Subway and squid

There are many things in china that just don't make sense... and here is a prime example from Subway today...

So the sub of the day was chicken teryaki today at Subway- and subs of the day are 15 rmb(2 usd). I wanted to make it into a salad - and if you change any sub into a salad, it's an extra 3 rmb. Alright - so I ordered my chicken teryaki salad, and went to pay, and they tried charging me 28 rmb.

No we explained to them - 15 plus 3 is 18. So after much arguing - it felt like 10 minutes of back and forth - them explaining that the deal for the sub was different than getting a salad - they couldn't give us a deal for a salad. We just wanted the same thing as the sub - just without the bread. No - they couldn't do it- the sub deal was a sub deal. Unlike the states where they'd be flexible, or give it to you 'your way', they said absolutely not.

Finally, Janai got them to the point of saying that they'd give us all the stuff on the bread for 15 rmb, but they couldn't give it to us in salad container for 18 rmb. As they were stuffing the toppings onto a piece of bread (that i didn't eat), there was some a leftover salad covered in dressing which they proceeded to re-distrubute back into the containers - olives, pickles, lettuce - saving every last piece. I couldn't believe my eyes! I asked for a fork and then ate my 'salad' off of the bread. I felt like leaving the bread on the table just to be spiteful...

Squid...

My mentor Janet and I went out to dinner this last week together like we do every Tuesday. On the way there we saw this rack of meat - complete with fish - neadless to say, it wasn't where we ate dinner.

We did a Korean restraunt where we ate in the dark for about 20 minutes becuase the electricity went out! Every one in the restraunt just kept on eating too. A friend mentioned that there are restraunts that actually are completely dark in order to heighten your sense of taste. Well, it definetly wasn't purposeful, but it was a delightful meal, complete with my new favorite seafood - squid! It's like crab - but a bit chewier - quite a fun feeling, especially the tenticles on your tongue! All in a day in Shanghai...

Taiwan - my favorite place on earth!

Squid - delicious flavor - the feeling of tenticles was just a bit odd, but I got over it! :)

Taiwan - I stayed with one of my great friends Rachel and her wonderful family - her mom (Abbo ) and dad (Abba) who I affectionatly refered to by their taiwanese terms for mother and father! It was fun to have special names for them! They were great hosts - fed us way too much food, worried about me getting around on the subway, and kept us entertained by trying to say my name - it came out more Eleezuuhberr... :) They don't speak any English so it was a good time for me to be forced to use my limited mandarin - and wish that I had more!

Our friend Tiffany from SMIC was there too, so we hung out all together a bunch too! Happy reading! (Oh by the way - right now it's a rainy sunday afternoon - just finished 10 things I hate about you, munching on fresh oatmeal cookies and popcorn, and wishing that I don't have to teach tomorrow... but I get to get a massage in just 3 hours, so life is good - and i'm not counting! :) )))

My favorite - fresh sugar cane juice!

Yi Ling yi - Taipei 101!!! :) 3rd tallest building in the world!

Delicious Rice noodles ! only 40 NT - like $ 1.50 US

Everyone stands around and eats their noodles - and it was crowded! Everyone knows about this place - it was in Ximen - a popular shopping area.

Do jang - Fresh warm soy milk! It was on the street corner everwhere - and so delicious !Taiwan has the best little breakfast places - and most of them are open all day long.

So now i have the scooter bug... i keep thinking about getting one.. they are so amazingly fun to ride on! :) Abba(RAchel's dad) took me on his to get breakfast and back from the MT one day! :) I was in heaven! Her parents were so hospitable and fed us way too much food. IF i ever go back, i need to run every day if I don't want to gain 50 pounds! :)

amazing huh??

Taipei - huge city! :)

Shin Ling - the best and largest night market! :)
So how I describe night markets are as follows.. first you go and get a snack at a stand - say squid - then you decide I'm full so you buy some stuff or look through a few shops until you're hungry again, and then you eat more, and it just keeps going - shopping, eating, shopping, eating. and the food is all so amazing - you just can't believe it. I believe heaven will ahve food like Taiwan... or maybe Taiwan is heaven... hm.... My fav. foods were - delicious fruit-strawberries and pineapple - quail eggs - squid - watermelon juice - and grapefruit/pineapple/pear juice and all the homecooked meals at Rachel's relatives! Oh, and the SEAFOOD!!! yum yum!!!

Tofu peanut stuff... it was OK - supposed to have some sugar stuff, but i had to get it without, so it was a little lacking...

My first time KTVing - Chinese version of Karoke- in a room by yourself! Rachel's cousin worked here and let us play around with his system! Surround sound... ina sound proof room ... lovely! :)

I don't get it... but let me know ifyou do! :)

So these were quail eggs - they fried them in little holes in a griddle and were really yummy - they put them on a stick for you.

Rachel and I enjoying the sunset! :)

My first street market in Taiwan - it was brilliant!

We spent two days in Go Shang - a harbor city with Rachel's friends. It was on the south west coast of Taiwan. We got there by high speed train - only 1 1/2 hour trip for almost the whole island top to bottom! :) It was beautiful and I got to see the other side of the Pacific for the first time! :) Couldn't find all those bottle message you all sent me though... :(

OK - so we went to this art museum and saw this beautiful lake - and there were all these signs around the lake - they were a little odd...
NO Feeding the animals...

No Hurdling... becuase that's what I want to do by a lake...

No worshiping...becuase I always worship my altars in this position... :)

And the climax... make sure that you don't get too close to the edge - and if you're not sure, this is a visual of what could happen! :)

Thanks for reading !I feel like i should give you a quiz to see if you made it this far! :) Blessings! We'll see what the next adventure has in store for us.. It feels good knowing that I have my pics posted though! Traveling is lots of work... as is the aftermath of bloging and facebooking... the trials I have to struggle through in life, good thing I have the grace of Gd to get me through! :)

Huge Grace Orphanage

I just got to visit the Huge Grace Orphanage with some people from my fellowship here this morning. It's an orphanage that takes in disabled kids. This one I got to color with, and really tugged on my heart. He had a hard time walking, but could hold a pencil in his left hand. This is the boy that my 3rd grade class is going to make a quilt for. His name is Ling Re Mao. I specificlaly went on this trip to see if there was a child that would benefit from our class project, and Ling Re Mao was the one that stuck out to me.



He loved coloring and using markers! He also always did the peace sign when there was a camera out! :)

This special boy(the oldest one there) had autism I think, and ate a crayon while we were there, and i had to fish 1/2 of one out of his mouth that he stole while I was breaking up a couple other kids fighting... He really needed touch, and would grab my head in an odd hug, and then hit his head against mine. At first I let him, but it got a little violent... It was sad to tell him no, becuase you know he just needs love and touch, but it isn't an appropriate way. And seeing the workers, bless their hearts, they aren't as gentle and loving as you'd like - but thye have many kids to take care of all day every day, so Gd bless them for what they do. I wondered while I was there if I could do it - coiuld i take care of special needs kids every day, or even just have one? It breaks your heart... even more than New Life with cute babies in Kenya - becuase you know these kiddos are the outcasts - may not get homes - and have so many special needs.

Even the toddlers had the peace sign down! :) This little toddler was precious! He had a georgous smile!

I got to feed this little toddler lunch. She was so precious, and just wanted to be held. I set her down at the end, and she started to cry when I left.. it was sad. I oculdn't communicate much to them, but it's amazing what you can say to kids with a smile, touch, and a common activity like playing or feeding. I read her a book that had pinyin in it - so I could kind of read it, and learned some new vocabulary for animals! :)

When she was almost done with her food, she acted like she didn't want anything more to eat, so I stopped feeding her even though it looked like the rest of the kids finished all their food already. The worker came by and forced big spoonfuls of food into her mouth - it was so sad. Then she started crying, so the worker stopped forcing her to eat. She loved touching my earings and buttons - and looked at my red nails, and then at her nails like.. "Hey, why don't mine look like that??? "

I got teary eyed multiple times while I was at the orphanage - just so sad to see these kids that were abandonded or orphaned, and to see how precious they are in God's sight, even though they may not have sight or physical abilities. May God ever make our hearts soft towards the widows and orphans... for they were those who broke God's heart too.

Xi'an - land of the terracotta warriors!

XIAN!!!

One of my favorite parts of Xi'an was the Muslim street - vendors, people, nuts, dried fruit, sugar cane juice! Just a neat place to wander - it felt like home to me - real china.

so i don't think people eat these taffy things since this guy blows on them... but they are pretty interesting to watch him make them! :)

Emily ringing the bell at the bell tower- three times for good luck of course! :)

I beat a drum at the drum tower- it felt good! :)

This was Nathan at age 2- he isn't holding the lighter b/c his brother had to take it away from him to pose with me for the picture - he was lighting firecrackers and throwing them before they exploded - i was amazed at his dexterity and finger control. Maybe i'll experiment with my kids by giving them lighters at a young age as well... :)

We bought balloons and gave them out to kids - in the spirit of the new year! :) It was a fun way to connect with the people.

Happy new year!!! :)

the aftermath of chinese new year... explains how they can set so many off at once - it's just like a canister of explosives! :)

Shooting off my first Chinese firecracker - on Chinese New Year, in the land of pyromaniacs! It was breathtaking. my life finally feels complete... i can die now...

THE SOLDIERS!!!

My favorite warrior - he looks like he's doing kung fu.

They are marching, marching, marching...

Ok -= don't get it - besides being two stories tall and creepy - he's holding the hand of a doll - supposedly showing the bridge between ancient and modern cultures... still is creepy....

I loved the detail in the soldier s- all created to be replicas of themselves - meticulously painted and sculpted.

notice the braids on his head... you could even see his strands of hair!


Pit #1 - they wouldn't let us down in it - only Clinton has been able to go inside - but we were astounded at the magnitude!

Oh - we found these creepy soldiers hanging around...

and more soldiers...

Ban Po Museum - an archeoligical dig we got to visit.

Facing west - a sign of honor since that is the way you supposedly rise into the next life?

South Gate - Xi'an has it's old city wall still in tact - quite incredible, and I got to bike ride on it while the sun was setting on our last day in the city - spectacular. We got to stay insie the old city walls - it was a convenient location very near the heart of the city and the fireworks - so we got to truly experience chinese new year in all its glory.