Novelty Restaurant with New Friends

Jonathan took the girls to meet up with new friends at one of the Taipei public libraries.  We wanted to get a supply of Chinese books for the boys' new babysitter who starts this week.  After, they got lunch at a car-themed restaurant with a supposed Western menu.  You would think it might be diner food, but it was more like fine-Italian cooked Chinese style. Not so tasty.

Teacher's Lunch

This Friday we had a lesson on alcohol (and how to politely refuse it) and then the teachers treated us to a special lunch.  These were the first two courses, both cold dishes.  The first was lobster over fruit in a boat.  You can't see the lobster because it is covered in mayonnaise.  The next one (starting at 11 o'clock and going clockwise) is giant shrimp, jellyfish shredded with some vegetable, squid, and mayonnaisey abalone.  In the center is some kind of translucent sausage.  There was a soup where every ladle full brought up a different surprise--intestines, chicken feet, chunks of fatty meat, etc.--I played it safe with a lotus nut and piece of taro.  I think our favorite dish was a kungpao shrimp, being the boring Westerners that we are.  Luckily we were sitting at the table with the teachers who also don't drink, so no pressure there.

Break in the Rain

It is typhoon season here, and we've had tons of rain the last two weeks.  But, we did have a nice day with blue skies in the middle.  This is one of the views from our training facility.  We love walking to work, seeing the clouds roll in, hearing the birds during class and the general relaxed atmosphere. We have 4 hours of class in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.  The morning classes only have 2-3 students in them, and the afternoon is a one-on-one tutor and then a "large group" of 6.  I love being a student again and just wish I could carve out more time to study. We get home by 4, but so do the girls, and it is pretty much dinner prep on to bedtime until 8.  And then I've always needed my 8 hours at night, so I have to go to bed by 9:30 to be able to start my day at 5:30 and get the girls on the 7am bus!  Saturday is tag-team shopping, laundry and cleaning, and we're hoping for a date night.  Sunday is cooking, blog, church and Skype.  And, then it starts again on Monday.  Sorry for the detail, but our focus is on routines right now.  It is the good kind of busy, though, and we know this year will fly by.  Two of our three shipments came last week, and we're hoping for the last D.C. shipment (the useful stuff like toys and food!) and our car this week.

Our Neighborhood

One of the best things about our life is the neighborhood we live in. We have about 20 American neighbors, we live on a cul-de-sac, and there are tons of kids.  The cul-de-sac is an actual circle around this most fabulous climbing tree. We also have a big fenced-in yard and a playground right next door.  Oh, and there are police at the top of the street that are constantly monitoring, so I feel pretty safe sending the kids out to play.

First Day of School--Hooray!

I mentioned before that the local school didn't work out, but we were happy to find that the Taipei European School had a space for both girls.  They wear these British uniforms (the handbook keeps mentioning "smart" looking shoes, etc.) Several of the neighborhood kids also go to the school, so they have friends on the (7am!!) bus.  We also heard the school has a strong Mandarin program, so we're hoping the girls can pick up where they left off. They like their teachers and all seems well.  There are also German and French sections at the school, and some activities and classes are combined with them.  About half the school is made up of local kids.

For the boys, we've arranged for a babysitter we met at church.  She is a stay-at-home mom, but her son is in 6th grade, so the timing works out for her.  There is even another woman at church who will be her back-up if something comes up.  They both have cars, so they can come to our house, and as long as they can handle two very active boys, we're hoping things are settled.  She starts in September when J's parents go home.  We really couldn't have done this without Tom & Karin.  They've been so patient with the whole settling-in process.

Local Greens

Living on the mountain is fabulous except for the fact that there is only one grocery store, and it isn't that well stocked (and quite expensive).  I had heard there is a morning market nearby, so I asked a local women (we were paired up with a local family through our teacher's connections) if she would take me. It was great to have her introduce me to the vendors and tell them I was her friend and to give me a good price.  These greens are the tops of sweet potatoes that grow on this mountain.  We had tried the sweet potatoes before, and the kids loved them.  These were quite good, too.  I think the market will be a regular stop for us.  It is only 3 bus stops away and near a hot spring and park.

Food

Coming from Bangkok where the food is hard to beat, I thought I might be disappointed here.  It's true that Chinese flavors aren't quite as bright at Thai ones, but we are finding plenty of favorites here.

Here's typical breakfast-shop fare: sweet soy milk (cold or hot), a crepe-like wrapper with egg and "oil sticks" inside, another pan-fried veggie filled wrapper thing.  There's also steamed bread, glutinous rice cake things, flaky pan-fried bread, etc.

Here's a fancy lunch out with our teachers (their treat).  Way too much food.

Here's a Taiwan classic--mango ice.  And yes, the mangoes here might even be better than Thailand if that is possible.  They are in season right now.

 Can I also mention how fun it is to go on a lunch date with my husband every day?  We mostly just get cheap noodles, dumplings or cafeteria-style veggies, etc. on rice, since we are near a university with lots of those kinds of places.

Snake!

Claire found a snake in our house this morning. Yes, it was a baby, no bigger than a long worm, but babies have mothers. J trapped it under a glass, and I went to get the neighborhood guard, because the instructions we received were to call the fire department anytime you find a snake in your house (I'm assuming so they can identify whether or not it is poisonous). The guard came and took a look and said he'd be back with a tool. He returned a few minutes later with a pair of disposable chopsticks and an empty cup, presumably from his breakfast. The snake was so skinny (and MAD) that he had trouble catching it, but once he trapped it under the edge of the glass, he was able to squeeze its head with chopsticks until it died. Of course, the whole time, Claire was saying "Don't kill it.  Don't kill it." Some of you may remember that Claire caught a snake earlier this year when we were camping in Virginia. She really wants a pet--of any kind.  But, we've already had several serious talks with the kids about poisonous snakes here.  In fact, one morning Paul told me, "Dad told us about dangerous animals."  I said, "What kind?"  He said, "Um, snakes...and dogs...and dinosaurs."

 

 

the fruit

I'm trying to show the size of these huge Asian pears. 

We are back in a land of wonderful tropical fruit. Mango season in Thailand was in April, but apparently it is right now in Taiwan!  We are so happy!  

We are finding groceries to be more expensive than the U.S., but it also takes a while to learn the best places to shop. There are traditional markets that seem to have the best produce. The neighborhood grocery store is walking distance and has the basics, but is expensive.  Costco has some American and some local products but not always the best prices, plus it is far from us, and we won't have our car for a couple months.

 

 

Yangmingshan

Always so much to say about our first few days in a new country...

Our house is great, very spacious, huge backyard.  We do have to be very diligent about cleaning to keep the ants and cockroaches away.  There are also several poisonous snakes in Taiwan and lots of stray dogs.  We are living in an area called Yangmingshan, which is on the mountain on the north side of Taipei. It is beautiful up here, a little cooler than the city, tons of hiking and views (see picture below) and hot springs. We live in a neighborhood that used to be U.S. military housing and is still used by State, so all of our immediate neighbors are also Americans. We've never lived like this before, where we just send the kids outside, there are tons of great families and we are immediately part of the community. The kids love it!!

J and I have started orientation for our training. Always tons of bureaucratic check-in stuff, plus all the set-up of phones, Internet, currency exchange, grocery shopping, etc.  There are about 25 students in the language training, and the teachers took us on two bus tours of different parts of the city.  Next week there are language evaluations and class starts officially on the 19th.  Of course, all of this is possible because J's parents, Tom & Karin, came with us and can watch the kids while we run around.  Now the big challenge is figuring out care for the kids after they leave.

Our plan was to send the older kids to local school.  We had emailed the school several months ago, and they said to just register when we got here.  Well, when we went into the school, they told us the kindergarten was full.  Hmm.  We called other local schools--same story.  Back to square one.  We talked with other families in the neighborhood and decided to apply for the Taipei European School which seems to have a stronger Mandarin program than the American school.  Usually they are full at this point, but when we called they said they had a few spots, so we submitted the forms, and we'll see if they take the girls.  As for the boys, we're still exploring options (day care, nanny, etc.)

 

 

China Airways

It was our best international flight yet. We basically plugged everyone in until they were tired, they slept, we arrived. We've learned to request special meals for the kids and ourselves (China Airways offered a Hindu vegan--delicious!!)--you get your meals served before anyone else.  Look at this awesome hot dog posing as a squid in a child's meal. We did use Benadryl for the first time with the kids. Definitely made a difference.