BBQ

Some of you who know me are familiar with my love of barbecue. Grilling is really more accurate, because I'm not slow cooking with rich sauces. Regardless of which term you prefer, I pride myself on my Argentine grilling background and being able to turn some big chunks of meat into enjoyable meals and social events with some coals and fire.

A few weekends ago I was invited by my host father to join in the company barbecue just out of the city, in the county. A place called Chengqing lake. The barbecue area was beautiful, down off the road in a wooded area with shade everywhere extending down to the lake.

Sing with the Mayor of Kaohsiung!

Kind of.

As a Fulbrighter in Kaohsiung, the Kaohsiung International Education Resource Center (Bureau of Education) foots half of my paycheck. So, sometimes we get an email from them asking us to participate in certain bureau events, but without really asking us. It's like when Mom used to volunteer me to help out with random high school events or to decorate her offices at the hospital. That is, its really hard to turn down one of these invitations. This turned out to be a great opportunity, actually, because our carrot was that we were going to learn a song in Taiwanese and then sing it with the mayor, Chen Ju. She happens to be one of the most prominent members of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, the pro-Taiwanese independence party. As Americans, I think we can all appreciate independence. Anyways, living in Kaohsiung, you get to hear a lot about the DPP and her in particular. Thiswas going to be a really big moment for me.

Rehearsal for Taiwanese song

Hot pot

A pretty common question I get whenever I have a mildly in-depth conversation with Taiwanese acquaintances is, "so, what's your favorite food here?"

Well, let me tell you, it's hot pot.

Spicy hot pot

Hot pot, legend has it, was invented by the Mongol hordes over or around 1,000 years ago. The story goes that, vegetables and whatever food was available was cooked in boiling water or broth, using a helmet as the "pot."

National Day

10/10/10 is a pretty auspicious day.
So, since this year's national day happens to be a trifecta date force, there was a huge party put on by the government.

Taiwan is a bountiful land

The date itself is pretty cool, but 10/10 happens to also be Taiwan's National Day. It's a little convoluted as far as the difference be "national" and "independence." 10/10 in Taiwan commemorates the Wuchang uprising, which eventually lead to the fall of the Qing dynasty, and the creation of the Republic of China, on the mainland, in 1912. When the KMT came to Taiwan in 1949, they brought the same national day with them.

So convenient

One thing that's been making it difficult for me to get in a lot of cooking or learn many new recipes is the convenience of eating out in Taiwan. Eating out is so convenient, that a majority of the Taiwanese that I have met do not cook. Restaurants are ubiquitous in a way that is quite different than the US. It's plain hard to not find a restaurant within sight. Maybe I haven't lived in enough big cities back in the states, and my conception of eating out is too formed by a smaller town dynamic, but, eating out is just, well, ridiculously convenient here.

Ruifeng night market

I survived the typhoon (and the hospital)

Well, it all started on my birthday.

...scalpel...

I had a terrific birthday dim-sum lunch that my co-teachers Winnie and Sunny took me out to and I thought I just ate too much, which I did. After lunch, we all headed over to the bureau of education headquarters to have our bi-weekly fulbright workshop with all the american and taiwanese english teachers. This was ok. Afterwards at about 4pm, I started having severe pain in my abdomen,

A Message from God

Jade Empress Temple

God laughed at me, then gave me a message.