The Mosquitos are Back!

We really have no idea as to how these mosquitos are getting into our apartment, but every few months they show up.  They are gigantic, human devouring mosquitos.  I despise the mosquitos; they eat me while I sleep.  There is a solution.  There's a plug-in, similar to air-freshener , that makes them disappear.  Good bye mosquitos.  

Fire!

This morning I was working on assignments, as normal, when I smelled smoke.  I looked around the house, everything seemed normal, so I went back to work, typing away at my laptop.  The smell of smoke got stronger and stronger.  I took a break from typing at looked down.  There was smoke rising from my laptop charger.  Turns out it was melting somehow (ibooks chargers are infamous for this, so I hear) and as I moved it sparks started flying.  Well, I have experience of technological fires (last year I put out a fire in a microwave) and have learned from this experience to unplug the item from the source!  So I did that, and then unplugged it from my computer.  The cord has melted and it's "safe to say" that my laptop will be out of commission until we can find a new charger!  We'll look around here first, if we are unsuccessful, then maybe order one online...thankfully, Nic has a laptop so the work will continue.

Culinary Adventures

Although we both work until about 9pm at night, we have been trying to eat at home in order to keep in our monthly budget for food.  We will be reworking the budget this month as cooking meals at 9:40 at night is overwhelming, especially since I am usually exhausted from working on Master's assignments and then teaching for 4 hours.  Taiwan is really convenient for this new plan as we have the night market right next to our place and we can easily pick up fried rice, noodles, chicken or anything else.  

Last night was one of my final nights to make dinner before we change up our meal plans.  I decided to make Shake and Bake chicken legs for a treat.  They didn't turn out so well.

It was scary

Yikes

This is a photo of the chicken legs.  For some reason, purple, lumpy blood oozed out of my

 chicken.  I'm sure it was thawed out - it just didn't look healthy at all.  I hope this doesn't make anyone feel sick.  I still feel a little woozy thinking about it.

So instead Nic got McDonald's (he's going to hate me for telling you all that... :)  and I got Gi-pi, otherwise known as extremely unhealthy fried unidentified part of a chicken.... and fries.

Gi-Pi

Fries

On a more upbeat note, here's a new Taiwan discovery.  Yellow watermelon.  That's right folks.

 It's yellow and it's a watermelon (there is pineapple closest to the camera - but behind that is watermelon).  Have you ever seen anything like this before? 

Tomb Sweeping Day

People at their relatives tombs

Today is Tomb Sweeping Day in the Chinese culture.  That means that it is a public holiday, so no teaching for Nic and I today.  It has been really nice to have a whole Saturday off.  Usually we both work on Saturday mornings.  This morning I cleaned our whole apartment down... (which is really easy and takes about an hour since it's a one bedroom studio!)  and then made pancakes.. which were a great success!  For some reason, every time I have tried to make pancakes here they have stuck to the pan and it's become a big mess.  I have tried and tried and tried again.. and today, the effort paid off with beautiful, fluffy pancakes!  I am feeling much better today after visiting the doctor yesterday and taking the medicine he gave me.  I only have a "common cold" but here they give you lots of medicine - 5 pills, 3 times a day!  It really helps and I have a lot of energy back now!  Nic went for a 10k run today!  He was out there for a good hour but is enjoying the free time to exercise.  I have been on a "running hiatus" the past few weeks due to getting back into school work after being in Bermuda, then getting the flu, and now this cold... but by next week I'll be back at it.  

Now on to Tomb Sweeping Day.  I asked my students what they thought about Tomb Sweeping - those who participate in the traditions of visiting relatives tombs didn't seem thrilled about it.  They said it's a long day as they have to wake up early and go to many different locations to cover all of the tombs. 

Here is a description from Wikipedia:  "For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honor one's ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, (joss) paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming. Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera)."  

Ancestor worship is a big part of the culture here and we are learning more and more about the details of that as we are here.  

Only 4 more weeks...

Yesterday before work I opened my planner in order to figure out how much time I have left to work on the big projects for my Master's classes.  There are only four weeks left!  My reaction was not one of panic but of pure elation.  Only four weeks stand between me and finishing my first 15 credit hours in the 33 hour program.  Our Beijing trip will be the break between this semester and the summer semester... when I will, hopefully, take another four classes (12 credit hours).  Technically you can only take 3 classes...  and I have tried to request an overload...  but am waiting to hear back on that...  waiting, waiting waiting.  

Paintball, Colds and Beijing

On Sunday we went into the mountains and played paintball with our church youth group and another youth group.  What an experience!  It was a lot of fun to get to know the kids a little better.  I'm still recovering from the game though; I got a huge bruise!  

In other news, I am also battling a cold, again.  It's somewhat ridiculous.  I had the flu two weeks ago, and today I am feeling pretty run down with a sore throat.  I don't know if it's the germ-y kids, Taiwan, or my busy schedule that has my immune system down.  

God is still good though and we keep pressing on!   

In our free time we are planning a trip to Beijing that we hope to take in the end of May.  We will be there for about a week, found tickets and now just need to sort out our hotel.  

Life is certainly keeping me really busy.  My 15 credit hours and 22 hours of work make sure that I'm constantly doing something important.  I'm excited for life to "calm down" a little bit.... I'm not sure when that will be.  I'll get a few weeks off before summer classes begin and I'm hoping to take another 4 classes then.  By summer I'll have 27 of my 33 hours towards my Masters completed.  It's great to be meeting goals and I love a challenge.  I do really look forward to some lazy days with friends and family in the future though!  :)

Things I'll Miss From Taiwan

The location of our apartment is very convenient here in the city.  Right below our apartment building is a laundry lady (who washes, dries and folds our laundry since we don't have a washer or dryer in our studio), a convenience store, a restaurant and then a 2 minute walk from our place there is:  a hardware store, a DVD rental, a plethora of tea shops and a night market for great food.  We probably buy fried rice from one vendor at least once weekly.  For the longest time we both ate pork fried rice but now we're really enjoying beef fried rice.  Yummy.  So on a rainy weekend or a cold Saturday night we can walk down to the market, buy fried rice or noodles, then I will go and get a freshly made apple juice from a juice/tea shop, and then if we want we can pick up a movie on the walk home.  

I like the fresh apple juice.  It's delicious.