Ben's Taitung Recap

[Here's a report from Ben. He expressed things so nicely in an email, I just copied and pasted the whole thing :) I'll just add photos at the end and call this entry done!]

This past week we took a trip to the east coast of Taiwan to a Town called, Taitung, which, being translated means, Eastern Taiwan.  I love how descriptive the chinese is!  You never have to guess where you are in the island since you have towns named Taipei (northern Taiwan), Taichung (central taiwan), Tainan (southern Taiwan).  The east coast has a higher density of aboriginal people, and it’s interesting to see how many christian churches there are on that side of the island as compared to the western side.  Anyway the reason for our visit was originally scheduled for a triathlon in which I was going to participate relay-style, meaning I was going to do the bicycle portion of the race.  Unfortunately, I sprained my left knee while doing a run about three weeks ago, and the doctor said no running or biking for at least 6 weeks and 3 weeks respectively while my knee healed—even if it started feeling better.  That said, we planned to take a long weekend to travel over there and see that part of the island.  

We went with some friends who are also expats for Micron, and their kids are similar in age to ours.  We also went with another friend who speaks chinese and he was actually doing the swim portion of the triathlon, and another lady from church who live in the apt above the chinese speaker.  It was a lot of fun and BOY was it gorgeous.  Have you ever traveled the oregon coast on why 101?  I’d compare the coastline with the oregon coast as far as greenery and rocky shores.  Basically substitute tropical florae for evergreens and you have eastern Taiwan.  It rained a lot, but we had periods where the sun cam out and the scenery was breathtaking as the clouds hung in the middle of the mountains.  Imagine going from sea level to 10,000 ft—the mountains are spectacular.  We drove the course I was supposed to ride on a bicycle, and it made me wish I was on a bike instead. We took time to visit a natural preserve where Taiwanese monkeys live and play.  The kids were super excited to get up close and personal, but we had to remind them to keep their distance because they are still wild animals.  We ignorantly left our car door open and one of those little bandits made off with some of our fresh fruit.  Next thing we knew, we were surrounded by these monkeys, and it was a little unnerving.  At one point there were two males and one started to dominate the other.  I was grateful they weren't mating since that conversation would have been much harder to have with children, but explaining dominance was pretty harmless.  :-)

The next day we went to the city of Kending in the very southern tip of Taiwan.  The wind was pretty strong, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as it would have been otherwise, and it actually got a little chilly—I had convinced Angela that we didn’t need jackets because it was going to be 78 degrees and high humidity.  The latter two were right, but the wind was pretty fierce—at least 20-30 mph gusts with 15-20mph sustained winds.  We walked through the night market to get some food and settled on a green papaya salad with hot peppers, garlic and lemon juice.  I liked it so much I bought a second salad.  We rented rooms at a bed and breakfast each night.  From what I understand the B&B’s are much better than hotels and cheaper in most cases.  The first night the B&D was really nice, and all the women and girls stayed there while the men stayed in a hotel room closer to the city.  The second night we stayed in these little cabins right next to each other and again split up the men and women since it was cheaper to have two rooms and accommodate the other two friends.  We went to the port, and I was super excited to get some fresh sashimi.  We were told that going in the afternoon for lunch would be the best time to go since they would be serving the catch from that morning and I wanted some super fresh sashimi.  I’m not sure what was going on culturally, but it was an interesting experience to say the least.  Basically there was a long corridor with “restaurants” lining both sides of the corridor.  Each restaurant was serving something fish related from squid, to fried flying fish, to sashimi.  These restaurants were tiny and only had 3-4 tables in each with probably a maximum of 15-20 people.  The corridor was also packed and was shoulder to shoulder traffic as we pushed our way through trying to find a place to grab some sushi.  We started asking the sushi places if they served take out and each told us emphatically that was not a service they provided.  Weird.  When we asked why, one lady got super upset and told us to quit wasting her time during the busiest part of the day.  I was baffled.  Your restaurant is full and you have some people who are willing to pay you money to take your fish w/o sitting down in your restaurant.  Seemed like an opportunity to make more money, but they lady and everyone else treated us with contempt and disdain when we suggested take out.  Anyway, we finally got to sit down in a restaurant and ordered the cheapest yet most delicious and freshest sushi I’ve ever had.  About 40 pieces of sashimi for just over $10 USD!!!!  It was so good I couldn’t help but wolf down those succulent morsels of fresh fish, and that’s when the second strange thing happened.  One of the servers of the restaurant told us we needed to hurry up so other customers could sit down!  I was flabbergasted!  Seriously?  How fast do you need us to eat this stuff?  I’m already packing this sushi into my stomach as if I didn’t expect to eat for another month and she’s harassing me to hurry up?  I told Jesse, the chinese speaker, to let her know this was the exact reason why take out would have been good for all of us.  Asian customer service is markedly different from the US concept of customer service.  It’s not upsetting, but definitely a cultural experience you have to remind yourself as you realize that the customer/service provider relationship is actually backwards from what you’re used to.

Then we started the long drive home.  Jesse’s little boy, Thomas has a really weak stomach and he barfed in the car a total of three times during the trip.  Once on the way to and twice on the way from.  Mix that in with incessant potty breaks and we didn’t get home until 10pm.  Arghhh!!  That’s when you have to remind yourself that these vacations are for the kids and that you won’t actually have another real vacation until the kids are out of the house.  We stopped along the route to collect some fresh mangoes from a kiosk along the side of the road.  Mangoes are just coming back into season, and they are pretty expensive right now (about $2.50 each), but they are amazingly good.  There is one variety, I don’t know the english name, but they call it aiwen and it is the sweetest mango you’ll ever have.  Not only that, the good news is these things are just beginning to some in season and they will only get better!  The hills are covered in mango orchards and there are little baggies that are carefully placed on every single mango in the orchard to keep the bugs and birds from eating the mangoes.  I find myself salivating right now as i think about these things.  Angela actually fed one to Theo today, and I had to remind her that little kids don’t deserve fruit that expensive.  It’s like giving filet minion to little kids.  there’s a reason man invented hot dogs and hamburgers and that was because he didn’t want to share his prime steak and cuts of beef with his kids.  Give them a banana and some grapes and they’ll be happy.  in the meantime you can enjoy the greatest of God’s gifts to mankind…a fresh, ripe, sweet, juicy mango.

 We found the coolest tree at Taitung's Children's Story Museum and park. Its roots seem to grow above ground making this giant tree look like it's floating.

 Here's our Taitung B&B: The Dulan Red House (best breakfast I've ever had in Taiwan!)

 Near by was a black-sand beach that we had almost all to ourselves for a few hours of wave jumping and sand digging.

 Too much exfoliating rubbing from Theo

 It made the mud monster mad...

 ...hilarious to watch Theo try to get out of his way!

 You can almost see the mountains through the clouds in the background. 

So must mist in this jungle land!

 So much for picnic place plan A

 

 Watch for monkey crossing

 At picnic site plan B, it felt like we were the monkeys being observed from a safe distance (bus loads of Chinese tourists were fascinated to see such a gaggle of foreigners)

 Kenting: southern beaches of Taiwan

 deep-fried squid at the night market

 Theo in the ladies' cabin

 LDS branch building. We doubled the attendance that morning.

 Hammock  rides at our B&B in Kenting

 Deep-fried flying fish...first time seeing those!

 Coolest turquoise striped fish.

 Do you see cat rock? Hundreds of people come take pictures of it every day :)

  Bagged mangoes in their orchards

Toilets

It's about time that I made a post about Taiwan toilets. Cultural differences surrounding the places where we deal with the common human predicament of elimination can be quiet entertaining. One of my favorite blog posts of my good friend who lived in Mongolia for a couple years was about signs found in toilet stalls. I've tried to capture a few good shots of my own to help you get a sense of the toilet adventures here :)

First off, below is the main reason that my 10-year old nephew is saving his pennies and planning to come visit us next fall: he wants to use our "robot toilet." Our boys love that it greets you by opening its lid and turning on a low-glow light in the bowl. It has spray jets and blow dryers and buttons galore. It's all in Japanese so our Chinese lessons haven't been helping us understand it much better over these past many months. Trial and error is the way to go.

Here is an example of the cool family toilets at a Taiwan rest stop. These rest stops are pretty snazzy (we've even seen live music entertainment at a couple of them) so it only makes sense that their toilets don't disappoint either.

In Taipei, at the metro station, one can benefit from a live display of toilet stall occupancy. Very useful when gauging if you have time to wait in line before trying to catch your train! If they wanted to take it a step further, there could be a display of how long each stall has been occupied, giving you a rough idea of when it may become available (and encouraging people to not linger ). Just kidding. Bad and humiliating idea.

Most restrooms here give you a choice of squaty-potties or "Western-style" toilets. There is an image on the stall doors indicating which type it is--normally in a 5 to 1 ratio in favor of the squat style. At first I was baffled to see ladies leave the throne stalls empty while they waited in line for the squat holes. Funny thing is I find myself often taking that option now too. It is nice to not have to touch anything.

Notice the useful images on this restroom's doors. Most often they don't include a person demonstrating the proper use. To be honest, I wasn't sure at first which direction to face when using the squat potties.

Julien is demonstrating the wrong way to use them (this is back in September, we've come a long way since then).

It's a compelling thing to read the signs in restroom stalls--guess there isn't much else to do. Some of them have English so I know exactly what is meant:

Others leave me guessing a bit after they reel me in with a friendly English intro:

Luckily I played it safe in the situation below, figuring that nothing good could have been meant by that sign. I quickly took a step back after flushing and was spared splashes from the geyser that spewed forth:

Happy Mother's Day!

One of my favorite things as a mother is to witness the little milestones in my boys' lives. Here is Julien with his brother, his good friend Jeff, and Cloe--the girl who he has his first crush on. He says he likes her because "she's cute and kind of crazy." Makes me want to giggle.

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women in my life and the lives of my children!

A few of my favorite things...

Here's a post to help capture a few of the reasons I'm loving life right now:

1. We're not sweating yet. 
Apparently is has been an exceptionally cold winter and spring. In the early mornings we're still wearing our jackets. Yay!

 2. Appreciating nature's different set of rules in Taiwan.
On the right is a tree with budding blossoms. On the left is a tree with falling leaves. And why not?!

3. Easily making friends.
Theo is an attention magnet and helps us make friends wherever we go. This little girl's name is "Much." Following protocol with all children encounters, we needed to establish who was the older child so we new what they should call each other. It turns out Much is a couple of weeks younger than Theo so we call her "Meimei" (little sister) and Theo is addressed as "Gege" (older brother). Much shared her seaweed snack with Theo and the bonds of friendship were solidified.

4. Time at our park.
Again, we're just loving the fact that the weather is so pleasant. We like to take advantage of our park time in the mornings. Julien is now in soccer club and likes to challenge me to a game of "soccer" on the wooden amphitheater/sitting area where we kick the ball to hit the opponent's goal. Julien keeps the game interesting by slightly altering the rules each game (or mid game). He usually wins--go figure.

 Oh, and the bear statues are still at the perimeter of the park and taking photos with them hasn't gotten old yet :)

5. Date with Ryley
Following in my parents' footsteps, I set up yet another system to try and encourage good behavior from within the circus known as our family life. Ryley earned a whole container of the needed coins (plastic old Chinese money with cool square holes in the middle) so we got to go on a Mommy-son date: he requested bowling.  I overcame my fears of the unknown and managed, with Ryley's ingenious planning strategy along the way--ask him about it :) --to get us to the game center with a bowling alley,  to establish the fact that there were 2 of us wanting to bowl, to eventually understand that the number I was given was a call number for when it was our turn for a lane, to secure properly-fitting shoes, and then proceeded to try and teach Ryley a skill I'm personally really bad at. Fun times!

Mercifully, our scores were erased seconds before the camera captured this shot :)

6. Susan.

 When this photo was taken by a friend who ran into Susan and Theo at the park, I was in front of my laptop at a cafe working on a project for the International Women's Association of Taichung (IWAT).

For the first time in my motherhood I am experiencing an energizing balance of part-time work (albeit volunteer) and the sweet reunion of a little toddler happy to see me when I come home. I've noticed that I soak up my time with Theo all the more, without feeling like I'm needing to multi-task the whole time.

Theo is talking more and more and I get a cute report of what he and Susan did together during my Chinese lessons or IWAT work. He tells me about going to the park, getting put on time out when he kicked the doggie, eating seaweed, and playing in the balls. Along with being a wonderful babysitter for Theo, Susan helps clean up, do laundry and iron while Theo naps (Did you catch that? Ironing...my family has never had it so good!). She comes 2 1/2 days a week and every other Saturday evening so that Ben and I can go on dates. She speaks Chinese with Theo and gives Julien play lessons in Chinese on Tuesdays--we get him out of school a bit early. She helps me make phone calls and run errands with me when I need communication help. She lets me practice my Chinese and is so encouraging that I'm (at times) understandable. I don't know exactly how to emphasize just how much our family loves this kind, English-speaking Taiwanese lady! It feels good to have the means to give her employment and I recognize the incredible blessing of having met her just at the right time when the main expat family she worked for had an unexpected transfer to Vietnam. She works for at least one other family on a regular basis and is quite involved with her church. I hope that she enjoys her time at our home as much as we love having her here!

7. Project Managment
I've found a a new talent to develop: I've come to discover that I love project management, especially a project that is in a field that fascinates me, who's resulting creations will personally benefit me, not to mention the perk of not having to deal with a boss or any other deadlines other than those I create. Too good to last forever, but I'll enjoy it while I can :)  Seeing as how I'm paying for a babysitter to be able to do the work, I guess it's properly viewed as tuition for a skill set that I plan to use in future. After clocking 4500 hours and studying for a rigorous exam, I can get my Project Management Professional certification--yay!

Here's my business card for the work I'm currently doing. I've spearheaded a project to revive the English guide book for Taichung that was created about 8 years ago and has become outdated. I immediately ran into several challenges including the unfortunate discovery that all digital files of the book had been lost! It has been fun to network and meet people to get things rolling. This past Wednesday, 3 of us from the IWAT board took a trip to the capital of Taipei to meet with the director of the international community services center there. It was a very successful meeting and we walked away with more help than we could have hoped for!
 

Along with organizing and researching for this project, I get to enjoy being the tour/workshop  coordinator for this group of ladies (a great way to get to know them).

Part of my "research" also includes trying out the different cultural experiences: with 2 other friends I went to get a $7 sit-in-your-chair-shampoo, deep conditioning with head massage, and blow-dry style any way I wanted. All in all about 90 minutes of pampering. To balance out the loveliness of that experience, we struggled through a good 20 minutes at the beginning of it all of complete confusion and discomfort on all sides as we struggled to communicate what we wanted (and didn't want).

8. Successful Toddler Negotiations
Last up on my favorite-things list is loving the moment of satisfaction that comes after a successful negotiation with my toddler. In this instance, Theo's reasonable (although very loud and publicly embarrassing) demands of not being confined under his rain cover while it was raining on the walk to take Julien to school, were met with the compromise of being able to hold the umbrella on the way home. He kept dry. The wailing stopped. And as a perk he calmed down enough to eat the cake the old man at the shop had given him to help calm his terrible tantrum. I took my cut of course (it was a pineapple cake and very tasty :)