Flight Report - Taipei to Bangalore

I went on a business trip earlier this month to Bangalore, India.  It was my first trip to India and first business trip in almost 2 1/2 years due to cost cutting at work.  I love airports, airplanes, and pretty much anything else that has to do with transportation and travel so was happy to find out my flight would be on Singapore Airlines with a connection at Singapore's Changi Airport.  Singapore Airlines is one of the top airlines in the world and the country's airport is one of the top airports in the world; I could easily spend hours if not days exploring the place, eating the foods, and going window shopping. Unfortunately, my layover was only two hours long so I had to make the best of it. Anyway, for those who like this kind of thing, here's my trip report in (as Tina would put it) excruciating detail ....


Taoyuan Aiport


The trip began at 10am on Sunday morning when my sedan driver came to pick me up for the trip to the Taoyuan Airport (formerly known as Chiang Kai Shek International Airport).  I would have preferred taking the High Speed Rail but, with a suitcase, it was more expedient to hire a driver as I wouldn't have to transfer from taxi to train to shuttle bus. Plus it was only NT700 (a little over US$23) and they threw in an (older) Mercedes S class car too! Tina and kids joined me on the ride as they were going to church so the driver dropped them off there before heading on the freeway.  Two hours later I was dropped off at the airport (Terminal 2). I had already completed the check-in process two days earlier online so merely had to drop off my bags, get through immigration and security, and find some lunch.

There, surprisingly, aren't a whole lot of dining options at the airport.  I saw a Burger King in the public area, a noodle place past security, and a cafe. I chose the cafe as it had a view of the runway and I really didn't want any Chinese food. Lunch was thus a semi-decent spaghetti with meat sauce and a Diet Coke.


TPE to SIN


Feeling much better after lunch, I headed to the gate. I had noticed quite a large number of Mainland Chinese visitors throughout the airport and it had shocked me to hear boarding announcements for flights to Beijing and Guangzhou. Growing up in Taiwan in the mid-Eighties it was just about forbidden to talk about the People's Republic of China. I'm glad to see things have changed but it is still a shock.

The flight to Singapore was on an Airbus A330-300 in a two-class configuration.  I was looking forward to this flight and this bird is one of Singapore Airline's newer planes and has an upgraded entertainment system. Upon boarding, I was surprised that the seats felt a bit cramped. According to the Seat Guru website, seat pitch on the A330 is 32" and width is 19" which is pretty standard. I was somewhat spoiled as my flight into Taiwan was on a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 with a pitch of 34" (plus we got a bulkhead seat for the baby crib).  I wish I had a ruler as it sure didn't feel like 19". The seats are in a 2-4-2 configuration which I like as I got a window seat. The AV system is pretty darn cool.  There's a huge 10.4" screen, tons of audio and video on demand, and, if that's not enough, ports for you to connect your own DVD player or an iPod!  This last feature pretty much pushed over the edge to buy an iPod Touch.  I asked for a special iPod cable upon boarding (free but first come first serve) which plugs into the bottom of the iPod and then you insert the other side into the round port next to the screen. I did that, turned on the AV system, and got ... bupkuss.  Nothing. Nada. Hmmm ... I checked the configuration and manual and everything looked right.  None of the video on demand programs were working either. Bummer. 


Dinner was being served so I ate the Asian chicken selection (not much worth writing about here) but I did enjoy the after dinner dessert of a small strawberry Hagen-Daz ice cream. I also told the purser about my issue and he promptly reset the system on my seat.  (Geek alert - My screenshot of the bootup system shows they are running on a Linux platform.)

After the reset, everything ran fine.  I watched a few short videos on the iPod and then started to watch "Inception" on AVOD.  The screen, while nice and large, is a bit lacking in terms of brightness and contrast. The video system is relatively low res (I guess that's how they manage to have over 100 films onboard) so it's a bit jerky too. Still, there's more than enough entertainment for a 4 hours flight and I was only halfway through the movie before we had to shut things down for approach.  I posted a video on YouTube of the landing which can be found here. (Sorry for the vertical orientation ... I'm still figuring out my iPod .)


Singapore Changi Airport

Many others have written about this airport so I won't spend too much time here.  Suffice to say this is one of the best airports in world. Where else can you find a fern forest, a butterfly room, and a swimming pool in transit? My stop here was brief as I only had 90 min to make my flight to Bangalore. Landing at Terminal 2, I quickly made my way to the AirTrain to go to the new Terminal 3 (T3).  T3 is relatively new and I hadn't been before. It's impressive.  Lots of light, lots of room, and plenty of shopping and dining. Dining was my main objective here and I found the 24 hour food court located above the main shopping plaza.  My objective?  Hainan chicken rice and chili crab which I found at the Prima Taste restaurant.  I quickly got both 'to go' and headed back to T2 to find my flight to India. Changi is a bit odd in that security (X-rays and metal detectors) are installed at each gate instead of centrally located. The security staff made me dump my newly purchased and unopened can of Diet Coke (bummer!) and almost made me throw my contact lens solution away. At the gate, I suddenly felt a bit out of my comfort zone as I was one of a handful of non-Indians boarding the flight. There were a few other Asians and a smattering of Western business types but everyone else was an Indian business person or their family. Boarding was quick and efficient (and SQ Boeing 777-200) and I was off to India.




SIN to BLR


Though it has the same seat pitch this older 777 supposedly has narrower seats (17.5").  I think someone at seatguru.com messed up as this seats definitely felt wider and more comfortable. The's much more overhead space on the 777 as the overhead bins retract into the ceiling. Score one for Boeing!  As this was an older plane, the AVOD system had not been upgraded. The movie selection was the same though so I finished watching Inception while digging to my chili crab and the vegetarian selection on the flight. The bumpy flight as well as the sudden infusion of spices into my system made me feel a bit queasy so I skipped the ice cream (Nestle drumstick) and tried to get some sleep.  The rest of the flight (4 hours) was uneventful and we had a smooth landing in India.


Bengaluru International Airport


My seat mate happened to work for HP in India and was a local Bengalorian (sp?).  He gave me a bit insight into the city (exponential growth in the last 15 years!  Real estate up 20x!) as well as the brand new airport we were landing at.  The old airport was close to downtown but the new airport is a 1 - 2 hour drive depending on traffic. It was quite nice and clean though it was your typical metal structure with high ceilings and lots of windows.  Immigration and customs took a few more steps than usual as you had to go through a security X ray before you picked up your bags. (Little did I know that security / X rays are a big deal at all the major hotels and shopping malls ... I guess terrorism does that to you.)  I met up with my coworker and we made our way outside to the surprisingly cool night air to find our driver.  One of the local managers had arranged for a 'rental car'.  What I didn't know is that all 'rental cars' in India come with a driver for free. This is a good thing as the drive from the airport to downtown was pretty harrowing. (Imagine six to seven lanes of cars on a three lane expressway driving down a break neck speed while weaving in and out of each other.)  Traffic in Taiwan is pretty down staid and orderly compared to this!  That said, our driver knew what he was doing, the car was small but very clean, and we were at the Leela Palace Hotel in under an hour. We were greeted by a security check (mirrors checking underneath our ride) and then a lobby with a huge Christmas tree and Christmas carols. Check-in involved one of the hotel staff personally escorting me to my room to make sure I did not get lost. (This was a recurring theme ... Service levels were high ... Almost too high.)  And there I was in India after a 14 hour trip from home.  After a hot bath and some CNN I was down for the night.


Steve

Taichung Christian Church

Kids enjoy worshipping with flags

We are attending Taichung Christian church on Sundays. Here is their website: http://www.taichungchristianchurch.com/aboutus_whoweare.html and a picture of us right before service. Today we prayed for each other's families and leaders went around and prayed for each family individually.  We have met many kind people, including a deaf couple who came to sit with us at lunch. We were able to communicate and really enjoyed meeting them. The Holy Spirit is moving here and we are glad to be a part of this church. God's  message to me was to prepare myself to serve Him and to always respond to His work in my life.

--Tina

Visiting the Taichung Rainforest

Today didn't go according to plan.  We actually didn't really have a plan getting up but Tina suggested we head over to the Art Museum so that she can spend time with Moses and I can take Seraphine to the kiddie play room.  We rushed through our morning routine and got out the door by 9:00 as we wanted to be there early before the crowds formed.  The first clue should have been how empty the parking garage was but we ignored that in our haste to enter the museum.  The second clue was that there seemed to be as many people walking away from the museum as there were going towards it but it didn't really register at the time. When we finally got to the door, we noticed the automated doors would not open. Clue three.  As we looked around for an explanation, a small sign posted next to the door said, in effect, "Closed. We will open at 1pm due to the elections." Elections!  We had completely forgotten that November 27 was Election Day here!  After months of blaring loudspeakers, fire crakers, and rallies the Election was here and the campaigning was finally over.  Oh well. It's a small price to pay for the democratic process. 


I suggested we head over to Park Lane (a small mall operated by the Eslite Group).  When we finally got there, I noticed how empty the parking lot was.  Hmmm .... We took the elevator down to the first floor and , behold, the mall was closed too.  Not for election purposes though. It turns out the mall doesn't open until 11am and we were there at 9:30.  Ok ... How about a walk around the park next to the mall? That lasted about five minutes until Moses complained of being bored.  We then thought we'd check out the "One" building, the tallest building in Taichung.  There's a restaurant on the 46F called "Top of the One" that should have a nice view. No luck ... The place was closed as well.  However, a nice bellhop by the name of Sid suggested we visit the Science Museum and even called them to make sure they were open. So off to the Science Museum we went. After parking we strolled around the grounds and found a little snack shop selling soft serve cones.  Three cones among the four of us made us feel better.  It was too late to go into the museum as it was already 11:15 by now and we were suppose to head back for lunch so we made a trip across to the street to the 'Botantical Garden'.  It turns out this is a large greenhouse structure enclosing a miniature rainforest!  There were hills, 'hiking' paths, a waterfall, and even a fish tank containing some large sturgeon like fish and a separate one with piranhas. (Probably not a good idea to mix the two species.)  At NT20 to enter, this place is a total bargain and a nice little retreat from the concrete/asphalt urban landscape.  We'll be back and will remember to bring our camera next time!


Steve

Two Month Now - Feeling Settled

A slightly dated post as we're nearing the 3 month mark but here it is ...


I can't believe it's been two months since we've come to Taiwan.  Sometimes it feels like we just came yesterday and other times I feel like we've been here forever.  I feel like a lot of the original 'novelty' has worn off (7-11!  the night market! I can't believe they have ____ here!) which is not a bad thing.  We're really getting into a routine which kind of goes like this:


Weekdays: Kids wake up before dawn and get Tina up. She feeds and dresses the kids while I sleep in as I usually have a late night call the before.  We both take Moses to school and let Seraphine play in the school playground.  I then eat breakfast before heading downstairs for work.  Tina takes Seraphine out somewhere as she/they will go stir crazy if not.  Seraphine usually naps by 11:30am.  We have lunch and then Tina takes a nap. I'll watch TV and then go back to work.  Tina and Seraphine go out again in the afternoon and pick Moses up at 4pm.  I head back home around five and we have dinner as a large extended family.  Tina and I then give the kids a bath and go through their night-time routine. Kids in bed by eight.  Tina and I get a little bit of time together before I head back to the office for some late night calls.  Repeat.


Weekends: Night routine is usually the same but we try to meet with friends or go out on Saturdays.  Sundays are worship in the AM and then some family time in the PM.


All in all it's not too different from our routine back home except for my late night calls for work as that's the best time to reach people back in the USA.


Steve

Made a New Friend

In the States I had many friends. Here in Taichung I have but a few but I am learning to really cherish these friendships.  Last Friday I met a mom (Apple)at the playground of Moses' school who has a daughter Seraphine's age. After quite a lengthy chat, she invited me out for a playdate.

Today we met up again and we went to the Science Museum together. She drove me to the museum and home again, paid for my entrance ticket, and even invited me out biking with her family sometime. Apparently there is a scenic bike route where you can rent electric bikes with baby baskets. Our daughter are quite similar in personality and even share the word "an" in the second half of their Chinese names. Anyway, as any foreigner can tell you, it gets lonely sometimes and we so much appreciate it when someone takes time to befriend you.

Apple reminds me so much of my friend, Pearl, who also treats me with such hospitality. Coming to Taiwan, I've really been able to slow down. Life is simpler. I have time to make new friends and hang out with them. I don't drive very often so I'm not rushing here and there all the time. I am not in a million small groups with countless meetings to attend and don't attend birthday parties every weekend. I don't have to shop or cook meals and plan for meals. I exercise regularly twice a week. I don't have to clean my big house or worry about how to decorate it and needing to decorate it.  Life is simpler. And for now, I like it this way.

Shopping for Clothes

This is a favorite activity for me, for it is so much more affordable than in the US!

In the States when shopping for clothes for myself I have two basic criteria aside from an agreeable style: good price (under $30) and XS in size. Both can easily be found in Taichung.  Of course quality is not always the best, but as a stay at home mom my clothes are casual anyway. What I am most happy about is how easy it is to find clothes that fit for a reasonable price.

There is a tiny shop next to the baby store down the street which is sort of an outlet. It sells clothing from all types of brands that are perhaps a little out of season. At first look it's like a store in the market which sells Taiwanese clothes which would look odd if I were to wear them in the States. But if you look closely you can find a few things that are basic and certainly wearable, cute even. The woman who owns the shop is very nice and very pressures me to buy things. So far I have found three shirts and one skirt, all for $190NT each (about $6). When I bought three items at one time, she rounded the figure down to $500NT from close to $600NT and did alterations for free. The other places I have shopped at are NET (I found many summer bargains for $200-$300 NT) and Giordano which are like Gap but cheaper and an online store called Lativ (which has really good quality clothes at Old Navy prices). For kids clothes we go to the market where there are many things for $100 NT or www.lativ.com.tw. Steve shops at Carrefour and Costco.  Our clothes are certainly not designer but we have more than we need.

With cooler weather approaching, I do need a pair of closed toe shoes....

--Tina

How's the Chinese Coming Along?

What's funny is all the stares I get constantly. They think it's odd or that it's amazing that my English is so good and that I am making the effort to speak English to my children so they can learn English! They think I am doing this deliberately to help my kids get a leg up on the English. When I get the stares I remember that it is time to switch to Chinese.  I have to remind myself I am supposed to be teaching them Chinese! Woops, I forgot! (Then perhaps the stares are because my Chinese has such a strong ABC accent they start to wonder where I am from. Where are you from, they politely ask.)

My latest strategy is to speak Taiwanese to Seraphine because she will never learn this in Chinese school and to speak simple Mandarin with lots of vocabulary explanations in English to Moses so he can learn new words. I am not pushing the Chinese too much, I just want him to have fun here in Taiwan, get close to his grandparents, learn about God and another culture. He is in Chinese school 8 hours a day five days a week. That's enough, I think.  He may not speak a lot of Chinese, but what he does say comes out perfectly!

So how is the Mandarin coming along for Moses? He understands most of what is being said in class and can communicate with his teachers. He can say many phrases quite naturally and with perfect pronunciation such as "Mom, I'm bored," "More please," "I am sleepy," "My socks got wet." It's amazing how it comes out naturally. But he is still shy to speak to his classmates, which probably means he does not talk much during the day. He is naturally shy so making friends and having rapport with classmates is still a challenge, though with boys it seems like running around is fun enough. He was just starting to enjoy making friends and having play dates when we were in the States. He must feel lonely sometimes here.

 I am beginning to realize that 9 months is a very short time in which to pick up Chinese and that this will be a great foundation for his brain structures but I cannot expect him to be speaking fluently in this short period of time. Alas, I think another year would be what he needs to actually start talking and having conversations and enjoy friendships in school. Friends to hang out with after school and on weekends would probably be best. English or Chinese-speaking. I'll keep working on it. 

Who Do We Hang Out With?

Most of our everyday interactions revolve around Moses' school, neighbors, family members, church on Sunday, and new and old friends.  Here are a few snapshots of  interesting people in our lives these days:

Steve's parents, Jim and Linda, are just wonderful. Jim is a urologist and works long hours from 9-9 each day. MWF he goes to tennis, then golf on Sundays. We hang out with him on Sunday afternoons. Linda is very busy helping manage his medical office and taking care of us! She cooks the most delicious meals, and we are all spoiled by her healthy, yummy, cooking. Because of this I have not had many stomach problems this time in Taiwan. By they way, her grandkids adore her.

I have made friends with a young lady name I-ling who will be studying music education in London this fall. I have been meeting with her and speaking English to help her prepare for her exams. It has been fun.

My friend Grace from the States has introduced me to a woman named Pearl who has two children and lives near Dong Hai University in Wu-qi. She has invited me to lunch with her and her friend Li-wen several times. Li-wen introduces us to unique restaurants and helps us with our strollers. The food has always been delicious and I enjoy the company and girl talk. Pearl even invited us over to her home where she and her husband Porta were gracious hosts. This is a really neat couple. They have lived in Germany and Shanhai. They could not be more down to earth. We may be going to Alishan together in the near future. 

We just started attending Taichung Christian church. Many foreigners attend this Mandarin-speaking church (with English audio translation) and we have met some friendly people there. One family (Livingstons) just lives a quick walk from our house and we have enjoyed getting to know them. They invited us out to a park where our two kids played with their four kids and they graciously offered to help us get adjusted to Taiwan. That was so kind of them! We'd like to get more involved with church and hope to serve as a family somehow.  I heard that there is a ministry where we can help push elderly people around Taichung park.  We missed it today because I thought our kids would get in the way. Actually the elderly love kids! One challenge to getting plugged in is that small groups meet in evenings which does not work for us. And I need to stay with Seraphine in baby room each week and watch sermon on tv. It's a bit difficult to concentrate. We'll see how this works out.

Steve has many friends from Morrison Academy right here in Taichung, where he attended junior high and high school.  His classmates (the Websters) took us out to a delightful tea place today with an indoor playground. Lots of friends have come or will be coming to visit  in the next few months.
I have many friends and relatives that i have yet to visit in Taipei. We will most likely go the Taoyuan next to visit uncle and the kiddie bowling alley located near the train station.

Steve and I both take classes at the YMCA (Steve Pilates and Tina Yoga) and we are making some friends there. Young and old take classes together here. You'd be amazed at how flexible the older ladies are!

There is a friendly staff at Steve's dad's office. In particular there is a young man name Yong Hao who sometimes drives us around because I still can't find my way around very well. He has driven us to Costco, the doctor's office and the visa office. Parking would be difficult on my own.We are grateful for his help. 

There are kind guard gate gentlemen at our apartment and school that greet our children each morning, and many friends from Steve's mom's church who live in our apartment complex. The pastor from his church and his wife and one year old also live in our apartment complex. A neighbor has lent Moses his bike. Our next door neighbor's grandma is running for re-election to political office. She's expected to win.

We don't feel like part of a close-knit community like we did in Irvine,  and we don't have many friends, but this is fine. (When I am lonely from 2-4 pm and exhausted from chasing Seraphine around I find a tea shop to explore and buy a snack. There are four downstairs, which means thirty, forty different teas to try? Do I have time to try them all? More about these drinks later.) In fact, Steve and I have started reading the Bible (Message, book of Matthew) most nights as a means for fellowship (what a concept!) and it has been enjoyable. We used to be involved in men's and women's groups separately, plus a family small group and did not feel the need to be reading the Bible together. Are social circles are much smaller right now, but perhaps this is a blessing?

--Tina

Seraphine Hospitalized

First off, don't worry. Seraphine is home now and completely back to normal.

We had a poisoning scare this weekend when she had gotten to an empty bottle of Draino.
I had put the bottle by the door and was planning to throw it away on my way out. We were on our way to the museum and were just about to leave. I went to fill our water bottles and heard a scream come from the patio. It was Seraphine and she was crying and yelling for help.  I looked and saw that she had put the bottle to her mouth. She was in some kind of pain. How much did she drink? Was her mouth burned? What about her throat?

 Long story short, we rushed her to the ER, she stayed overnight, and was released the next day. Tests came out normal and she has no trouble eating. There appears to be no damage to her mouth or esophagus. In fact, she ate a bowl of porridge and a pineapple cake after her 24 hour fast. The staff was helpful and friendly.

Thank God for His mercy! We are so grateful that she is all right. And glad we live across the street from the hospital.

--PTW

Fire Safety Day

Kids looking at a real fire ahead of them

They go all out when the firetruck comes to school here! First they reinact a real fire, which triage unit and all! Kids walk around with hanky on nose and some wear slings and bandages!

There is a fire truck, of course, and fire fighters, but they also have real life fire demonstrations, smoke and fire and all. Then the kids get to use the fire extinguisher to put the fire out. They also roll out the hoses and the kids get to take turns holding the hose with the water spraying out. Suffice it to say, Moses was glad he went to school today!

Moses is doing better, though he doesn't want to go to school everyday. But this was definitely a high point! His classmates are quite friendly toward him and the teacher said he told her he needed to go to the bathroom in Mandarin the other day. Making progress!

--PTW
10/1/10

Daily Life: Seven-Eleven, Fine Arts Museum, Night Market

Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd share some pictures from our daily life here in Taichung. The weather is cooling down and it's easier to get out and about. Here are some snapshots:


Seven Eleven

The Seven Eleven near our house. 

We love this convenience store.  It is a little further away than Family Mart and Hi-Life which are right across the street. We have to walk about five minutes to get here. But it is well worth it. Has a great selection of foods, and three seating areas called "City Cafe" where you can hang out. They even have tissues on the tables! Here is a picture of Seraphine in front of the "bar" area.

There are lots of yummy things to eat here. We used to eat here everyday because we knew what we were getting and everything is so clean. My favorites are the cold sesame noodles and the triangle rice things.
Fillings include lobster, salmon, tuna, and different meats. It is perfect when you are on the go!

Look! almost all the onigiri is gone! Better pick one up for my after yoga class snack!

The drink selection is to die for. On hot days stopping by here is a must. There are lots of teas, and soy milks, juices, and yogurt drinks. My kids love the yogurt (Yakult or 'yang le duo') drinks and we think it helps keep our tummies healthy. (Good excuse to buy them!)

Wish I could have taken more pictures but I was told photography was not allowed in 7-11. Woops!

Fine Arts Museum / Cultural Center

This is a beautiful modern building that looks brand new! There are exhibits and a film festival going on here. Free audio tour in English. Can't wait to go on a stroller walk here with Seraphine and listen to the tour. She loves this space. There is a children's book area and an open discovery play area for toddlers. We are going on Tuesday for our first playdate with the wife and daughter of the evangelist at my mother in law's church. Will do another blog just about this place with photos. Lots to do here. So glad we live so close to this place. I think kids and I will come here a lot. Moms, wait until you see the huge play area with DIY crafts that we do not have to prepare ourselves!

The museum is about a twenty minute walk from our home. Next to the museum is the cultural center where there is a children's library and a periodical room. Unfortunately I don't have my resident visa so I can't borrow books yet, so Steve will have to come with me since he has a Taiwan ID card. Lots of English books, actually!

Night Market
  

Eating 'hand made' jyaudze or dumplings

We live right by a night market. As you can tell from the pictures, Moses enjoys this food very much.
The dumplings are made right there and the stinky tofu is famous in Taichung. ( I passed on it) The tofu stand also sells delicious dong gua tea (winter melon juice) and plum tea. Very refreshing!

Moses' first Stinky Tofu!

After two stalls our kids started crying  (too tired)and needed to go home. Moses ran into a parked motorcycle and Seraphine cries when Moses cries. So Moses went into the stroller and fell asleep in 2 minutes and I carried Seraphine all the way back home.


Another day in our life!

--Tina

The famous (infamous) Stinky Tofu stand.
If we look sticky, we are. Seraphine is stuck to me. 

Week Two - Reflections

We've been 'on island' for a little over two weeks now.  As Tina mentioned, we're starting an 'adjustment' phase now that the initial shock/novelty of being here is wearing off.  (Read her 'Adjustments' blog entry for more details.)  It's been an interesting second week here in Taichung. Here are some highlights:



Dusk over West Taichung after Fanapi



1. Typhoon - We experienced our first typhoon (Typhoon Fanapi) last Sunday. (What's a trip to Taiwan without a typhoon?)  There was a lot of wind (no surprise) but very little rain (big surprise) here in Taichung.  In fact, after blowing all morning the typhoon kind of died out and we had a very nice afternoon.  It's strange as other parts of the island (Kaohsiung down south) got hit with A LOT of rain and there was some serious flooding as well.  The weather has cooled down considerably after the typhoon which has been a blessing.

2. Mid Autumn Festival - We celebrated 'Chong Chio Jie' this week. I didn't realize this but this is the second biggest Chinese holiday next to Lunar New Year.  You could hear fireworks going off all night and smell burning charcoal as having a BBQ while watching the moon has become a big tradition. (Taiwanese charcoal is particularly sweet smelling. I don't know what they use (endangered hard woods?) but it smells tons better than normal American 'briquettes' or even 'lump' charcoal.)  Both my dad and I took the day off work so we took Moses for a 'Chen men' trip to Taichung Park to go on a row boat.  We were the first people there and it was a hot day and my dad had problems getting in and out of the boat.  Still it was a pretty memorable experience. (By the way, Taichung Park has had a makeover ... It's actually quite pleasant and no longer the seedy vendor filled backlot I used to remember from my high school days.  That said,  I'm not quite sure what to make of this giant goat statue ... It gives me the creeps!)

3. Family Time - The four of us got to have a little family time by going shopping for swim goggles over by Taichung First High School. It took us a while but we found the little swim shop near the stadium crammed full of swimsuits, goggles, earplugs etc.  We picked up some goggles and earplugs and plan to go to the Morrison (my old high school) pool this weekend. (Swimming is one activity we all really miss ... Our house back in Irvine is less than a block away from the community pool complex. We checked out one of the city pools last weekend ... Not very appealing.) We then went to the Chung Yo Department store food court for dinner.  While there, two Mormon missionaries sat next to us while we were drinking our apple juices. Now I have a lot of respect for LDS (Latter Day Saint = Mormon) missionaries.  They take two years out of their lives to serve and evangelize in a foreign country far away from family and friends. I was surprised by how much Chinese (and Taiwanese!) they should speak and read even though they'd only been in the country for one and two years respectively. I think I surprised them in that they had sat next to a ('disguised') fellow American.  Even though they were at Chung Yo to grab some McDonalds (which tastes 'especially good' after eating 'bien dan' (Chinese box lunches) all week according to one missionary) they were non-stop in engaging me.  I was again impressed with their zeal and fervor (True Believers); turned off by how scripted it all was. They are probably trained this way but it just seems so artificial in that they ask a ton of questions about me (making me vulnerable) but give out very little of themselves on a personal level. Anyway, it came down to them asking if I had read the Book of Mormon and if I believed it. I had read it and told them flat out I didn't believe in it. I also had a ton of Christian apologetic reasons why but my mind went blank at that point. Tina saved me by swinging by and telling us we had to go get dinner.

4. Community - It's interesting to note how very different the cultural idea of space and community are different here. While getting dinner at Chung Yo department store, a sales lady sat down in an empty seat in our table and began to engage us in conversation (She did ask permission as most of the other tables were full.)  While there she went on auntie/grandma mode and tried to get Moses to eat his noodles.  While eating 'dou hua' (a sweet tofu dessert) yesterday a lady in my mom's Bible study saw Tina and paid for our 'dou hua'. Another lady (a 'bien dan' lady) began talking to us and telling us how awesome the 'dou hua' is at this stand. (It is very good. And cheap.)  I walked into the 'Hi Life' convenient store the other day and the lady there asked me where my wife and kids were.  Back in States this might be considered 'nosey' behavior but out here it's very much the norm. 

--- Steve

Adjustments

After the first week week thought things were going really well. Then some difficult adjustments started setting in and we are starting to realize that we have only been here two weeks after all.

First, Moses is exhibiting subconcious stress about school. He has started wetting his pullups and had a couple of accidents already. He wants me to hold him all the time when he is home and complains of not enough time with me. He speaks in a whisper and does not answer questions much of the time. His English is mumbled and he is completely lethargic.

We are all lethargic. First Steve is totally "malfunctioning" (his mom's words). This is usually what happens when he goes home, so I'm not sure if this is "normal." He has stopped helping with setting the table, helping with the kids without being asked, moving unless completely necessary. I am really tired all the time, I am not sure why.  I think it is city stress.   I go outside and have to make sure Seraphine doesn't get knocked down by a car or motorcyle and don't really know where I am most of the time. I try to do some housework, but am so hot after a few minutes. I just give up. The kids and I are sick, that may account for the lethargy, too.

Seraphine found one of Auntie Jasmin's old Barbies.

Seraphine seems to be doing fine, however. She is roaming around the house scattering her toys all over. We forget to pick them up at the end of the day. Need to organize a play space of some kind.

I can't quite figure out where I am most of the time. I used to get lost in Irvine and needed my GPS to drive around. Now I haven't started driving here yet (the car is broken) and there is no bus access.  It seems too hot to walk. So unless I call a taxi I am pretty much confined to a small radius of shops and things around our house...an old movie theatre, a handful of convenience stores (thank God for these) and a bunch of tea shops and food carts with questionable sanitation (we've been okay so far, though).

I am trying to get used to not being in charge of the household. I haven't had to cook and that has been wonderful. I am very thankful for this. On the other hand, I am not in charge of food gathering, so I am not sure what we are eating all the time and I have yet figured out where to get food. I need to go with the flow and that has not been easy.

Really feeling the need for some fellowship and to make some friends to hang out with. Especially since I am with Seraphine all day.

This all being said, I realize that we have only been here two weeks and this moving in transition is simply going to take a while.

More later.

--Tina

Moses Starts Pre-K in Taichung!

First day of school!

Our son, Moses, is finishing his first week of preschool in Taiwan.  He is the only overseas student in the entire school and he is taking it in stride. We were concerned at first because he had a disgusted, pained look on his face when we first went to buy his uniforms. Maybe it was his first realization that he could not speak the language and was no longer in America. Anyway,  he seems to like it now. He has been amazingly adaptable and has begun to make friends.

About the School

Li-An (Moses' Chinese Name) attends Wesley Preschool,  on the Taichung Methodist Church campus right across the street from our home. It is a well-established 50 year-old preschool with three stories, about 300 children ages 3-5. Kindergarten in Taiwan is also considered preschool. So the classes are xiao ban, zhong ban, and da ban. (small (age 3), medium(age 4), and large (age 5)"class".

There are 16 children in his class and two teachers, who are very kind and qualified. Daily activities include Montessori time, language arts, music (twice a week, including violin), PE (twice a week with a PE teacher), English, library, arts and crafts, Christian life, recess, a two hour nap, and lunch and two snacks. The food is prepared in the church kitchen and there is a set menu for each month. A sample daily menu is soymilk and biscuits for snack, shrimp and eggs over rice with bamboo shoot soup for lunch, and noodles or porridge for afternoon snack.  Our son definitely sleeps and eats well at this school! School starts anytime after 7:30 and ends at 4:00 but you are not charged extra until 5:00. After school (4:00-5:00) activities include clay, roller blading, chess,  and violin. Li-An wants to do clay.

Changing into 'indoor' shoes.

Students wear uniforms four days a week and have separate indoor shoes to keep the classrooms clean. They are very clean and air-conditioned. There is no grassy play area but there is a large "green top", a play structure, a garden on the third floor, and two basement play areas.
 b
Our tuition is very reasonable. It comes out to $7800 NT  ($275) a month for five days a week, full time. (There's also a $16,700 NT ($521) registration fee per semester. -- Steve)
This includes an hour of after school clay play! So much more affordable than California.

Personal Observations

Lining up for school assembly / flag raising.

There is definitely a greater group focus vs. individual focus in the school. MTW there is a half and hour long flag raising, calisthenics, singing and dance segment at the beginning of the school day. The children all seem to play together as opposed to small groups, and the whole group assemblies are much longer. Imagine our preschoolers in California sitting for 1.5 hours in a church auditorium practicing songs, celebrating birthdays, praying, and watching a short video. This is what they did this morning.

Moses used to bring home stacks of art and craft projects last year. As of yet they haven't done any art in the classroom yet. I wonder when and if they do crafts at this school. There is also no mention of mathematics in the curriculum, which is surprising. And no writing until kindergarten.

We do have homework: reading and recognizing characters from Tang poetry and English homework on a weekly basis. Moses rocks in English class. I'll use the workbook to teach him the corresponding words and patterns in Chinese--perfect!

This is definitely a family-oriented school with a strong presence in the community. It is amazing how much of an impact a church preschool can have! The teachers and administrators are really friendly and passionate about teaching and about sharing God's love with the children and families. The school even offers a parenting class once a month. We are reading Po Bronson's "Nurture Shock". I downloaded the kindle version onto my mac and am ready to discuss. How do I manage to get along in Chinese? I find that by mixing my Mandarin and Taiwanese I can usually get my point across. I don't really care if I make mistakes. I figure I'm here to learn and get the most of this experience so I just jump in wherever I am.

We are glad we have chosen this school, love the location, and can't think of a better place for our son to pick up Chinese!

-- Tina

Settling In

MOVING IN: I can finally think clearly after about 5 hours of sleep in an air-conditioned room. We need to clean out all the clutter in our room, the kids' room, the living room (there is no place to walk) and create some baby safe zones. Seraphine is excited about all the little things she can pull down around the house all at her level. She is very attached to me right now and doesn't like to leave my arms. Many things to babyproof, including the stairs with the big holes between the railings. Moses loves playing in his dad's old room with his old airplanes and cars. Steve's mom spent months cleaning it out for him and Seraphine. Seraphine has a bamboo crib which she sleeps fine in until she wakes up and yells at the top of her lungs, "Where am I?" She carries around her security blanket which is a thick, furry blanket.  A bit of a seasonal mismatch. Am I ever going to emerge from the air-conditioned room? Will I have the energy to get everything done in this heat? Why are we here again? 

MOSES' SCHOOL: Went to pick up the uniforms today. Only a picture is adequate to describe them and I will post once I get him to wear it.  It's a nice school, literally across the street with two very  friendly and nurturing teachers. But Moses was shocked upon realizing the language barrier. His had "tongku lien" or painful face akin to being offered something unsavory to eat. He completely went limp and tuned out when we got there. He was attracted to some of the toys in the classroom, though, and the other children kind of gathered around him in curiosity looking like they wanted to play. He's starting on Monday, and Parent Night is this Friday. I'm going to ask his Uncle Optimus (Steve's cousin who he loves to play with) to encourage him, for Moses is completely enamored of him lately. 

Visiting the Preschool

Prayer Requests: Thank God for an easy journey over here! And good health thus far! For air-condintioning in our room and Steve's mom's delicious foods! Uncle Optimus' taking Moses under his wing. Please pray that we can get settled in quickly and that our children will feel comfortable  and cozy in their new home. Pray for Moses' transition to his Chinese preschool, that he will make friends quickly and enjoy going to school. I would like to make some friends with his classmates' families to ease that transition. Pray for finding a support community and good relationships with our family here. Please pray for Seraphine to bond with her grandparents and be more comfortable away from mom, and that Steve can be well-rested, he looks so tired. Please pray for spiritual protection and also that our spirits will continue to seek God and listen to His voice.  

Thanks for reading! 

Tina

The Move

We did it! We arrived in Taichung, Taiwan at exactly 8am this morning exhausted but in good spirits.  The last 24+ hours are blur of activity as we finalized cleaning up our house, packing our bags, and getting ourselves ready for the trip. Below is a break down of the events leading up to our arrival ...

So much stuff!

Cleaning House - I worked all the way until the end of August and started my time off from on on Wednesday Sept 1.  The following days were a tornado of activity as we packed up the rest of our house, moved our furniture into my sister's place, and packed our own bags for the trip. We planned on using half our garage for storage but I thought with our furniture gone and all the stuff we sold/got rid of we'd only use a portion of that. We ended up using the entire half!


Packing Worries - My sister and cousin Andrew graciously offered us one luggage check-in allowance for us. This gave us the option of bringing a total of nine pieces of checked luggage. However, according to the Malaysian Air website strollers count as a check in and the dimensions of your checked luggage cannot exceed some ridiculously small amount akin to a toaster oven. It turns out that the Malaysian Air check in peole were really quite relaxed about the stroller policy (we brought two) and didn't care about your baggage dimension though they were a stickler for weight.

Finally! Checked in at LAX!

The Flight - Our original project plan involved getting everything ready by Saturday night so we could enjoy Sunday and Labor Day relaxing with friends. In reality, I was scrubbing the sink at 8:15pm on Monday night. Lucky for us, our roomate Daniel bought dinner for us and help us stow away the last of our boxes, laundry, etc. Our good friend Scott and family came a bit early to wish us well and to drive us to the airport. That was also a blessing as we were coming down to the wire with packing and cleaning the house and Kyoko offered to watch the kids for us. Despite the frenzy getting out the door, the trip itself was remarkably smooth.  Scott dropped us off at LAX at 9:30, we we're checked-in by 10, went through security at 10:30 and were on the plane and down the runway by 1:00am. The only real 'issue' was when we realized the gate agent had changed our seat assignment and split my sister apart from us as she had checked in separately. Again this was a hidden blessing as they gave us four seats in the middle along with a bassinet. The seat next to my sister turned out to be empty so we essentially had six seats to ourselves along with the bassinet!  Seraphine slept most of the flight and Moses had conked out before take off and did not wake up until we were halfway through.

On Island - We arrived almost two hours early at 4:51am. The airport is one quiet place at that hour but one cannot mistake the heat and humidity upon arrival. There's also that distinct Taiwan airport 'smell/aroma' as we had arrived in the old Terminal 1 building.  It looks like they've been rehabing Terminal 1 as the arrival area was quite nice though the ceilings felt really low. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and one of the customs officers (a pistol packing 5 ft tall Taiwanese lady who couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds) even helped us push one of our luggage carts to the waiting area. Can you imagine an immigration officer at LAX doing that? My mom had arranged a driver to pick us up in a minivan. This was a good thing as, between the four adults and two kids, we had 8 checked in pieces of luggage, 11 carry on items, and two strollers. It was a tight squeeze (Moses and I shared a seat) but we were all in and in front of my parent's house in 90 minutes.

We made it!

It's 8pm local time as I write this.  I'm still doing well after having a shower, nap, and coffee this afternoon.  Tina and the kids have conked out and will hopefully be able to sleep in a bit today. I'm going to have a bowl a chilled tofu dessert ("do hua") and will see if cousin Andrew is up for some stinky tofu later.  Tomorrow begins our first full day of our Taiwan adventure.

-- Steve

Visa Confusion

As a US citizen there are basically three visas you can use to enter Taiwan. There is a 30 day non-renewable 'fee exempt' visa you can get when you arrive at the airport. Longer stays involve getting a Visitor Visa which allows you to stay for 60 days with the possibility of two 60 day extensions before you have to leave the country. As a US citizen you have to pay $140 per passport (ouch!) for this visa.  Finally, there is a Resident Visa which also costs $140, requires a lot more documentation, and is typically used to enter the country in order to obtain an Alien Resident Certificate (kind of like a 'green card').

Luckily, my work is taking care of my visa so there were no worries there. (They applied for a work permit on my behalf and will be arranging for the resident visa / ARC.  What is odd is that they told me to enter using the 30 day 'fee exempt' visa which you are not suppose to convert to other visas. After much research there appears to be a loophole for 'white collar' workers.)  I then ran into a dilemma for Tina and the kids. According to my work contacts, they could enter on a 'fee exempt' visa as well but we would need to get our marriage license and the kid's birth certificates 'authenticated' by TECO (the de facto Taiwan embassy).  Unfortunately, our marriage certificate and son's birth certificate are both from Northern California which meant authentication for these docs have to be done up in TECO San Francisco office while our daughter's birth certificate (born in Southern California) has to be authenticated in the Los Angeles office. 

We decided to go with the visitor visa route which meant travelling up to LA, filling out the application, and shelling over $140 per passport and two passport pics per person.  The TECO office is a busy place! We drove up on a Monday and got there around 11am.  After taking a number we had to wait almost two hours before our number was called for us to drop off the forms.  Then came another wrinkle. As US citizens, the visitor visa can only be used for a single entry! (This is NOT documented on the website.)  As it turns out, I have dual citizenship and had my Taiwanese passport with me as well as our various certificates. This allowed Tina and the kids to get a multiple entry visitor visa that is good for five years.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my daughter's birth certificate which meant I had to come back and bring it when picking up the passports.  

On the plus side, I was impressed by how nice and helpful the people were at the TECO office.  Also, making two trips to LA in one week meant we got to have some interesting lunches ('Kyochon' Korean style fried chicken and some nice ramen a Daikokuya in Little Tokyo.)  We also went ahead and authenticated our documents; I'm not sure if we'll actually use them but you never know ...

My advice if you need to do this ... Read all you can on the TECO and Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.  Call at least TWO different TECO offices to make sure you have the right forms and process.  Bring all the documentation you need (and then some) to the office.  If want to avoid a line, try going to the office 30 minutes before they open in the morning. Alternatively around lunch time when the line is a lot shorter!

--- Steve

How Did We Get Here?

We're less than two weeks away from leaving home but it's taken, literally, a year to get to this point.  Throughout 2008 and 2009, we had been praying for an opportunity to visit Taiwan so that our kids can learn Chinese and that they can spend time with my parents who live there. However, going for a few weeks would not provide real language learning opportunities and having Tina stay there with the kids by herself did not seem viable. We are also 'cash poor' and did not think we had the finances for the trip.

Last August, God inspired us with this idea: Why not just stay longer and rent our house out? I work from home so, as long as my company would let me, I should be able to work from 'home' overseas. This would also allow our son to go to Chinese pre-school for a full academic year and, by renting our house out, we should be able to cover our plane ticket costs as well as the financial burden of paying our property taxes at the end of the year (that's another story altogether). After months of wrestling with the problem, the solution seemed all too simple.

After praying about this, we starting setting things in motion. My parents were extremely fond of the idea and started making plans on clearing out the spare rooms and office. My manager at work was also supportive and began contacting HR to figure out how to make this happen. This was a key point in that if neither my parents nor work was supportive of the idea then this idea was done. It took several months for my work to figure out exactly how to make this happen and the details involved.  To make a long story short, they decided to pay for my visa expenses as well as tax returns.  This was actually more than I hoped for as I thought the trip would be entirely self funded!

With the work situation settled (or so I thought) we began telling our friends and family. Most people had similar reactions: surprise when we told them we'd be going away for so long but supportive once we explained the details.  We purchased our tickets in May aboard Malaysian Airlines (not the cheapest but the cheapest non-stop flight)  and was blessed in that my sister would be on the flight with us! (We had another pleasant surprise two months later when we found out my cousin Andrew also arranged to fly back to Taiwan on the same flight. If miraculously having a 2:1 adult to child ratio on this flight is not proof of God's existence then I don't know what is.)

We then encountered a few setbacks at work.  Taiwan company HR only allowed new additions the first of every month. As my Taiwan work permit documents we set for a start date at the middle of the month, all these documents had to be re-done.  I also got a notice of termination from the US HR department. This turned out to be an error due to an incorrect employee ID number but it really got the blood pressure  going for a while. We also had some issues renting out our house but were able to find some good friends in the neighborhood willing to move into house and take care of things for nine months.

So the last few weeks have been about packing and getting ready.  We have a five page "To Do" list which we've been tackling and the garage is slowing filling up with stuff.  Looking back the preparations have really been smooth despite a few hiccups here and there.  We're both a bit stressed with the final 'push' that will get us out the door and on the plane but we're all still very excited and looking forward to the next step.

-- Steve

Our First Post and What Is Stinky Tofu?

Welcome to the Stinky Tofu blog!

Our family is preparing for a nine month trip to Taiwan and this is our way to share our journey with our friends and family. We're a family of four Taiwanese-Americans living in Irvine, California. Steve works for a high tech company as a marketing research / project manager while Tina has her hands full managing our household which includes our four year old son and one year old daughter.

There are many reasons for our extended trip to Taiwan.  We are eager for our son to learn Chinese in a Chinese-speaking environment. We are also looking forward to our children getting to know their paternal grandparents (which they've only seen two or three times).  Being both of Taiwanese descent, we can't wait to eat the food, visit new places, and learn about modern day culture.

Over the last few months we realize that we have a great opportunity to witness what God is doing in Taiwan and Asia. Just recently we became a part of a 'Heart for Taiwan' prayer group at our church. We have also learned that many friends will be flying through Taiwan with ministry in mind.  It seems that God has much to show us and teach us about His heart and work here. We are excited because we know this journey will be much larger than ourselves and our plans.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Steve and Tina

p.s. What is stinky tofu?  Stinky tofu is a Taiwanese dish made from (typically) deep fried fermented tofu.  The smell of the dish is unique with words such as "foul", "disgusting", and "rotting garbage" being typical descriptors. On the other hand, lovers of stinky tofu think the smell is a fragrant and sweet aroma. Regardless of what you think of it, when you're in Taiwan you can't miss it!