Hi-Ho...QUICKSILVER!!!

I got it. Finally, it's mine. My latest adventure in Taiwan: a scooter. The streets are choc-a-block full of 'em! With all the congestion and other vehicular traffic (buses and cars) scooters are the best way to get from point "Here" to point "There". I've driven a scooter once before in my life and that was in a much less crowded environment -- Bali, Indonesia. Now, many months later I'm sitting on my brand new used scooter and the feeling is something akin to not having road a bike for a long time and starting up again...only this time, the bike is motorized!

I bought her (the scooter) from one of my co-workers as he contract expired and he was on his way back to the States. Can you guess what color she is??? Well, under the years of horrible air pollution there's a cool dark silver. Hence the name, "Quicksilver"...also the parallel image to riding a scooter and riding a horse.

I haven't worked up driving in the teeming streets of Taipei yet, just cruising around Banqiao for now. Gotta jet, I'm going to a concert tonight!

Cold...what?

So in all my packing to come out here for a year I suppose it never occurred to me that it would, at some point, get cold. Well, it has now gotten cold...and rainy! I neither have a rain jacket nor a suitable blanket to keep out the cold when I sleep. I have to look up and ask myself, "Self, where was your head when you were planning this part???"

But, don't fret dear reader, I will find warmth and protection from the elements...some how...some way.

6.0 at least

The other night at around 2:17 am or so, I was awoken to my room being shaken side to side vigorously. Lying in bed, I realized, "Hey! This is an earthquake!"

I've experienced earthquakes in California so no big deal, right? The hit for a few seconds then dissipate. After about 10 seconds this sucker wasn't letting up. And this sucker was big. It ended up lasting almost 30 seconds!!!

The next day I was told it was around a 3.something. I've felt a lot of minor quakes in Los Angeles and this wasn't a minor quake. This one had to be around 6.0. Turns out it was something like 6.7. Yeah.

No damage or anything. Interesting though, I've lived in California for most of my life and I've felt more earthquakes in Taipei in 3 months than I have in both San Francisco and Los Angeles combined for the past 5 years. Yeah, Taiwan has the most fault lines compared to anyplace in the world!

We have it all wrong!

Dear readers, I've reached a conclusion...in US we need to do away with the current form of currency. Sad, I know, but it's true. The system in Taiwan is pretty great. Their lowest coin is $1 NT, and goes up to $5 NT, $10 NT, and $50 NT. Then it jumps to the bills: $100 NT, $500 NT, and $1000 NT. Everything here costs a nice round dollar amount. No cents to deal with!!!

It hit me the other day when I was teaching my G4 kids about long vowel sounds (specifically /i/). The example in the book was "dime".

"Teacher, what is 'dime'?"

I proceeded to explain to them that you have a dollar, THEN you have cents -- less than a dollar. A dime is worth 10 cents. If you have ten dimes, you have a dollar.

The look in their eyes was something along the lines, "That's the stupidest thing we've ever heard. Silly round-eye."

For anyone who's been to another country that has a currency system that the lowest unit is a dollar (not fractions of), you understand what I'm saying.

Worst Invention Ever....EVER!

For those of you that don't know (and I'm sure you all do), I'm in Taiwan teaching English to kids aged preschool up to 5th grade. Periodically, I have to teach the little kids -- the two year-old preschoolers -- art class. As far as I'm concerned, their skill level in art is "here's a crayon, now color." They can't color inside the lines to save their life, but it gives them the semblance of trying to do art.

Then there's the cutting. And here's where the worst invention part comes in...child-proof scissors. UUUuugh!!! I hate -- nay, loathe them. They don't cut. Here, let's teach kids how to cut things with something that DOESN'T EVEN CUT!!! It's so frustrating!

I'd rather have little kids learn with real scissors and loose the tip of a finger. That way they'll have accomplished cutting AND learned a lesson about something.

Real quick!

The coolest thing ever...well, maybe not the coolest, but it's great nonetheless...

They have watermelon here in Taiwan. But not watermelon like we have in the states. It's gold. Like bright yellow instead red. I'm going to venture out on a limb and say that this "gold" watermelon tastes better than red watermelon by virtue of it being "gold"!!!

So good!

Ghost Month

Hello dear readers...What an interesting time this is. This month is Ghost Month. Specifically, the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The Chinese believe very strongly in spirits and ghosts. So much so that their beliefs and fears keep them from going in certain bodies of water for fear of being taken away by evil spirits.

During this month on the 13th day, there's a Ghost Day where the people believe that the gates of Hell open and their dead ancestors are allowed to visit this world for a brief time. To quell any evil spirits and maintain a generally happy ghost population a lot of sacrificing is done in the form of food and burning money. Not real money. They have paper that is supposed to represent money that gets burned in these special cans during the day out front of homes and shops. As far as offerings go, the Taiwanese place sometimes huge tables of food on the street for the Ghosts to just take. It's a very serious tradition.

In my first week here I noticed a table of this nature laden with food on the sidewalk as I was walking to work. I had no idea it was an offering to deceased relatives. I thought that this country was just so nice for leaving free food out for anyone that would want it.... No, I didn't take any, but I was sure tempted.