"Did He Eat It?"

I don't think I have to tell you what was put on my plate next, I think you can guess from the photo:

PS- I'm not referring to the soy sauce

Answer

Yes, my friends, I ate it. What did it taste like? (cue 'big reveal' music!) fish. With lots of tiny bones. I'll post round two tomorrow.

"Did He Eat It?"

I know you guys have been salivating to see the next addition, well...here it is! However, this is going to be a series of "Did He Eat It?" We went to a 'shabu-shabu' restaurant which I beileve is Japanese for 'good Lord no!' Just kidding, I think it's Japanese for 'hot-pot'. (If you look closely, very closely you can see my chopsticks acting as a pointing mechanism taking your eyes towards the elegant copper pot which represents the 'pot-that-is-hot') Anyway, back to the show, this was casually introduced to us by our friends Leonard and Marcy:

"oh, that's good, it's fish jaw."

"what?"

"fish jaw"

"you mean jaw jaw. like chew jaw"

"yup"

"I see"

Ok, did he or didn't he (that's a big jaw even in the picture)

ps- look for more to come!

For the Love of Language!

So I've been speaking with some people and have realized that tones in Mandarin really do matter. I'll give you a few examples of how using the wrong tone on one word say 'juan' (that's pronounced jew-ann not a name). I think I say 'booklet' but I actually say 'curly'. No wonder they look at me funny.

Another example is at the hardware store I'm looking for some two-sided tape and wanted to say "for example if you hang something on the wall" but I said "for example if you hang in bed". Or when I told my professor that our college has many "special characteristics" but actually said "it's trash". Or when I was trying to use the word 'maybe' but said 'Jesus'. Or when I said "no thanks I do not want your booklet" to someone who was handing out some sales material I said, "no thanks, I don't want your curly". Oh, and my favorite is if you mess up the tones on the phrase "wear glasses" it sounds like "to carry eyeballs".

I'm sure there are more, I just can't think of them now.

Jessie's Continued Job Update

I just realized that I have about two posts in this whole thing without pictures. You guys are getting spoiled, so this one will help ween you off.

Jess has had a job teaching youngsters English for about a month now. Well she just recently got two more "jobs", she's crazy! Just kidding.

She was recently hired at a "cram school" which is basically an after school program to teach English to kids ages 6-12. This position is in the evening but is only going to be for a month and a half due to the current teacher going on a break. She also took on a tutor student who is studying to go to college in the US. So her days are going to be full.

Continue to pray for our encouragement of one another and our growth not only in Christ but in each other. 

PS- Sometimes we ask ourselves wether we will be seen as weird if we do one thing or another (e.g. eating things that are really big with your hands instead of chopsticks) but we've come up with a new motto: "Do it! Because we're weird anyway!"

Easter Sunrise

I know that this is a little late but these are two pictures from our Easter Sunrise service that we attended at the local Baptist Church. I took these while the pastor was praying...is that wrong? Anyway, here you go.

Our Trip to Danshui

Ok, we took a small trip to a town north of Taipei (although it's still technically considered Taipei...and we rode the subway there) called Danshui (pronounced danshway). It was crazy! So many people and so many interesting things. I almost had an instant "did he eat it" classic but I couldn't find it when I got up the nerve to try it. I won't ruin the surprise because now I'm on the look out for it. Coming soon....

This is a cotton candy machine....on the back of a scooter

Temple arcitecture (they really like dragons)

We found a wonderful ice cream parlor that was painted on the outside with cow "patches" so we couldn't miss it. This is called "Obama (yes, that one) Chocolate" 

This is a Spanish fort that was built when (surprise) the Spanish ran this port

Looking out to the port from the fort

This is another view

This is a grub (not at the fort). This was at a store called "Starbugs" (get it?). This guy was for sale for $50! Just kidding that's 50 taiwan dollars which is around $1.50 not bad. However, I liked the Dung Beetle but the owner wouldn't let me take a picture of him, he's shy.

Here's the crowd...and the garbage truck. The garbage trucks play a Muzak version of "Fleur-De-Lis" to let you know they're coming. Haven't quite understood that one. Oh, see if you can spot the two crazy things in this picture. (hint:hair & ice cream [that's a really good hint])

This is Valentine Bridge named after St. Valentino of Portugal.....just kidding, I have no idea who it was named after. But it is Valentine Bridge

That's looking towards China, can you see them? They're watching you!

Another shot of the bridge at dusk

Happy Tomb Sweeping Day!!!!

Well this past weekend was a national holiday, "Tomb Sweeping Day"! We had a couple of days off so we decided to go on a trip. Our destination you ask? Alishan (pronounced like the name Alison but with an 'sh') National Forest. We had read and heard some good things about the place so we thought about it and took the plunge. It's well over half-way down the island so we thought we might be in for a haul, however, the high-speed train got us there in around an hour. That was pretty nice. We were going to spend a night in the city that is just outside the "Forest Area" called Jiayi. Jiayi welcomed us with what Jess called "the best bathroom ever". She immediately took a bath and I went on to find out where to purchase our bus tickets to the famed Alishan ('shan' means mountain so the name is literally Ali mountain). Got our tickets for the next day and then we went to the local night market for some festive goodies (no bread/guns though). 

Saturdays bus took us to Alishan, once we checked in we found out where to buy our train tickets for the famed 'sunrise' on another mountain called Zhushan (pronounced Joo, so Joo mountain). We were promptly notified that the train will depart at 3:40am. Excuse me? Yes. Crap! So we went on a little nature hike that made Jason wonder why God made mountains so high and steep then off to bed to watch 'Animal ER' until we dazed off. (Hey, we get three Chinese channels at home, so when there's Animal Planet available we watch it baby!) We got up at 2:45 to get on the train with what seemed like the rest of Taiwan. There were so many people it was unbelievable. The sunrise was beautiful, except for the man on the loudspeaker who was apparently giving some vital information b/c everyone seemed fixated on him. Jessie kept asking me what he was saying and I would act like I was thinking about how to translate the complex meaning but then would say, "I have absolutely no idea". That way she thinks for a brief moment that I'm really smart.

The ride back to our departure city was quite a ride. The bus driver felt it necessary to go about what I would say was 50mph down the mountain. Which immediately made Jessie the most sick she's been in years. We got off and decided to go to a local "pub" for "pub food" because we had had enough of tofu and shredded pork! The pub was closed unfortunately. We were bummed but when we got back to Taipei's train station we saw a beacon of light shinning on a provision from the Lord, that manna from heaven.......a Lebanese restaurant! In Taipei you inquire? Yes I say, and it was wonderful. Food courts here are actually nice. All in all a good trip for the Mannings. By the way, did you sweep out your tomb?

So these are a few samplings from our picture collection:

The Mannings on the high-speed rail. If you look in the window you'll notice....nothing, we're in a tunnel. (You looked anyway didn't you?)

We got lost in Jiayi, so I went inside a store to ask directions. The lady said it's really far so she closed her shop and gave us our first ever scooter ride to our destination. We were shocked by her generosity, the Taiwanese will often surprise you. It was also funny because when Jason was on the back of the scooter he could actually see over the head of the driver quite nicely. Jason felt like Shaquille O'Neil.

This youngster at the night market literally throws and catches your drink (milk tea) from cup to cup in order to mix it. This picture doesn't do it justice but at one point her arms were spread as far apart as they could go as she tossed it. Then she poured your tea in a.......

....BAG! With a straw! 

The fateful 3:40 train...which left at 3:30, be early, they wait for no one!

Breakfast of Champions

About 5am

5:30am

6:30am. They refer to this as the "Sea of Clouds"

Another Night Market!

We went to yet another night market last night! They're everywhere! This one was one of the best so far. (Helped along by the fact that there was only one stinky tofu stalls) There was good food and good fun. Check out the funky finds below:

Here's the lantern lit entrace

Here's one of those famous "claw" games. However, the prize for the valiant warrior who is lucky enough to win is............bread

This my friends is a piece of fried bread made into the shape of a gun, enough said

If you look between the lady and the stroller on the other side of the table you can see a little girl. This girl was at the helm of the loudest karaoke machine I have ever heard. The great thing is that she was singing Chinese songs so we had no idea whether she was getting it right or not. The entire market was roaring with laughter.