Studying and Food

Studying and food.  During my years of college I learned quickly that if you have the first, you're going to need the second.  I found that to never be more true then here.  Actually, if you want the second, you better do the first.  Well the past two weeks I have spent a lot of my time studying the fascinating...and frustrating language they call "Mandarin."  I am now to the point that I can walk into a restaurant, greet the person, ask them how their days in going, order, pay, and tell them I'll see them again all in Chinese.  This isn't the extend of my language learning, but probably the most important part.

I just had to take a picture of this...outside of our tutoring building we found notes GLUED to our bike seats...like using Elmer's glue...who does that?  The best part is that the notes were in Chinese characters.  Remember, I said this was outside the building where we get tutored.  We later found out that it was telling us we couldn't park there, but the owner said just to ignore it.  We came out the next day to find the same scene...oh well.

This is where all the mental sweat takes place each day.

Here is the wonder worker herself, Sherry, or as we call her 神秘的瀑布 (which means Mystic Waterfall).  We gave ourselves nicknames too.  I'm 红龙 (Red Dragon) and Andrew is 小猫 (Baby Cat).  Hey don't judge, you have to do something to make it fun.

Speaking of fun, I have some pictures from one of our study breaks.

We went to an 8-story electronic store called, "Computer City."  Of course inside that "electronic" store we found a military surplus section.  What electronic store doesn't have one?

We worked ourselves up an appetite while scaling up each of those floors so we headed across the street afterwards to grab some KFC.  Yes, this Kentucky born man was pretty excited that his first "foreign meal" was going to be from Kentucky Fried Chicken.



We decided that we would get the "Family Meal" since those were usually pretty big back in the states...not so much here.  Families are quite smaller here, both in amount of members and size of members.  It came with 3 drinks (good there were 3 of us), about 10 tiny pieces of chicken (which isn't TOO bad), 2? tiny rolls (huh?), and one very small piece of corn on the cob (ha ha, no seriously what?). Needless to say I was in need for a little more substance.  So, I ordered myself a side of mashed potatoes with gravy.....

Yes, I do have big hands...but no THAT big...

The worst part, that was the most expensive meal I've had since arriving here.  Here are some more familiar faces that I am a little apprehensive about investigating. 

We also have a good number of Starbuck's.  You can easily pay between 1 and 3 US dollars for a big meal around here, but somehow Starbuck's is selling coffee for 4 and 5 bucks a cup? Go figure.

Learning Chinese...

Chinese is SO hard!  This is kind of my theme song right now. :)  I hope you enjoy!

Injury Update and Cool Asian Stuff

So, as you may have read in my last post I was indeed in a pretty vicious biking accident.  I made it out of the incident a lot better off than my bike.  However, after three days of shoulder pain I finally headed over to a local hospital.  Thankfully I went with someone who spoke Chinese or else I would have been in some major trouble.  I mean lets be real, how many of you already feel like your doctor is speaking another language?  It was a pretty short visit that began after the receptionist handed us the keyboard threw the window to type my name that she couldn't read.  After an x-ray by my four and a half foot radiologist (who insisted on putting a little protective hat on my head herself, only took a few tries and some good balancing) a group of interns determined that my shoulder is separated and a few weeks in a sling should heal me right up.  Final bill: 150 Yuan (around $23, got to love this place).

Well before the biking accident my days consisted a lot with meeting people through playing basketball and rugby.  Since I now have a bum left shoulder and even running bothers it I had to find an alternate activity.  So, I bought myself some Ping Pong paddles and have spent my last few days getting humbled by children and pelted with speeding orange hollow balls by adults.  No seriously this is NO JOKE.  You figure that out quickly after entering the caged in area of 28 blue tables filled with people pouring sweat.  Somehow I gain the courage to return each day...

This was awesome!  I walked up on a party going on in the streets yesterday.  These are Asian women, dressed in Vegas style apparel, dancing to Latino music, to do what?  Celebrate the grand opening of a grilled fish restaurant...it's fantastic.

The people were eating it up (well and drinking it up as they were passing out free mugs filled with the darkest/thickest looking beer I have ever seen).

Now for some more awesomeness!  If you can handle it?

Not exactly sure what these little treats are, but they sound wonderful.

Pringle's go all out over here.  Flavors include "Crab," "Seaweed" (I've had), "Fish Balls," "Spicy Fish Soup", etc.

THE GRAND FINALE, Jackie Chan is on my shampoo bottle!  My hair has never felt so smooth, full, and strong.

Harder Than it Looks

I'm learning quickly that things over here are just plain harder.

Example 1: ordering dinner.  One night my teammate and I decided that we were going to take a night off and go get some "die zo" (the phonetic spelling for the word "take out").  So, we looked up all the words we needed and wrote down each of the dishes in pinyin (spelled out format of the characters).  We arrived confident with paper in hand and after a few minutes of confusion I finally drew a picture of a piece of broccolli and we were set!  We did get everything we wanted and it was delicious, but difficult.  On other occasions I have just played Charades.

Example 2: plumbing.  As you may have seen in my last post, our "toilet" is nothing more than a hole in the floor under out shower.  Unfortunately, the guys that stayed here before us accidently dropped their shampoo bottle down the hole on their last day.  Pictured here is one of the guys I'm working with (who doesn't even live with us) burying his arm down the hole trying to reach it.  This caused me to ask myself, would I stick my arm down someones toilet I have only known a week?  What about my whole life?  Would you?  Just some food for thought.  Anyways, back to the story.  After being unable to reach it with our kitchen tongs (which will never be used in the kitchen now) we decided on plan B.  We would flood it!  The thought behind it, "if we could get enough water down the hole quick enough maybe we could flood it and the bottle would float out."

*Note: He is equipped with my super awesome headlamp, thanks Megan Ulmer!

So, armed with our two drinking jugs and large cooking bowls (nasty to think how many of our kitchen items made it into our bathroom) we turned on the shower, held down the flush on the toilet, and started the sink (which all drain into the toilet).  All at once the deluge of water began...and the hole just took it ALL no problem.  Defeat... The next day I went with my original plan and bought a wire hanger that I heated red hot, melted a hole in the bottle, flushed the toilet to cool it, then pulled the bottle out.  The battle was over and we now have a working toilet.

Example 3: rugby.  My volunteer plumber (pictured above) and I joined a rugby team in an effort to meet some local and foreign guys.  This is a picture of his leg; because during our first practice in an effort to score he dove for the endzone.  He did score, but the surface we were playing on was turf with gravel in it...so he left some skin behind.  This is three days and colors later.  It was only a "touch" practice, the contact practices take place on grass.  After he dove on the ground a second time one of the British guy we were playing with said to me (in a heavy accent)  "he doesn't like his skin does he?"  Well...we at least won some respect for passion.

*Note: This is not blood smeared blood.  This is one giant scab.

Example 4: riding a bike.  Unfortunately, I will be missing the next couple of rubgy practices.  While riding my bike full speed (which is pretty much the only speed you can without getting hit by a car not obeying the traffic lights) through an intersection my chain popped sending me full speed into the concrete on my left shoulder.  Thankfully plently of adrenaline was pumping and I was able to jump out of the way of cars coming.  I survived but my bike did not.  This just happened yesterday so stay tuned to find out the extend of my injury...

My New Home

I have arrived!  After my flight got delayed 6 hours I finally landed late Tuesday night (about noon ECT).

This is the view from my apartment window.  There are apartment buildings as far as the eye can see in every direction.  They look like Lego's from 15 flights up.

Doing laundry in the bathroom.  We have to fill up our little "washer machine" thing using the shower head.  It is quite the process of wash, spin, wash, spin, then hang out to dry.

I had to make this picture bigger so you could fully enjoy it.  This is my bathroom (not the shower, but the open bathroom).  My "squatty" (Asia's version of a toilet) is right under my shower head.  It is a one stop shop.  All of your needs met in one location, just watch your step.

Yes this is indeed a Dairy Queen, yes it was the best Blizzard I have ever had, and yes the clerk's English name was Monkey...all making the 2 plus mile walk well worth it.

 

Look at him masterfully whipping up my delicious treat!  He turned it over with a smile as he handed it to me, and the rest is history.

Hello Taiwan

After over 10,000 miles and 26 straight hours of flying I arrived in Tawain safely.  There I met up with some other students for the week of training.

My typical wing picture.

Soon after I arrived in Tokyo I met up with my roommate Andrew.  We will definitely be getting to know each other over the next six months.

I thought this picture outside a sushi place in Japan was pretty funny.  "All ingredients and foods we use here are safety.  Please eat at ease."

 

This little guy welcomed me as I arrived.

The street outside my hotel.  You can't really tell but there is literally over a 100 moped flowing towards this intersection.  That is how everyone got around.

I discovered a nearby park during a lunch break and figured out that I am indeed heavier than Taiwanese children.

7-11!!!  They are on every street corner in this city!  Mango/Passion Fruit was delicious.  I may or may not have had 3 in the first few days.  Hey, don't judge it was pushing 100 and more humid than anything I could imagine.  Made South Carolina's summer feel like a Colorado afternoon.

Okay my blog is definitely not a food blog, but there is limited pictures I can show.  So, here is a picture of some Thai food that made me feel like I had kissed Lucifer. 

This Asian desert is AWESOME.  A mountain of shaved ice covered in strawberries, mango, kiwi, some delicious mystery sauce, milk drizzle, and sorbet.  Don't worry I had a partner.  And I ran in the park nearby almost every morning.

A friend actually ate this dish.  We took a break from Asian cuisine one night and went by a dinner down the street.  It was a nice taste of home.

And to end this post anti-dramatically a picture of what our hotel had the last morning on our breakfast bar...haha.

I'm in an airport in Taiwan right now after having my flight cancelled 5 hours ago...I should be flying out soon though.  I am excited for what lays ahead but really enjoyed Taiwan and made many great friends.  I'll provide more stories once I get a little more settled and can empty my suitcase.

Leaving on a Jetplane

The time has finally come for my departure.  I leave my parent's house for Newark Airport, NJ in less than 4 hours.


He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
-Jim

Catch up Post: Hikers and Party

Sorry followers it has been a while.  There has been too much going on over the last week but I'll start with some dear friends that visited.

Well my parent's house in Highland Falls, NY is right off the Appalachian Trail at Bear Mountain.  Mike (trail name Upstate), Megan (Caboose), and Brock (Loop) have been on the trail over the past few months.  A BEAST of a task!  So, fortunately they accepted our offer for a place to take a break and we got to go into the city for half a day.  This is the four of us on top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ha ha!  This picture is EPIC.  We were walking down the street when we passed the Abercrombie and Fitch store where you may or may not know has a shirtless male model on duty at all times.  I asked Mike if he wanted take a picture with this fine specimen and at he took it a notch further by rips off his shirt.  Then came the magic... a pose that would make Zoolander green with envy.

Before they left I was able to take a short hike (9 miles, which is nothing compared to their normal days of 20 plus) with them through the Hudson Valley and up.  It was an extremely beautiful day but unfortunately my pictures wouldn't upload.

The next morning I got to drop them off where we left off and sent them on their way.  It was great to have them here with us.  Thanks again guys for taking the time to stop by.

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Yesterday, (June 2nd) we heard music playing from behind the house all day.  So, after dinner we walked back to find all of Highland Falls having a 4th of July celebration.  This is the pretty fountain in the middle of the pond.

Fun little playground.

One of the many bands that were jamming out all day.

You can't have a picnic without a "Bouncy House."  Even if it was the smallest I've ever seen.  Then again Highland Falls is not a city or a town, it's a "village."

The highlight of our time there was the canoe races!

In case you didn't know, amateur canoe races are a more than adequate form of entertainment.

We watched four different canoes spill their contents.

And of course all of the village turned out to watch and cheer on their friends.  Two volunteer firefighters won the "bragging rights" for the year.  Apparently people walk around here for 12 months bragging about their dirty metal  boats victories.

The cool little gazebo where we watched the action go down.

To close the days excitement I saw this little piece of Americana.

Goodbye sweet US of A!  Happy 235th Birthday.  Let freedom always ring!