Monthly Archives: January 2009

Yilan

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On Friday, Jud and I woke up at 7:00am to take a bus to Ilan, my mom’s home in the country. My mom has nine brothers and sisters, and six of them live in Ilan. We went and visited as many of them as we could in one day.

In the morning, we went and cooked eggs and corn in a natural hot springs in the mountains.


Then we went and took pictures in a field of wildflowers, which wreaked havoc on my allergies.


I think the best part was towards the end of the night when my aunt whipped out all her old photo albums, and I saw pictures of me as a baby and of my mom when she was my age. Although I only see my aunts and uncles and cousins once every 5-6 years, there’s still comfort in knowing that the same blood runs through all of us. It’s a bit surreal when I look at the faces around me, and I see my parents.

Dinosaur Pub

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On New Year’s Day, we went to dinner with Jim and his parents at a place called the Indian Beerhouse (196 BaDe Road), but it’s really a dinosaur-bones-themed pub. The outside of the building is crawling with dinosaur skeletons with a giant T-rex on the roof, so you can’t really miss it when you’re driving down BaDe. The inside is filled with giant structures of dinosaur skeletons, most recognizably T-rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops. (I seriously know my dinos.) It’s an all-you-can-eat-and-drink place so you just order whatever that’s on the menu, and it keeps on coming. The food was delicious, and it had odd dishes like frog legs, fried crickets, rabbit, and crocodile, but I wasn’t brave enough to try any of it. The beer was pretty good, and yes, it’s all you can drink too.

There was even a live band that started around 7:30pm, and we could request songs. We tried asking for songs like the classics, Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, etc., thinking she wouldn’t know any recent English songs. She then told us that our songs were too old and sang Don’cha by the Pussycat Dolls instead.



I just don’t how they got the Indians and Dinosaur connection. Maybe someone got history a bit confused?

2009 Goals

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Considering that in this new year, a lot of changes will be happening. To go along with that, I have some bigger goals in mind than just to get into shape.

1) Make as much money as I possibly can while I’m here in Taiwan.
2) Save a good portion of that money.
3) Start the job hunt for when I go back to the States in August.
4) Keep up with my long-distance friendships and relationships.
5) Make some girl friends here in Taiwan.
6) Actually make an effort to learn better Chinese, especially reading and writing.
7) Travel more. See more of the island or go out of the country.

Happy New Year!

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Our new year was pretty amazing. We saw the fireworks of Taipei 101 from our rooftop, and the fireworks from the Living Mall, which is also right next door.

Then we went and checked out the nightlife, and there was traffic everywhere! We took a couple of very pointless taxi rides where we just ended up getting out a block later and just walking the rest of the way. This picture is of Civil Boulevard in front of our apartment because we have a really good view of Taipei 101. Traffic was at a standstill about 10 minutes before midnight, and people just got out of their cars and were standing in the streets, waiting for the fireworks to start. And then when it was all over, there was a major exodus of people leaving. It was pretty ridiculous how many people just kept coming around the corner.

P.S. My new year’s resolution is to get back into shape since I’ve forsaken the gym the past month due to work and visits. I will utilize my gym membership until I leave Taiwan.

Happy New Year from Taipei!

Love, Jen & Tina