Greetings!

Hello!  Here are some pictures and impressions of my Taiwan experience and I will try to keep this updated. Enjoy!

I'm staying with my A-yi = auntie Diana (mom's second older sister) and A-dieu uncle Jimmy in Taipei.  In Mandarin and Taiwanese, there are many words for aunts and uncles and are distinguished by how they are related to you (e.g. Aunt could be: mom's sister is A-yi, mom's brother's wife = A-gim, dad's younger brother's wife is a-jim... = lot's of clarification!)  Here is the neighborhood.  The humongous building in the bottom left is the Chiang Kai shek Memorial.


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Here are A-yi and A-dieu in their lovely home.

Chinese new year celebrations last as long as 2 weeks.  Lantern festival is held 15 days after new years - One more chance to celebrate!

Went with 2 aunties to the lantern festival in Ping Xi east of Taipei into the mountains.  There is a nice waterfall there too. With a-yi Diana and A-yi Helen

Candied green plums from the old street.

Lanterns!  Aunties and I got the rare chance to fly some sky lanterns, made of paper and bamboo.  You write your wishes on them before lighting them and letting them go.  Can't tell you my wishes or they won't come true ;-).  We released ours with about 200 other people at once, it was so beautiful.  ...they should fly out to sea...at least they can decompose...

High speed rail in Taiwan is great - comfortable, easy, quiet, about $50 US from Taipei to Kaohsiung in southern taiwan, about 220 miles away and took 1.5 hours with 2 stops in between.  Through some towns and countryside.  Fastest is about 300 km/hr (180 mph).  The high speed rail station is the same as the normal Taiwan rail station.  Tip from auntie - get the lunchbox from the Taiwan rail stand, the high speed rail food isn't that great ;).  Went to visit Uncle in Kaohsiung.

Me and Grandma (mom's mom)! so happyhappyhappy!

With Kaohsiung A-gu Uncle and A-gim auntie and cousins at my cousin's Japanese restaurant.  Kaohsiung has wider streets and more trees.  Also warmer than in Taipei.  Will go hiking with Uncle next time!

Got a tour of A-gu Uncle's steel manufacturing plant - very impressive!  he's also the chair of the taiwan wind turbine manufacturers alliance and has spoken at many taiwan green energy conferences!  His company makes turbine posts.  Uncle Jimmy is an architect - all over Taipei, auntie points out building's his firm has designed...all over Kaohsiung, Uncle points out structures China Steel made -- including a ferris wheel!  Got to learn energy efficiency terminology in Mandarin!

More lantern festivities in Kaohsiung.  This is along the Love River...not LEDs but so pretty!

Me and A-gim and A-gu.

Da-An (Big Peace) park near auntie's house in Taipei - largest city park.

 More lights at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial near auntie's house.

 Memorial's main structure.

Joined A-yi Helen (my mom's oldest sister) in her Chinese calligraphy class in Dan swei across the Dan Swei River from Taipei.  Writing one line is harder than I thought!  (you have to hide the start and end strokes)  And sit with your feet flat, legs parallel, straight backed, arms at the right angle, head tilted just so, and breathe deeply -- it really is like a form of tai chi!  See me concentrating!

Here's auntie the pro.

Taiwanese bread and leyan-wu (supposedly called Wax fruit in english? - very airy and crispy and sweet) are my favorite -- still are...but if everyone keeps buying me bread and leyan-wu...maybe not for much longer....Not sure what the green one is called in English, also crisp and tasty. (ps also saw the hugest apples ever- about 6 in in diameter at the markets!)

I don't have many pictures of the food but there are too many dishes to describe -- it's not like what we have in the US.  The streets are lined with small food stands many just selling one type of dish.  The bread here is so yumyum - also many different kinds!  Some dishes to note - I've had steamed tofu stuffed with mung bean noodles and pork, oyster garlic thin noodle soup, hot pot, almond milk, onion bread, candied green plum on a stick, onion candy (looks like onion only...my uncle and i were wondering why it didn't taste like onion..),lemon/orange flavored Taiwanese shaved ice, wonton soup, sugar cane and fresh guava.  Not brave enough to try stinky tofu yet.  Oh in this picture, the tea kettle isn't for brewing tea - when you hear the whistle of the kettle, it means they are selling fried bread and almond milk!

By the way, I forgot to mention that I love Taiwan so far!  It's been so great to see my extended family members - I haven't seen them all yet!   Strangers are helpful and nice, people are very polite - easy to strike up a conversation and all encourage me to learn mandarin and everyone is kind and say I speak Mandarin well already haha.  Seems like, at least for my Auntie Diana - the food vendors and shop keepers know her personally - even if she's just stopped by a few times.  I guess this could happen in the US too but it seems just the way it normally is in Taiwan.  Of course there are huge malls all over too (e.g. Taipei 101) but just a 1 min walk from my aunties house are outdoor vendors in the tiny streets.  I'll take some pictures of those too.  --pretty much stalls that folks set up in the morning and take down at night.  You can find clothes, cosmetics, groceries, meat, fruits, wares, medicines, etc!  What I haven't enjoyed- air quality, reversal of the plastic bag ban after 3 years, getting cut off by scooters (as a pedestrian!), and mosquitoes who are already biting me despite it being winter time still.  I really like that, especially among the older people, Taiwanese is used interchangeably with Mandarin throughout a conversation, with Japanese phrases here and there, too (Japan occupied Taiwan for 50 years) - very unique part of Taiwanese identity :)   So, must improve my Mandarin and Taiwanese and learn Japanese while I'm here, too!


Anyway, hope to keep up this blog!  My Mandarin class at National Taiwan Normal Univeristy begins in one week!  Wish me luck!

Thinking of you,

Jennifer