This is no trick photography, that's actually my hair. Maybe I should wear it like this to make my body look smaller.
One of the night markets here is called 'snake alley' because of the restaurants that serve snake. Some of them have snakes sitting out to pet like this one, and one shop even have a cobra sitting out (see the picture below) They drug it, so it just sits there with it's neck flat, staring at everyone walking by. Just as I went to take a picture, the guy pushed it's head down with a stick and put it away. (They don't like you to take pictures) We don't go there often, and we've never eaten the snake. The main reason I have gone is because it's the best place to get cheap chinese clothing for kids.
I was really excited to watch the dragonboat races, but Nate's work had a co-ed team that needed more women, so I actually got to participate. Our team won the first race, so we raced again the next day-against 3 high school teams. Needless to say, that was our last race.
We practiced all month, and my arms are in great shape now. I challenged Nate to an arm-wrestling contest, but he's too afraid.
The flag-catcher has the funnest job...
There's nothing like a good victory squid-on-a-stick! (Yes, I ate it)
Last week for a young woman activity we went for a bike ride, but when we got to the bike rental store, we had to wait for our bikes to be assembled because the store had just opened and we were the first customers. So we took jumping pictures of everyone to kill the time while we waited.
Quinn, Sydney, Kasumi, Jelica, and Caitlin
Evan and Reed
Carrie
Mackenzie (you make it look so effortless!)
Kasumi
Sydney
Chiu-yi
Me
Jelica
Caitlin
On Saturday, Josh & Chiu-yi invited us to Danshui to a festival of some kind, (Chiu-yi doesn't really know how to explain it in english) it had something to do with killing pigs because there were dead pigs everywhere on display as offerings to the gods. We called it the pig festival. Chiu-yi's family was chosen to organize it this year for 9 villages.
There were also some pretty cool performances. This Lion Dance was our favorite.
This one wins the 'stupidest' award.
I threw this one on just so you can tell how much skill it takes to play chinese instruments. And I don't think your speakers can play this as loud as it actually was in person.
Just in case the pictures weren't enough for you, here is a video of our 'Modern Toilet' experience. Enjoy!
As you can see, the chairs are toilet seats and the table is a glass-covered sink. The light-up urinal on the wall provides a touch of mood-lighting to the ambiance of the place.
What?!? Souvenir urinal bottles? Heck ya, we'll take those!
Mmmmm....that's the best drink I've ever had out of a bedpan!
Carrie ordered lemonade (she really didn't think that through, did she?) and here in Taiwan they always add this sour dried plum to your lemonade, which added just a little bit too much reality to the situation.
And then our food came. Curry sounds good until you see it in a toilet bowl, doesn't it?
Mmmm, this toilet smells great!
We never did figure out what some of the things in our toilets were...
And last but not least, our desserts came in a squatter dish. (Some of you lucky people may not know what a squatter is, but if you think about it long enough, you'll figure it out) We chose the chocolate poo poo platter over the strawberry bloody stool dessert. What, I didn't name them!
Souvenir poop, anyone?
There are so many things about Taiwan that make me laugh, and this is one of them. Whenever they are working on the road, they put one of these big dummies with flags on his arms, and some of them are motorized so that the flags wave up and down.
Today I saw this guy walking along holding his coat over his head like a criminal. This is to protect him from the sun, even though it's overcast. They also wear these nifty arm covers that all the scooter-riders use. It makes me laugh.
Not only do I wonder what this guy is carrying on his scooter, but I'm also wondering how he can see where he is going. It's amazing the things you can transport on a scooter. I've seen huge plants, big dogs, furniture, you name it. The scariest is when you see someone with a baby tied onto their back with a bedsheet. Today I saw a lady driving a scooter with one hand, holding a tiny baby in the other arm.
Can I get some of those 'lubrifiants' you're advertising?
The signs here are awesome!
Only in Taiwan can you get a free package of red envelopes with your Huggies purchase!
This is a doll specifically designed to give little children nightmares. how creepy is that?!?
Mmmmm...
That's our parking spot here in our apartment building. No, not the empty spot on the right. Ours is the empty spot on the left, and that is a Mercedes SUV parked directly behind our parking spot. It's a really good thing that we don't have a car here, because there is just NO WAY!
This is the my favorite thing about our apartment building! I can go out on the balcony every morning and laugh at the people exercising at the park across the street. I don't know why, but they think it's really good exercise to swing the arms. Some other great fitness techniques include punching your body with your fist, and banging your back on a tree. Check out the guy twisting on the left. I'm not sure exactly which muscle group he's working, but maybe in about a month he'll burn off the calories from that cho-dofu he ate last night!
