#Soooo many 13 years old US KARENS | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

curiouskarenscapers2017 · 7 years ago

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Volume Two – September 2004

Ni Hao! (Chinese for hello remember)

Ok, so after about three tries we got it right and the teething problems are over, we are at press!

Thanks for all the compliments and please, if there is anything specific you want me to check out lemme know, it will make my life more interesting here!

I got the photo’s downloaded and we’re A for away. Will let you know about those.

Anyway, where were we, oh yes. We lost the two Canadian girls and got a South African, Penelope (Pen for short, because the locals had a problem saying the name) and the Canadian Kimberley (Kim for short, just easier) a day later instead. Poor Penelope’s luggage never left SA and two days later she got them delivered to the school by Cathy Pacific! They were put in a new apartment just down the road from us. Pen was having a very hard time about it. They were shoved into teaching the next day with no training whatsoever.!! Hectic, now where did I hear that before……oh yes, it happened to me too!! Anyway, the weekend they had time to breath after a terrible and disastrous two days teaching. They would be fine. I told them they must just calm down over the weekend, do an orientation stint then while it’s quiet and brace themselves for Monday. It will be better and it does get better. My week was a total nightmare hours wise. 13 hrs a day, 71 hours a weak, 306 hrs a month! But obviously I’m not being paid for the hours spent at the office only teaching hours are billed. It’s cruel!!! The initial 3months are used for training then after that you can go home if you don’t have class. For the first 3 months you have to stay at the office weekdays from 1pm – 9pm and Saturdays from 10am – 4pm. This is fine if you are not doing a kindergarten class that starts at 9am and you have to be there at 8am to prepare! So all in all my 1st three months will be 8am -9pm. Cool!!!!!

Anyway, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!! I finally went to the night market the other night. What an experience!!!! It was a maze of narrow rows between hundreds if little stalls that ranged from food to gadgets and of course the cell phone stores in between!!! My word! The food, the smells and some of the smells…..eeeeeuuuuwww. But overall the food look appetizing and very oily, everything is fried…fried dumplings, fried, noodles, fried meat etc. etc. ect. But what a vibe, Tuesday nights and Friday nights the night markets lives on, with people flowing like blood through it’s veins. Awesome. Better than Leki in Lagos. But different in a way as well. I liked Leki for the unusual stuff, with the odd little Chinese store in between, here most of it is shiny, glittery and it looks like Taiwan is stuck in the eighties!! So I’ll do the expected and start buying cool glittery hair clips and baubles for my hair, seeing as I don’t have much of a choice in the heat, I’m tying it up…can you guys believe it!!

Some beautiful hair stuff. Stunning Jade jewelry. Small trinkets for about NTS300 = R60 to NTS3000 = R 600. Stunning bangles of jade as well. You get a light white jade with a hint of green and then others are dark green. All little religious symbols and things you find at our Chinese stores back home as well as some different ones. This market is just interesting with all it’s stuff and smells. The gadgets are the best, the lighters are awesome, everything flashes!! Lot’s of CD’s DVD’s and VCD’s. All quite cheap. Didn’t look too closely as I was swept away by the stream. Boy what a stream!!! It’s like the game with the frog that has to jump across the road and avoid being hit by a the cars, level advanced!!!! I actually at one stage had to fall back in the stream the way I came and pop out a quiet pooled area on the opposite side and make my way upstream along the side I wanted to get to in the first place!!!! Anyway, it was a great experience and I saw lots of stuff for everybody. The girls will love the hair gadgets and clips and the brother will love the guys shirts here, very with it and clubby!!! The interesting food caught my eye as I was bustled by. Ducks head an neck fried to a crisp, Chicken feet fried to a crisp!!

Saturday I did my time at the school, had to teach 2 classes and then started on this volume. The girls are moving today which means I am moving into the big room with the en suite bathroom, going to miss them and the dogs!! Will go visit as Teri is leaving in 5 sleeps and poor Abby will be alone at home with the kids!

I had a weird traditional food on the Saturday that taste like raw dough…my favourite….but has a spicy or sweet centre that looks like fried onions. Weird, but ok. Won’t buy too many of those. They also look like the green goo we used to buy when we were kids that didn’t stick to your hands, it just kind of went through your fingers but left your hands clean. These balls were like that, they stuck to the plastic they were in but didn’t come apart or leave goo behind…very interesting food. Wonder if it will stick to a car window at a high speed………

Anyway, I moved and have never in my life sweated so much as when I was cleaning out our flat when the girls left. My word, it was soooo hot on Saturday, I went to bed in the quiet apartment and Sunday spent time going through all the left behinds to see what is useable and what’s not. A whole new way of life for me!!!! You don’t want to end up buying something expensive and you can’t take it with! So use what’s left behind and save on costs. The en suite shower is quite an experience, in there being no shower!!! The is a wall mounted tap set and the shower head and away you go, next to the loo in the middle of the bathroom, no curtain, no indent just a slight downward angle and two draining holes…..quite cool actually. Maybe it would be a good idea for the resort…a fiberglass bathroom floor, raised and sealed along the edges and everything in it. Easy cleaning for the crew, you don’t need a bath for the resort and it’s hygienic! Viola, all these ideas!!! I tell you!

So I finally get the dreaded cold I was bracing myself with Vitamin tablets against!!! Got it after Sunday’s cleaning and felt it more on Monday, Tuesday evening I had it full blast with a day from hell the next! Like I said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger….right?….just incase you don’t hear from me again after this edition…….I love you all!!!! I mean it!!! Naaah not this “onkruid”.

Judy (the owner) was shaking her head in disbelief at the most amazing and well timed, managed, organized way my passport and visa was done compared to EVERYONE ELSE. For some weird reason, I’m the only one with no problems getting a 60day visa, secondly for some unknown reason my visa is the only one, now that they did leave it too late to get the ARC in time, able to be renewed until Oct 21 at the local police station without having to leave the country!! Strange but true, I’ve been telling everybody I’m easy and nobody believes me!!! I’m being looked after big time……as usual. Anyway, I have a three empty rooms, and I know who’s all living in them at the moment while there is space….once again!!!!

So, this is a sign for them maybe to…..I don’t know….hurry the process up a bit with the ARC!!! I’ll stay on them. Just a reminder if I haven’t mentioned it before, the ARC is the Alien Residency Certificate, basically allows me to stay here and work.

(Verimark add scenario)This new rice diet I have tried really works for me! I can’t believe the results! I was a lonely fat teenager all my life and the Chowfan rice diet has change all that!! I can look at people and say….yes, it’s me!!! …No really it’s me, me? Karen, remember? No really it IS! Look, see it’s me…..yes!! Over here, it’s me, I’m here!!!…..okay, maybe not THAT thin yet, but the loss of 10kg’s in my first month and a half, says something for the Chinese people’s cooking. There are very few obese people here, except for the foreigners who eat things like, fried dumplings, fried calamari, fried rice, tipenyaki and all the 7eleven can offer, because of their money that is. But once again, money is the root of fat, the less money the thinner you are….so I have come to the equation – no money = thinner! Eureeeeekkkkaaaa! I better hide my money away from myself after payday! But where….where?????

In my huge room I now have, I have cordoned off a section for exercising. I got some foam tiles you buy in a pack of 6/8 and you connect them to form a mat. I do my sit up/push ups etc all on this little piece of lime green foam. Good to have an exercise routine, I have been missing it! Made a list of what I need for the flat, so that I can go get it this weekend after payday Friday!!! Wonder what we’ll be getting?!!!?

Saw Teri off on Wednesday night at work…can’t believe she’ll be at home tomorrow sometime. Weird to think she’ll see boetie before I do! And I probably won’t see him for nearly a year! Never happened before!! I’ll have to organize…and what about the family, what about my friends and the cats…….aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Anyway, I’ll survive!

Found out a few minutes ago that we don’t have to sit here for the whole 13 hours a day, so we won’t!! Not that my classes are scheduled in such a way that it will benefit me though. But the small gaps in between might help getting away a bit! We’ll see how that goes.

Well I it finally happened again and this time I gave in to my deepest maternal instinct! The first time, someone found a few weeks old stray puppy and I refused point blank, emotionally, space wise and this place is no place for a dog. No grass, no fresh air, no…..wait, I want those things!!!! Anyway, so yesterday evening Abby and Teri was taking out their trash when they found a 3 week old orphaned kitten. She asked me today whether I would please take care of it, I didn’t want to, I said I don’t know, really I did, I was soo strong!!!!! Then I remembered last night when I got home, to my huge empty flat with no life in it at all…….! And then it happened…that little niggly feeling deep down inside, what will happen to this little orphaned kitten? Who will help it? Here? no one!

With typhoon season in full swing, it will probably drown in the trash or get swept away down a drain or…what if the stray dogs eat it??? What then??? It got to this stage and obviously needed help to have a full happy life further, it was meant to be found by them and be taken care of by me! It will have a wonderful life!!! It might just become the flat cat! I’ll see him tonight (Thursday 9/9)

We’re making plans to do the Carrefour journey this weekend to get all the necessary living items. Like bedding!!! I have been sleeping on a fitted sheet and a pillow! Amazing how it turned out that we got here in Summer, Winter would have been a bit funny with no bedding!!! Anyway, it’s not and I don’t have to! Carrefour is actually just around the corner, well sort of, maybe about 5km’s away. Can’t wait.

Ok, so off we went on Saturday after school at about 5pm. What a place!! About three stories high with everything your heart desires! From toiletries to food to bikes to hi-tech stuff……I was like a kid in the proverbial candy store!!! And every time I saw something I saw something else at the same time and bumped into myself a few times until we both pulled in the same direction!!! Stunning!!! Got stuff for the flat, like a wine opener!!!!!! Got bedding at long last, now my bed looks like a bed not a temporary couch I spent a month and a half on. Also the temperature is slowly declining at night and in the wee morning hours, so the new fluffy thick duvet with my different types of blue colouring looks homely and cozy!! You have never bought so blind as here. 1 picture with a full bed set on it. 4 pillows, 1 duvet, 1 fitted sheet and when you open it you have 1 pillow case and a duvet cover. Then you buy another to see whether you could get it as close as possible to the colour and then you find a fitted sheet with 1 pillow case in another….so at the end of the day you have a semi matching set consisting of a denim blue duvet cover with a check pattern and a light blue broad border that isn’t on the picture, a bright blue fitted sheet with circles on it and matching pillow cases and an old night frill around the bed frame that was left in the flat of a different blue….viola!!!!!

Anyway, I sleep well and it feels more like home!! Back at the store! I was still shopping away. Myself, Jane and Melissa(the new Canadian girl that is sharing with me). She was a legal secretary for 8years and decided to do something different, got married the day before she got here! Hectic!!!

So we stopped at the cats/pet section and I got Draco/ Shao Long (Little dragon) a sandbox, very fancy, we should get one for the cats back home!! Some Friskies for cats and Purina for kittens. Jane (one of the Chinese teachers here) was my shopping planner/co-ordinator. She eventually took my list and off she went! People were checking us out because we were probably the loudest shoppers in the mall, well definitely the most excited ones!!! So, we got all the basics and some nice things, checked out the bikes and saw a stunning red Coca Cola bike, but it was a bit of a girls bike….but really cool looking! I eventually left it for now as I wanted to check out the bike place where all the other teachers go for bikes. A toaster, a vacuum cleaner and a few other essentials came to a very reasonable price! We would never pay that in SA for all the things we bought! The coolest part was between the different levels where they had a walking escalator not a stairs one. The best part is that the trolley’s are magnetized and sticks to the escalator!!! You can’t move it!!!! Even with a full trolley, it didn’t budge up and down the escalator…cool!!!! I even approached it at a running speed….amazing! I will definitely go back there. We called the taxi and at about 7o’clock we left Carrefour!! I want to go try out all my stuff at home! Can’t wait!

So that evening the other girls came over, Pen and Kim and we (or rather Melissa) made stir fry, we watched a movie and they left with plans for going exploring tomorrow morning to find the everything store!

Well what a variety of everything stores this place has. Just when you thought this is definitely the everything store you walk into one that has more everything than the first one! I was so sure I got it until we actually got it! We walked a mile….but we were in good spirits and it went quickly. Our first stop was a video/DVD store where we enquired as to how much to rent etc. etc. Worked out to NTS1000 for 80 DVD’s That is a good deal compared to our Blockbuster deals. R200 for 80 DVD’s!! We’ll remember that and we filed down the road again. Next stop was the Pizza shop. Stunning little yellow shop with inside seating and two tables outside. We opted for inside as the aircon does make a difference in a place like this. A small pizza and iced tea worked out to about just over R10 something. Very good as well, I took a membership card as we left and immediately got it stamped!! We’ll be back!! Next stop was a big pharmacy on the corner of a main intersection. They even have a counter as to when the lights will change, this one started at 80sec and counted down. Cool really. Anyway, the pharmacy had quite a bit of paraphernalia and interesting weird stuff. A huge baby section was located upstairs. It’s quite a big deal having children here and they definitely cater for it! Didn’t find what we wanted, which was for me to get nail glue! Everything else is false around here except nails……….

Then we went across the road and found a huge book/stationery store. Cool, books below and stationery above. I left the girls to wonder around in their as I continued my quest for the everything store……just past the book store I found it, I’m sure of it!! A crammed supermarket type shop with everything in it. Looks like a typical Indian shop, you can’t move in the isles. Lots of food and further down lots of household stuff, like cutlery dustbin bags for cheap and then a huge section with beer….interesting! Got two little dustbins for the bathrooms, lots of bags for them and the big dustbin in the kitchen and was off to find the girls and let them know! Got back to the bookstore and they had disappeared into the myriad of shops in Changhua, swallowed by the black hole of consumer marketing and products on demand! So what to do…do I go on shopping or do I go find them….hmmmm…sat on the corner like a foreigner for a few minutes, nothing, walked up a while and side ways, nothing….Oh well, they’re all together so I’ll go exploring down this way………found some shoe shops and a huge everything shop with red writing further down the road. Cool and they had a little bit of nail glue! Must remember this place! Got some sparkly stuff for my hair and felt like a kid again. One with neon orange flower bits with a clear bauble behind it, two with two pink squares on either side with a mother of pearl shine and one with clear squares and a red elastic. Cool!!!!

Walked out and back down the street and as I came to the corner again they were crossing the road. I told them about the shop and they wanted to go see it. I waited at Mac Donald’s with Kim and had a Lemon Coke. We started our journey back nearly 4 hours later. Stopped at the Yellow store, a huge yellow electronics store called BC. Lots of gadgets in here!!!! Translators, camera’s MPR3 players to die for, CD players, TV’s you name it. Laptops are the same to a tad cheaper that home. HP Presario’s at about NT35 000 which works out to about R7 000 to more. I was hoping for much cheaper but they too import them. Then we checked out the Hi Fi section and we all had our favourites. I got a small Philips Hi Fi with a sound to die for and all the extras including a USB port to connect your laptop to it to play MP3’s. Also plays MP3, CD’s RWCD etc etc etc etc. Boetie, will love this!! Nee, dis myne!!! Stunning little thing for under a R1000. They had to order one. Got two fluorescent lamps for the bathroom and kitchen and we were off again. Got closer to home and found a huge fresh market. Walked in and they had all sorts in there! ALL SORTS. We took a quick route past the live chickens being slaughtered and checked out the seafood and other meats. Interesting but also very fresh and good pricing. Calamari to die for doll, squid, octopus, shrimps, clams bubbling away in their cold water crates, eels and al sorts of fish. I wonder if they have butter fish, we had it in Paternoster as part of our sea food platter, I could make a huge seafood platter with these things!!! At the end they had pastries and it smelled stunning! We left and suddenly walked into “The Everything store”. From pots and pans to electrical things in one huge corrugated iron room. Got a lamp for next to my bed, a squeegee to clean the floors with and Melissa also got some stuff. We were nearly home and passed so many eating places on the way. We made an arrangement that once a month we will try out one of the eating places, maybe twice a month as there are so many!!!! Got home, the girls left and I did my hair and nails and went to bed….a good shopping day!!!

The week started with a bang and I was back into my 13hour shifts. Although I had no class on the Monday until the afternoon! Then later I found out they went to the Confucian temple! I wanted to go tooooooo! Abby got the brochure and we’ll go soon. The week flew by and the guys from BC phoned me to come fetch the HiFi. I organized with Jane, my new Chinese best friend, and after work on Wednesday we got on her scooter and went to go fetch it! Great, it was there and they had it waiting. The box was not too big but just uncomfortably sized. At least it had handle holes on the sides. So we started planning how we were going to get the box, me and her on the scooter, so Jane suggested I ride and she’ll hold the box, I advised against that option as she knows her bike better and will be able to counter weight etc etc . So she got on, I got on with the box resting on my left knee and leaning to the right and we were off. The poor scooter! Thank goodness it didn’t rain. We dodged a few cars, had to organize space for us to squeeze through and we got home. I obviously immediately started assembling the thing well into the evening and borrowed CD’s from Melissa to check whether the 5CD changer option worked well! It did, and what sound!!! I’m happy, I have a real room now, bed and Hifi what more do you want! Now, I’ll need to get CD’s!!!! Leki market used to have them at R25 a CD in Nigeria, get this, here, none of them are over NT35 which is R7….I’ll stay here…please send your lists through to me!!!

Anyway, Friday arrived and I had to go to the new school. Asked Judy for her scooter and she said no……..what?…no? What do you mean no? If I have enough time they want us to either walk or ride our own bikes because of the safety hazard on scooters. FINE!!! I’ll take my bike!! I started cycling in about 30C heat and in jeans! It was great! I had such a cool cycle. With the bicycle you go past things slower and you can actually see shops….more shops….cool places to come visit! I made it to the school in just under 20min. Shows you what the scooter does to you, it makes you lazy!! I had a good workout while window shopping. Today they had a world Peace moment from 2:00 to 2:30 and no cars drove around….best time to get where you want to! On my way back from the school, I saw many army trucks and a road block….so much for world peace!!!

I had the weirdest epiphany while cycling back to the school. I suddenly realized fully I was in Taiwan. A country I have only heard about in my entire 34 years. The other side of the world. If I start digging now I’ll come out in Jo’burg somewhere….I’m sure of it. It was so cool, I looked around me saw the emerald green rice paddies in the fields between the buildings, suddenly was aware of all the Asian people around, the writing and the odours from the shops and small votive temples along side the road! Wow, I’m really here! Cool!!! I’ll let everybody know……oh wait, they already do, I’ve been here for two months on the 24th already. Ok then.

There is a Moon Festival party on the 24th in our complex and we are all going! I’ll take pictures! This Saturday is Kim’s birthday party at the Flamingo and we’ll go flea marketing or something on Sunday.

Well, the party at Flamingo’s turned out to be quite the party so we cancelled Sunday! It was great. We were all sitting there and even the Chinese teachers joined in! Melissa and I bought a small little cake at the night market on the Friday. It’s a bout a A5 size compared to a A4 sized cake….if you get the picture. We whipped it out, got the stale sparklers going….my idea of course and sang while the sparklers were going haywire and nearly burning the pub down….so typical!!!

Anyway, we sang for Kim and Sara. Sara is one of the front desk ladies that help us in all our teachings and materials for teachings etc etc etc. It was her 22 birthday to……….WHAT!!! 22….wow, when was that? 19………sad hey? I’m ok…I’m ok. So there we were, Sunny the owner is quite the cool Chinese guy and the place just got fuller and fuller. And guess what, all foreign people, they were coming out of the woodwork!!! Even more SAfricans emerged. From Cape Town nogal! It was great seeing normal faces where ever you looked. Weird! We had a ball and left at about 2:30. In bed by 3:00am and sound asleep. Sunday we woke up after 10 and remembered we organized to go to the morning market near Abby’s place. Nothing happened and I went to the roof to go read my book and relax in the sun. We had a craving for KFC and I went to go fetch it down the road. All the tour buses were parked outside the temples and people were in the streets with their uniforms on waving little flags. Interesting, obviously celebrating the moon festival period. At about 5pm Abby arrived and we all just sat and chatted and watched 2 CSI Miami’s in a row and she left. The one day weekend went so quickly….why?????

So the rest of the week went by. And I had to go get an extension on my Visa….after all that!!! Lucky….once again for me, I could do it at the local police station 2min from the school. I came to school early on Tuesday, got everything organized and was off. Got there and this huge fancy Police Station looks more like a hotel foyer than a police station in our country! So I ask the guy at the front desk what I should do and he gave me a form and I filled it out. Now, they are not supposed to know that I am working. I am only extending my Visa for the sake of holidaying a bit more. I had to go to a room around the corner and spoke to a very straight forward Chinese lady. I had to get the friend that I was staying with to come in and then it changed to I should get this other form filled in by the friend. So off I go again and in between my lessons, Mr Woo (Judy’s husband) got everything filled in for me. And at about 13:30 off I go again. Then the back office people were on lunch and they’ll be back at 2:00. Ok then, back to school and only at about 4:00 could I go through again and they close at 5pm. So off I went again! This time there was a guy that could help me. Very funny guy…don’t know his name. After a barrage of questions, he said to me “OK, I give you two months.” I couldn’t believe my ears. From a normal 2 month visa I’m getting nearly 5 months wear out of it!. Coollll!!! Anyway, as we were talking he said that I must just get a work permit before I start working here….I was like, what was that? Noooooooo, I’m off to Sun Moon Lake and my friends want me to stay for the Moon Festival etc etc. He just smiled and handed me my passport with my extended two month visa. He knows, I know it. I think they get so many people doing the same thing and the next week or two you face him again with a work permit!!!! Teeheeeee.

So there I was, free from any stress of having to leave the country to get a renewal, although a trip to Hong Kong or Thailand would have been great round about now!

Friday arrived and we were all so paste with working so many hours that we were a bit lethargic when we spoke about the Moon festival party at our apartments. We said we’ll see what they have going when we get home. Got home and it was one big Karaoke event with families sitting around their tables and eating and braaiing. So more of a thanksgiving party kind of thing. We decided to give it a miss and have our own. The girls and Ryno pitched in and we christened our rusted braai that has never been used and after a tremendous Smokey Robinson effect in our flat we ate at about 1am. We all just chatted , listened to music and never got around to the 10 VCD’s on the table Abby brought. I got some fish and meat at Yumawo and some mayonnaise for the potato salad Abby was going to make. Got wine and was ready to party. Kim, Abby, Neps, Melissa, Ryno, myself and the Draco(the cat). He had a ball with all the attention and we realized that he had grown double his size since he was found, just skin and bones. He was eventually passed out hanging over the couch arm behind the wine bottles. Would have been a cool photo!!

Found Ming Chia Mei on Thursday, Abby took me to show me where it was. What a shop. Like a huge double story Clicks! Everything you want regarding cosmetics, clothes, shoes, snacky types of foods and kitchen stuff. To die for doll and everything is on sale! They have absolutely all types of things here and even things I recognize from home although the names are different. Once again the logo’s stay the same! Thank goodness. Taking the rest of the girls there on Saturday after school.

It’s Joyce’s birthday on Tuesday and everyone is invited to a coffee shop around the corner called Vogue. They have a strange way of celebrating their birthdays. Just a tea with the friends late afternoonish and then that’s it! No presents, no party till dawn, no nothing, just a card and a cake to die for! I must say, they rival the Germans with pastries here! Their cakes are quite a big thing here for special occasions. The night at Flaming when we whipped out our A5 sized cake they maneuvered in a cake that makes ours look like a cup cake! The box alone is impressive with gold writing on a cream background and the famous, nasty translations of a once stunning birthday wish or something. I’ll enclose some of the translations here……you will kill yourself laughing if you get over the confusion part……WHAT? Can you say that? Is there such a sentence pattern?

It’s the thought that counts! So, tomorrow, Sunday 26/9 we are off to the Moon Carnival at Sun Moon Lake, about an hour or two from Changhua. Can’t wait, camera ready, batteries new….ready, pose, shoot!!

Just as well I did take the extra batteries and my original memory card because I filled it all! I still had photo’s on the cards from the beginning of my trip. I got it downloaded at a little Fuji camera shop. So now we can start seeing what’s going on. Well, what a jol this weekend was.

We got up at about 7am, got a taxi to the train station, Kim, Neps and me. We met up with three new people we didn’t know but that were friends of Abby’s and Nicolene. We explored the train station for the first time and boy, am I going to travel now!!! It’s like a gateway to anywhere! NTS 27 = R5 for a trip to Taichung. Coool!!! Anyway, we had 3 min to get to the platform and we got on the train and was off.

Reminded me of the last time I rode on a train. London underground and this was so similar. We got to Taichung station at about 9 and started looking for a bus to Sun Moon Lake.

A guy approached us with a taxi kombi and quoted us a price on taking us there. After about half an hour and exploring different options as well we decided to take him up on his offer. So all 8 of us got into the taxi and off we went. I called him James, the driver. Just so that I could say “Home James” He immediately handed us brochures of Sun Moon Lake. I think he was very well organized for a bunch of foreigners. It was excellent. We eventually paid NTS 250 there and NTS 250 back and boy for our NTS 500, which is about R100 we got a full on guided tour, stops and chauffeuring around the lake that we would never have gotten on a bus! He was looking after us from 9am to 6pm when we got back home! AND he dropped us off in Changhua that we didn’t have to get a train back. It was the best deal out, we’ll definitely use him again, good driver too. He definitely planned it well, had all his connections along the way where we stopped and shopped….clever.

So we arrived at a small town called JiJi.

This little town has a unique tourist attraction which is a animal freak show. Albino snakes and weird animals. We didn’t go in, had other things to do, like shop around.

They were having a festival outside the small JiJi Train station. The small train that uses their railway is called Chi Chi. It’s like a banana express or the Cherry express etc. We were finally ushered into a shop that we didn’t really want to go into with lots of snacks and biscuits etc. We eventually walked out of there with about three paper bags each….empty nogal. I think these Chinese people must think there is something seriously wrong with us foreigners. It is probably like them walking into Checkers in SA and asking for 3 plastic carry bags and being ecstatic about it because they will use it as gift bags for presents back home. That’s us in JiJi. We freaked out about the stunning brown paper bags with a picture and Chinese writing on. I actually felt a tad embarrassed as we were trying to pay for the bags and they refused point blank to take our money for it. So I bought a yogurt to justify getting three stunning paper bags!

Next stop Sun Moon Lake. Our driver serenaded us a bit more and the next minute the blue green water of Sun Moon Lake stretched out before us and a holiday atmosphere was evident. People all over and stalls and colours and food smells! Stunning! Reminded me a lot of Hartebeespoort dam. The water was just clean and green blue because it was clear not full of algae! There was an International swimming contest on as well from one end of the lake to the other!

Quite a distance but on a day like this, what a pleasure! We drove around the lake and I just wanted to get out and start exploring but we kept on driving to the top of a hill where the magnificent Wen Wu Temple sat overlooking the lake! What an impressive site! We got out and started doing the tourist thing. I explored the flea market as we usually do, quite organized so that I don’t miss anything. I came upon a little stall with a honey drink. And obviously had to try it. It is called honey vinegar and it smelled a bit like vinegar but when you taste it, it has the most amazingly refreshing honey taste. I bought two glasses on ice and eventually had to buy the bottle to take it home and make it there! We then got to a stall that had a soup made of 8 different mushrooms in a huge pot. We stopped and had our breakfast there. It was a clear soup with all these mushrooms in and some herbs. Stunning! I never new there were so many different looking mushrooms…..you could eat! From weird little button type mushrooms attached to long stems to the weird huge ones cut up into pieces. I was sure I was going to be quite happy the rest of the day! The tastes were mixed and nothing like our bland Denni’s mushrooms, fresh crisp and spicy tastes and tastes I’ve never tasted before! Devine!

Anyway, we made our way into the temple and had to stop at the curio shop first. The most beautiful Chinese material tops and shoes. Most way to small but they are starting to cater for the fuller figure!

Well, what a temple! If you think the Roman Catholic Cathedrals are ornate and decadent, you must see this! The most amazing wood crafted window panes, the gold filigree in the walls and the statues in the little prayer rooms were amazing craftsmanship! Here was a little shop in the temple about the third floor with the most stunning woodwork I have ever seen, except for ma’s and tannie Elizabeth’s work of course! I took some photo’s. We went right to the top of the roof where it looks out over the different levels of the temple roofs and the lake in the back ground, what an experience, this is what life is all about!!

After that we went to the Peacock and Butterfly park. The peacocks were a tad dodgy an looked like they have been harvested! Shame, they looked OK but a bit worse for wear, not like ours with at least the full plumage. The white ones were a bit dirty but the idea was cool.

The Butterfly park was closed…..since 1999 when they had their bad earthquake. It destroyed many of the buildings, including the butterfly park. We then went back down the hill to the town and where all the people were milling around the swimming contest. Got there and the contest had finished so we decided to go on a boat trip on to the lake. So for about R40 we got a boat of our own and we organized some drinks for our what was going to be a booze cruise. We designed a new shandy called the Taiwan Shandy, which was using Taiwan Beer and Nestea Lemon tea. Stunning, please try it! We just started and we stopped at a little drifting island in the lake.

The whole island which was probably the size of half a rugby field was entirely made out of drifting platforms of plants and flowers with a solid piece of island in the middle with a monument. Beautiful, it nearly looked like it could be Avalon.

At this stage there was a storm brewing and the mists were all over the place and the mountains, making it look just like a Scottish lake. Too beautiful! Their monuments are so well organized and soo much effort had been put into them with quality material and workmanship. The platforms were of a sturdy wood and the tourist information was on pieces of glass framed by the wood. They sandblasted the island shape and information on these pieces of glass along the path as you circle it. Every piece of glass had some information on a plant on the island with pictures of it. Stunning! We were there for about 15 min and was back on the boat off to a town on the opposite side of the lake. This town was the starting point in the swimming race. A long wooden jetty with a pagoda at the end greeted us. As well as a huge blow up bridge with two dolphin shapes bobbing merrily on top of it, probably the starting point of the race.

What a cool little town this was. The colourful poncho’s were lining the streets. This was more a historical village that showed us a bit more of the original inhabitants of the lake. The Shao and Han people. They are called aboriginal as well and their art reminded me a lot of African art. The figurines, the straw hair the shapes. Very interesting. They had some extraordinary arts and craft here and we’ll have to come back! Not enough money this time round.

We had a very interesting lunch snack at about 5. They make a thin dough lining in a circle shape, fill it with veggies like spring onions and some other greenery and lots of mushrooms, fold it closed into a little ball and deep fry it.

Stunning!! This was so nice, except for the oil it was quite healthy.

It started to rain and the foreigners walked back to our boat. The boat actually looked more like a typical taxi with a dragon on the side breathing fire! Cool!! We got back to shore and got into our taxi and off we went…..Home James!

But James had a another stop to make first. We stopped at a heritage village shop. Nobody wanted to get out of the combi, we were so tired and just wanted to go home. But we did and after all we were definitely getting our money’s worth! SO we got out and the next minute we were all being dressed up in traditional wear! We looked sooooo cool! Bright reds and blues and silver beading on the tops, jingling away merrily as we started posing for photo’s against a traditional painted background outside. Seeeee, everything happens for a reason, we had a ball after all and that’s not all……..then we were treated to green tea! This was turning into a typical Tupperware party. All the girls( all 8 of us) around a table and an old white haired Chinese gentleman pouring us tea from a little stove in front of him on one side of the table. Then they brought out the merchandise……honey, royal honey to drink, royal honey to use on your skin which has amazing rejuvenating abilities. Made by the queen be only, it’s not sticky or sweet like normal bee honey. We were all sold and bought some royal honey to stay young forever! Then we could buy a royal honey drink mix, but I declined saying I had my honey drink already thank you….next time. We got a little tour of some famous peoples pictures that were taken years ago of Chang Gai Shue, a famous person in the history of Taiwan. The Taipei airport is named after him. I will find out more about him.

Then we saw a weird little packaged item in the counter and asked about it. It turned out to be a deer fetus and there were 5 of them! They believe that if you grind it into a powder and drink it you will have longevity and health. At NT$15 000 = R3 000 per fetus! Interesting. What next? How do they get deer fetus if they don’t have to kill the mother? So much for the continuation of that species!

Anyway, we loved the experience and once again told James Home! This time we ended up in Changhua and walked home at a leisurely pace. I quickly went into a Fuji film shop and transferred my two filed up memory cards onto disk for NT$50. Excellent, now I can start all over again!

I couldn’t believe it was the end of the month already. Nearly payday, then we can travel again!

The 28th September is a holiday, no ways……an actual real holiday that people don’t go to work…weird!! So Tuesday came and the Moon Festival was celebrated. It was full moon on Monday night and Tuesday. They celebrate it here by having braais( BBQ’s) with their family, very much like a bit of a Thanksgiving, like I said. We slept late for the first time in a while! Did as little as possible and went shopping at Yumawo (our Woollies) for some braai things. We’ll have a braai of our own. We ate at about 7pm and everybody went to bed early! The Fire crackers have not stopped since. They started about a week before and carried on for about 2 days after. The poor dogs around here! There is no control over fireworks here and we saw kids lighting massive sounding crackers!! I don’t even want to know about it….thanx! So the crackers were going full blast until way past midnight on the Tuesday night. Chasing the bad spirits away! I’m sure it worked well………..other than polluting an already heavy polluted environment and air. The sky was thick with things burning from incense to fireworks to their little stoves on the door step burning paper to ward off evil over this time!

Anyway, savouring my day of doing nothing for a second I listened to my music on my Hi Fi, with Draco (the cat remember) trying to suckle my ear and fell fast asleep!

Well until we meet again………miss you all…….wish you were here!

Tsai Chien! (Goodbye in Chinese remember…there will be a test in the future and you could win a Chinese gift…….made in Taiwan, teehehheee)

Taiwan Times Vol 2 Volume Two – September 2004 Ni Hao! (Chinese for hello remember) Ok, so after about three tries we got it right and the teething problems are over, we are at press!

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usstatesofsong · 8 years ago

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Countdown to #Eurovision: Yearly Reviews - 1981

We’re approximately three months away from the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, and while we’re waiting for more of the 2017 songs to be released before reviewing them (as we did last year), we’re going to revisit Eurovision song contests from the past and rank our favorites in each contest.

We started two days ago with our first post, 1980, so we move forward to Dublin and 1981! This contest I actually know very little about, other than the country that won and a few of the other songs. ‘81 is still a bit early for me in the decade, and so the music itself doesn’t feel so “80′s” to me. Nevertheless, there’s some awesome things about the ‘81 contest - we get Cyprus for the first time, we get a Norway “nul points” entry, and we get a lot of dancing! Although I would argue that dancing had been around for many years; people just make a big deal out of it because the winning group had such a memorable act.

On with the entries, they say... although I say “Shut up and get to the point, you dunce!”

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#1 - AUSTRIA - Marty Brem, “Wenn du da bist” (17th place, 20 pts)

Oh. Well... maybe I do remember more of this contest than I thought. First things first: the song itself is actually a pretty ballad, and Marty’s voice is clear - but I feel it’s disrupted by the female vocalist. On top of that, the obvious elephant in the room: the presentation. Should I have gotten a hard drink, or have taken some kind of philosophical course to understand what’s going on here? What’s the art direction here? Why put a pretty girl in an American football helmet? Ah well... We’ll see if this holds up as we hear more of the entries.

#2 - TURKEY - Modern Folk Üçlüsü & Aysegül Aldinç, "Dönme Dolap" (18th place, 9 pts)

Strangely enough, the first two countries to start 1980 are the same two to start 1981′s contest. But Turkey here is the weaker of the two. Disco died a year earlier, but I don’t think Turkey got the message, and they sent a bunch of 40-year-old people to shuffle around mics and clap their hands. In fact I always felt that they were a few years behind musically from the rest of Europe. I will probably remember this song, but not for the best reasons - and it certainly doesn’t sound like a winner.

#3 - GERMANY - Lena Valaitis, "Johnny Blue" (2nd place, 132 pts)

This has a dark, melodic, and storybook type feel to it, like I’m being told about the story of Johnny Blue. Without looking up the lyrics, that’s how it feels, at least. I was... actually kinda hoping for a bit more, to be honest, just because we haven’t heard the rest of the entries and I want to know how this got 2nd place. Typically Eurovision entries don’t sound like this. But maybe the complexity and lyrical content boosted it? As it stands, a very solid entry, but I yearn for more.

#4 - LUXEMBOURG - Jean-Claude Pascal, “C’est peut-être pas l'Amérique” (T-11th place, 41 pts)

And song #4 is Luxembourg again, too? Are you sure these picks were under the auspice of the EBU back then? Ah, well. I love the way this guy sings; he’s a previous winner (from 1961), and he works the camera to his advantage. But with his age, I think this song is a bit old as well. I’m also not clear on the lyrics (I do know some French) but it seemed a bit corny to me. Was being American a cliche back in 1981?

#5 - ISRAEL - Hakol Over Habibi, "Halayla" (7th place, 56 pts)

Yay, Israel is back! They had to miss the ‘80 contest for various reasons. They brought the group shuffle dances back, and they make them ten times more cool than Turkey does! First of all, major props to the female lead - she was 6-7 months pregnant when she performed on stage. The song itself is a bit Motown, a bit Israeli, a bit pop-dance... it covers a bunch of bases. Not sure how much I like this, however, or how much I care. My biggest memory from the song itself is the cringe-worthy falsetto delivery from one of the backup singers. Not a good sign.

#6 - DENMARK - Debbie Cameron & Tommy Seebach, "Krøller eller ej" (T-11th place, 41 pts)

Alright, so - when I first saw the name “Tommy Seebach” my mind instantly thought of 1993, when Seebach returned to the contest and made a lame-o of himself by... well, that’s a though for another day. My eyes widened when the conductor started waving his baton and sounds of laser guns filled the air. For reasons I can’t describe, I love this so much! Maybe it’s just the clusterfuck of things going on, or the fact that this hearkens to really good disco vibes - again, not what Turkey did. And those dances moves! I think this is my first true favorite of the night. Unexpectedly, too!

#7 - YUGOSLAVIA - Seid Memić (Vajta), "Lejla" (15th place, 35 pts)

*Note - I want to keep track of “winners” by adding up points overall scored from these reviews at the end of each post. Since Yugoslavia is now defunct, the points scored will go to the current-day country of whichever language sung that night. So, for 1981, it would go to Bosnia-Herzegovina, since the act sung in Bosnian.

Now, with that out of the way, this one started out pretty but went nowhere quickly. The composition was flat and cheap. Next.

#8 - FINLAND - Riki Sorsa, "Reggae OK" (16th place, 27 pts)

Give it to the Finns for bringing something original, unique, and certainly colorful to the contest! Albeit a little cheap, reggae was certainly “ok” to me! An improvement from 1980, but again - a bit disturbed by what is going on on-stage. That guy just got on the floor and wiggled his legs around. Who are you, Alice Cooper? Anywho, this may get a few points from me as well, when it’s all said and done.

#9 - FRANCE - Jean Gabilou, “Humanahum” (3rd place, 125 pts)

More ‘big voice’ from the men who sing in French! Well, this blows Luxembourg out of the park (sorry, JCP.) I think this is the first time I’ve heard such great female background vocal singers, as well. I’m not sure where ‘Humanahum’ fits into the French language, but I digress. I would have voted this higher than Germany back in ‘81.

#10 - SPAIN - Bacchelli, "Y sólo tú" (14th place, 38 pts)

A bit of a Latin-Caribbean vibe from this one! It’s very “1981″ and carries a softer pop vibe, which doesn’t make it a hugely challenging contender for me. But I appreciate it for what it does. I’m locked in to the lack of stage presence by Bacchelli, but his steady voice (again) makes up for it. I just realized how many male lead singers there are in 1981′s contest...

#11 - NETHERLANDS - Linda Williams, "Het is een wonder" - 9th place, 51 pts

This is very Karen Carpenter, or Helen Reddy... another soft-pop late-70′s vibe kicking in here. The 70′s music really did die hard, huh? Well, part of my opinion of this song is thrown off by another reviewer who really hated this one. It’s a bizarre tune, for sure. It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best. And the organs used by the Irish orchestra deconstruct the otherwise homely composition this is supposed to represent. I don’t hate it, but it’s probably not getting points from me.

#12 - IRELAND - Sheeba, “Horoscopes” - 5th place, 105 pts

Hmmm. Well? The home entry takes up the first ‘interesting topic’ of the evening. A song about horoscopes? Zodiac signs, celestial objects, and a bunch of other-wordly things. I was more entertained by the lyrical content than I should have been. The women are so enticing... except that braided-hair one, she can go. I’m tired of disco on the evening, I don’t get why it was gone in 1980 but reemerged so heavily in ‘81. But this is on the good side with Denmark, and is certainly worth a full listen.

#13 - NORWAY - Finn Kalvik, "Aldri i livet" - 20th place, 0 pts

Based on the Irish commentary, this song had all the ingredients to be great, and all of the international success. So why did this song get nul points? Well, the backing singers on the chorus lines were soooo out of sync, and at times were louder than Finn himself. Finn also does this one-syllable-per-note thing that can get grating. The verses are definitely the strongest part of the song. I would have spent more time perfecting the composition and working with the orchestra to make something more tolerable, melodically speaking. But I don’t think this really deserved no points at all.

#14 - UNITED KINGDOM - Bucks Fizz, “Making Your Mind Up” - 1st place, 136 pts

What can be said that hasn’t already been said? Well, if you’ve gotten this far in your life without knowing, I pity you. About 1:40 into the song, the skirts of the two female singers are yanked right off! I found myself tapping my feet to this, despite having heard it several times before. It’s too bad that the composition here is also pretty weak, and that the vocals weren’t strong, but the performance itself carried this song to victory. It’s a defining moment of Eurovision history, and - yeah, it deserved to win. A very fun pop song.

#15 - PORTUGAL - Carlos Paião, “Playback” - T-18th place, 9 pts

I... I love it. I LOVE IT! Why, oh why, couldn’t this get more points? Oh, right, it’s Portugal. Sigh... My friends, it’s time to acknowledge that Portugal annually places 10 spots lower than they should in most years. This fits right into the music scene of that time, and Carlos is having so much fun on stage with his colorful crew. From the dance moves, to the electro sounds, to the chaotic blurts of the trumpet. The last two songs have awakened me.

#16 - BELGIUM - Emly Starr, “Samson” - 13th place, 40 pts

Yes, yes, yes! Bring it forth, Emly, for what has been an otherwise slow-going contest has certainly picked up some steam! This is another disco-pop leftover, for sure, but she’s working the stage with her long legs and there’s elements of rock and tru-pop in there, as well. The melody is still in my head as I write this out - something that doesn’t always happen with the ballads. I thought I liked Denmark’s song more until I heard this, and this certainly beats Ireland.

#17 - GREECE - Yiannis Dimitras, "Feggari Kalokerino" - 8th place, 55 pts

I feel like this contest has taken an absolute 180 turn in song interest. This is male-led ballad, nothing new... but dare I say it’s even better than France! Another well-told story, there’s some kind of connection between the girl on the piano and the lead singer, symbolized by the rose. I don’t know what more Greece could’ve added to this to make it soar, other than a clearer microphone.

#18 - CYPRUS - Island, “Monika” - 6th place, 69 pts

Welcome to ESC, Cyprus! You’ve yet to win, but here’s to hoping you bring us all to your beautiful little corner of the earth some day. As for their first entry, it’s the ‘schlager’-iest of the night, and I’m not impressed, really. It’s not bad, but given what I heard and saw the last four or five songs, it’s a let down. I think juries gave Cyprus some freebie points in this first contest.

#19 - SWITZERLAND - Peter, Sue, and Marc, “Io senza te” - 4th place, 121 pts

Oh. These three. Ha, well, I don’t immediately remember their other entries from the 70′s, but this one seems like their best. But, then again, I find this dated, especially with the way she sings. It was a cool idea to have the pan flute - if you were actually playing it! Oh well. I suppose this was the kind of pop ballad music that really wanted back in 1981.

#20 - SWEDEN - Björn Skifs, "Fångad i en dröm" - 10th place, 50 pts

And we finish off with the Swedes, and coincidentally, the only singer known states-side - Blue Swede lead singer Bjorn Skifs! He brought the lone rock song to the contest, and while I can’t manage to really put this one down, this feels like a really reserved presentation. He could’ve rocked out a bit more during the thumping drums and guitar riffs, huh? Even if the lyrics didn’t call for it. Ah, well. I’m nitpicking. I like this to a degree, but methinks there’s something more that could’ve been done here. It’s missing the je-ne-sais-quoi quality of a Eurovision winner.

And there you have it! The rest was history, and Britain were rewarded for shedding their clothes. I wasn’t expecting so much disco music, to be honest, and that was a let-down. My best guess is that the contemporary, conservative music world was still trying to find its sound for the 80′s. My winner is not the United Kingdom, just because I feel there were stronger performances on the night and those songs should’ve been rewarded as such. However, no denying that the UK had a solid pop hit with Bucks Fizz, one that got stuck in your head like an earworm. Here are my points for 1981′s contest:

12 - Greece 10 - Portugal 8 - United Kingdom 7 - Belgium 6 - Denmark 5 - France 4 - Germany 3 - Spain 2 - Finland 1 - Ireland

And here is the overall count of points thus far:

1st - 18 - Greece (1981) 2nd - 14 - Germany 3rd - 13 - Ireland (1980) 4th - 11 - Portugal 4th - 11 - Belgium 10 - France 8 - Luxembourg 8 - United Kingdom 7 - Norway 6 - Denmark 3 - Spain 3 - Turkey 2 - Sweden 2 - Finland

- 50SS

#esc 1981 #esc #eurovision 1981 #eurovision #eurovision song contest #bucks fizz

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