Blog Posts
Taiwan (China)
The Dogs of Taiwan
They're everywhere. Some are pampered, pushed in baby strollers. Carried around in designer handbags. Sometimes one will even see these posh pups sitting inside restaurants enjoying a family meal. Others are treated as respected pets, trained to ride motor-scooters, walked on leashes. The second group of dogs are treated ... read more
by Rhonda Mix
14 Sep 2010
Taiwan (China)
Gluttony
There's no other word for it. Gluttony - the second and most delicious sin, for which the punishment, according to Dante, is an eternity lying in dirty black slush and freezing rain. Small price to pay for a bite of chocolate cake, right? Well, hopefully they'll consider the big ... read more
by Colin Machado
04 Nov 2009
Taiwan (China)
TBF Friday
Taiwan Beer is the ubiquitous spirit of Taiwan. Any establishment that serves beer sells Taiwan Beer, a few imports, and nothing else. They are the Microsoft of the Taiwanese beer industry, if Microsoft were to merge with Apple. But despite the lack of competition, it is fairly decent beer (Valerie ... read more
by Colin Machado
02 Nov 2009
Taiwan (China)
Shall We Dance?
Around 6:15, I finally, after two months, decided to call up my dad's cousin Tina's friend Paul. I don't know why I had waited so long - certainly not because I didn't have the time. I think it had something to do with my strong aversion ... read more
by Colin Machado
26 Oct 2009
Taiwan (China)
Last Stop - Hsinchu
My time in Taiwan is quickly coming to an end. I am relaxing these last few days with my grandparents, er gu gu, and her dog in Hsinchu. Below: Er gu gu came to Taipei to pick me up. I had lunch with both of my aunts at a small ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
14 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
A Taste of the Western World
Below: The Taipei Fine Arts Museum is hosting a Pixar exhibition for three months. On display were sketches, storyboards, resin models of main characters, and digital images. As is the case for any behind-the-scenes exhbition, this Pixar exhibition lets visitors appreciate just a part of the enormous amount of work ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
14 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Dansui
Dansui, literally meaning "freshwater," is a thirty minute MRT ride northwest from the Taipei Main Station. The freshwater rivers flow through the region, located on the ocean coast. Dansui is quite different than the city of Taipei. Dingy high-rises stand out in stark contrast with sloping mountains. We have entered ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
12 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Juming Museum
Thirty minutes on the MRT brings you from crowded Taipei city to mountainous Taipei county. An hour-long ride on the bus from Dansui brought us to Chin-San; about another hour on free local buses finally brought us to our destination: Juming Museum. The 11 hectare (about 27 acres) museum consits ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
11 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
"Hello Kitty Sweets"
Little children, young couples, and camera-bearing parents gather under the pink entrance to the Hello Kitty restuarant, named "Hello Kitty Sweets." Seats must be reserved ahead of time and guests may stay for only two hours. The restaurant keeps to its Hello Kitty theme with purple and pink furniture featuring ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
09 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Grace Baptist Church
This past Sunday my aunt brought me to her church, Grace Baptist Church. It was founded in the late 1940s by missionaries from Mainland China. Although its first building was funded in part by the Southern Baptist Convention, it is apparently not a Southern Baptist church. Due to large attendance ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
09 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
A Rainy Weekend
Morakot moved slowly across Taiwan dumping twice the annual rainfall in some areas. While the television news showed disastrous flooding and destruction in the southern parts of Taiwan such as Taitung, scattered showers were all Taipei received. The television ran and re-ran clips of a six-story hotel crashing into the ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
09 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Typhoon
Friday morning I awoke to heavy rain. The typhoon Morakut, Thai for "emerald," is upon us. So we are staying indoors today, eating pizza, reading, watching movies, and updating my blog. Below: Yesterday I went to the Taiwan Baptist Theological Seminary to bring a gift to one of the professors ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
07 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Taipei 101 and Paganini
Once an undesirable area, the Xi-Yi district is now the most metropolitan part of Taipei, containing leading department stores and restaurants. Taipei 101, the world's tallest complete structure, is located in this area. Nearby is the Sun Yat-sen Memorial. Below: Courtyard between department stores. The department stores in Taiwan ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
06 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Kaohsiung Food
Tuesday, August 4. Below: Breakfast in Taiwan. The dishes to the left were my aunt's breakfast; the plate to the right was my breakfast. She had egg pancakes (different than American pancakes; the dough is only flour and water) and a filled bun. I had a flat layered bun ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
06 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Kaohsiung
Monday morning my aunt and I took Taiwan High Speed Rail to Kaohsiung to see my grandparents. Below: Waiting for the train. Below: Inside the High Speed Rail Train. It is quite like an airplane, but without seatbelts. We arrived in Kaohsiung in less than two hours, much faster than ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
06 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Pictures
Below: The National Concert Hall outside of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Er gu gu and I came here to listen to The University of North Texas A Cappella Choir conducted by Jerry McCoy. \ Below: Carl Becker and Sons Violin Shop inside the National Concert Hall. Below: Vending Machines. Below ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
06 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
The Legend of the White Snake
Opera. In my mind the word conjures up mental images of opulent women singing falsetto. Taiwanese opera is quite different. The quite slender actresses and actors dance, sing, act, and even perform acrobatics. For this show the main charactesr dressed in Oriental robes with long, wide sleeves. They spoke in ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
02 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Bread of Life Christian Church in Taipei (Taipei Ling Liang Tong)
Bread of Life Christian Church, known as Taipei Ling Liang Tong in Chinese, is the largest church in Taiwan. It is an independent, charismatic church. Once a month er gu gu joins the praise team there. The praise team consists of about ten vocalists, two keyboard players, a drummer, a ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
02 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
Hello Kitty and Eslite
Today er gu gu and I went to Taipei. After washing our hair at the beauty salon, we went to a store that sold Hello Kitty products. There were Hello Kitty versions of evertying from stationery to dressers to toilet paper. Below: The Hello Kitty bag. Imagine the largest Barnes ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
01 Aug 2009
Taiwan (China)
IC Radio 97.5
Today I spent the day with er gu gu at her workplace, a Christian-founded radio station called "IC": I Care. I Can. I Change. The radio station seeks to educate the people and encourge them to preserve the earth by first instructing them to have good character qualities. IC also ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
31 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Hsinchu
On Wednesday morning my aunt and I took the bus from Taipei to Hsinchu to see my other aunt who I call er gu gu (second aunt). Below: On the bus. My grandparents live in Kaohsiung, but they are staying with her this week so I had lunch with my ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
30 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Night Market
During the day the NingXia market is quiet and empty, but once evening comes the roads are blocked off to make room for rows of stands selling all types of food including fruit, seafood, barbecued meat, ices, smoothies, and tea. Other stands sell Sanrio-themed products and household wares. There are ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
29 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Out and About
*Due to traveling from Taipei to Hsinchu, this post is a few days late The earliest settlers of Taipei came to the region over a hundred years ago. Many of them opened Chinese herbal medicine stores that are still open today. Below: Chinese herbal medicine store Below: Roadside stand selling ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
29 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Taoban Restaurant
Last night my cousins, my uncle, and I went to Taoban Restaurant for dinner. Each person chose what he or she wanted for each of the six-courses. I ordered the following: Salad: Asparagus and something else with sauce. Soup: Pumpkin base with tofu and chicken. Rice: Salmon rice ball. Mulberry ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
28 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Shopping
On Monday my aunt and i had lunch with my uncle and cousin at the department store's food court. It was hard to decide what to order due to the great variety of food. I finally decided, upon my aunt's recommendation, on a dish of curry chicken and ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
27 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
To Market
This morning my aunt and I rode her motorcycle to the dentist's office and the market. Below are parked motorcycles. Below is an apartment across the street from my aunt's apartment. Below are pictures from the market. This was my first motorcycle ride. It was fun weaving between ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
27 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Thoughts
Below are some pictures from the airport. First is the exit sign in Tokyo-Narita. Below that is a picture of some stuffed animal tourists that a child lined up at the window in Louisville. At the bottom is a fountain in Detroit. On the airplane the movies were fairly decent ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
26 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Arrival
This evening I arrived in Taiwan after spending the over twenty-four hours traveling from Louisville to Detriot to Tokyo-Narita to Taipei. But I am here at last in my aunt's home with my two cousins. The airport in Detroit is quite well-designed; we ate an early lunch at Chiji ... read more
by Evelyn Cheng
26 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
Taiwanese Surprises
Creepy Crawlies I was sitting in my room and a wasp flew onto my neck. The windows had been closed all day. Crane flies in my shower, after I had stripped down to butt naked. Crane flies in the urinals. Flies in the urinals. Cockroaches on: my roommate's laundry ... read more
by Austin Y
26 Jul 2009
Taiwan (China)
I think I'm turning Taiwanese
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Turning Taiwanese I’m turning ... read more
by Jason Joiner
02 Mar 2009
Taiwan (China)
Taiwanese children Speaking (among other things)
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Taiwanese children speaking One fine ... read more
by Jason Joiner
02 Mar 2009
Taiwan (China)
Shit In My EYE
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Shit in my eye If ... read more
by Jason Joiner
02 Mar 2009
Taiwan (China)
Installment 1
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan