Ah, the pain of being unwanted.....

Taiwan is a very small island. So small that it would fit right in the space between my old home in Magalia, California and the big city of San Francisco. Yup, that small. Consequently, the Taiwan government isn't too keen on people moving over here and taking up space; and so they have adopted some rules.

If one wishes to stay in Taiwan more than one month, one must have a visa. How does one get this? Well, one must either have a confirmed job here and a work permit to go with it, or one must obtain a special student visa. The catch is that only certain schools are on the government-approved list, and if one does not attend one of those schools, one is S.O.L. Hey, no worries, my school is on that list.

Let me rephrase: my school was on that list. In April the government revised their list, and for reasons completely unknown to us normal people, they removed two of the language centers which have been popular for years. Right, you know it, one of those was mine. I think about 95% of the students at my school are here on student visas. They are not people with jobs who are studying Chinese in their free time, not foreign spouses of people who are here working in Taiwan for a long term. Granted, there are a few of those, but the school makes its living from those of us who need student visas.

We knew there was a problem, but the gals at the desk kept assuring us that the boss was in negotiations with the government, and the issues would all be resolved in May. Some students decided to play it safe and transferred to other schools that had the big thumbs up from the government. Other, more optimistic sorts (like me!), decided to wait and see. And last week I got the news: there is absolutely no way to extend my visa if I continue to study at this school.

Wah! I like my school. The tuition is lower than at other schools, the staff is great, the teachers (well, most of them) are wonderful, and I've made a lot of friends there. I'm comfortable there, and I don't want to change. Crap.

Never mind, I must make some choices. What will I do? I will have to leave Taiwan temporarily, because I can't overstay my current visa. No problem, I had already been planning a summer trip back to California for visiting and shopping. But how can I come back? I have to make some decisions.

I'm in a much better position than some of the students, because I already have money. So, if I choose, I can come back to Taiwan on my passport for a 30-day visit, and at the end of 30 days I just make a short hop over to Hong Kong for a day or two (and I don't even need to leave the airport; I can just wait there a couple of hours and catch a flight back). If I take the passport-only route, I must leave Taiwan every 30 days, and every time I go out of the country, I have to have already purchased the next plane ticket out, because you don't get back in unless you show proof that you have a reservation to leave again!

Second choice: I could hurry up and switch to another language center, getting my current school to give me a referral. New adventures with new classmates. But, my current Alien Residency Certificate is tied to my current school, so I have to start the process all over: be in Taiwan for four months without leaving, and consistently attending class. That would shoot my planned US trip right in the heart and kill it dead.

Third choice: attend university now, instead of a year from now, as I had planned. But, I still feel my ability to listen to and understand Chinese is quite lacking. I'm not sure I'd be able to pass my courses if I enter university now, and I wanted another year of language study first.

After much mulling it over, I have made my decision. I will, at least for a time, use only my passport to come back from my US visit, and I will go to Hong Kong once a month. Hey, I have friends there, it's a good excuse to visit them. Or I might even go to Singapore or Japan and see some places I've never seen. Thailand and Vietnam are also popular spots for the folks who make the regular trips out. I figure if I'm not paying tuition (which would be around $18,000NT at a new school), I can use that money for plane tickets. The price varies - in June one can go to Hong Kong for $4,100NT, but on July 1 the price leaps to $8,100. But that's just one airline, and there are always travel packages available.

Also, if I'm not going to school every morning, I can teach more English. Right now I have a lot of students! And they all like me so much that they keep telling their friends, and more people are asking me about sessions. It's been difficult juggling some of them, but I'd have a lot more flexibility if I didn't have a two-hour class every day.

Finally, the school I've been doing recording for has asked me if I want a job teaching conversational English. I gave a demo lesson yesterday, which went so well that they asked me if I would consider teaching TOEFL classes as well, which are more difficult that the conversation classes. They said if I get a job with them, they can apply for a work permit and ARC for me. Now, this would be absolutely wonderful, but since I've been consistently told that if one has no BA degree, one cannot teach (legally) in Taiwan. The government will not authorize work permits for teachers without degrees. The woman at the school did not seem to know this. I asked her to please check before either of us wasted any more of our time. This is Taiwan, and many times the "official" government regs don't seem to apply, and there are stories of work permits being issued to those sans that little piece of paper, but I certainly won't hold my breath. But I will do a happy dance if I get a thumbs up from the government! Easy job, only one day a week to start, three-hour class, $600NT per hour. The TOEFL class pays $700NT per hour. And, they are evening classes, which leaves the day free for more English tutoring :)

I spent five years getting to Taiwan, and I'm not leaving. Where there's a will, there's a way, right? However much I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends when I head back for the visit, there's no way I ever want to live in the US again. This bullheaded Irish/Italian/American Indian chick won't go down without a fight!

I'll keep ya'll posted on happenings, plans, etc.

Shades of Gilligan

The fun continues in Brian Sack's China Travelogue. Since he is far, far more humorous than I, let's just continue to read his adventures in China rather than my adventures in Taiwan. Those of you not familiar with the old American sit com, Gilligan's Island, won't get quite as much fun out of the description of the trip to Guilin ;)

Guilin Dispatch: A Four Hour Tour, a Four Hour Tour.
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000355.html

Yang Zhou Dispatch: Maogaritaville
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000356.html

And....the WTF?! Photo of the Day award goes to this gem from the snarky bitches at Go Fug Yourself (required daily reading for those of us who are also snarky bitches whenever the opportunity arises).
http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/go_fug_yourself/2006/05/jodie_fug.html

Lest Ye Be Bored Whilst I'm Away....

Since I'm not writing much, here are some things to entertain you while you wait for my return.

Fun with statues: http://www.pbase.com/mistermattias/statues I found this pbase site because the gentleman left a funny comment at my pbase site, and curiousity got the better of me. I'm glad it did.

The following are all from Brian Sack's (he of the eBay "Leather Pants Ad" fame) great website, Banterist.com, and will have you rolling. I give you, the chronicles of Brian's visit to China (and when you read, you will see why I live in TAIWAN, especially after reading the account of the trouble with train tickets).

And Mao For Something Completely Different: http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000341.html

Shanghai Dispatch: Cabbing Fever: http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000342.html

Shanghai Dispatch: Shanghai Surprise: http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000344.html

Shanghai Dispatch: Effects of Overpopulation, #1: http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000345.html

Shanghai Dispatch: Dove Reaches Out To China's Heavy Gals:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000346.html

China Dispatch: You Dim Sum, You Lose Some:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000347.html

China Dispatch: Using the Squat Toilet:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000348.html

Beijing Dispatch: Where The Party Never Stops:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000349.html

Beijing Dispatch: She's Even Cuter In Kelvin Klein Briefs:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000350.html

Xi'An Dispatch: Warrin' Terra:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000351.html

New on 5/2/06 China Dispatch: Tickets, pleas.
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000352.html

I urge everyone to spend time checking out other entries at Mr. Sack's website. His quirky humor is just the thing to force a smile onto one's face when one is feeling a bit down.

Break Time

I'm back from Hong Kong, and I still have the cold I took on vacation with me. Yay. Enjoyed my visit with Terry and Cheryl anyway, and it was great seeing Doris, Tommy, and Kieko, too. And I've finally (on 4/29) posted the photos here: http://www.pbase.com/500fan/hk2006

I'm going on a blogging break, don't know for how long. I don't seem to have any inspiration to write lately, so I think it's time stop for a bit. I'll make note of anything unusual, but that's about it. OK, so I did have something unusual occur. When I went to teach the little girl on Tuesday the 26th, her mom wasn't home, just the Filipina maid, Lydia. Because the boss wasn't around, Lydia spent some time talking with me. She asked me where I was from, and I said California. She said her parents lived in California, and I asked where. "Chico," she said. "What?! That's where I'm from!" I cried. Can you believe it? Her folks live on El Paso Way, and her sister is a nurse at Enloe Hospital. I may have to drop in on her folks when I go back for a visit.

Feel free to check in once every two weeks or so to see if my life gets any excitement.

Wedding Bells!

Last night's performance by ABS, All Blues and Soul, otherwise known as CHINA BLUE, was just fabulous. Not only were the guys even better than at their last two gigs, we were treated to something incredibly special. During the show, Dino stood up and said, "OK, it's the right time, I can't stand it anymore." He walked off the stage, grabbed his beautiful girlfriend, Carrie, by the hand, and brought her up on stage. After introducing her to the crowd, he fumbled around in his pocket, pulling out some coins and other things, before finally finding the ring he was looking for. He got down on one knee and asked her if she'd marry him.

What a great moment! Carrie was completely stunned, and she began to cry, and the rest of the guys were playing "Here Comes the Bride" while the crowd cheered. Of course, said "yes" to Dino's proposal, and we also got to see a lot of smooching from the two of them.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! We're all so happy that Dino has finally found his love.

Hong Kong, Here I Come

Sorry for the lack of recent writings. Same old excuse, too busy (and what do I have to write about anyway? Nothing.)

Last night I went to see another Taiwanese opera performance, very good, loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera but set in ancient China. Gorgeous costumes, lovely singing, good story. Best of all, the ticket was free :)

Tonight I'm going to The Wall to see the China Blue guys doing their ABS gig, looking forward to that. Sharrie is coming all the way from Pingtung to see the show, too. I hope there's a good turnout.

Tomorrow I leave for my week in Hong Kong, so it's doubtful I'll be writing from there. Maybe, I don't know. I think Cheryl and I will be having too much fun. However....I have this sneaky feeling that I'm trying to catch a cold, and I hope that's not the case. I will be totally pissed if my week in Hong Kong gets screwed up!

See ya'll after 4/22.

My Hat's Off to You, Oh Fugly One

http://www.anacam.com/hats/hats2004/hats2004.html

Before you click the above link, please be sure to empty your mouth of all food and beverage, or else said beverage might end up on your computer screen.

Taiwan Rocks - and keeps rocking

Edit on 4/5/06 - scroll to the end of this post for more recent earthquake info.

Had a pretty good sized earthquake yesterday, down in the southern part of Taiwan, 6.4, with four aftershocks following within the next few hours. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/04/02/2003300496

I was out for dinner with some friends, including two from Hong Kong. I was just getting ready to take a bite of food when I felt incredibly dizzy, almost like I was going to pass out. I looked up, and across from me Joe from Hong Kong was also looking a little weird. I said, "Wow, was that an earthquake?" He said he felt it, too, that dizzy feeling. No one else at the table even noticed. Charlene said it's because we're not from here, so we're more sensitive. Taiwan folks have lived with earthquakes so long that they only notice if they're in a high building, or maybe lying on a bed when it starts to shake.

Thankfully, there doesn't appear to have been major damage, but lots of stuff in stores got smashed.

I truly hope we are not leading up to the Mother of All Earthquakes.....

4/5/06 - I just checked the latest earthquake stats, and it seems the whole island is rattling. There have been a total of 11 earthquakes since April 1 (as opposed to a total of 8 quakes in all of March), beginning with the 6.4 one in Taitung, and ending with a 5.7 one today. Most of them have been in the south and have been aftershocks from the 4/1 quake, measuring between 4.2 and 4.8 in magnitude, but two have been up closer to me. I didn't notice the one that occurred today at 3:30 a.m., because I was asleep, and it probably didn't shake Taipei County too much, since it was (thankfully) about 107 km out into the ocean.

Anyone interested in reviewing the earthquake data, please check the government link: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/index.htm and then click on the "Earthquake Report" link on the menu to the left.

Cost of Living

I thought you might be interested to know what I paid for basic expenses during my first year in Taiwan. It might be a little depressing for those of you living in the US! Amounts are in US dollars, not Taiwan ones ;)

Rent: $5,812 (US house payment was $8,220 annually, with another $1,300 for property taxes.)

Electric bill: $192 (average annual cost in the US, for me, was $300 [yeah, some people pay that per month but they're energy hogs, and I wasn't], which doesn't include the propane and wood I used for heat in the winter - that was expensive! I use electric heat here, when necessary.)

Water bill: $50 (average annual cost in the US was $240)

Home Phone/ADSL bill: $220 (average annual cost in the US was $216 just for the phone line plus $140 for dial-up Internet service, total $356)

Mobile Phone bill: $108 (average annual cost in US was $480, and I never used the damned phone, either)

Gas for cooking/hot water: $75 (I can't remember how much I paid for propane in the US, just that it was higher in the winter. I know it's a darned sight more than what I pay here.)

Transportation costs: $640 (I probably spent a minimum of $1,000 per year on gas in the US, if not more, plus auto insurance, car payment, maintenance, and registration. It's way cheaper to get around here, and someone else drives me!)

Tuition fee: $1800 (I think roughly the same price as the class at Chico State, but that class was only two days a week, and my class here is five days a week. So, I'm getting more for the money.)

I'm sure I spent more money on food and books than anything else here. I know I spend more on food than I should, because I keep buying overpriced imported stuff. Little by little, I'm cutting that out. This year I'm going to try to be really thrifty, but there's no way I can stop buying books.

To tired to blog

Well, I've been spending a lot of time teaching these days, and that coupled with trying to do my own studying has resulted in 1) a lack of interesting things to post and 2) no energy to post even if there should be interesting things to post.

I did go to Mojo's farewell show Sunday night at Luxy, which was, as expected, quite awesome. Guoxi was in rare form, and his guitar playing was sweeeeet. We got there early enough to get in line up toward the front, so we were able to snag good tables right up at the stage, on the left. Although we couldn't see Robert, the drummer, at all, we did get Mo the bassist doing solos in front of us frequently, and Guoxi popped over quite a bit, too. During the encore set, when Guoxi started to cry, the rest of us joined in. Very emotional evening. It was nice to see that Wu Bai sent a huge bouquet of flowers to the band. His wife sent Guoxi an SMS saying that Wu Bai had really wanted to go to the show, but they had been in Japan, and they only got back to Taipei at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, and by then the show was over.

I'm going to Hong Kong on April 16 to visit my friend, Cheryl, for the week, and I'm also hoping to meet up with some of my other friends there. It should be a fun week of food, shopping, and movie watching. Getting together with Cheryl is always fun, and I'm sure we'll find all sorts of trouble to get into. We'll probably drive her boyfriend nuts.

Oh, here's something pretty cool. I bought an old postcard on eBay because it's a photo of my mom! Back in the 1940s she was in a country band called Dusty Miller and the Colorado Wranglers. The woman who owned the postcard had discovered my photos of mom and the band online and had left a message for me, saying she had this postcard and would be selling it on eBay. I found it, bid on it, and won it. I think Mom would be tickled to death if she were still alive, knowing that her image had made it to eBay!

I skipped school today because last night I went with Guoxi, Hope, and two of their friends for a very, very late dinner. It was after 11:00 p.m. when we started to eat. We went to a place that does all kinds of shrimp, complete with legs and heads, served in metal pots, and ate our fill there. Then we drove up to Yangming Shan, to a very fancy restaurant high up on the mountainside, overlooking Taipei. The night scenery was great, but they had a minimum order per person of $300NT (around $10 US). I got a cup of coffee ($160NT, and boy is was a small cup) and some ice cream with fruit ($200NT), while the others ordered Coscto-purchased fried mozarella sticks and onion rings, along with french fries and tea. Well, that still wasn't enough, so we had to order a second plate of fries before we could leave. I didn't get to bed until 2:30 a.m., and I just couldn't get out of bed at 7:00 a.m. So, here I am, playing hooky.

Now it's lunch time, and I have to go find some food, because my cupboards are bare.

Happy Anniversary!

Hey, it's been one year since I arrived at my new home here in Taiwan. The time has gone by so quickly, too. I love Taiwan even more now than I did before I lived here, and I'm hoping all my plans come to fruition and that I am able to stay here forever and ever and ever and ever =)

PS - teaching a child is not easy. I think I prefer adults. Actually, I really prefer handsome Asian guy adults, but those are difficult to come by. The search continues.

Good Mojo

OK, so I have this friend named Guoxi, who is a kickass guitar player and who has a cool band named Mojo. At the beginning of February, when Guoxi got back from his month-long trip to New York, he began to record his part of the CD the band had been working on, and it's finally all done. Last weekend he inivted me to go with him to film a couple MTVs to promote the CD. I left home at 9:00 a.m. that day and didn't get back home until 12:30 a.m.! I had no idea what a long, involved process it was to film these things.

We started out by meeting up with two directors (and I only remember the name of one, Ah Mu), Ah Mu's girlfriend Elisa, and Mo the bass player, then all of us driving way up into the hills to the south of Taipei, a beautiful area called Bitan. We ended up at the home of a very cool guy named Alan, who has his own band, Chicken Rice. I'm telling you, listening to rockabilly in Chinese is an experience you need to have! I seriously need to buy their CD. And for those of you who are Wu Bai fans, Alan is the boyfriend of adorable little Mavis Fann, the girl who sings the duet "Sea Island" with Wu Bai on the "Two-Faced Man" CD.

Alan's home was spiffy, more like a huge converted garage/warehouse than a real house. The walls were decorated with drawings and were painted in different colors, and the studio walls were plastered with pages from music magazines, depicting the greatest guitarists of the world. Jimi Hendrix had his own little section, too. The floors were covered with Asian carpets, and a huge Bugs Bunny hung from the ceiling.

I spent some time wandering around outside, because the weather was so perfect, and the flowers were in bloom everywhere. Butterflies fluttered, grasshoppers jumped, and small lizards (I think) rustled in the undergrowth. I took a lot of photos during the day, and you can check them out at http://www.pbase.com/500fan/mojomtv.

I was happy I'd brought a book with me, because for much of the time there wasn't anything to see and nothing to do. Filming a music video is a tedious task, especially this kind, which was a lot of animated sequences. This means taking frame by frame shots with the guys moving only slightly in between each one. This takes a long, long, long time. I eventually fell asleep on the couch in the living room!

As evening set it and darkness fell, the air turned quite cold, so Alan fired up the barrel outside and lit his tiki torches. This barrel has seen better days. The walls are so thin I could actually see the redness from the embers through the metal! There were some extra logs propped up against the outside, and they actually ended up bursting into flame, whereupon another guy, whose name I never got, tossed them into the fire. He was nice, and we chatted quite a bit. He's an artist, draws comic books, originally from the Philipines but moved to Taiwan when he was eight. He spoke English as well as Chinese, so our conversation flipped between the two languages.

Alan cooked up some tasty fried rice and some spinach for us, and after we ate, we took off. Guoxi had already headed back to Taipei, to our next destination, so I rode back into town with Mo, the bassist, and got to know him better. He'd spent a month in the US on a trip, and together we bemoaned the facts that there are no Taco Bells in Taiwan and that we both miss Cheetos a lot.

We pulled up at our stop - Mayday's (五月天) studio. Mayday is a hot band here in Taiwan, and there was a crowd of young girls hanging around outside, a good indication that at least one of the band members was on site. Sure enough, it was the lead singer, Ah Xin. He was watching a Hong Kong movie (some cop film with Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok) while at the same time playing with the computer. There was a very fluffy Persian cat, which promptly attempted to bite and scratch when I offered to pet her. Extremely pissy cat, not the least bit friendly, with an arrogant attitude that fit the arrogant look on her face.

Mayday's studio was interesting, with Beatles memorabilia everywhere. They are obviously much loved and admired by the band. There was also a large poster of Wu Bai in the office, of which I heartily approved. Since I wasn't able to stay in the room where they were filming because I would have ended up on camera, I just read for awhile, talked a little with Elisa, who was also banished, and finally just stuck on my headphones and listened to music.

At the very end of the evening, Mayday's sound engineer, Conrad, showed up with his charming wife Marineha. She and I got to talking, and she asked me if I was interested in teaching an eight-year-old girl. Conrad and Marineha were preparing to return to Switzerland, and this child was in need of a new teacher. So, I said I'd try, and I went to meet with her mom, Jenny, on Wednesday. I ended up getting the job, so I'll be teaching Amy twice a week, for about an hour and a half each time. She's a cute kid, well-behaved, and seems bright. I'm hoping I can handle this, since I simply don't have any experience dealing with children!

Finally everything was done, and Guoxi drove me home, where I promptly fell into bed with only a few token minutes of playing with DZ. What a long day....

Last Sunday evening Nat, Charlene, Caroline, and I went to Riverside Pub for Mojo's performance. The place was jammed so full it was ridiculous (what safety regs? what maximum capacity?), and I couldn't really see the band perform. The new CD was on sale, along with Mojo T-shirts, which we of course bought. The guys from Mayday showed up (all except for Ah Xin, who went home with the wifey after the Wang Lee Hom concert, which was also that evening), and the banter between them and Guoxi was hysterical. I had to duck out at 11:00 p.m. in order to catch the last MRT back, so I didn't get to see the final songs. Just as I was getting ready to turn out the light, the phone rang. It was Charlene, excitedly telling me to open up the CD and check the end of the lyrics book, where the guys thanked everyone. Awww, too sweet, Guoxi thanked me! I'm glad I could help him with his English so he'd get his job as an airline pilot. Still can't figure out why he'd rather fly planes than be a big rock star, though....

And finally, for those of you who have been concerned, I'm doing OK. It took a lot of tears, a lot of thinking, a lot of talking and discussing, but the bottom line is that Hiyoshi and I are still best buds, he's still my little bro, I'm not pissed off at him (or anyone else) anymore, and life is fine. And the answer to the often-unasked question is no, I am not in love with Hiyoshi (and trust me, I examined my heart closely and seriously). I love him, he's a great friend, but I just couldn't fall in love with him. I admit to a certain amount of lust (I mean, sheesh, look at the guy, he's gorgeous), but not to the point where I'd really be willing to enter into a physical relationship with him. It's simply an entertaining thought, and one that will never be acted upon, despite his good looks (OK, there's a tiny bit of regret here, but only a tiny bit, honest). He has his problems, sometimes he doesn't think about things too clearly, he often doesn't listen carefully, and he truly needs someone always watching out for him. I'm very willing to do this as a friend, but I could never tolerate it in a boyfriend. If I ever decide to get another guy in my life, it will be someone who is stronger than I, someone I can't push around too much, someone who can support me when I need it. So far I don't feel the need for someone like that, so I'm staying single and happy. I get enough companionship from Hiyoshi, and maybe after he's gone back to Japan I'll want to find a guy, but.....I've been single for five years now, and I'm kinda used to it! And besides, Wu Bai is still married, so I guess I just have to keep waiting for him. Kidding, I'm kidding. I don't think I'd really like him. Most men are better as fantasy.....

Speaking of my best love, tomorrow I'm going to see Wu Bai & China Blue at a press conference, yeah! It's not a huge deal, doubt we'll get a chance to talk to any of them, but just getting to see Wu Bai makes my little heart happy. I've heard they're working on a new CD, which is fabulous news, and I hope there will be a few small shows in Taipei in the coming months. (3/20 - I went, took some photos, posted them here: http://www.pbase.com/500fan/taike).

Man, see what happens when I haven't written in awhile? Just comes bubbling out, can't stop it.

Wave of a wand....

Certain recent unhappy events have been removed my blog in the hopes that they will eventually be removed from my memory. Thanks to everyone who sent me an electronic pat on the back with a "there, there."

I actually have an interesting post to make, once I finally have enough time at home to do so. I hope I don't forget it all by then.

How I Spent My First Birthday in Taiwan

An Essay by 500Fan =)

Yay, today is my birthday! Thank you to the friends who sent me online greetings and to Natari and Charlene for spending the whole afternoon with me. And to Vivi, the only person to call me with birthday wishes today. Dad sent a card, though, which was great.

I met up with Nat and Charlene at 2:30 (they had to work until then), and then we went for lunch at the beef noodle souprestaurant that was voted the 2nd best in Taipei. It was wonderful - I love beef noodle soup. When the weather is cold, I can eat beef noodle soup every day. Of course Nat and Charlene treated me, which was even better!

We make the mistake of driving to Yang Ming Shan National Park to see the spring flowers. Mistake because it was nothing but a massive traffic jam, with it taking us 45 minutes to drive a very short distance, after which we simply gave up, because it was soon going to be dark, and even if we managed to get to the flowers, we wouldn't be able to see them. We just turned around and headed back to Neihu and the Carrefour there so I could pick up some cat food, big bottles of soda, and other rather heavy things that it would have been no fun to carry from the store home. Always take advantage of your friend's car whenever possible.


Got back to my place and unloaded the car, and Charlene and I went upstairs with the groceries. When Nat showed up, she had a wonderful birthday cake with her! It was delicious, too, not like some of the desserts here in Taiwan, which only look good, but taste bad. The three of us ate more than half the cake (hey, we didn't have dinner, you know?) and sat around talking for awhile. They left about an hour ago, and my stomach is groaning from all the food I packed into it.

Random Rambles

What does one write when the week has not held any outstanding events? Do my friends care about normal things? Who knows.....but write I shall.

First of all, I still haven't decided when to make the trip back to the US. I got all excited when I thought I found a super-dirt-cheap flight from Hong Kong in March, and then I realized the price was listed in Hong Kong dollars, not Taiwan dollars, which made it about the same price as the May/June flights I was checking. My balloon of happiness popped so fast that I dropped with a resounding thud to the ground, bruising myself quite badly. I'm now checking flights around June 8 to Jun 19, which are marginally cheaper than any other time, but still more money than I want to spend, given the fact that I am jobless and the money I have is ALL the money I have and must last goddess knows how long. Perhaps I should solicit for donations, ha.

Hm, what did I do this week? Well, I got a haircut on Wednesday, the second I've had since arrival. I went back to the woman who had done the highlighting last time, and although it was expensive (around $30 US), I did get it cut the way I wanted it and not how the stylist thought it should be. No need for a paper bag on my head this time. I don't think I'll have her wash my hair next time, since she charges $10 US for that (it is not included in cuts and other services here in Taiwan), and she doesn't even give the half-hour marvelous head massage I can get at other salons for about $3-5 US. Paying $10 for a Western-style wash that takes all of five minutes just doesn't cut it.

I've lost my Tuesday night student, which means I've lost $100 US per month income. Double crap. She's going to be living in China for four months, working with her boss there. I think when she returns she'll want to come back for class, but I need to look around for more students to make more money to be able to afford a trip back to the US! Also, the Thursday night gals aren't really reliable. They have to work overtime quite frequently, so that means the class is either short one person or gets canceled altogether. Again, no money. Hiyoshi's friend Sherrie has a friend with two small children, and the three of them together are interested in studying English, so I may give that a try. Gee, you all know how much I love children, right?

The funniest thing that happened to me this week is this: One day after class Hiyoshi, Mao Fu (another Japanese guy), and I were still in the classroom, talking about something or other, Hiyoshi standing across from me and Mao Fu between. All of a sudden, as he's talking, Hiyoshi unbuckles his jeans and unzips his pants and proceeds to tuck in his shirt, treating me to a nice shot of his colorful underwear. I was so shocked that I began to sputter, "What the hell are you doing? You can't just unzip your pants in front of a GIRL!" while at the same time laughing so hard I almost peed myself. He honestly didn't see anything weird about it and told me later "it's a common sight in Asia." Well, damn, it's the first time I've seen it, but I'm looking forward to the next experience. Mao Fu said it seemed as if I was incredibly happy :) Truly cute undies, sort of a tie-dye effect, requires closer inspection, I'd say.

Today is Guoxi's 30th birthday. I'm hoping this evening to have dinner with him and Tona and David from Singapore, but still haven't discussed it with the boy. Since he got back from New York on January 6, he's been busy recording the Mojo CD, and Friday he told me it was finally done. Now they just need to complete the mixing, and next month the CD will be released. There will be at least two performances in Taipei to attend, and then on April 2 Guoxi will head off to Australia for a year of pilot training. Dang, that makes me so sad. I know I'll hardly see him between now and then, and I miss hanging out with him.

I've started reading a book in Chinese, my first! It's very simple, a book for young people, called "Diane's Diary." I also bought a book of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales in Chinese, but it's a little more complicated, and I have to spend too much time looking up unfamiliar words. At least with "Diane's Diary" I know most of the words and can figure out the meaning first, then look up the words later. I'm looking forward to the day I can read easily in Chinese, because Chinese books are way cheaper than English ones here.

Ummm, I think that's it for this entry. Hope no one fell asleep while reading.

Where the Heck Did Last Week Go?

Holy moly, it went by so fast....I spent almost all of my free time trying to help a friend, translating an extremely complicated introduction to Taiwanese opera into English. Thank goodness I had the help of two other friends, Aaron and Caroline, or it never would have gotten done! You would not believe how "flowery" Chinese can be, yikes. I had to have my friend give me a translation into simple, easy Chinese before I could even begin to comprehend the sense of the thing!

And then there was Valentine's Day. I loathe VD (my little pet name for the occasion). This year I at least got some chocolate - one piece from the teacher and one piece from a British classmate. And I got to go to the movies with Hiyoshi and finally see the latest Harry Potter film (at the cheap, second run theater). I also got a gift - a nice little cold. Tuesday afternoon, while hanging out at the arctic-chilled Dante Coffee waiting for movie time, my nose was beginning the itchy-drippy stage. By the time the movie was over, I was definitely feeling bleah. Took some Theraflu that evening (thanks, Steve, I was happy you'd brought that for me), and then stayed home on Wednesday to sleep, sleep, sleep. Unfortunately, I slept so much that I was up at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday!

By yesterday the cold was just about gone, yay! Yesterday was Charlene's birthday, and it just so happened that Mojo was having a performance, so we (Natari, Charlene, Caroline, and I) met up for a dinner of Indian curry (passable, but the Japanese curry at Aubergine is better) and then headed over to queue in line for 40 minutes, in the misty rain, waiting to get into the pub. During the wait, my phone rang, and I saw it was Dino calling. Huh, strange, why is he calling me? "Hello? Dude, what's up?" "Hey, hi, I want to ask you something." "OK, shoot, what?" "What did you put in your garlic bread last weekend? Carrie really liked it and wants me to make some." What?! You're Italian and you don't know how to make garlic bread? Whoa.... So, I gave him the secret recipe. "Fresh garlic, lots of it, and real butter." "That's it?" "Yeah, that's it. Oh, and sprinkle a little Parmesan on top." "OK, thanks." Too funny, really.

We had to suffer through another band before getting to enjoy Mojo. They were rather crap, I'm sorry to say, nothing at all special about them. They have a weird name, Rock Ben. I think maybe it's supposed to sound like "rock band" but they weren't rock. Thankfully, their set was very short. The place was totally packed, all Mojo fans for the most part, and we were squeezed onto small, portable stools rather than in comfy chairs at tables, but it was OK. Mojo started up, and a few people who had been there just to see the other band got up and left, so Nat & Charlene snagged a table, while Caroline and I stayed put. Then some guys came along and sat right next to us, and the girls at the tables on the other side of us kept turning and looking. Finally I looked and realized it was the guys from Mayday, come to give Guoxi a little support. He'd gone on tour with them to Shanghai and Singapore, and I thought it was nice they came to see him. There was a lot of banter between Guoxi and them throughout the evening, very fun. I know these guys are a huge success all over Asia, but personally I didn't care all that much for their music, just thought it was average. Eh.

Guoxi was my ride home, and he ended up having to stay and have a band meeting, so Caroline and I sat around drinking beer, chatting, listening to AC/DC blaring over the speakers (love it, love it, love it), and watching first a bad Steven Segal movie on Cinemax, and then a bad Mr. Bean movie. It was after 2:00 a.m. before we could leave, and Caroline caught a taxi back to Banqiao, and Guoxi took me and two other gals home. Got to bed around 3:00 a.m., and this morning the brats upstairs started their running (apparently with 10 pound weights strapped to each leg) at around 9:00. I gave up at 10:45 and got out of bed. At which point they quit running. Figures. Damned kids.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for Aaron's sister to emerge from the front door. She's getting married today, and a caravan of cars has come to fetch her. Tradition says that her family can't go past the front door, can't say goodbye to her, and her new mother-in-law will be throwing a fan, which Aaron has to retrieve (he can go outside) and give to his mother. The cars are decorated with bows, and as it's raining, everyone is hidden under umbrellas (I'm watching out the window). They all sound very happy, chatting away while waiting for the bride. I'm sure there's an interesting ritual taking place upstairs at Aaron's home, because I saw gifts being brought in, and I sort of remember some of what happens because I saw the video of Chuck and Justina's fetch-the-bride doings. All very interesting and complicated, and there's sure to be a nice feast at the end of the day for all involved.

Oh, I called my dad yesterday, which only costs me around $5.00 US for a half hour. He told me that last time, when he called me to wish me Merry Christmas, he got charged $5.00 US per minute! Crap, that is totally uncalled for. I told him to go see if he could buy an international calling card for cheap.

It's possible some of you might be seeing me in May. Maybe. We'll see.

Guess Who's Coming for Dinner?

I meant to get this posted sooner, but between being busy and sick (I have an icky cold), I didn't get around to it.

Saturday night's spaghetti dinner was a big success, at least from my point of view. I'm hoping everyone enjoyed the food, although Mr. Too-Honest Hiyoshi told me my sauce didn't have a lot of flavor. Well, I think it might have been because he'd taken some allergy medicine so being around the cat wouldn't kill him, and likely he couldn't taste things very well. I think next time I cook for him, I won't ask him how it was! He did eat two pieces of garlic bread and two pieces of Kahlua cake, though.

The guests of honor were Dino, Drummer Extraordinaire, and his lovely girlfriend, Carrie. When I got here to Taiwan, I told him I'd cook spaghetti for him, and it's taken almost a year to actually manage to do that! It was a little strange cooking such a big meal in my little kitchen, and real Italian sausage is nowhere to be found in Taiwan (ah, perhaps that's why my sauce didn't suit Mr. Picky's taste), but I managed to turn out a huge pot of sauce with minimal effort on my part. Thanks to my buddies Cheryl and Steve, who obligingly carried hard-to-find items with them when they came to visit, I was also able to provide decent salad dressing and not the ubiquitous 1,000 Island crap that is all one can find here, unless one wishes to pay an exhorbitant amount of her rapidly dwindling cash at the "foreigner" supermarkets.

Also attending were Natari and Charlene, so in order to accommodate six people, I had to use the table in the office and two of the office chairs. I thought at first I could squeeze us all around my one small table, then I recalled just how big a guy Dino is.......nah, wouldn't work. It was nice to finally be able to use the pretty dishes I bought here, but I should have also gotten some placemats. Dang, some hostess I am, huh?

What's a dinner without some spirits? Natari had stashed a bottle of wine at my place last March, so she finally got to drink that, sharing it around with Dino, Carrie, and Hiyoshi. I was sticking to tequila, with a mixture of almost-margarita made with Cuervo Gold, Grand Marnier, lime, and orange juice. It was pretty tasty. Hiyoshi and Dino finally had some, but I drank most of the half bottle that was used that evening. Charlene behaved herself, sticking to soda for the duration of the dinner.

We had a great time chatting (well, OK, listening to Dino talk). The guy is funny, I tell ya, funny. He has some great stories to tell, had us laughing a lot. Here's how Wu Bai's band got its name (because you know, they were a band on their own before Wu Bai came along and hooked up with them): Dino and Xiao Zhu were sitting around talking. Dino was speaking probably a mixture of English and a little Chinese, and talking rather quickly, because that's his style. He was telling Xiao Zhu how he felt about Taipei, saying it was like a "jungle land." Xiao Zhu said, "Zhongguo lan?" (that's Chinese for "China blue"), and Dino said, "Yeah, a jungle land." "Zhongguo lan?" Dino repeats, "Yeah, jungle land." He sees Xiao Zhu is obviously puzzled, so he says, "Wait a minute, man, what are you saying?" Xiao Zhu explains to him that he thinks Dino's saying "China blue" in Chinese, and Dino slaps the table. "That's it, man! That's the name of our band! China Blue." So don't you believe any other stories, because this is how it happened.

Party broke up quite late, and since there was no bus back to Wan Li, Hiyoshi decided to go ahead and stay in the spare room, since he needed to be here on Sunday anyway to meet with Lisa in the afternoon. Poor baby, even with Benadryl to help he still was miserable because of his allergy to cats. At 5:00 a.m. the light in the dining room went on, waking me up because it shines right in my face, and there was Hiyoshi, at the table, working on the Chinese-to-Japanese translation he's doing for Lisa. He said he couldn't breathe while he was lying down. I gave him more Benadryl and locked DZ out on the balcony, where she stayed for the next 12 hours. Hiyoshi finally went back to sleep around 9:00 and slept until 11:00 or so. Probably be awhile before I talk him into coming back over to my house ;)

Long Time, No Blog

It's been mostly business as usual for me, wake up, go to school, fritter away the afternoon, teach English in the evenings. Ho hum, huh?

The highlights of this last week:

1) Exceedly happy to find out that my dear friend Hiyoshi is not returning to Japan on February 17 as originally planned, but will stay in Taiwan for at least another six months, providing he manages to earn enough money to pay his expenses. YAY! I was dreading the day of parting, knowing I'd be sobbing my heart out, which would likely make him very uncomfortable, being the proper Japanese that he is and not accustomed to a show of emotions :)

2) Last night was treated to another butt-kicking performance by A.B.S.! Wah, the guys have gotten even better than they were at their debut show. Dino's drumming is nothing less than awesome, Xiao Zhu's bass is the heartbeat of the music, and Da Mao's keyboarding sends thrills up and down the spine. The guitarist, Xiao Wang, can play blues riffs just as good as Stevie Ray. I was mostly shooting movies, and the only still shot that came out not blurry is this one, without Da Mao, who was off to the right (click for the larger version). Still, it's a darn fine photo of the greatest drummer on earth, flanked by the world's finest bassist and a super-talented guitarist (yeah, I'm still loyal to Wu Bai as the best guitarist, ha).

The Riverside Music Cafe was packed to the max with friends and admirers, and we had a lot of fun urging the guys to drink the often-provided shots. Since Sunday is Xiao Zhu's birthday, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and his adorable wife gave him a big kiss on stage, while Charlene, Natari, Xiao Niu, PJ, and Xiao Hu provided a birthday cake with a candle in the shape of a question mark. Considering the amount of alcohol those guys were sucking down, I'm hoping that they're all feeling fine today (and that they made it safely home!).

Today I'm cooking up a batch of spaghetti sauce and will have some friends over for dinner, the first one I've cooked since I've been here - almost a year! I'm hoping it all turns out good, since I wasn't able to find Italian sausage here, and the sauce is much better with it. At least I have the Ranch salad dressing from the US and don't have to use the ubiquitous 1000 Island dressing that seems to be all one can find at the stores here. I'm going to roast up some garlic, too, although that's a bit dangerous. There's nothing worse than roasted garlic farts the day after, peeeeeyoooouuuu!

Yikes, better get the butt in gear and clean my house. Signing off....

Dicing for Nuts

OK, I guess it's about time I wrote about my actual Chinese New Year day on Sunday. I'd received an SMS on my cell phone from Lisa, asking me if I wanted to come to her opera troupe's office and "have fun." Well, since I didn't have anything else to do, I said sure. We made plans to meet up at Da Ping Lin station, and of course I got there first, and she was late. I called Hiyoshi, who'd spent the night in Nan Shi Jiao, very close by, and he showed up at the station to meet me. He had a hard time finding me, because on Friday I'd colored my hair black cherry :) I'd realized that it was just way too expensive to keep paying $2500NT for highlighting on my budget, so I opted for the $300NT box of L'Oreal do-it-yourself color. It was actually kind of nice to go back to dark hair (but I'm a bit worried Wu Bai won't be able to spot me in the audience next time!).

Hiyoshi and I headed for Dante Coffee to wait for Lisa, and she finally showed up. Then she said we couldn't go to the opera troupe's office yet, that we'd go eat first. Then another gal, Vivian, showed up, and the four of us headed off in a taxi to the department store.

Chinese New Year to the Taiwanese is like Christmas to the western world, time to buy presents for the children. Hordes of people were at the department store, shopping, eating, talking. Little children were dressed adorably in traditional Chinese outfits, and the colors red and purple dominated the scene. There was barely an empty table at the food court, but after walking around a bit, we spotted one. I opted for a cheap meal of "e ah jian" which is sort of like an oyster/green veggie omelet with a sweetish red sauce. Lisa and Vivian shared a meal that had a whole squid, some rice, some bean sprouts, and some green beans served on a sizzling metal plate, with Hiyoshi helping a little (he'd already eaten before meeting up with us). After lunch we wandered the store for a bit, something I find very boring, since everything in the department stores is way too expensive, and even if it weren't, the clothes are all too small for my fat ass, so what's the point?

I talked the group into walking part of the way back to the opera troupe office, because my legs needed some quick walking, as slowly strolling always makes me feel very, very tired. However, after listening to these two young girls whining and complaining, and having the sky begin to spit a couple drops of rain, I relented and allowed them to hail another taxi. I swear, you'd think it was an act of torture to walk for thirty minutes around here!

Lisa's teacher and owner of the opera troupe is the famous Tang Mei Yun. This Taiwan opera troupe sometimes visits the US, so hopefully some of you might be able to experience Taiwan opera someday, as it's really a kick. There were posters up all over the office, and I took lots of photos, as well as one with the painting of Ms. Tang, who was not there that day. We sat around watching TV for awhile, eating snacks, then two other gals showed up, and eventually we started playing a very interesting dice game, using pistachios as money. The dice have numbers only on one side, with the rest blank, and you toss a handful into a bowl and hopefully get the right number to be able to grab "money" out of the pot (everyone antes up 5 pistachios at the start). If there are 20 in the pot, and you throw 12, good deal. If there are only 2 in the pot, and you throw 12, well, you have to put in 10. This goes on until someone throws the exact number of what's left, and then everyone else has to give that person that number of pistachios. Hiyoshi was amazingly lucky, raking in nuts like mad. The rest of us had to keep borrowing from the bank! Finally it was down to just two players, and the game just kept going on and on and on.

Someone ordered pizza, which at first made my tummy perk up, but after I realized it was Domino's, I lost interest. I tried one piece - like eating cardboard, but with less flavor. And the price! Holy cow, they charge almost $20 US for a large pizza (and it ain't all that large), and so what they give you a second large pizza "free"? There were six of us, and we only ate one pizza, it was so bad. Bleah.

Anyway, that's how I spent Chinese New Year day. Not very exciting, but with good friends, and that's what counts. I think I'm done socializing for the rest of my holiday. Lisa wanted me to go to Taoyuan with her after work today, but she won't be coming back until Sunday morning, and I can't leave DZ alone that long (plus I kinda like my own bed). Yesterday I cleaned out the big cupboard in the dining room and got stuff all arranged, finally unpacking the last two boxes that have been sitting in the spare room for almost a year! I really need to get some storage bins and a file cabinet so I can get the office cleaned up, so maybe I'll run over to Carrefour today and pick something up. I just hope that my landlady doesn't decide that she wants to sell this place when the rental contract expires in March! Sure would hate to have to move again and do this all over.

Mystery Guest

Yesterday Hiyoshi, Lisa, and I went to see Jet Li's new movie, "Fearless" - great flick! I was a little disappointed that there were no English subtitles, because I just can't read Chinese fast enough to catch the Chinese subs, and I could only get part of it by listening. I'll for sure be buying the DVD of this one, should they release it with English subs. It was great to see one of my favorite Asian stars back in his own element instead of churning out crappy Hollywood films. I know Jet said this was his last martial arts movie, but I'm hoping that he changes his mind, because he's just so damned good.

After the movie the three of us wandered around Ximen Ding, where we bought blue hair dye in spray form for Hiyoshi. He'd been blathering on about wanting blue hair, but he was too chicken to buy permanent dye, so we talked him into the spray can stuff ;) And dang, you know the boy looks pretty good with blue hair! I'll keep working on him to see if I can get him to make the plunge to real dye, because I think it will look mahvelous.

So, we're sitting in a shop eating some dessert when my phone rings, displaying a number I didn't recognize, a local home telephone. I answered, and a woman began talking to me in Chinese. I assumed it was Jill, calling me back (I'd missed her call while in the movie and had left a voice mail on her cell phone). As we chatted the usual "what are you doing, do you have plans for this evening, how about tomorrow?" I kept thinking, "This doesn't sound like Jill....is it Mabel talking a little strangely?" Then she asked me where I lived. Well, my friends know where I live, so I was a little confused. "Uh, you know where I live." "You don't know who this is, do you?" "Well....I thought it was Jill - or Mabel." "Wah! How soon you forget me!" At this point I'm completely stunned - "JUSTINA??? What, you're in TAIWAN???" Sure enough, it was her, calling from her grandmother's house in Taipei. What a total shock, because the little stinker didn't tell me she was coming, not even a hint. We made plans to meet up at 6:00, which meant I had to call Aaron and tell him I wouldn't be joining him and his family for dinner (made me feel rotten, but hey, my friend from the US was here, how could I not visit with her?), and for the next hour and a half I drove Hiyoshi and Lisa nuts by singing, "Justina's here, Justina's here!" as we walked along.

The second surprise came when we showed up at the MRT station to meet Justina and I saw that her hubby, Chuck, was also there. She hadn't told me he'd come, too, and they frequently go visiting family solo. Wah, such a great Chinese New Year present for me! We picked up some beef noodle soup and some xiao long bao, along with some Taiwan beer, and went to my place to eat, chat, and watch part of the latest Wu Bai DVD. They're leaving today, so three hours last night was all I got, but it was so nice to see them again. I made Justina swear that next time she'd give me advance notice so I could give her a shopping list, ha.

Today is another day of out of the house early and hanging out with Hiyoshi, Lisa, and some other friends. I'll be back to write about the gambling with pistachios another time - stay tuned.

新年快樂﹗ 恭喜發財﹗

Welcome The Year of the Dog! Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year celebration, which will continue for 15 days. Here in Taiwan this means that the city of Taipei has emptied out as families disperse to the central and southern portions of the island, the banks and post offices are closed (how weird is that, huh?), many businesses are shut down for the duration, and fireworks are exploding all over the place.

Last night I had the honor of joining Natari and her family for their traditional 年夜飯 - New Year's Eve family dinner. Present were Natari, her mom, her two brothers, their wives, and their four children (two boys, two girls). Nat's mom had prepared quite a feast, I'm sure with help from her daughters-in-law (as I understand it, Nat does not cook). For this traditional feast certain items are required, including a whole chicken (and I do mean whole) and a whole fish (I think it was a piranha, look at those teeth!) - click the photos for the larger versions. At this meal the diners are allowed to eat only the meat on the top of the chicken and the fish, no turning it over allowed. The remaining portion is kept for the next day, when the family eats all the leftovers (unless they go to Japan, like Nat's family did!). All the food was tasty, and I really don't know what some of it is called. OK, well, I wasn't too fond of the dried fish roe, that was too fishy tasting for me. But there was a dish of small pork ribs, some veggies, some soup made with dried scallops and abalone, and a dish that is called 佛跳上 "Buddha Jumped Up" - so tasty that even Buddha jumped up to get it. We had some marvelous wine, a red that Nat had carried back from France two years ago and a nice white. Everyone toasted each other and spirits were merry.

At Chinese New Year, the children are giving red envelopes filled with cash, and Nat's mom handed out these gifts to each of her grandchildren, as well as her children. When she presented me with my own envelope, I began to cry. It was such a sweet gesture, to include me as a family member, and it meant so much to me. 聖誕節我爸爸不但沒送我禮物也沒寄卡片。我的心非常難過。 所以娜姐媽媽當我媽媽讓我覺得很開心。

So, I have a week off school, and hopefully I won't just be stuck at home with nothing to do. Jet Li's new movie is playing, and I'll go see that for sure, and I'll probably head to Wu Lai with friends one day. And......I'll answer all the e-mail I need to answer! I will, I will, I will......

Microsoft does China's dirty work

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/01/21/2003290088

Why am I awake?

Too tired to write much.....

Steve's visit was loads of fun, but I also wore myself out with all the walking and hiking! This old gal just ain't what she used to be ;) But I was a good tour guide, and Steve left here knowing exactly why I moved to Taiwan. I hope his rave reviews will encourage more of my City friends to consider a vacation on Treasure Island.

Last night a few of us crashed a Chinese New Year party thrown by a local computer company for its employees. Why? Because Wu Bai & China Blue were performing! We have a "mole" who gets good inside info, and we boarded the bus to Linkou, without dinner or anything, to wait for two hours to see our guys. We sat way in the back when we arrived (it was outside but under a roof), and as soon as Wu Bai & China Blue hit the stage, we made our way to the front. It seemed that Wu Bai's face lit up when he saw us in the crowd of employees, and I think I saw Xiao Zhu smiling our way, too. I couldn't really see Dino and Da Mao from where I was standing, so I'm not sure they saw us. Even though it was a short set, it was worth the trip.

So, got home late, stayed up until 1:30 a.m. reading and having something to eat because I was starving. Wanted to sleep in today, but the folks upstairs are remodeling or something, and they started in banging and sawing at 9:00 a.m. I soooo hate that family.

Four days of school next week, then January 27 through February 5 is Chinese New Year vacation! It will be nice to have some time to lounge around, reading and watching the first season of Lost, which I bought myself with the eBay gift certificate Trish gave me almost a year ago when I left my job! Steve brought that with him when he came (most places just don't ship to Taiwan, which makes it tough to shop on eBay).

That's all I have to say now, sorry!

New Job: Tour Guide

Hallo folks,

This week I'm not home much. Steve is here visiting from Chico, so I'm spending my time showing him around Taipei, mostly getting back to the apartment pretty late in the evening. It's been fun.

Yesterday we'd wandered all over the place, and before we left Taipei Main Station to begin the rounds, I'd stuffed my school books and other unneeded items in a locker there. We eventually ended up at Yuanshan Station to see Bao An Gong temple and the Confucious Temple, and that's on my way home, four stations away from Taipei Main. Since I had a student last night, I decided not to go back to Taipei Main, because I knew I wouldn't be using my books and could just pick them up on the way to school. I had laundry to do, and I knew I'd get home in time to get that started before Funck showed up for class.

So, I walk up to my door at 7:10 p.m., looking for my keys, which I keep tied around the strap of my purse. I notice they aren't there, and I have a clear vision of myself standing in front of the locker saying, "Well, I don't need my keys right now, so here's some extra weight that can go in the locker." Crap on a rope. I'm locked out. And my keys are a 7 minute walk, 5 minute wait, 30 minute ride away.

Back I went, after calling Funck to tell him I might be a few minutes late for our 8:30 appointment. The only good thing was that I was able to score seats on the MRT both going and returning, for which blessing my knees sang constant praise to She Who Rocks and Rules.

Taking Steve out for hot pot tonight, hoping it's a fun and interesting experience for him.

And some people wonder why I don't like Microsoft

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/01/07/2003287826

Huh, glad my journal isn't posted in their territory.

Climb Every Mountain

Yesterday's weather was simply gorgeous, around 75 degrees, sunny, hardly any wind, wow. And today it's freezing cold, go figure. Anyway, Hiyoshi and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and make a trip to Yang Ming Shan Mountain (http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/HTML/ENGNEW/INDEX.HTM). We hopped on a bus and off we went.

The bus stopped down the road from the tourist center, so we made a little hike up a trail (OK, a steep hike up a trail) to the center, where we picked up a map and got directions from an employee on how to get to the waterfall. I almost died when I saw the path upward. It was a series of stone stairs, and it went up and up and up and up......OMG. The bad thing was that both of us were lugging around our schoolbooks! Every day I carry two dictionaries plus my textbook, plus miscellaneous other crap girls must have in their purses. I think after 10 minutes of hiking up I was ready to go back down, but we kept on. Actually, I was hiking much more quickly than Hiyoshi, because I was walking alongside the steps rather than stepping up onto each one. Thankfully there were many places to stop and sit and catch our breath. I know we climbed from 552 meters to at least 800 meters, but I'm not sure what the final height was, I just know it was higher!

Finally we reached the turnoff to head toward the waterfall. Good thing, because the other direction was up, and our direction was down. Bad thing, going down made my poor knees hurt worse than going up. Down, down, down, with a little up here and there, and finally we were at another tourist center. By this time we'd been hiking for over two hours. Hit the bathroom at the center and continued on our way, down a relatively flat pathway. Not for long, soon we were back at the steep stairway going up. WAH! Hiyoshi was nice enough to carry my bag for part of the way, and that really helped. My knees were screaming at me with every step, especially the one I injured in March. But we finally made it to the waterfall. I was too tired to really appreciate it, and it was rather small and unspectacular anyway. We sat and rested a few minutes, then realized it was going to be dark soon and that we had at least another kilometer or so to go before we got out of the park. No way would we be able to see to walk if it got dark, and no way did we want to spend a cold night on the mountain, so we hustled off down a nice, level road.

Got to the bus stop just as a small shuttle bus came, but since I needed to go to the bathroom, we decided to go into a restaurant and eat dinner before leaving. I called my student and told him no way could I handle teaching after four hours of hiking, and Hiyoshi and I sat there burned out, eating the hottest kung pao chicken I've ever had in my life, along with some sort of green leaf veggie and rice. Damn, it tasted soooo good! It could have tasted like dirt and it would have tasted good after all that exercise.

Got home around 7:30 p.m., read for awhile, played with the cat, hit the sack at 9:30 and slept like the dead.

Gee, next week I'll have to do it all over again when Steve is here :)

Day 2 of the New Year

I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. last night, after being awake for only 8 hours. It was all I could handle! Getting 11 hours of sleep felt pretty good :) Tonight I'd like to hit the sack by 10:00 if the kids upstairs will allow it.

Forgot a couple of things about New Year's Eve. One of the bands we saw at Miramar consisted of four guys who were prettier than most of the girls I see. I swear, I could not believe they were guys until they started to sing. The one right in front of me was so beautiful, long hair tinted a brownish-red with the top portion tied back in a ponytail, full red lips (yes, they were all wearing makeup), sultry eyes - I think some of the guys in the audience were drooling until they realized it wasn't a woman! I tell you, it just isn't fair for men to be prettier than me, I hate it. They weren't a very good band, though, so I didn't bother to find out who they were.

Second thing is that while we were walking back to the car after XL's second performance, we stopped outside a 7-11 to wait for William to get the car and come back for us. While there, outside in front of tons of people, Lisa, Xiao Sui, and Charlene proceeded to teach Hiyoshi how to say, "I want to sleep with you." in Taiwanese. Never mind keeping your voice down, oh no. I was cracking up so bad, because he had to keep practicing it. Why did they teach him this? Because in one of XL's songs, the singer says that, and Hiyoshi didn't know what it meant, so of course the girls had to explain it to him. Later, in the car, I got Lisa recorded saying it and then Hiyoshi. Then I threatened to use those recordings as the ring tones on my phone when they call me. I'm so evil.

This morning Guoxi's mom called me and invited me for lunch, since Guoxi's grandmother is here visiting and she makes the best 涼麵 (liang mian) I've ever had. Hiyoshi and I headed over there after class and got stuffed to the max on liang mian (cold noodles with lots of garlic, sesame paste, and cucumbers), 大餅 da bing (giant fried sorta pancakes/sorta tortillas), tian jiu (甜酒) rice pudding (a special kind of rice soaked in sweet wine), soup (made with the ubiquitous corn), and some other dish that was absolutely great, but I'm not sure what it was (but it had chicken and that special rice). While we were there Guoxi called from New York, because he knew I'd be there. What a sweetie!

I'm still a little burnt out from the weekend celebrations, and I have to do homework. I also have to answer a lot of e-mail, but I'm not really sure I can manage that. 誰會給我加油?

New Year's Half Day

Urgh.....I got home around 5:30 a.m. Slept until almost noon, not enough. Now 2:18 p.m., first day of 2006 half over, me half awake.

First of all let me say that this New Year's Eve was a unique one for me, and not just because I spent it in Taiwan. No, what made it unique is that I didn't have one single drop of alcohol. No beer. No wine. No tequila. And no champagne. Wow. I don't think I've passed a New Year's Eve in my adulthood that didn't include excessive drinking. Wow.

I left my house at 9:00 a.m. yesterday, headed into Taipei to meet Lisa. We first went for breakfast at a little place she recommended (I had 大腸棉線, which is a bowl of thin noodles with oysters and pieces of.....intestines. I love it.), and then we made a mad dash through the jade market. Since Lisa had arrived late, and since we stopped for breakfast, we didn't have as much time to shop as I'd hoped. Rats!

We met Hiyoshi at noon and then headed off for our movie. The tickets for the showing we wanted were sold out, so we bought ones for the later show, which meant we had time to kill. So, we wandered around the mall and then went to Starbucks for some overpriced coffee. Hiyoshi and I went to see The Promise, and Lisa and her boyfriend, William, went to see King Kong. The Promise was OK, but wasn't the great epic I'd hoped for. Still, Nic Tse and Jang Dong-Gun were looking mighty fine, so it was cool.

We thought the XL performance was going to begin at 7:00 at Miramar, so we decided we'd better head over to that part of town right away, in case there were traffic jams. Stopped on the way to buy some deep-fried sweet potato balls, some fried octopus tentacle, and some fish balls to munch on in the car. Yummy! Once we got to Miramar we had to park quite a distance away and walk, and there we discovered that XL wouldn't be starting until 9:20. Again, time to kill. We ran into Xiao Sui, who had come up from Taichung to see the show, so the five of us decided to ride the big ferris wheel. Didn't matter we'd have to stand in line for a hour, since we had nothing else to do!

This ferris wheel is probably the most boring one in the world. It just inches its way around, taking about 17 minutes to make the full loop. And Lisa kept her eyes closed most of the time, and hung onto the door as if she was going to fall out! I told them if they rode a ferris wheel at a carnival in the US, with no cage to sit in, just and open swing, they'd have something to be worried about.

We got off the ride just in time to arrive at the stage for XL. As usual, they put on a great show, and we were close enough to the front to get some good video shots. The only other band we were interested in was Mojo, but they weren't going to begin until 11:30. Since we didn't want to relinquish our places at the front, we stayed for the other performances, suffering through many appearances of two incredibly annoying women who talked without stopping for a breath and tossed silly gifts into the crowd, causing everyone to push and shove trying to catch these things. I'm sure the men in the crowd appreciated the shortness of the white skirt....

So, finally, Mojo hit the stage! Guoxi was full of energy, despite having completed a prior performance. He left at 8:30 this morning for his flight to New York, and I'm sure he was so exhausted that he's fast asleep right now. But he and the rest of the band, Mo the bass player and Robert the drummer, put everything they had into the show. At 11:50 they stopped so we could do the countdown and watch the fireworks, then they started up again, even giving us an encore.

OK, so now it's after 1:00 a.m., and we're all tired from standing so long. Trip to the bathroom before heading off for the next venue - another XL performance! This time it was near Taipei 101, slated to begin at 2:40 a.m. We began the long walk back to the car, and William forgot where he parked. He had a few moments of panic when his car was nowhere to be found, as he'd put his laptop in the trunk (worth more than the car!). But, we found it, after he listened to us when we said he was on the wrong street :) Traffic was bad getting to Taipei 101, and we again had to park far away and walk - half dead by this time. Got there just in time for the show, one hour of kickass music. Sad, though, because this is one of the last times we'll be able to see the band, since the drummer has to go for his mandatory military duty this year, and the other guys will also have to go soon. I was coerced by Xiao Sui into having my photo taken with the band after the show, despite my protests that I was only interested in pictures of them, not me. They remembered me from our chats at the Indie festival (not hard, since I'm probably the only American fan they have).

We hung around that area until after 4:00 a.m. There were still huge crowds of people around, including small children. Taiwan folks really know how to ring in the new year! We dropped Xiao Sui at the MRT station, and then William and Lisa took Hiyoshi and me to Taipei Main Station. Hiyoshi said he wanted to wait for the first bus to Wan Li so he'd get home in time to sleep, and I was very happy the MRT was running 24 hours so I could get home. It was 5:33 a.m. when the train hit my station, and I think I fell into bed at 6:00. Although I wanted more sleep, I got up close to noon, because I knew if I didn't, I won't sleep tonight - and I have school tomorrow!

新年快樂﹗ Happy New Year!

Today is the last day of 2005, or the last day of 94, since I'm in Taiwan and their calendar year is different. I have a fun day lined up, meeting Lisa at 10:00 to go to the jade market to (hopefully) finish my Christmas shopping (what, me, late?), then meeting up with Hiyoshi at noon for lunch, then we're all going to see 無極 - The Promise. After the movie we'll be going to 美麗華 Miramar Entertainment Center (it's just a big mall with a ferris wheel) because two of my favorite bands, XL and Mojo, will be performing, along with some other bands. It will likely be crammed with people and absolutely nuts, but what the heck.

So, I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all what it was like to 跨年 in Taiwan - to go across or straddle the year.

Christmas is half over

and I just woke up....

Went to Betty's party last night, what a blast. Upon arrival I was urged to don a Santa hat blazoned with "Heineken" across the front, probably scored from Hooter's, where Natari works. Since Charlene and I had arrived late, almost everyone else was already there: Xiao Niu, Xiao Sui, Natari, Betty, and her new hubby. Xiao Yu showed up a little bit later, since she had to come all the way from Keelung. We headed into the dining room, where the hot pot was waiting for us, smelling so delicious.

What more can one ask for in a party than to have a Wu Bai concert DVD playing while one is stuffing oneself with various seafood, vegetables, and sliced meat cooked up in a pot of boiling liquid while energetically chatting in Chinese (or in my case, listening and drinking beer) and taking photos? Getting together with Wu Bai fans is always such a pleasure - but I think Betty's new husband was a little overwhelmed at having a houseful of crazy women all talking at once!

After dinner we headed into the living room to watch the DVD while we opened our presents. I scored a nice knit hat and scarf from Xiao Yu, so now I have four scarves to keep me warm during the short winter season here. Had I known in advance that I'd be getting some as gifts, I wouldn't have bought the one for myself!

While I was waiting for Charlene to show up at the MRT station so we could go to Betty's together, I'd called Hiyoshi to see if he'd been OK during the day, since he'd had a bit of whiskey the night before. I discovered that he hadn't even been home yet, but was still with Lisa, William, Vivi, and Marx! They were heading into a movie and asked me if I wanted to go with them after to take Hiyoshi back to Wan Li. Since I'd never seen his place, I said sure, and they picked me up at 11:00. First we headed to the new Eslite Bookstore that just opened up near Taipei 101, touted as the largest bookstore in Asia. I was excited until I saw that 98% of the books were in Chinese, with just a tiny little section of English ones. Boo hoo! I guess I'm stuck with shopping at Page One, the outrageously expensive store. We wandered around there for a long time, and spent another long time waiting outside for William and Marx, who were lost in the computer books section. The weather was so nice, not cold at all, so it was nice to be outside instead of crammed in with all those people. It was around 12:45 a.m. when we finally headed out of Taipei to Wan Li.

I'm amazed that Hiyoshi travels this route every day to school. He has to take a bus, and during the day when there's so much traffic it takes a little over an hour to get to Taipei. It only took about 30 minutes in the car at 1:00 a.m., though. When we arrived in Wan Li, Hiyoshi pointed out where the bus drops him off, and then we proceeded to drive up a steep, winding road that climbs the mountain - and he has to walk that up and down every day! William kept saying, "Wow, Hiyoshi, you're my hero! You do this every day? Wow!"

Hiyoshi's place is an older building, which has been springing a lot of leaks lately, and is also quite cold in the winter, since it's right by the ocean and the weather is usually very windy and rainy. Poor guy has pans set all over to catch the drips, and the ceiling is looking pretty bad in places. But, it's actually a fairly large apartment, and it was surprisingly clean for a bachelor's place, especially one who didn't expect he'd have company! He showed us around and then took us up to the next floor, which is where his church is. Hiyoshi's faith is a Japanese religion called Tenrikyo (see Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenrikyo), and their worship services employ music and dancing. He showed us the many instruments they use and even played a little bit on the flute for us (as did William, who is very talented). It was very interesting to listen to Hiyoshi talk about their method of "bai bai" or worship.

Well, by this time it was after 3:00 a.m., and we were all pretty trashed - and Lisa's father called her to ask where the hell she was. We said our goodbyes and wished Hiyoshi a Merry Christmas and headed back to Taipei. William had to drive me all the way up to Zhuwei and then turn around and go all the way back to Nanshijiao, a considerable distance! It was about 4:30 a.m. when I finally got into bed, and I slept until almost 1:00 p.m. today.

So, now it's almost 2:00, and Christmas is half gone, and I haven't done a darned thing! My plans for heading into Taipei to shop have changed, since I'm feeling extremely lazy and don't even want to get dressed. Maybe after more coffee I'll feel differently ;)

Merry Christmas!

Wow, tomorrow is Christmas, and although there are Christmas decorations all over town, and every store and coffee shop is playing Christmas carols, it still doesn't quite feel like the season. I have a tiny little tree that my English students gave me, and last night we had a party (yes, I have a tiny hangover today to match my tiny tree), but it still doesn't seem that tomorrow is actually Christmas. Dunno why.... I'm thinking about all of you and missing you, and I'm hoping you have a very merry, very wonderful Christmas. Some of you will recognize the movie this greeting is from and will laugh your butts off (many thanks to Brandi for the link): http://www.starz.com/features/christmasstory

I still haven't managed to get all my Christmas shopping done, but that's been my pattern for years, as most of you know. I tend to support the "Christmas in January" idea, which in the US is good, since everything goes on sale after Christmas. Things aren't quite as commercialized here, with the media push to get people to spend enormous amounts of money on gifts for people, but most of the stores have had sales going on. It would be a great time to buy clothes, if any of the clothes here actually fit my fat ass. Anyway, some of you can expect a package from Taiwan in the (hopefully) near future. And much love and thanks to all of you who have thought of me this year and sent me gifts to brighten my smile :) :) :)

Yesterday was an important day, as it was the day that the new Wu Bai concert DVD was released. Yeah! I picked my order up from Charlene at lunch time, and as soon as I got home, that DVD was in the player and I was plunked down on the sofa watching and reliving the joy of the June concert. I only saw myself once, a shot from the back (not exactly my best side) right after "Long Way Fall." I saw Guoxi a couple of times, as he was working the stage for that concert. I'd forgotten that at that time he had no hair! Watching Wu Bai perform always manages to get drool rolling down my chin, and by the time Hiyoshi showed up I was slavering like a mad dog, but I think he managed some drool of his own when he saw the number Wu Bai performed with that woman who managed (somehow) to get the label, "Most Beautiful Woman in Taiwan." I still don't understand that one, since I don't think she's nearly as attractive as many of the girls I see walking down the street. Maybe the skimpy white dress gets the guys looking away from her face and they don't realize she ain't all that and a bag of chips. Those of you who are waiting for your DVD will be very happy with it, I think. Oh man, I love that silky blue shirt, open halfway down his chest, yikes. I'm quite sure that I'd be unable to keep my hands off if I ever had the opportunity to stand close to Wu Bai while he was dressed in that shirt.

Tonight there's a party at Betty's, all Wu Bai fans, and that should be fun. I'm meeting up with Charlene at 5:30 to head over there together. Betty and her new hubby have a very nice, very large apartment, and I know she's excited to be a new bride and entertaining her friends at her place. Knowing how much Betty likes to eat, I'm expecting we'll have some tasty food tonight, and we're doing a little gift exchange, too.

I had a brief discussion with my friend Cheryl in Hong Kong about the possibility of a trip back to the US in July, renting a car in San Francisco, hitting Chico and Auburn for a couple of days, then driving to Oregon to see her grandmother and go to the Portland beer festival. If we can work it out, and if air fare isn't too high, I may be coming for a visit then. I have a week off at the end of January, but I want to stay over here for Chinese New Year! Hiyoshi and I might go to Hong Kong that week to visit Terry and Cheryl, though. Hiyoshi has never been there, and he has to go back to Japan in mid February, so this would be our last chance.

Chinese class is great (I'm even writing short stories in Chinese now as homework, and not doing too badly at it!), my friends here are wonderful, the dorks upstairs aren't overly annoying these days, and I'm extremely happy with my life. I'm looking forward to Steve's visit next month, hoping the weather will be nice for him and be too rainy. It's cold now, but it hasn't rained much, so I hope it stays that way.

So, again, Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be back next week with a Happy New Year wish ;)

Indie Music - Day Two

Argh, major disappointment! Friday night Dino told us that ABS would perform on Saturday at the Indie festival, but sadly, it didn't happen. We did see him and talk to him, but he said Xiao Zhu had said there just wasn't any way for it to happen. Dang it!

However, I did enjoy myself, because I got to see Monkey Insane, even though the performance was far too short for my liking. And afterwards I managed , with help from Xiao Sui, to track down the guys from XL and get them to sign my CD, and then all the guys from Monkey Insane, too. I told them all I was the official English teacher for the Taiwan music industry and that they could give me a call if they wanted to improve their English :) One of the guitarists for Monkey Insane, Joe, said he also wants to be an airline pilot like Guoxi, so he's working on his English. But, before he goes for the test, he has to complete his mandatory 18 months of military service.

Which brings me to sad news (for me, at least). Next year XL will be breaking up, because at least one of the guys has to do his service. This penchant for making war is sure hell on the music industry! And it breaks my heart to think of those cute little mop tops turning into buzz cuts, wah!

Tonight Mojo will be performing, so we'll all be going back to cheer Guoxi, Mo, and Robert on. Last night was freaking cold, so I'm going to Watsons to buy some of those hand warmers before this evenings jaunt!

Busy days

Just a short update for now, since I have a ton of stuff to do today.

First of all, Doris is here! She arrived Thursday evening, but I didn't get to see her until yesterday, when she and Nat and I took a road trip to Xinzhu to pick strawberries. It was lots of fun, and the weather was just gorgeous, sunny and warmer than it's been. The wind was a bit annoying, though, making it difficult to see the darned strawberries! After we spent time picking, we went for a nice lunch, traditional Hakka-style food, and on the way back to Taipei decided to stop off in Ying Ge for awhile. We couldn't stay long, because we had to get back for the Indie Music Festival.

Dropped Doris off so she could shop, and Nat and I headed for the show, to meet up with Xiao Sui and Xiao Hu. The only band we were interested in seeing was XL, and while we waited for them to start, we chatted a bit with Dino, who was looking like a lumberjack in his plaid jacket. Got a lovely nice big Dino bear hug from him, and a little later I exchanged a few words with Xiao Zhu, who was wandering around taking photos. He's one of the organizers of the Indie Music events, so I didn't want to bug him to much, just told him we were having a good time. We'll be going back tonight to see Monkey Insane and a special performace we're all looking forward to (shhhh, it's a secret for now).

I'll try to write more either later today or tomorrow, but I need to get the place clean before Doris comes, or I'll be horribly ashamed when she sees what a mess it is.

Snufflupagus

That's how I'm feeling today, because I've caught my first cold in Taiwan. Not bad, nine months without picking up any of the germs from people around me. My throat is scratchy and my nose is drippy, but I don't feel too awful, thank goodness. It's the weekend, so I can stay home and rest, and maybe actually get my Christmas cards handled!

You know what? Taiwan is gosh-darned cold in the winter! I honestly didn't think it would get this chilly, and I didn't bring any heavy jackets with me. Luckily Guoxi had an extra warm coat to loan me, or I'd be freezing my heiny off. That wind is just no fun. The thermometer may read 50 degrees, but the reality of it is more like 40! But, it's still not as cold as northern California winters, so I can't complain!

And Taiwan homes also have no heating system. All this tile is mighty icy on the feet, even when wearing slippers. I bought myself a little portable heater, and it seems to do the trick, keeping me toasty when I'm reading or online or taking a shower. My apartment is better than many, having no chinks to allow the wind to get in. When I'm in bed at night, I'm comfy and warm, and all I'm using is a light quilt from IKEA.

I picked up another new student this week, again one of Guoxi's friends. This one is a song writer for Sony Music, a nice fella with the odd choice of Funck as his English name. He's written songs for Wang Lee Hom, S.H.E., Elva Hsiao, Wang Jie, Power Train, Sly (Shen Xiang Long), B.A.D., Lin You Wei, and Wan Fang (that's the girls who did Express Love Letter with Wu Bai). His "real" job is composing ring tones for cell phones! Who would have thought one could get a job doing that.... His English is very good, but he wants to increase his vocabulary and have more practice listening and talking, so we'll be meeting on Wednesday evenings for an hour. So that's Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays that I'm teaching. Keeps me from being bored!

Guoxi will be going for his big interview on Tuesday, the one that will decide if he gets hired by China Airlines and becomes a pilot. He's been practicing so much, and Wednesday evening we went to the radio station to meet up with two more of his friends, DJs Elsa and Christina. Both of them speak excellent English, so the three of us pretended to be interviewers and cross examined Guoxi in both English and Chinese. We're doing it all again tomorrow evening. I think the poor guy is going to be exhausted. He never slept Wednesday evening, because at 4:00 a.m. that Thursday morning he and Mayday left for Singapore for the concert. I know he probably had to spend hours practicing, as well as some time running around with Lee Ying and Tona, searching out good places to eat. Doubtful he got much sleep last night after the show, and they're flying back today. Knowing Guoxi, he'll spend all day tomorrow practicing for his interview instead of catching up on sleep! (HE GOT THE JOB! I'm so proud of him, he passed the interview with flying colors, and next year he'll be heading off to Australia for training. I'll miss him, but I'm so happy to have been able to help him make his dream come true.)

This morning my dear friend Lisa will be calling me from the US. It's been so long since we chatted - e-mail just isn't the same. I'm looking forward to hearing her voice. Finally gave my dad a call yesterday, too (the man still does not have a computer, can you believe that?). I need to call my US friends more often, but I either have to call between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. California time on weekdays, or after 8:00 p.m. on weekends. That doesn't make it easy!

Next week will be busy with school, teaching, and then on Friday Doris from Hong Kong will be arriving for a short visit with her Taiwan friends. This weekend is also the big Indie Music Festival, with Mojo, Monkey Insane, and XL performing, along with tons of other bands I'm not yet familiar with. We have plans to go for all three evenings, so it should be fun. Xiao Zhu, Wu Bai's bassist, is heavily involved in Taiwan's indie music scene, so he'll probably be floating around, and likely Da Mao will show up, too. Dino? Who knows - maybe!

Anyway, that's all for this week, unless something else pops into my head later.

Too Close for Comfort

Earthquake report :) Fifteen minutes ago we had a little one, magnitude 4.0, only 4.5 miles ESE of Taipei City, and only 5.65 miles deep. That's a bit closer than they usually come to where I live! Didn't do much at my place, just jiggled the couch a little. I prefer them when their quite a bit farther out to sea.....

Branded - 從此我是伍佰的奴隸

Just returned from the big tattoo show at Jing Hua Cheng (The Living Mall), and I did it! I finally got brave enough to get the tattoo on my ankle that I've been considering for about two years. (Uh, that's "Wu Bai" for those of you who don't read Chinese).



Although it wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared, it did hurt like a sonofabitch, and I was glad I was only getting about 15 minutes worth of work done. If you'd like to see this guy's work, go to http://www.pbase.com/bonfas/shefu He's extremely talented. I was a little startled when he put his left hand on my ankle to steady it while he drew the design, because he's missing all the fingers on that hand, looks as if he was in an accident. But his right hand was fine, and I was very comfortable with him.

I will someday go back and get "and China Blue" added (or maybe just "& CB"!), but that will take more courage, as well as more money. I got a good deal today, around $30 US. At the studio it would have cost twice that, but they were giving deals at the show.

My Christmas Wish List (now completely outdated)

For people who want to mail things to me, take note. You are not allowed to mail sweeteners of any kind to Taiwan - no sugar, molasses, saccharine, and other sweetening substances (so I guess that includes honey, Splenda, Monin, and maple syrup as well - but Carol managed to get honey to me, so who knows...). Boy, now that's a weird restriction for ya. Here's a link to the US Post Office list of restrictions, along with a chart for postage fees: http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immicl/immicltz_001.html

A few people have already asked me what I want for Christmas (or Giftmas, as Nicole so aptly calls it), and while I don't feel that anyone is obligated to give me anything, I know many people enjoy giving presents (thank goodness, huh?), so I'm obliging folks by laying out my heart's desires.

First and foremost on my list of "what do I want for Christmas" is online gift certificates for Amazon.com. (Alice, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!) I just seem to be spending so much money on books here! Sure, I could ask folks to buy books for me, but then you'd have all the trouble of going shopping, then wrapping the book for shipping, then standing in those monstrous lines at the PO.....so forget it! Online shopping, yeah!

Now, in January a former co-worker will be coming to Taiwan for a visit, and he has graciously agreed to bring one whole duffel bag filled with goodies for me. So, if you're a Chico friend and you have the urge to send me something from home via Steve, here's my list of things I would love to have (in no particular order):

Some Smokin' Mo's Sweet Carolina BBQ sauce
A bunch of packets of Taco Bell hot sauce, the hottest kind
A few packages of Lawry's Taco Seasoning, spicy
A plastic squeeze bottle of honey (Carol, thanks, it's great to have!)
A loaf of Dakota bread from Great Harvest, or Jalapeno-Cheese bread (from anywhere!)
Shubert's malted milk balls, not the kind with candy shell, just chocolate on the outside
Shubert's chocolate cordials (rum flavor, brandy flavor, amaretto flavor, any flavor!)
Rum extract - Note: found lemon and almond here, still could use rum Giant bag of California pistachios from Costco (Taiwan ones just aren't the same)
A small bottle of REAL maple syrup, not that crappy imitation stuff, so I can pick up some frozen waffles at Costco (they're cheap, the syrup ain't)
A bottle of Monin Zero Free no calorie, no carb hazelnut syrup (hint: Has Beans has it)
Chocolate-dipped hazelnut biscotti from The Upper Crust
Trader Joe's roasted, salted pumpkin seeds (shelled) - cuz I hear ya'll are gettin' Trader Joe's, lucky bums (Romita, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!)
WinCo brand boxed macaroni and cheese (I like it better than Kraft and it's cheap, cheap, cheap)
Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
A bag of Crunchy Cheetos
A bottle of really good Bleu Cheese, or Ranch, or Roquefort salad dressing (not Kraft, please....)
Huge box of Splenda (to counteract all the sugary stuff I want, right)
David & Sons sunflower seeds - about 20 pounds! Well, OK, maybe just a few big bags.....I sure do miss my sunflower seeds
A jar of Laura Scudder's or Adam's peanut butter, the salted kind that you have to mix the oil up in, no sugar added, just peanuts and salt
A jar of instant, liquid silver cleaner, because my silver jewelry is tarnished beyond belief, and I can't find cleaner here
Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn - the most buttery kind they make, packed with calories :)
A couple packages of Red Vines
A nice mix of Jelly Bellys (partial to buttered popcorn and fruit flavored ones) Kraft Light Mayo (not the non-fat gunk)

Now, my friends, you will have to tell me if there's something from Taiwan you would like to have. Because you know, Steve will be going back with an empty duffel bag, and we can't let that happen, can we?