3 Months!

Yesterday was my 3 month anniversary of moving to Taiwan. In some ways it feels like I've been here longer but mostly I can't believe it's already been three months. I had a busy weekend, which was really good, and I'm over the little funk I was in last weekend. It can be lonely moving to a new place without any friends or family so last week I reached out to several people and I now have a few things planned for the next few weeks.

Saturday I was one of the chaperones for a trip to the volleyball tournament.  We took a bus up to Taichung, which is about 2 1/2 hours away, and the middle school students played 3 matches against other international school teams. I've done plenty of field trips with students but this was one of the most comfortable ones because we were on a really nice bus that fit all 40+ very nicely. We left KAS at 6:30 a.m. and didn't return until 8:00 p.m. so I'm glad we weren't on one of those yellow school busses.

 This is what bus travel looks like in Taiwan.

 The host school did a great job and it was the first time since I landed in Taiwan that I saw a larger number of caucasian people in one place. I guess the closer you get to Taipei, the more diversity there is in the population.

 Here are my girls! What an awesome bunch of 6th graders!

Each of our 6th and 7th grade teams won a match so they were happy about that at the end of the day.

Yesterday, Linda (a fellow math teacher) and her husband Les invited me to return to Cijin Island. I got to see a whole other side of this big island that resides in Kaohsiung harbor. We took a different bike trail that I hadn't been on before and we made our way to the ferry that takes us across the harbor. It's still pretty warm here and it was well into the 80's yesterday but there was a nice breeze off of the ocean.

On my way to meet them I passed by my first glimpse of fall here. Look! A red leaf!

 Just kidding! Here is the rest of the tree. No major color change here.

The bike path along the ocean side of Cijin Island goes on for miles! I didn't realize how large this island was because I had only ventured in a little bit from the ferry terminal. This is the wind park along the trail.

 This is across from the windmills.

 At the base of the windmills are all of these shell sculptures that kids climb on. Like I've said before, there is always some amount of cute and art everywhere you go.

 A glimpse of the path that goes along the entire length of the ocean and faces the Taiwan Strait.

 Some typhoons have destroyed parts of the island so there has been a huge effort to rebuild the beaches and the land on this side of the island. There are rock jetties jutting out every few hundred meters.

 That is a HUGE cargo ship coming into port.

 Kaohsiung harbor is one of the busiest harbors in Asia and top ten busiest shipping ports in the world. When you look out at the ocean, you can see dozens of ships and when you fly into Kaohsiung, you see hundreds of them entering or leaving port.

 It's not easy to see but there were at least a dozen cranes waiting to load and unload cargo.

 Tis the season of smog in the area. I'm told it's not too bad right now but it will get worse. I'm sure I'll be wearing one of the medical masks at some point as I bike around the city. Pretty much everyone wears them here since there is a constant haze over the city now.

 More cranes in the distance.

 That's a big ship!

 Beautiful little flowers line the path as you bike along. It's strange to think it's almost November and things are still so lush and green.

 Behind this ivy covered fence are stacks of cargo containers. Les told me that there weren't very many right now and that they are often stacked high above the fence.

 It was several kilometers to the end of the trail so at the end we turned around to return to the ferry terminal. We had a strong headwind the entire way so I burned off every calorie of lunch. Phew!

 This is the view from the ferry. Dramatic building! Again, you can see that smog just hovering over everything. I admit, not a fan.

 It's a beautiful harbor with dramatic mountains framing the area.

 The gateway to Taiwan Strait.

 A lighthouse guides the way into the harbor.

The bike path home is beautiful! Kaohsiung has done such an amazing job of making biking and walking paths around the entire city and there are many more being added. I wish every city would do the same.

All in all I biked at least 30 kilometers yesterday and I felt it this morning as I biked to work. It was a very busy weekend but that's a good thing. I loved my bike ride along Cijin Island. Being by the ocean is so rejuvenating! Now I'm ready to face the busy week ahead!

French Dining in Taiwan

Last night I got to experience a French wine dinner in an Asian country. My new friend Pearl, who is a Chinese resident of Taiwan and a fellow teacher at KAS, took me to this wine dinner at a local chain restaurant called Pasadena. Pasadena French  The CEO, Angel, was at this dinner along with the local wine distributors and the representative (maybe owner) of Duckhorn wines. It was quite the night. Pearl has a passion for food and wine so she was an honored guest of the evening and everyone stopped by to say hello and toast her.

The restaurant has a lovely space that is well lit, warm and comfortable. I hadn't had a dining experience like this in a while so it was nice to find something to remind me of home. The dinner was a 7 course meal with 6 wine pairings. The wine distributors and chef did an amazing job with the evening.

 Each table had these beautifully printed menus on thick cardstock. A local band played jazz music which was fronted by this wonderful jazz singer who studied in New York. I was impressed!

 This was the menu. I know you can't read this so I'll give details below.

 We also got an order sheet to order wines and some wine descriptions, all in Chinese. Not much help there.

 A beautiful room and great service

 The restaurant is also a bakery and this chef has won some national awards for his breads. Seems funny that a Chinese chef would win a French bread baking award.  Love that! These two breads were delicious! The black one was a squid ink baguette.  Yup, I said squid ink. It was so good I could have eaten many of them and I'm not that much of a bread person. The second is their award winning bread - walnut and dried longan. 

Logan is a local fruit sometimes called dragon-eye. I have seen these everywhere but hadn't eaten any yet. You peel these and eat the center. It had a touch of sweetness and the texture was wonderful in the bread.

 The first course was sous-vide smoked salmon in this sauce that had a touch of vanilla. The salmon was prepared perfectly; it practically melted in your mouth and had just a touch of smoke.

 The second course was a grilled prawn with lemon orange sauce. That little nugget on the side was a sea urchin quiche. YUM!

Next up was Pan Fried Foie Gras with stewed pig intestine stuffed with truffle risotto. It would never be called pig intestine in the states. Would they even serve pig intestine in the states?  This was my favorite course of the night. I literally was groaning while eating every delicious morsel.  It was paired with a luscious merlot. I'm salivating just thinking about it!

 Next up, crispy pork and onion with an orange sauce. That's a perfectly cooked little frog's leg sticking up on the top right. Nomnom!

The next course, which I missed taking a picture of, was smoked duck breast with a potato mushroom concoction. We were given a little break and had some mango sorbet before being served the final main course.

Grilled Australian lamb loin with morel sauce and local asparagus

Dessert was house made ice cream wrapped in paper thin slices of pear that was shaped like a little pear on the plate.  We also were served hot tea and petit fours at the end but by that point I was stuffed. I barely ate dessert at all.

There was a lot of conversation around me, which was all in Chinese of course, and I found out, as we were leaving, that Pearl discussed my coming in to work with the staff at Pasadena as a consultant about food and wine service in a French restaurant.  I started laughing.  I asked her how that came up and she said she spoke with the CEO about my having serving experience and about working in the food industry for many years. I had told Pearl that at times I miss working in a restaurant. I don't miss having a second job but I miss the people and energy. Oh, and the food of course! Apparently the restaurant is being closed for a month do do some renovation and the CEO would like me to come in after they open again. We'll see if that happens and if I feel I have anything I could even pass on. It just made me chuckle to think I could be connected to the food industry here in Taiwan.

So I give my night out a big thumbs up and look forward to doing something like this again in the future. I guess there is another such dinner when the restaurant opens in December and that we may go to that one together. I can't wait!

Shou-Shan Zoo

Feeling a little blue today so I decided to visit the local zoo.  It's about 4 km from my house so an easy bike ride there, or so I thought. What I didn't realize is that the zoo is located on the top of a mountain and the road going up, up, up is quite steep. What's amazing is that I made it to the top. Two months ago there is no way I could have made it up that hill on a bike.  I only had to stop once because one section was just too damned steep but other than that, I made it all the way up. Woot! Woot!  Having only a bicycle as my mode of transportation has many positives.

I made it to the top and followed the crowd. Most signs were in Chinese but I was able to make my way around and park my bike. At this point I was a sweaty mess so took a moment to cool down and catch my breath.

 As I rested I realized that I was surrounded by monkeys. Dozens of them! They were just hanging out along the fence where people parked their scooters and bikes.

 Lots of little babies being groomed.

 Now I know why they are hanging out. They search the scooters for hidden food treasure.  Smart little buggers!

 When's the last time you saw an actual phone booth!?

So, again, I follow the crowd up this hill in search of where to buy my zoo entrance ticket.  I finally see a booth way up ahead but when I approach them realize that it's not the zoo entrance at all so I head back down.  I wander around on these amazing paths and see such beauty.

 These huge structures looked like rock but they are actually part of an ancient coral reef that was on the coast of Taiwan.  The tectonic action has pushed this area up out of the ocean and way up into the creation of this mountain.  They were so fascinating and the geek in me loves this stuff.

 Finally I found out where I was.

 These are directions on how to deal with the monkeys.  On the left was info on how to read the facial expressions of the monkeys so that you don't get attacked.  Me thinks to follow that advice.

 The meandering paths go all around the mountain and then suddenly one opens up and you see the entire city of Kaohsiung.  I wish I could capture the size of this city.  It's BIG!

 There were these great rock formations along the path.

Finally, I found my way to the zoo. Somehow I had passed the entrance on the way UP the hill (I could have saved myself the last few hundred yards of sweat and pain) so I made my way back down and parked closer to the zoo entrance. It seems that everything in this zoo and nature park is uphill...both ways.  I paid my entrance fee, $40NT (just over $1) and began my zoo journey. If only we could pay $1 to visit zoos in the states!

There was this adorable water park where kids were actually swimming. Animal sculptures surrounded the water and here and there I'd see one of these...

 You can't escape the "cute" factor in this country.

 The zoo was okay.  It's not a great zoo and frankly, although I enjoy seeing these majestic animals in person, there's something depressing about seeing them in captivity. What was I thinking going to a zoo to cheer up?  But I also realized that I've been to some incredible zoos in my life - San Diego, Baltimore, National Zoo, Bronx, Lincoln Park and this zoo is nothing like that.  I only lasted about an hour before I made my way to the exit. What was nice was the location and the landscaping.  It was quite beautiful!

 This bird was literally THIS close. 

 There were little seating areas throughout the park.  Adorable!

 

The map had enough English that I could navigate around the zoo.

I was glad to make my way out of the zoo. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people so it was crowded and noisy.  I did not see one other white person.  How is that even possible?!  I felt a bit like one of the animals on exhibit so was glad to get away from the stares and curious expressions. I tell myself I'm getting used to being stared at so much but sometimes it does get a bit uncomfortable.

I got on my bike and flew DOWN the mountain, which felt a bit like flying, and meandered through the area on my journey home.  Like I've mentioned before, you really have to keep your eyes on the road here but I also have learned to look up and scan the area because I'm continually surprised by what I discover.  Here is this little side street....

 ....with typical homes here in Kaohsiung.

 But look at what's next door!

 Imagine having this as your neighbor? 

When I first got here I thought I would never be able to navigate such a massive city and recognize the different streets and street names.  Not only did I get to the zoo and back; I did it without gps.  I am continually amazed at how we adapt. We need to stop being afraid to venture out into the world. There is too much out there to explore and discover.