Fruit in Taiwan

If you read my posts at all, you can see that much of my life revolves around food. I love to eat and try new foods - Taiwan is the perfect place to live if you are an adventurous eater.

One of the things that amazes me is the variety of fruit that grows in Taiwan. I've always been more of a vegetable eater but here I am all over the fruit. I go to the local markets at least once a week and the choices are colorful and exotic. I often don't know what I'm buying but I get it anyway to try it out.

Here are dragon fruits. They don't look like something you would want to eat but they are delicious. 

You would never think you'd find this inside but I would compare it to a kiwi in texture and flavor but less sweet. A lot of what Taiwanese eat as fruit isn't very sweet.

 This green "apple" is no apple. I bought a whole bunch of these thinking they were going to be sour green apples but they are called jujube. These are the actual fruit that make dates! They are crisp, light and slightly sweet and tart at the same time. Who knew!? I would have never guessed that dates come from something like this!

The watermelons here are art. Look at this! You get yellow melons during one part of the year and then you get red ones after that. Watermelon juice is sold in all of the markets and I get one every time. 

My new favorite (other than guava) is the wax apple. I have never seen these before and from what I hear, one variety (the black pearl) is only grown in Taiwan. These are crisp, fresh and sweet. I imagine they don't travel well so that's why I haven't seen these anywhere outside of Taiwan. I can buy about 10 of these for just over $1.

These funky things are sugar apples, called buddha's head here in Taiwan. When I first bought one of these I had no idea what to do. I just cut it open and went for it. The insides are creamy and custardy and filled with seeds. You just take a spoon and go for it. The taste is a bit like pineapple.

I wish I could pack a bunch of these up and transport them back to the states with me. People will just have to visit so they can taste them for themselves. ;-)

Week in Review

What a busy time of year! Teachers all feel the same way when we get to the end of a semester - exhausted! It has been such a busy week and I barely was home to blog about anything so here is my week in review.

First, the temperatures have dropped enough that I can actually wear a long-sleeved shirt during the day. Woohoo! On Friday night it was cool enough for me to wear a light jacket for my bike ride home. We are talking 60's baby! Love it!

As we head toward our winter break, KAS is celebrating the holiday season by playing Christmas music instead of the usual song they play to switch classes. It was a bit of a shock when they started playing the music on Monday. Would they even allow that in the states anymore? Every day is a new song and it's funny because I'd say most students at KAS don't celebrate Christmas.

Later in the week the high school music students put on a little concert in the courtyard. They performed both holiday and non holiday songs. What a nice way to spend some time at the end of a school day. There is an incredible amount of talent in this school!

 Can you believe how green and lush everything is? There are many plants that begin flowering at this time of year because it's a bit cooler. The lotus flowers on Lotus Pond began flowering this week! Beautiful!

On Thursday I decided to get a little holiday shopping done. My friends and family know that I dislike shopping and the prospect of going to a mall at any time of year is not my fave, especially during the holidays. Well, Christmas in Taiwan is more of a time to decorate than an actual holiday so going to the Hanshin mall after school on Thursday was pretty easy. 

 This is the Hanshin Arena adjacent to the mall. 

The mall entrance is all decked out with Christmas decorations and Christmas music is blaring away. It's a massive mall with multiple floors but I was heading to the food court/grocery area down on the ground floor. I was on a hunt for specific items to bring back with me to the states. As far as any shopping goes, this was a painless version.

On Friday evening, KAS held their annual winter concert. Wow! It was held at a local convention center/hotel not far from the school. (Next year we get to have this concert in our new school). All of the elementary students performed from the elementary orchestra to Pre-K and all classes in between. They were adorable and so talented. There is nothing like a group of children singing to lift your Christmas spirit.

Then the middle and high school students took the stage - baroque strong ensemble, quintets, trios, vocal groups, solo acts and different grades performed. I was SO impressed! One young sophomore violinist was spectacular. I would pay money to see her perform at any concert hall.

Yesterday I took the high-speed train up to Taipei with another teacher, a coach and eight 6th grade girls. We headed up into the mountains outside of Taipei to play in a softball tournament at TES (Taipei European School). I hadn't taken the high-speed train before so I was excited about that, even if we didn't get to see much of Taipei.

The train is amazing and so fast. It would take 5-6 hours to drive up to Taipei but we got there in just over 90 minutes. It costs about $45 USD so it's the perfect way to get to Taipei for the day.

I didn't get to see much of the city because we got out of the train station and immediately boarded a bus that took us up into the mountains outside of Taipei. We knew it was going to be a bit cooler in this area than in Kaohsiung and we were prepared but not as well as we should have been. The temperatures were in the low to mid 50's all day. I know, that's not cold in terms of New England in winter but we were outside the entire day and by the time we got back on the bus to take us to the train, we were all chilled to the bone. It was cloudy and incredibly windy and there was no building to escape to or provide any type of shelter. Brrr! It was the first time I was cold in this country.

This is TES. This school has about 1500 students from over 50 different countries. They are located south of the city and it's a hike up into the mountains to get to this location.

The girls lost their first game but won the second with a score of 18 to 12. We were so excited! What a fun group of young ladies to spend the day with. That's coach LuLu on the left. She is a medical student at the local university.

I wasn't feeling great on Friday night and realized that I was coming down with something. I'm so lucky that I haven't caught anything since I've been here, even when my classroom sounds like a hospital ward. The day outside in the colder temps sent me right over the edge so today I'm staying in, nursing myself back to health because the next final week before winter break is a crazy one. I have a very sore throat and laryngitis (I sound like Barry "Can't get enough of your love, babe" White). If I am going to be sick, I'm glad it's a few days before my trip home so I'll be recovered by the time I get on that plane on the 22nd.

Happy Last Week of School before Winter Vacation!!!!

Kaohsiung Da Dong Art Center

Today was an unexpected day off. I was supposed to be on a hike on the east coast of Taiwan but I had a little accident on my bike a few days ago and twisted my knee. It's doing okay but I thought a 12 km hike along a rocky shore was probably not the best idea. I decided to just focus on getting things done at home.

Around 1:00 I checked my school email and saw that I had an invitation to attend a modern dance performance. I jumped at the chance. I was picked up and we drove about 45 minutes to the Feng Shan District in the southeast part of Kaohsiung.

The Da Dong Art Center contains performance halls, art space and an art library. The architecture is incredible and I was told that this same architect designed the new KAS building. The outside looks like the bottom of hot air balloons that offer great light, places to sit and blocks the sun. It was really dramatic and beautiful.

 This is the blurb about the performance: "Cloud Gate 2 is a dance troupe that you will fall in love with and want to see again and again. Cloud Gate 2 artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung elaborately planned the program for Kaohsiung citizens, in which the full versions of Cloud Gate 2 classic works
are demonstrated. The program includes works such as "LIFE IS ELSEWHERE", choreographed by Wu Kuo-chu, Taiwan's artistic performing legend; "FORESEEN", choreographed by Bulareyaung
Pagarlava, one of the "Ten Outstanding Young People"; and "LIGHT", choreographed by Huang Yi, the first prize winner of Digital Art Performance Award."

This was in the parking garage under the building. I think this should be started in the states.

I truly enjoyed the program and was so honored to be included and invited. It always takes a bit of time to get settled in and find new friends to hang out with when you move to a new place. I feel like it's all happening. Nice feeling.

A visit to Tainan

Today I took the train up to Tainan, which is about 40 minutes north of the city, and spent the day with two of my students. They invited me to spend the day with them and I took them up on their offer. I got to buy my own train tickets (which is harder than you think when you don't speak the language), took a train by myself and also saw a whole new part of Taiwan. These are my students, Natasha and Mimi. Mimi's mom picked me up at the train station and was my tour guide for the day. She took her job as guide seriously and we got to explore a lot of Tainan. She also wouldn't let me pay for anything which was was incredibly generous of her so I need to come up with something to do for her in return.

Things I learned today: Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan and was initially settled by the Dutch as a trading base until they were defeated and ousted in 1661. Their fort, Anping Fort, part of the Dutch Fort Zeelandia, still stands in the heart of the city. Tainan was the capital of Taiwan until the late 1880's when Taipei became the capital. The city has the first Confucian Temple built in 1665 and the city has the most Buddhist and Taoist temples in Taiwan.

Our first stop was in the Anping district of Tainan which has the oldest streets in Taiwan. We ate at this amazing place called Chou's Shrimp Rolls and the food, as usual, was fantastic. These are two types of rolls below plus rice noodles and rice noodle soup.

We also enjoyed tofu (the bowl above), greens and a spicy kimchi like mixture. One specialty was mullet roe that was dried and served with scallion. Have I mentioned that I love the food it Taiwan? As usual, I definitely was the center of attention and all eyes were on me as I ate. Considering I saw only one other caucasian person all day, I understand their fascination.

After lunch we drove to the old section to walk through the streets where there are vendors selling everything imaginable. We parked next to this beautiful old cemetery. Beautiful isn't it?

The center of the old city was teeming with people and was colorful as ever.

Tainan is known for many things and one of them is oysters. These are baskets filled with oysters. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Workers were cleaning and sorting through mounds of oysters that are served around the area. I love that salty, briny smell!

Mimi, I discovered, is the photobomb queen!

That's a bowl of shucked oysters with a mound of them to go through. They were shucking ninjas!

Those are ice cream cones hanging above the ice cream stand. Can you imagine trying to navigate that? I've got incredibly long arms and I would find this challenging.

There were shops and carts selling leather goods, clothing, calligraphy brushes, paper, toys, games and many homemade items like these shoes. If only my feet were this small. My feet are considered gigantic in this country so shoes are practically impossible to find.

I couldn't believe how many people there were crowding the narrow streets and alleys. Everyone was so friendly and I could hear the Chinese word for American (Měiguó) as I passed. Many shouted out "Hello!" in greeting. Samples of food are a big thing in this country and the locals love seeing any foreigner try the exotic items. It's hysterical because they expect me to say no or not like it. I surprise them every time because I will try anything like the shrimp chips below.

From what I was told, Tainan is called the "City of Snacks" and is a culinary center of Taiwan.

This guy was slicing into these doughy balls that are a form of medicine. I had a taste...I'm sure it's good for what ails you but I'll pass.

The above is a local delicacy...a form of blood pudding.

Dried persimmons and

duck eggs. They have been preserved and are shrink wrapped. They were creamy and delicious.

We entered this great little square that was lined with artisans and specialty items. 

This fountain in the center is supposed to ward off evil spirits. I'd turn and run too if I bumped into this. That's a dagger clenched it it's teeth and the water runs down the sword like blood after a battle.

We walked toward the old section of town where these narrow streets curved in and around old brick houses. As in many neighborhoods in Taiwan, you'll come upon a temple right in the middle of a little residential area. Love these!

We stepped into this historic home that was just beautiful and contained a little gift shop.

Mimi tried on the traditional clothing. She's adorable

The building had one larger room that served as the kitchen and living area and a small bedroom.

These are the narrow streets that weave through the area.

Beautiful old home - I wish I knew when it was built.

We wandered back toward the markets and I saw more of Taiwan's food wonders....

cuttlefish...

crab....

goose eggs....

chestnuts....

and little tiny shellfish that are cooked in spices that you suck the meat out of.

We continued walking and stopped at this famous dessert place that served this bean jelly with tapioca pearls. The "jelly" is made from bean curd.  It is soft and creamy, sort of like custard. It was lightly sweetened and had a soft honey-like taste. Loved it!

We ended our tour by going to the beach that overlooks the Taiwan Strait. We played in the waves and enjoyed the view.

On our way back to the train station, my hosts made one more stop for the local white gourd tea and more food. This time we had the famous, local oyster pancake. 

This oyster omelet is made of fresh oysters (that were fantastic), potato starch, eggs, sprouts and greens. It's all cooked in a frying pan over high heat and this tomato like sauce (a bit sweet and sour) is poured on top. I can tell you that I enjoyed this dish but I'd put money down that most of the people I know would not have even tried it. The texture is unlike anything Americans eat - gelatinous and a bit gooey but it was savory, salty, briny, crunchy and delicious. Check out this website and you'll get a glimpse of the snacks I saw today. Taiwan Snacks