Hair Party

My male students have repeatedly exhibited a unique behavior pattern. They go to the restroom in groups, much like females in the U.S. I have noticed this before, but generally these groups are small, averaging three participants. Today as I was heading to the restroom I beheld the largest group I've seen to date. Approximately 8 gentlemen were crammed into the bathroom all doing their hair. Many of my students like the spiky/messy look, so they were frizzing and pulling and messing up their hair. I entered and asked, "Hey, what is this a hair styling party?!" I decided to join the festivities and began to attempt to spike my own hair. They noticed that my attempts were failing miserably, and so offered me some of the stuff they were putting in their hair. I took some. This is the result:



Next time you are invited to a hair styling party, I highly recommend that you attend.

Grocery Store Rejects

While wandering around the grocery store yesterday, I came across a few interesting items that I decided NOT to purchase...

This does not sound appetizing.

Now the fried eel is wonderful,
but the roasted, not so much.

If you can figure out what this is,
I'll send you a bag of it. (No not really.)

Who's idea was this?

Fish heads anyone?

I must admit that I have not tried any of these foods, so I probably shouldn't knock them until I try them. I don't think, however, that I'll be trying roasted eel or fish heads any time soon. I'll have to become a lot more open minded before that happens.

TAIS Computer Class Meets Famous Rock Star

Just as I was beginning my Thursday afternoon computer class, one of the students rushed in and shouted, “賴聖恩 (Lai Shen En) is downstairs!!!”

“Who is that?” I asked incredulously.

“He’s the fifth place winner of Taiwan Idol! Can we go meet him??? Pleeeeeeease???”

I hesitated. We were just about to begin class. I was amped up and ready to do some serious teaching. This was an important lesson we were about to cover. “If I let you go, will you promise to be back in four minutes?” I asked.

“Yes! Yes! Ok! We’ll be back!” they shouted as they stampeded out the door. I remained at my desk. One student popped her head back in the door and asked me if I wanted to come along. “Ok, why not?” I replied.

I headed down the stairs only to find my entire class huddled in the stairwell. “Well, where is he?” I asked.

“He’s over there” they pointed around the corner, giggling nervously. They were hiding! “Will you go talk to him Mr. Anderson? Pleeeeease!”

“I thought you guys were really excited to meet this guy! Ohhhh… ok, ok.” I found out his name, walked past them and told him that, “my class wants to meet you”. As I turned to point to them, only two had come out from hiding. “Come on you guys!” I yelled. They sheepishly came out and crowded around him, passing cameras to his friend.

I asked him through a translator if this sort of thing happens frequently. “All the time” he said.

Wow! So we met a famous rock star and learned about cascading style sheet inheritance all in one class period. Not too shabby! It just goes to show that things are always exciting here at TAIS!

Note: Lai Shen En is the guy in the center of the photo wearing a gas mask t-shirt.

Phil and I went to Taipei this weekend and had a great time. While there, we visited Shilin Night Market, which is apparently the best night market in Taipei and Taiwan. (At least that is what our guide book told us) A night market is basically a mixture of clothing, arcade games, food that is fried, barbecued, boiled, frozen, chopped up, left out, etc. and a whole lot of people. It also happens at night, hence the name. It took Phil and I the entire night to actually find where the Shilin night market takes place. While looking for it, Phil found this and I (also) found a used bookstore...

What's In Our Pantry?

Thankfully, our apartment has a kitchen. We've stocked our pantry with all sorts of local delicacies. Here's a sampling of what we've got:
(You can click on the photo for a larger view if you can't read the package)



If these aren't seriously delicious, I'm returning them on the grounds of false advertising.



Sometimes everybody needs a little fiber. These taste very similar to the whole grain pasta sold in the States.



Hey! I recognize that guy!


Just like home.



These are moon cakes... Everyone eats these during the Moon Festival. They're.... uhh... interesting. I was in a grocery store recently and the clerk offered me a moon cake sample. She said, "it's beef" so I take a big bite. "...and pork!" Uhhh, thanks.


The name says it all.


Seaweed crackers with chocolate in the middle. Sounds yuki to me.


What is Job's tear, you may be asking yourself. I'm asking myself this question too.

Oh, by the way, while eating these don't forget to make a "healthy beautifully wish".


Seaweed crackers with cheese filling. Not a pleasant combination. Personally, I think the nana club sounds like a gang of third graders who make fun of their classmates.


These packets turn your plain oatmeal into those flavored oatmeal packs. (You know, apple cinnamon, maple brown sugar...) Pretty tasty. Hey, it's got that Quaker guy on it, you can't go wrong!

***NEWSFLASH***
Heather has just informed me that they have other flavors -> vegetable, mushroom, seaweed and some other assorted flavors we cannot decipher. Vegetable oatmeal? Maybe you can go wrong.
***END NEWSFLASH***


Usually I prefer my apple soda with chemical ingredients, but I figured hey, what the heck? I'll try it!


I've been staring at the asparagus juice every time we go to the grocery store. I had to try it! I'm waiting for a special occasion... I'm just not sure what occasion is actually special enough. Please reply with your suggestions.

Music

Phil and I went to a vegetarian restuarant in Puli last Friday. I had a really good baked curry vegetable rice dish and Phil had a noodle soup dish that he normally gets. There are a lot of Buddhists in the area and because of this, there are a lot of vegetarian restaurants. While we were there, we noticed that they definitely like English music. Here is the list of songs (in order) that they played while we were there.

1. Seal's "Kissed by a Rose"
2. A jazz song
3. Deep Forest
4. A Doors song
5. (I think) Fools Garden "Lemon Garden"
6. Bette Middler "Some say love, it is a river"
7. Engelbert Humperdinck "The Last waltz"

We unfortunately had to leave after that, but just wanted to share.