed up and played with her, read for awhile, finally crashed around 12:30.

Today was a rather lost day, because I woke up with a killer headache and an upset stomach. I felt so sick that I went back to bed and just kinda dozed until almost 4:00. DZ stayed in bed with me most of the time, actually behaving herself and just sleeping. Ugh, I hate feeling like that, and I hate throwing up, but I knew if I didn't, I'd never feel better. Maybe it was the seafood fried rice.... At least I'm feeling fine now, and I did manage to get laundry done and even some studying! Go me.

Babies are cute when....

they aren't mine and they aren't crying ;) Today I went with Laoshi, Kieko, Nico, and Hiyoshi to visit Keiko (don't be confused - there are two girls with almost the same name) and see her new (one-month old) baby. Keiko was our classmate until she had the baby, and we're hoping she'll be able to come back when the baby is a little older. He's a cute little bugger, but Keiko's cat doesn't seem too fond of the new arrival. He hid under the bed for most of our visit, but finally ventured out to sniff us all before retreating to a safer location. After Nico left, Keiko took a photo of all of us, with Hiyoshi holding the baby. We joked with him, said he could send the picture to his mother in Japan and tell her it was a pic of his four girlfriends and the new baby. Laoshi, Kieko, Hiyoshi and I grabbed some lunch afterwards, and I had one of those great egg-oyster-veggie omelets called "e ah jian" (that's Taiwanese, not Mandarin). Very good, with a reddish, rather sweet sauce on it.

Hiyoshi and I had wanted to go to Gu Gong Museum today, but there wasn't enough time after the visit to Keiko's, so we went in search of something icy to eat instead. We thought maybe we'd find tso bing (like a snowcone in a bowl with fruit) or xue hua bing (ice with milk added and then shaved thinly and piled ribbon-like into the bowl, covered with fruit), but it was too hot to walk around much looking, so we opted for our usual fare, iced coffee. We ended up at Ikari Coffee this time since Dante Coffee was packed full. We sat there until 6:30 p.m., having our usual strange chat, half in English, half in Chinese, with me correcting grammar and pronunciation as we go along. It's always a kick to try to figure out Hiyoshi's body language. When he can't think of the word in English, he uses his hands, but most of the time I have no clue what he's thinking! Talking with him is always loads of fun, with a lot of laughter. Today he told me the story of Doraemon, the Gadget Cat from the Future. It's a Japanese cartoon that's very popular here in Taiwan, as well as in Hong Kong.

Anyway, I got home late again tonight, and DZ was very happy to see me. I guess she gets pretty bored here alone all day. Now I'm going to go watch Treasure Hunters, a new (old) movie that I bought yesterday.

Shabu Shabu

One of the delights of Taiwan cuisine is shabu shabu hot pot. One orders a meal that one cooks oneself in a little pot of boiling broth set into the table. There are many choices for the type of meal you can order, ranging from beef, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish, etc. The meal comes with a plate of your chosen meat, plus another plate that has a variety of things to cook, and you can order extra meat or other things on the side, if you wish.

Last night I went with Li Hua and Tony to the restaurant close to my house, and the three of us ate until stuffed for only $20 US (and that included a large bottle of Taiwan Gold Medal beer). I ordered the chicken, and with it I got some cabbage, some sort of green that was similar to bok choy, a shrimp, some taro, winter melon, a couple kinds of tofu, small piece of corn on the cob, fish balls, enoki and shitake mushrooms, crab meat, rice, and a few other things I can't really explain because I don't know what they're called, just that they're tasty! It's a little warm to eat like this in the summer, since you have the boiling liquid right in front of you, but it's sure fun. I prefer the type of hot pot that has hot & spicy liquid to cook in, where you pick out what you want from a buffet-type setup, but this one was very good, and I'm sure I'll be going back to that place frequently!

Wu Bai press conference

When I got to class this morning, I got an SMS from Charlene telling me that Wu Bai would be having a press conference at 2:00 p.m. at Ximen and that Shun (one of the guys in our fan group) was here in Taipei and would show me where. So, of course I decided to go! (Note added 7/2/05: The press conference was basically just an advertisement for a show coming up in August that includes Wu Bai & China Blue, Bobby Chen, Baboo, and some others. I'm not going because the ticket is $80 US and WB&CB will only perform for about 20-30 minutes, so not worth it to me. Here's a link, but it's in Chinese: http://tw.news.yahoo.com/050701/4/20k81.html

I invited Kieko and Hiyoshi to go along with me, since I've been trying to convert both of them, ha. We went to grab some food at the Yamazaki Bakery in the basement of the Far East department store, enjoying being out of the very, very, very hot sun. I tried something they called a "Japanese pizza" and it was darned tasty - and only cost $1.00 US. At 1:30 we headed over to where Shun was waiting for us, and he took us to the place where the press conference would be.

After waiting for a short while, along with other fans who showed up, Shun grabbed me and said, "Wu Bai's here!" We could see that Wu Bai and his entourage (headed by his wife, as usual) had entered the back door, but in the center of the building was a cafe area with a curved glass wall, which made it difficult to see through. We expected the group would just go up the back stairs, but all of a sudden, they were headed toward us. Wu Bai was wearing a very bright yellow shirt and (of course) his sunglasses. He followed closely behind his wife and passed so close to me that I think he actually brushed against me! My first thought was, "That hair is dyed!" and I found out later from an un-named source that Wu Bai does indeed dye his hair ;) Anyway, they went by so quickly that there wasn't time for more than a fleeting glimpse of the man. Darn.

I had expected that this press conference would be a public event, but it turned out that it really wasn't, so mostly we were just hanging around downstairs with nothing to do. I kept apologizing to Kieko and Hiyoshi for dragging them along for nothing. Finally, some of the fans went up the stairs, so I followed and was able to see just a little of what was going on. Wasn't much, they had Wu Bai and some other guys poking their heads through a big cardboard cut-out with cartoon bodies drawn on it. What a surprise to see the funny guy from the Tuesday night show at The Wall there, too! I didn't have a very good view, because a camera was set up right where it was blocking Wu Bai's face.

When the press conference broke up, the fans waited around outside for Wu Bai to leave. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot. Too hot for me to be willing to stand around just to see Wu Bai come out a door and get into a car. So, after waiting for about 20 minutes, I left. I mean, what's the point, huh? It's not as if he's going to stop and chat with us or anything. I hope the die-hards who stayed and waited got a worthwhile glimpse of him!

Now I really need to make it up to Kieko and Hiyoshi for being such good friends and patiently waiting along with me. I know it's always kind of fun to see a star, even if one is not a huge fan of that star, but I still think it must have been pretty boring for them. Hell, it was boring for me, and I love the guy!

Taiwan music

Doing a little catching up on the journal & dating the entries the days they should have been written.

Tuesday evening my classmate, Kieko, and I went to The Wall to see Guoxi's band perform. There were other bands also performing, and Mojo was scheduled to be the last. When we got into the pub, the band that was onstage was in full swing, belting out numbers in Taiwanese. It took me a few minutes to realize that they were all blind! I don't know the name of the band, but they were very good and obviously a great favorite with the crowd.

The next band to perform featured a lead vocal/guitar player who is locally famous (I believe his name is Zhu Tou Pi - which translates to something like Pighead or Pig Dandruff, not sure which, neither one sounds good!), and the guy was just funnier than all get out. He kept switching from Taiwanese to a very exaggerated Beijing accented Mandarin, making us laugh so hard. Guoxi is going to let me borrow his CD one of these days when he remembers to bring it with him. They had a couple of guests play along with them, one guy with hair almost down to his waist, so small and delicate that I thought at first he was a girl. I need to find out who the second guest was, because he had a fabulous voice.

Mojo hit the stage very late, almost 11:30 p.m. Guoxi was happily playing his newest guitar from Japan, a spiffy Gibson, and while I enjoyed the music very much, I thought their singer wasn't all that good. His voice was very harsh and he didn't seem to be able to carry a tune. I had to be honest with Guoxi later and tell him that, and he said their band isn't meant to be so serious, that they are more like an "opera" and that the singer is an actor. Not really sure what that means......but I still don't like his singing! Guoxi rips on the guitar, though, excellent player.

So, by the time Mojo was done and had gotten their equipment packed, it was after 1:00 a.m. Guoxi, bless his heart, played chauffer, first taking two younger fans (who both had to be at school at 7:00 a.m. for a test!) home, then Kieko, then me. It was 2:19 a.m. when I hit the sack, and boy was I hating life in class on Wednesday morning! Kieko hadn't gotten to bed until almost 3:00 a.m., and Hiyoshi said he'd also stayed up until 2:00 a.m. because he had visitors from Japan, so the three of us weren't really at our best that day :)

Teacher, Teacher, I declare.....

And how many of you know the followup line to that one? hehe

Wanted to tell you all about my student. Well, OK, so he's more of a guinea pig than a student, but I'm still teaching him! Started like this.....

I went to the stadium in Xinzhuang on June 10 with one of the other fans, Tona from Singapore, the day before the Li Hai concert to check out the venue and to see if maybe we might see the guys and hear them practicing. We ended up meeting the stage manager, Cooper, and as we were outside talking with him, a friendly guy bounced over and said to me, "Hi! You can speak English to me, I need to practice!" I looked him over and said, "What a coincidence - I'm looking for a student!" He protested that he was just a poor boy and couldn't pay for lessons. I told him I'd teach him for free if he'd help me out with practicing my Chinese. He agreed, and we exchanged names and phone numbers. He told me his name was Kuoshi and that he'd give me a call sometime after the concert stuff was finished (he was one of the roadies).

After the show, when we'd all finished eating and were heading to the car, I heard someone call my name. I turned around, and there was Kuoshi, pulling his car into the lot at the stadium. I went over and talked to him, agreed that we'd get together sometime the next week after he called to confirm a time, and went back to my friends. Natari was looking at me very strangely. "You know Kuoshi? How do you know Kuoshi???" she asked. "Ah," I thought to myself, "he must be one of the fans who occasionally gets hired to work the shows." I explained to Nat how I'd met him and that I was going to give him some help with English. She just kept staring at me. "He's a famous guitar player!" she said. "What?! I thought he was just a roadie!" Nope, turns out that Kuoshi is very well known in Taiwan, his former band being Trucku and the current band being Mojo. And I'd actually seen them perform, because they opened the Wu Bai concert in Xinzhu last year when I attended that. Boy, was I surprised.

So, I didn't really know what to expect from the guy, because I know sometimes the "famous" folks can be a bit arrogant, but I have to say that this fella is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I've ever met. I am totally enjoying our three-hour sessions, whether we're working on English or just chatting to get him used to conversation. He has a heart of gold and is so very down-to-earth and not full of himself. Another big plus is that he's a HUGE Wu Bai fan, just like me =) I'm happy to have the opportunity to test my teaching skills to see whether I feel comfortable charging someone to study with me.

Here's a photo of Kuoshi at Spring Scream


I do have another student, too, sort of.....because whenever possible I try to help my friend Hiyoshi with his English. However, we seem to end up having giggle sessions more often than not, because my attempts to explain in English sometimes just go right over his head! It's still fun, and it's helping me learn what sort of difficulties a Japanese speaker has with English. I'm finding that Chinese people have an entirely different set of problems with the language than Japanese. English has quite a few sounds that Japanese does not have, ditto for Chinese, but not as many. Let me tell you, if you never made a certain sound throughout your entire life, it is NOT easy to learn how to make it!

A big "xie xie" to Weiwei for being such a wonderful example as my teacher and for showing me effective ways to teach another language! I owe ya ;)

The Li Hai concert story has been penned and posted

A work of sheer poetry, with some photo links added on June 24. Click here: http://s7.invisionfree.com/WuBai_and_China_Blue/index.php?showtopic=64&st=0

Things I never knew

Well, this reconnection with my father's side of the family is certainly providing interesting information. For instance, I just found out that my great-grandfather on my father's side was a full-blooded Mohawk Indian from Canada! I had no idea that I had Native American heritage, and it just tickles me to death. Every since I was a child, I've been drawn to stories about Native Americans and have felt some sort of affinity with them.

Way cool, huh?

Lame excuse #405

Sorry for the lack of recent updates and also for not replying to soooo many e-mails (the inbox currently has 57 e-mails). I know it's difficult to believe that a person with no job could be too busy to write, but it's true! Some days I leave the house at 9:00 a.m. and don't return until 9:00 p.m. Between hanging out with friends, tutoring English (yeah, I have a couple of students and maybe more on the way!), trying to do my own homework, and also fitting in time to relax quietly, not much writing is getting done. It doesn't help that it's been horribly hot and humid lately, which seems to sap a lot of my energy and make we want to just sit on the couch in front of the fan when I'm home.

The hike I had planned for Saturday is off because of the rain, so maybe I can do some catch-up then. I'm alive and well and enjoying myself, hope you're content with knowing that ;)

This is a test, this is only a test

Somehow I get the feeling that many of my friends aren't bothering to read my journal to find out what's going on in my life. This is because only a couple of people have mentioned things written here, and there are some momentous occasions on this page!

So, this test is simple. If you're one of my friends, and you've read my news, let me know. Those faithful visitors I already know, and I appreciate that you care enough to check in :)

Shake it up, baby

Last night I followed my usual routine of falling asleep on the couch. I can't go into my bedroom to sleep until after 1:00 a.m., because the family upstairs is always banging around in the room right above my bedroom. So, I start on the couch, and I wake up later and move into my room.

At 12:22 a.m. I woke up. I woke up because I was shaking. I mean, my apartment was shaking. Back and forth, back and forth. I laid there, sleepily thinking to myself, "Huh, earthquake." Looked at the clock, wondered if the Noisy Nasties were asleep yet, heard them drop something, and went back to sleep. Sometime later I got up and went to my bed.

So hey, I've been through my first Taiwan earthquake (that I noticed). It was 22 km east of Ilan City. Ilan is on the east coast, so I guess that means the epicenter was in the ocean, and the depth was at 57.7 km. Ilan felt it at 6.0, and Taipei County felt it as 4.0.

Gee, now I'm waiting for my first typhoon.....

Lost and found

When I was about six years old, my father deserted my mother, running off with a younger girl and leaving Mom with me and my brother, who was four years younger than me. We didn't get any financial support from my father, who basically vanished off the face of the earth, and my mother couldn't afford to take care of both of the children. My father's mother contacted Mom, said that her son wanted to take my brother, and Mom agreed, because she didn't know what else to do. We never saw my brother, Johnny, again.

When I was 18, after graduating from high school, against my mother's wishes I contacted my paternal grandmother. She wouldn't tell me anything about where my father and brother were, and when she started trash talking about my Mom, I cut off all contact with her.

A few years ago, when I got my first home PC, I started to look up family back in New York and managed to locate my father's brother's ex-wife. She told me that no one knew where my brother was. I did some Internet searches for the last name, because it's a rare one, but never had any luck. I gave up.

Well, on Monday I had an e-mail from one of my relatives, who had tracked me down because Uncle Pete's ex-wife still had my old phone number in the US, and my ex-husband gave Janet my e-mail address. Seems that my Aunt Jean (I have the honor of having Jean as my middle name) passed away a couple of weeks ago, and the estate lawyer wanted the family to locate my brother and me. And Janet has found my brother, too! She said she'll give him my e-mail address - he never knew he had a sister, because my father never told him. So, I'm waiting anxiously to hear from him. I got a baby brother! This time I promise not to try to kill him, as Mom told me I tried when he was small. Me, jealous? Nah.....

What's in a name?

OK, it's official. The kitten has a name: DZ (just say "dizzy). After watching her running around like mad, it seemed to be the most fitting name for her. For your viewing pleasure, photos can be found at http://www.pbase.com/500fan/dz

Cool as a Cucumber meets Traffic Tales

Today was the day to bite the bullet (try explaining that expression to your Japanese friend) and shell out the dough for the air conditioner. But I did better than I had originally expected. Today I bought not one, but three air conditioners AND a clothes dryer for $750 (you will not believe how tiny this dryer is). Not too bad considering that I thought I'd spend that on just one air con. So Thursday, before the intense heat of summer arrives, I'll have one in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one in the office, so I can a cool chick no matter where I am. Yeah, so the kitchen will probably not get too cool, but like I'm ever in there cooking anyway....

As I walked to Carrefour today to make my big purchase, I must have had at least 8-10 brushes with death. You see, there's no sidewalk, and the road is the only road that goes from Taipei to Danshui, so there is always a lot of traffic. Oh yes, there's a little lane that's titled "pedestrian road" but that doesn't stop the maniacs on scooters from using it. And they not only zip by within inches going the right direction, they sneak up behind you going the wrong way! I swear, there are simply no traffic laws here at all, none. The scooters drive on the sidewalks, and they don't care if you're there first. The scooters pass cars and buses on the right, and they don't care that you're walking in the road.

The City of Chico Code Enforcement division would be having hissy fits here. Public right-of-way? hahahaha! Right.... Try walking down the sidewalk - you'll find it blocked by parked scooters, businesses that have spilled their merchandise out onto the sidewalk, businesses that have BUILT the shops right over the sidewalk, causing one to have no choice but to walk into the road. During the rush hours, there are so many people coming and going (and stopping dead right in front of me to make a purchase from a street vendor) that I'm always far into the road to get by them (I really can't believe that human beings can actually walk as slowly as most of the people do here, it's amazing). Doesn't matter if I walk facing the traffic, because the cars coming from behind are passing other cars and coming into the left lane where I'm walking. And my friends are so nonchalant about it. "Oh well, if they hit you, they'll have to pay you money." "Yes, but I can't spend it if I'm dead." I can't wait until I can actually read the Chinese newspaper (the Taipei Times is "designed" for foreigners and never has the juicy, gory stuff) to see how many die every day from being clipped by an old lady on a scooter who is carrying about 50 pounds of groceries in addition to her Siberian Husky (no lie, I've seen this). Or the guy who is delivering six large (20 kilo) bottles of propane and just can't wait for the Auntie to get across the street but has to veer onto the sidewalk to go around her. Or the mother who has her three children on the scooter, all of them carrying bags with their dinner from the vendors, only the bigger kids wearing helmets while the youngest does without.

But hey, you know what? Taking my chances walking the streets of Taiwan is preferable to driving anywhere in the US ;)

It's a girl!

Please welcome the newest addition to the household, a feisty little kitten who as yet remains nameless (so we can call her Wu Ming for now). She was wailing her heart out at Charlene's home, and Charlene took her in temporarily, calling her Shi San (13) because she'd shown up on Friday the 13th. As of yesterday, she's the queen of my place ;)



So far I've considered the following names: Shan Dian (lightning), Wen Hao (question mark) - these two because she has a crook in her tail, Li Hai (uh huh, I'm bad), Hu Xu (whiskers). Considered calling her Tuxedo Two and using T2 as a nickname (I used to have a black & white kitty named Tuxedo), or Dizzy (which is DZ, the initials of the fabulous drummer, Dino Zavolta). I'm waiting to see how her personality develops before sticking her with a permanent name.
Here's hoping she doesn't destroy the house today while I'm school....

Caged animals

Went to the Taipei Zoo yesterday, mostly because I wanted to get some exercise and it's a nice place to walk around, very lovely grounds. I realize now that I don't enjoy zoos as much as I did when I was a kid. Back then I was oblivious to the fact that these animals are kept in habitats that confine and constrict their movements and in no way resemble their natural habitats. After watching some of the big cats pacing manically back and forth, some of them in nothing more than concrete pits with dead trees, no form of green plant at all, my heart was aching. Oh sure, many of the animals have nice little homes, but the zebras are in what's basically a mud pit with a little grass, and the hippos are in a concrete enclosure with a very shallow pool of water at one end. These are creatures that should be in a river, completely submerged!

What right do we humans have to take these animals and put them on display for our pleasure? Should the day come when some higher civilization discovers our pitiful little planet, how would we like it if they thought we should be a paid attraction?

Saddest thought of all is that at the rate we're destroying the environment and depleting our Mother of her wild lands, eventually a zoo will be the only place to see these animals. Assuming, of course, that we don't blow ourselves to space dust first.....

Fabulous fruit

One of the things I missed most about Taiwan whenever I had to leave to go back to the US was the fruit. In the US grocery store fruit usually has a flavor which strongly resembles cardboard. The only time fruit ever tastes good in the States is during the summers when it can be purchased at the local farmers' markets.

Here in Taiwan fruit always seems to taste great, never as if it had been picked greener than a frog and then shipped miles and miles to a store. Right now the melons are popping out, and there are melons I've never even seen before (including one imported from Japan that would cost me $50 US if I were ever stupid enough to pay that much money for a melon). And we have the coolest watermelons! They're green & white striped on the outside, rather small and round, and the inside is a bright yellow. The taste is almost like the "normal" watermelons, but a little different.

The lychees are beginning to show up at the markets, although they're still a little expensive. The grapefruits here are so juicy that I was a sticky mess after I peeled and sectioned my first one. The wax apples (lian wu) are crisp and juicy, not a lot of flavor, but very refreshing. The dragon fruit (huo long guo) is as much fun to look at as it is to peel and eat (bright fuschia on the outside, looks like scales, hence the name), and the inside is white with tiny, tiny little black seeds. Bananas are very banana-y over here. I hate green bananas, like mine to be very ripe, and that's how they are without being too mushy.

I'll have to take some photos of the many varieties of shui guo (fruit) for all of you. It's too bad we can't get mangosteens here, though. They're dubbed the "Queen of Fruit" and I've only found them in Hong Kong. So, when I'm in Hong Kong, I make sure I eat a lot of those.

There are still many fruits I haven't yet tried, but I'll be giving them the taste test shortly. I may even try durian melon, which is about the stinkiest fruit in the world (and sometimes you can buy it fried!).

Past the two-month mark

Well, I've been here for two months now. Still love it, but am anticipating some grumpiness as the weather continues to warm up. Shopped for an air conditioner today, looks like it's gonna cost me between $540 and $670. Ouch. But, I believe it's a necessity.

Must express my extreme displeasure with Symantec at this time. I tried to renew my Norton Internet Security subscription the easy way, by downloading the program. Ha, right. Didn't work. Wrote to them, got back completely non-helpful advice. Wrote again, got a response "we are the customer service department, can't help you with technical issues." Fine, then, do some customer service and give me a refund for the product I can't download. I'll just buy the hard copy, sheesh.

Every day last week the weather report said it would rain horribly in the afternoons, so every day I high-tailed it home to avoid the deluge. And every day it didn't rain, so I spent many hours hanging around the house, just sure that if I set foot outside, it would pour. The reports this week also say rain, rain, rain - but I ain't fallin' for that again. I have a life to live, things to do! And hey, if it does rain, so what? I'll get wet. Hey, maybe I'll even get a couple of packages mailed......maybe.

Oh, hey, here's a picture from yesterday, when two of my Japanese classmates, Hiyoshi and Kieko, and I went to Danshui for the afternoon. We stopped at this temple, very old, very beautiful. I managed to talk them into posing for a photo :)



Not much more to say right now. Just waiting for June 11 and the Li Hai concert to see Wu Bai & China Blue again. And very happy it will be inside, with air conditioning!

Catch ya all later.

Slow, rainy, lazy week

Not much to write about this week, that's for sure. It rained. All week. Every day. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for minutes, sometimes a sprinkle, sometimes cats & dogs. Yes, it's the rainy season here in Taiwan. I don't mind so much, because it's keeping the temperature down, for the most part, although today it's supposed to get up to 84 and the forecast for next week says up to 88, and still rain every day. It does curtail the activities somewhat, though.

Finally got out a bit last night, meeting up with Natari, Charlene, Gin (that's pronounced Jean), and Kieko for some food and chat. My three Taiwanese friends were having a rather serious discussion in Chinese, so Kieko, one of my classmates, and I had our own talk. She's from Osaka, Japan and has been here studying Chinese since February. I'm enjoying meeting people from Japan and getting to learn more about their country and traditions. Although I've read many fiction books that deal with Japanese culture, I'm never sure I can believe what I'm reading or if the author is taking liberties. Hopefully, I'll be going to Japan on holiday one of these days, getting first-hand experience. Apparently, visiting Washington state was an eye-opener for Kieko when she saw a sign at a school proclaiming the place was "gun free." The idea that guns would ever be brought into a children's school is simply unthinkable in Japan. Ditto for Taiwan. Americans might have the freedom to bear arms, but just think how many have lost their lives because of that freedom and some unhappy teenager (or even younger child) taking Dad's prized handgun to school and killing his/her classmates and teachers. Sometimes too much freedom is not such a good thing.....

Instead of taking the MRT at the closest station, Charlene, Kieko, and I walked to the farther one, around 11:00 p.m. Took us a little over a half an hour, and thankfully the rain held off, except for some minor sprinkles. Now, I don't believe I'd want to be walking anywhere in the US with just two girls that late in the evening, but here in Taipei I feel perfectly safe. There are always so many people out and about, many of them teenagers (but not the scary sort), and that fear element just doesn't pop up. And by the time my train dropped me at my stop, it was almost 12:30 a.m., and I walked alone back to my place, about 10 minutes, never once feeling uneasy as I went through the narrow streets and alleys. Some young girls, maybe 14 or 15, got off the train when I did, never having to worry some maniac would abduct them and commit rape and murder. I've noticed very young children out on their own, running errands, playing - and no parents in sight. Nowadays, leaving a child unattended in the US is an open invitation for a child molester to grab 'em. What the hell happened to our country?

Anyway, enough of that, let's just say that I'm happier than I ever thought I could be. Let it rain :)

Dreams do come true

Fans came from all over to meet up in Hong Kong for the May 5, 2005 Wu Bai & China Blue "Wild Day Out" concert. Doris and Tommy (Hong Kong fans) arrived at my hotel around 3:00 p.m., then we fetched Sharrie, Xiao Sui (both Taiwan fans), and Angela (Singapore fan) at their hotel. First we went for a quick bite and then off to the M1 Lounge to check out the situation. Uh oh, people already in line, but thankfully only three of them, so we joined the queue at the front around 5:00 p.m. One of the gals who was there was a Japanese fan, Yasuyo, who had been queuing since 3:00. The weather was quite hot, very humid, and we sweated profusely as we waited, not very patiently, for the 10:00 show. We chatted, took pictures, kept running across the street for cold drinks and bathroom usage, just enjoying being with other Wu Bai fans and the anticipation of seeing the greatest band on earth. The line slowly grew longer, but never anything like it is in Taiwan (and I do thank the goddess for that!).

At first we were told that we'd be able to go inside at 8:30, but it wasn't until almost 9:30 that they allowed us in. We were given some cool posters, a cold beer, a light stick, and a whistle. Awesome, I love goodies (but I think whistles should be outlawed at concerts). Once inside, we took our places at the stage, amazingly close to the stage, like only inches away from it. There was a plastic line with some flyers hanging from it separating us about at waist level, but since we were sitting on the floor, and the flyers were blocking our view, we took 'em off. We were so close that we put our bags up against the speakers in front of us, and Sharrie even had her camera on the stage itself. The stage was triangular shaped, with Wu Bai's mike at the point, and that's where we were seated. Unfortunately, we were told we'd have to sit through the whole show, because if we stood, the people in the back wouldn't be able to see. What?! SIT at a Wu Bai concert? Boy, that's weird. Lots of grumbling about that, especially since both Sharrie and Xiao Sui were wearing short denim skirts. A little hard to sit gracefully on the ground in those.

When Wu Bai, Da Mao, Xiao Zhu, and Dino walked onto the stage, I just couldn't believe how close they were. And dang, it's Hong Kong, so I can take pictures! Hell, I can take video! Not allowed to do that in Taiwan, no way. I did get some good pix, but honestly, most of the time I was too busy watching and enjoying the show to worry about photos. And because Wu Bai moves around so much, a lot of the shots were blurry.

Wu Bai was in a great mood, and he was speaking Cantonese to the crowd. Now, I don't speak Canto, so I don't know if he was doing a good job at it or not, but at least he was making the effort. The crowd seemed to appreciate it. All the guys were smiling so big (well, OK, I couldn't see Dino, just the top of his head, but I'm sure he was smiling), and when they launched into the first song, the energy in the room just took off. The sound was excellent, even though I was so close to one of the big amplifiers that I couldn't hear out of my right ear after the show.

There were two small speakers right in front of me, and Wu Bai jumped up on them while playing, almost hitting his head on the low ceiling (I wonder if he even knows how close he came to doing so). The speakers wobbled, and for a minute I thought I might end up with a lap full of Wu Bai. Not that that would have been a bad thing.... And then he came right off the stage and stood in front of Angela and me, playing that guitar. I could have touched him if I'd wanted to, but I'm far too well behaved to do that ;) The second time he came down off stage, he stood right over Angela, partially bent over, singing and playing, and dripping sweat right onto her! I think I got some of it, too. Ah, dream come true - because before I went to my first concert, I said I wanted to be close enough for his sweat to drip on me. It finally happened!

So, of course I'm mostly watching Wu Bai, and trying not to drool too much, but I also can see Xiao Zhu very well (Da Mao is hidden behind Wu Bai for almost the whole show, and as I said, the top of Dino's head is all I can see behind the drums). Every now and then, Wu Bai is looking right at me for a second, flashing that big smile. Then came a time when he looked at me and didn't look away. He just kept looking, and singing, and I was afraid I was going to end up in a dead faint on the floor. That man has the most incredible eyes....add that smile into the mix, and who can resist? I must have gotten a five-second long gaze, at least. Doesn't sound like much, but try staring into someone's eyes for five seconds, it's longer than you think. I still get shivers when I think about it.

Wu Bai may look like a grown man, but he's really just a little boy in disguise. He has this thing about water....he likes to throw it on the crowd. There he was, pausing for a drink of water from his bottle, and the next thing I knew, the water was all over us! What a stinker. But, it did feel kinda good, since we were pretty hot and sweaty by this time. I'll get him someday, you just wait.

At the end of "Ni Ai Wo" (U Love Me), the chorus is "ni ai wo, ni ai wo.......ni ai wo, ni ai wo.....ni ai wo, ni ai wo......" and first he sang in Mandarin. Then he sang in Cantonese. Then he was in front of me, looking at me, and sang in English, "You love me." Aiya! Me very happily embarrassed :) Just to clarify a point here: I do love Wu Bai. However, I am not IN LOVE with Wu Bai, kindly note the difference. And I also love Da Mao, Dino, and Xiao Zhu, so there.

So, I guess no one told the poor security guys what to expect at a Wu Bai concert, because when we'd finally decided that we'd had all we could take of sitting on that stone floor, and we all stood up (which caused a HUGE smile to appear on Wu Bai's face), the security guys couldn't figure out how to make us sit down. Oh, they tried. We just ignored them, even the one yanking on Angela's hand. When the song was finished, we finally let them coax us back down again, but they had extremely frightened looks on their faces. And of course, we did it again. There is just no way in hell we're gonna sit when the band is performing "Ai Ni Yi Wan Nian" (Love You 10,000 Years). It's not possible. Not, not, not. This time we jumped, sang at the top of our lungs, and refused to be seated. And we knew that Wu Bai was proud of us, because he doesn't like to see anyone sitting at his shows. The security folks also didn't like it when some of the fans gave Wu Bai flowers and other things they'd brought for him, but too bad, they did it anyway. Neener neener.

All good things come to an end, and so this great concert also ended, much too quickly. As we were milling around with big goofy grins on our faces, so incredibly high, a guy came over to me and asked me if I would come with him and give an interview for a magazine. He had seen me singing along with the songs, and since I'm so obviously not Asian, he wanted to find out who I was and how I knew about Wu Bai. Doris came along to help interpret, and I ended up with an autographed "Two-Faced Man" CD out of the deal. Here are links to the article (page 2 has me): http://gargoile.chiconet.com/WDOPg-1.jpg and http://gargoile.chiconet.com/WDOPg2.jpg

Angela and I got back to our hotel around 1:00 a.m., and although I was completely exhausted, I still found it difficult to fall asleep, because I just kept reliving those moments of eye contact with the most beautiful man on earth. I think I only got around 4 or 5 hours of sleep, which left me in a semi-coma the next day, but it was sooo worth it, and I can't wait for June 11 and the Li Hai concert here in Taipei!

Here in Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong last night, and it's even hotter than Taiwan. Whee. Not going to write a lot at this point, but wanted to remember that two very lovely ladies assisted me in 1) finding the airport bus and 2) providing "ling qian" for me when all I had on the bus was "yi bai kuai."

Today I'm off to the embassy to apply for my next visa back into Taiwan and tonight is the concert. Won't be back online until Friday, when I return to Terry's place.

Terry's place: wow, hard to believe a single guy is living here, it's so clean. Nifty spot in Tai Po, kinda country-ish. Whoever designed it seems to think people have arms that are five feet long, because the toilet paper holder is on the wall opposite the toilet, rather than being right next to the place where one does one's business. If you forget to grab paper before seating yourself, big trouble. More on Terry's abode later, too.

Oh, Hong Kong "bi jiao gui" as far as food. That's "more expensive" for you who don't speak Chinese ;) Last night's dinner was the equivalent of $13 US, and we could have had the same in Taiwan for around $7 or $8. Damned good jiao zi and bao zi, though.

Gotta go......

There's been a little change in the weather

Today was hot. Very hot. Sticky, icky hot. But, there was a decent breeze blowing, so it was bearable, although my apartment did get up to 90 degrees. My classmate, Hiyoshi, came to visit at noon, and after we spent a little time munching some cold noodles with sesame sauce (very yum) and watching some Wu Bai concerts, we headed off to Danshui to see if it was any cooler by the river/ocean. It wasn't. Hoards of people there, so we strolled along very slowly, had some very weird ice cream that melted faster than we could eat it, and watched some of the temple celebration parades. Then Hiyoshi said he wanted to go to "leng de di fang" which is a "cold place." So, I took him to Carrefour, whose motto is Tian Tian Dou Pian Yi (Everyday All Cheap)! We shopped as best we could considering the crowd, got me a new floor fan (with Winnie the Pooh on it, soooo cute), some fruit and munchies, and headed back to my place (note to self: take Hiyoshi shopping with me all the time; he carries the parcels and doesn't complain).

Well, my apartment by this time was darned toasty, and the breeze had all but vanished. After more chit chat, a bit of movie watching, and some fresh pineapple (oh, you would not believe how delicious the pineapple is here in Taiwan), Hiyoshi headed off for his two-hour trip back home to Wan Li. Me, I took a shower and left my hair sopping wet, turned on both fans, and settled down for a bit of reading.

All of a sudden, the breeze kicked up again, ahhhh, so nice. Then the breeze became a wind. Then it turned into a very large wind. I started hearing things crashing outside, blowing over. My kitchen balcony door, which is a screen door latched with a loose chain, was banging as the wind buffeted it, and I could hear other doors in the building doing the same. I'm thinking, "Hm, typhoon coming in?" and all at once, it's quiet again. Just a gentle breeze blowing in. As we say in Chinese, "Guai guai de!" (very strange)

Happy May Day everyone :)