ode to lovely

goodbye junebug

Good news. Our stuff finally arrived. All thirteen boxes. Full of clothes, shoes, paper, fabrics, and enough toiletries to put CVS to shame. So we unpacked everything and now it finally feels like this is our place. Full of picture frames, books, and little touches of our old place in Maryland.

Our weekend was great. We went out to a swanky lounge on saturday night where the drink prices made me feel like I was back in DC. We ordered a $20 plate called Spicy Shrimp and Scallops. But it really should have been called "two shrimp, one scallop, oh and ps its not spicy either." You live and you learn.

On Sunday we went hiking up Elephant Mountain. There are four mountains nearby, where people like to "hike" on the weekends. I say "hike" because hiking here in Taipei is not like hiking in the States. There are stairs that lead you up the mountain, and several "trails" you can take. This is what it looks like.

And this is what we look like, only 10 minutes into our hike. Yes, quite sweaty and gross. But you try hiking in 100% humidity. Not easy, my friends.

I feel like I have so much more to talk about. New friends. Good food finds. Ballet classes. Crazy dancing videos on the Imac with Matt. And emails with Maggs that help me forget that I am hundreds of miles away. Thanks BFF.

Oh and how incredibly giddy I am that Spain kicked some ass last night. Times like these, I wish I still lived in Sevilla. I'm sure my sister is wishing she would have stayed in Spain just one more week to experience the mad partying that is still going on as we speak.

Off to bed. First day of classes tomorrow. I seriously feel like its my first day of kindergarten. New friends. New teacher. New language. New colorful pens. New notebook. Now if only my parents were around to walk me to the bus stop that would be super! Goodnight.

bleeding the red and yellow

I need:

To somehow find a way to watch the Euro 2008 Final match online. I am a huge Spain fan, for obvious reasons, and I will never let myself live this down if I don't watch them play in a few hours. Unfortunately, the game starts at 2:45am (Taipei time) and I have my mandarin class orientation tomorrow at 8am. It is going to be a sleepless night, my friends.

Pics and a big update coming soon. I promise.

Go Spain!

i want bangs

Really blunt and funky bangs.

All the way across my forehead.

But it aint happening.

Why?

Well because I have wavy hair. And wavy hair and humidity don't mix well.

So no bangs for this wavy haired girl. Sad.

Just yesterday when I checked the weather page, it said, 100 degrees but feels like 117. And man was it HOT. And the worse is yet to come. July and August promise to constantly keep me indoors or at the nearest water parks. So if you were planning on visiting me, I suggest you wait a few months. Or just stock up on Frizease.

Oh the best part...we are entering typhoon season. Sweeeeet.

At least matt doesn't have to go to work if a typhoon hits. There is always a bright side!

oy vey, she said

I just spent the last two days writing a cover letter. I am so out of practice on this whole job searching stuff. It took me waaaayyy longer than I had expected, but now I have a pretty awesome letter to match a semi-awesome resume. So double fist pump for that.

So today was registration day over at Mandarin Training Center where I will be taking language classes starting July 1. I am so ready for the learning to begin because

1. I will finally learn how to say, "rad" and "sweet" and "dude," plus all the bad words that frequent my daily vocabulary.
2. I want to make friends and have people to eat lunch with. Is that sad?

I have to say though, I've been pretty freakin stoked to find that there is another George Mason alum living here in Taipei. Small world right? Apparently we had a bunch of friends in common, but never crossed paths in the four years in college. So thanks to facebook, gmail, and my new cell phone here in Taiwan we have been able to meet up twice for eats and drinks. Very cool and laid back girl. Plus, she has a blog which makes her even cooler in my book.

Lastly, I was able to make a little bit of art today. Simple. Made with anything I could find. And the help of the passport photo dude who printed out two extra ones just so I could scrap. I had to use my tweezers to rub the letters on to the paper. It was tricky, but it worked.

Off to grab some dinner before everything shuts down. Peace yo!

damn the shipping company

We still don't have our stuff. Yes, the stuff that we shipped back on April 7th. The shipping company gave us a rough estimate of 6-8 weeks. And we are currently on week 10 of the waiting game. They claim it should be here soon. But seriously, how much longer do I have to wait for my pretty Bernina and colorful scrap supplies? Oh yeah, not to mention my clothes, my toiletries, and my precious Wii guitar. I miss making things. I miss paint. And my tombo. And paper. And deco scissors. And my pretty new sewing machine that hasn't even come out of its original packaging. Sigh.

On the flip side...living with 1/4 of what you're used to really makes you re-analyze your life. I've been wearing the same 7-8 outfits for 10 weeks now. I have one pairs of heels, one pair of flip flops, my chucks, and my pumas. Two pairs of jeans. Seven shirts. And a newly purchased skirt. That's it. And I'm ok. It really makes me re-think a lot of my buying habits.

Anyways, I leave you with a rainy day photo. The lighting was horrible and matt's crappy point-and-shoot wasn't helping the situation either. But it's a jumping shot and as we all know they are my favorite.

I still can't believe this is where I live. Until next time.

enter chinese character here

This is my new keyboard and I adore it. I got it for $10 at a store called Best, which kinda resembled a Circuit City. I'm hoping that staring at all those characters will help kick start the memorization process. Because I really, really, really want to learn this language. I'm so over being that american girl who only knows how to say "hello" and "thank you." But on the bright side...at least I'm a polite american girl.

I'm supposed to be looking for jobs right now. But I have no motivation whatsoever. I'm in the mood to explore. I want to hop on the MRT and just get off at a random station and see where the day takes me. Plus I figure that looking for jobs on Friday the 13th isn't very lucky anyways, right? 

Have a great weekend my friends! Eat, drink, and be merry!

luckily, dance is a universal language

I went to a dance class last night. Hip hop, to be exact. I was nervous that the lack of mandarin was going to be a big factor. But I was able to keep up. I was very impressed with the class, but more importantly, with the teacher. She was absolutely AMAZING. Apparently, she is a well known badass hip hop dancer. She's danced for P-Diddy, (or Diddy, or whatever he is called these days), and choreographs a lot of good stuff around here. So, you better believe I will be back next week, busting a move with Diddy's backup dancer.

And because I don't like to post without a picture. A little view of my neighborhood here. Have a great day!

even breakfast is eaten with chopsticks

Ni hau from taipei, taiwan! I have been here for 4 days and there have definitely been moments when I will look out my window and think to myself, "holy shit, I live in taiwan!!" I am reminded of this every time I walk out my front door and can't read a street sign. Or when I have no clue what to order on a menu. Or the fact that I if I walk two blocks south from our apartment I have a direct shot at Taipei 101. That my friends, is insanely cool.

So far, I have eaten the most delicious dumplings ever, purchased a keyboard with mandarin characters on it, and been touring the neighborhood with matt. I even saw Donny Osmond at the Eslite Bookstore the other day. I found out that he rarely buys new technology as it comes out, he enjoys going to the movies, and that he heard the new Indiana Jones movie isn't all that great. I begged matt to take a picture with his camera phone. But he said unless it was a hot female celebrity that he would do no such thing. Bummer.

Today, I'm headed out (for the first time) by myself. I plan to ride the metro, check out a local park where I can hopefully take my morning runs, and buy some shorts. I'm usually not a fan of shorts (I think the last time I wore some was freshman year of college), but the weather here calls for them. I might have to invest in some tank tops too. It is very, very, very humid here.

Wish me luck. I might need some. Especially around lunch time. I'm probably going to point at some random item on a random menu and hope for the best. Ahh, life is good.

right on time

I am finally posting something creative after a long two month hiatus. My sister's quilt is finally done. I am quite proud of the end result.

I used free-motion quilting and it was fucking difficult and incredibly time consuming. But it was so worth it to watch it pucker all pretty like so:

Short post tonight. Still have some packing to do. Might have to pull an all-nighter. We'll see.

Next time I post I will be in a new and exciting place. Until then my friends.

a good week

The last few days have been amazing.

Dinners with friends.

Dinners with family.

Good long phone calls.

Gchat conversations.

Emails that make me so happy.

Final farewell happy hours that go all night.

Constant laughs with my friends like so:

One wedding, with traditional vietnamese food, but not-so-traditional guests:

And lots of lots of packing in between.

I have less than 48 hours left.

Therefore I need to stop blogging and get back to work.

Back soon with something that I am quite proud of. Stay tuned.