If you don't know what this is, we're not going to tell you. 

Being a Foreigner

 

YYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

The seven-year-old in me is SO excited right now!!! Kangaroos have always been on my top 10 list of like, BEST ANIMALS EVER. Man, I used to be so jealous of Australia--they have the best animals (WOMBATS!!!!!) 

We would like to take this moment to remind you all of the strict NO STRIDING rule..... 

I want to dangle some tissue paper on a string....

Man, the tigers were pretty hot. But as I remember, people were standing around making noises at them....that's just wierd. 

DAMIAN!!!!

For some reason, both of the pictures we took of this little guy have the glary shine in his eyes. I mean, he was creepy enough just normally. Check out those horns! 

Orangutans in the Rain...

At the other end of this big loggy thing, there is an even larger orangutan. They do not like getting wet--in fact, when animal handlers have to bathe them, they bite and scratch. Normally, I would not find them quite so interesting, but one of the readings I taught (twice, because I have two classes that use the same book) was called "How to Babysit an Orangutan". It was about some orangutan orphanage in Borneo. Apparently they get poached a lot because they are so....cute. 

Taipei Zoo

Some kind of monkey. Sorry--we went there like, a month ago and it's hard to remember all the animals' names. What I DO remember is that it was raining pretty hard, and that there is this strange (and by 'strange', I mean 'strange and creepy') mall near it, where I ate (or rather, DIDN'T eat) some of the most SUSPECT food I have ever encountered....I mean, at least the street vendors will TELL you that you are eating gizzards...(well, they don't have to--their refrigerated glass case "displays" do it all....) I like the zoo--despite all the moral misgivings I have about it. Especially the owls. Owls are awesome. 

Shut Down by THE MAN

So, it's my favourite Belgian's birthday. Joeri--he is about my sister's age (if you don't know my sister's age, she probably doesn't want you to)--and his co-workers go to celebrate at the Taiwan Beer brewery. A little note on Taiwan Beer...it's cheap. Now, at the brewery, it is EXTRA cheap. SO CHEAP, in fact, that the fact that I had to be at work (and sober) at 8 o'clock the next morning seemed to grow more and more hazy, and was forgotten (almost) completely by the time Wil showed up (around 10:15). Joeri, I might add, also had to be at work at the same time. Working on Saturdays is not so bad, but working on Saturday MORNINGS just seems perverse--I don't even like the idea of someone ELSE doing it, much less ME. Large bottles of Taiwan beer cost only 70 NT, which works out to about 2 dollars. Daniel (an American from like....ehhh....er...I don't know--I think he was born in Lousiana and raised inTexas, or vice-versa....anyway, he talks funny) can always be counted on to want to have a sing along. I don't like singing, but he knows a lot of Billy Joel, so I can't resist sometimes.....He and Wil ALWAYS wind up doing....uuhhhh....what's that Beastie Boys song...? Ok, Wil's gonna come home and tell me and I will be kicking myself. So we are singing random songs and while we are in the middle of Yellow Submarine, a police officer has stationed himself directly behind me and is telling us that we can't sing, the neighbours are complaining, and then he kept asking if we understood (because he was speaking in Chinese) so we were like "yes, yes, we won't sing". All for the best, really, because it was 12:15 and I was nowhere near my bed....In a somewhat bitter comment on some of the headaches (literally) that are part of living in Taiwan, Todd (CDN teacher from another branch of the same school) said "But if any of you would like to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning and set off fireworks for no apparent reason, by all means do so...."

The next night after 11, Wil and I went out to a place called New York Bagels (breakfast at night......) and were joined by two friends of ours, Ellen and Helen. We all drank four cups of coffee, and Wil is still suffering the consequences...our prior-planned bike trip was cancelled. We were all four of us suffering from gutrot (and exhaustion--we had stayed there until 6:30 in the morning....)

Oh yes, we bought bikes. They are mountain bikes, made by Giant. And with that, we have exhausted my knowledge of bikes...Oh, they have pedals. Wil was amused as he pointed out that this is the rare occasion where he translates for me. The salesman spoke NO English, but he was awesome, he just spoke to us as he would normally. Then he would hold out some big metal thing, and Wil would be like, "oh, yes, we need that...." Wil rides to work, because he has a place to put his, but I haven't really worked out a spot to keep mine (safely) and I don't want to risk leaving it in the sketchy alley by my work. There are some nice biking trails around Taipei, though, and we will be exploring them when the weather clears up a little. There is a street that we can ride up that will lead us to the famed tea plantations--I have always wanted to go there, and we tried to about a month ago, and wound up walking to some small village/industrial area that contained NOTHING even VAGUELY tea-like...we were both exhausted and grouchy and hungry and tired....when we found a 7-11 we pretty much RAIDED it and sat in a parking lot gorging ourselves. Apart from that, I just had a piece of chocolate and I am listening to Elvis Costello, so....apart from the fact that I am here and my dog is not, life is ok.