Massive Eggplant

We picked these up at the produce market the other day.
I'm fairly confident they are the largest eggplant I've ever seen. Heather fried these bad boys up into an amazing eggplant parmesan. It was seriously delicious. The deliciousness increased exponentially as we have not had eggplant parmesan since arriving in Taiwan. That's four months without the crispy, savory goodness! It was amazing!

It is currently 12:00 am and we wanted to wish everyone who is reading this a Merry Christmas and also a Happy New Year. You are in our prayers (as always)! May you have a glorious time during this part of the year. We miss you!

Enjoy the picture. It shows one of our favorite cities and also one activity that I believe ALL Taiwanese love to do. Again, enjoy!

- Heather and Phil

Christmas Party

Monday evening we had a Christmas party. It included a talent show, large quantities of sugary deserts, a secret santa gift swap and a surprise appearance by none other than Santa Claus. It was pretty awesome.






I had an awesome secret santa. Some of the gifts I received over the last week include:

• X-Max Dancing Palace - Traditional Christmas songs put to techno beats.
• Dried mangos
• A bag of toy dinosaurs. They are now guarding my office.
• Nunchakus

Awesome!

Phil's Birthday

Besides making apple pies for Phil for his birthday, I also got our students to surprise him at his photo club meeting which took place the night before his birthday. Through a lot of work, we pulled off one of the best surprises in a long time. Something that you need to know: The students make fun of Phil for a certain statement that he always uses. You will know what that statement is in a moment. The following is the slide show the students prepared. Phil had asked them to find a portrait photographer that they liked and as opposed to actually finding one, they surprised him instead. Here is the result. Enjoy!

(I am not really adept at putting a slide show on this site. These are just the pictures. The slide show started out with 2 slides, one that read "Portraits" and another that read "Breath of Life Photography" These 2 slides were there to make Phil think that this was an actual slide show. The rest of the pictures are what came after these 2 slides which are not shown. Also, read the slides using the question and exclamation marks. It makes more sense.)

Festival in Puli

Several weeks ago there was a huge festival in Puli. I believe it was a religious celebration (but I'm unsure of any details). There were 4 gates each with an alter set up at it. Lots of people, lots of lights, lots of vendors.









It was here that I experienced my first Taiwan Hamburger. It was rather unlike an American hamburger in pretty much all aspects. Its construction included the following:

• Steamed bread (which has no crust of any kind)
• Crushed peanuts
• Sweet pickle-like stuff. But long and stringy with a slightly different taste
  
• A fried egg
• The meat of your choice. Hamburger was NOT an option. I selected from pork, lamb, chicken, beef, and several other unidentified meats. (rule #1 when selecting meat in Taiwan: If you don't know what it is, DON'T eat it. It's probably not something you really want to eat. More on this later). I went with the chicken.
• Some sort of sweet barbecue-like sauce.
• Hot sauce (with a vinegar base)

The Taiwan Hamburger

I must say that although this may sound strange and rather unappetizing, it was delicious! The only problem: The festival is now over, and I have no idea where to get another one!

Baking an apple pie in Taiwan

I wanted to do something special for Phil's birthday last month and I tried to think of something really neat that he would like. Unfortunately, there are not that many places we can go in our area to get a really good gift. (We have begun calling certain stores in Puli names common in the US, such as Walmart, Whole Foods and Best Buy, but they are not the same as the US counterparts)

Because of that, I decided to bake Phil an apple pie. Not just any apple pie, but his mother's apple pie. I got the recipe from her and began to think of how I would organize the actual baking of the pies. I had to get ingredients without him knowing and actually make the pie without him knowing. We do a lot of things together here, so the evenings were definitely out. Also, I actually have to teach, so most of the day was out as well. I have 2 hours right after my bio class and I exercise with a friend while Phil has study hall, so I decided those were the best time. I went to Puli on Monday to get a few items. On Tuesday morning, I bought the apples and I put the apple pie together during my "exercise" time. (You will notice that I am wearing exercise clothes so that Phil thinks that I am actually exercising. I made the mistake of saying that I drove to Moriah's house, but luckily he didn't question me too much about why I would drive to her house to exercise when she lives so close.) Wednesday morning, I baked the pies. The following are some pictures. I think he was happy. By the way, a chinese teacher, Joy, lives in the house that I used to make the pies. She had never seen an actual pie being home made. It was really neat showing her how they are made.

Ebola vs. the Flu

I may have Ebola. Or maybe it's just the flu.

I am experiencing headache and generalized aching which are known symptoms of Ebola. Next thing I know, I'll be bleeding from my eyes.

Now before you start to worry about me, I should probably inform you of three relevant facts:

1. I am currently reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's a very interesting collection of true stories about deadly viruses like Ebola and Marburg and situations where they have gotten out of hand.
2. I am a moderate hypochondriac.
   
3. Heather got the flu several days before I came down with my Ebola-like symptoms.
   

So, all things considered, I'll probably be ok, but I'll be sure to let you know if my liver spontaneously dissolves.

Smellin' Pretty in Yuchih City

I smell like a spring flower today. At least according to my new bottle of deodorant.

It all started the day before we left for Taiwan. Knowing myself and the fact that I am rather picky about my deodorant, I bought a bunch of it to bring along. As we packed our suit cases, we of course crammed as much stuff into them as they could possibly hold. Then came the fateful weight check. We were, of course, restricted to the standard 50 pound maximum per checked bag. Unfortunately all of our three big suitcases were quite a bit over the limit. We had to start making tough decisions. Hmmmmm... what will I not need for the next year? Eventually I ended up removing many of my auxiliary sticks of Old Spice. It was a sad and difficult decision, but one that had to be made.

We have been in Taiwan for three months now, and I still have not felt the pain of separation from my favorite Old Spice scent. (High Endurance Classic for those of you who are wondering.) My supply has held out, but it was beginning to dwindle. Last week I saw a horrific sight - the plastic base beginning to appear on my last stick! Nooooooooo! I ignored the problem for days, hoping that it would somehow go away. The situation became desperate. I had to do something. Heather and I took the 10 minute trek to Puli and headed into a pharmacy/CVS type store. I scoured the aisles for Old Spice. There was none to be found. In fact I couldn't find anything that looked remotely like any kind of deodorant. Finally with some help from the clerk, I looked over my options. There were about 5 choices. Two for women, two for men, and one semi-androgenous looking option. I read the ingredients (they were all in English!) and only the sort-of-androgonous one lacked aluminum (my missing element of choice). I selected this one with high hopes.


Outside the store I quickly opened my prize. As you can see, the bottle claims that I will smell like a "Spring Flower", which is pretty much exactly what I want to smell like, so my expectations were high. I lifted the bottle to my nose and my hopes were dashed. "It smells disgusting!" I told Heather. We laughed.

Dream Mall

Phil and I recently went to Kaohsiung in the southern part of Taiwan. Kaohsiung is one of the largest shipping ports in this area. We decided Thursday afternoon that it had been too long from eating Mexican food, so we headed to Kaohsiung and ate Mexican food Friday. After that, we had no plans and because it took us 3 hours to drive there, we decided to stay for the weekend. (BTW the Mexican food was some of the worst I have eaten in my life, but it was the best we have eaten in a long time) Saturday evening, we went to the Dream Mall, the largest mall in Taiwan. (Phil will probably post about what we did Saturday afternoon, so I won't bore you)

Pretty much any mall in Taiwan is full of stores that sell products that cost more than I make in a month, so we just wandered around looking at everything. While there, we stumbled upon the Japanese style floor and there was a store there entitled Hankyu Department Store (I may be wrong on the name). It had a lot of stuff in it that was impressive. I started picking up stuff, like paper lanterns, picture frames and kitchen stuff because we would be moving soon. The problem was that there was no prices on anything. I looked all over the package because sometimes the package will have the price on it, but it wasn't there. It also wasn't above the stuff like some stores do. Because we had no idea what the price was and our numbers are a little iffy in Chinese, we mainly just wandered around looking at stuff but we didn't ask how much stuff cost. Finally we got the nerve up to ask and the guy looked at us strangely and said that the stuff was 39 NTD (about $1.25 or so). We then asked about everything in the store and he said that it was 39 NTD. We realized then that the big signs everywhere with 39 on them and the Taiwan dollar sign next to it meant that we had become that cartoon.

You know the cartoon with the guy holding something asking "How much does this cost?" when there are signs everywhere saying that "Everythings a dollar."

Yes, we are teaching the youth of tomorrow.

Give Thanks

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. Not quite as traditional as usual, but it was a lot of fun. The teachers of TAIS prepared a Thanksgiving feast for the students. We recruited some of our high school students to help out. The total in attendance was around seventy hungry people. This was a big task! Heather and I started out by baking three apple pies and three coconut cream pies. Esther, one of my 8th grade students, and I sat down and peeled about thirty small apples for the pies. We had no peelers, and so resorted to small knives. It was slow going! Eventually, we got the pile down to about three remaining apples, when Heather exclaimed, "Look what I found!" and held up a peeler. Ahhh!!!!!

The pies were soon put together and baked to golden delicious perfection. Awesome!

Since we had no egg beating device (electric or manual) and no cream of tartar we had decided to make the coconut cream pies sans meringue. After the preparation was completed and the pies were baking, I got to thinking that if they were able to make meringue in the days before egg beaters (and cream of tartar?) than so could I. I grabbed a whisk and some egg whites and went to town. About twenty minutes later I had a large blister forming on my hand and my arm was about to fall off, but soft peaks were beginning to form! Our Chinese teacher Joy took over. She beat for another fifteen to twenty minutes and we had meringue! I quickly added it to a pie and baked it to a succulent golden brown. Mmmmmm! Upon later tasting, it was delicious!

The morning of Thanksgiving, Heather and I ran to the nearby town of Puli to get a few overlooked supplies. I felt very popular as my phone was ringing every two minutes. (Probably because Heather's battery had died) We found the necessary items and headed out of the store. As we approached the car, we heard a drumming sound. We looked down the street and noticed a very long, very slow moving parade about fifty meters away. They were headed right for us! "We gotta get outta here before we get blocked in for a half hour!" I screamed. As we threw the groceries in the trunk, Heather grabbed an improperly closed loaf of bread. The twistee gave out and slices went flying everywhere. I ran the cart back while she collected bread from the sidewalk. (Five second rule!?!?) I backed out of our spot at breakneck speed and screeched out of the lot only a few meters in front of the police car that was heading up the parade. Phew!!!! We made it! That was close. Then I got pulled over. Just kidding
.



We headed to Moriah, Suzanne and Joy's house to deliver the goods and start cooking. We were assigned the task of preparing green bean casserole. Rumors were flying around everywhere that the green beans had somehow gone AWOL. We headed to the pantry (AKA the elementary school) to investigate. The rumors turned out to in fact be true. For the past several days we had been looking up substitutions online (ie: The nearest bottle of corn syrup is 4000 miles away, can I use something else to create a similar taste/effect?) What could we substitute for the missing green beans? Seaweed? Tofu? Hmmm... To say the least this would be slightly less than traditional. I breathed a sigh of relief as Heather emerged triumphant from Jeremy's office holding six cans of green beans. They were just hidden, not actually missing.

Back to kitchen stadium (Moriah, Suzanne and Joy's kitchen). We began cooking. There are no french onions in Taiwan (at least that we could find) so we substituted Italian bread crumbs. Not ideal. It turned out ok, but not what I would call delicious.

We then turned to Moriah, who was beginning to look frantic. The night before, she and a few students had peeled forty, yes forty, pounds of potatoes. She had put them in a giant pot, placed it in the center of the stove top and turned on all four burners. After about an hour and a half, it still had not started boiling. Dinner was fast approaching. She was beginning to sweat. We paused for a moment to ask for Divine assistance in the boiling of the potatoes. The Lord came through, and the pot was soon boiling. I was then assigned the task of mashing. Draining this giant pot seemed out of the question, so we scooped the potatoes out into smaller pots. This seemed to be working, but was taking forever. Eventually, I decided to go for it, and drained the pot. I succeeded in not dumping the contents into the sink, which I was rather pleased with myself about. Five sticks of butter, and large quantities of salt and milk later, we had forty pounds of mashed potatoes! Delicious!




The meal was awesome. It was quite a spread as you can see. We realized that all our hard work was worth it the moment we chomped into these delicious dishes. It turns out that we have some serious collective culinary skills. Despite the few missing ingredients, it tasted very authentic.





I ate a huge plateful. I was full. I ate another plateful. I was about to explode. I ate three pieces of pie. My personal philosophy is that "there's always room for pie!"







Aside from the delicious meal, we have much to be thankful for. God has blessed us more than we even realize. He has given us awesome family and friends. Our experience in Taiwan is certainly one we will remember for the rest of our lives. He never fails to provide for all of our needs (and a lot of our wants too).

My Classroom

If you had visited my classroom 4 years ago, you would have seen 4 "semi walls" (ask me about that sometime) and no window. If you had visited my classroom 2 years ago, you would have seen a classroom with actual walls (and a door) along with a window. The window, though, looked out on a generator that would run at inopportune times. Today, if you were to visit my classroom, you would see the following:

The view from the second prettiest window in my classroom.

My (actual) classroom. I have 6 windows!

The same window from above.

A view overlooking the campus.

I could not get a picture of the best view from my classroom because the day I took these pictures, the mountains were overcast. Every once in awhile, I yell out in class "Look at that. It's incredible" and the kids kind of jump and then laugh.

I know that I have made you jealous. If it makes you feel any better, to get to my office, I have to climb 2 flights of stairs (no problem). But to get to this classroom, I have to go down one flight of stairs and up another 2 flights of stairs (in the same building). In addition, there are 2 doors to the outside, but to get from one door to the other in the same building, you have to climb to the second floor and then down again.

Thanksgiving

If anyone knows my family, they know that we invite a lot of people for Thanksgiving, whether we know them or not. At least that is the way we have celebrated it in the past. This coming Thursday, our school is fixing Thanksgiving for our school. We currently have 2o students in the high school, 22 students in the elementary school and 15 - 20 teachers / staff. Yes, if you got 60, you have added correctly. We are cooking for 60 people, even if some of them can only eat for a half person. Phil and I are on the list for baking 5 pies along with green bean casserole along with juice. The biggest problem is trying to figure out the baking situation. Currently we have 2 ovens that we can definitely use and perhaps a few others that belong to faculty on campus... Phil and I are cooking our pies tomorrow evening so we won't be fighting with the turkeys for space.

We are at least lucky enough that many of the people who are eating our Thanksgiving meal have never actually had Thanksgiving...

Learning Chinese

I am presently learning chinese from a very important place. This would be the tea shop. So far I can order Passion Fruit Green Tea, Milk Tea with tapioca, Milk Tea with out, Grapefruit Green Tea, Chocolate Milk Tea with tapioca and Chocolate Milk Tea without. So far, my favorites are passion fruit green tea and Milk Tea. If you come and visit, we will take you to get some of these wonderful drinks. The picture above is a picture of a tea shop in Taipei. We have gone to this place one time. In Yuchih, near our school, we go to a place where the lady does not laugh when we speak chinese. She has the best teas, in my opinion.

Professional Procrastination

So I we have parent teacher conferences tomorrow. I'm kinda freaking out, because I've never had these before. I hope the parents feel like I'm doing a good job. We'll see.

Anyways, since the conferences are tomorrow and the parents will most likely want up-to-date grades on their child's performance, I suppose I should get working on that giant stack of assignments that has been building up for longer than I am prepared to admit. My prediction: late night tonight. That's ok, from what I hear sleep is overrated anyway.

When it comes to procrastination I am a true professional.

Work

I have decided to actually post something, even though I am not Phil. Sorry, mom. :)

I feel like all I have been doing recently is studying for biology and chemistry and I am not in college. It is 10 times harder when you also have to teach these subjects to someone else. Oh well. I actually am really enjoying teaching both of these subjects in spite of the amount of time I put into them. I really have no interest in biology as a subject, but I am having a blast teaching it.

I would post pictures, but the only pictures I have, I use for biology and those aren't too interesting.

We had a wonderful time a few weekends ago with the teachers up at the north coast of Taiwan. It was beautiful. Their apartments are on two sides of an apartment complex. One side overlooks the ocean and the other overlooks the mountains of Taiwan. If you have never seen pictures of Taiwan, then you are missing a lot. It is one of the prettiest countries I have ever been in.

On Sunday, our boss rented a tour bus to take us on a historical tour of the country. We also learned early on that it was also a karaoke bus! Needless to say, we saw few historical sites (A 45 minute trip actually took 3 hours, so we had to turn around) but we also learned who could sing and who could not. I do have videos of one Ferguson son-in-law which should be entertaining.

Experiment #001 Observation Notes

9:37 - I have begun administering the experimental cure on the subject in large quantities at frequent intervals.

12:22 - Subject is making frequent trips to the restroom with a look of urgency on face.

14:35 - observed subject breathing easily through both nostrils simultaneously.

16:02 - subject has consumed in excess of 1000 ml of green tea. He refuses to ingest any more, despite repeated attempts on my behalf. Experiment is potentially compromised. Will wait and continue to observe.

21:12 - patient appears to be breathing easily. Note that there has been a significant decline in congestion level. Will continue observation in the morning.

Scientific Experiement #001

I am sick. Just a standard "change of seasons" cold. Many of the students and other teachers are sick as well. My boss, Jeremy, swears by green tea. He makes high and mighty claims as to its healing properties. Since I am all about experimenting with potential cures for the common cold, I'm going to experiment. I hate colds.

My experiment will be conducted in the most scientific of methods. I have put a great deal of research and thought into my process. Here it is:

1. drink tea


2. see if I get better

Will my single test provide a mere "theory"? No way. I'm going for absolute proof here. We'll see...

Here are my materials:

• Green tea bags


• Pre-brewed bottles of green tea


• Empty bottle for home brewed tea on the go


• Pesky cold

Follow me on this epic journey to enlightenment. I'll keep you posted.

Personal Survey

All the teachers from TAIS and other Adventist schools around Taiwan are going to a retreat this weekend. It is being held on the north coast of Taiwan. The drive will take an estimated five hours. I have been elected as one of the two drivers. (Probably because of my vast knowledge of the Taiwanese road systems) The retreat promises to have many exciting events such as Heather & Phil cooking "American Food" for Sabbath morning breakfast. We will be preparing a true American classic... chocolate chip pancakes. Awesome! (We actually eat these about 1-2 times per week. They are amazing with fresh mango or passion fruit on top.)

We were asked by our director Robert to answer a series of highly personal questions which will most likely be read aloud to the group in the most humiliating fashion possible. In the spirit of laying bare my soul, here are my answers:


1. Type of pet as a kid

Dogs, 3 fish (Goldie, Stripes & Dart who met a tragic end before their time. Ok, ok, I suppose their demise wasn’t that tragic or unlike most other fish – mysteriously found floating belly up in the tank, but still, it’s traumatic when you’re young!) Gerbils who reproduced like rabbits. (Hey, do you guys want a baby gerbil or two? They’re really cute!) A pair of rabbits who also reproduced like rabbits. (How bout a cute little bunny?) A single rabbit who met a truly tragic demise at the hand (teeth actually) of a neighborhood dog.

2. Your first car

Ford Mustang. But I must admit, that saying this is highly deceptive… it was not a cool one but one made during the less cool years – 1983. But the sliver racing stripes that I added definitely increased the cool factor (and I’m pretty sure they increased my top speed at least 7mph).

3. Number of brothers, sisters

1 brother – Matt. He’s 6’ 3” 6' 4" and went as the jolly green giant for Halloween this year. He and his new bride just bought their first house last week.

4. Favorite fruit

Mango. Longyen is also awesome. Maybe a fresh from the orchard apple when I’m back home.

Longyen ↑

5. Favorite food

Thai curry or Pad Thai. The curry should be nice and spicy so I can feel it simmering in my stomach for a while after I eat it. Awesome! Also excellent: Pasta with homemade sauce, homemade pizza sans cheese. Mom’s apple pie, (I’ll probably be highly depressed on Thanksgiving and Christmas as I will not be eating it this year. My mother is a pie master.)

6. If you could travel to any place (money no limit) where would you go?

I want to learn how to surf, but you see the problem is that my biggest fear is sharks. I know, I know it’s completely irrational as only about 2 people a year get eaten by them all around the world. What are the chances? I know, you don’t have to tell me. The root of the problem comes from my childhood. I watched Jaws when I was young. I was terrified. Ever since, I have been really scared of swimming in the ocean. So where I really want to go is somewhere that has awesome surfing waves, but absolutely zero sharks. None. Not even one. Then maybe I’ll be courageous enough to get in the water.

7. Your favorite Taiwanese food

Tsong Yo Bing

8. How many books do you read a year?

One if I’m feeling ambitious. For the record, I do know how to read, I’m just not that into it. I like to look at photographs instead.

Any other weird and fun facts about you, your family and your colleagues!

• My Chinese name means “A strong and handsome man”.


• I proposed to the love of my life down on one knee in 2 feet of water.


• One of my front teeth is half fake due to a bright idea I had once that my brother and I should have a sword fight with wooden baseball bats.

The Green Tunnel

Last weekend we went for a leisurely Sabbath drive to the small tourist town of Rueli. Using our vast knowledge of Taiwan's topography and road systems, it was estimated that the drive would take approximately 3 hours. So off we went. A couple "detours", minor road construction, three treacherous mountain roads and 4 ½ hours later we arrived.

We went over two huge mountains on roads like this.

---

Don't drive off the edge!

Guard rails are optional on these mountain roads, paying close attention while you are driving is not.

---

After such a long drive we were all starving, so we located the closest restaurant and went in. Moriah, our friend and 4-6th grade teacher extraordinaire, requested a menu in Chinese. It was, shockingly, all in Chinese. I used my crazy skills to identify two items that contained chicken. We pointed at them to order. Shortly thereafter our food arrived. It had what you might expect from any touristy restaurant: a very high price to flavor ratio. Oh well, at least we were full. Time to check out the bamboo forest!

This place was really amazing. We walked into a small valley with tea farms surrounding us on the hillsides. The tea bushes are grown in rows that are reminiscent of the lines on a topographical map. The farms always look very well landscaped. This is because they constantly trim the new growth because it makes the best tea.








We then arrived at the beginning of the stairs. I don't know how many there were, but let's just say we got our exercise for the day.



As we climbed up, we entered the bamboo forest. It is incredible. You feel like you are entering into a set from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In fact we were inspired to do a recreation:



This place is incredibly beautiful. The forest is very quiet which adds to the surreal, dreamlike ambiance.



This trail is known as the Green Tunnel.





I really wish we had more time to explore the area, but due to the fact that our car has really dim headlights and the roads are crazy, I wanted to do as much driving before dark as possible. Thankfully, we made it back in one piece.