About Me

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Yilan, Taiwan
I just returned back to the States after 11 years in Taiwan with my daughter. Taiwan is an excellent base for us explore Asia, while living in relative (gun free) safety, while benefiting from a cheap and efficient national health care system. The people are amazing too. I have Taiwanese friendships that are 20 years old and I'm always making new ones! My coworker here in CO is from Taiwan.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Birthday Spa Time in Wulai


I love it when its Friday the 13th, especially when it's my daughter's birthday! The luckiest date of my life! I took off Friday afternoon, pulled the girl out of school and headed to Wulai as my gift to her.

Wulai is actually closer than our trip would seem. Its only 17 km from Jiaoxi (our nearest hot springs), there's an aborignal trail we could hike on.

Unwilling to brave the cold rain, we took a bus To Taipei, the MRT to Xindian and a local 40 min bus to Wulai.

Our room with a view


 We stayed at a decent hotel only 200 m from the bus top and right by the bridge into the small Old Street. The place had a complimentary breakfast, unlimited coffee all day and a cat my daughter couldn't get enough of.
bus to Taipei

Our old Italian traveler friend Bruno was in transit between his Okinawa and Sri Lanka trip and met us there. He spoiled us with some gifts, including a hand mirror with our names engraved and a little artist's case with supplies for her. It was perfect weather for hot springs, freezing! We didn't make it to the crowded public ones across the river, but our hotel's public pools were indoors with open windows  right on the river banks, and were empty.


Two nights was too much time for Wulai and not knowing any locals. We took our time, ate as much Atayal food as possible, took the gondola to the waterfall, had Z do some weaving with an Atayal girl, and did some shopping. I had wanted  Z to do some aboriginal archery, where they make their own bows and arrows, but I had needed to make a more advanced reservation. I also missed  meeting a friend  who was going to show us his favorite restaurant, but by Sunday brunch we were eager to get back. Hopefully next time and also stop at Wenshan Tea Farm on our return to Taipei to buy some world class tea.

On the cable car to the waterfalls

All in all the girl was grateful for her weekend getaway, everyone appreciates a change of scene. yet she was equally grateful to be back in Yilan. I was too, I had to catch up on housework and laundry and prepare for Monday, she had to catch up on some Trollhunters.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

'Twas the Season

 

Christmas in Taiwan is mainly a Jesus free event, so I have to make an earnest cultivation to keep the Christmas spirit in our own way. So surreal walking around shopping malls, or New Taipei County, with so much money spent on Christmas decorations, and yet no one here really knows the Nativity story. Its easy to be like Charlie Brown. We had decorated our Christmas tree in early November, which no American ever does back home (wait at least for Thanksgiving to end), but here no problem..





I used my teaching as an opportunity to cultivate some Christmas cheer. In my ESL classes I taught the classic Charlie Brown cartoon and in my Social Studies we learned some geography with Christmas Around the world.

Christmas is associated with the winter solstice, and in Taiwan it is tradition to eat sticky rice dumplings in red bean soup, which my school served at lunch. Yilan City got into the season with  displaying an interesting tree made from recycled plastic water bottles near the car parking across from the train station.




At my daughter's school her principal became a candy throwing Santa on roller blades. How fun! Even my school gave us teachers our own Yule Log cake and coffee. Christmas is certainly becoming more of a modern tradition in Taiwan, even compared with 5 years ago. I just hope Taiwanese don't start getting the same Holiday Blues associated with this winter season back home, maybe its too sunny here for that. 


It just wouldn't be a commercial Christmas without Star Wars, right? We just had to see Rogue One on opening night, I enjoyed it more than she did, I felt like eight years old again. 

 

We met some coworkers and friends at Balagov's for a Ukrainian Christmas Eve lunch. It's our splurge in an otherwise thrifty Christmas.





Christmas day wasn't very magical for my daughter. Her gifts from grandpa and uncle hadn't arrived, and I didn't get her anything, having saved for our upcoming CNY trip. The morning started out decent with a sunny scooter ride to the nearby rock climbing wall with her classmates.




But her fun was short lived. With all the mats under us, she and I started wrestling as we do, and I might of accidentally given her a Christmas (mini ) concussion. She's getting too big for me to control her falls and thinking the mats were enough, I flipped her over too hard. She was unresponsive (but conscious) for a long, strange, minute, it was scary. Her friends were around snapping photos, so it was a very public, shitty Christmas morning. 





 Better to be safe than sorry, especially with Taiwan's affordable health care system, so she rested in the ER  until the doctor OKed us to go home. More mother guilt through the roof, I ruined Christmas. She still hasn't let me forget about it.


To make it up to her we went to the local swimming hole, a cold springs, for a wee refreshing Christmas dip. Eventually her gift from Grandpa arrived, no thanks to customs. 

As for the New Years weekend, we stayed home, 
Incredibly mellow, sunny, spring like NY weekend. We accidentally spent the last dinner of 2016 at the Australian Bistro for an unplanned steak, as traffic around Luna plaza forced us down that street and we were hungry and there was the rare parking spot right there. I
 relished the serendipitous surprise, as I didn't plan anything special to toast the passing year. 



She crashed at 10pm and I stayed awake watching documentaries on the Cambodian Genocide as fireworks went off, Luna Plaza's at my front windows and the sports park at my back kitchen windows. It was like a war zone. I tried to wake up my kid to watch them, but she was out cold. I did tons of yoga videos all though the weekend having joined a free 2 week membership at Yogaglo, while my daughter flew her Christmas drone around my head. I also caught up on some much needed Mandarin lessons from my daughter. Its divine to have time! 


We watched the Great Wall with Matt Damon in 3D, it was ok, superficial, awesome effects and costumes, but cheesy (Z loved it)- I'd rather watched Rogue One again. Our last night of the holiday weekend, we watched the Mauri film, "Hunt For The Wilderpeople" with Sam Neil and funny man Rhys Darby. Z couldn't stop talking about it,even up into bedtime, she wrote about it in her diary.


 She and I are still chewing on personal intentions for 2017. I think we are leaving it to Chinese New Year, when we have more downtime to just be, and not do. For now its crunch time for both us, the end of the semester exams and grades.