May Day, 2007

Ahhhh, today I didn't have any work at all, how sweet it was. In fact, I had crossed today off the calendar a couple of weeks ago, believing that it was a national holiday. Uh, no, unless you are a lobourer. I realised on Friday that actually, most people would be working, but no clients called and booked me, so I was free, gloriously free!

The day started well. I slept in until 7 am. Now, I realise, that by most people's standards, 7 am is NOT sleeping in. However, I've been waking up between 5:50~6:30 am for about the last six weeks, so 7 am seemed like a nice lie-in. 

I didn't walk the dogs this morning as both Little Fella's splints have worn holes through them! I didn't realise that the other splint was close to wearing out and on our last long walk it wore through. And continued wearing through to his foot. Which I didn't notice until the next morning when I changed his bandage (he gets fresh bandages in the morning.) Poor Little Fella. When I use his cart the wounded leg (which is the one suspended) gets all hot and swollen, I guess due to the not-yet-healed abrasions. So, no cart until he is healed up and no splints until the new ones arrive. Poor bored Little Fella.

I enjoyed my breakfast while trying to finish yesterday's crossword. I didn't succeed, darn it! Then I started a quilt for Kitty. Kitty is Angela's cat who died of FIV (Cat AIDS) the same day as LW. As I make AIDS quilts with the guys at Lourdes, it seemed reasonable to make a mini quilt for Kitty. I have been talking about it for weeks, today I finally buckled down and got it mostly done. No photos or descriptions as I won't be giving it to Ang until May 12th (her birthday!) and she reads my blog. Hee, hee, you'll just have to wait, Ang!
After a quick lunch I went to Taipei city to run some errands. First, I paid rent. I have to pay in person as I suspect my landlord does not claim this income. It's a pain in the neck as it is nowhere near an MRT station. I usually pay three months at a time, this time I paid four months, so I don't have to see him again until September. Good.

Then I went to the shop where I bought my camera and asked them to send it to Sony for me. I will find out at the end of the week if it is fixable and how much it will cost to fix. Meanwhile I am considering buying a digital SLR camera. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

Next to the bookstore...because it's a bookstore, d'uh! Then back downstairs to Starbucks to get coffee for the house. I don't know about Starbucks in other countries, but here they only have one 'fair trade' coffee available. Fortunately it is delicious! It is not always available and often I have to track from one Starbucks to another, just to get a bag of coffee. (I tried Starbucks in Tai Da hospital last week and then another store in Gong Guan. I finally had success in Yung Ho! Huzzah!)

(You falling asleep yet? I know, it wasn't an exciting day but it was so very pleasant...I didn't have to meet anyone or be anywhere at a specific time...lovely!)

I took the MRT to Grandma Nitti's to drop off a couple of bolts and bearing...uh...things for the wheelchair that I returned to Animals Taiwan. Then over to Jane's to say hi and to give her a 'pizza oven', the 'surprise' in Ethan's 'Kinder Surprise' on Sunday. Jane was interviewed by some people from the 'Apple Daily' last week. The Apple Daily is a horrible, awful, trashy daily paper that is fabulously popular here. Since then she has been incredibly busy. They keep selling out of food by 8 pm! Anyway, she has new menues coming out and she asked me to proofread them. Mostly the problems were punctuation (or lack thereof) and capitalisation (or lack thereof). As payment I drank a glass of wine. ('Any time, Jane, any time!!')

Charlie and then later Beki showed up, so we chatted about this, that and the other. They both commented on my very nice new haircut. 'Er, no, not a haircut. I've lost 10 lbs.' Very amusing seeing their surprised expressions!

And so I eventually returned home, fed the beasties, enjoyed my Greek-esque salad with a second glass of wine. I still have to go up to Constance's and get some wood shavings for my dog to sleep on, I'm nearly out.

Oh, and tomorrow evening I will be meeting many of the Servas Taiwan members for an informal dinner at a coffee shop. We have a Servas guest from Japan for three days, starting this evening. She was going to stay with me, but then the organiser of Servas Taiwan asked if I could let her stay with someone else as I am almost the only person to have had an overnight guest so far here in Taiwan! A Taiwanese woman, Mei, wrote a book about her Servas experiences overseas last year. After her book came out our membership increased something like ten-fold. I went from being the only 'over-night' host in Taiwan to one of 60! As we don't get many Servas guests in Taiwan I don't think I'll be hosting anyone for awhile, if everyone is going to get a turn! :o) I did a lot of Servas travelling in the States and Europe in the early nineties. It's a pretty amazing organisation.

(If you are wondering what Servas is, check out this link (English) or this link (Chinese).)
Well, that's all the news that's fit to print. Have a great day/evening!

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

PS I need help for the last two clues of today's crossword:
1. Coral or Cortez (answer: S_A)
2. Geared up (answer: _ARGER)
Any ideas? The two blanks are the SAME letter as 1 is horizontal and 2 is vertical. Many thanks!

April 29, 2007: Much delayed Easter Party

On Sunday I finally had my much delayed Easter party. The guests were all Taiwanese and very keen to do the Easter thing. Irene (one of the engineers) brought Min, a woman she had met at a self-development seminar. They arrived first. After a bit of chatting and making of a quick cake, I thought we might go for a walk while waiting for the others to arrive. A cursory glance at their shoes told me that walking would have to be limited to level surfaces. So we walked a few hundred meters along the edge of the resevoir, then down a set of stairs to a mini-temple. The path continued down to the water's edge where they could see, well, water. And a few guys fishing, some egrets, perhaps a snake eagle or two. No boats (or technically any fishing, either!) as this is the drinking water for Xindian. 

I got a call to say that Sophie was on her way down to my house--oops! So I left Irene and Min and raced back to the house. Sophie and I walked back to Irene and Min. I did quick introductions then returned to the house again, this time to take the cake out of the oven. I then hung up the Easter eggs on a tree near the front door. I borrowed about 25 painted plastic eggs on ribbons from Lourdes last Thursday. They are really cute and look like real decorated eggs. 

Irene, Min and Sophie came back. We did a mini tour of the house/garden, then sat down to blow out the eggs. Min had used a proper 'egg blowing out' tool before which I scornfully pooh-poohed. Real women poke holes in their eggs and blow the innards out, like energetic mouth to mouth resucitation! They all got into it; I think Sophie blew out about five eggs, she was looking pretty red in the face by the end.

We went to play a little in the stream for a bit. There were Tong Blossoms everywhere which Sophie enjoyed throwing at us. (I suggested that throwing dry ones was a better idea than wet ones.) Laurie, Thomas and Ethan rocked up at about 3:15. They joined us at the stream for more paddling and Tong Blossom throwing. Eventually we went in and enjoyed our afternoon tea: just baked cake, cheeses, crackers, olives, pickles, pate, coffee, tea, juice. Mmmm, I like afternoon teas. 

And then we started decorating. I had food dye in bowls, a candle for dripping wax (but no funnels, I'm not that fancy), paints and brushes. The eggs turned out beautifully! (My camera is broken, *sob*, so I am waiting for the others to send me some photos.)

Then we had the Easter egg hunt. It was hilarious! I had prepared mini ziplock bags of chocolates, one for each person, each bag with a name on it. The rules were simple: You had to find your own bag of chocolates without help. If you found someone else's bag you weren't to not touch it or say anything about it. If you cried out that you had found someone else's chocolates you would forfeit your own. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I did teach little kids for quite some time. Why'd you ask?)

I sent everyone outside for a minute while I hid the bags then called them back in. They were so sweet, dashing here and there, looking for their treats. Min found a bag and held it up with glee. I pointed out that she had found Sophie's bag: they both looked rather horrified. I laughed and told Sohp to go outside so I could hide her chocolates again and told Min to look for HER bag. Sophie came back in and resumed hunting. After a few minutes of growing frustration, Sophie needed a clue as I had put her chocolates in the fireplace ('Somewhere that gets very hot.') So did Laurie. But then again, Laurie's chocolates were behind a picture hanging on the wall.

We were going to have egg and spoon races (in fact, ping pong ball and spoon races) but ran out of time...another day. A good time was had by all (including the hostess.) And, having guests over made me get off of my computer chair and clean the house. A very Good Thing!!

April 28, 2007: How I Ended Up in Taiwan

I’ve had a few people ask me how I ended up in Taiwan. Well, my boyfriend and I had immigrated to Australia in 1994, after living in London, England for almost two years. After living there for about a year we got married, then about six months later my husband started university in Armadale. I stayed in Sydney (Cronulla) working to help support him. My husband had a lot of good characteristics, was intelligent and could do so many varied things, but he was also a Class A1 mind-fuck. I don’t particularly want to go into details but he really played with my mind. Note to self: marrying someone doesn’t make their irritating traits go away.

I had been managing a restaurant with 60 full- and part-time staff. Unfortunately, I was in way over my head and did a terrible job! My husband’s antics did not help the situation. Six months in I got fired which was, in retrospect, a good thing for all concerned. I started doing ‘temp’ restaurant work (the unemployment office was awesome in trying to find me a job and keeping me solvent. I didn’t need any benefits at all--good for my morale!) I ended up working for a tiny Italian restaurant for six months. I was given the elevated title of manager, but since most of the time it was me, the owner/chef and the dish washer/delivery boy, there was only myself to manage--and I did a great job this time. Five months into the job the owner told me he had found a buyer (I knew the restaurant was for sale) and that the new owners were going to run the place themselves. So I had a month to find a new job.

I started reading the employment pages (this was before the internet!) and applying for jobs in hospitality. One day I saw an ad to ‘Teach English in Taiwan.’ Hmm, I wondered, where’s Taiwan? Asia somewhere. I opened my atlas, saw that Taiwan was pretty close to China and thought, yeah, lots of rice! (I really like rice. For years it was my favorite breakfast food.) I also knew of people who had gone to Japan to ‘teach’ English and had come back with bucket loads of money and this was very attractive to me. I knew nothing about Taiwan.

I sent off an application and then had an interview in Sydney. I was given two small drawings of a boy brushing his teeth and washing his face and was told to prepare a lesson plan using present simple (He brushes his teeth every morning.) and present continuous (He is brushing his teeth now.) I prepared my notes, some props and a song, practiced in front of a mirror, put on a suit and went to the interview. Three days later they called back and said I had the job if I wanted it. Whoo~hoo! Although the school I worked for was totally pathetic in the materials they provided for the teachers (poor, poor students) it was a miracle for me. They gave me a return ticket to Taiwan, organized the paperwork for my visa, picked me up at the airport and put me up in a company apartment, took me to the branch I was working at and got me all organized.

My colleagues were incredibly kind and helpful. One found a place for me to live and bargained the landlord down on the price. Another, an Australian called Stacey, and I bonded immediately. She took me under her wing and explained everything to me: buses, where the chemist was, what food was what, essential Chinese phrases, and the bars. Man, we went out two to four times a week, usually staying out until at least one, but usually until two to four am, sometimes when we came out it was daylight. I have never partied like that before or since. I was on a teeny, teeny budget for the first two or three months. We’d go to the bar at 2-for-1 time and buy two beers each. This would then give us a free ticket to our favorite dance club, ‘Spin.’ We’d go to Spin just before midnight and dance and dance. When we were thirsty we’d go up to street level to the 7-11 on the corner, chug a beer or a bottle of water and go back dancing. I usually only drank three or four beers in an evening, so by the time I got home I was completely sober.

I regret to say that I don’t think I was a very good teacher that first year. We received almost no training; no lesson plans and had almost no teaching aids (flashcards, realia, games etc). But the students, parents and my colleagues gave me something that I had never truly had before: respect. Being a teacher in Taiwan is really considered something.

So I had oodles of fun and respect. I was happy for the first time in a very long, long time. Communication with my husband became more and more difficult and irritating. He really was a complete twit. After a year I flew back to Australia, packed a backpack of belongings and told him I wanted a divorce. He said ‘no’ but I knew I just had to wait for him to fall in love with someone and then he wouldn’t be able to get a divorce fast enough, which is exactly what happened.

I am the ‘black sheep’ of my family. I have occasional contact with one of my brothers and I see my cousins in Vancouver when I go to Canada, but other than that I essentially ‘divorced’ my family twelve years ago. Because of this, I have very few possessions from my parent’s home or mementoes of my childhood. Leaving my husband in Australia I had a box of linens that I had brought with me the first time, a backpack of clothes and then that second backpack of stuff (including my pasta roller and a couple of cookbooks. Yes, Pinkie, it’s all about the food.) So essentially, all that I have now I have earned. My friends here in Taiwan, and a few scattered around the planet, are my family. I have been through a lot here in Taiwan, I think I have grown up a lot and really understand what I need to be happy.

So that is how I ended up here. I stay because I learned how to be happy here and still am. I have wonderful friends, work that I enjoy with pretty good pay and I live in a beautiful area. And I must not leave out the average ‘Joe’ of Taiwan who is almost invariably friendly and helpful. It still strikes many Taiwanese as bizarre that a foreigner would choose to live here or that a foreigner can speak Chinese. Even when I was just beginning to learn and was totally mangling the language, I only got encouragement. Now think about North America (or other places?) where an immigrant is cussed out for speaking poor English (or whatever the local language is.)

There’s nothing like surviving a really crap time to make you appreciate it when your life is good! And it's great. :o)

April 27, 2007: Dead Rabbits

Sometimes when I am in a studio recording some teaching materials, my mind starts to wander. Of course, part of me is focussed on what I'm recording:

"Number 1 ....... Boat ................ Boat ................ Number 2 ...... Coat ................ Coat .............." and so on. Thrilling stuff. Part of me starts to think about all sorts of things, to play games with the words, to tell a story using the phonics words I'm recording. (One day, while on a boat, it got cold, so I put on my coat. Suddenly I noticed that the boat could no longer float. A goat swam by and...You get the idea.)
Sometimes I am quite crass when the words are, well, unusual. Yesterday we came across "hip, whip, ship and lip." Yes, well, a bored mind could do something with that...

And then there was the very weird workbook, I won't go into details, but I started to giggle at one point (as did the guy I was recording with) and we couldn't stop. The engineer kept going back and cueing me, I'd pause, pause, then burst into fits of giggles again. Now this is ok from time to time, but if the engineer has cued you three times and you're still giggling, it's not so cool.

But not to worry, I have a secret weapon: Dead rabbits. Yes, I think about that scene in the Glenn Close movie, Fatal Attraction, [thanks, Neil!] where she is preparing rabbit soup with the pet rabbits. This brings me down enough that I can start recording again. The moment then passes, and all is well. The dead rabbits have served me well for years.

But no, not yesterday. Why? Well, you see, I read Eve's hilarious blog about the 'rabbit' her husband gave her. Yes, you know, the rabbit featured in that dreadful show, 'Sex in the city'. The one with a motor. Yes, got it now? Not only was her blog hilarious, but I asked her to give me a product rating on the rabbit, which she did (privately, of course!)

So, I'm trying to calm down from the giggles by thinking about 'dead rabbits', which leads me to Eve's 'rabbit', which leads me to excusing myself for a couple of minutes to stop giggling. (And then I asked the engineer to cue me with a hand signal, not letting me hear what we had just recorded--the original cause of the giggles!)

I'll have to come up with a new 'stop giggling' image. Cod liver oil, perhaps?

April 26, 2007: Dinner on the fly

The other evening when I came home from work I discovered approximately 800 fruit flies doing their thing around my kitchen garbage. Yech. The garbage bag was not full and I knew I was going to generate more garbage that evening, so I put the garbage can right by the kitchen door. The approximately 800 fruit flies followed along.

An hour or so later, when I went to throw something out, I noticed that a rather clever spider had spun a very basic web about 10 cm above the trash can. I admired his style. It seemed as though there were only about 400 fruit flies buzzing about.

Fast forward another hour: no more fruit flies! The spider was still there, looking rather as if he were thinking, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

Having the enquiring mind that I do I left that rather horrid can of rubbish where it was overnight. In the morning there were still no fruit flies and the spider had packed up his web and moved on to greener pastures. Cool, eh

PS This photo of a spider is not the one that was munching on fruit flies, it's another one I found on a walk with the dogs.

April 23, 2012: The Hunt For A Fridge

One day last week I had to meet a client for a case. She asked me to get to the studio early so that we could edit the script before recording. I showed up at 9:30, as instructed in the email she sent me, only to find that she had changed the time to 10 am and forgotten to tell me. Oh well, whatever. I had brought my lunch from home  and asked if I could pop it in the fridge. 

They didn't have a fridge. Can you believe it? I returned back to my couch and contemplated my lunch: tandoori chicken on a bed of stir-fried cabbage. I had cooked the cabbage that morning and then put the cold, left-over chicken directly on top, knowing that it would go into a fridge once I got to the studio.
But they didn't have a fridge. Can you believe it? I considered the options: If I couldn't refrigerate the food there was no way I was going to eat it at lunch time, not wanting to risk food poisoning. I could throw it out, but that seemed a shame since it was going to be quite tasty and a waste of food. Plus, I would then have to find another diet-friendly lunch and eat it before my next job that afternoon.

They didn't have a fridge. I couldn't believe it. I decided to have a wander outside to see if I couldn't find a mom & pop corner store that would let me borrow a corner of their fridge for a couple of hours. As I was walking down the road I passed a small salon with two or three women in it. They called out a cheerful 'hello', to which I of course answered with a 'good morning', but I was preoccupied with my search for a fridge. A few more doors down I realised that there was no mom & pop store in sight. As I headed back towards the studio I thought, 'What the heck?' and dropped into the hair salon. Immediately they asked if I didn't live the next lane over, on the third floor? 

"Ah, no, I live in Xindian. I'm here to do some work at the studio." I explained. "And I was wondering if I could put my lunch in your fridge for a couple of hours? They don't have a fridge...and it's chicken, I don't want to waste it." My voice faltered slightly at the end as they were staring at me as if I truly were an 'alien.'
The owner seemingly shook herself out of a trance, stepped forward and took my lunch. "They don't have a fridge? Such a big place, and no fridge?" 

I shook my head sadly, "No, no fridge. Thank you so much for looking after my lunch! I'll be back in a couple of hours."

And off I went, back to the studio and the IRRITATING CLIENT FROM HELL. But that's another story that I can not be bothered to tell.

At 12:15 I walked back over to the salon and was given my (chilled) lunch. I thanked them all with real gratitude in my heart. As I turned around and walked towards the MRT I heard the proprietor say, "Ai~YO!!" A general-use expression used to express surprise to fear to annoyance to anger to disbelief to amazement. From her tone of voice I would say it was a nice combination disbelief and amazement. I laughed quietly to myself and thought, "Ai~yo, I love Taiwan and the Taiwanese."

April 22, 2012: A Sophie Moment

On Saturday morning Sophie was telling me about school: "And there is this girl in my class, she is three heads taller than me."
"Three heads taller? Are you sure? That would make her taller than ME." I said. Not that it means much as I am only 5' 2.5" (about 155 cm)!
"Well, I bet she comes up to your shoulder."
"Wow, that is tall. Why do you think she is so tall? What does she eat?"
"She's ten," said Sophie.
"So she must be in grade four." I said. Sophie is eight years old and in grade two.
"No, she's in my class. She's a 'late bloomer.' "
"..." I swallowed the laughter that was bursting to come out. "A late bloomer? Where did you learn that expression, Soph?"
"From the movie 'Sky High.' Remember, that kid's dad said that he was a late bloomer."
"Right, I remember. Well, I'll bet you're right, she probably is a late bloomer."
What a precious child that Sophie is!

April 22, 2012: A lazy Sunday afternoon

Woke up at 6, went back to bed at 7, woke up again at 12:16! Lazy days are bliss...

April 20, 2007: Sunny Saturday

Started preparing for an Indian meal last night...mmm, smells good!

Sophie slept over last night. We 'played' ping-pong for a while. She is eight years old and has only played a few times before, so she can't really play at all. We managed a nine-hit rally--our record. 

This morning I will fry the potato patties before we (Simon, Sophie and I) go to TAS for their spring fair. (Sophie just walked in for a morning hug but she looks more asleep than awake. I sent her back to bed for a few minutes to wake up properly!) I hope to be back between 2~3 so I can finish the rest of the meal in time.

April 15, 2007: Fireflies

A few evenings ago I took the dogs for a walk. As we left dusk was falling, by the time we returned home the stars were out. In the last 600 m or so I counted 41 fireflies. Every time I see them I think that they are tiny fairies involved in some intricate dance, or playing tricks on the frogs croaking at the edge of the road.

April 13, 2007: Pets, food, me

I bet you'll never guess what the topic of this blog is. There are three main topics:

1. my pets
2. food
3. me

I bet you're astounded! So, without further ado, here is Ms Dodo in her winter jacket. It was kind of cool for a few evenings so I put it on her at night.

It's muddy and disgusting out the front because it rained for weeks and weeks and weeks. Thankfully the last three days have been warm and sunny (yippee!). More rain for the coming week, though. Rats.
This next photo is Little One sniffing Sprout's bum. A most unsanitary and just plain GROSS activity, however it seems to be what cats and dogs do. (And three-quarters of Dodo in this photo, too!)

Our final pet photo of the day is of my five cats enjoying their breakfast. Yum, cat cookies! Crunchy, fishy, yucky, stinky little brown bites. Yech. (And peeling paint under the window...story of my life in this house. Oh, but you can see just a bit of the new floor. Nice, eh?)

And onto the much happier topic of people food. This was my lunch on Friday, followed by Angela's lunch:

We ate with Tilman, Daiyu's husband, who had just come back from another press conference. Tilman is a journalist for the GIO. The Taiwanese ultramarathon runner, Kevin Lin (林義傑) was being interviewed. He is ultra-amazing. He ran across the Sahara desert with two other men. Shall I type that again? He ran across the Sahara desert with two other men. They finished in March. 7500 km. 111 days. AMAZING! So he had to tell us all about the press conference and this man, Lin. Tilman had to go home and walk his dogs before going back to work so then Ang and I got into some real chit-chatting. Ang left and I waited for Daiyu to stop being busy as I was to teach her how to make scones that afternoon. It turned out that it wasn't just Daiyu, but one of her very good friends (who has a teahouse) and good friend's daughter. And a couple of staff who wanted to watch, too. Man, I hate being on display like this. If I am teaching someone I know, it's fine. Or, if I am hired to teach, that's ok. But when I got there the woman was all gushing over me--and I couldn't remember her. In fact, I helped her to translate her menu into English as a favour for Daiyu. She was way OTT: "It's so great that you know how to make scones, I just think you are so amazing, you're just wonderful [blahblahblah]" Hey, it is great to be appreciated, but it's like someone gushing about being able to make a toasted cheese sandwich, or a coffee: it's not that hard. I know that this is just the Taiwanese way of showing thanks and appreciation and normally it's not a problem. I think I just got an OD of publicity on Thursday and didn't want any more people watching my every move!! Grrrrr!!
I would so NOT survive as a public person. I love being an anonymous 'voice' on a CD or on the airwaves.
Ok, bitching aside, it actually was fine. I told myself to stop being such a 'princess' and get on with it. I have made scones 8,000 times before, (at least!), using my standard recipe. My scone recipe has NO SUGAR. When the pastry chef tried a bite he had the same look on his face that I had the first time I tried (evil) sweet popcorn: it just isn't right!! I explained that these scones are best eaten with lots of jam, masses of whipped cream (Yes, yes, I heard you: you're asking about clotted cream. In Taiwan? Hahahahahahahahahahaha...gasp...so, where was I?) They are even better if you have on a straw hat with flowers, a large pot of piping hot tea, milk for the tea, your best friend and at least three hours. Well, we did without the hats (and flowers), best friends and some of the time. Everyone enjoyed at least one (and the pastry chef had two...with jam and cream.) Half of this batch had raisins, half had 'real' parmesan cheese added to them. I thought the cheesy ones were too salty--shouldn't have added any salt to the dough mixture. We made another batch, following a recipe kindly suggested by Treesparrow. This one had an egg, some milk and sugar in it. I liked the texture of these ones very much. As they already had a little sugar in them they could be enjoyed plain. The others prefered the first batch (the cream and jam gets 'em everytime.) Anyway...just wanted to explain what I wanted the scone recipes for. Oh, and no photos as my hands were covered in dough most of the time.
And now onto my last photo of the day and my newest hobby: I made all of these bracelets! The silvery one with purple beads I totally made: I put the metal loops together to make the chain (like making chain mail.) Cool, eh? I bought a few magazines, some tools and too many beads (greedy Amanda). It's fun to play with beads! And then I get to wear them and brag to all my friends.

Did I get it all? Pets, yup; food, uh-huh; me, oh yeah. Ok, that's it friendy, catch ya later!

April 11, 2007: Press conference, with details

Well, friendies, brace yourself for some pretty odd photos. Ok, here I was, getting ready:

I like Chinese style clothing and have quite a few pieces at home. This outfit came from a costume rental place. Unfortunately the buttons (traditional cloth knot-and-loop) kept coming undone. Aaron, the editor of 'Enjoy' and my chief translator of the day eventually had to staple me into my costume. It was a little intimate and I think he was a little uncomfortable. At one point he said, "Sorry, I'm a bit clumsy." "Don't worry," I answered. "If I think you're trying to feel me up I'll knee you in the groin." This made him laugh and feel more comfortable.
Then I had my makeup done and a wig put on:

Wow, talk about scary makeup! She covered over my eyebrows and gave me new ones. And there was so much foundation on my face, it was really caked on. My wig had a bun at the back:

And a curl at the front:

Here are the main characters of the show: Sean, Grand Aunty, (I've forgotten the pudgy little boy's name. Steve--help!), Smarty and Jenny.

The artist is Taiwanese and started producing comic books about 50 years ago. The Chinese woman who was the other Grand Aunty got quite emotional on stage (this was part of the "Oh, let's forget the script and do what we want" thing) and was saying how deeply touched she was to have the opportunity to play Grand Aunty's voice for the cartoons as she had grown up with Grand Aunty and it was such an honour and blah blah blah... Aaron said she is a 'C' list actress (but perhaps an 'A' list voice artist?). She was taking this opportunity to be in the limelight.

(Notice how I am standing there holding my stupid basket (not by the handle as the other one broke!) no longer smiling. I'm not smiling because I had smiled so much already that my cheek muscles were begining to tremble, I couldn't 'hold' a convincing smile anymore! I'm also not smiling because I'm wondering what the heck is going on--huh? this isn't in the script! What should I say next? Help~~~!)

After we were finished there were more speeches, then we came up for photos with important people. The only one I recognised was the artist, on the right of this photo. His tie has the cartoon characters on it, very cute!

Then we had the television interview. One of the questions was "Is there a slogan that represents Grand Aunty?" (Like "What's up, doc?" for Bugs Bunny.") The other Grand Aunty couldn't think of anything, so I said, "Yes, SEAN~~~!" Sean is Grand Aunty's border and is always doing dumb things. He also doesn't pay his rent on time, so Grand Aunty often shouts at him. They asked the other Grand Aunty to shout Sean's name in Chinese (something like "AH SHIEN GUH!") then they asked me to do it again. I forget sometimes that my vocal cords are very 'fit' so I well and truly yelled "SEAN!" Heh, they all moved back half a step. I didn't watch the news last night as I don't get any channels where I live. I will, however, buy a paper and see if there is anything there.
Here's a photo of me and one of my coworkers, Franklin:

I know I moaned a bit about the other Grand Aunty, but I watched what she did and tried to copy her a bit. When they took photos of her she did these cute, cartoony poses that really looked 'right' for Grand Aunty. I tell you, Taiwanese babies come out of the womb just knowing how to pose for photos. This is me with the second in command at my work:

And here is a photo of ME! The REAL me! After I changed and cleaned myself up I went up and took a photo of myself. Nobody recognised me, heh heh heh!

So, it was an interesting experience but not one I really want to repeat in a hurry!
..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~.. ..~*~..
[Later] I spoke with Aaron this afternoon. He said he watched the news. Our story was less than a minute. Can you guess what I was doing on the news? Oh, yes, I was seen shouting "SEAN~~~!" Mmm, very nice, very cool. Not. Thank goodness no one would ever connect my face with that performance!

April 11, 2007: Press Conference, brief

Press Conference: This afternoon I have to take part in a press conference for a program I am working on. I will have to dress up like the character whose voice I am dubbing and take part in a skit. I have never been to a press conference before, let alone taken part in one. And since a disasterous singing competition when I was about 10 years old, I have not been on a stage. When I agreed to do this I didn't realise I would have to actually DO anything. However, I am committed to it so: deep breaths, it'll be just fine. And hey--somethnig to blog about for today! :o)

April 9, 2007: Dust in the Wind and Snakes in Taiwan

As I type I am listening to 'Dust in the wind' which is on Red's blog. Oh my goodness, it is a hoot. As I comented on Red's page:
Watching the video was a gas! My grade 5 teacher (1977) had us all learn this song...we thought we were so cool singing an 'adult' song. Those men in the video are just too much. Look at all that hair...everywhere! And where there's no hair, there are ruffles. Ruffles. RUFFLES! It's like the male half of a wedding party that got caught in a time warp.
But really why I signed back on was to tell you about a snake. A very cute snake. This little guy was slithering around my front garden. He was just a little wriggly thing and quite pretty. However, as there are a few fatally poisonous snakes in the area, I thought it would be prudent to get rid of him. (No, no, not the 'final solution', I meant get him out of my garden.) So I gathered the broom and a dustpan. I put the dustpan in the direction that he was wriggling. After a couple of false starts where he raised his head up and 'tasted' the air he obligingly got on the dustpan. I carried the surprised snake out to the road and down about 15 m where I deposited him into a very attractive clump of mauve wild flowers.
I've just had a look, it might have been a Taiwan Habu, baby size. Or it might have been some innocuous 'garter'-type snake. So far I have seen a dead Bamboo Viper (very pretty) and I have run over two (!!) Taiwan Banded Kraits. They tend to hang out on country roads at night; with their stripes it is easy to miss them until it is too late. My cats have also murdered two snakes (one of them I SAW in Sprout's jaws as he jumped over my ten-foot wall. Yech.)
So, for your viewing pleasure tonight, I invite you to watch the 'Dust in the wind' video and check out these cool snakes: Poisonous snakes of Taiwan

April 7, 2007: Dinner at Andy's

Dinner was delish!
Here are a few shots of the chef at work:




First course was Dahl (dal? dall? daal?) This is a dish made with lentils, like a very hearty soup. It has lots of Indian spices and is a bit spicy (as in hot). Mmm, good!

Our main course was Chicken Korma and Aloo [something]. 'Aloo' means potato and [something] probably means spinach.

We also had cold tomato-onion salad and the Mogul lamb.

Of course there was rice as well. Here is my bowl...delicious!

But that, my friends, was not all. No, there were presents, too! Andy had some birthday presents for me. (Hey, I always say "Better late than never!" if we're talking pressies for me!!)
I opened the first one. A scarf? Nah, too stiff. I unfolded it. "A tablecloth?" Nope, said Andy. "Insulation?" (like a camping survival blanket.) "Nope," again. "Oooh, it's a cape!" *Andy laughed* "Well, sort of! Open the next one!"

The next present was...A sceptre! For a princess! For ME, xindianprincess!

And the crowning touch...A crown! Well, a tiara, anyway. Sophie found the ties to my cape and helped me prepare to greet my subjects:

And here I am, Xindian Princess, in my throne. "We are extremely amused!!"

April 6, 2007: Mogul Lamb

Hey, I am making a brand new dish out of a brand new cookbook from a couple of (not brand new) friends. It's called Mogul Lamb.
First, I needed to make some garam marsala. I have a tiny food processor attachment for my beaters that I love, just perfect for grinding the spices. Unfortunately, I seem to have left one of the essential pieces at Lourdes. So, I figured as there wasn't much stuff, I'd use a mortar and pestle:

Very picturesque, eh? However, after about 45 seconds of grinding I decided that this was going to take too long, so I poured the spices into the blender:

Yeah, now that was very effective! I now need to go to 'Jason's', a fabulously expensive supermarket in the 101 building to get cardamom pods, the only spice I was missing.
I have chopped and blended the garlic, onion, ginger, almonds and water for the lamb. The lamb has been cubed and is now thinking happy thoughts while marinating in this mixture. Mmmm, I think it will be nice.
This dish is what I am bringing to Andy's for dinner tonight. I offered to bring this as (a) it is within my 'diet' and thus I can eat it with great abandon and (b) it gives me a chance to use the cookbook Simon and Constance gave me for my birthday.
Talking of diet: My 34" pants are wearable and comfortable, I even need a belt to stop them from sliding down and irritating the heck out of me. 5 lbs down, 25 lbs to go -- happy Amanda!
[Later] While I was on the MRT on my way to 101, Andy called and said he had cardamom, I didn't need to buy any. Huh? How did you--oh, you read my blog! That was funny. I went anyway as I haven't been for ages. I got a few great spices but...no cardamom. Hmph. So I went to the 'good' "Wellcome (sic) Supermarket" which has a pretty good selection of foreign goods. SOL, no cardamom. Oh, well, home I went, figuring I could add the cardomom when I got to Andy's tonight.
Here are a few more 'in progress' photos. First I had to make some 'ghee'. This is made by melting unsalted butter then letting it simmer for 30 minutes while the water evaporates. You skim the bubbly scum off the top, let it cool a bit so the milk solids sink to the bottom then pour off the clear fat or 'ghee.' It seems though, that even at my absolute lowest flame my burner was still too hot so the milk solids started to burn after about 15 minutes. It didn't taste burned but had a deeper colour than usual. At the same time I dry roasted some corriander seeds and then ground them up. When dry roasted they are really easy to grind up in the mortar and pestle.



Next I put some ghee in the pan and added the cinamon stick and cloves. There should also have been some cardamom pods here but I had to use 'pretend' cardamom.

It smelled really good! I added the sliced onions and fried them until they were beginning to brown. This lot got transferred to a bowl. I then added the marinated lamb:

This got fried for about 5 minutes, turning a few times. I added some hot water then let it cook covered for half an hour. I then poured in cream, the fried onions and some more spices and let it cook gently for another 30 minutes. It was served with toasted almonds and was gooood.

April 5, 2007: Johari Window

Interesting. I was just linked to a site that has a Johari Window program. I chose six adjectives from a list of 55. These adjectives were ones that I felt described me best out of the list. Almost all of the adjectives are positive. (No, I am NOT going to try the 'Nohari' window, thank you very much!!)
When you click on the link (Xindian Prnicess's Johari Window) you will be shown the same 55 adjectives. You then choose 5 or 6 adjectives that you feel describe me best. They will then be plotted onto four quadrants:

1. Arena: You and I both chose this word (known to self and others)
2. Facade: I chose this word (known to self but not others)
3. Blind spot: You chose this word but I didn't (known to others but not self)
4. Unknown: Neither of us chose these words (not known to self or others)

I think it will be most revealing if you have been following my blog for a while and thus really have a 'feel' for who I am.
Something to play with on a happy Friday!
[A little later] Here's a picture of Mower snoozing on my left arm rendering me a one-armed typist!

April 4, 2007: Little Fella and dozing cats

Little Fella has a bad habit of draging his right hind leg with his toes knuckled under. He's been doing this for months, with the result that he has an open pressure sore on his right toes. Although it has never become infected I don't think this is a good thing! I went to the vet about this as it is slowly but surely getting bigger. He told me to put some gooey brown stuff on it (an iodine gel, I think), followed by a very thin breathable-but-not-sticky layer of plastic bandage, topped with cotton and then stretchy bandage. Which I did.
After the second day his leg was swollen and the wound was infected. Rats. He's been on antibiotics for five days which has reduced the swelling somewhat. However the vet is concerned that LF is licking the wound so it will never heal. We tried a funnel-thing around his neck. Didn't work as his nose is long enough to poke over the edge and he can still lick his paw. So the vet then suggested a muzzle and keeping LF in a cage (to prevent him from walking on his paw) until it healed. I thought this was a DREADFUL idea, it would be weeks until everything was ok! So instead, I cleaned the wound, put gooey stuff on it and a thin bandage thingy (yes, I know, remarkably unscientific vocabulary), then the splint and then covered the lot with stretchy bandage. Overnight he grew a very thin layer of skin. I took a photo into the vet and he was delighted! So we shall continue this method until his foot heals.
His leg is still a little swollen so he will probably need another six days of antibiotics (second vet visit tomorrow.)
Oooh, it's Tomb Sweeping Day and they just let a bunch of fireworks off at the temple down the road, must check and see if LF is spooked or not.
[Later] I guess he got used to fireworks over Lunar New Year, he's fine.
This is a photo of Xiao Man Tou, Little One and Sprout looking up from their (first) morning nap. Ah, nothing beats having a morning nap.

April 1, 2007: More photos of Sophie

is this a yoga pose or just a Sophie pose?

Jump for joy!

Whoops, slipped!

Belle's Bath--comes and goes according to where the typhoons place the boulders.

Heading back home. As you can see, the creek isn't really for swimming but more for playing and goofing around.

Talking about goofing around, here's a goofy girl:

And another goofy pose:

The ship-wright at work, shhh, do not disturb!

The boats float well and aren't tippy but I'd hate to actually be on one--there's no main sheet, no boom, no rudder or tiller--very difficult to control, eh.