A Day With Grandpa

(Thursday, January 1, 8:18 AM)

Yesterday was a full day. We met my grandpa at lunch time and went to Taipei 101 (via subway which has a stop right outside of our hotel.) There we ate lunch at a place that I remember from last visit which has Shaghainese food. It was really good especially the mellon dumplings. Yum! Then we went to a book store in the mall there. I saw Chinese versions of books that I have read here, and I wanted to take some pictures but I wasn't allowed!

Then we went to the Peking Opera. I have heard a lot about it, and if you just listen to the music, it is pretty hard to understand what is so appealing about it. In fact, it seems like it is the biggest racket you could ever hear. But the genre has to be experienced in all aspects to understand the reason why people love it. It is more than just people screaming (which was my initial impression!) It has a lot of elements of balance and subtle facial expressions, dance and gymnastics. I really loved it. I'll have to see more when I get home!

Then we came home to eat take out (dumplings and soup) at the apartment. More singing to grandma followed and then back to the hotel to wait for the new year. It a lonely feeling to know that we were the only ones celebrating at that time and all of you were still eating lunch on New Year's eve. I think I'll count down again today at 1:00 PM here and think of all of you watching Dick Clark (or Ryan Seacrest or whoever does that now:) and the ball drop!

Amanda Talks About The Past Few Days of Her Trip

(Wednesday, December 31, 7:23 AM)

I haven't written for a few days but we have been very busy here in Taipei. Plus, one computer for six people makes personal internet time very scarce:)

On Monday, we some of the family went to the technology market area which is a few blocks crammed with technology stores and stands. Then we brought some dumpling back to the hotel for lunch. David did a good job of ordering everything without help including asking for soy sauce, vinegar, and chili oil. Then we ate and hung out in their room (1105).

On Monday night, we were invited to dinner by some friends from Grandpa's church. The family has three daughters about our age and they went to the same high school in Massachusetts as my dad. So we went to a Mongolian BBQ place. David and Andrew were very adventurous and tried several things including tiny octupus.

Tuesday, we went on a morning tour of the northern coast of Taiwan. Taipei is very far north on the island and so the trip was only about four hours. We went to visit a temple and a sea port first with great views from the hills. Then we went to a beach area where there are pretty rock formations including a formation that is called the "queen" and looks like Nefertiti (sp?). The sea was beautiful even though it was rainy and windy.

When we came home from the tour, the driver dropped us off at the Japanese mall called Sogo. At Sogo, there are these elevator attendants who call for a car, and bow while the doors to the elevator close. We went to the popular dumpling place that we missed out on the first day because of the long wait. The wait this time was supposed to be about 50 minutes but was actually shorter and worth the wait. Again, David did most of the ordering and did a great job.

Tuesday evening, we went to my grandma and grandpa's apartment to see my grandma (grandpa was at a meeting.) While she ate her dinner, we brought in some beef noodles and potstickers. Then we spent a long time singing to her. She doesn't talk, but she does love the singing and sometimes hums along or just moves her fingers along to the music. Very cute. And, of course, at the end of every song, she claps for us:)

After singing to grandma, the four kids went to the Shida night market. It was rainy and a bit cold, but still really fun. Andrew, Jess and David were very adventurous in trying various foods like chicken hearts and blood cake (yuck, since have to be careful right now in eating even everyday foods, I have the best excuse to bow out on that kind of stuff. Love to pull the surgery card!)

I have lots more to say, but my 30 minute session is running out (30 minutes for 30 NT which is about a dollar US:)

Tell you more soon!

Chinese internet

(Monday, December 29, 11:49 AM)

Boy, I am really confused at blogger in Taiwan because all of the prompts are in Chinese. Where do I sign in? It took me a while, but maybe I have it all figured out. I just randomly click on things until I get to the right place!

Things to Remember from first few days in Taiwan

(Monday, December 29, 11:38 AM)

Things to remember:

Ride to airport in huge suburban; dinner (last hamburger) at restaurant in Seattle airport; loud talkers on plane ride (14 hours too long to listen to people who I don't even know talk); Grandpa's sermon about forgetting the past and looking forward to the new year with faith (all given in Chinese and translated by my cousin Christina); lunch at the mall at a JAPANESE place (so funny to me for some reason); venture to find a Hagan-Das ice cream place in the mall (up six floors all on escalators (turning and turning made me dizzy) and sitting on a bench with mom and grandpa eating ice cream; dad finding the perfect jade bracelet for me (going to the jade market with my orders while I slept!); seeing Mama Auntie (grandma's sister) in good health at the birthday dinner (calling out that grandma is grandpa's "precious"at dinner and making her laugh); David finally getting to eat a fish eye!!! (the first time I remember learning about the whole fish eye thing was back in 1990 or '91, so he has been waiting a long time; variations of the menu setting for Andrew's flip video (a very Chinese experience, let me tell you! who can make the menu look the best?!:)

The Longest Day Ever

(Monday, December 29, 11:26 AM)

Hello, I haven't written for a while but I haven't been at the computer for a REALLY LONG TIME:)

Here is a run down of why I didn't have a night's sleep for over 48 hours:

We flew from Seattle to San Fransisco on Friday, December 26. I didn't sleep well at David and Jess's house the night before which turned out to be a good thing (the car company that was to pick us up at 4 PM called at 3:30 AM to say that they were on their way; lucky for me, I was up to hear the call!) So, 3:30 AM on the 26 = 6:30 EST. We flew out of Seattle at 7:30 PM and left SFO at around midnight. Then 14 hours on the plane where they kept it "night" the whole time (shades drawn and lights off).

Got here to Taipei around 6:30 AM (which is 5:30 PM EST? maybe 6:30). Then to hotel where all six of us were stuffed into one small room to get ready for church. Grandpa preaches at Victory Church which is located in a beautiful park. After church to lunch, and after lunch a nap. (We slept really hard that afternoon!) Then we went to a birthday dinner held in honor of my grandma who is turning 90. It was a really fancy meal where I took pictures of all (ten?) courses. We had cake and toasts and my grandma seemed really happy to have everyone there (including her older sister who is maybe 95?).

Then we came back, went to grandma and grandpa's apartment which is a few blocks away from the hotel, and I gave the rest of the family our Chow reunion shirts.

Finally, we got back to the hotel and into bed around 11:15 PM (10:15 AM EST). By my calculations, that is over 48 hours without a night in bed. We caught a few hours sleep here and there, but that was a marathon of a day!

Christmas Day One

Here is a link to Andrew's youtube entry for the day:

Christmas Presents

First day of Christmas (Vacation)

So, I haven't written a blog in a loooooonnnnngggg time. See I have been sick. But now I am better and I am in Seattle on my vacation!

I'll try to keep you updated with blog entries because phone rates in other countries are unbelievable!

So the first thing to report about my vacation is that it is happening two days late. Yes, Northwest Airlines hates me and made me stay in Ohio when I should have been in Seattle. That is because they lied about the airports being closed (but I am not bitter, oh, no). So, the Monday trip to Seattle was rescheduled to Wednesday.

But now I am in Seattle at David and Jess' house. We flew in this morning and just ate dinner at a restaurant called "Wild Ginger." I think that I saw that on the food network or something! It was great.

It is very snowy here, but it is not worse than a typical Ohio snow storm, but the problem is that they have no plows or salt trucks. (I'm sure that isn't completely true, but it is a problem here.)

Now we are all sitting in the living room. Andrew and Jess are watching A Christmas Story, my dad is lying on the floor taking pictures of the cat who is staring into the fire, mellowly listening to The Christmas song, and mom and David are playing Backgammon. All is well in the world!

Things to remember: Dad's gorillapod attached to everything including "trash receptacles," Wan from Springfield and his obsession with string beans and our family's unhealthy aversion to vegetables, Seattle's gay men's chorus singing a Christmas fight song with silver pom-poms (and wearing an outfit very similar to what Dad was wearing at the time.)