We Won! .. Just a Little (but not really)

Turns out there were also 2 more three-digit numbers released this month that can be found anywhere on any of the receipts that will yield you $200 NT each! I found these three digit numbers on 10 different receipts!  Equals $2,000 NT, around $65 US!!! That's the most I've ever won in the lottery before, so exciting.  Since it's all of our receipts jumbled together, we're gonna cash in our winnings tomorrow and buy some things to decorate our apartment for Christmas! 




UPDATE::


Alright so side note. Turns out I'm stupid and we didn't actually win :( Veerrrry disappointing I know.  I went to the post office which is where you are to redeem your winnings.  And on the back of each receipt you need to fill in your information, well the space for your address is sooo small I couldn't fit our address so I figured I'd just let them write it in Chinese because the characters are smaller.  They sent me to this lady to have her help me with it, after she had written like 2, she turned it over and began inspecting the numbers.  
      She had all the winning numbers on a list next to her, and started shaking her head and waving her hands around pointing at it.  She spoke zero English and I tried to point to the numbers we had matched and then to the receipt she was holding, but she kept flailing about.  Then she picked up a pen and underlined the last 3 digits.  Ohhh I got it, only the last 3 I asked her?  More waving and pointing from her.  Welll that's that I thought, and went to grab for the rest of our receipts that were now useless pieces of trash (recycled trash though, right?)  This lady wasn't having any of that though, she went looking through the rest of them, laughing and throwing down each one as she deemed it an un-winner.  I know, I know I tried to tell her.  But now we had created a bit of a show and others were all staring and she was rambling in Chinese, probably about how I was such a stupid foreigner.  Once she was finished I took the papers and ran away. Uh, humiliation! 
      Oh yea, did I mention that while I was sitting there, before the woman discovered my error, someone came over and bumped into to me to say hello?  Yea, that was the manager from my school.  Good thing she got to see and hear all of it! What are the chances of her being there at the same time! And since this was before I knew that we didn't actually win, when she asked what I was doing there I proudly told her about how we had won some money at the lottery! Oh siigghhhh.  Well the web site for sure doesn't say anything about the bonus 3 digits having to be at the end of the receipts, at least not in English!  Foiled again, by Chinese.  

The Lottery

The 25th of every odd numbered month brings much happiness.  This is the time that the lottery numbers are released!

Don't be alarmed, I don't have a gambling problem.  It's an interesting little system they have here in Taiwan.  I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but years ago the government had trouble getting shops and stores to keep track of their sales, for tax purposes and what not.  So they implemented the lottery of the receipts.  Now, every receipt you receive has a lottery number printed at the top of it.  This includes receipts from all convenience stores, most clothing stores, restaurants, pretty much everywhere!  There are a few places that don't give you receipts, but they are usually small little shops, I don't mind.  The government thought this was a smart idea because since the receipt is essentially a lottery ticket, then the customers would demand them, therefore forcing all businesses to keep track of their sales and records! Pretty smart, huh?

All of our tickets sorted by the first number!

Between Greta, Anthony, and I, we accumulate quite a pile of "tickets."  The way it works is they release the winning numbers every other month (odd numbered months) for the previous 2 months.  So a few days ago, November 25th, they just put out the numbers for receipts collected during the months of September and October.  New numbers will be released January 25th for receipts given during November and December, and so on and so forth.

I get really excited and when it's time to check our number and I even pre-sort them so it's easier to manage.
The prizes are as follows:
The Special Prize of  $10 million NT    (just under $330,000 US)
The Grand Prize of $2 million NT        (around $65,000 US)
   One 8 digit number is given for each of these prizes
Then there are three different 8 digit numbers to get you the First Prize of $200,000 NT   (about $6,500 US)

From there are the 2nd - 6th place prizes which come from matching any of the last 7-3 digits of the three First Prize numbers.  These winnings range from $40,000- $200 NT  ( around $1,300- $6 US)

Sadly, this month we didn't win anything :(  But there's always January to look forward to!!

Thanksgiving: The Duck Edition

     There is Thanksgiving in Taiwan. In the sense that the last Thursday of November still takes place. Obviously they in no way celebrate it, duh! But being Americans, we wanted to celebrate it by still cooking a big meal and eating. Last year Anthony and I hosted the Holiday at our little apartment in St. Cloud, this year it would just be Anthony, Greta, and I, and Abe- one of the only other fellow Americans we work with, the rest are Canadian, Australian, South African...
     So we planned our menu and got our ingredients to the best of our ability. It was impossible to find cranberries or gravy, so we had to miss out on one of my favorite parts of the meal, and got creative to make our own gravy with cream of mushroom soup, onions, and asparagus! It was quite nice actually.  Stuffing is also missing from the shelves in Taiwan, so we decided to make it completely from scratch.  Greta spent 3 hours on Wednesday night preparing it, and it was definitely worth it! Sooo delicious, so now she can spend 3 hours on all of our next Thanksgivings making it, cause I'm not going back to the box (even though I do enjoy the taste of boxed stuffing).  We also had mashed potatoes, that I made without a masher... really not as hard as you might think, just a luxury to have a masher I guess.  We bought whole sweet potatoes, cut them up and made a glaze to cover them in, super delish.  Greta made the glaze and slightly burned it though, and I realized after that I should I have been the one to make the glaze seeing as how I have such experience in making karmel coating. There was corn too, and THE DUCK!
     Being in Taiwan, finding turkey I think is not an option.  We pass this corner shop that has ducks hanging up every day on the way to work, so we decided a while ago that we would get one of those ducks to act as our Thanksgiving turkey.  We weren't sure if they would speak English or not, so I had Helen write me a note in Chinese saying that we wanted a duck, without any of the gooey insides (since they love to give you all that shit here) and cut up into pieces.  Well, they didn't speak English, so good thing I got the note, and when I showed it to them they gave it an odd stare, but got to work on our duck.  I really wanted to capture the time he then spent cutting apart our duck, but decided I probably shouldn't.

The place our duck came from, and what got us our duck!

        First, he chopped off the head, with a huge cleaver.  It totally reminded me of A Christmas Story.  He delicately shaved off the sides with a knife and layered the meat onto a plate, when that was finished he then hoisted the carcass up and kinda wrung it out over the plate of meat, to let all the duck juices fall on top.  Then he flipped her over and kept chopping, all the while scrapping the chopped up bits into a tray.  Later, they took this tray and cooked it up with some sauces and vegetables and spices and handed it to us in a sack, along with our plate of meat.  We also go some sort of bread/tortilla thing.. not really sure what it is or what we are intended to do with it.  We got all of this for $430 NT, about $15 US dollars.

      Not only did getting all the crap to make our meal prove to be difficult, but doing so with NO oven, 1 pot, 1 pan, and 2 stove top burners, proved to be a bit of a challenge, especially in keeping everything warm by the time we were ready to eat.  Did I mention we also lack a microwave?  Well it was a fun time for Greta and I to cook and discover our abilities to make such wonderful things, especially not from a box!
   
      The best part!? I didn't have to miss out on pumpkin pie! Our first idea was to make a "no bake" pumpkin pie, but we couldn't find the things to make it.  Then Greta tried a few bakeries but no luck.  Thanks goodness for a fabulous teacher we work with, who got us one from a Costco in Taipei!  She doesn't even like pumpkin pie, and is from South Africa so she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I'm thankful that she went out of her way to help us get such a delicious necessity for the holiday!!

It's amazing how photogenic we both are, really. It's a wonder we aren't in magazines.. :)

      Right now for everyone back home, Thanksgiving is just getting started, although I'm sure my mom's been up for hours working on the turkey, it's drawn to an end as it's now past midnight in Taiwan.  I missed being with the rest of my family, but we had a great meal over here!  Now.. onto Christmas!
     

Oh yea, Gertlebee and I made chocolate turkeys that we brought to our Treehouse kids on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  They were a huge hit with the children and teachers alike!  Yes, you're supposed to use candy corns but Taiwan doesn't believe in that.  So we improvised with M&M's! It was beyond adorable to see my little 7 year old's snarf them down and then walk around with chocolate smears all over their faces! It made up for some of my hatred toward their insane behavior.. slightly.

Thursday's with Wu

       Every Thursday I teach at my main branch in YangMei until 6 30 and then have a class in Jhongli that starts at 7. Usually when I take the bus from Jhongli to YangMei it only takes about 20 minutes, but going from YangMei to Jhongli, the bus never comes at a set time, so I usually have to wait around 20 minutes alone to catch the bus going back.  Therefore, I simply cannot take the bus from YangMei to Jhongli or I would be rather late for my class.  
    Originally I had planned on getting a scooter, buuuut after seeing the insanity of the drivers here, and the fact that it rains, alot, and is windy as shit, I've decided against it.  So my school pays for a taxi to come pick me up at 6 30 and take me to the branch in Jhongli so that I may get to work on time, usually I get there right at 7, but am still sometimes late as traffic can be crazy or there are accidents blocking roads and all sorts of shenanigans going on.  
     Each Thursday the same taxi driver comes to pick me up, I like being able to tell stories and say "my taxi driver."   It's like I have my own private car to pick me up! And really it kinda is, because he doesn't come in the normal yellow cab with the sign on top.  Although there are plenty of those around, there are also a lot of cars that just look like normal cars, but are actually taxis.  Sounds a bit sketch, but they still have all the tags and ID numbers inside.  
     So on Thursday at 6:30, Wu, my driver, comes to pick me up.  He is always waiting on the bench outside, and when I see him he goes over to the car and opens the door for me and I get in.  He doesn't speak much English, but he always tries to speak with me, at a least a little.  The first few times was just questions about the radio and A.C.  Then he would say "Long time no see," when I got into the car.  This is a phrase I actually learned in Chinese, so the next week I tried it out on him, and he understood! It sounds kinda like "how show booo shee en" if you want to imagine what I said.  He must have been excited that I tried speaking Chinese with him, because periodically during the rest of the trip he would point things out to me and try to explain what they were, in English.
     A couple of his key points of interest to me were some of the Betel Nut shops.  Betel Nut is the Taiwanese form of chewing tobacco that many people indulge in.  Perhaps for the wonderful taste (I have no idea actually, maybe I'll try it one day) but what may entice them even more is how you get the Betel Nut.  Now, I have seen some old ladies selling it on stools on the sidewalks, but more commonly are the Betel Nut girls that sell the product.  There are tons of stores with big front clear windows, just a shelf, and then a pretty Asian girl sitting at the shelf making the Betel Nut and selling it.  Most times they are dressed quite provocatively.  When I first started noticing these places I thought they were like front advertisements for a lingerie shop, then I thought sex shops, maybe I wasn't so off.  
     From what I've heard anyways they really aren't prostitutes, they just dress skankily so that men will want to come to their shop and buy the Betel Nut from them again and again.  Sometimes I see girls wearing sweaters and pants, but often times it's little dresses and heels. 
     Anyways, Wu pointed to one of the shops with a hoed out girl and did a motion of putting something in his mouth by his lips, chewing, and spitting.  I said "Ohh yes, Betel Nut.  Do you have it?"  He was quick to shake his hands "No!  5 million people, die a year," he continued, and did the little finger motion for death.  (In Taiwan, if you put your hand palm up and curl just your index finger toward you, it means death, which is something I found I do more often than I thought, it frightens the children.)  Wu also added " Bikini girl,"  Which is a common phrase that I hear my older students use a lot too, I think they use it to mean something like sexy girl.  We kept driving along, and he pointed to another window and said, "There, no Bikini girl!"  and laughed.  Oh Wu. 

This is what Betel Nut looks like. After you chew it turns all orange and people spit it all over the streets.
      He also pointed to some stores and said something that sounded like "garden" but after asking him to repeat it three times I gave up and just said "Ohhh" and smiled.  We came across an accident between a scooter and a car, and he turned to me and said "Car kiss scooter." I thought it seemed an accurate description of what had happened.  Go Wu!  
     Wu always puts the radio to an English station while I'm in the car, I think it's called ICRT or something, and since we are together at the same time each week, I'm always just in time to hear the "call out" segment of the show where the host reads and e-mail from a listener and calls whoever they have requested, usually for a birthday or anniversary, and then plays a song for them. One week he called this guy's girlfriend named "Pinky."  Pinky tried to practice her English with the man from the radio station, and he told her she sounded like a Pinky. 
     During the rest of the trip he tried to explain something about going to Hong Kong and I pretended to understand what he meant, maybe he wants to take me on a longer journey?  I wish I had a picture of Wu to share with you, perhaps next week I will snap a photo.  
     
    

A bit about this

    So Saturday came around, I went to get my glasses. I can seeee out of them!! Happy hip hop day. I was pretty excited.  Here I am!  And 3/4 of Anthony's face.  I now feel like I fit in and have the look of a cool Asian Hipster, only they all have frames with no lenses, and I can see their envious faces (un-blurred) through mine!  Haha.

  

This is the store where I purchased my glasses.  I had no idea it was called "Always Best Choice," but I suppose I can somewhat agree with their statement. 

     Moving on, Greta decided we should finally buy a Dragon Fruit and see what they're all about.  It was marvelously delicious, reminded me of  a mix between a kiwi and a mango.  It was white with black little seeds.  Then the next day she got some more.  This time, cutting into it was quite different. 

Bright and beautiful and juicy.  This one lacked a bit of the kiwi flavor, but was equally as wonderful.  Go try it!

     We also made deviled eggs this past weekend! Soooo delish.  We added pickles, onions, and BACON BITS to the mix.  Oh man. Needless to say they are now gone, and I miss them.

  I guess there's some more food I could mention.  One night after work I went to a night market with one of my Chinese teachers (Helen, from the Tea Story), her friend, and Greta.  After a few hours of shopping, Helen said we should get a sweet treat.  Eeerrg I can't remember what it's called now. But we met another one of her friend's at the place and he explained that it translates loosely into "flower soup" I believe.  This is because the base is a white substance, like tofu, but sweeter, it comes from a soy bean though, and now I've lost where flower came from, perhaps a soy bean flower?  Anyways something like that. I'll try to get the name again later. So before we ordered, Greta and I decided to share one, since we had no idea what we would be getting.  It was kind of like an ice cream counter where you got the main bowl of something, and then could pick all of your toppings.  Only instead of chocolate chips and strawberries, were red beans and jellied things.  With the help of Helen's and the lady serving us's recommendations and some random pointing, we had our treat.  Oh we could also choose if we wanted it cold, which is what we got where they added crushed ice to the mix and a cold sugar water, or hot which is minus ice and hot sugar water instead.  It was definitely interesting, unlike anything I'd had before.  I was glad to be sharing it with Greta, and we managed to eat most of it.  Some of the topping weren't bad, I haven't a clue as to what I was really eating though, but all in all not a bad treat.  Probably not something I'd go out of my way to order again though, but wouldn't refuse it.

      Also, here's Anthony at our branch in Jhongli enjoying a lunch box for lunch one day! That's what pretty much all food is called here "a lunch box" even if it's not for lunch.  It means a box with random food shoved together in it and served as a meal.  We like to go to a place called "Taiwan Buffet" near the branch that is like buffet style so you can pick what you want to get.  It's pretty good, and real cheap.

He has some milk tea there beside him too. All the different types of tea and fruit drink stands littering the blocks has got to be one of my favorite things about Taiwan! Not being able to speak Chinese and getting weird jelly drinks... is not.

     Yea, I didn't drink all that.  In fact, I barely drank any of it.  The little circles are tapioca bubbles which I quite enjoy, but the rest just kinda freaks me out.


Oh and here's a picture of the fruit market near out home that we frequent!

Such a Spectacle!

       Before I even got to Taiwan people told me about how cheap the glasses would be over here.  They said the "eye technology" is really advanced, they can make the glasses really quickly, and it's inexpensive. I find it pretty strange how many glasses shops there are here. Just everywhere. Sometimes 3 in one block and all they sell is glasses and sunglasses! So I decided to go give some of these places a gander as I'm in the mood for some new frames.  I looked near my school branch in Jhongli around the train station, I went to about 5 one day, and found that all the frames were still actually pretty expensive, around 200 US dollars... that's not cheap to me for glasses, and for only the frames! I kept looking and finally came across a place that is still really close to work, but much lower prices.  I stopped in one afternoon and found the pair I wanted, but I didn't have time for them to check my eyes, the man there spoke decent English and I said I'd come back later.

     The next morning when I arrived it was only a woman working... and she didn't speak any English, but still insisted on trying to help me, which is always appreciated.  She kept motioning around and speaking Chinese as I stared at her blankly. We went back to the room where she measured my eyes or something with a machine and then printed out the results.  She put some lenses together into a mock pair of frames and gave them to me.  I couldn't see clearly so I shook my head "no." She tried another set, no, another set, no, another set, no. This went on for a short while and I was beginning to think of just leaving.  

    Well she went to get her phone and called some guy who then become our translater over the phone.  His English was ok, but it was hard to hear him.  I told him that the left side was good, but the right was blurry.  She tried something else, still a no. He asked me how I felt and I said I couldn't see out of my right eye, this is where I'm pretty sure they began to think I was blind in my right eye.  He acted very surprised and said something about if I could feel my right eye. I tried to explain that I could see out of it, just not at the moment with the lenses she had used.  I mentioned the word "astigmatism" but that probably sounded like nothing to him as he didn't seem to acknowledge it. They were speaking in Chinese again together and he said something to me about going to see a doctor.  Ok they think I'm blind in an eye trying to get glasses.. after the lady watched me take out my TWO contacts before measuring my eyes. Esssh. 

    It wasn't looking good, but then BAM! the lenses she tried next were it! I could see.  I turned to look out of the store and I seemed to be able to read the signs at the 7-11.  I gave a thumbs up and said yes, yes I can see now!  Ahh they had cured my ailment! What success they must have thought.  

    So we went back out into the main part of the store and she hung up with the man. Nooooo I thought! I need English!  Then these other two people walked in and the woman was speaking with them.  I thought, oh maybe she is just going to use them to translate for me.  Well she tried to explain to me (I'm guessing) something about the price for my blind girl glasses would be higher than usual, and the next thing I know the man who just walked in hands her his phone, she speaks for a second, and then I'm talking to another lady in English on some rando's phone.  She told me that because my glasses were "special" the price would be a bit more, and it would take 3 days until I could get them.  I told her it was fine. 3 days is still way faster than I can usually get them in the states, and everything came up to be right around 100 US dollars! (3,200 Taiwan Dollars). I was pleased. 

     Today is Thursday night so one more day and I shall go retrieve my new spectacles! I only hope I can see out of them...