Sunny Days in December

So it's December in Taipei. A sunny, pleasant December at that. The coldest it's been thus far is about 9 degrees Celsius ... and that is cause to panic; usually it's about 15-20 degrees. Some days I'll be walking home from yoga in a t-shirt and others I'll be snug in my "winter" coat (a Columbia shell does the trick). My students can be pretty funny when it comes to the weather. It'll be a mildly cold day and they'll arrive at school fully equipped with a parka, winter hat, gloves and even those hand warmer bags that heat up when you shake them! I guess when you live in a semi-tropical country you're allowed to react this way to 12 degrees Celsius...

In the month of November Kate and I managed to take advantage of our Sundays off by taking some day trips. We visited the Tittot Glass Art Museum and saw some really magnificent pieces. We even got to make our own glass beads! Another day we finally went to Danshui, the "harbor town" of Taipei. It was great to finally see some water (despite living on an island)! We even took a short ferry ride to the small island of Bali (not Bali, Indonesia...) where we bought tasty Asian donuts and street food! This picture is a view of the mainland from Bali Island (it was a cloudy day).

Kate and I also purchased a large toaster oven in November. It was necessary given that our Chinese kitchen is equipped with a sink and a two-burner stove (and believe it or not, this is a luxury kitchen). For about two weeks the two of us were consumed with cookie-baking mania... until we both felt sick from how many cookies we had eaten. Since then, we've steered clear of making cookies, but have started to explore other tasty uses for our oven. In fact, I'm eating a delicious baked-apple right now... a creation inspired by Oma Vandeven's baked apples that I used to love while growing up!

As Kate and I share the apartment "suite" with two other people (an older Chinese woman whom we refer to as "grandma" and a 25-yr-old Chinese girl who is always at work), we try to include them as best as possible by offering them our baked goods. After all, it would be torture to smell the magic and not be able to try some! On the rare occasion that we do in fact see grandma out of her room and offer her some tasty goods, she backs away cautiously while muttering in Chinese and laughing. We are quite certain that grandma is afraid of us. Sometimes, when I am in the kitchen, she will peek out of her bedroom to see if anyone is there. Once she sees me, she'll quickly shut the door and I won't hear her emerge until I have returned to my room. At other times I will enter the kitchen to put on the kettle and she'll quickly gather up everything she's been doing and shuffle back into her room... It's quite funny, but I feel bad sometimes that we cause her such an inconvienence, not knowing the language and all. Other than that, grandma mostly stays in her room with her television blaring Chinese soap operas and at 10pm every night she may or may not have a dance party (as that's when I hear her flick on and off her light-switches like crazy for a few minutes). The other girl, Echo is her name, has slowly warmed up to accepting our food offerings and I believe she now enjoys receiving them!

There are an abundant amount of stray dogs and cats in this city. Through careful observation I have concluded that they are industrious and resilient animals and are quite possibly the smartest creatures (this includes humans) in this city. They carry themselves confidently through the busy streets and seem to have developed an art of crossing dangerous roads. The stray animals organize themselves based on territories and so I can expect to see certain dogs and cats when I visit particular places. Near the yoga studio, for example, I will see a light-brown cat and a scruffy brown lab scouting their domain. Perhaps the only actual disturbing part of the stray animal population when it comes to my life is what happens when the organized "street" system is disrupted in some way and quite literally, an animal "fight club" results. On numerous occasions, I've been woken up in the middle of the night by awful, vicious cat and dog sounds that sometimes go on forever! It's literally a dog eat dog world out there at night.

My friend, Veronica (yes, the friend-date was successful!) has just recently adopted a tiny kitten, whom she named Chay, as he was left by his mother, a stray. They paid Kate and I a visit and here he is, pictured on my bed! I had started to consider fostering a cat after meeting Chay (there is a group here who rescues strays from the streets and allows foreigners to foster the animals as long as they stay in Taiwan). This consideration lasted until I realized that having a cat would probably just keep me in the apartment more, which is what I'm trying to avoid!

I will try to update again soon in order to avoid such a long blog entry next time! Until then, Kate and I are doing our best to try to feel the Christmas spirit over here. Yesterday we celebrated the ever-loved Dutch tradition of "St. Nicholas Day" (December 6) where the Dutch exchange small gifts in wooden shoes. We used our running shoes instead of wooden shoes, and unfortunately there were no chocolate letters involved (all of those who are Dutch will know what this means).

Of course, Christmas mail is always welcome and appreciated! I will include my Taipei address in the email of this blog... as I prefer to keep it off the public domain. Until next time, Zaijian! (goodbye!)