Derraggin' Boot Festivities!

        

        June 23rd was Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan.  All Saturday classes were cancelled which gave us a chance to go watch the races!  We didn't even have to stray very far to find some races as there's a lake in Longtan that holds Dragon Boat races every year.  Of course these probably weren't the best ones to watch, but it was still something.  I also found out that the races took place over the entire span of the weekend, but it was still nice to get the day off in celebration!  

      The Dragon Boat Festival originates from a story of a long time ago.  There was this man named Qu Yuan who was a scholarly poet.  Some political happenings occurred, and he drowned himself in a river to prove his loyalty.  Many people were upset by this, and went in search of his body.  The women were worried about the fish getting to his body first, so they made these sticky rice balls wrapped in leaves (called Zhongzi) and threw them into the river so the fish would eat them instead.  Every year people still go out in search of his body, and eat lots of Zhongzi.  Ok they aren't really still looking for his body, plus the races take place on many many different rivers and lakes so that wouldn't even make sense.  But, that's the background of this Festival.

        Anyone can enter the Dragon Boat races, you just need a team of 12 rowers (that's how many were on the boats we saw, it might be different in other places) one person who sits at the back and one who's at the front and beats the drum or whistles to keep everyone in sync and on track.  The person at the front also must stand up at the end and lean over the dragon head at the head of the boat and pull the flag up to signify that they've finished the race.  The flags are also used to see who wins if it's a close race.

There was a Dragon Boat chillin' on the streets. I realize this is a terrible picture, I cut off his head and ass.

        We got to the lake area in Longtan around 9 30 am on Saturday, and after wandering around the lake-side food tents we found a place to sit, partially out of the sun.  Although it was cloudy that morning, it was still super hot outside, and I was sweaty.  There were tons of races that were constantly going on.  2 boats would race, finish, and then the next set would start immediately after.  Anthony and Abe amused themselves by placing bets on which boat would win.  Some of them were pretty close and came down to who could pull the flag out first.

                       

                      

       We searched for some Zhongzi to eat there, but could only find a stand where you had to have signed up in advance to make your own Zhongzi.  They are now more of a dumpling type food than a rice ball, but usually still wrapped in bamboo leaves of some sort.  The parent's of a student at my school made some and brought it for all of the teachers the week before the Festival, so I got some, but you can buy it anytime, especially at the Night Markets.  They have many different types, some of it's good, but the stuff I got was quite greasy (typical Taiwanese food) which chicken and mushrooms inside.  

       Our lovely school branches also gave us some Dragon Boat gifts of sweet cake and nut cookies.  Anthony got a box of nice apples :)

I don't understand why there's a picture of a baby on the cake box, and it's all in French.

      On Tuesday I went to see Jason Mraz in Taipei.  Abe is a huge fan, and when he was trying to find people to go with a few months ago, I said no.  However, Anthony wanted to go to a concert, so Abe, Anthony, Patty, and another teacher got tickets.  Unfortunate circumstances arose and the other teacher couldn't go, so I ended up taking his ticket.  It was quite a fun show and I'm glad I got to go.  It was really jazzy and the music was good to dance too.  I was unaware of how homeless Jason Mraz now looks, google it and you'll see!  Once we arrived at our seats, we found that they had a big light stick for each person waiting on the chairs.  It was a long piece of Styrofoam with like a string of Christmas lights inside, wrapped in plastic that marketed to Jason Mraz, and had a switch that made it like a huge glow stick.  It was neat to see everyone in the dark arena with one waving them around.  Anthony accidentally hit the man in front of him like 3 times in the head with his stick so he had to put it away.  Then later the same man yelled at us for being too loud.  I'm not sure if I was more shocked at being told to be quiet during a concert, or that the man spoke English.

     After the concert we were going to head back to Jhongli, but ran into one of our trainers from when we first arrived in Taiwan and went to get some drinks.  We went to a foreigners bar that looked like it was meant to be an Old Chicago as the logo is pretty similar.  Our waitress was foreign, but we couldn't figure out where she was from, so I asked her.  Turns out she's German, and from Dusseldorf, a short 40 minutes from where my mom's from and grandparent's still live! I was quite excited.

Naturaaal Disasters in my Soup.

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Taiwanese Funsies with Ariel

          Ariel left Thursday morning, and we had a nonstop, wonderfully hectic, jubilant 2 weeks!

         We planned on all taking a holiday to Kenting.  Luckily Anthony, Greta, and I were all able to get the time off work together.  We left on the HSR Wednesday night, which took us down to Kaohsiung, and from there took a taxi the other 2 hours down to the very south part of Taiwan.  We tried to take a bus, but it was not as easy to find as we had heard, and apparently the last one left the station at 7- we got there a bit after.  The crazy thing about taxi's, among many other things, is how cheap they are to take long distances.  It was 1,200 NT which equals about 40 US for a 2 hour ride.  

       Once we arrived we checked in to our hotel, and then hit Kenting Street which is just a huge long Night Market type street with hundreds of vendors and little shops selling all sorts of stuff.  We found many different things to eat, and Ariel got to experience a lot of Taiwanese style foods.  She liked mostly all of it.  

Air waiting for some grilled meats, and a stand of Frying Milk, which we actually tried, and tasted like marshmallows.  

The best thing about her trip was how funny it was to see all of the people here react to her.  Of course she's Asian, but doesn't look Taiwanese at all, still they immediately tried to speak Chinese with her.  They completely ignored all of us and just looked straight to Ariel.  One lady at a restaurant seemed just appalled when trying to talk to her when Ariel said she couldn't speak Chinese.  What's wrong with you, they all were thinking!  So it was great to see their reactions and confusion.  Some people started talking to us at the beach one day, when they asked where we were from and I told them I live in Jhongli and Ariel said America, I don't think they believed it.  What's even better is that Ariel really tried to pick up as much Chinese as she could while visiting.  She also tried not to let the shop owners know that she couldn't speak Chinese, so she just wouldn't say anything, and nod at them like she understood.  I cracked up one day after coming home from work and she told me about how she had gone out shopping in the afternoon.  

"I was too proud to let them know, so I just smiled, they probably thought I was a huge bitch not talking to them.  Or I would just nod and say 'she wan.'"  

"What's 'she wan' mean?"

"I think it's 'I like.'"

"So you were just smiling like a crazy person saying 'I like' to everyone?! I'm sure they thought you were nuts."  

Although from her saying just those few words in Chinese to them, I'm sure they could tell right away that she didn't speak Chinese.  So I'll really miss having things like this happen every time we go anywhere now.

  

    Back to our holiday, Kenting was beautiful.  Of course the forecast was for rain the whole time we were there, but it wasn't bad at all.  It rained every day, but usually just in the morning for a little while, and then cleared up later in the day.  Oh, and we did rent scooters.  I don't think it even mattered too much that I did all the work to get my license!!  We could rent them right from our hotel, and after breakfast the first morning we went to inquire.  The guy wanted to see my license, so I said we'd come back as I left it in the room.  Well when we got back there was another guy, who didn't speak much English.  He was trying to ask something, so I showed him my license.  He seemed really shocked and gave it back right away.  Then he tried to get me to rent a car.  Clearly he didn't examine my license too closely as I'm not licensed to drive a car here!  No, no I told him, just scooters.  He gave me a set of keys.  I said 2.  He gave me another set.  Then he walked us outside to show us where they were, demonstrated how to turn it on and operate it....  and we were off!  

      Thursday we went to the Kenting National Park and walked around for a few hours enjoying the nature and fresh air.  It started raining a little while we were there, but the canopy of trees made it ok.  Also, there were some caves in there, one of which we noticed was full of bats hanging at the top after a few of them started flying around us while we were inside.  Needless to say we scrambled right out of there!  

The bat cave!

After that the sun came out and we went to the beach.  There was a beach right across the street from our hotel, and we spent the next few hours laying in the sand and bopping around in the ocean.  This was a fabulous day, until the waves started to become violent and thrash us around.  There were big rocks near the shore too!  Greta cut her foot and my knee got cut and bruised.  None of our injuries were as tragic as what would happen to Anthony though.  

      First, you need to know that before we left for Taiwan he went to get new glasses in Vermillion. After getting his eyes dilated he couldn't see too well, but didn't call me to come help him pick out frames.  So he just tried some and picked ones that he thought might be cheap.  Wells, turns out they were Armani glasses, and not cheap.  He was wearing those same glasses at the beach, and wore them into the water.  Remember how I said the waves started to get violent?  The Pacific Ocean was a bitch and came and took those glasses right off his face!  We spent some time trying to find them in the sand.. but it wasn't happening.  Anthony was sad, not because he really liked them or anything, but because he also hadn't packed any contacts.  So here he was on the first day of vacation, with no glasses to see anything.

      Here's another amazing thing about Taiwan.  We went back to the hotel, showered, and I set off with him on the scooter to find a glasses shop.  These stores litter the streets, everywhere. Kenting really didn't have much in that area though, and the hotel told us to drive about 20 minutes to find one. I drove for a while, and as Anthony couldn't see very well, and I was driving, I was worried we wouldn't see one.  We came across a store not too far away and Anthony went in, and the man spoke English quite well.  Within 20 minutes he got an exam done, picked out frames, and the frames put together with his prescription!  All for under $100 US!   And I think he's super cute in his new specs :) 

       

After this fiasco we went to see some natural burning fires.  It's just gas leaking up from the ground, it needs to be ignited like after it rains, but it just burns, all the time.

    Anthony "roasting" and egg, and Ariel popping some popcorn over the flames! 

  Friday we set off for another beach.  This one was said to be waay less crowded and have white sand.   It's called "Baishawan" which means "white sand beach" and Happy Panda was the name of the area.  It was super neat with a boarded porch area with a bar and lots of food places.  It was a bit cloudy, but very hot, and dammit I wanted to spend the day laying at the beach!  We had some drinks and even began to (try) and play beach volleyball.

     Our next plan was to scooter down to a harbor and get some super fresh fish for dinner.  Along the way we made a turn that led us into who knows where and the next thing you know my scooter has a flat tire.  Uh-oh.  I pushed it a little ways and there was some small houses/shops and though the people spoke almost zero English, they were sooo friendly and willing to help us.  They called one of the blue trucks to come and patch the tire! Yippeeeee and we were back (on the right path, this time) to get to the harbor and eat some yummy fish.  And we did.  

 Air with my Chinese phrase book trying to find "flat tire."  I'm pretty sure they figured that part out though.  The people had this little girl who was quite intrigued and hung out with us.  They took photos while I was busy back there with the scooter!  

At least we finally got our fish! 

Then we went back to Kenting Street and had some more treats and Ariel and I got henna done!  

Me with my tat artist.  I got a bicycle!  

     

Saturday was our departure from Kenting, but not the end of the holiday.  We went back up to Kaohsiung and got there early afternoon.  The rains followed us and it was a constant on and off of heavy downpours.  We made it outside to see some things for a while, but didn't get a chance to walk as many places we would have liked.  

 The dragon and tiger pagoda's in Kaohsiung.  

 Then it started raining whilst we were all up in there. 

The next morning it was still torrential rains, so we decided to head back north to Jhongli.  

Ariel taking her turn as grill master.  

     After returning to where we live and back to work we still found time to do some things.  I had taken Tuesday off from work so Ariel and I could go to Taipei and see 101 and such.  As it turns out, the torrential rains followed us back home, and it rained SO hardcore all of Monday night that Tuesday morning we all got texts that school was closed due to the rains!  It was a rain day!  Schools were closed everywhere, even in Taipei, but we waited til later in the day and still took a bus to Taipei.  Yea there was some flooding, apparently many of the trains were shut down, but the bus made it just fine!  The rain had subsided a bit, so we went to see a temple, the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall, and trekked out to Danshui as well.  Being a Tuesday afternoon, not many things were open, and the rain started again, but it was still nice.  Next we hit Taipei 101, and then a BBQ place for unlimited meats and ice cream!!  

  

      Wednesday Ariel came to Kindy with me, but sadly it turned out to be a performance practice day so she didn't get to see my teaching routines with them.  At least she still got to meet my kids!  That night we went to the night market here, did some more shopping, ate more.   

Doing my job and serving the children some banana's (not corn). Look at Evan cheesin' with Ariel!  

Oh, and we saw this Panda Dog that night, too. 

       And then it was Thursday morning, time for Air's departure :(    Now it's lonely coming home to no one living on the couch, but my mom will be here in just over a month!!

So.. I'm legally allowed to drive in a country where I can neither speak nor read the language??

       Today, I got my driver's license!  Yes, that means that while I've owned and been driving my scooter for the past 5 months, it's all been illegal. BUT, now I have my license.  Ok, why did I want to get it now that I'm leaving soon?  Well as Ariel has arrived in Taiwan (YAAY!) and we're taking a holiday down to Kenting this weekend, we want to rent scooters while we're there so we can explore better.  I've heard from everyone that in order to rent a scooter, you must have a Taiwanese license.  So, that's why I did it, not because I drive everyday, but so I can rent scooters.
        To get a license for 50cc, you only need to take a written test, but mine is a 150cc, so I needed to take a written plus a driving test.  Antony and I had been "studying" online for a few days by taking a mock exam online.  He wanted to be able to rent a scooter too.  Seriously, some of these questions are just crazy. And others I can't even being to guess at what they mean.
Example A:
 If you fell down on a patch of oily road riding a motorcycle, you 
( 1) should just blame it to yourself and leave. 
( 2) need not to report it to the local police. 
( 3) mark the oily spot with branches or other signs to alert other riders.

Really? I should just go find some huge branches and drag them out into traffic? 

Example B:  

                      

Oh.. yea, you know?  Actually I DO know now that the 1st one means no parking, and the other is something about stopping and waiting for inspection.  

This was my favorite though. 

TRUE or FALSE:    Bicycles prohibited.   

 

     So Anthony and I studied up for the test, went to the DMV (conveniently located only a short walk from my home) and told them we wanted to get licenses.  A lady said we would first need to go down the street to the hospital to get an exam done.  She handed us a form, allll Chinese, no English to help.  Clearly we couldn't even fill this out!  Luckily the people at the hospital were kind and filled it all out for us.  The lady giving the exam, spoke 0 English.  We had no idea what she was saying half the time, I just guessed at what I should do when she was ringing some bell in my hear to check my hearing.   Then we got some measurements taken and she wanted to check out eyes.  It's not the normal reading letter boards, biggest to smallest, it's ALL E's.  Every single letter is "E" some the right way, some upside down, a whole variety.  What is she saying to me?! I don't know how to do this.  She had me cover one eye and wanted me to tell her.  HOW DO I READ UPSIDE DOWN E?!?!  Anthony had the smart idea to just make the E with my 3 fingers and position it the way I saw it on the board.  It worked, and showed her that my eyesight is terrible, even with my contacts.  I have no idea what the scoring standards are.. but I got a 0.8, Anthony got a 1.5.  I passed though!  

     Back to the DMV and we had to "fill out" another form which meant the receptionist doing it for us as we were annoying foreigners and held up the line.  Man I hate myself sometimes.  They asked for our Chinese names.. I should have told them Pangshi!  But we said we didn't have any, so they just asked how to pronounce our names, and now apparently that's our Chinese names just with a twisted accent.  My 3rd Chinese name now is Ah-Knee-Kuh, Anthony is Ann-Doh-Knee.  

      Now it was time for the written exam.  Anthony and I were called in to a room (by our new names!) along with about 10 others.  As they all sat down at little desks with pencil and paper, they put us at computers.  We took it electronically and needed an 85 to pass.  Poor Anthony didn't study quite enough and got a lot of new questions thrown his way and got a 70, I got a 90 though! So I was on to the next round- driving.

      The only lady who spoke English sent me downstairs and out back to the driving "course."  Good thing no one out there spoke English.  So I stood around for a while with my paper as some guy tried to tell things to me in Chinese and I asked questions and he just smiled.  Finally I got out my phone and called Helen from work to have her translate, and just then the English speaking lady from upstairs showed up.  By this time there were quite a few people driving around and practicing.  The "course" consisted of a straight path with sensors on both sides, it wasn't very long, but you needed to drive slow enough to stay on it for 7 seconds to show you have good balance without falling or putting your feet down or touching the sides.  The second part was a curve with a bunch of different signals or signs that would go off as you approached and you must react accordingly and use your blinkers and everything.  

         By this time I was in a bit of a time crunch as I needed to get to work, but also needed to finish the testing.  I asked the lady how long it would take and she goes "Oh? You want to take test right now? Ok."  She told the man in charge and he yelled something at everyone.  Oh great, I hadn't even gotten my scooter yet, so I guess I didn't get to practice because I didn't know what was going on.  He probably told the people "Oh the foreigner's in a hurry so now you can't practice anymore."  I would have felt pretty silly if I had failed because everyone was around watching.  A few people went before me, and one lady didn't make it.  She couldn't do the straight line and I think stopped over the white lines, a bunch of beeps kept going off.  When it was my turn I was very nervous!  But I made it though, 100 percent!  It was wonderful.  

          Then I only needed to go back upstairs, wait to get my license, and I was done.  And I still made it to work with about 10 minutes before class started! 

My license, which is really just some thick paper and a picture I had left over from my visa to enter Taiwan.