August 20, 2012

August 20th, 2012

Today was the first day of school for the kids... ha ha. I suppose this is the first day where I have to start figuring out what I'm going to do with myself. So far, have dropped the kids off at school, then took Betty to work, and just finished cleaning up the apartment after last nights hot pot dinner with family. Not too strenuous except for all the hair. Not sure if it's just a Chinese thing, but the ladies (and gents I would guess) shed their (long) hair constantly. It's bad enough with Betty and Carolyn, but you get a pack of them together and the floor looked like the end of a busy day at Supercuts. I found some in both the dishwasher (after the washing) and in the freezer this morning. Shouldn't complain though as Betty's family are super. Living in Taipei are Betty's uncle Jack and he came with his wife, daughter Ivy and her two kids. Also living around the corner is Betty's aunt Sophia and she came with her husband David, and Cousin Sharon (Sophia's daughter) with her husband Lucas and son Marrcus. This is the kids playing some Wii before dinner. Uncle Jack used to fly 747's for China Airlines and would come to Seatttle periodically to pick-up the new jets. His daughter Carol was one of the Bridesmaids at our wedding and lives in Seattle. Aunt Sophia and their family lived in Arcadia when Betty and I were dating...Betty came to work for her uncle after college, so we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them. Cousin Sharon was the other Bridesmaid and is a fellow Arcadia High School alumni. There must be something about Arcadia HS that breeds a particular type of person. Sharon, all my buddies from school and I would do anything for you. We all care about each other and our friends and family deeply, would give you the shirt off our back, but have this inner need to flip you shit every step of the way. For all of you with loved ones that came from this environment, do hope that you can see through that part and love us for the flawed Apaches that we are. Anyhoo, great bunch of folks, nearly all speak English well (thank God), and are passionate about food and drink. They all pitched in and put together this amazing spicy hot pot. Wasn't like the type we had at our Chinese New Year shindig each year...this was Szechuan style. Nice and spicy, although they said it could have gone spicier and will be searching that out. Had all the usual stuff, but the two new items for me this time were the duck blood (don't get ripped off by the pig blood substitute) and pig wieners. Not lil' smokies, but actual pig penis. Was looking at the ingredients in the kitchen before hand and asked Betty what type of meat it was as it was sliced into 1" by 1/4" pieces...she said matter of factly..."it's pig penis" and pointed out the (uncircumscised) tip as she put the package up to my face. You know it has got to be in every hot dog you eat, but one is never prepared for having a penis of any kind unexpectedly stuffed in your face. Another good thing about Taiwan is that the locals are big fans of whisky. Am sure I mentioned before that the Costco gives away samples of it from time to time, so when the family comes over, not a big need to stock the liquor cabinet with all sorts of foo-foo drinks, just make sure the whisky is good and plentiful. No problemo at our house...here are the casualties from last night. Briefly, on Saturday, we went to the beach with a co-worker friend of Betty's and his family to their favorite local beach called Baishawan, located abouut an hour away at the northernmost tip of Taiwan. They had a spot they liked that was up the beach from the crowded part that was perfect...not crowded at all, clean sand, water was perfectly warm and deep enough to swim. It is so great to be gettting some insider tips on these things...they like the beach they way we like the beach, which is as secluded as possible. We discussed having some kind of cultural interchange between the Chinese and westerners, or maybe providing a class on how to act cool at the beach. First of all, keeping everyone within the pontoons thing (you can see them in the picture below...that's Betty with her arms raised) is totally lame. By the way, that isn't a nuclear plant on the horizon, but were told it is just on the other side and it is functioning. Another thing they do, which we noticed at Fulong last week and saw again at Baishawan, was that they go in packs to the beach and do everything together while there. When it's time for the water, they all go in together (screaming like they are getting pummelled by 10' shore breakers while the water is just to their knees), then they will sit under the umbrella together packed in tight. Then it is time for games...we saw this version of pin the tail on the donkey where they all get in a big circle, and one will be blindfolded and has to search for a big melon in the sand while the others bark out some kind of instruction. Once they find it, the melon is then beaten into submission with a big stick (brought in especially for the task). These games go on all day long...the guy at Fulong even had a megaphone to help lead the pack. When there is a break in the game action, it is time for the sand fight...this entails grabbing handfulls of dry sand and then run around chucking it at each other. Save me Jebus! They are obviously having fun, but the dork factor is off the charts. There was a terrible tragedy at the beach unfortunately. The flip-flops I've owned since 1983 finally bit the dust...R.I.P. my friends OK, that's all I budgeted for this excercise...have to do something to justify my existence. Maybe go shop for cell phones / hit the store for some cleaning products and dinner, anything but watch TV and take a nap. Oh wait, there's a Saved By The Bell marathon on today.