The blog of randomness

Everything in Taiwan seems very random to James and I, so I am dedicating my blog of randomness to Taiwan.  These are a few things I've been meaning to post but have not had the chance, so here it goes!

• One of our friends here took us to the Costco since she is a member. It's exactly like a Costco in America with some Asian products thrown in the mix.  We were excited to see the place.  Guess what we found?  Coach's Oats!  For those of you who don't know, James and I were pretty obsessed with Coach's Oats for a while.  We used to mail order them from California since they were not sold anywhere in Atlanta.  Unfortunately, we decided not to buy them since we don't have a microwave or hot plate to cook them with. 
  
• My most advanced students were learning, "What have you done?" I had them ask each other and write the answers.  One of the very artistic students in my class drew the picture.  I love it!  I don't wear large bows to school though...I promise.  As a side note, the question, "What have you done?" was on the Final Exam.  One of my students wrote, "I done did my homework." I wanted to count it right just from the fact it gave me a good laugh while grading, but I done didn't do that!
  
• Our Taiwanese mother gave us this grapefruit pictured below. One of her friends grew it organically in their yard.  This is seriously the biggest grapefruit in the world!  That's James' iPhone in the picture.  Wow!
  
• My manager bought me chair to use at my work space since somehow my other one broke.  Do you think she knows I love green?
  
• Here's a picture one of the other teachers at my school posted on facebook of the Halloween decorations at our school.  The TA's made all of the decorations!  They are so talented.  On Halloween Day, I will be playing "pin the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern" with my students. 
  
  
  
  
• James' amazing sister (along with his sweet mom) sent us a package containing a bunch of ENGLISH DVDs and newspapers!  These should keep us entertained during typhoons :) Ohh...the cat picture was drawn by Tony, Rebecca's husband.  Apparently their nice kittie turned G.I.Joe style while we have been away. Our landlord must think we are some special people with all these packages and gifts from our Taiwanese mother!  
  
• Speaking of packages, we completely forgot to write about a wonderful package James received for his birthday.  His best friends, Ross and Katie, in Atlanta sent him a HUGE amount of homemade cookies!!!!  I suppose James ate them all too fast for us to take a picture or remember to write about them in the blog :)  James was one happy 32 year old when those arrived!

• We had our second friend coming through Taiwan from home that we were able to spend time with.  The younger brother of one of my best friends since middle school, Haley, has been teaching English in South Korea over the past three years.  He is taking an eastern hemisphere tour before heading home for good (thanks for the good idea on what we should do at the end of our journey Davey!).  He spent a few days in Taipei.  James and I enjoyed a tasty dinner with him in Hsinchu. It was really special to spend time with someone from home :) Unfortunately, we forgot to grab a photo to have proof!
• We met a fellow athletic friend soon after arriving to Taiwan.  She is a "real" teacher at an international school, so the lucky girl gets to head home to America for two months during the summer.  When she returned to Taiwan in September, she showed a lot of interest in getting together with me.  It turns out that not only do I enjoy her company (and we have a lot in common) but that James and I really enjoy spending time with her and her boyfriend.  I think they have been looking for a fellow Christian couple like us.  We are officially starting a "small group" with them on Sunday evenings!  They have already picked out the first book to study. James and I have also attended the original church we went to upon arriving in Taiwan (and that this couple attends) because now they have a 1:30 pm service that works nicely into weekend schedule most of the time.  The service is small and intimate.  We broke into groups to discuss questions from the sermon last week.  It amazes me how every once in a while God gives us an "easy" pass in life.   
• James got a little crazy buying things at the RT Mart.  This picture looks like its from one of those funny emails.  I am glad I was not there to ride the scooter home with him!  There's no more room. 
  
• To end the blog of randomness, I will post something not so random.  We went hiking to today in a new area with some new friends.  We were in Taoyuan County which is northeast of Hsinchu.  We enjoyed a long hike (6 hours) on a beautiful autumn day.  Speaking of autumn, it went from boiling hot to cool here overnight.  We are embarrassed to say we got quite chilled on the scooter ride home from the hike today in our shorts and jackets.  A thermometer on the way home read 21 degrees Celsius which is 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  I suppose it's time to go buy some sweatpants!
  
  That is a seriously large slug!
  
  
  
  Lots of ropes for climbing up and down on the trail. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Getting our weekly dose of the Taiwanese mountains!
  
  

James Report - driving and racing

Working and living in Taiwan has been getting much better over the past month.  I think we both are getting in to our grooves at work and we are learning the ins-and-outs of living here.  As you may have seen from our last post we are finding more and more places to have lots of fun ;-)

I am happy to report I am FINALLY a one hundred percent legal scooter driver in Taiwan.  I was almost a legal driver before, but it was kind of a gray area.  Rachel and I both got our International Drivers Licenses prior to leaving the US but they are technically not recognized in Taiwan.  We still needed to get them 'certified' by the Taiwan Dept of Transportation (which we never did).  Anyways, I went through the process (which I will explain next) and got my real Taiwan Drivers License.

The majority of foreigners that we have met do not have a Taiwan drivers license.  They are all driving illegally.  Even people I have met that have been living here for 4, 5, 6+ years.  I think that is ridiculous.  I don't understand why anyone would take on that additional risk.  Especially driving around these roads.  I do know a couple people that do have their licenses and they each gave me some pointers as to how to study for the written test, what to expect on the driving test, etc.  I do a brief study, gather the necessary documents, and head to the DMV one morning to get my license.

attempt #1 - At the counter of the DMV, I realize I don't have my ARC (work Visa).  My manager needed it from me the day before and forgot to give it back.  Rats.  Will have to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #2 - Back a few days, maybe a week later and the woman at the counter informs me I need a medical check to get my license.  I just had a medical check to get my work visa.  Unfortunately its not the same.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #3 - About a week later I got the medical check in the morning.  Go back to the DMV and pay the money.  Go up to the written testing room and will need to wait 2 hours before I can take the test.  There are specific testing times that I forgot about.  I don't have time to wait before needing to get to work.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #4 - Another week goes by and I am back to the DMV with all the necessary documents, my medical check, and at the correct 8:30am testing time.  Pay the money and go to the testing room.  They won't let me take the test wearing flip-flops.  ?????  The cleaning woman overhears the dilemma and gives me her shoes to wear.  Kind of gross, but I took them and put my un-socked feet inside.  I was willing to do whatever it took to get my license.  The Taiwanese are ridiculously nice by the way.  Long story short, I failed the written test.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #5 - Study lots and lots.  Put in about 5 hours total over a few weeks.  Made it back to the DMV, paid my money again, passed the written test, passed the driving test (not easy by the way), and got my license.  Yeah!!!

So maybe that's why so many foreigners don't get their license?  Regardless, I can now CONFIDENTLY make illegal left-hand turns and only be concerned about an inexpensive traffic ticket instead of who knows what.  I am now legal to do illegal things!

  

This weekend we ran our first race in Taiwan.  It was a 15k 'trail race' put on by famous Taiwanese ultra-runner Kevin Lin.  The race was Saturday morning so we had to get to Taipei on Friday night.  Rachel doesn't get out of work till 8:15pm so I met her at her school with dinner and we LEGALLY drove straight to the bus station.  We arrived to our hostel in Taipei about 10:40pm and got ready for the next morning as quickly as we could.  We had to be to a specific location at 05:00am Saturday morning to catch the shuttle bus to the race start.  I think we were finally in bed around midnight.  Our 4:15am alarm clock was not a nice sound!  We made it to the shuttle bus in time and were on our way to the race.

At the race we met up with two runners I had met online (no jokes please).  It was nice to make some other runner friends in Taiwan.  ***Rachel reminded me about the port-o-potties at the race.  They were all squatter toilets!  Haven't seen a squatter port-o-pottie before.  Also, there were no long lines for the port-o's in the moments before the race.  Every race we have ever been in the US has had LONG LONG lines in the moments leading to the race start.  I guess nobody in Taiwan has pre-race nerves?***  The race started at 7:00 and was a straight-up road hill climb for 5k.  The second 5k was on a 'trail' (very manicured path) and the last 5k was straight-down the road hill.  It was actually a pretty brutal course.  I was pleased with how I ran and finished 7th place overall.  Unfortunately there were 3 people ahead of me in my age-group so I finished 4th in my age-group.  No award for me.  Rachel on the other hand destroyed all the other women in her age group and got a massive gold plate.  Good job Ray Ray!  And if you can see in the picture, the 2nd place female is wearing an Atlanta Marathon jacket and a Raliegh, NC running hat.  She is from Atlanta, GA, graduated from GA State, and has been living/teaching in Taiwan for 2 years.  Small world!

Kevin Lin is the famous Taiwanese ultra-runner.  He ran
across the Sahara desert once.  Yeah.

We met a German guy at the race who was in town for business.  He took a bunch of pictures of the race course and shared them with me.  It was a very pretty place to run.  Shoot, everywhere in Taiwan (outside of a city) is a pretty place to run!

Rachel with her award.  And me with my backpack.

After the race we cleaned up, ate lunch, and went to the zoo with a new friend we made at the race.  The zoo was very nice and we enjoyed the Africa section, the penguin house, and the koala bears the most.  The panda exhibit was quite disappointing.  The baby panda that has been all over the news won't be on display till it's 1 year old.  Bummer!  And there is only one panda at the zoo to see and there was a long line to see it and the zoo staff hurried you through the exhibit so you could only see the panda for about 45 seconds.  Oh well.  Atlanta, GA has a great panda exhibit!

The zoo was fun but we soon realized we were extremely tired!  After walking around for a few hours we headed back to Hsinchu to eat dinner and go to sleep.  I will leave y'all with a few pics from the zoo.

Alishan National Park

Our trip this past weekend has been the best in Taiwan!!!!!  

We had Thursday (10/10) as a holiday from work.  Double Ten National Holiday in Taiwan is the celebration of the independence of Taiwan from China.  They mostly seem to celebrate with fireworks.  James and I requested Friday as a holiday so we could take a long trip and call it a 4-day weekend. October is the best weather month in Taiwan so we have to make the best of it!

James picked Alishan National Park in Central Taiwan.  Thankfully the national parks in Taiwan are currently open unlike the US... He was ready to go into the real mountains of Taiwan!

October is thankfully not heavy-tourist-season in the park.  The park is well-known for the cherry blossoms in the spring.  I am sure it is gorgeous but I don't know about facing those crowds...

Picture from google images of the cherry blossoms

We left on a train from Hsinchu at 7:40am on Thursday morning.  Please note that normally we are just waking up at this time! After the comfortable three hour train ride, we hopped on a bus to take us straight to Alishan National Park.  

As soon as the bus started to get into the mountains, the bus ride became a bit intense.  Immediately, the toddler sitting in front of us on the bus vomited.  It smelled so disgusting that I am pleasantly surprised other adults on the bus did not start vomiting!  James and I copied the young adult couple (who helped translate a few things for us that the bus driver said while on the ride) seated next to us.  They put some chapstick in their nostrils.  It really helped with the horrendous smell! 

After the two and a half hour and rather painful ride, we arrived at Alishan!  The afternoon clouds were already rolling in and temperature was cool.  It felt quite refreshing though.  It was the coldest temperatures we have felt since leaving home. 

After checking into our hotel room, we searched for food.  The park has a small restaurant and shopping area with a total of about 30 stores/restaurant.  Thankfully this included a 7-11! 

Our hotel room

View from our window.  We climbed to that peak in the picture :)

We picked this street food because we saw someone eating a large plate of cooked cabbage.  We got a delicious meal of two stir fried vegetable noodles and two plates of awesome vegetables.  Since we used another person who spoke some English to help us order our meal, we were surprised when we paid.  It costs 430NT or $14USD.  I know this sounds ridiculous but James and I felt like this was robbery! We are so used to paying $4USD for both of us to enjoy a full meal of rice and veggies.  I don't know how we will ever eat out in America again :)

We continued our afternoon journey with a walking tour in the forest.  It was gorgeous! We enjoyed some neat shaped cedar trees.  The old trees (I mean up to 2,700 years old) were HUGE!  Those trees were here before Jesus!  If only trees could talk...or if only we could talk tree ;-)  

James should really be a professional photographer with photos like this!

The heart shaped tree!  So sweet!

The area around this pond apparently looks very similar to Kyoto, Japan.  I guess there is no need for us to travel there now :)

2,300 year old tree!!!!!!

After enjoying a lovely sunset, we decided that we needed to find a cheaper option for food while on this trip.  Unfortunately, we did not bring much food from home.  We have never had an issue finding reasonably priced food anywhere else in Taiwan. Well, we weren't the only ones in this boat.  The 7-11 was packed! We managed to grab a few of the bananas and peanuts.  We found a random (and kind of creepy) dry goods stored run by an elderly woman.  She had a massive container of instant Quaker oatmeal.  We had no idea what a life savior this purchase would be on this trip!  

Sunset - Day 1

The next morning we received a 4am wake up along with everyone else staying at our hotel.  We were all catching vans and trains to see the famous sunrise.  We got on a van a 5am.  It was hard to keep my eyes open for the ride up the mountain.  We made a quick stop at Yushan National Park sign.  We saw a monkey near the sign!  Then, we stopped to see a large 2,300 year old cedar tree.  Finally, we made it to the overlook for the sunrise.  A few locals were dressed like Indians.  They were selling local honey and dried fruits.  Anyways, we got to see the famous "sea of clouds." The clouds settle into the valley.  As the sun rises or sets the clouds look like the ocean.  It's incredible!  Well, the sun peaked up over the mountain and everyone "ohhed and awwed." 

2,800 meters high! It was a chilly morning (probably around 50 degrees Fahrenheit)!

Sea of clouds sunrise

While the run rises, the mountains start to come alive!

The sunrise crowd at this overlook

The van driver gave everyone these cool boxes to look at the sunrise through.  They were like sunglasses but they made the sun look purple. 

Afterwards, we went to a breakfast included in the cost of our hotel.  It was a mad fight to the food!  Everyone must have been starving from waking up so early.  We used our elbows and managed to grab some of the food.  It was actually quite a hilarious scene.  Someone needs to do a comedy act on this breakfast.  James and I stuffed ourselves with the awesome Taiwanese style breakfast which includes the following: tofu of several varieties, cooked ginger cucumbers, cooked broccoli, peanuts, steamed buns, warm soy milk, hot coffee and tea, and of course rice.  Thankfully, we were able to stuff ourselves with the deliciousness every morning so our food bill was pretty low on this trip.  

The cafeteria workers probably called me the "Cucumber Queen" in Chinese. 

After pondering taking a nap, we realized the the clouds always come into the mountains around noon so we better start our hike asap.  By 9am (it felt like it should have been 3pm by then), we were hiking!  We did the longest hike in the park to the top of Tashan mountain.  After climbing stairs through the forest for almost two hours, we arrived at the peak.  The views were breathtaking!

WOW!!!!!!!!!

We are at standing at 2,663 meters or 8,737 feet!

I am sporting the pigtails once again.

The never ending stairs...

For some reason after the descent, we decided to continue the journey and check out another trail.  The trail led to the main overlook for sunrise at the end of the train tracks. The clouds were already coming in so we weren't able to see a ton by this time.  

More green trails

Sister Pond

Steam Yarder 

We enjoyed a lovely early dinner/late lunch of 7-11 salads and oatmeal with peanuts and bananas.  I told you our food budget was low.  We caught the most incredible sunset I think I have ever seen.  The sea of clouds were perfect.  It looked exactly like the pictures we had seen online! We passed out before 9pm. Some nights I am just finishing teaching at 9pm...

Since we were at high elevation, all of the food bags looked like they were going to burst!

These pictures do not give this sunset justice. 

 

The next morning we received another 4am wake up call.  Apparently, they just call all the rooms at 4am because we did not ask for one. We could not handle another early morning so we slept until at least 7am.  After a much calmer breakfast (it pays to get to the breakfast cafeteria after the sunrise crowd has left), we headed out on two more hikes.  The first one, the Duigaoyue hike, was a lot of stairs that led us to yet another incredible overlook.  Next, we hiked to the Giant Tree of Mt. Shuishan ("shui shan" means "water mountain").  James and I were very impressed with ourselves that we know how to say and read both of those words in Chinese! The tree was awesome.  

Amazing...

A lot of the plants and flowers were the same as those in Georgia due to the climate.  I love these hydrangeas.  I also saw clovers and dandelions.  

The Giant Tree of Mt. Shuishan was at the end of an nonactive railroad track.  

That's a big tree!!!!!

After a cold shower, we explored a bit more of the area we enjoyed the first afternoon in the park.  Yes, a cold shower.  As we commonly find in Taiwan, eletricity and power are conserved.  Hot water is only offered at the hotel between 4pm and 4am.  Also, the heat is only turned on when the outside temperature is below 46 degrees Fahrenheit. We also enjoyed three ears of corn on the cob being sold at a random temple in the mountains. It was basically three ears for $3USD so we could not resist! By the end of the evening, we had covered every trail the park had to offer.  I think the workers at the visitor's center were pretty impressed :) The only thing we did not do was ride the train! We even sampled the famous oolong mountain tea. 

A swinging bridge.  I seriously felt like I was in an emerald heaven of green while we walked through the forest.  I kept expecting a hobbit or unicorn to jump out of the forest.  I don't know why more movies aren't filmed in Taiwan. It's so beautiful and enchanting in certain areas. 

The clouds were heavy so there was not much of a sunset.  Ohh well.  Time for an oatmeal dinner!

Well, we finished the big container of oatmeal.  We ate in from these bowls we got at 7-11 that are used for hot tofu and ramen noodles.  Ha.  My stomach looks funny in the picture.  It's the shirt over the shorts.  I promise I did not gain 15 pounds eating the oatmeal :)

For our last morning, we woke up at 4:45am.  We had decided to run up to the main sunrise overlook.  We actually started the run at the same time as the train.  It took about 30 minutes of running up and up and up (it was really tough) to get to the overlook.  The train had just arrived when we did!  The sunrise was the best yet!  Just look at these pictures!!!!!!

A perfect sunrise ending to a fantastic weekend!

These people are probably wondering why James and I are sweaty!

Is that the ocean or clouds? 

Well, after inhaling a massive amount of broccoli, cucumbers and tofu, it was time to head home on an uneventful bus ride!  Our legs and bodies were exhausted!!!!!  It's time to adjust back to our 7:30am to 11pm days. I must say that the park really reminded me of Yosemite National Park.  The woods were green and full of trees.  Like the trees back home!  We were no longer surrounded by tropical plants such as bamboo.  Most of the trees were pine and cedar.  Sigh...it was gorgeous.  The air was so fresh and crisp!  For the first time since we have arrived in Taiwan (literally), I did not have sinus and throat issues.  We both absolutely loved this trip.  I can't imagine a more wonderful way to spend our holiday.  

James and I always talk and dream about living in the mountains one day.  After this trip, I really hope to make this a reality.  The fresh crisp air of the mountains and the outstanding beauty make me feel at my best and close to God.  I felt pretty disgusted returning back to the city this evening sadly.  I already miss the mountains!

I have a list of other neat things to blog about but I will have to save them for another post as this one is already so long!  Happy Double Ten day everyone! 

******Please note our new wardrobe of awesome race T-shirts.  Our friend who runs the show for Allstate 13.1 Marathon Atlanta and Publix Georgia Marathon, Jennie Olshaske, sent us a box of new T-shirts from the races!  I was on the marketing team for these events.  Well, these shirts are great and we enjoy representing Atlanta races in Taiwan! Thanks so much Jennie!!!