ode to lovely

shake it like a polaroid picture

Dude. You'll never guess who I met.

Andre 3000 from Outkast. How cool is that? And in freaking Taiwan. What are the odds?

He was wearing a similar hat and the same big grin. He was very nice, much nicer than I thought he would be.  He's here in Taiwan doing business with textile companies for his new clothing line. So yep. I met him. Shook hands and everything. And that my friends was the highlight of my weekend.

note: The funny thing is when I tell my Taiwanese friends that I met Andre 3000 no one knows who is he. So then I I am forced to sing "Hey Ya" and of course only after embarrassing myself do they go, "oh yeah...I know who you're talking about." Gotta love that.  

Chinglish is awesome.

Ok, I'm sure most of you have heard of Spanglish, which is a combo of Spanish and English.  And god knows I'm known to speak Spanglish from time to time. Especially to my parents or to my sister when we are making fun of someone and we don't want them to understand us. Is that mean?

Anyways, there is a lot of Chinglish around here. Especially in the clothing. People try to make direct translations of Chinese into English and dude, the results are hysterical. You wouldn't believe the number of people that walk around with shirts that make no sense. Of course, I find this hilarious. Today, I found a shirt that said "I love modem sway." What the hell does that mean? I spotted this one at 7-11 the other day and I just had to share.

Classic.

in a nutshell

• I live in a foreign land where I don't speak the language.
• I use words like "ni hao" and "xie xie" a million times a day.
• I buy my groceriers from vegetable trucks or street vendors.
• I take my garbage out daily, otherwise bugs would invade our home.
• I teach english to businessmen for extra cash.
• I spend hours upon hours researching companies & looking for work.
• If I miss home, I eat Doritos. Or hamburgers. Or sour patch kids. 
• I always make time to read. And to workout. And to laugh out loud.
• I wear high heels and dresses on a regular basis. 
• I wear wife beaters and AE undies around the house. It is too hot to wear anything else.
• I know the bus system like the back of my hand.
• I can speak, read, and write about 150 Chinese characters.
• I live in a foreign land. But I love it. And after 3 months, I call it home.

good times people

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

First, at the beach in Hualian, Taiwan.

At Taroko Gorge.

 

And last, but not least, my favorite picture of the entire weekend.

I have a two week break from my mandarin classes starting tomorrow. I am looking forward to some extra time to workout, to go to ballet, to hangout with friends, and to do crafty things. But for now, more lazy time on the couch.

brothers dont shake hands, brothers gotta hug

Matt's brother is here. It's nice having a familiar face around. He looks a lot like Matt right? But in a skinnier version. And with a lot less hair. Not everyone is as lucky to have the curly mullet that Matt has.

And because he is here, we are headed to Taroko Gorge for the weekend. We are very excited to get out of Taipei for a few days to breathe in some non-city air. And maybe even visit the beach. I mean, hello, we live on an island dammit. Its about time I see the coast. Be back on Sunday peeps.

whats the word for someone who falls a lot?

For some reason I thought it would be fun to pretend to be Mary Poppins.

It didn't go so well on my second attempt.

I guess you could say I am clumsy. It is something that I am just now learning to admit. And the sad part is that I get clumsier as I get older. I guess all those years of ballet didn't quite work out for me. At least I can always provide a good laugh, and an occasional funny picture, from my lack of grace.

I think the best part is that I'm wearing a shirt that says "proud to be awesome."

Maybe its time to retire that good old shirt.

i hate taiwanese television

I LOVE the Olympics. I wait 4 long years to see the Olympics. I get hyped, and excited, and look forward to the all the crazy emotions I feel when I see an athlete win gold.

But ask me how much of the Olympics I have actually watched. Ask me if I have seen Micheal Phelps swim one of his gold medal races. Ask me whether or not I have seen a gymnast attempt a quadruple back flip while doing a fist pump? Ask me if I have seen someone belly flop on a dive? Ask me  anything about the fucking Olympics and my answer will most likely be, "I hate taiwanese television."

The Olympic coverage here sucks. And that is an understatement. They keep airing handball games people. Did you even know handball was an Olympic sport? I know I didn't. I just thought it was a made-up game that my PE teacher invented in 3rd grade. WTF?

So needless to say, I am pissed. No jumping off my couch when there's a close race. Or crying for the athlete who fell off their bike and caused 5 others to go down with them. No, for me, there are countless hours of the bow and arrow test-your-aim shit, and an occasional volleyball match. And not even beach volleyball.

Ok, the rant is over. 

I leave with you pictures. Mostly at Chang Kai Shek memorial. And mostly for you Megs.

Happy Wednesday friends. Time for my hump day nap.

still need a new banner dammit

Today was good. Spicy noodles for lunch. Watching the Olympics. Meeting a Taiwanese soap opera star. Burgers for dinner. Window shopping by Taipei 101. And getting lost amongst hundreds of books at Eslite Bookstore.

Other things that are good:

• Matt no longer working 14 hour days.
• Cooking meals that remind me of home.
• New summer dresses.
• Wearing high heels on a regular basis.
• Living three blocks from a Louis Vuitton store.
• New quilt ideas floating in my head.
• Learning new chinese phrases like, "where's the bathroom?" and "make it extra spicy!"
• Chats with my dad, that made me feel missed.
• Cards from my mom, that made me tear up.
• Postcards from my sister, that made me laugh so hard it hurt.
• And the best thing ever: A care package from my best friends. Which included all my favorites: Cool ranch doritos, sour patch kids, gummy worms (that melted together to form one giant two-pound worm, so funny), adorable stationary,  cheese dip, and trashy magazines. I seriously felt so loved.

Tomorrow I will sew row #5 of 10, for quilt #3. And watch Michael Phelps be the badass that he is.  That's all. Goodnight.

eight eight oh eight

Hello!

I'm back. I seriously can't believe it's been three weeks since I last posted. Three weeks flew by. I swear there wasn't a day that I didn't think about posting. But life has been busy. And actually living life, rather than writing about it, was just more important these last few weeks. I know I worried some people with my absence. But I swear I'm ok. I'm really enjoying my life here. And no, I'm not homesick to many people's disbelief. Yes, I miss my family. But I don't really miss the States. Not yet at least.

Today is 08-08-08. I think its such a rad date. I'm especially excited that the Olympics started today. I'm such a nerd who has loved the Olympics since I was a little girl. Probably because I dreamed of being just like Summer Sanders or Kim Zmeskal. It's awesome being in the same time zone as the Beijing games. But, it sucks that all the broadcasting is done in mandarin.

Llasttl, I need to announce that I have just started quilt #3. For some reason I keep making them harder and harder. Ok maybe not necessarily harder, but definitely more time consuming. Each square is 3x3 and I plan to make this one about 90x90. Here is preview.

I also have a mini-book in the works. And a few scrap pages to share. More later. I'm out, yo.