What Do We Know????

WHAT DO WE KNOW?????



This blog is going to share some of our "What Do We Know?" experiences!! Living in a foreign country, one needs a certain willingness to acknowledge that you cannot control everything and you most likely will not understand everything, especially if you do not speak the language!! So, here is just a sampling of some of those adventures for us!!

Food: Yesterday, we went to the local market near our villa (thereby avoiding THE STEPS) where I had decided we needed some sort of vegetable, for we had run out of our fresh produce and we had not had time to go to the traditional market in the morning. Suddenly, I spotted a bag that said garlic-seasoned green peas!! Dummy that I am, I assumed that when we got home, I would open the bag, pour some peas into our one saucepan, add a little water and steam the vegetable du jour. Wrong! When I opened the bag, there were lots of tiny, individual size packets of dried, nicely seasoned peas that one eats, presumably, as a snack, like a package of nuts. Ted and I looked at each other and the now oft cited refrain we say to each other, "So what do we know?" was uttered by us both simultaneously!

Another example is one without an accompanying picture, but Ted can describe the sound: barfing outside our villa window on a Saturday night! This is indeed a college campus! That sound was one we could say, "Hey, we know!!"

One of the disadvantages of the warm weather is its conduciveness for some of the biggest cockroaches we have seen (although Ted says he has seen some big ones in NY City too!) This was also an adventure, since very little English is spoken in the nearby market. We had asked our Taiwanese friend Cynthia to write the Chinese characters for ant and roach spray, which we dutifully showed the clerk. (We knew we would never be able to gesture well enough to ask where that might be in the store, if they even had it!! )The clerk snickered when he saw our request and took us right to the correct aisle. Lo and behold, there was RAID!!!

Tonight, we decided to splurge for dinner, not wanting to buy any more food for the ants and cockroaches (Michelle, you would go nuts!!), since we are going to the Kenting National Park for the weekend. So we went to the nearby cafe, for the dormitory students, where basically again, no English is spoken. We pointed to what looked like a good meal, by its picture, but "what do we know??"" For an enormous price of $3.44 , Ted treated BOTH of us to dinner out. It actually was very good and filling: crispy fried chicken pieces (sort of like chicken fingers), a large bowl on noodle and vegetable soup, and a large glass of cold green tea! Thinking we were doing extremely well with our chopsticks, and actually starting to congratulate ourselves on same, suddenly, a man appeared at our table to show us how correctly to hold our chopsticks. So, what do we know??? We both tried his way and could not do it!! We have gone back to our incorrect way to hold them, so that we could get food down!!

Undaunted, returning to home,we now decided to try that artichoke-looking fruit, that we had been told would be ripe by today! Lo and behold, when we went to "open" it, it fell apart. The insides were very soft; had it gone bad? Was it at the correct stage to eat? What do we know??? Ted was far more adventurous than I, and ate it. I finally took one piece (oh, it has pits, but what did we know?) and is very sweet, almost more than what I like. Ted compares it to a ripe, sweet pear.









Many other such adventures come to mind, but fortunately, we have Janet to save us from ourselves. With a phone to each ear, you can see just exactly how efficient she is!!

The Night Market!!!!! 02/25/09

THE NIGHT MARKET: WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!

















WELL!!! Do we have some interesting stuff to share!



But first, a word more about Ted's classes. He now has 30 students in his Leadership and Decision-Making class, and I have been busy in his office creating class lists, grade sheets, and team assignment sheets for him while he teaches. I also am the contact person for the students who want to email in their work or questions; I give the ones Ted needs to answer to him , and I print off any emails that are fulfillment of assignments, that Ted can then look at later.
In his Organizational Theories and Behaviors class, today only seven students appeared (up from three of last week!), but the students told him that more were coming by next week when final course selections have to be made! The fluctuation aspect is a bit frustrating, as Ted starts "real" teaching from Day One!!

Tonight, we treated Janet to dinner at a typical Night Market. A Night Market is a street that is blocked off after businesses close, c. 6pm, and vendors bring carts and stalls from which to sell all sorts of food and other items. The one we chose (where she had never been before either and was excited about) turned out to be closed on Wed (tonight)nights!!!So, after a reasonably long subway ride the wrong way, we turned around and went to the Night Market she knows well and likes. WELL! Even though we treated Janet to her food at the various stalls we ate at, she really was helping us the most, by explaining what our options were (there are hundreds!)and what were some of the more typical Taiwanese foods.
Ahem! We decided we did want to try the fried "stinky tofu," which, by the way, one can tell when you are in the vicinity of a stall that is selling it by using your nose. It DOES stink. We ordered just one helping for the three of us. Janet declined, however, and that should have been our first clue! We really did not care for its taste; it is tofu fried in a stinky sauce. But we felt good that we had tried it! When in Rome, you know....
Then, Janet suggested we have a glutinous fried rice ball and some soup that she likes a lot at the next stall. We did, and they both tasted very good. The rice ball was in a sort of sesame type sauce, very nice. The soup was relatively mild, in a clear broth with rice and what looked like chicken bits in it. We liked it, and I should have left it at that. But oh no! Curious Betty has to ask what those little bits were. The answer::::::are you ready??? okay, here it comes.....pig's intestines!!!!!! I smiled and thought I might not feel so good from then on (but I felt fine). We next had some sort of glutinous steamed dumpling in a soy type sauce, but the texture was just too jelly-like for us to like.
We also brought home an artichoke-looking thing, that Janet says is a delicious fruit; you take the outer leaves/peel off, and eat the insides. We will let you know....
We topped the meal off with another typical Taiwanese item:pearl milk, a mildly sweet cold drink that has little tapioca bead-sized balls in it that you drink through a big wide straw and chew on the tapioca balls.Strangely enough,it really hit the spot, because the night is very warm.

There are, incidentally, some unusual things one can buy at the Night Market. One delightful find, we think, were slippers for our three granddaughters! They are the traditional style; we got them, we hope, in slightly larger sizes than what Claire (the red ones), Kyra (the dark blue) and Maya(the black)currently wear. By the way, we have gotten used to the Taiwanese custom, even here in our own villa, of taking off our shoes when we enter and putting on slippers. The polite thing to do is also have extra pairs on hand for guests. (We have done that, but just plain ones, not special like the ones for Claire, Maya and Kyra!

Yet another ususual item we found for purchase at the outdoor pet stall are the animals they also have no hesitancy in serving to eat! Take your choice of a black pig , porcupine (that they insist is a different type of pig) or even a racoon (I didn't get a photo of that!)We are not sure if they eat racoons...
To my Mah-Jongg frriends: we discovered the ONLY mah-jongg I have seen here, also at this market. One can play (for money) and try to win something off the vendor!! No one was playing... It also looks very different from our game??
We ended the evening with the return subway ride (their subways are so clean, well lit, and well signed, they are a pleasure to ride) and then the walk up those steps. By the time we arrived here at our villa, we are all hot and sweaty and ready for a shower before bed.

Phone Booths, Haircuts, Courtyards and A Coke Can in Mandarin! 2/24/09

Greetings!
Yesterday (our Monday), we took clothes to the cleaners (very nearby) and then got adventurous ! Or I should say, Ted got adventurous and I went along to watch! That is, Ted got his haircut!! It is amazing how hand gestures communicate! And there was a very nice Taiwanese lady having her hair cut, who had spent two years at Central Missouri College. She helped us immensely in communicating not only what Ted wanted, but in helping me to set up an appt for next week! When I asked if I could take a photo, they graciously agreed but were curious as to why. I said, "So my grandchildren can see their Granddad!" They loved that!

We also were successful in calling Anne and John to see how Grandma is doing (better,slowly),by use of the phone booths that are open and attached to walls at various spots.
As you can see from the photo, many of these are rather low and so not so comfortable for Ted to use. But it is good to be able to talk with Anne and John as they are doing a yeoman's job in visiting Doris and moving things along that will make Doris' return home easier when it occurs! We are so appreciative of their efforts!

Each day, after working in Ted's office (I am his official assistant and I actually enjoy being useful; currently, I am doing the clerical stuff, like making class lists, team assignment sheets, responding to student emails, etc), we typically go and eat lunch on one of the many lovely courtyards that dot the campus buildings! All sorts of birds, from pigeons to sparrows (and we don't know the names of most)zoom around the area and join us for lunch!
We ended yesterday by walking outside our villa and enjoying the beautiful sunset.

Our only real lack of success was we could not find an Oscars station in the wee hours of the morning!!!! But later, we googled to find out the winners. I REALLY want to see Slumdog Millionaire. And we were rooting, because Neot said it was great, for Walk with Bashir (I may have that title wrong), an Israeli film, but saw that a Japanese one won in that category.

Today (our Tuesday), Ted met for the second time his Leadership and Decision-Making class; it looks as if he will have 29 students in it, and they have already ,as requested by Dr Repa (!), formed into four teams and started on their learnings!
We also are getting wireless internet set up in our villa sometime soon, and that will give us some more options for when one of us is up later than the other,etc!

We end the day by walking those steps and needing something, anything, to drink!! Green tea, bottled water, coke, just as long as it is wet!!!! And aren't some these old gnarled trees something!! What stories THEY could tell!

The Roads That Are, the Zoo That Wasn't, and the Mall that is: Wow! 2/21/09

This past weekend found Ted and me doing some exploring of Kaohsiung City--on our own! Again, the weather is relatively comfortable, high 70's but not as much humidity as when we first arrived!
Thought we might share first the types of roads (not counting those steps!) we encounter every day; one really has to look down as much as forward when walking, because the terrain is so uneven! Look at all the different types of walkways!

Now for the fun stuff we tried and did, some with more success than others!! First, yesterday (Saturday for us), we thought it would be fun to go to the Kaohsiung Zoo! We hired our special cabbie, Mr Chen, who picked us up right at our villa door and dropped us off at the Zoo entrance. The gates were open, so walked the very colorful path (see Ted standing on the graffiti artwork on the walkway) up to the ticket office. The ladies there sort of waved us off, indicating, we thought, that it was a free day. Great. But when we started to walk into the zoo gates (which were open), they rushed to us and waved us away, finally managing to make us understand that the zoo was closed!! (We later googled the zoo and learned it had closed Feb 9th for renovations!! It won't open again until July! Drat!)

So, that was the Zoo that wasn't. But the adventures were not over, oh no! We quickly called our cabbie friend to come back and take us to a shopping area downtown that we had heard about. Fine, he said. Rather quickly, a cab appeared but not with Mr Chen. However, Mr Chen had said he might send another driver. We asked this cabbie if he was from Mr Chen and he said yes in the ONLY English he spoke. Now, we realize that asking him if he worked for Mr Chen was probably akin to asking him if he worked for Mr Smith. Any way, we hopped in and off we went;ZOOM! This cabbie did not believe in brakes, in stopping for any obstacle whatsoever that might be in his way, nor in obeying anything remotely like a speed limit. We almost had five accidents en route; I have never been so glad as when we arrived at the shopping district. Furthermore, as we were careening around corners and whipping down streets, Mr Chen called us on our cell to ask where we were!! Yup, we somehow were in the wrong cab! We tried to explain to him that we thought we were in one of his cabs, but we don't think he understood, and we thin either we, or he, has lost face. We desperately need Janet to extricate us from this by explaining, when we see her on Monday, to Mr Chen how sorry we are!! Any way, when we finally arrived in one piece, we headed for the Pizza Hut for a very tasy American meal!
Today was totally a blast! We took the subway (they are clean, well lit, have both Taiwanese and English signage, really easy and safe to ride!)to the so-called "Dream Mall!" What a neat place! It has , besides a million high-end stores (all Western stuff everywhere, from toys like Thomas the Train and Lightening McQueen to fashionable brand names in jewelry and clothing: that was disappointing to me; I want to see Taiwanese crafts etc, nut maybe somewhere else)), totally fun stuff/activities for kids of all ages. The HUGE complex,with 11 floors, has arcades, craft areas for kids to make stuff while waiting for parents, bumper cars, this bubble-like pond where kids ride in clear bubbles on the pond and, inside the bubbles, they push their bubbles around the water, lots of restaurants and an enormous, famous (for here) FERRIS WHEEL. We waited until night time to take that ride; the wheel is lit up with an ever-changing array of colorful lights and, from the top of it, you get a great panoramic view of the city! Tyson, Kyra and Maya would LOVE this mall!!!
Dinner too was an adventure! We wanted a place to be able to sit down (as opposed to one of the many stands available) and we wanted Taiwanese food, not MacDonald's etc. Well, we found a perfect choice. No menus in English, of course; so Ted and I just pointed at pictures of food that looked interesting and ordered! The food was great. I THINK I had a beef dish with rice marinated in a soy sauce,and Ted, a pork dish. First, though, we were served a big bowl of maybe cabbage, some sort of white crunchy stuff, over which we were to pour what the waiter pointed to :some tasty sauce. After the main meal, we were served "dessert," namely, orange juice and a very sweet tasting red bean soup. What a fun adventure!

The Banquet!! What an Experience!


















We just returned from a fantastic Taiwanese banquet. This particular one is held but once a year, shortly after the Chinese New Year, to signify celebrating the start of new beginnings. It was held in a posh hotel, and the ballroom was really beautifully decorated with pink floral arrangements and festively colorful balloons.


Ted and I were seated near the stage as guests of honor, as it was hosted by the School of Management. All the guest professors (about 5?) were introduced. Then, during the course of the evening, every time someone came to our table to welcome us (including the past and present Presidents of the University, an important legislator, the manager of the #1 radio station in Kaohsiung, among others), you stand and drink a toast, clicking your glass of wine. Fortunately, cranberry juice was also available for this purpose!!

The food was scrumptious, and mainly seafood ,for which Taiwan is famous. Don't ask us, however, what type of seafood we were eating; it really did taste good, but, as one guest professor from Australia said, it is sometimes better not to know exactly what it is you are eating. The man in the picture with Ted is I-Heng Chen, Ted's former student and now the Director of the Institute of Human Resource Management, the one who invited Ted to come and teach.


One part of the evening , after many had had a few more glasses of wine, I think, included karaoke singing on the part of some of the Taiwanese professors! They actually had pretty good voices, and sang songs, the words to which were written (in Chinese characters, of course) on a tv screen. Then, five very attractive assistants, pictured here, did a cute ste of songs and dances as entertainment as well! Ted and I did not understand a word of what was said most of the evening, but it was fun!

And, in case we were wondering, a course was served again with the fish's head available for our viewing pleasure! But seriously, it was a delightful evening.