July 18-22. Winding down and going back to San Diego

July 18 and 19, 2013

Today my dad went back to San Diego.  He took his computer with him, so I couldn't type my blog.  We went to the Mazda and Luxgen car dealerships to look at cars.  Luxgen is a Taiwanese car brand.  The cars we looked at were the Mazda 5 and Luxgen7 MPV.  Darren fell in the trunk of the Luxgen.  It was funny and he was laughing. 


July 20, 2013

We went to my mom's high school reunion at a restaurant called Pear Coffee.  Enrico was there again and we played outside and upstairs in the reading book center.  Instead of reading books, we watched TV and had a pillow fight.  Then we went to Enrico's grandparents' house and had red bean ice bars. 


July 21, 2013

We bought a silver Mazda 5 today. We will pick up when we return to Taiwan on August 12.  For dinner we had my favorite -- A-Kuan hot pot.  I had lot of vegetables and lamb.


July 22, 2013

We took a shuttle van to the airport in Taipei in the afternoon.  Then we flew back to the United States.  On the plane we played a game called Luxor.  We also played Pac-Man and Callie's puzzle.  When we landed in Los Angeles there were so many airplanes, so we had to go to another gate and took a bus to the customs area.  Then we got our luggage and Dad picked us up.  We spent the night at my grandparents' house in Hacienda Heights and had Baja Fresh tacos for dinner because we missed Mexican food while in Taiwan.

July 16 and July 17, 2013 - visiting Tainan again

We were going to Tainan to participate in some activities at the school I'm going to next year.  On the way there we visited a rest stop off the highway in Nantou for lunch.  This one had many restaurants, stores and a playground.  It's a lot more fancy than the ones in America because Taiwan is all about food.  We visited some car dealers to find a car that fit 7 people.  We are considering a Mazda 5 or Toyota Wish.  I like both cars, but the thing I really like about the Mazda 5 is that the middle seat in the back can be hidden under the one of the side seats.  We then went to our hotel in Shanhua and went to bed.

The next day we woke up early and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  On the way through the lobby we saw a grey mouse scurrying into the restaurant.  It looked like someone's pet mouse because its fur was slick and well-groomed.  When I reopened the door to go in the restaurant, the mouse ran back out and the lobby concierge took care of him.  The mouse was probably from the fields around the hotel.  Then we went to the school to participate in the activities.  We painted rock owls in the first session and made waffles in the second session.  It was really fun.

In the evening we came back to Taichung and were invited to a buffet called, "Las Vegas" by my grandparents' friends.  We had fried boneless fish, oysters, squid, sushi, and lots of dessert.

Trying out Mobo tricycles at Vulz Bicycles

Eating lunch at a rest stop in Nantou

Eating ice cream sandwiches

Learning how to make rock owls

Painting the owls

Finishing my first owl

Painting my second owl

Our finished owls

Making waffles

Darren taking out his waffles

July 14 and July 15, 2013 - getting shots and visiting Sanyi

July 14, 2013:

Today I had my violin lesson and we worked on a different section of the Meditation de Thais.  My teacher took us to the cafe in his building and treated us to drinks.  Darren got black tea and I got a chocolate drink.  In the afternoon we went to the day market and grabbed a small snack for lunch.  Then we walked around the town and found a pasta place for our early dinner.  I had pesto pasta and lots of tea.


July 15, 2013:

Today my mom told Darren and me that we were going to the doctor's office to get shots for a disease passed on from pigs by mosquitoes.  Shots are bad.  When we were waiting at the office, I just wanted to get it over with.  Darren went first and I was distracting him.  After he was done with his shot, then it was my turn.  It felt like a really hard pinch.

Then we went to the city of Sanyi, north of Taichung.  We had lunch at a Hakka-style restaurant.  Hakka refers to the original Taiwanese people that migrated here from China.  I loved the noodle dish.  After lunch we walked around area and saw lots of woodcarving and sculpture work.  There was a statue of a god with 1000 arms and each one was actually carved out.  In another store they had rocks that looked like different Chinese cuisine.  It looked like actual food from far away.  On our way home we went to a defunct train station in the city of Shengxing.  This train station was the highest in all of Taiwan.  We walked along the tracks and up to the tunnel.

Very enthusiastic waiting to get my shot

Getting a shot

Ke-jia (Hakka) food in Sanyi

The noodles were my favorite

Daily special - eggplant with intestines

Bamboo shoot stew

Yum!  these look pretty good! -- but they're rocks!

appetizer platter -- but they're rocks!

Elephant wood sculpture in Sanyi

Shengxing train station -- the highest train station in Taiwan

Walking on the streets of Shengxing

July 13, 2013 - After the typhoon

The wind was very strong last night and it woke me up twice. We were lucky because there was no power outage or water shortage (happens sometime due to poor water quality). There's no flooding here, but a lot of tree branches were all over the streets.  I stayed home whole day but Darren went to his cello lesson as usual. They brought home some pies from Rose Pie after the lesson and I had a red bean / milk pie which has meringue on top.  The rain stopped around 6 pm.

July 12, 2013 - Preparing for the typhoon

So we stayed home most of today because the typhoon was coming.  The typhoon is 5 times the size of Taiwan and the center is supposed to pass through Taipei, which is north of Taichung.  My mom and grandpa went to stock up on food for the two days that the typhoon is going to be here.  Taichung got some bad whacks lunch and at night the wind picked up.  A palm tree frond fell on our awning and it was loud.  We had to move the shoe cabinet in front of the door so the door won't blow open because it rattles.

I worked on my Chinese and practiced violin as usual.

Bye!

July 11, 2013 - visiting Tainan

Today we went to Tainan to check out an apartment where we are probably going to move.  The apartment is on the 2nd floor and is next door to another apartment with kids, so maybe we can make friends with them.  Then we went to have lunch in Shanhua and found a line of food vendors.  We bought some shen bing (savory meat or seafood pies) and we didn't know where to sit down.  A lady from the clock shop next door offered us a table and chairs from another lady next door to her.  We ate, and then clock lady suggested getting some wintermelon juice from a shop across the street.  For dessert, I had a sweet red bean crispy cake from another vendor.

After lunch we visited a school in Shanhua.  When we got there was a playground with cement slides that goes really fast.  There was also a metal climbing/monkey bar apparatus.  The school used to be a sugar factory, so there was museum with sugar harvesting machines.  We saw lots of dark red centipedes everywhere we went.  

Shen bing (meat pies)

Sweet red bean crispy cakes

Papaya tree on the side of the road

A bridge over a koi pond at the school

The administrative offices at the school

"If you work hard, you will see results"

Part of the playground at the school

The steps at the school.  My dad asked us to pick a step.

The name of the school

Eating popsicles that the principal gave us

Ice cream and tea

These are bomb shelters used in the WWII -- Bombers could not see people hiding in these from above.

Sugarcane museum

Sugarcane harvester

July 10, 2013 - Walking around Taichung

Today we stopped by the Natural Life Science Museum to check out some of the exhibits that we haven't visited yet.  On our way out we saw a big DNA structure.  It would be so fun to climb, but there was a sign saying, "No Climbing" in English and Chinese.  It looks like people have climbed it before, though, because some of the paint has rubbed off.

Then we headed to lunch at a popular sandwich store.  We were going to stop there before the museum, but the line was sooooo long.  So we ate turnip cake and their specialty, which was a egg and sausage sandwich.  It wasn't like something I would eat every day -- it was kind of plain.  I don't get why the lines were so long.

Time for dinner.  Good night.

Big DNA

Eating a famous sandwich

A giant melting ice cream cone

COOL!

I love art

Watermelon on a popsicle stick

July 8 and July 9, 2013 - violin lesson, Chinese phonetics, and cars

July 8, 2013:

Today I went to my violin lesson and learned a new piece called, "Meditation from Thais" by Jules Massenet.  It is a gentle, slow piece that you would like.  My teacher gave it to me to work on my tone.

After my lesson I learned Chinese phonetics with my mom and grandma.  It is similar to the English alphabet and there are 37 sounds.  I can now read words with the help of these phonetic symbols.



July 9, 2013:

Today we dropped my dad at the train station to go meet some people.  Then my grandpa, mom, Darren, and I went to look for used cars.  We saw a Toyota Previa that was way too expensive -- 1.4 million New Taiwan Dollars (divide by 30 to get to American dollars).  We also saw a Toyota Wish which is the car we rented when we went to Taipei a couple weeks ago.  The Toyota Wish has room for five but then you can pop up two more in the trunk to give you seven seats total.  The price was much better and I think it is a nice car.

I also learned more Chinese and got up to page 50 in my book. 

July 7, 2013 - Performance at Top City

Today Darren and I performed at Top City, which is a super department store with 15 floors.  Maybe you remember it from a previous post I made in June.  The performance was a fundraiser for the native Taiwanese children who don't have money to go to school.  A string ensemble from a local school played four songs first.  Then I played the Bach Sonata #1, 4th movement (Presto).  I played well.  After my performance I got some chocolate covered cherries from the fundraising stand.  Then Darren played with his group from the cello studio.  Darren played very well.

For dinner we went to A-Kuan, a hot pot restaurant.  I had lots of lamb.  It was yummy to my tummy. 

After my performance

Darren before his performance

Darren and his cello teacher

Cello ensemble

Darren gets the microphone

July 5 and July 6, 2013 - shoe shopping

Sorry -- no pictures!

July 5, 2013:

Today we went shoe shopping for Darren and me but were not successful.  We went to RT Mart - one of the places my mom's friend told us to go to find dress shoes.  Darren's shoes are for the performance on Sunday.  We ate sushi for lunch.

Later that night we visited my mom's friends house to play with her two sons, Sammy and Gary.  Sammy is 7 and Gary is 4.  When we got there the boys wanted to play hide and seek.  Their house has five floors, including the garage.  The top floor was dedicated to their two cats.  The cat floor has a balcony with a pond containing fish, which the cats try to catch.


July 6, 2013:

Darren had his weekly cello lesson so I stayed home to practice violin and read.  Later on we went shoe shopping again and found shoes for Darren and sandals for me.  The kids' sandals were too small, so I checked out the smallest women's sandals and they fit me.

July 4, 2013 - Swimming and park

Today we met Enrico at Country Swimming Pool to free swim. There was a waterslide and I went on it many times. The first time it was very slow, because I didn't know I had to lay down. Other than the waterslide, there was a saltwater pool, herbal soaking pool, and a jacuzzi. We played swim under the bridge in the saltwater pool. I got really low.  After swimming we went to Enrico's grandparents place and played Commander Lychee, Captain Apple, and Soldier Banana. Then we went to the park and played Surroundings. There also was my favorite thing on the playground (see pictures below). Enrico and I climbed into one of the benches shaped like an UFO. We walked home and played some more, then drove home.

I am swimming with Enrico and Darren

Coming down the waterslide

Playing "surroundings"

Just hanging around

One of my favorite playground activities

In the UFO/bench