Wednesday Shirts

That's right. T-shirts for $100 NT, or roughly $3.15 USD.

Every Wednesday at school is Casual Day, which obviously means we don't have to wear our uniforms. As a result, Wednesday has become an excellent way to show some originality in a school that prides itself in it's ability to produce cookie-cutter teachers.

One night, my Bri-ish buddy, Rory, and I found an awesome clothing store in a night market near our apartment. Spotting a rack of shirts that said "100元," we went to check it out.

See, the thing is, both Rory and I are tall and have fairly broad shoulders, which makes shopping in Taiwan nearly impossible, especially in the night market scene. Most of the clothes are designed to fit, well, Asians.

With low expectations, we started flipping through the rack and found some pretty hilarious shirts. The most amazing part is that the shirts looked like they could actually fit (which we later decided was the reason they were so cheap...too big for everybody)! Splurging the $100, I decided to buy some. To be honest, I still haven't decided whether I actually like these shirts, or if it's just funny.

What do you think?

Pretty normal, actually...

"Leave me alone. I am not a lonely guy."

Nothin' like a stick man singing a love song through a megaphone...

Last, but certainly not least, Spiderman!

(Did you also notice that I've developed a thing for hearts?)

A Heart and Two Leaves: Part 1

Living in/around a city like Taipei, it's nice to get out every now and then. Although Taipei is a very large, busy, and densely populated city, the fact that it is surrounded by mountains on almost all sides makes it pretty easy to find a peaceful getaway. After all, nothing soothes the weekday blues like a cup of fresh tea on a quiet mountainside.

Assuming the role of tourists in the country where we are Alien Residents, I headed to Muzha with Mike, along with his visiting aunt and uncle, Terri and Brian. After taking the MRT to its limits at the Taipei Zoo station, we made our way to a line of cabs. Sure enough, one cab driver correctly recognized that we speak English, and won our affection and patronage by speaking a little English and knowing exactly where we wanted to go.

The cab itself had lost the "new car smell" many, many years ago. The tachometer needle, jerking uncontrollably, made itself at home in the red zone, even when idling. Nevertheless, it dragged it's four passengers, with an average height of about 6'2", up the mountain. The driver entertained us with questions about our origins, and stories about his dreams of marrying a woman from the Philippines.

"I don't think it will ever come true," the smiling old man sadly stated. Sympathetically smiling back, I asked him why he thinks it won't happen. He gently patted his pocket and said, "No money, no honey." Indeed.

During the climb, we all peeked out from between our knees at the beautiful scenery. Going up the switchbacks, we looked over the steep cliffs and saw Taipei 101 piercing the sky from behind the tall peaks. Finally, the struggling cab rolled to a stop in front of Taipei Tea Promotion Center.

Inside the building, we were given somewhat of a private tour. Due to the temporary suspension of the Maokong Gondola, the Promotion Center is also not running on all cylinders and is more or less closed. However, our tour guide insisted that since we are from very far away, we should be able to see how the tea is harvested and made, so we entered a live episode of "How It's Made: Tea."

With that, we learned how the tea trees are grown, how the leaves are harvested, and also about the 3-day heating/drying/fermenting process between the time it is harvested and the time it's ready for consumption.

1. plucking TGY tea leaves
2. sun-dried withering
3. cooling
4. tossing
5. air-conditional withering
6. stop oxidation
7. curling
8. drying
   

We even learned all the benefits tea has over coffee (fascinating, but I was not converted). Now that we were tea-harvesting experts, it was time to get out and try some of the finished product.

What's in a name?

"Names are a great mystery. I've never known whether the name is molded by the child or the child changed to fit the name. But you can be sure of this -- whenever a human has a nickname it is a proof that the name given him was wrong."

~John Steinbeck

Here is a list of great names I heard on Saturday:

Destroy and Icey: 2 dudes that work at the movie theater where I saw the new Terminator movie.
Liz: the guy that sold Mike a new pair of flip-flops. His name is very fitting.
Cola: an attractive girl that works at a jewelry counter in Ximending. C-O-L-A, Cola.
Skeet: a random guy we met at a grocery store that speaks great English. Wondering if he's aware of his name's implications.
Not Band: a rock and roll cover band consisting of a bunch of 17-year-olds that we met on the train.

Here we are rocking out with Not Band on the train:


Speaking of names, how about these names for students: Legal, Genius, Zero, Lion, Eagle, Apple, Christ... (it's a goal of mine to be asked to help assign English names to our new classes).

Finally, taking the award for awkward naming, here is a picture of me and Mike shopping for new hoods:

I <3 Taiwan

After a lovely afternoon of hot springs in Xinbeitou and a delicious "Garlic Fry Pork" dinner in Taipei, I boarded the train home to Shijr. We were packed like sardines into the train car, and the young Taiwanese gentleman in front of me happened to be wearing the classic "I ♥ NY" T-shirt.

Mike and I decided that I should tell him I am from New York. The conversation went something like this:

[Train moves abruptly and the boy falls into me. I catch him.]

J(ohnny): It's a good thing you love New York or I wouldn't have caught you!
B(oy): [smiles]
J: [pointing to the boy's shirt] I like your shirt. I'm from New York. [pulls out driver's license and points to "New York."]
B: [smiles] New York is very good. [thumbs up]
J: Taiwan is very good too [thumbs up]. I wish I had an "I love Taiwan" shirt.
B:[smiles]

[I happened to not only be wearing a plain white tee, but I also had a neat little pen with, not one, but four colors! Mike created a masterpiece on my chest...]



In order to show my respect and appreciation, I diplomatically returned the cross-ocean compliment. Together, as ambassadors for our respective countries, we shook hands, posed for pictures, chatted for a little while, and pretty much exhausted his English vocabulary. He likes baseball, particularly the New York Yankees, but even more particularly Chen Ming Wan. He also liked my chest muscles (which I was thrusting forward for the picture).

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