out and about...or is it oot and aboot

No, I don't really say oot and aboot.

The one thing I love about Taiwan is how something is always happening, whether I know it or not. Yesterday proves this point. We had nothing to do so we went for coffee to come up with ideas for something interesting. We sat there longer than was necessary (mostly because it took so long to get our coffee and food) and we finally decided to go to the multicultural centre to look at the pictures they had on display. The cultural centre never really shows a lot, but the exhibits are always changing. One of the first things we noticed was this...




It is indeed a statue of Chang Kai Shek, which is totally rare right now because the government is in the process of moving all the statues of him onto some remote mountain.

The second was this..
One of the pictures on exhibit. It was on one of the silk banners that they do a lot of the Chinese art on...it was really freaking cool. This isn't the greatest picture because the panel was behind glass.

As we were leaving, this was going on...(notice the sitar...in a band. Click on the picture for a larger image)




So we wandered over to take a look. Of course being the only foreigners, we stood out and the MC's started talking to us and actually translating what was going on into English (we think they were university students and putting this event on was some sort of final project...we think) anyway, they actually came over and thanked us for coming, so of course, we stayed. I mean, they went out of their way to give us all the programs and everything and they all just kept staring at us and smiling. We stayed 3 hours (of course, drinking beer, we needed something to keep sane in the hot weather of Keelung) and listened to all the different bands. Some songs were in English, some in Mandarin, but it was a great time. Some bands were better than others, but it proved to us that that the Taiwan music scene is really growing and is getting pretty decent. It was a great day...until some weird guy sat beside Jacqui and started rubbing her arm. Then, we left.

sunday meanderings...

It was Jacqui's birthday yesterday and since we were all fairly hungover from the night before (we doing birthday parties right here in Taiwan) we went to Taipei for a movie and some food. We found a new restaurant that specialized in British food and Tom and Jacqui were in heaven with Bangers and mash and chicken pies. I was in heaven with the salmon eggs benedict that I found. Yeah, that's right, they had eggs benedict.

On our walk from the restaurant to Taipei 101, we went down the side street and found the furniture shops in Taipei. It was the most amazing stuff I have seen in this country. It was at least 4 blocks of stores dedicated strictly to furniture of all sorts. There was some of the most beautiful wood furniture I have ever seen and if I was going to live in Taiwan forever, I would have bought it all. But I'm not, so I didn't. I think I have a thing for furniture though. If only it wouldn't be a bloody fortune to ship it back to Canada.

We went to see Wild Hogs. I had never seen any previews for this and I didn't even know who was in it. Imagine how excited I was when I found out John Travolta was in it. Yeah, I was bloody excited. Jacqui made Tom sit beside me though. Apparently she doesn't like it when I laugh at stupid things in the movie no one else laughs at. (yes, Jacqui I know you are going to read this :) ) For a silly movie, it was actually pretty good. I enjoyed it, but then it had John Travolta in it and I love anything that he's in and I always have. Because you know, he's a god.

changes still make it boring

I've changed the look of my blog, did you notice? I've been lacking in posting lately, I know I have....it's because I really don't have much to talk about. I mean really, I posted about how much I love Costco. I'm on glue (but it's better than being on crack right?)

it treats me well, who am I to argue with fate

How much do I love Costco? It's sad really...it's probably my favourite store in Taiwan. I have many theories as to why this is, but still. Why Costco?

1. The food. It's totally like food at home that I know how to cook. It is the only place to get decently cheap and good cheese. Taiwan is not a very big cheese eating culture. If you go to the Welcome in Chidu it's all processed cheese, you can even get chocolate processed cheese. So yeah, Costco is better by far.

2. It reminds me of home. Not that I ever went to Costco at home. I can really only remember being there one time before in Canada. My parents have a Costco card but I guess I was never with them when they went because the time I remember going, I wasn't with them. I do remember them coming home from a big Costco excursion with giant poppyseed muffins (which, you can't get here, by the way) It reminds me of home because it is just like any other supermarket/superstore that you can find at home.

3. You don't run into things in the meat section like pigs feet and frogs that jump at you.

3. I don't really have another theory, I just thought 4 looked better than 3.


Today we went on a field trip with the kids. We went to Costco. Can I tell you how excited I was? I was very excited. Mostly because my fridge was empty and it meant a free trip in the school bus. Score!! I didn't actually buy that much stuff, but I did get the gigantic jar of pickles because it would be so much easier to take them home and now that I don't have house guests, they will last a lot longer. Well, maybe. The kids were especially excited when they saw the six pound bad of pretzels that I did not buy but all the kids had their pictures taken with it. It was almost as big as two of my kids. I mean, Taiwanese kids aren't all that big!

The surprising thing. None of our HRT's have ever been to Costco. The reason why we got in? We used my card. How cool am I?

a night well spent

I'm tired. Why am I tired? Well you see, I stayed up too late last night. I stayed up too late playing video games with Travis on his computer. I stayed up too late last night playing Barbie's Vacation Adventure. seriously.

music....and some lyrics too

I went to Taipei today to watch a movie. I wanted to see Dreamgirls but since no one else in the world apparently wants to see it (by world I mean my world...as in none of my friends is into musicals I guess) we discovered Music & Lyrics is on. Oh man, I have never laughed so hard in my life. I love Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore so I was pretty well going in with the intent to love it however, I have never laughed so hard, and if you know me, then you know how much I laugh at movies and TV. Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing in some parts. If you haven't seen it, go, really. Here is a little taste to show you how great it is...