If you look carefully you can see the yummy sausages on sticks that I talked about below. oooohh..the boys actually "won" these from a roadside stand by play pinball, although they put more in the pinball machine than the sausages are worth, but that's not the point.... the point is they "won"!! :)
At the night markt on the way back from Houli trying on ridiculously red and expensive sunglasses. hahahah...
Tea eggs! A local delicacy that I've learned to really like. Eggs boiled in tea, that's it. Not too scary.
At the Go-Kart place in Houli. I didn't Go-Kart, but three of the guys did. It was funner to take pictures. This is our "racing faces" picture. Hahah...I look so angry. I'm really not.
At the bike rental place in Houli ready to conquer the trail. Apparently this is how you're supposd to pose for "biking pictures" in Taiwan. Taiwan is the country King of Photo Poses. There's a different photo pose for every situation here. hahah..so funny!
Whoa...time spins by sooo faasst....so, the craziness of Christmas now behind me, I'm marching forward into the Winter Vacation and Chinese New Year seasons of school here in Taiwan. Winter Vacation doesn't mean teachers get a vacation (pooh), but the Chinese elementary schools take a 3 weeks break so the kids, needing a place to be taken care of while parents are working, get to go to English school...all day! instead of only afternoons. Whee...doesn't mean a whole lot to me except my kids are going to be exceptionally hyper and my co-teacher will be exceptionally tired ( she gets to come in earlier and take care of them all day ).
Chinese New Year, however, does mean I get a break! I get a whole week (plus two weekends sandwiching that week, so like...9 days. Yay! I don't really have plans yet. Jimmy and I might take some train trips, see some sights around Taiwan, but I'm not sure yet. Looking forward to it...
Otherwise, had a good Christmas. Classes all day Christmas day, excited kids, games, gifts, Christmas story, cookies..all the standard "stuff". It was fun. I don't really have pictures of Christmas yet.
I did get January 1st off (it's some other holiday in Taiwan so we get it off), and Jimmy and I and a few other friends went to Houli (about a 30 minute scooter drive away) and rented bikes and went on a little "adventure". I posted pictures on Facebook and I'll post some here too. It was really fun to get out and DO something instead of being at the school all day, or being at the church practicing for stuff or doing stuff.
New Things I Saw, Ate, or Learned:
1.) Sausages on Sticks. I met these in Houli. You eat them alternately with raw garlic. I would ordinarily turn up my nose at such a "treat" but I tried it and it was actually really good! Garlicy and juicy. I don't know what kind of sausage it was or what was in it and I didn't ask, but it tasted pretty good.
2.) Don't give towels as gifts. Oops. I already had given one to somebody for Christmas and had to apologize. Apparently families give out towels as gifts only during funerals as custom here. So...giving someone a towel means..like..wishing someone death. Oops. My bad. I think I was extended the "foreigner grace" on that one. Also the person was a Christian so didn't truly believe that it meant "death" but still, it's culture here so..oops.
3.) Things they don't have in Taiwan but foreigners really like (so if anyone wants to send a package...:) ):
Twizzlers
Lucky Charms
Excedrin pain medicine (although I now have a monster bottle thanks to my roomate Katie who went home to the US for Christmas). Actually, any pain medication is hard to find here. They use Tiger Balm for everything. Actually, I found a little bottle called "White Flower" or something that smells just like the "Shilling Oil" we used for everything in Suriname! I used it like vicks vapo rub to clear my congested nose and it worked really well. Yay!
Deoderant. They sell a few of the spray kind in some stores, but not really. They don't really use it here. They don't really need to. Lucky Taiwanese.
Reeses Pieces. Somehow they don't really have anything "chocolate + peanut butter" here, but my no-bake cookies were a big hit at Christmas so I know Taiwanese people like the combination. I think Reese's would do quite well here, but no store carries them. Hmph.
Well..I can't think of anything else new or exciting to write, so I'll go ahead and post some pictures. Zai Jian! (goodbye!)
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