September 30, 2012

It's Sunday morning and rec'd the usual "the 6AM sun poking its head over the mountain and into my eyes" wake-up call, so have some time to write whilst the rest of the gang sleeps in.  Not sure if I've mentioned it here, but we finally were able to find Paul a baseball team...practices are 2-6PM on Saturday's and yesterday was his second.  The team is called the Song Shan Community something-or-others...at least that what we are told it says on the back of his jersey. 

Knowing how the Chinese like to make fun of...really everyone that's not Chinese...am wondering if this really says something more untoward the white boy (racist comment redacted).  I use the term racism, but it's really more xenophobia and it is easier to realize ones own leanings towards it when you are in another culture.  I listen to the folks here...and it is a series of concentric circles.  "My neighborhood is the best in Taipei" while the others are worse the further away you go.  Continuing on, the mainland Chinese culture is nearly pagan in comparison to Taiwan, progressively getting worse outward towards the round-eyes, Jewish devils, etc.  Kinda highlights how I felt about our neighborhood in Seattle being the best in town, in the best city in the country, while middle America is full on hillbillies, and so on.

Finding this team was not easy...we asked everyone we encountered if they knew of a team and finally found a guy who knew a guy and got hooked up with this bunch.  From what we've learned, there are two independent middle school age teams that play year round in all of Taipei.  A lot of schools have their own team apparently, but they practice infrequently and rarely play as they do not want to take the kids away from study time.  You'd think with the powerhouse Little League teams you see coming to beat up the rest of the world in the Little League World Series every year, that this would be a hotbed of baseball, but once the kids hit 13 here, it's all about the studying.  Luckily, there are a few dozen parents in town (like us) that throw their child's educational future to the wind.  With only two running teams in town, getting games isn't easy...they play in tournaments with other teams from around the country sporadically and there aren't any on the calendar as of yet.

The team is all Chinese...the father/son coaching staff's knowledge of English is baseball only...strike, out, nice pray, etc.  There is another kid on the team that goes to school with Paul and speaks perfect English, so at least the basics can get translated and gives Paul the opportunity to flip shit during practice (which is the main reason I think he likes baseball).  Looks like he fits in OK athletically...think he would like a better team, but at least it's baseball and you take what you get I suppose.

There are some nice players on the team, but it isn't hard core and there are some that could use more practice.  I love this kids pitching motion...total submariner.  Literally releases the ball 6 inches from the ground and gets some good velocity on it.

  They aren't allowed to use real baseballs due to City Ordinance...apparently are afraid of property damage...so have to use these rubber baseball simulations in practices.  The bases are 90' too, which is the first time Paul has played competitively on them, so he has a bit of a learning curve.  No question that my favorite part of practice is before it even starts, and that is preparing the field.  The infield is all dirt and is pretty beaten up when we get there, so the coach hops on his scooter, hooks up an old mattress to the back and does circles until the field is smooth.

Pretty ingenious...I remember dragging around that heavy chain rake around my waist like a donkey hundreds of times, and this does the trick in minutes. 

Not many parents hang out to watch, but yesterday was so perfect weather-wise, that we found a nice sun-dappled bench and relaxed.    Carolyn, as always, found a play friend.

And the field is in this super little neighborhood...leafy streets with interesting shops...so you can stroll around and look at the ukulele store or grab a cappuccino.  We are told it is an "old-money" part of town and sure feels like it.  I like me some "old money"

Well then...following up the last post where I skewered some "types" of people...have received some comments offering to diagnose my personality type.  Please hook in, but I hold no illusions that I am a type of person that rubs many the wrong way and self reflection can only help.  Crass is probably the most apt description for me and I plead guilty as charged.  I wish I could be different and am trying to be cause that isn't a trait that helps make friends quickly.  When I look at the girls in the family,  I am jealous at their ability to be instantly popular  Watching Betty and how she interacts with her co-workers, she seems to know everyone and that they are lifelong friends.  Not sure how she does it,  she's only been here for 8 months, and believe me, I know how truly evil she is.  We were at a Back to School night a while back and are standing by the coffee, and she hears a couple of ladies yapping in espanol.  She immediately walks across the room, interrupts their conversation and within 30 seconds is deep into some discussion of whatever.  I would never, ever do that and it just kills me that she does it so effortlessly.  When I watch my daughter and her interactions with classmates, all of them new to her of course, there is absolutely no guile to her and that comes through to almost everyone she meets and they immediately trust her and want to be her friend.  She seems to have a new best friend every week and if there is someone she doesn't particularly like, she remains friendly with them and can articulate the reasons why she doesn't care for them while seeing their good qualities and focuses on those in dealing with them.    I think that is the hardest part about moving to a completely unknown place for me.  I know that friends will come, but from time to time I miss having that deep pool of friends that already have accepted my idiosyncrasies.  Whenever I am visiting my mom and we are going out to dinner or some function with her friends, she always says to me to behave and "please...none of your little comments."  She is 85 and I'm 47.  When I go to these parent things or classes, it is REALLY hard for me not to make my little jokes and to be the serious parent (and all these parents feel like the serious parent type).  I just cannot fake an earnest interest in stuff and am compelled to make irreverent comments or jokes about everything.  The worst part is that you can actually see people physically pulling away.   Ouch. 

September 26, 2012

At this point in time, am still unemployed...last day on the j-o-b was June 22nd.  Must say that it's been weird not working, but have felt busy for the most part with moving, getting the family acclimated, dodging the heat.  With Betty on the road and the kids settling into a routine at school, thought it was time to get started with some activities for me and visited the local Community Services Center.  It is an English based organization that have classes and groups for the Expat community, and I went there as they offer a Survival Chinese language class that was recommended by a bunch of parents I've met at school.  Other than signing up for that class, also put my name down to attend some other one-day classes...a bunch of cooking classes and also some on learning about Taipei.  I attended a couple so far that were good, but they made me realize how much I can't stand "people".

Of course I like people...but realized that it takes me a while to like someone and probably longer for them to tolerate me back.  Let's put discussion of what "type" of person I am for the end of the discussion.  At these classes I encountered two types that make my skin crawl.  First, went to a cooking class on "how to" make Indian Paneer.  Was quite easy...to make Paneer, you boil milk, then add white vinegar or lime juice...the curds separate from the whey and the curds are basically paneer.  I've recited Little Miss Muffet a thousand times, but until that moment had never understood what curds and whey were.  Curds and whey are quite the super food apparently and are huge in a vegetarian's diet.  Add some half and half to the paneer and you have some cottage cheese, which I've always found to be gross, but is yummier in this form, especially when it's still warm.  Made some for breakfast and served it with mixed berries and jam this morning. Kids weren't over the moon about it, but I liked it OK and think I can do better next time. Later, you can compress the paneer into cubes and add them to kebabs, or put them in a butter curry (which we also learned how to make and will be trying soon)  So the class starts and about 10 minutes have gone by when this (loud) woman comes strolling in.  Some of the other students in class must know her cause they weren't surprised that she was late and started making jokey comments about how she is always late.  This gal seemed to be proud of the fact cause for the next few minutes we had to hear from her how she is always late and why she was this time (she said it was do to a long workout, but from the looks of her, wasn't nearly long enough).  And there was no remorse about disrupting the class but rather, it seemed to be a point of pride that she is always the one showing up late.  Of course she proceeds to ask every question possible about things that those of us that arrived on time had already learned.  "Hey bitch, it is not funny, it is NOT an endearing personality trait, and you are a huge pain in the ass!"  But her friends seemed to make light of it and I could only see it as encouraging her to continue along this annoying path she has chosen in life.  Making an open plea to you to not help enable these people, and if you happen to be one of these people, I beg of you to please get your shit together.

The other "type" was met at the class called "Taiwan Law and You".  Pretty essential to know some of the stuff they shared...I'm lucky in that a lot of what they covered about immigration and taxation has been handled by the folks at Costco, but the seminar was worth it for the section on driving laws alone.  While they have rules of the road that are nearly identical to ours, they are rarely enforced and are usually only cited when there is an incident or accident.  So all those BS maneuvers that the scooters/cars pull are totally illegal, but there is no ramification for pulling them unless there is a crash or injury.  It provided yet another reason to go against my nature and drive as defensively as possible...the last thing I need is to get into an altercation not on my home turf no matter how much in the right I am.  So in this class there was the "know/comment on it all".  The instructor is a US lawyer that has been in country for 40 years, so I'm going to assume that he know his topic, yet the elderly gal from Indiana had to add a comment for every point the guy made.  I'm good when a person has a relevant anecdote to enhance a class, but every time lady?  Here is how bad it got...talk was about wearing helmets on scooters and how it is one of the laws that is rigidly followed...if you aren't wearing one, you will be fined and it must be true as I have yet to see a scooter rider without one.  Someone mentioned bicyclists and how the law doesn't seem to apply to them as you rarely see a bike rider with a helmet.  This topic runs its course and then Indiana pipes up and says, "I know of no law that requires a bicyclist to wear a helmet, but I strongly recommend that you wear one.", and then goes onto describe the brain dead child of a friend of hers that wasn't wearing a helmet.  No shit lady...really?  I have been turned around on this helmet thing and thank you for that great recommendation...what's your position on smoking?  She reminded me of the lady at Carolyn's (4th grade) Back to School night that thought the kids would benefit from doing a book report every week.  It was obvious to me (and every other adult) that the draconian, eye-sight killing Tiger-mom style wasn't in this teacher's playbook.  The teacher was very diplomatic about it...not wanting to destroy a kids love of reading by making them hate it, and all would have been fine with her comment had she not then launched into a long diatribe about it and how she "strongly recommended" it become part of his curriculum.  I have never understood how people can miss-read social cues and go off on these sermons to groups of strangers in the belief that they are going to convert them to their points of view.  Doesn't there seem to be one of these in every crowd?  And there is absolutely no polite way to derail them.  Towards the end of the Taiwan Law class, I raise my hand, look directly at Indiana and say I have a question for (the teacher) Fred.  The question was about the law that says you can't wear "shower clogs" (flip-flops) while driving and I was curious about bare feet (as I drive barefoot almost exclusively).  He said that he did not know that for sure but I should assume no due to the "shower clog" law.  Indiana felt the need to add that "I would assume that too and who would drive without shoes?"

Yikes...have rambled on too long for today so no time to discuss what category of person I fall into.  Maybe some other time. 

September 22, 2012

Hiya...I get comments from time to time and received one this AM from "Anonymous" saying they can't view the pictures on their laptop.  Everything looks good on my end and on different computers, but if you are also unable to see the snaps, drop me a line.  If you prefer to go direct, my email address is Imbro360@gmail.com.  Am also able to see how many views the diary gets and it's at 850 since I moved it to this new site, so feel pretty good about people looking at it and will keep blogging on.  Hate the term "blog" by the way...sounds like slog and bog and connotates a negative to me.  Even grog, which is a beer reference and should feel like a positive, sounds like the the kind of beer an alcoholic leprechaun would enjoy.

The last week has been pretty quiet 'round here.  Betty is on a long trip for a couple weeks, and Paul went off to Middle School camp from last Monday morning till Friday afternoon.  All the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades go camping (each grade to a different destination) for a week of community building.  Paul's class went to Fulong (a popular local beach we went to and wrote about in an earlier post...the one in the shadow of the {inactive} nuclear power plant).  They did tons of activities (hiking/rock climbing/surfing) and played games at night, slept in tents, ate outside, etc.  The teachers were the chaperone's and there were 400 or so 8th graders...the only negative was that he got eaten by mosquito's...more on them another day soon. 

Sounds like Paul had a great time, met some new kids, but right when he got home, had to hunker down and finish off some homework.  He was explaining to me that once you finish a homework assignment, that you turn it in via email.  All the kids are issued computers and work is assigned, performed, and graded completely via their intranet.  So he's telling me that he's been having this ongoing problem with his Math teacher, Mr. Wong, in that there are so many Wong's in the school directory that he's been sending them to an incorrect email address all along and that the teacher was getting on his back for being late.  I told him to explain to the teacher that he's been sending it to the Wong address.

Carolyn and I had a nice quiet week together...one of the great things about her is she is an adventurous eater and feels that eating out is the best.  So on the two nights that we had without tons of after school activities, I asked her where she wanted to eat and she first chose the (yummy) Indian joint up the street.  In our neighborhood, there are two Indian places right next to each other (the Indian Food District as it were) and if you live in these parts, you mostly fall solidly behind one or the other...Saffron or The Spice Shop.  As a true Independent, I find that both have their merits...on this night, we went to Saffron.

Crap...took this with my cell and cannot figure how to get it right side up when loading onto the diary.  Anyhoo...yummy curry and nan and everything.  

The other place she chose was the Australian restaurant downtown.   Australian food is kinda like American in that it doesn't have a deep unique tradition, but they do a great job with meat pies. Have always loved those and this place (called Woolloomooloo) does a good job with them.  In addition, they are the only place in town that we've found that makes fruit pies and we shared a very good piece of banana cream  The hard part was navigating our way to their location deep in the heart of downtown during the rush hour without my usual Co-Pilot.  Very happy to report that we made it without any serious miss-steps finding parking nearby and am now totally, perhaps overly, confident that I can get around this town (and country).  Finding amazing parking spots (most times right in front of the destination) is my super power.  Normally, when you claim superiority over something, karma comes and smacks you in the face.  Like the old saying goes...there are two types of people in the world, those that are humble, and those that are about to be.  However, having super powers makes you immune to this truism and being able to maintain this power here was a concern that was not realized.

We have also been sampling the local street food (full recap another day), but we discovered one that has already become a staple...the Onion Pancake truck.

 

They don't have "pick-up trucks" per se here, and all of the work/food trucks are various sizes of this blue truck.  There are a handful of white ones, but at least 98% of all the work trucks are in this blue color.  No one has been able to explain why they are all this color to this point, but there has to be a reason.  Anyway, most of you have probably eaten (and love) these pancakes before, so you know that they are yummy.  This truck parks on a corner between our place and the kids school in the afternoon, so we pass it nearly every day.  Should go without saying, but I've been studying them closely, and discovered that not only can buy just the pancake, but you can also order them with eggs/sauce. 

They cook the pancakes like normal, but then they add a bit (OK a lot) of oil to that iron skillet.  They then scramble 4 eggs adding them to the skillet cover them with the pancake.  Once the eggs are cooked, you can choose to add the sauces (foreground right).  From what I can tell, they are soy sauce, the red chili sauce, and this powder that they put on everything.  Have no idea what the powder is (suspect it is some kind of MSG), but they load it onto a lot of dishes and have never seen it used before in my US Chinese food experiences.  Anyway...they fold it in half sandwich style, slice it into triangles like a pizza and slap 'em into those Fresh/Delicious bags with the Guido dude face on them and send you on your way.  All for US 3 bucks. 

Carolyn and I couldn't finish them off by ourselves...so greasy and so good.  The lovely couple that operates the truck don't speak English, and I am lost with the Mandarin, but food is a language all in itself and we communicate perfectly during our encounters.  We now smile and wave at each other every day.  I love them for their perfect concoction and I think they look at my belly and know I will be a devoted customer... 





 

September 18, 2012

My notebook is full of thoughts and observations that aren't fully developed, so am gonna clean it out with some quick hits.

- There is nearly zero graffiti here.  I grew up in LA where they tag rocks and put concertina wire on freeway signs to prevent it (often times to no avail) I asked a local that had also lived in LA why he thought that was, and he said that it is a crime here.  Well it's a crime in LA too...I think he was hesitating too say what the real difference is between the two societies that causes this difference.  Concertina Wire is a great band name.  I also love the word Caravanserai for a band name.

- When you go to a restaurant and order chicken fingers...sometimes you actually get the fingers of a chicken. 

- It cooled down here the last couple of days into the mid-80's and the difference in the amount of C.C.'s of sweat the body produces is significant.  Have been able to open the windows to air out the apartment for the first time.   When going out during the day, there is a need to "powder-up" in an attempt to keep the "boys" dry.  I prefer corn starch...but end up coming home with a couple of hush puppies and a corn dog.  OK...mini-corn dog. 

- We walk by a wig store every day...cannot figure out the reason for the long necks on the mannequins.  I think a long neck is just as sexy as the next guy, but these do nothin' for me.

- Have thought a lot about the difference between car vs. scooter dating.  Obviously not a personal concern, but more so from a Darwinian perspective.  On the one hand...parking is way better on a car date.  Remember when the Happy Days gang would go to The Submarine Races.   But I've seen young couples on scooters and they obviously provide a great opportunity to get intimate, and the vibrations of the road have to help grease the wheels.  Since they make so many of them in these parts...have to give the edge to the scooters.  And if you have one of these Italian inspired Vespas (available at Costco), you probably have to beat the Tofu off with a stick

 

- Have yet to wear long pants. 

- Have a couple more good Bad movies to recommend.  The animated baseball flick Everyone's Hero (Whoopi Goldberg is the talking bat of Babe Ruth!), and the Rob Schneider vehicle Big Stan.  I guess any Rob Schneider film would qualify as good/bad, but read the synopsis of this one and you will pray that it is on demand in your area.  Along this line, Bee Movie seems to be playing on an endless loop and I like to think my Jerry Seinfeld impression is now close to perfect.  The kids roll their eyes when I launch into it...try this line in your best Jerry voice;

Barry B. Benson: It's just... What? This is our whole life, and you're taking it without permission! This is stealing! You're taking our homes, our schools, our hospitals... It's all we have! And it's on sale? I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. I'm gonna get to the bottom of all of it!

- Generalizing for a moment, but I think that Chinese women look better in skirts rather than pants.  The best look of all is when they wear dresses.  Rubenesque is not a term I use often these days, and dresses seem to provide them a far more appealing shape.

- Cars driving slow in the far left lane should move over...this is true globally yet there are dopes internationally that are sitting in the fast lane doing less than the speed limit.  If you are guilty of this, please move your ass over.

- I know that in all of the jumping photos, I am never seen in the air.  It's called gravity.

One quick correction...in a previous posting where there was discussion of the term tofu being referred to women, and I was wrongly advised that the term was used to refer to a women's breasts.  I was corrected in that is to admiringly describe a Chinese woman's soft "white" skin.  Pasty and soft is what sells for sexy here.  As Homer Simpson might say, "Mmmmmmm...stinky tofu....aaarrrrrgh.

September 16, 2012

Went "Shrimping" last night...have been recently accused of going on too long with my entries, so to keep it brief, found an article on "Shrimping" that describes the experience perfectly.  Scroll to the bottom of the post (or click on this link) to read this persons account of her "Murderous Shrimping Date" for a detailed description, or disregard if you don't have time. 

Our cousin Sharon, her husband Lucas and son Marcus (DeeDee) took us shrimping Saturday night after dinner and these places are not on any tour guide.  About a 15 minute drive from our apartment is the Shrimping District and there were at least 10 of these places all lined up on this little stretch of road...as it was a Saturday night, you can imagine that they were jammed with people.  Bizarre fun...some snaps.

The sign out front...no Bing Translation available...but I do recognize the charachter for shrimp

The bait...mini-shrimps and chicken liver

These two were obviously on a date (note the "snack" dog in the bag) 

Drinking and chain smoking encouraged

Carolyn's first kill.  Kinda nervous as she quickly developed a taste for blood and caught the most shrimp in our group 

Paul only got one shrimp...felt the shrimp were conspiring against him...but kept his spirits up (with our cousin Marcus, age 4)

This is the lady that ran the show...hard to see, but her hair color matched her purple shirt.  She was pissed that I took her picture.  Also notice the liquor bottles and Buddha statue in the background

Impaling the (still alive) shrimp on wooden skewers...proper style was from ass to mouth.  Reminded me a bit of my colonoscopy

Into the salt marinade...shrimps are still alive and kicking at this point

Just out of the oven and then eaten caveman style with a side of soy sauce and wasabbi.  Quite good...only problem is we weren't very good fishermen and figure each one cost about 4 bucks.  We'll be more efficient next time.

 

Since our shrimping prowess was lacking, we were still a bit peckish after our plate of $4ea shrimp.  Right outside of the "Shrimporium" was a sausage vendor food cart.  We've become big fans of these carts, but as we were with some locals, were exposed for the first time to the gambling that goes along with them.  You can buy a sausage for NT$30 (equal to one USD), but if you put up NT$50 and beat vendor at the dice game, you get two sausages.  You are also free to then go double or nothing if you win.  If you lose, you lose your 50 bucks and get nothing.  Here is how the game works...you each roll 4 dice and if two are the same number, you total the value of the other two die and that's your number.  Then the vendor does the same and whoever has the higher value wins.  Didn't have the look, but had the total feel of a craps table in Vegas on weekend the night of a huge prizefight...ELECTRIC.  Unfortunately,and also much like Vegas, it ended up being a US 7 dollar hot dog.

Murderous Shrimping Date
Taipei, Taiwan
On a trip to Taiwan, my friend Zac took us shrimping. What is shrimping? Exactly what it sounds like” fishing for shrimp, with hooks and bait. These are not your normal little shrimp you find in: the grocery store, these are huge suckers from Thailand, about the size of a hotdog, with claws. If you come back in your next life as a Thai shrimp in Taiwan, it means you screwed up big somewhere in life; and God has a funny sense of humor.
Life in a Taiwanese shrimp farm, begins nice and comfortably, the shrimp are hatched and live their lives fully taken care of with food and warm water.

It’s Huge!

Shrimp grow quickly at temperatures of about 68° F, (yes I am a bio geek at heart), since these guys are big they probably have lived 6 or more months in a nice warm, pool, with no worries. Shrimp can reach full size in just a few months and have a max life span of about 2 years. Some time after they reach full size they are taken out of their warm pools, and dumped into big cement pools of brown yucky water. Here people come and pay money to fish for shrimp, in the middle of a huge city, by the hour!! Whatever you get you can keep.

You get a pole with hooks, and a plate of bait, chicken liver, and dried little shrimps, and a pocket knife, to help bait your hook, and then you sit and wait. They offer beer, drinks, snacks and things There were grandparents, families, friends, and I think even a few dates going on there. How romantic. Picture plastic deck chairs, around a gross shallow swimming pool with brown water; all of this in a tin roofed shack.
Eventually you see the floater of your pole go down, and then you wait for the shrimp to take the bait and get caught. This is a bit harder than you think, if you pull up right way, the shrimp just gets away with a nice yummy liver dinner. You have to wait till he swallows the bait, and hook; then pull him up.
These suckers are big, with claws!! You have to hold the claws back as you yank the hook out of his mouth, and get him into the bag with the rest of the shrimp that you’ve caught.

Dinner

Once you are done catching all the shrimp of want, you then get to wash and clean then and Rrrrriiippp off their claws. Once you’ve washed and cleaned them, they are still alive, just clawless, you take a skewer and impale them from the ass up to the head. Then when you poor shrimp is wringling but can’t really move because he’s impaled on a skewer, you dip him in a pole of salt, and sick him in the over to roast, alive! So the shimp, in the last day, has been taken from his home, dumped into a pool of cool, yucky water, thought he found a wonderful liver meal, swallowed a hook with his meal, had the hook if not part of his mouth, and stomach ripped out, had his claws ripped off, been impaled up the ass to his head, dipped in salt and cooked alive. And finally eaten with soy sauce and wasabi. Yummy.

September 14, 2012

Betty and I sat down for a lunch of steamed soup dumplings (from Costco...good) yesterday and she turned on the local news.  They were discussing the controversial sign below that is posted in Taiwanese rest stop bathrooms.

 

 

They pixilated out some of the saucier bits on the TV.  Some people apparently don't like the graphic nature of the sign, but the workers at the rest stops were laughing about them and said that these are the kind of things that go on.  Not sure why you would pee like a dog in any bathroom, let alone a public one, but so be it.  Confidentially, I am guilty of two of these.

Have seen/heard two words used at least three times recently and am going to try and work them into my vocabulary...they are: agitprop, and meta.  Had to look them up..will try to use them in future postings. 

Our cable package is pretty good...we aren't getting new shows right away, and are about 6 months behind.  There are these bizarre movie channels that show only second tier movies, but are a treasure trove of good bad movies.  If this is a genre you also love, may I suggest A Gentleman's Game and The Oxford Murders.  Actually, I had seen The Oxford Murders at my friend Lisa's house while on vacation a couple of years ago and it held up as so horrifically bad/laugh out loud funny that I consider it a must see. 

The sports on TV is not great, but is getting the job done so far.  Am writing this on a Friday morning while toggling between the Thursday night Bear-Packer and Yankee-Red Sox games.  To make it better, my buddy John is on the Skype and we're talking football and he's telling me he's watching this Carl's Jr. commercial.  That's the directors cut of the commercial by the way.  My oh my...could go for one of those Memphis burgers right now.  On the Australian Sports Network (ASN) they show NFL games live (which means Sunday day games at 1AM and 4AM Monday morning), but the night games are on at a reasonable time the following morning's here.  Then throughout the week, they will rebroadcast at least half of the NFL games with no commercial interruptions and cutting out meaningless plays like touch backs on kickoffs.  Mixed in are a bunch of NCAA games...watched parts of the Oregon State upset of Wisconsin yesterday and will get the USC-Stanford game live on Sunday morning for instance.  They also are showing a lot of Australian Rules football, which has just entered its playoff season.  For my money, there is no better sport.  High scoring, fast paced with minimal stoppages, just violent enough (but not permanently maiming), and the cadence of the announcers is just beautiful.  Have been an Essendon Bomber fan since I was in Australia in '83, but since they are not in the top 8, am barracking for the Fremantle Dockers.  They aren't the best side (gonna be hard to get past Hawthorne...again), but have this recurring dream of retiring to Perth someday and want to get my status of life-long fan established now.  And how great is the baseball season this year.  Reds and Nats being powerhouses out of nowhere, and the best story of all are the Oriole's.  Local product Wei-Yin Chen is huge here...you see his jersey all over and we get a ton of their games.  Coming from parents born and bred in Baltimore and being raised a fan of the Brooks Robinson/Jim Palmer era teams, something about their resurgence is totally pumping me up.  And battling the hated Yankees makes it that much sweeter. 

Couple of follow-ups from previous posts.  Here is a link a friend forwarded about why the Chinese kids are so nearsighted.  

Here is another in our ongoing series of jumping for the camera pictures...thinking about putting a coffee table book together.

 

And here is newly discovered photo from the Go-Kart track...taken just moments before Carolyn and I slammed Paul into the barricades (note the maniacal Fast and Furious Brian O'Connor expression on my face)

 

 

 

Was gonna disclose who I am voting for in November today, but have to go now.  Am invited to lunch at Chili's by some of the other 4th grade moms and cannot pass up an invitation like that...hoping for a Memphis burger. 

September 12, 2012

Hiya...just got back from 3 nights down south at Kenting (aka Ken-Ding, Kending or Ke-Ting).  Would really help if they could get the Pinyin translations to be the same, but there are often 3 or 4 variations on the same words, which really can confuse.  If you've followed along so far, have highlighted some cultural differences that have been described as not better or worse, just different.  I will unequivocally state that there is one cultural difference we experienced this weekend that is way better in Taiwan...and that is how they run their Go-Kart tracks. 

On the road to our hotel, we noticed at least 8 different tracks within a few kilometers of each other.  We soon returned to this expansive Go-Kart District to take a few laps.  The tracks and cars appeared similar to those at fun centers in the US, but had never been to one in the states that required the drivers to wear helmets.  As with the dorky bathing caps, we initially thought it was just another of the local head wear hangups, but knowing the local driving styles and looking at the disheveled chain-smoking Go-Kart wranglers, we should have realized the helmets were more functional than cultural.

We had been brought up to not smash into each other on the track and that even touching cars in some places would result in immediate ejection.  Right from the green light, it was apparent that this was a no holds barred Road Warrior environment.   The battle was on and it was so much fun.  In our first race, Carolyn opted to ride double with Paul, and late in the race at a particularly tight chicane, I was behind them with a crazy driver in between us.  The middle car clipped Paul as he went into the back end of the turn and spun him sideways serving them up for me (barreling full speed) to T-bone them full force.   And we hit pretty hard.  Not sure if Carolyn would have been diagnosed with whiplash, but check out the marks that her seat belt left on her neck and torso.  Pobrecita.

Needless to say, she stayed out of the cars for a while, but Paul and I were loving it.  We were slapping paint race after race, but Paul's cars kept having mechanical issues.  I was behind him at one point and a huge chunk of chain came flying out of the back of his car and barely missed it.  I put him into the barricades a couple times but have to give him credit for not only driving far better by the end of the weekend, but for taking no crap from me or anyone and battling his brains out.  We both have rashes and bruises, and after one particularly violent race, we came into the pits together and the wranglers were laughing so hard at us.  Great time.  Made me recall the great Go-Kart wars at Cannon Beach in 1999 between Team Muller v the Independientes of Leland/Linde/Imbrogulio.  Those were some great races (won by the Independientes in a still disputed result).  I would love to get together again at these tracks and settle things once and for all

As part of the hotel package, they served up buffet dinners.  Not great as you would expect, but they did have a couple of interesting menu options. 

The surface of a baby calf is usually better on a knock off handbag, but wasn't too bad

Let me tell you that collecting enough chicken emissions to feed a hotel's worth of guests is no easy task.

The beach at Kenting was nice and sandy.  The water was super calm, which allowed us to sample their sea kayaks and Hobie cat.  The calm and warm water was also perfect for relaxing soaks in the ocean.  Bathing caps are not required in the ocean, yet I'd say the other bathers were wearing them 50% of the time.  Still do not understand the point of those things and and will endeavor to lead a rebellion against them, but do not see how a popular uprising is possible if the populace is so brainwashed into wearing them even when they are not required.  I got into the swimming pool without one one afternoon and from the looks of disgust from the other bathers, I might has well not even been wearing a bathing suit. 

The Chinese were still goofy as ever at the beach.  A trait we noticed a lot more this trip is that it seems their sole purpose for going to the sand at all is to take pictures of each other and then scamper right back inside.  The pose that they ALL did was where the subjects would jump in the air while the picture was taken.  By the end of day three, we felt the need to take one of our own.

Not so secretly...we found it kinda fun to take a picture in this style.  Here we are at the Go-Kart track

And now it is the only pose we can make...here we are at the rest stop on the way home.

Try it for yourself and tell me it's not awesome.

Something that I've always found odd, and is the norm here as well, is the fact that nearly all of the t-shirts have phrases and words exclusively in English.   This seems to be true across the globe...I've looked for shirts with sayings in French, Spanish and now in Chinese, and they just do not seem to exist.  Betty suggested that this might be something for me to start here as a business and I threw out as a first pressing a t-shirt with Chinese characters that said "Got Tofu".  She said that wouldn't be a good idea as 'Tofu' was a euphemism for a female body part.  We all giggled but we guessed the wrong body part.  Betty later explained that 'Tofu' referred to breasts ("all-white and squishy").  When I think of breasts, euphemisms for them should be plural (i.e. melons in the US...mosquito bites seem apt here) and tofu doesn't really translate well into plural.  Naturally, we thought tofu was another body part based on some of the street food offerings we've sampled.

There were a couple of "coming of age" moments with the kids this weekend.  Paul confided to me (keep it quiet) that he recently learned how to fart without making a sound.  And Carolyn learned that it was not only OK to pee in the ocean, but that it a lot of fun.  Am so proud of both of them and will admit that I teared up a bit learning of their personal discoveries.

Quick follow-up...in the last posting, I wondered why the Chinese kids seemed to wear glasses in higher percentages than US kids, and apparently, there are studies out there than document that it is due to the increased amount off schoolwork they are required to perform at earlier ages.  Time will tell if that's a good thing.

September 7, 2012

As I'm taking our kids to school each day, we see piles of local kids walking down the street going to the junior high school across the street from our apartment and am always struck by how many of them wear glasses.  Can't decide if it is due to more kids wearing contacts in the US, if the Chinese just have poorer eyesight in general, or if they are worked so hard at school at an earlier age that it makes their eyes go bad sooner.  Regardless, every one of them looks like a total nerd but would implicitly trust any of them to figure out how much to tip. 

By the way, you don't tip here.  Not tipping felt awkward at first, but am getting used to it and have not noticed that the service suffers becuase of it.  Better still, the price you see on the sticker is what comes up on the register.  I know that taxes are high here, but they must build it into the price on the tag.  Shopping is so much easier that way...not sure how to get that changed in the States, but it is a Godsend and something we should all work towards for a better tomorrow. 

OK...am going to admit to something embarrassing.  Recently, have become a dedicated fan of the Fast and Furious movie franchise.  Maybe it's due to all the hair raising driving that I've been doing lately, but have been identifying with Paul Walker's character Brian O'Connor.  Like O'Connor, I am only wearing shorts and t-shirts along with skate shoes.  When dicing up traffic, I don't move my head to asess traffic, but rather shoot quick eye glances in the mirrors to gauge the right move, and then laugh maniacally (but briefly) when the maneuver is executted with precision.  But most embarrassingly, have noticed that I am starting to walk like him.  He walks with his shoulders leading the way...kinda like the way a woman swooshes her butt, O'Connor swooshes his shoulders when he walks.  I noticed myself swooshing mine three times yesterday.  I can only go 3 or 4 steps before I lose tempo, but is a work in progress.  I cannot find any YouTube clips or on-line discussion about this phenomenon amazingly enough.  Rarely does something occur in life that doesn't have a hundred YouTube clips or some fetish website devoted to it already, but this is one of them.  Told you it was embarrassing.

I typed and then deleted a whole section on the conventions...a lot of friends are very adamant about their side being totally right and would hate to piss you off.  Suffice it to say that to those of you that are adamant Republicans or Democrats...I in total disageement with your view 50% of the time. 

The whole family is heading down south to Kenting for a long weekend on the beach.  Kids have a couple days off school Monday and Tuesday and we are going to revisit the resort we stayed at on our last road trip where we were stuck inside for the most part due to typhoons.  Hoping not to get any speeding tickets.  Talk soon

September 5, 2012

Wasn't going to post today, but was irked by a bicyclist this morning and had to get it out of my system.  Have been driving the kids to school so far even though it's only an easy 10 minute walk.  Figure that we're up, need to take Betty to work at the same time, and it's still so damn hot that we might as well.  The road to school is really more like an alley with street vendors/bikes/scooters/pedestrians galore, and only one car can traverse it at a time.  So we are nearing the turn onto the schools street and the (obviously western) bicyclist going super slow in front of us gives me the left turn signal (arm stretched straight to the left).  Have always thought the bicyclist signal were dumb for two reasons.  One, if there is a need for a signal at all, you are probably in some kind of traffic where having two hands on the handlebars would be safer.  Two, if the cyclist is in a situation where the signal is critical for their safety, they probably shouldn't be in that situation in the first place.  Plus it looks stupid, but whatever...if it makes you feel safer, then have at it.  Problem was that this dopey woman wasn't wearing a helmet.  Made me embarrassed to be American.

Quickly...there are many Japanese owned department stores here.  We have three nearby and they are quite nice.  Good products, food courts, gourmet supermarkets, etc., but the best part is that they all have old school concierge counters.  Have rated them accordingly...

#3 - SOGO. 

 

The white uniforms do not flatter their skin tones and the hats are a bit over the top.  They did receive points for doing the whole cover the mouth te-he-he laugh thing when I went to take their picture.. 

#2 - Dayeh Takashimaya

 

Kilo for kilo the cutest of the concierge girls.  The blue uniform really pops and they wear the most adorable little hats.  Very 50ish PanAm vibe.  They would have been ranked # 1 until we ran into

#1 - Miramar

 

The pink outfits definitely work but the hats remind one of a taqiyah (Muslim skullcap).  What propelled them into the top spot was how they help with the elevator.  One of them stands by the bank of elevators and helps usher passengers on and off ensuring they go in the correct direction.  As the doors close they give a little bow...here is a version of it from YouTube , but the Miramar girls are even better at it. 

Congrats!

September 4, 2012

Welcome to the new site...I hope.  The old one was such a pain and am hoping this one is easier for me to manipulate (like having spell check for one) and for you to view.  Have tested the comment function with Betty and it seems to work.  At the bottom, add your email to it and comment and it should save.  I think it will also send you an email whenever there is a new post if you do so.  A work in progress but the business is open during construction.

First things first, and that is to admit that I was wrong.  In an earlier post, I accused the locals of being wimps by driving slow as they were unnecessarily afraid of the electronic eye catching them in the act of speeding.  Guess who got not one, but two speeding tickets the first day they got their car?  My apologies for the accusation.  The tix are weird in that they are for separate speeding incidents literally seconds after one another (doing both 120 and 92 in an 80kph zone).  I totally admit to speeding, but dinging me twice from the same camera at the same time?   Think yours truly is gonna have to figure out how to fight the man on this one.  Locals that have seen the ticket were not only perplexed by the double slap, but by how much the 120kph ticket cost as they had never seen one so high.  Shouldn't be proud of that but yet...

The above admission does not change the fact that they are still insane on the roads here, but have decided that I will do the left turn from the middle lane deal.  Since speeding is verboten and this maneuver is commonplace, have got to acclimate.  Direct confrontation in public amongst the culture seems to be nonexistent...if one gets cut off, there is no finger given or horn honked, but if they can screw you anonymously, go for it.  I knew this from years working with Asia, but had filed it away somewhere and the knowledge came flooding back today...you can see it as much in the foreign policy of TW and China as much as you see it in the supermarket and on the street.  Not saying it's a bad thing either...maybe there would be less violence in the US if this was one of the cultural mores.  In the immediate, going to have to work on eliminating the road rage from my repertoire. 

Haven't been able to post for a few days as some things have taken over our attention.  First was finding this new site and then migrating the old stuff to it.  Then this past Saturday, we all got new cellphones so have had to learn how to use them, load stuff, etc.  For me, it was a new iPhone and was up till 2AM on Saturday night going through my iTunes to pick songs to load onto it.  Before we moved, a family project was to load all of our CD's onto the computer and decided that they would be safe with Apple and the Cloud.  It's fine, everything works well, but am now married to the Apple Corporation.  And this isn't a Britney Spears type of marriage where a quickie divorce is possible...this is 10th century Arabia and am gonna lose a body part if I ever have to leave Apple (still love you though honey).  The Apple technology works great with the car and we've been using the iPad to listen to music, but the problem (for me anyway) is that both Betty's and my music are on the community iPad and you cannot select particular play lists when hooked up but rather, it will play everything on the device.  So with every rockin' tune, the mood would be interrupted by a Christmas song, muzak by George Winston, or a Jane Austin audio book.  The new iPhone is (currently) 1600 songs of pure joy.  It also has Siri, which we are just starting to play with and the kids already love.  Pretty cool technology...such a hot voice...she keeps me company during the day when the family is at work/school.

As mentioned previously, we are in the middle of Ghost month, and was advised that this is a bad time to get new cell phones as the Ghosts will then have access to your new number.  We were seriously told that.  Last Friday was the 15th day of the Ghost month and is called the Ghost festival.  The air was chocked with the smell of burning paper and incense.  Every third house or store had stuff burning from it all day, and it looked like a July 4th BBQ in front of some large office buildings.  Incense is stuck into treats for the deceased as offerings...these treats were mostly local fare, but saw things like Oreo cookies with an incense stick in them.  Slather on some peanut butter on those Oreos when my time comes please.  They sell fake paper money and paper maiche luxury items (called joss paper) so they can burn it in these pots on the sidewalk in front of their buildings to appease the ghosts.

 

It can get kind of messy as you can see from this video.  Saw an infomercial the other day for an environmentally friendly pot, complete with all kinds of cool features to protect the fire from rain and easy clean-up for only NT$599.99 (that's US$19.99).  Big doings were held at the local temples as well.  Strolled over to the one around the corner and there were all kinds of food and activities going on.   These fellas were praying/making offerings on a shrine and the outfits were simply fabulous.

 

There were these musicians playing along with the ceremony, and if you know me at all, you know that I am very particular on music at best, but would be best described as a total snob.  This Venn diagram really says it all.  The bulk of local music that they play around here totally blows.  But the band at the temple on Ghost Festival day were jammin' hard.  The wind instrument was getting skronky in a good way.

The total highlight was the full pig that was splayed out at the entrance.  It had apples in its mouth, a fish hanging from its jowls, painted up, fascinating...check it.

 

 

 

 

These pix don't do justice to the size of it...must have been 400 lbs easy.  When tooling through these temples and seeing stuff like this, at first you think how ridiculous they are, but then you immediately think about coloring Easter eggs to commemorate the Resurrection, or putting up a plastic tree with lights in honor of the birth of our Saviour, and they don't seem so goofy after all.  I am even getting down with some of the superstitions...for instance, I no longer will cut my nails at night as that invites a Ghost visit.  However, it is also lucky to allow a hair out of a mole to grow long.  As I get older, I could get luckier and luckier as the hairs are continually popping out new and ever more disgusting places, but will accept 1st and 3rd in my exactas if it means a hairless mole.

Briefly...we went back to a local burger joint the other night as they do a decent job with them, so I have been trying different burger options to find a favorite.  I was curious to try the Mexican Burger in hopes of finding a bit of the spicy, so asked if it had jalapenos.  As with many encounters between us, and our complete lack of knowledge of Mandarin, and a local with very limited understanding of English, comedy ensued.  We couldn't figure out if it had jalapenos before ordering (it did and was spicy), but she definitely wanted to make sure we knew that the meat was beef and not from a Mexican.  I wouldn't discount the possibility that they would eat Mexicans, but would imagine that the import costs would make it prohibitive to all but the finest restaurants.

Made a big batch of sauce with meatballs yesterday...took some cues from various recipes and mixed/matched them with ingredients I can find easily here, and think that it is one of the best pots of sauce I've ever put together.  Made me think of the They Might Be Giants song Where Do They Make Balloons? and the line that goes, "Spaghetti is from China, but Italians make it best."  Damn straight.

 

July 28, 2012

July 28th, 2012

Just got back from our first baseball game here...a 3-1 win for the Bulls over our initial favorite team, the Brother Elephants. The league has 4 teams, Bulls, Brother Elephants, 7-11 Lions and Monkeys. We are still undecided as to what theam we are going to support, but to keep it in the family, have narrowed it down to the Monkeys and Brother Elephants (Bro's). It ain't MLB, but it's a decent facsimile, and we live a 5 minute walk from one of the stadiums. Cute little boutique style with a great view, killer sightlines, neat artwork, and some yummy concessions. Dumplings, kebobs, a couple off things that we have no clue as to their genus or species, and KFC. I had a two piece K-fry and coke for 3 USD. Fans sang songs and beat on their megaphones in unison the entire game. A good time...we'll be back for sure.

July 27, 2012

July 27th, 2012

Two things you just don't see here that are not missed? Utilikilts, and dudes with big holes in their ears/aggressive piercings. Perhaps they haven't caught up to the enlightened PNW style, but have yet to even see one tattoo. Two things that we've see enough of already...deep core public nose picking and giant flying cockroaches. Actually, am starting to understand the nose picking thing. It's not super polluted (I grew up in LA in the 70's), but with all the scooters and life in a dense city must cause a lot of build-up and have found myself mining a bit more than usual. Like most of us, that activity is usually addressed in the anonimity of the car, but with more use of public transportattion and a lot fewer solo car trips by the locals, guess it's a gotta do what you gotta do situation. The cucarachas will take more time to acclimate to unfortunately. You can say that they don't bite and are harmless all you want, but it's still a total freakout when they come out of no where...and they always come out of no where. Cleaning up crumbs and putting food away from being exposed is a hyper-critical activity. Food waste can't go in the trash or even on a little counter compost bin...it must be put into the freezer. Then, you take it directly from the freezer down to the garage and put that into another common area freezer. Where it goes after that, just don't want to know. Not a bad habit to get into I suppose, but am starting to feel like the old guy in the movie Creepshow with the ultra-clean room. It's a Friday morning and am about to go p/u the loaner car (our car is a couple weeks from being ready). Totally pumped about getting behind the wheel but also a bit aprehensive. Have been watching the driving styles of the locals and it is a first to the spot game. Whoever gets their nose in front always has the right of way. Can live with that, but already am feeling like I'll be similar to the Asian drivers in the US forever looking for an address. Finding our way around while driving has it's obvious problems...first and foremost is the street signage. There are English words on many of the signs, but not all. We bought a Garmin GPS as we were told it was English compatible, but found out they discontinued that service recently due to lack of demand. Our new plan is to use Googlemaps in conjunction with a portable hot spot. Have been trying it out while cabbing around town and seems to work OK. The streets on Google are in Chinese, but at least the directionality has been correct so far. Betty just left on a two week business trip and the kids and I are gonna hit the road this weekend for the East Coast in search of cooler temps and play in the surf. Literally and metaphorically, this is where our rubber meets the road.

July 21, 2012

July 21st, 2012

7AM on Saturday morning and the temperature is 86 degrees. Looking at the weather channel, with the 62% humidity, it "feels" like 95. You know how they say that Pheonix is hot, but they downplay it as not being so bad as it's a dry heat. Always thought that was a BS line, but now fully appreciate how oppressive the humidity is when you tack it onto hot. Another thing they show on the weather channel is the UV index. Not sure what the scale is, but it shows today as an 11-Extreme. That should probably bum me out, but is such a perfect Spinal Tap reference . The bright side? Zero chance of snow. Also, have lost 4 lbs (that's 1.8kgs) since Tuesday. Doing the math, will evaporate into a hairy steam cloud by the end of August. And coffee just doesn't go cold. Know that we'll adapt, but coming from Julyuary in Seattle to the land of 24-Hour Suana People is a shock to the system to say the least.. Basically, we make short forays out, but have been hiding inside with the AC blasting during the day for the most part. Initial impressions of the people and the city have been positive. Love the convenience of big city living...everything you need is within a few blocks walk, the transportation system is as good as any I've experienced, and the food options so far have been worldly and delicious. One of my pet peeves is a lack of manners or courtesy in public situations...like the able bodied 20 something dudes that jump the line on the #15 bus from Ballard to downtown so they get a seat while women and children stand...but there seems to be a passion and a societal concentration to respect the space of others in public. That's it for this morning...future entires will include a "how to" on combatting roaches and navigation of the local cable company (two different topics), and a lively open forum discussing the merits of depilation.

August 3, 2012

August 3rd, 2012

It's a Friday night and we relaxed today after 5 days on the road. Betty left last Friday for work, so we decided to hit the highway to see what we could see. Plan was to leave Sunday AM and head for the east coast. We were warned by our cousin Sharon, who lives here...more about her another day, that a Typhoon was developing and headed our way, but with the storm being a couple days out, decided to go for it anyway. The roads here are not what I've grown accoustomed to. The entire spine of the west coast is mountainous...not terribly high in altitude, but super steep, so the highway to the coast is windy and loaded with looonnng tunnels...the longest being about 8 miles.. Fun for some I suppose, but in a country known for frequent earthquakes, kinda creepy for a guy that has a mild phobia of being trapped in colapsed structures. With traffic, took about an hour and a half to hit the northern part of the east coast. Sidenote...Google Maps is pretty incredible. We put our destination into it in English, finds the spot on the map, plots out the directions (usually with a couple of alternative routes), gives distance and time to destination (which yours truly beat everytime), and then follows you as you go so if you veer of course, you'll know it right away. And it's totally free! Some of you are probably going, "duh where have you been' at this point, but have never had a need for directions like this before and am flat out in love with this thing. Sidenote II...Paul was in charge of the maps and was riding shotgun for the trip. Have to hand it to the kid, by the middle of day one, he was filling his role admirably. Looking for turns up ahead, DJing the CD player, getting food and drink ready, and most importantly, scanning the Google maps for the next 7-11. All you got to do is type in 7-11 into the maps and it'll show you where the next one is, and finding the next 7-11 is a critical part of life here. Sidenote III... 7-11 pretty much is the most important store in Taiwan. It is going to be hard to convey how essential and how many of them there are, but I've been in one at least twice daily since getting here. Sure, you can you get a Coke slurpee and a pack of smokes, but you can also pay almost any utlility bill (the cable bill comes with a UPC code, take it to 7-E where they scan and you pay it there), have packages delivered for pick-up, and buy a wide variety of food. I'll take some snaps later, but in addition to the hot dogs on the metal rollers (yes they do have them and no, have still never eaten one), but you can grab a variety of boxed lunches, hot (pork) buns, or this soup, where you can add in tofu, meat and a number of other snacks that I have yet to try (or know what they are). 7-11's are truly everywhere you look, we have three within 3 blocks of our place. And they all have (clean) bathrooms, albeit with squat pots. Which brings us to... Sidenote IV...the squat pot. If you know what they are and have used them before (and are not averse to a potty talk), please contact me offline as I need some help with the mechanics of them. I'd say it's 50/50 squat pot to "western" toilet, and so far, the Imbrogulio boys have managed to avoid using one, but poor Carolyn got indoctrinated in their use with no guidance at a 7-11 somewhere in no-wheresville. The look on her face coming out of the bathroom was classic...horror, disgust and a little bit humor. We all blamed mom for not having provided a proper tutorial. Anyway, we had to then traverse a windy road for another couple hundred kilometers to get to the east coast proper...took a good 3.5 hours. The road was good, one lane in each direction, but brutally twisty. Once you get stuck behind a truck or scooter, getting around them takes a lot of nerve as you can't see farther than the next bend, which came quick. Was a beautiful day, but poor Paul doesn't do well in the car and was feelin' it. I sorta knew it was going to be like that, but was far hairier and longer than I imagined. We hit the coast and decided to stop for the night. We (Google maps) found a hotel a few miles inland called Promised Land Resort and Lagoon. Was the only "hotel" for hours in any direction that wasn't a B&B, and we were interested in a pool at that point, so the decision was made. Checked in, changed into our swimming togs and made a bee-line for the pool. As soon as we hit the water, the lifeguards came running at us. Apparently, going into public swimming pools here without a bathing cap is verbotten. From my experience with the Chinese girls in the family, while their hair is luxurious, they lose it in drain clogging clumps. I've found Betty's hair everywhere...including the freezer...so our best guess was that to save their pools filtration systems, they require all people to wear caps. I looked it up when we got back and the internet indicattes this is the only country on earth with that requirement. Joke is on them, I have hair longer on other parts of my body than I do on my head. More later