Strawberries in Grammie's Kitchen

Another picture of Carole's. She's the one taking pictures instead of doing work!

Well I'm sorry but you may need to wait a week or so for pictures. I am simply too busy cramming fun and relaxation into a very short time frame and dial-up is not accomadating. It's been a lovely day, with two hours of dedicated strawberry work to turn three flats of strawberries into the winter supply.

Then there was a rather exciting 6-hand crokinole game. Dad, Aunt Evelyn, and Grammie won hands down. Mom was too nervous about getting it wrong, and I am admittedly too non-chalant in setting up my play.

We went to the Mapleton Stawberry Supper for dinner. You'll really have to see the picture to get the sense of the down-home nature of the church basement full of friendly country folk. The food was delicious, and there was even a band tucked away in the corner. Worlds away from Toronto and worlds away from Taiwan.

Next on my to-do list is to get all the stuff I bought out of the shopping bags and repacked into my suitcase.

Then the sun-porch beckons; "I long to be out in the sun with no work to be done." - Irving Berlin

Nova Scotia

So, I'm in Nova Scotia, worlds away from Taiwan. Perhaps I should change the name of my blog for the summer. Nah, too much trouble. I have my ticket back to Taipei at the end of August, but I'm going to do everything possible to fully enjoy my 'vacation' in Nova Scotia this summer and not waste any energy thinking about going back for the fall.

Right now, I'm at my Grandmother's house, full of wonderful memories. I can think of no more relaxing place in the world. It's full of cats and pictures of cats, the beds all have deep crevices in the middle that are rather tricky to roll out of, the view from the window is hummingbirds on the feeder, the small white country church, and the bluberry hills. The job for today is taking three flats of strawberries and washing, hulling, and cutting them to eat all winter. I'll put a picture on later.

Mao, Me and Michelle

This is from Monday, July 11, when I spent the evening with Michelle. I forgot my camera, can you imagine, so Michelle was nice enough to take lots and send them to me. This is Michelle's wonderful kitty, Chairman Mao, Me, and Michelle. The internet here is dial-up, so I'll put more pictures on if I get a chance.

Bonjour!

So, I`m currently in Quebec. It`s quite an odd sensation to go from being surrounded by Chinese to being surrounded by French so quickly. For those of you who aren`t Canadian, yes, everyone really does speak French in Quebec, although it`s all bilingual, so it`s much easier to get around.

I totally didn`t leave enough time to`do` Toronto. I flew in Monday morning, had appointments all day, met with Michelle monday night. Then I spent Tuesday morning with Heidi and Mom, Dad and I left to start driving to Nova Scotia tuesday afternoon. I didn`t have time to even look at my room, and I forgot to get my last Huntington yearbook to look at (probably not missing much, but heh). And I throughly loved seeing Michelle and Heidi, but it seemed way too short. It took Claire and I ten days of talking non-stop to catch up, I need to same with cousins and Oxford-buddies. It makes me sad that I live so far away from my friends and family.

On a side note, I had a shopping spree. Or at least as close to a shopping spree as I`ll get on my own money. I brought very few clothes from Taipei, and I decided it was okay to buy lots. Actually, I am in the process of composing an ode to H&M. Anyone want to guess how much I spend total, or how much I spent just at H&M? To preface it, Ì used to just shop at Value Villiage and other used clothing stores, and probably never spent more than $30 or $40 at one time.

Alright, I should get back to the lovely Days Inn Continential Breakfast.

Halfway there

Well, I made it to the LA airport. I suppose that's half way there. I was so happy to leave Taipei. In fact, I couldn't even wait to get out of the aiport. I felt like people kept invading my space amd trying to take advantage of me (it's cultural). The flight was enjoyable - I sat and watched movie after movie. I recommend "The Love Song of Bobby Long" starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johanasson, which I had not heard of, but which made me cry.

Well, the US government still has me listed as a student, so I had to go sit in a waiting room with a bunch of suspicious looking characters. The customs people were all very jovial, which suprised me. The guy suggested i always leave extra time for transit, because he says it will be years before I get cleared out of their system.

Being in the US is more of a shock than I thought it would be. I think part of it is that I have so many different memories of trips coming and going through here. All the corners our groups were shuffled into and told to stay. The bad memories of group travel and unfamiliar jetlag. Just the fact that everyone around me is mostly caucasian and mostly speaking English is startling. Every interaction I have had with the counter staff and store clerks has seemed so friendly and personal. After Taipei, everyone in LA seems down-home friendly!

I'm still anxious to be back in Canada. I almost laughed when they told me there was a problem with my student visa, because I felt like saying "I spent four years in this country - you couldn't pay me to sneak back in!" In Canada everyone will be even more polite, and no one will invade my personal space, or so I hope.

Good Morning!

Good Morning! Actually, if you're on the East Coast, you know it's a little past good morning. Yes, according to my newly adopted time zone, I slept in. How did I manage that? THe wonders of Gravol. Well, I went to sleep at 6:30am Taipei time, 6:30 pm EST. I put on my comfy eyemask and ear plugs and went right to sleep. Then, next thing I knew, there was a sound at my door, I sat up, pulled out my ear plugs and paranoidly whispered "who's there?" Well, it was Kathy making sure I was alive before she went to sleep. I couldn't believe it, it was 11pm Taipei time. I slept for about 16 hours. That's good though, because I have a lot of packing to do 'today' and then one more 'night's' sleep before I leave.

Oh, and this was a picture I took when I was bored. It was awhile ago, but I thought it went with the post title. I fuzzed the edges a little, but the color isn't touched.

A question of time

I love travelling but I am beginning to hate time zones. I'm doing the whole 12 zones on the way back to Canada this weekend. So my body is debating whether it believes it is 4:32 am or 4:32 pm. I thought I'd try something new this time, and start adjusting ahead of time. It's not like I have much to do these last few days in Taiwan, so I'm staying up at night and sleeping during the day - that's the plan. Last night I made it till 5am, and slept pretty much till 1pm. A little bit longer tonight and I should be close to ready. See, I only have about 24 hours in Toronto, and it's full up of appointments, shopping, and catching up with two wonderful friends (can't wait, michelle and heidi!) I'd hate to spend the one day I have half-asleep or feeling yucky. So a little pain now will hopefully pay off. And of course, I can just use it as an excuse for a steady stream of Tim Horton's coffee. Visions of timbits dance in my head. I'm counting down - 52 hours until I fly off.

Which reminds me, Real Live Preacher has an interesting essay loosely associated with time zones, considering what our faith is based on. Turtles All the Way Down

Check out the Carole and Claire Taiwan Adventure photoblog! Actually, only check it out if you have a big chunk of time. Maybe take it in a couple sittings. It's not exactly consise! Really, it's more for us than for you all, but I'll share if you'd find it interesting.

 

A summer afternoon rain. 

Green Island boat. 

 

Claire's Gone

Well, Claire left this morning. We both got up really early to be ready when our driver came. Thus, we both got the sick 'airport feeling' - Claire moreso because she's actually travelling. It's funny, in pretty much the same proportion to how much I love the process of travelling, Claire hates it. So she was anxious about the trip home, but really excited to see her husband. Actually, today is their 10 month anniversary, so Claire will be back in Indiana in time to celebrate with John. (=

We were at the airport way too early, and checked in over two hours before the flight. So we had lots of time to sit at the Au Bon Pain cafe and talk. We were both sad that our visit was over, but not in the same way we were sad to say goodbye at Ruth St. last spring. See, it's not the end of something, it's the marker of passing that transistional point between college roommates and life friends. And we have more great memories from the last 10 days than I could have ever imagined. And we have great plans to improve our student's pen pal program for next year. And as I rode home on the bus, I shed a little tear, but was overall just happy to have such a wonderful friend, and to know that she will always be part of my life.

Now, I have to turn my attentions to getting ready to leave Taiwan in a few days. I am THRILLED. I have reached my limit, I must leave this country before I start screaming at people in the street. Seriously. Actually, right now, our Taiwanese roommates daughter and her boyfriend are in my apartment, and it's making me very grouchy. I'm so tired of Taiwan, I feel tempted to say "I'm leaving and never coming back!" But I think all I need is a summer of quiet and, more importantly, personal space. If you are a stranger - DO NOT TOUCH ME OR STARE AT ME! Thank you very much for your consideration.

THe "Carole and Claire's Taiwan Adventure PhotoBlog" is in the works, and shall be available to the public likely later today. I know you're on the edge of your seat.

Try #1 - We wanted a 'portrait' to capture the moment. I tried it first, holding the camera at arms length. But, as usual, my head looks huge. 

Try #2 - Maybe if Claire takes it, it will be the right size. Nope, I guess Claire's arms aren't quite long enough, 

Try # 3 - Just right! Well, we still look like we're sweating in 35C heat, but at least our heads are in proportion. 

Sidenote

I was just walking home, and as usual, found my back soaked upon arrival. Which made me want to check the temperature. This week the daily highs have varied between 35 and 36 C, not counting all the humidity which makes it feel worse. Then I thought about my summer, and decided to check Halifax. No kidding - the high one day last week was 17C! And the monthly average for July is 23C! Now, this sounds lovely for living in long term, but after acclimatizing to Taipei, I'm going to freeze in Nova Scotia!

Travel Lesson for the Day: Mango Ice is for sharing. We learned this valuable truth when we made the mistake of ordering three mango ices and got these three boat fulls. The consequences of ignorance of this important rule? Well, everyone who passed us got a good chuckle out of the three foreign pigs, and we felt sick the whole evening. Still, it was delicious, and it was a great deal, there must have been two whole mangos cut up in each bowl.  

We're back

Claire and I aren't going to cut it as adventure travelers. We tried to have the Green Island experience, but ended up coming back to Taipei two days early. The whole story will follow, with LOTS of pictures. But for now, we are back in the land of civilization, hapily on our way for breakfast at Starbucks.

A Series of Flowers

{This is Kathleen} Happy Canada Day to everyone! Carole is away at a mountain hotspring resort with Claire and asked me to fill up the blog. So these are some pictures she took of day lillies. Great aren't they? She didn't change any of the colour or do special effects- they're just that pretty!

This is a bit of a dreary picture of the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial. It really is brilliantly white in the sunshine, but we went at dusk.

Claire and I leave for Taichung in an hour or two, so I likely won't be posting for a week. I've given Kathy the crash course in Blogger, so she may post some things if she feels so inclined.

Well, I taught my last class this morning, and was quite happy to say goodbye. Ten months of teaching with only one week off means I'm allowed to be excited to leave. If I wasn't coming back, I would be horribly sad, but this situation just makes me excited. After I finished at school, Kathleen, Claire and I went to Apple Cobo for a little girly lunch, then off for our last day in Taipei.  

Our afternoon was spent at the National Palace Musuem. It's the largest collection of Chinese artificats in the world, and it was smuggled out of China. It's being renovated, so you can't take pictures. Instead, they do this 3D fake photo of you superimposed in front of what the renovated musuem will look like. I had to get one. Anyway, this is Claire playing along with my idea of trying to get one of those silly shots where it looks like someone is interacting with an inanimate object. Never works. But we still tried.  

Kathleen's favorite flower, the Frangipani. There was a big tree of them outside the Musuem. 

The beginning of the night market - dinner at Ikari. Claire and I had tortillas and chips, and they gave us plastic gloves to use for eating. Isn't that considerate. No messy fingers for us. The night market is something of a must-see in Taipei, although I didn't think Claire would especially enjoy it. 

The end of the night market. Yup - time to go home. I don't like the night market, all the people get to me. It was the smells that got to Claire. Who knew stinky tofu was that stinky?! 

This is Claire and I at the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial. It's my favorite part of Taipei, and Claire thought it as pretty as I do. We wandered around the gardens while the sun set, and then went into the National Concert Hall for a performance of the TMU orchestra. They did all movie overtures, including Star Wars, so it was highly enjoyable. However, jet lag hit Claire half way through, and she had that unpleasant sensation of being so sleepy it is painful to keep your eyes open.  

Eastern Mindset

So, Claire needed to change some money from US to NT. We went to the bank that says "Official Foreign Currency Exchange" on the sign. We went in and finally found the currency lady who invited us to sit down.

First, she asked how much Claire wanted to exchange. "$100". The lady was concerned: "Oh no, too much, we can't do that." Of course we asked how much we were allowed to do. "Nothing more than $500." "$500 NT?" She looked at us like we were idoits: "No, US dollars, of course." Well, there you go. Silly us.

So having agreed upon $100, Claire handed over her cash. The lady again looked very concerned. Three of the $20s were the newest bills with the new security features. She very gravely informed us that the machine couldn't read the bills because they were too new. Slightly put out, Claire told her to just do the other $40. She started to get out the paperwork, then gave the bills a second look, and took them over to her supervisor. She came back to inform us that "These bills are too old." Claire and I both scoffed in her face. We couldn't believe it. The new ones were too new, and the regular ones were "too old." Claire suggested brusquely that they take down the Currency Exchange sign, because they do no such thing. (=

It just reminded me of the fundamental differences between the Eastern and Western mindset, follow the rules versus big picture. But understanding it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Water Lily

I bought a bouqet of water lilies at the flower market yesterday. I took them home, put them in the vase, and they promptly all closed up. I was worried, until I woke up this morning to this! They must only open in the sunlight. Anyway, this may be the prettiest bunch of flowers I've ever bought, and for only $4 CND! I'll take more pictures, but I wanted to get one, in case it died before I got home. Oh, and I didn't edit it at all, that's really the colour.