Half Term Holiday Day 6 - Halloween

In case you’re wondering what happened to Day 5, I didn’t forget about it. We had planned to go to the Fine Arts Museum, as I’d referenced earlier. The kids and I lounged around in the morning and left around 11am. We arrived at 11:30 to see a line which wound its way around the museum into the parking lot. After giving it 30 minutes in wait time, I began to see that the line wound its way up the stairs, and then wound around three times before one could see the sign which said ‘Buy Tickets’. I realized that all of the people in line were going to try to see the same exhibit we were…I have NO idea how they pack THAT many people in the museum. We decided to pitch the idea and we spent the day eating a nice lunch and lounging around…nothing exciting.

Saturday was Halloween in Taipei. While it is true that Halloween is not a Taiwanese holiday, there are many stores with decorations and a few places which were offering trick-or-treating. What I found are that all of the pre-schools and kindergardens celebrate the holiday; however, the older kids are mostly left on their own to find an American community in which they can trick-or-treat. Brianna had managed to spot a sign advertising a haunted house and celebration in Tienmu square, which is up the street from our apartment. Knowing that a lot of expats live in Tienmu, we figured this would be as good as it gets and decided to check it out late that afternoon.

Before we went to the Halloween festivities, we began the day with some new friends, the Hodowanys, at an American brunch (THANKS again Judy and John for a GREAT treat!). We then split up a bit to do some shopping and errands. Terry, the kids, and I stopped by an arcade where Terry and I tested our strength. Oh yeah...I beat him that first round 12-11; however, he beat me the next 11-12...so I suppose we're equally as strong (thankfully my man is comfortable enough with his masculinity that this didn't seem to bother him :)!!). Our family then went to the Taipei Coffee Festival, as Terry and I are STILL on a search for a good cup 'a joe here. What we're finding is that there are some decent places out there, but the beans are quite expensive. While Taipei does grow and roast its own beans, it is a small market and therefore highly priced. Sigh. For now, we'll stick to asking Terry's co-workers to bring our favorite coffee beans from CA when they come to Taipei (THANK YOU McCarthy!!)

Later that afternoon, we met up with the Hodowanys at Tienmu Square for the Halloween festivities. When we arrived, it was PACKED…and HOT HOT HOT. At 4:30pm, it must have been about 80-85 degrees. This Halloween was definitely the warmest I could remember! At first, it simply appeared to be a bunch of booths with people selling crafts, food and stuff. However, we saw a sign for a haunted house, and decided to give it a go. I have to say…the Taiwanese did a pretty good job. While this haunted house was not quite as elaborate as those we see in CA, it had plenty of good stuff. There were some simple wood coffin-outlines, a few grave sites, and lots of black cloth draped here and there, creating a labyrinth-effect. The creepiest thing which really scared the kids were the various teenagers dressed in ghoulish make-up, who jumped out at every corner. THAT was pretty creepy…even I jumped when someone grabbed my ankles!

After the haunted house, we saw that a few girls playing MC were going to start some kind of show. While we couldn’t really understand much of what they were saying, Judy, her children, and mine decided to sit and watch while the dads talked shop. Within a few minutes, the MC’s were asking for volunteers to come up on the stage to participate in a game. Judy’s daughter, Audrey, was one of the first to volunteer. Not to be outdone, Elaine raised her hand and was soon whisked away up onto the stage. Mind you…the whole thing is in Mandarin!! While Elaine stood there looking as cute as can be, the next thing she knew, a microphone was shoved in her face and people were screaming at her to shout something out…I think she managed to shout ‘Tienmu’. Next to her, Audrey, who can understand both English and Mandarin, took up the slack and shouted ‘Tienmu gou sen me gui’ (Tienmu…what’s happening!). The surprising thing in all of this was the smile which appeared on both Elaine and Audrey’s face and participating. I was so proud of Elaine for not being shy and walking right up there…even though she had NO clue what was going on!

After the kids took their turn screaming (I think there was a prize for being the loudest), we were treated to a dance troup (dancing to Boom Boom Pow, which, along with ‘Poker Face’ is ALL we hear around here!!) and fire-throwers. While the dance troup was fun for the kids (VERY amateur, but hey, one couldn’t beat the price!), the fire throwers were really fun to watch. All of the acts were amateurs who were volunteering their time to perform, but still very fun to watch. We managed to keep everyone sitting and watching for about 1.25 hours!

After the show, we all hopped in a few cabs and had the best pizza we’ve had since arriving in Taipei…Alleycats thin crust. Yummy (Thanks John for introducing this to us!)!!

To ensure that the girls didn’t miss out completely on Halloween, we stopped by 7-11 on the way home and bought a bunch of candy. Terry and I then took turns hiding in the bedrooms while the girls, dressed in costume, knocked on our doors and said ‘trick-or-treat’. While it wasn’t the same, we tried to stay as true to tradition as we could. Certainly we ALL miss the pumpkin-carving, the baking, the smell of a warm fire and cookies baking. We miss riding our bikes through Golden Gate Park admiring the changing of the leaves. We miss our friends and the Halloween parade and the AWESOME haunted house on Shearwater Court. While the holiday of Halloween found us all a bit homesick, I’m thankful that it wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting. We found that the company of new friends helped to lessen the homesickness and helped us to create new memories which I know we’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Half Term Holiday Day 4 - Ice Skating

Today was nothing particularly exciting to write about. I mean, don’t get me wrong…each day can have its own challenges; however, today I simply took the kids ice skating. Brianna went once for a friend’s birthday party in California before we left and is now hooked. So, when we found out that Taipei has an ice rink, I knew this would be a fun activity (and also cheap…cost about $20 for us all including equipment for the entire day, of which we lasted about 3 hours!).

One of Brianna’s new friends, Heather, agreed to come with us. Apparently, Heather does NOT like getting her picture taken, as this was the only photo she’d allow! It was also lucky for us, as Heather is fluent in Mandarin and was able to help out once or twice in asking for information here and there (and who’s the adult here???). Brianna and Heather had a GREAT time skating round and round and trying to twirl around like some of the kids at the rink (I tell you, there were QUITE a few good skaters there!).

Elaine was content to stay with me and try her hand at skating. She did quite well and within a few tries was brave enough to go on her own. By the end of the day, she was able to skate the entire loop on her own (close to the wall for comfort of course!). Just by chance, a few friends of hers were there too, receiving their 3rd of 4 lessons. They joined us after their lesson and took turns seeing who could skate the fastest…quite fun!

This evening is Terry’s mom’s last night in Taipei. She goes home to California tomorrow. I’ve got mixed feelings over her leaving. I mean, it’s always challenging having my spirited mom-in-law staying so close for so long; however, I honestly do get along with her, most of the time. I will miss her quite a bit. Let’s face it…I will also miss having my laundry magically folded and all of my dirty dishes magically disappear! Mostly, though, I’ll miss watching her and the girls. It’s been so heart-warming to watch them all interact. There’s such an innocence to the way they show their affection…all of them. I will miss watching that. I can tell that she’s torn as well. She does enjoy Taipei and its conveniences and its exciting, happening culture. However, she doesn’t seem to want to rent an apartment (I think she feels it would be a waste of money as it’s not an investment towards anything), and purchasing an apartment seems too scary given that she’s not certain how ‘long term’ our stay will be. Ultimately, I’m trying to stay neutral and let her make her own conclusions. This way I save myself from having ANY blame in her decision!
So, it’s with mixed feelings that I sign off tonight. I suppose that now that we’ve just about hit the one-month mark, our honeymoon phase should begin to wear off and this culture shock I’m supposed to be experience should be setting in any day. I promise to keep you all posted!

Half Term Holiday Day 2 - Beitou Hot Springs

I FINALLY got my wish. After being in Taipei for a month, I’m a bit burned out on big city-life. I’m a bit shopped-out and I’m ready for something other than concrete. Today, we went with Terry’s mom (Nai-Nai) to Beitou, an area on the outskirts of Taipei City best known for its hot springs. It is higher than most of Taipei City and borders Yangminshan mountains, which was EXACTLY what I’ve been yearning for (it sucks to see the beautiful mountains on a daily basis and not yet experience them, sigh).

Beitou was developed by the Japanese in the early 20th century (the Japanese certainly LOVE their hot springs, from what I hear!) and came to a heyday prior to WW2. It fell into somewhat of a disarray in the 1950’s-1970’s when it was best known for its prostitution! The turn-around began around 1996, when the Taiwanese government declared the Beitou Bath House a historical monument and began to restore it. It is now beautifully preserved as a museum. The area is now covered with various hotels, restaurants, and art houses mostly serving the hot springs. The entire area smells of sulfur as water flows openly in streams and creeks throughout the city. These sulfurous streams produce beautiful arrays of colorful stones, which we thoroughly enjoyed as we meandered through the streets (remember, we had my mom-in-law, the slow walker with us!). She enjoyed telling us stories of how she and her friends would come to the streams in their younger years and hard-boil their eggs in the hot water. I still find it odd that they could cook in the water and eat the eggs w/o getting sick?? I remind myself…different country, different times!

There are quite a few public areas to soak in the hot springs; which are segregated into 2 types…clothing required and clothing…optional. While I was tempted to bring the girls to a public soaking area, not knowing where the clothing required pools were, AND not knowing if the girls could stand the heat…we opted for a private room in a hotel. It seemed a rather odd experience to me going into different hotels and inquiring about their rooms for rent…by the hour! However, it is quite the norm there as many people prefer a more private experience. Come to think of it…with multiple families living together in places which are quite small compared to the USA, I’ll bet these places are QUITE busy year-round for those who need a bit of ‘privacy’!!!

We were not disappointed. While we had a hotel in mind, as we began to walk up a hill towards our destination, it became glaringly evident that a closer venue would be a better choice…given the mood Nai-Nai was in! We found a beautiful Japanese-styled hotel across from the museum which had decent rates (less than $30 USD for one hour). The four of us checked in and were immediately impressed by the elaborate décor of the hotel. It was very ornately decorated with wooden furniture, floral arrangements…just breathtaking. Then, we were treated to a room which overlooked the museum and its greenery. The grounds around the museum have been painstakingly preserved so that it felt as if we were high in the mountains.

The girls immediately loved the tatami-style mat in the middle of the room with the tea set; however, as we had one hour, we ran a bath (not too hot, as they’re both wimps with the heat!). Nai-Nai decided against joining us in the fun, but was nice enough to take a few pics for us. The girls loved playing around in the stinky water and taking turns showering off outside the tub. I think they may have had more fun playing with the shower-part than the actual tub! I managed to kick the girls out of the tub long enough to turn up the heat to really get the effect of the hot springs. They decided to play tea-set and hotel while I soaked. After we checked out we were treated a walk on the 3rd floor. This is where the hotel’s spa is, complete with its own stair cases, private garden and public hot springs (nude of course, but separate for men and women). We were amazed that the view of the hotel’s private gardens was equally as stunning as ours from the 5th floor!

Feeling very refreshed, we headed home (perhaps slightly stinky as I don’t think I managed to quite rinse off all the sulfur water!). As the girls’ behavior was SOOOOO good today (esp compared to yesterday), I treated them to dinner at ‘Tea Time’. This restaurant, which is right at the train station closest to our apartment, you sit on swings rather than benches. The pictures posted outside also show some delicious treats for drinks (tea with whipped cream and cookies on top). The girls have been itching to eat there for quite some time. Bri had spaghetti and Elaine and I had stir-fried beef. Their dessert was milk-tea with whipped cream and cookies. For just about $20, we were surprised that the food was quite good. I was quite thankful that I have another incentive to offer to the girls besides the Hello Kitty restaurant!

Can you believe that all of the above was ours today for less than $60? It amazes me that there are still places in Taiwan (apparently, most of them outside of Taipei city) that are very reasonable. I tell you, this is something we’ll definitely do again….although hopefully with Terry next time!

Half Term Holiday Day 1 - Chinese Opera

Today was the first day of ‘Half Term Holiday’. Apparently the British school system takes a one week vacation in the middle of each semester. So the girls have no school all week, which is fine, but challenging, as Terry has to work all week and we can’t leave the country (we have to stay here for 4 months in order to acquire our health insurance card from the Taiwan government). So, we’re exploring Taipei!

Thankfully, there are lots of moms from the girls’ school who had plenty of ideas, so we're pretty well stocked on things to do! On today’s agenda was a trip to the National Taiwan College of the Performing Arts (http://www.tcpa.edu.tw/). Every Monday and Thursday morning, the students of this college put on a short show for mostly school-aged children. For less than $30, we were treated to a 30 minute Acrobat show, a short 20-minute video on the art of Beijing Opera (which explained many of the details behind this seemingly strange art form); a trip to the upstairs museum (which contained heirloom costumes and headpieces); and a 30-minute opera.

Our first challenge of the day was to find our way there. The website said to take the MRT (the subway); transfer to a bus and look for a Girls’ high school for our exit. We gave ourselves an hour, took the phone # and address and set off on our adventure! The MRT was the easy part…we’re pros now! The bus…not so easy. We found the right #, but the bus drivers didn’t know what we were talking about when we gave them the name of the high school. Not wanting to tempt fate (we heard that they start the show promptly at 10am), we decided to catch a taxi. All was going well until our cab driver didn’t understand that I needed 177 Neihu Rd Section 2, and not Section 1. As I had NO idea what the Chinese word for ‘Section’ was, he proceeded to drive in a circle. As I was starting to get frustrated, I called in the cavalry and phoned Terry (yes, I FINALLY got a cell phone…an iphone which I’m enjoying thoroughly!). With one simple word, the lightbulb clicked with our taxi driver and we were able to find the college with no problems :). Despite my stress over time, we arrived JUST as the show was starting.

We entered into the theater and found very few people there…great, I thought…a REAL amateur show. I did NOT have high hopes and just prayed that it would at LEAST be worth the $30 or so that I paid. Once the lights went down, the acrobatic show started a bit slow with some basic tumbling and very basic fire throwing. However, as the act wore on, we were treated to some beautiful traditional Chinese acrobatics. My personal favorite was when 12 women glided onto the stage with 3 sticks, about 3 feet long in each hand. On top of each stick was a bowl which they proceeded to twirl…how they did this w/o dropping the bowls was a mystery (I actually thought the bowls may be glued on somehow until 2 performers dropped one set of bowls). The beautiful part was that they made up a pond of lilies while 2 dancers performed a ‘pax de deux’ (sp?)…a ballet duet. Just lovely!

As time went on, I became more and more impressed by this gem of a find. What a perfect way to introduce us all to this particular art form! Apparently the college accepts performers at age 10 and they study for 12 years before they 'graduate'. At that point, much like any other university, it is up to the individual to pursue the art form professionally. While it was obvious that the performance was an amateur show, it was not painfully obvious. I am happy to report that it really did meet my expectations.

After the acrobatic show, we watched a video which helped explain the Chinese opera, which has always seemed ridiculous to me. After the video (which was in English, thankfully), I had a much better appreciation for the art form and found myself actually looking forward to the performance later. The tour of the museum was ok and Elaine began to get bored. I tried to keep her entertained by handing her the phone and asking her to take some pics :).

I was AMAZED that the girls sat through the 30 minute opera as well as they did. Mind you, the ‘opera’ had very little singing. From what I gather, traditional opera involves so much more than singing. It involves dance, acrobatics, acting and singing. The performers are extremely talented and made the opera more interesting with their many fight scenes (and the hero in the story was a female warrior, which was fun too!). At the end, I was thankful for the brief introduction, as it very much achieved the objective of educating the audience and introducing us to the opera without overwhelming us.

We left, or at least, I left, feeling productive and culturally fulfilled as this was an unexpected thing to do on vacation. I would very much recommend it to anyone visiting as it's relatively short and was very informative!

The best highlight after the college was that we managed, after 2 tries, to find the right bus to get us from the college to the Miramar shopping area, which contains the world’s 2nd largest ferris wheel (2nd to London, supposedly). We would have found the right bus faster if I could pronounce Miramar correctly. I discovered that just because the shopping area we were looking for is labeled ‘Miramar’ in English, this apparently is NOT what the Taiwanese people call it. One phone call to Terry again provided the right pronunciation, and we successfully navigated our way there (the pronunciation, btw…is ‘Mei Li Hua’). Unfortunately, after that, some demon came over each of my children throughout the day and we cut our afternoon of movies and fun entertainment short. I will spare everyone the gory details, but let’s just say that I am truly hoping that tomorrow will be better!