S.O.S.

Finally!  After weeks and weeks of sending out our distress calls to the Big Guy, we received some much needed relief.  We were able to receive our air shipment at our apartment.  It wasn't much, but it was enough to make us feel a little more settled and comfortable in this alien country.

The movers unpacking some of our things

 



Lily, realizing that she has finally received some of her stuffies!

 



Comfort

 





Another big step was that I established a local cell phone number, so now I can actually call people. The best part about it is that my number contains the number 8...yay for good fortune! 

We got our new car, which was a huge relief!  No more scary taxi rides!  Before we moved here, I swore, up and down, that I was NEVER going to drive in Taipei.  Well, I'm driving in Taipei!  I love to drive and I love the freedom, so I decided to get behind the wheel and face the Asian drivers.  At first, I was terrified, and rightly so.  Driving in Taiwan is like one big game of Chicken.  Rules?  What rules?  Taiwanese people don't think twice about parking their cars in the middle of the road (just put your hazard lights on), running red lights, illegal U-turns, or acutally driving in their lane (feel free to drive in the middle of the road).  I think the most jaw-dropping, "what-just-happened" moment was when a huge city bus passed us, during rush hour traffic, on a two-lane, double-yellow-line road.  Yep, that pretty much sums it up.  But, in their defense, that's just how they do it here.  It's all that they know.  I am starting to enjoy the lack of rules and finding freedom in the mayhem.  I have learned that confidence is everything when driving here and that it's, actually, kind of fun once you get the hang of it.

Our car

 

      

 

The girls have settled, nicely, into a routine, which is another relief.  They have finished three full weeks of school and everything seems to be going smoothly.  The school is phenomenal.  I couldn't be happier with the environment and high-caliber teachers.  Lily's teacher is a man from South Carolina and he is a perfect fit for her.  Hannah's teacher is from Idaho and, again, a perfect fit.  The campus is enormous (K-12) and has abundant after-school activities.  It is our safe haven.  My favorite part about the school is how they are meeting and making friends with people from all over the world.  Even though it is an American school, American children only make up about 20% of the school population.  There are children from all nationalities and all religions.  I love that they are exposed to so many different types of people and cultures.  Another amazing perk to the girls attending an international school is that they get to learn Mandarin.  They are picking up the language quickly!

 



Of course, there are some things that are very difficult, too.  Being the new kid is never easy, but their classmates have been very accepting and kind, which I am so grateful for.  But, Hannah and Lily really miss their friends from home and the deep connections and love that they have with/for them.  It is hard, as parents, to watch them struggle, but we really feel, deep down, that this experience will benefit them in the long run.

 

Taipei American School 

 

 

These are the buses that pick the kids up for school.  The girls don't ride the school bus yet, but when they do, they will probably be picked up by one of the double-decker tour buses (not shown).

 

These flags are hung in the lobby of TAS and I just love the symbolism - East meets West

 

Oh, you know, just your average, random banana tree at the school playground

 

 

Lily and her teacher, Mr. Couch, on the day that they celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday

 

 

Hannah had a chance to take home Humphrey, the classroom hamster

 

Walking to school in the morning in Tianmu

 

 

     

Probably the most comforting thing of all is that, after 2 house-hunting trips, 9 realtors (yes, 9!), and 100+ properties (just a little picky), we finally found a house that we are going to call home for the next year and a half.  It was a hard decision, but we decided on a house in the mountains verses an apartment in Tianmu, which is where the American school is located.  It is a 20 minute commute to school, but I am super-driver now and the house is really worth it.  It is a two-story, 6 bedroom house with a pool in a gated community,  It is located in an area of Taipei called Yangmingshan, which is a mountain ("shan" is the word for mountain) and national park and it is very beautiful.  We are looking forward to the fresh air, hiking, are tranquility.  We have to wait until the end of April before we can move into our house, so it looks like another five weeks of crockpot cooking for me!   

 

 

This is the front gate to our house.  It is a gated house in a gated community, so it is very safe.

 

 

View from the street

 

This is the stairway entrance to get up to our house.  The Taiwanese man is our gardener.

 

Our pool on the side of the house

 

The side of the house and yard for Roxy

 

Entryway

 

Living room (and our realtor)

 

Living room/dining room

 

Wet bar

 

Kitchen

 

Kitchen

 

View from Hannah's room

 

The sauna

 

The rooftop

 

View of the pool from the rooftop

 



As always, there were many funny, "Only in Taiwan" moments this month...

Just a little redundant

 

 

Mmm...the perfect snack, almond strips with dried minnows

 



 

More crunchy snacks...fish and shrimp

 

Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads

 

An entire aisle devoted to rice when all you want is Uncle Ben's

 



 The next two pictures deserve a little more attention.  Something that we have noticed in Taiwan is that they have the most well-behaved dogs on the planet. It is rare to see an owner walking his or her dog on a leash.  They follow their humans wherever they go and they abide by all of the pedestrian rules and never jump out into the busy traffic.  It, honestly, baffles me.  How do they get them to listen so well?  When Roxy gets here, the Taiwanese people will be able to pin her as an American dog right away for sure.  Oh, the shame!

This dog is waiting for the green light at the crosswalk.  He is looking back at his owners to let them know that he is a good boy...not a nitwit American dog



 

This chiuaua was my hiking buddy one day.  His owner was behind me.

 

I ordered a medium cheese pizza and I got this

 

O-H-I-O even in Taiwan

 

 

The Taiwanese workers believe, strongly, in the importance of an afternoon nap.  While house hunting one day, we walked through an apartment that was under construction and found these men in deep sleep.  We were, basically, stepping over them and they never moved a muscle.

 



A few of our little frustrations of the month:

* You can't just turn on the faucet and fill up a glass of water to drink.  You have to boil the water first.  It's not that big of a deal, but it takes a little getting used to.

* Mosquitoes.  Everywhere.  Even being on the 5th floor of an apartment building with all of the doors and windows closed, they still manage to find us.  The girls are starting to look like they have a case of the measles.

* We are required, by law, to separate all of our garbage for recycling purposes.  I don't mind that at all, but we also have to separate all of the food from the regular trash.  It is a pain in the neck and I didn't understand why we had to do it.  I finally found out that it's because they take all of the left-over food  from around the country and feed it to the pigs.  Oink.

* $8.00 bottle of Log Cabin maple syrup? $10.00 box of Rice Krispies?  $20.00 brick of Velveeta cheese? C'mon!

* I need a can of Cream of Mushroom soup for my chicken crockpot recipe, but where did I see it that one time?  Was it City Super?  Wellman's?  Willy's?  Jason's?  Wellcome?  Matseusi?  Carrefour?  Oh, forget it!  Mac 'n Cheese it is.   

All in all, things are looking up for us.  Even through the difficult days and annoyances, Taiwan is really growing on me.  I am starting to feel pride and appreciation for our home away from home.  But, in my heart, America is still the best country on Earth and I miss it terribly!

Always Expect the Unexpected

Always.  This is something that we are still adjusting to, and it ain't easy!  We realized, right away, that Taiwan is not America.  Culture shock!  Disappointment is common and it is easy to get frustrated or sad when things don't go the way we think they should go.  Even though Taipei is considered "Asia-light", with its westernized restaurants, shops, and English signs, it is still a far cry from home.  We don't realize how good we have it in America.  The things that we take for granted in the U.S. are pure luxuries here.  Sometimes the unexpected is hilarious, sometimes it just makes you mad.  We are learning to let go of any American expectations in order to fully embrace the Asian experience.  Notice that I said "learning".  It's a slow process.

Here are a few examples of some random frustrations, although there are SO many more that we encounter, daily...some funny, some not so much. 

* When you go to a restaurant in Taiwan, do not expect the same service as you would get in the U.S.  The food, rarely, comes out all at the same time.  Instead, each meal will be served as soon as it is finished cooking.  It's annoying, but we learned that they do this in Taiwan, because, traditionally, Taiwanese people eat "family-style".  Everyone shares food...which is kind of gross, too.  It's like double dipping!  But, apparently, if you are with people and you are sharing food, that means that you are close friends.      

* When you order water or milk, be sure to order it cold, or it will come out warm, or even hot.  Imagine our faces when our water came out steaming hot, or Lily's expression when she realized that they served her warm milk!  Why would we want ice water and cold milk?  It's winter, right?!  

* The language barrier.  They try so hard to understand us, and we try so hard to understand them, but, quite frequently, there are many miscommunications.  Tonight, Matt took Hannah and Lily on a "date" for Valentine's Day.  They had to wait an hour to get a table.  When they were finally seated, Matt was informed that the hostess misunderstood him and thought that he said that he had a party of five, not a party of three.  They waited for nothing.  This brings me to my next frustration...

* ...everything takes twice as long to accomplish.  I'm sure that part of this has to do with living in a big city and having to walk everywhere, but also the language barrier really holds us up a lot of the time.  Grocery shopping also takes twice as long, if not more.  There's no "one-stop" shopping here.  You have to go to multiple stores to get one or two items that you need, and you can't just hop in your car for a "quick trip" to the grocery store and park in a parking lot like you can in the U.S.  Parking is very limited here.     

* The scooters.  This is not a culture of cars, but a culture of scooters.  They are convenient and cheap, so many people drive them.  It's not unusual to see a family of four on a scooter, going down the road.  The worst part is that, many of them drive like maniacs!  They weave in and out of traffic and are not careful...at least that's how it appears to us.  It doesn't seem to phase them at all.  Traffic laws aren't really enforced here, they are merely "suggestions", so people get away with a lot of traffic violations.  Pedestrians, definitely, do not have the right of way!  It can be a little bit stressful to cross the street, especially with the girls.

A common sight



Even dogs get to go for rides

 



* The girls and I went to see Disney on Ice this week.  I was so excited to take them to something that would make them feel like they were home in America...a little comfort for the week.  I should have remembered to "expect the unexpected", because, even though Ariel, Belle, Rapunzel, and Cinderella were all Americans...they were "singing" in Chinese.  We were pretty disappointed, but the girls made the most of it and just enjoyed the entertainment.

Enjoying Disney on Ice

 

 

I think Lily is testing out her "smolder" like Flynn Rider

 

 

Taiwan hasn't been all bad, though.  There are a lot of great things about it, too!  The nature is beautiful, the people are very friendly, the expat community is amazing, the Taipei American School is top-notch, and there's always something new to see, experience, and learn.  And they have Yoppi!  It's a frozen yogurt bar, almost identical to the ones in the U.S.!

Enjoying Yoppi for the first time

 

  

We have learned a lot of interesting things about Taiwan.  Here are a few random things... 

* If you import drugs, even marijuana, it is punishable by death! 

* Taiwan is not recognized as a country by most of the world.  America doesn't recognize it and, as we learn more about the history of Taiwan and its relationship to China, we begin to understand why.  It's very political.  So, there is not a U.S. Embassy here...but there is the American Institute.     

* People drive crazy and very offensively, but there is no road rage. 

* It is a very superstitious culture.  Numberology is very big here.  Eight is a very lucky number, because the word "eight" in Chinese sounds a lot like the word "fortune".  Four is a very unlucky number.  The word "four" in Chinese sounds a lot like the word "death".  You, usually, won't see a 4th floor in an apartment building...or 13th. 

* They use umbrellas for rain and sun.  They do not like to be tan.  Lighter skin is more attractive in their culture.

* 7-11's are huge here!  You can do everything at a 7-11, even pay your bills!

There is definitely a humorous side to Taiwan, from an American perspective.  We find ourselves giggling a lot at random things that we see or hear. 

Something funny, that we haven't gotten used to, yet, are the stares.  Everywhere we go, we feel like a spectacle...especially with Lily and her blonde hair.  It never fails, when we go out in public, someone stops us and comments on how beautiful Hannah and Lily are and how their hair and eyelashes look like dolls.  Hannah didn't know how to handle the constant barrage of compliments, so she finally started throwing them back at people.  The kids at school: "Ooooooh...Hannnnnaaahhhh!  You're sooooo prettttyyyy!"  Hannah's response: "Sooooooo are youuuuuuuu!!"  I love her wit.

Here are some funny snapshots from around town...

Seaweed-flavored Cheetos

 

  

Just one example of the funny, random sayings on shirts - they just don't realize what they say.  You see them everywhere (and, yes, I bought this one!)

 

 

After their lunch-break is over, they press Play

 

 



Don't even THINK about doing your laundry at the park!

 

 

Yeah, this should work...why not?

 

 



 

The aisle for Potato Slices

 

 

They are just as crazy about their dogs as Americans...but this was pretty extreme, even for the U.S.

 

 

Probably the most specific store in all of Taipei

 

 

We ordered fruit salad, and we got fruit salad

 

 

At the Taipei Zoo, they are a little obsessed with poop for some reason

 

 

Poop art

 

 

Don't forget to group your feces

 

 

Not sure what to say about this...

 

 

The rabbit and guinea pig exhibit was fascinating!

 

 

My cutie pies being silly 

 

 

Look, closely, at the bag...there's breaking news in Pennsylvania!

 

 

Trying, desperately, to learn about DNA, in Chinese, at the Science Center, but that wasn't going to happen...

 

 

...but, we made sure to readily homing!

 

 

 

 

Even through all of the hard times, we are really enjoying ourselves and trying to be as light-hearted as possible.  There is a reason for every little thing that we go through. 

 

As Hannah says, "When nothing goes right...go left."

 

Baby steps!