Always an Adventure...

A few weeks ago I bought a whole box of amazing Taiwan mangoes. They are one of my favorite fruits here, especially for my morning smoothies! Today I put some in my fresh salsa (as a friend had suggested), and it was deee-licious! It's one of the easiest things in the world to make as long as you're up from some chopping. Incidentally, planning meals is one of my 30 before 30. I try to buy good fresh ingredients at the beginning of the week that I can hopefully use in a variety of ways. It is a challenge because it is so fast, cheap, and easy to eat out here, especially when you're cooking for one. But if anyone wants to try it out, here is how I made it today: 1 medium mango 1 medium red onion (you can use regular onion) 3 cloves of garlic 3 bunches of fresh cilantro 3-4 large ripe tomaotoes Lime juice (or lemon) Chop it all and put it in the fridge. After about an hour the flavors will mingle together quite nicely, and it'seven better the next day! The propo...

My Taiwanese "little sister" Annie is graduating from elementary school this year! I took the train to Hualian to see her graduation recital on Saturday, where she played the flute and piano. I've known their family almost as long as I've been in Taiwan. My first year in Yuli, Hope and I went to their house for a weekly dinner. I also spent my first Chinese New Year with their family traveling around Taiwan. She was only 5 years old!! Sometimes it really starts to sink in that I've really been here for a long time, and I'm so thankful to have good friends like this family, who have really taken me in and made me feel like I'm not an outsider. I took a short video of her playing, I am so proud! She said she'd give me a few tips if I bring my flute back from Canada this summer...it might take a little more than a few pointers to make up for over 10 years of not playing though!!

I went to Hualian for the weekend to visit my favorite family and see their daughter's graduation recital (see upcoming post), and part of the fun was making rice dumplings, or zhongzi with some of their friends. These are one of the many foods that I didn't really like at first, but have now really grown on me, especially if they're homemade and filled with yummy stuff! There are actually a lot of steps to take in order to make them, and a lot of different ways to do it as well. 1. Soak the bamboo leaves and cook the rice 2. Cook the meat 3. Stir fry the mushrooms, dried shrimp etc 3. Fry the rice with peanuts Then comes the part I was involved with: assembly! 4. Take 2 bamboo leaves and fold them 5. Put some rice in the bottom 6. Add the filling 7. Cover with more rice 8. Shape and finish wrapping 9. Tie up with string The wrapping part is the most difficult, and I admittedly, needed quite a bit of help, but it was fun, and then we got to the best ...

Here is a song (click if embedded video doesn't work) that I love by a band called Gungor that I've recently started listening to. It's a great band and a great song! In talking about "beautiful things" or maybe colorful things, I went to the hairdresser today to get highlights. It's always a bit of an adventure to see what I'll come out with, with the communication gap and all, but this is one of the craziest outcomes yet. I decided to get blond and dark red highlights...but after the final rinse, the blond highlights turned bright pink! It's definitely a dramatic change...but I'm told it will fade after a few washes. Here's the result from today.....

Maybe this post should be entitled "You know you've become a Taiwanese driver when..." I made a couple of observations last night about my driving that may interest or alarm you. Scooters are the vehicle of choice in Taiwan, and as you know, I have my little 125cc "old faithful" that gets me around Yilan. I remember thinking my first year in Taiwan that the main goal when driving here seems to avoid using your breaks if at all possible, which sometimes involves coasting to a stop, or more often, running red lights. There are two main inconveniences when driving a scooter. The first is parking. You know those square puzzles with only one piece missing where you have to shuffle all the pieces around without removing them until you get the correct picture? Yeah, I've always hated those, but that's what parking my scooter reminds me of. Sometimes it takes quite a lot of maneuvering before you can get your scooter into a very small space, and other time...

Spring in Taiwan is really nice, and I'm glad it is finally here. This past winter was one of the coldest I've had here, and it seemed to last a long time. My grandma was here visiting at the end of March/beginning of April and she didn't get to wear most of the summery clothes she brought! But anyways, spring is here, and on Easter, I went out and bought some lilies to make my house a little brighter. 3 weeks on, and there is still one that hasn't dropped its petals yet, ah perseverance. It reminds me to keep working on my papers (the next of which is due on Saturday). There are also some beautiful white lilies at my church right now, and my pastor cut two for me to take home last week. I love the dramatic flowers like lilies and orchids. And since I was too busy to blog about it at the time, here is a picture of me and my grandma at an orchid farm here in Yilan! We had a great time when she was here, and hopefully I can share a few more of the highlights as they co...

It's my birthday!! Here is my best present so far, a picture of my new nephew, Derek!! In honor of embarking on my last year before age 30, I've decided that I'm going to try to write 30 posts in the next year, rather than what as been the norm of 1 a month! Here are two verses I read this morning: Psalm 16:5-8 L ord , you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance! I will bless the L ord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the L ord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. Psalm 29:11 The L ord gives his people strength. The L ord blesses them with peace. And here's one more picture just because he's SOOOO cute, only 3 months and a few days until I can hold him!! Derek Levi, Born April 5!