jhong tse 2

Close up of my dumplings. The one on the left with the peanuts (and an egg you can't see) is northern style. The one on the right is southern style - slightly more expesive with mushroom and chestnut.

Jhong tse

I will probably make some factual errors below - I'm remembering the best that I can.

This was just before dragon boat festival (last week) so of course there were lots of jhong tse. These are traditional rice dumplings that I may have written about before. The story behind this holiday involves a patriotic man who was ignored by his king. In despair at seeing his country go down the tubes, he threw himself into a river. In his memory, on this day people have races in dragon boats, which I guess are symbolically racing to rescue him. They also eat these steamed dumplings, which have sticky rice wrapped in a bamboo leaf. Symbolically, I think they are for the fish to eat instead of the man. There are two types of jhong tse in Taiwan, Northern and southern style, the difference being that in the northern the rice is fried first whereas in the southern it is not. Inside the dumplings you will usually find some pork, and some combination of peanuts, shitake mushroom, egg, chestnut, and maybe something else. I find them pretty delicious - note the best ones are usually someone's homemade recipe made by grandma's hands, though these were very good as well.

fruit stand

Here is some of the fruit at the market. The selection here is really outstanding, and the quality is consistently good. On this day at this stand I bought a huge mango that I struggled to get down in one sitting. A huge breakfast for me.

traditional street market Banchiao

About 5 minutes from my apt., I have a traditional market, which consists of a covered street with a lot of stands. Here is a shot of some of the vegetables that I can get there. Communication isn't always easy - these guys don't get too much of my mandarin, and their taiwanese accents are pretty heavy for me. They don't speak too much mandarin here, actually, and I probably know about 10 words in taiwanese. But I get nice stuff at a good price.

hakka soup and tang yuan

The other thing I always get at this place is the tang yuan (soup balls). The come in this rich pork broth with lots of greenery and bits of pork floating in it. Shallots and cilantro give you little hits of flavor. Unfortunately, I don't have a good shot of the balls, but they have a unique, soft chewy consistancy, and the filling is more pork with various flavors. The joy of these is the contrast in textures - The chewy tang yuan with a solid pork filling contrasted with the crispy greens and the silky broth makes it a joy to consume.

hakka style fried noodles

I really like these noodles, and they are very cheap (35NT) because this is a student area. You can see the chinese chives on the left - they are soaked in a sweet soy sauce. Mixed in the noodles are bits of cabbage and fried shallots, for a nice base of flavor.. The piece of pork in here is not huge, but is tender and delicious. The noodles themselves, having been fried with the shallot and cabbage, have a surprisingly deep flavor, salty, oniony, sweet and delicious.

hakka place 1

The Hakka are a group of people in China who have been displaced from their homeland, so they are spread throughout china (and taiwan). This is a restaurant I like to go to near the main train station in taipei. It's decorated with wood and old style chinese stuff - nice!

Mochi ice cream

In the nightmarket, the idea is to walk around and graze on various things. On this night I wasn't that hungry, so in addition to the sausage I only had a mango mochi ice cream. Mochi is a gooey concoction mad from glutinous rice flour. I'm a fan - it's chewy and yet soft. And this particular mochi is filled with creamy ice cream, which makes a nice contrast, especially when You let it warm up a little so the ice cream is soft but still cold. I'm not a huge sweets guy, but I do like these. If you look closely at the green sign, you might be able to see the "Mike" flavor. My hope is that this is supposed to me milk flavor, but, you know, I'm not going to taste it.

sausages and dentistry

Shi Lin night market is famoust for their large sausages. I have a class of teenagers who do nothing but joke about the large sausages available there. The one I had on this particular rainy night was black pepper flavor, and it was pretty good, spicy and a little sweet.

In related news (and what could be more related to food than dentistry?), I went to the dentist today and found a little something. I have to go on monday for some more work - joy. Nice to be insured, though.

More Guo tieh and soup

Some more shots - the black pieces in the soup are the pig blood. I often see the signs for pig blood soup here, and while I appreciate people's willingness not to waste parts of an animal they kill, I'm just too American for that.

Guo Tieh and suan la tang

When I first arrived here, this is something I ate quite a bit of, guo tieh (pot stickers) and suan la tang (hot and sour soup). It's ubiquitous and cheap here - there are several chains that sell it and many independent stands have it too. It's cheap, easy to find food, kind of like a hamburger in the usa. The food pictured is from a chain near my apartment. You can see the 2 sauces they give with it - a mildly spicy sauce and a semi sweet soy sauce. I seldom use them, preferring a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil. And I generally add something similar to my soup. I like the soup from this place because it has a pepperiness and a strong, smoky onion flavor - I notice at least one kind of green onion along with white onions and shallots. Like a lot of the hot and sour soup here, this has the congealed pig blood in it - basically a dark brown strip with the consistency of tofu and little flavor other than a vague iron-y-ness. Still, I don't love it and have to avoid thinking about it or even looking at it while I eat it.

last shots

Here's a few more shots of the stand. They were happy to let me have a photo, but quickly covered the pot of boiling water, I don't know why. Maybe to hide the secret recipe. Note the chinese looking layout to the stand - it wouldn't be out of place here in Taiwan.

where I ate

This stand was right by a very busy road, and the air was filled with tuk tuk fumes and the roar of loud trucks and buses. I meant to get more of it in the pic on the left. In the pic on the right, you can see the remains of my tea, along with the water they wanted me to buy and my beloved spice rack. I'm especially fond of the chili in vinegar.

Thai Chinese soup

Walking on this busy street I saw something that reminded me of Taiwan - a woman sitting in front of a big bowl of a pork green onion mixture making dumplings! Of course I haven't seen this yellow style in Taiwan, and the very yellow noodles are obviously made from the same dough. I'm curious about the Chinese in Thailand - these guys certainly looked more chinese than malay or thai, but different from the people in Taiwan. I wonder where most of them come from. I was also very aware of the number of Indians in Thailand on this trip. Apparently, they make up the bulk of the tourists, and there is a very large community in Bangkok and elsewhere.

The soup was wonderful with a rich pork broth, at least two kinds of onions, and cilantro. Along with the dumplings and noodles there was barbecued pork and rich greens (I may have added a little bit of chili as well). The white round is a slice of daikon, which I'm not the biggest fan of. But that didn't stop this from being a fantastic dinner (along with the tea, spring roll, and papaya salad I had already eaten.)

Thai iced tea

This is a cart I bought some very good tea from. It reminded me a bit of the carts you see all over India selling chai, with a big pot of simmering tea and various containers of God knows what. He strained the tea through a muslin bag and mixed it with the thick milk. It was different from the thai tea I usually get outside of Thailand because it wasn't so sweet - although he added sugar, the condensed milk was unsweetened and I have to admit I preferred it. Again, very nice about the photo - hard to imagine why everyone was so patient with annoying tourist photo requests.

Spring Rolls

These were some little spring rolls I saw on the street right after my salad. Served very very hot with some sweet spicy sour sauce and a little toothpick to eat it with, the one I bought was really great. And only 5 baht, even for a tourist.

Papaya salad 2

Here are some more shots of the papaya salad. Note the long green beans in the salad - they taste a little bit bitter but add a contrasting flavor and texture to the salad. I should mention that Thai people, though aggressive with their business seem to be almost universally friendly and accommodating when there is no money involved. Everyone I asked about a photo (and this is in Bangkok) said yes and smiled for my shot. This lady and the guy to the right who sold juice were very nice.

thailand - Green Papaya salad 1

I'm back from Thailand. Unfortunately, I don't have as many photos as I would like - I feel slightly more paranoid about my camera in Thailand because of all the people grabbing at me to get my attention and sell me something. Not as relaxing as I would have liked, but of course I had good food. Above you see some green papaya salad I bought on the street. This little beauty along with some sugary orange juice concoction from the cart next door cost me about 40 baht. This salad can be ok outside of Thailand, but never seems to be anything other than great in Thailand. The truly sublime stuff has crab meet along with the fiery chili, lots of lime, fish sauce, sweet tomatoes, peanuts, and the little brine shrimp that show up in so much Thai food. While this salad was great, it wasn't my favorite - they used the dry chili instead of my preferred fresh, and didn't have the crab. By the way, 2 things I learned in thai this trip: prik = chili and alloi = delicious. Mei (with a rising tone, i think) seems to be the question word, so to ask if something is delicious you say Alloi mei?

papaya milk.

I'm not generally a huge fan of milk. But I like papaya and the combination can be nice. I think papaya is supposed to have enzymes that help digest protein, so I like to drink it when I eat meat. Note the huge bottle of water - I go through at least one of those every evening. Clearly, I believe in the value of hydration.

Shuei jiao

So, here you have an over exposed shot of my dumplings, along with the pot of boiling shuei jiao and the table on the street where the girl makes them at lightning speed. Of course she also handles the money and doesn't wash her hands much (occasionally she'll dip 'em in a bucket of water, no soap) but I figure the dip in the boiling water kills most things. So far, so good, touch wood. It's worth the risk, imho.

tsong yo bing

Here is my Beijing tsong yo bing. You can see that I couldn't wait and took a bite.

shuei jiao and beijing tsong yo bing

This was my lunch today. Tsong yo bing is popular in taipei, but the taiwanese style is more of a flat pancake, filled with some kind of green onions and is usually very oily. This place near my work does something different - a coil of hollow bread, just a little crispy on the outside with a soft, slightly oily inside filled with chinese chives. It's really good - slightly salty with a good onion flavor. I like it with chili sauce or by itself. It's 30 Nt.

I also had shuei jiao (I'm not bothering with pinyin, just writing it like I think it sounds, btw) from the place I like near my work. These are the standard water dumplings, homemade with a pork mixture shoved in a wrapper of dough and boiled in a huge pot. The ground pork is mixed with green onions, and sometimes a little black pepper, ginger, and soy sauce. They usually throw some sesame oil on top before they serve it to keep it from sticking to the box. I usually dip it in a soysauce, rice vinegar mixture which adds a nice salty sour sweet flavor. It's 50 NT (maybe 1.75 us) so it's a bit pricey, but worth it.

The end result, 10 minutes later

Well, that was good. If I'm a good boy, I will be regular with this. Future posts should look at my neighborhood traditional market, filled with amazing fruit and vegetables, along with chickens being slaughtered and pigs being butchered in front of you. I also have an excellent fried rice place and a fish soup place in my hood that I want to post about. I'm going to thailand soon, so that provide something. And I will be in a nightmarket tonight, so maybe I will add more later.

My dinner, sunday june 3rd

closeups

Dinner Time with foot

Liang Mian on the left. Mian Xian on the right. My foot on the bottom. Yum.

mian xian shop

This is the shop. Maybe you can see the menu and the prices. They also have tian bu la, which is their transliteration of tempura and literally means "sweet, not spicy." In taiwan, the tempura is different, usually involving a fish mash inside a fried coating. i like it - though i prefer the japanese version.

mian xian

big pot of mian xian. Note the pot of intestines middle left and the cilantro and cash in the upper left.

rebirth

So, I'm going to start posting again, at Charlie's suggestion, with a focus on the food I'm eating. Today I will be discussing Mian Xian (sounds more like mien shienne) and Liang Mian that I buy in my neighborhood. These are noodle dishes, they are both very delicious, and at 60 NT (under 2 us dollars) for both with all you can drink cheap tea, a great bargain. I ate them tonight and it was great.

I like the Uh Ah Mian Xian. Uh Ah is the onomatopoeic taiwanese word for oyster, and this mien xian has oysters along with fine noodles and a thick broth. Usually they sprinkle a little cilantro on top and I occasionally add a bit of chili, though it's not neccesary. I always have to ask them to omit the pig intestine they like to add - I tried it once and found it a bit rubbery with a fairly foul flavor - not for me. Without them, the mian xian has a great, smokey oniony flavor with meaty chunks of oyster and an herbal note from the cilantro. It is wonderful on a cold, wet night, but still good on a hot day.

Liang Mian means "cool noodles" and is perfect for a hot day. It's very simple, with fairly standard noodles topped with sliced cucumber and a slightly sweet, nutty sauce that I think is Miso though it may also have some peanuts involved. I never add chili to this because the flavor is pretty delicate, and I can't say I enjoy it as much as the mian xian, but I do like it and order it to balance the strong flavors in the mian xian. The crispy cucumbers and the soft but firm noodles are a nice contrast.

I'll try to get those pics up soon.

well, it's been a long time. I should post more, or maybe I shouldn't. Anyway...

May- I went back to the nyc area for several weeks. It was a lot of fun.

June- I went to Taroko gorge, Taiwan's grand canyon. I went alone and it was beautiful. I saw a spider as big as my hand. I watched a world cup game in a crappy hotel room. Oh, and I won my office world cup pool (I bet on Italy, because England was already taken).

July - Nice and hot. I went down to the beach in Kenting and met up with my former coworker Danesh who was in Taiwan for a few weeks. I had a nice time sitting on the beach, reading my favorite japanese writer (Natsume Soseki) and relaxing in cafes.

August - I turned 35 this month. I have been running all summer in an attempt to stop myself from getting too fat. My boss told me he was leaving in september to go back to school. The 7-11's have been giving away Doraemon magnets - I currently have a full set - and selling Hoegarten beer, which I like. Other than my birthday, which was just ok, I had a nice august.

September - here I am. I have a new boss. A new office (good- fewer roaches, not rats and therefore no rat feces around the office bad - my workspace is even worse. I miss my old boss. The new office seems to encourage my crazy students to act even crazier.) Life is currently up in the air while I decide what my next move should be. I'm looking at visiting Charlie in London this November, and hopefully seeing my mom in france and maybe catching a soccer game while i'm in england.

I guess that's about it. I have an ipod now, but I'm afraid to take it outside because it's too damn pretty and expensive. I drink a lot of tea. I'm not currently going to chinese class, though I'm still working on my own and having a language exchange. and the cat is still driving me crazy.

anyway

So, that was fun. It was enjoyable to reminisce about my vacation, and it made me glad I kept a journal. So I got back in early January, worked for a few weeks, then came chinese new year. I went to Taichung to see my coworker Rodger (he showed me around), and went to a Burmese neighborhood with my boss Lyon (we ate delicious Mohinga, and more. I bought some mango chutney type things and spices. Lyon bought Beedhis.) I need to go back to that neighborhood sometime. February, nothing happened. March, I discovered a reasonably priced thai massage place nearby. I have enjoyed that, though they just raised their price so I can't go as often.

Right now, Sherry is taking care of something in the usa, so richard is watching her dog, shiao pang (little fatty). He is a big sweet black lab with a destructive tail and an interest in putting things in his mouth. Last night he came over and r's cat freaked. It started making deep moaning noises and steered clear. The dog was curious and would occasionally approach, scaring the cat. Finally, the cat started hissing and eventually swiped at the dog's nose, drawing blood. Dominance settled, the cat set about staring the dog down and basically being unpleasant. I know that it's a territorial thing, but seeing this annoying, unaffectionate cat stare down a sweet dog that just wants to please made me feel a little angry and more negatively towards the cat than I have ever felt. I wish we had a nice dog instead of a mean spirited cat living here.

thailand journal entry

The landing in Bangkok was unpleasant - I experienced sharp shooting pain in my ear, like someone was jamming an ice pick into my head. Nice. I guess I'm getting sensitive to air pressure, just what I need. I felt pretty delirious when I arrived. I reserved a hotel and was ready to go when I realized I had forgotten to pick up my bags. I was really disoriented and had to get back in to the secure area, which took forever and was no fun, while a driver was already waiting for me. It took about an hour. I had already wasted time trying to get a visa that I didn't need. Note- travelling without a brain is not a good idea. That pain really wacked me. I stayed the night (or at least a few hours of it) in a hotel near the airport, then moved to a different, nicer hotel in the city. I spent the morning walking around the area, bought an arsenal cap, some dvds, and an amazing green papaya salad filled with all kinds of strange delicious things and fiery hot. The weather was sunny and beautiful in the 90's. It felt very good. In the evening I went to see Muay Thai and drank beer. I got back to the hotel, talked to Cindy and went to bed. Today I just hung out around the Siam center area looking at fancy malls, etc. and by the pool near my hotel. I will got home and get a massage and maybe some good food. (I ended up getting ok food at one of the seafood places where you pick the fish and they prepare it for you as you like.)

I slept well that night (after I watched a soccer game - they are constantly playing in Thailand) and left for Taiwan the next morning. It was nice to be back, but kind of sad too. Colder. But I enjoyed speaking Mandarin again. I had a melancholy afternoon unpacking, cleaning, and reminiscing.

india journal entry 5

(this entry was written in a starbucks in Bangkok. All of the others were written in the beach house in Puri, except for the first one which was written in the Bangkok airport on the way out, and this next little part which I'm remembering now)

The time in Puri was quite nice. The weather was wonderful and we strolled on the beautiful beach. I think Kevin swam, though I never went further than wading my feet in. This because the fishing village to the left used the beach as a bathroom, so the sand was littered with feces. And if you walked far enough to the right, you discovered the stream leading from the sewer to the water. A little too much poo for my taste. Still, the sand was nice, it was exciting to see the fishing boats, and I love sleeping near the sea. There were some nice, semi wild dogs around with lots of cute puppies, but of course they added to the poo quotient. The house had stairs leading directly to the beach, and a nice lush garden on the opposite side. Our cook made eggs and toast for us every morning but one, and I was smart enough to ask for the onion and chili eggs, which were delicious. For our final meal, we had coconut shrimp with lots of naan and daal. Yum. Before we left, a pearl salesman came and Shastine bought some beautiful pearls, including dark bluish ones that I have never seen before) for the jewelry she makes.

Day in Konarch

We went to the sun temple in the evening, which was a lot of fun. Erotic art, ruins, many locals asking to take photos with us, etc. Our tour guide was quite old, but helpful if a little hard to understand sometimes. We saw some aggressive monkeys as we left stealing food and generally looking dangerous. The sun was setting on the temple, which was nice, but the mosquitoes were also coming out in greater numbers. Afterwards, we met Jamie and Matt and went for beers at their hotel. I should mention that we had a personal driver arranged by the house which felt very Raj to me. He played Michael Jackson's greatest hits over and over.

The next day, I woke up early and had an Ayurvedic massage. It was ok, but it was in a hut and it was still cool in the morning, so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. I liked the stinky ayurvedic oils though. On the way out of Orissa we stopped and bought the cheap colorful lanterns that are everywhere here. Our driver had changed to Indian music at the request of Nora and Shastine, which was a nice change to be honest. The Orissan countryside was very beautiful, filled with palm trees, tropical fields, farmers, temples, etc. and the weather was sunny and warm. When we got to Bubaneshwar, we ate some mediocre overpriced food and visited the misnamed peace pagoda. This pagoda had been built by some japanese in the 70's. Forceful monks dragged us to various locations and blessed us in all sorts of ways, marking foreheads, giving leaves to eat, chanting, etc. and then hitting us up for money. No chance of peace here! Nice view of the area, though, as it was built on a hill.

Outside of Bubaneshwar, we visited the meditation caves used by Jain ascetics and we were completely swarmed by mosquitoes. You have to hand it to those jains, being able to meditate while millions of mosquitoes attacked. Shastine bought some food to give to monkeys from one of the hawkers who swarmed the car when we got out, but there was nary a monkey to be seen other then some disinterested guys hanging out on a fairly distant rooftop. The caves weren't that great, though I did enjoy imagining what it was like to be there meditating for years in a tiny cave. graffiti on the walls now, of course.

For the train back to Kolkata, the girls had first class tickets while Kevin and I shared a cabin with a family of serious snorers. Kevin slept deeply, I slept just ok and felt tired when I arrived in the city. When we did arrive, we took a taxi to Ruichi's (Shriya's mom) to drop off our bags. It was still very early, and noone was answering the door, so Kevin and I went for a walk and chat around the neighborhood while the girls waited to be let in. When we came back, they were inside and asleep. We chilled and I took a nap after they woke up. A shawl salesman with gorgeous hand embroidered cashmere and other shawls showed up and I was impressed with how beautiful and ornate they are. We ate delicious biryani and papadam with lots of lime pickle that Ruichi had prepared by her cook. We went out and did errands and walked. I bought spices and hung out with Kevin. We took the Kolkata subway until I said goodbye and got off to return to Ruichi's and pick up my bag. I had a quick tea there, then took a rickety cab to the very mosquitoey airport. After a long wait, I was off to Bangkok.

india journal entry 4

1/2

We walked around the area of our chateau after that, did some shopping, etc. Came back and slept, which felt great - I was still very tired. Woke up, drank beer, and played dominoes (Shastine beat the crap out of me). Kevin woke up and we went out for a huge dinner and drank a bit more beer. Came home and took a shower (the bathrooms were a bit dicey - lots of bugs and problems with hot water. But the shower felt wonderful. ) Went to bed and slept soundly. This morning we ate breakfast at a hotel next door to our villa with Matt and Jamie.

Will's wedding

was very interesting. Lots of chanting, throwing offerings (ghee, mostly) into the sacred fire, etc. Delicious food, as usual. I hung out with Leslie which was fun. Before the wedding, Will rode in on a horse while a great Indian marching band played and all of Will's friends and familly (including me) danced in front. It was hot, and I was wearing the same korta I had danced in the night before, so things may have been getting a little funky, but it was fun. While Will's bro was distracted from his role as protector, Shriya's sisters stole Will's shoes. It's traditional for him to then bribe them to get them back. Negotiation went on for most of the day as various items from both sides were stolen (Jack showed particular skill and enthusiasm) until Will caved and gave all the money he had. In the evening we went to the second oldest golf club in the world (from back in the raj days) and had more excellent food. Finally we went to a bar/club at a hotel which was expensive but fun.

Dance Party

The day before the wedding, there was a day party where all of the women got their mehti (the henna/hand design thing). Everyone hung out and chatted and helped the women (who couldn't move their hands for a couple hours) eat lunch and drink water. Later, we came back to the same place for an Indian dance demonstration, Will,Jack, and Matt's capoeira demo, and finally a dj and dancing on the stage. This was the first stage in the funkifying of my korta.

india journal entry 3

1/1

Took the train for Puri from Calcutta last night. I was so exhausted I could barely stay upright long enough to get into the train. We (Kevin, Shastine, Norah, and I) sat in the busy Calcutta train station and ate some snacks I got while we waited. I got about 9 hours of sleep in the rugged sleeper car. It was cold and loud, but I was knocked out. I felt much better after having got about 20 minutes of sleep the night before. There was some challenge involved in finding our driver and getting to the guest house when we arrived in Puri, and of course we were besieged by taxi drivers and hotel buskers while we waited. We finally made it here and it's really nice - an old, charming building on the beach with high ceilings and a friendly staff who wait on us and make us delicious meals. We just got back from a walk and we saw the big local temple that we are not allowed to enter. We gave a guy 50 rupees to take us to the top of a roof so we could see the temple a little bit better. Lots of monkeys involved.

india journal entry 2

12/29

Calcutta is the dirtiest place in the world. The air is unbelievable - just stepping outside makes me feel filthy. I''m already over my intestinal problems, which is nice. I'm surrounded by amazing food, none of which I can eat. I'm sharing a room with Josh - Will's cousin who I knew in high school - which is fine, though it's a bit more expensive than I would have expected. Yesterday I walked all over through filthy streets crowded with people. I bought a korta, shirts, sheets, a blanket, pillow cases, a bag, etc. All very cheap. Today people are getting hennaed and I'm going to try to find a phone to make an international call. I need to take more photos. My pants got very dirty yesterday, so I need to buy more today and get some laundry done. (those pants - chinos - were ruined with an oil stain as I brushed up against some kind of exposed machinery on an unbelievably crowded street. They're teaching pants now.)

india journal entry 1

well, here are the entries i made in my journal when i was in india back in january. perhaps not as fascinating as they should be, considering how great india was.

thoughts on thai airways:

Marketing possibilities-
1. Market to aviation history buffs who want to fly in an antique plane.

2. Market to contortionists looking for new challenges.

The airport in bangkok offers excellent simultaneous foot and shoulder massages for 600 baht.
But, the room I was given to crash for a few hours kicked me out 2 hours before my plane started boarding for Kolkata. It was a miserable, dingy room, but i really appreciated having it. The thai food in the airport, overpriced and small portions, was still the best thai food I had had in years!

i'm back!

sorry it's been so long! I've got a lot of catching up to do, and i will start with India. I was there over New Years and I have some stuff that I wrote in a journal that I plan to put up. I will do it soon, but now just rest assured that I am still alive and still thinking of you, my adoring public.

election

just a quick post. it's quite rainy and cold now - unpleasant weather to ride my scooter in. Had to buy a new raincoat yesterday, and i wear semi-waterproof pants every day. yuck.

last week was the big election, which to me meant annoying trucks blocking traffic and blasting indecipherable messages over a loud speaker. the green side lost out to the blue side, apparently. Whatever that means. i'm glad it's over.

gearing up for Will's wedding in india. it feels like it's coming up, and i'm really looking forward to it.

stache pt.2

i shaved my ridiculous mustache to an almost pencil mustache last night. I got rid of the pencil stache this morning.

new

Well, the weather is lousy now, winter has begun. Up until this week, it has been sunny and in the 80's, just right. Now it's rainy and cold and i'm grumpy all the time. i'm kind of bored, so I'm growing a fu manchu mustache. it looks disgusting - one of my students saw me, pointed to around his mouth and said: "teacher, yuck." that about sums it up. richard was up when i got up yesterday to eat breakfast wearing jeans and no shirt. he correctly pointed out that i looked like a gay biker. why am i doing this? ...

richard's cat fell off the balcony on saturday night and broke his pelvis. he has one of those plastic things around his neck, and seldom eats or drinks. he looks doped and miserable (which he is).

chinese class is moving brusquely, but i continue to enjoy it. i got my visa and plane ticket for india, so now i just need some shots. I also renewed my alien resident certificate this week. I have been sick (wow! so different...) and busy, so my workouts have suffered, which has no doubt contributed to my crappy mood. hopefully, photos will come soon.

India

Well, I'm currently trying to book a flight to Calcutta, my old friend Willard is getting married there and I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to go and see it. Finding a decent travel agent who speaks english is somewhat less exciting. The one I'm trying to work with was kind of rude and not helpful the last time I worked with them - this time they're just slow to respond to my questions. I'm going to have to get lots of shots, too, which I'm really looking forward to. Actually being there should be pretty interesting, if I ever make it.

Other than that, not too much is new. As the weather turns cold and rainy, my omnipresent cold is returning. I am still lifting weights three times a week, which makes me feel a bit better. My airconditioner is now off, so the power bill should be a lot smaller. Chinese class has finally reached the chapter I was at when I took a break in June (I really needed the review) and continues to be challenging. My major weakness is listening and understanding what people say. My hearing isn't that great to begin with - even in english I say "what?" way too much. I want an ear horn so I can say "speak up sonny!" with more conviction. Throw in a few Chinese words I don't know and whole sentences become incomprehensible to me. I'm trying to watch more Chinese movies and practice, but they speak so damn fast. And even if I catch the sound and the tone, Chinese has plenty of homonyms. People (chinese teachers and such) will tell you that Chinese grammar is easy, and I guess it's easier than french or english, but it's different from what I'm used to so I still make plenty of errors. On Monday we have a listening test - the last one we had I got a 39 on, and I was about average for the class, with many students doing less well. Frustrating.

back again

I know that there has been a long delay - I moved and it took a while to get myself set up. My new place is outside of keelung up in the mountains and cleaner air. I'm also closer to jiu fen, the mountain town with beautiful views and teahouses. It's been an expensive move, but I know have a computer that can actually access all websites (!) and my own air conditioner(!!). The place is cleaner, newer, a little bit smaller, and slightly cheaper. We are within walking distance of a mega mart, kind of like a taiwanese walmart without all of the negative connotations (that I know of). I'm pretty happy to be here. I'm also fully back into chinese class, which is good. Work continues along, though I should be getting a raise fairly soon. Today I picked up the results of my yearly medical - I'm sure that everyone will be happy to hear that I'm free of HIV, syphyllis, and tuberculosis. Yay me!

hi

i'm getting tired of junk posts on my blog.

n.

yet another typhoon day pt 2

Other things-

My old computer finally decided it couldn't go on. I now have a new used computer that is substantially better, so I should soon be able to post photos. Plus, I can actually see my own blog! Wow!

I have a regular workout schedule, and the physical activity is making me feel better. I need it.

Started Chinese class again this week. Going back a few chapters to review. The teacher is good (i think - she taught me bopomofo, the basic phoenetic system for learning chinese in taiwan) though i miss my old teacher. This teacher does allow some english, and occasionally the students just start random conversations. It's hard to hear the lesson when there are 3 loud conversations going on, in english, japanese, and korean while the teacher is speaking. I think it's kind of rude, and certainly annoying, but I don't want to be the guy who tells these assholes to shut up. Hopefully it will get too dificult and they will drop out soon. anyway, i'm excited to be back in class.

Our landlady is going to sell this apt., so we need to move. She is not a great landlady, so we would probably move after this lease anyway. We looked at a new place last night. Substantially cheaper, but smaller too. Secure building, convenient to a pool and a nice place to walk or run. Has its own little park/courtyard. Seems quiet. It's outside of the city, so the air is cleaner. But we need to furnish it (AC, bed, tables, chairs, couch, etc. There is a commute. And expenses are starting to add up right now as my work hours decrease. Still, a change might be nice. It's closer to the mountains and the teahouses in Jiufun. And I do like the clean air.

yet another typhoon - pt 1 parade

Another typhoon today means time to write.

The week of my birthday concluded with a ghost festival parade. Keelung has one of two in Taiwan, and I hear that it is the best. The parades here are one of my favorite things about Taiwan. I took pictures and crappy movies on my digital camera, but I don't think that they truly capture the combination of color, movement, crazy sounds, sacred, and profane themes that go on in a parade, especially a big one like this. Maybe I can upload some of the photos soon. All kinds of trucks go by, some with buddhas, some with smiling beauty queens, some with cheerleaders, civic leaders, etc. Some are decorated like temples, some like wierd outdoor seens, some not at all. The music can be classical chinese, soulless techno, western classical, or pop music, usually pumped exremely loudly out of speakers with extreme distortion. Sometimes the music is live, especially the drum music that I like here. The drums are usually pulled by a truck, on several little train sections snaking behind. Sometimes there are dancers (my favorite was the kids drum and dance team dressed in traditional taiwanese clothes). Frequently there are identically dressed representatives of some political group, who do nothing but look vaguely surly. The giant God costumes have strangely swinging arms and remarkable faces. There were a couple of groups of dragon dancers. There were fireworks, and random firecrackers exploding throughout. At the back of the parade, some kids on racing motorcycles and ATV's just rode around. At a midway point on the parade route, there was a stage set up where a local rock band played. It was very interesting to listen to them play in competition with a marching band, two traditional Taiwanese drum groups, and someone speaking on a loudspeaker. Total aural chaos. August in Keelung is super hot, so a mayoral candidate had people circulating and handing out fans with his smiling, Alfred E. Newman face on them (I kept mine). It was all very interesting. I ran into my boss and he explained to me that this is the one festival where all 3 major religious traditions (Buddhism, Daoism, and the local ancester worship) have a big holiday. He also told me that last year there were african dancers and Thai acrobats. At a certain point, I was very tired and kind of numb from sensory overload so I went home, but I probably missed interesting things.

birthday

My birthday on the 16th was extremely fun. I drove my new scooter
through the mountains to Fulong beach. The scooter is a 125, so it
has the power to get me up the hill. The air in the mountains was
very clean, cooler, and filled with nice smells. There were beautiful
views of mountains, fog, and the ocean. It really made me feel like I
wasn't wasting my time here. It was a long ride, and I was happy when
I made it to the beach. The beach was ok, not great, but I didn't
wear my swimtrunks (I hadn't planned to go that far) so I just rested
and looked at the water. I rode home along the coast - not a bad
ride, and quicker, but not as beautiful as the ride in. When I got
home, Richard fried up an andouille sausage and handed me a margarita.
I went online to find an interesting restaurant, and finally decided
on a Taiwanese place in Taipei. It was an old house, unusual in
Taiwan, but it was dark and I couldn't see it. Beautiful view of
Taipei though. The food was just ok, but it was pleasant eating
outside and looking at the city lights. Dogs and cats approached us
to say hello and a fan kept the bugs away. We took a taxi to a famous
foreigner bar (Brass Monkey) and had a couple of drinks before heading
home. I got a lot of sun and slept like a baby.

another typhoon

Currently, we are having another typhoon, which means a fairly boring
day. Bad weather, can't do laundry, going to taipei is less
interesting, and half of the stores in town are closed so I can't do
the shopping I need to do. I'm going to try to do some chinese
studying - without class my discipline has been terrible. Also have
some work I need to do at the office, but it's closed so I have to go
in early tomorrow. *sigh* Typhoons are pretty much a waste of time.

typhoon

looks like class will be cancelled tomorrow because of the typhoon. i
find typhoons kinda exciting and i can use the time to catch up on
some work and projects.

hot

today I woke up and looked at weather.com. At 9:30 AM it was 90
degrees, 99 with heat index. Apparently it will get much hotter in
August. Wow. A friend/co-worker is leaving for Canada tomorrow and
gave me her heater - I certainly felt silly walking down the street,
drenched in sweat, bringing a heater home.

I have many new classes and I am quite busy. Today I had my last one
on one class with an adult who is applying to the University of
Wisconsin's graduate literature program. I read most of her thesis
about a Doris Lessing novel I have never read. I was very impressed
with her ability to write about complex literary theory in English.
She is currently teaching english at a junior college here, and
although her speaking abilities still need a bit of work, she writes
english at a level beyond most native speakers. We talked about
Foucault, bell hooks, Julia Kristeva, and various takes on the idea of
"hybridity" among other things. It was interesting to talk about
books, philosophy, and theory with someone and get paid for it. I
used to give that away! Conversely, I'm currently teaching the ABC's
to small children in a summer intensive. Although I have been doing
some 7 hour days, it looks like I will soon have fridays off, so
hopefully I can do a little bit of exploring around the island soon.
And I need to get back into some kind of Chinese studying routine - I
miss it a great deal. Some of my time is also being eaten up by the
weight bench I just bought - I already feel better after just 3
workouts this week. I really needed that thing.

every day

right now i am being assaulted by the jack hammer that wakes me up
every day at 7:30. It's pretty damn unpleasant. First, the apartment
across from me (about 12 feet from my bedroom) was being redone, now
the pavement below me is being dug up (maybe 20 feet away, but they
jackhammer in pairs (and right now as a trio!), each jackhammer with a
different rate of hammer, like a duet of the most unpleasant music you
can imagine, and you feel it in the floor.) So FUCKING loud! I am
cranking very loud music, and I can still barely hear it. Added to the
oppressive heat, my lack of sleep and unpleasant wake up has kept me
feeling extremely cranky, like I want to punch someone in the face and
just beat the living shit out of someone. I cleaned up a giant dead
roach in my room last night. I only ever see dead roaches in here,
but i may need to change my traps soon. I love my roach traps - my
small room has maybe five of them. Certainly overkill, but that's
just how i feel. Bastards. I need to buy a weight bench soon.

dragon boat festival

Yesterday was dragon boat festival, the big early summer festival in
Taiwan. Traditionally it involves watching boats with dragons on them
race and eating a food called jhong-tse. The jhong-tse are pretty
good - they are made by putting glutinous rice in a bamboo leaf with
pork, mushroom, peanuts, and egg. They are then steamed (in the north
of Taiwan they fry the glutinous rice before they add it so it has
more oil and a bit more flavor). The story of the dragon boat festival
is pretty interesting - long ago in a kingdom in China there was a man
who loved his country a great deal. He had many ideas about how his
great country should be run, but the king of the country would not
listen to him. This made him so depressed that he through himself
into a river to his death. So symbolically, the dragon boat races
represent trying to rescue this man from the river. And when he was
in the river, people were afraid that the fish would eat his body, so
they made the jhong-tse for them to eat instead. Anyway, I got the
day off, which meant my first 2 day weekend in months (yay!).

what's new?

Really, not too much is new. Richard's dad came into town last night,
and I have enjoyed talking with him. He was in the u.s. military here
in the late 60's and early '70's, speaks Chinese pretty well, and
generally seems like a nice and interesting guy. I have been watching
the show Firefly (Richard is a fan) recently, and that's pretty fun.
Work continues to be about the same. I eliminated all files from my
computer that don't pertain to internet, listening to music, and
watching movies, so things are running a bit better (though I still
can't access many sites). Chinese class is shrinking again and I will
be sorry to leave, though I'm thinking about doing 1/week private
lessons to keep myself honest as I try to review (depends on the price
and my work schedule). And that, is really, about it.

easy to blog, annoying to throw away garbage/recycling

So, I'm happy to say that I've found an easier way to post, so I may
be able to do it more regularly. I think I have also made it easier
to leave a comment (you don't have to register anymore) so, you're
welcome. Today I will bitch about the stupid garbage system here. As
I have mentioned before, garbage in Taiwan is picked up by a big ice
cream truck that plays Fur Eloise over an over again. You can't just
leave it in a dumpster, you have to lug it yourself. For me that
means steep stairs, 3 blocks, and crossing a very busy street. But
even more of a pain in the ass, the truck comes at 5pm and 7pm, two
times when I am working every day of the week. On Saturday and Sunday
I can do it, but the recyling truck isn't there. Since almost
everything in Taiwan is recycled, and Richard and I go through
prodigious amounts of paper, aluminum, glass, and plastic, we have
very quickly accumulated massive bags of recycling. Which makes for
heavy trips when we somehow are able to catch the truck. Richard gets
some days off during the week, so he was previously able to take
things out, but now that he has a broken ankle (and will for the next
2 to 5 months!) it is basically on me, and I can't do it. People have
suggested paying someone to do it for us, but I have no idea how to go
about finding someone and no one has thus far been able to help. It
is becoming somewhat urgent, as the weather is hovering in the humid
upper eighties and low nineties and promising to get hotter.
Remember, we have kitty litter and bags of used toilet paper (no
flushing!) in addition to the beer and soda cans that the flies love
so much, so things will very quickly get pretty disgusting. We are
going to have to do something to resolve this soon.
In other news, I'm actually enjoying the warmth and feeling more
healthy. I take lots of supplements and drink fresh fruit juice every
day. I have lost muscle and gained fat here, so I will need to
increase the amount of exercize I do somehow.

post

just experimenting to see if I can post through email. After a brief
respite, the rain is back - I have another long saturday tomorrow.
while i feel better, i wonder if my bronchitis is not chronic.
usually, older smokers and people who work in places like coal mines
get bronchitis - yay me!

cool

This morning i got to look out my balcony as a parade turned around down below. VERY loud firecrackers, then the usual big drum and many gongs. Then tiger dancers, then 20 guys with 4 foot long horns that sounded low and strange. Then 3 paolanquins with incense burning in front and Gods inside. Some Gods are having a birthday. Everyone clasps their hands together (usually with incense in their hands) and bows as the Gods are carried by. Now it's gone and I can just hear the old Chinese songs played on the loudspeaker in my neighborhood. It has become hot, so the doors are closed and occasionally the AC is on. It is a beautiful sunny day. And I am hardly sick at all! I'm thinking of taking a trip to the beach sometime soon.

On the other hand, R. broke his ankle and isn't getting around very well. He will have surgery on tuesday, but until then he is trapped in the house, mostly on the couch in front of the tv. I don't envy him - being in pain and bored is really awful. His uncle in Taipei has checked up on him and brought him food a couple of times, which is nice.

always sick

i have been sick for the past two weeks. went to the doctor (i have insurance!) and it turns out i have bronchitis. i have been taking medicine for 4+ days now, but it really hasn't done much other than make me feel tired and extra spacey. i have slept a lot, drank fluids to the point of complete saturation, and fallen behind in my chinese class. fun! my hope is that it will clear up soon, but who knows. i have many classes wrapping up, which means final exams to grade and grade reports to write. lots of work, and not much fun if i'm ill. oi. outside richard's window right now the drony trumpet is playing, alongside all types of gongs, intercut with a duet of a cappella sad singing in taiwanese. i believe it is part of a funeral. nice, and certainly strange, but it has been going on all day. it is also quite humid and warm, pretty much what you would expect in a tropical country. i will be happy to feel healthy again.

last night

i went out to karaoke with r. it was ok, but there were very few songs i recognized and for some reason the machine wasn't actually able to play them. i sang "california girls" and "california dreaming." i don't know brittany spears' songs or any taiwanese pop songs.

actually...

i didn't sleep on grave sweeping day. i took an extremely twisty busride to a mountain town called jiu fen. The ride there almost made me throw up, but once i got there it was great. it was a beautiful day, and a holiday, so the place was packed. there was a main walk way, with vendors selling tea, mochi, and various other snacks and gew gaws. too crowded for me, but i enjoyed the tea and mochi samples, and i ate bbq'd cho dofu and trumpet mushrooms which were very delicious. i went down a side road and through a passageway that was about 5feet tall to a beautiful teashop filled with antiques, a koi pond, and strange chinese cats. It had an amazing view from which i could see the fog roll in off the ocean and get trapped in the valleys between myself and the water. my photos don't really do it justice, but if i was able to post photos i would (email me if you want one sent to your inbox). i sat there drinking tea and studying chinese until the sun got too low and made me leave. then i wandered around for a while until it started getting cool and dark. i was desperate for a taxi, but figuring out how to get one was beyond my chinese skills. the bus ride home was dreadful - i almost passed out. luckily, this girl offered me her seat and i spent the trip with my head between my legs trying not to throw up. oi. i was nauseous for the next few days, and only now has my head stopped spinning. i would like to go back, but i have to figure out a different way.

grave sleeping day

nothing new. just busy with class and work. the weather seems to be improving. i'm tired all the time. finished atomised, which i had read before under the title the elementary particles. not bad. french. a new canadian at work rants against the french quite frequently. he drinks a lot and looks like the family guy. i ignore him. my computer is no better and i'm not sure where to look for solutions. i am accessing the net through a network with r's computer, and he doesn't want to switch to linux. plus, command lines and text make me nervous. this tuesday is grave sweeping day - it is a national holiday during which people sweep their ancestors tombs. I will be sleeping.

sorry

unfortunately, my computer has had all kinds of crazy problems lately, so blogs have been very difficult to post. i'm not able to access this site, or hotmail, or random other sites. i have no idea why. i'm currently writing on r's computer. things that have happened since last post - i tried absinthe in taipei with a friend who has since left for korea, i saw a lantern festival (at the end of chinese new year) and ate asst. interesting and delicious foods, i became sick, jacques left, i picked up several new classes, and asst other crap. by request, i will try to get a photo of r. and i up on the site soon, if i'm able to figure out the problem. the weather is getting warmer, which is nice. next post shouldn't take so long to get up, bimshallah.

nonstop

the rain never stops. it's getting to be oppressive. a dog has been howling since i got home from work last night. i need sleep.

vacation

so i got this entire week off. i did most of the things i had planned, but it rained every day and in general it was a pretty boring week. my job didn't pay us before the break and didn't give us a bonus (traditional on chinese new year) so i have no money to do anything particularly involved. although it is nice in southern taiwan, everyone goes there now so things are very expensive and booked up regardless. i'm pretty much trapped. i've watched several movies and cleaned the house. i've organized some work stuff. i've read a book. i've even studied a little chinese. i've cooked a little, but for some reason taiwan doesn't have any lemons, an essential ingredient in what i want to cook and a staple food in most countries i've been to. very strange. anyway, back to work on monday. i would have preferred 3 days off now and 2 days off in the summer, but that is not to be.

chinese new years

it was chinese new year on wednesday. on thursday night i went over to my language exchange partner's house (her name is Karen) and had a very nice meal, drank some monstrous liquor, and played cards until after midnight. it was nice to see what taiwanese people do to celebrate. several of the meals had symbolic meanings - fish (very fresh, prepared with ginger and green onions, very tender) represents wealth, boy choy (with garlic, i like it very much) represents long life, and i believe that the pigs feet stew (cooked for 3 days - very tender! and better than it sounds) represented god knows what. another dish, a vegetable and pork stew, could be literally translated as "buddhist monk jumps over the monestary wall because it smells so good," so named because the vegetarian chinese buddhist monks couldn't eat the meat dish. we also had chicken with the head still on, which represented the health of the home, important for karen's two recently married brothers. karen told me that if the head of the chicken points at you (and it inevitably pointed at everyone being as it was on a big lazy susan) it means that you will be fired from your job in the next year. nice to know i have something to look forward to. we drank plum wine that karen's aunt made -very nice- and i had what i believe was sorghum liquor - very strong and a little bit foul. we watched some crappy taiwanese variety shows (think donnie and marie) and some crappy harry potter movie while we played cards (seven star) until it passed midnight. anyway, it was all very interesting and i appreciated the invitation.

haircut

i took my language exchange partner and got a haircut recently. it was very nice - long shoulder, neck, and scalp massage along with shampoo and a cut for around $10 us. my barber was kind of pushy - she wanted to give me a cesar, and she insisted it would make me look younger. having a dumb and dumber haircut may make me look younger, but i don't want to look like a young mentally retarded boy.

these are my new slippers (we don't wear shoes indoors.) i paid about $1.50 US - rip off or bargain? 

rainy again today.

sun

it has actually stopped raining and been sunny for the past couple of days. on sunday, when the sun first appeared, i recoiled like a vampire. but it really was a welcome change. unfortunately, when the rain starts other problems start. for one thing, the rain knocks down the pollution. now that it stopped, i remember how all these scooters can change the atmosphere. also, my office is an amazing breeding ground for mosquitoes. i have lived in the swamps of florida and the mosquito infested suburbs of connecticut, i went to summer camp in the woods of new england and was a tourist in the hills of north thailand. no place i have ever been even comes close to my office building in terms of mosquito infestation. it's unbelievable. it reminds me of that off commercial from the '70's. i wave my hand from my pocket to my face and literally hit 3 mosquitoes on the way. i yi yi.

rain

it has been raining every day since before xmas. you would think someone who lived in seattle for 6 years would be unfazable, but i haven't seen the sun this year. it's remarkable and it never ends. richard claims one day was just overcast, and he may be right, but even so. wow.

by the way, i ate a remarkable meal today for under $3 us. 4 guo tieh (fried dumplings), and 6 shuei jiao (steamed dumplings - 4 shrimp and 2 spicy korean flavored), with a nice bowl of hot and sour soup and some soy milk. and it was all great. i would have been thrilled to get this for $12 at a fancy pan asian place in the us. it makes me happy to start to find the restaurants that i really like.

my chinese classroom. beautiful, isn't it? i enjoy my frankenstein-esque haircut. 

more with ugly santa. note the brown and yellow graphic on my tshirt between the lapels of my suit (it's a picture of bruce lee). 

very cute little girl. i am a very ugly santa. 

my boss sitting on my lap 

xmas and new years

my xmas and new years were fairly uneventful. i got an actual weekend (saturday and sunday off) for 2 weeks which was very nice, but i will make up for it next week when i substitute for a coworker off visiting his wife's family in Wisconsin (poor bastard). i will be working a lot, and substituting is particularly taxing. i need to take care of myself and not get myself sick. anyway, i will be happy when the week is over.

last night

nice long weekend right now. sadly, no cable. it has been very cold (40's and humid) the last few days, so people have been using space heaters. late last night one of my neighbors started shouting and the next thing we knew there were people running with fire extinguishers and then the fire truck showed up. all of the homes seem to be concrete here, so i'm not sure what burned, but the truck was loud and stinky. hope no one got hurt. i stayed up and wrote chinese characters until things quieted down a bit. anyway, no cable today.