Friends

 

May I introduce you to some of our new friends.  The Petersons are on the left.  They are in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Welfare.  The Bairds are on the right.  They are in charge of Public Affairs.  We really enjoy working with these people, although they aren't in the office much and we aren't out of the office much.  We three couples work with the Young Single Adults on a rotating basis.

Taipei 101

 

This is Taipei 101.  It is the second tallest building in the world and the tallest building in Asia. It has 101 stories  It is on our list of things we want to see.  There is an observation deck on the 91st floor and the elevator only goes as far as the 89th.   I will post more about it when we get the chance to see it.  It is reachable by subway, but we need to allow half a day.  It is expensive to take the elevator and you have to stand in line to get a ticket.  We'll go when we have a half day and it isn't so hot.

Park

This is a pretty little park which we walk through morning and night to get to work.  There is always a guard somewhere.  It is between the Vatican Embassy and a huge elementary school.  It is always 10 degrees cooler in the park than on the street.  It is kept immaculate. Someone sweeps up falling leaves every morning.  The red thing in the middle is a little gazebo next to some play equipment.  This is one of our favorite places.  A sign has blown off of the school fence but it won't be there long. 

Doors

We are fascinated by apartment doors.  We have seen no evidence of burglary, but then how would a burglar get past all of the doors?

Wayne coming out of our apartment.

We call this "Cell Block 4"

The bottom on the stairs - another metal door before the street.

Entry way to the stairs.  Last night we found a full on motorcycle parked here.

The street side of the apartment building.

Our apartment is on the fourth floor, just below the pretty grill work and just above the pretty plants.  We don't have a balcony on this side of the apartment.  The air conditioner on the right is our livingroom and the one on the left is our bedroom.

Young Single Adults

They had a Family Home Evening the second Monday in July and this time, I brought my camera.  There weren't nearly as many kids as there were last month, but everyone had fun.  These pictures are of the big group activity.  We were amazed at how patient they are.  They were asked to get into lines according to "family group" and then be boy - girl - boy - girl.  It took about 10 minutes to pull that off.  Meanwhile, they stood patiently and waited.  This was a relay race.  Remember we don't speak Chinese, so we didn't know what they were doing until later.  Each person, had to pass a number to the next person in line.  The numbers were long - like a telephone number (including the area code)  They couldn't use anything but their faces and heads.  There were a lot of blinking, winking, tongue waggles, head bobs.  It was hilarious.  The young man at the lecturn was so funny, they asked him to do it for the entire group (which is when we caught on to what was happening)

Click on this one to blow it up.  His eyes are way up!

More Whatsis!

These are called Mountain Apples.  A vendor cut one and gave us a taste.  They taste like apple and are delicious.  We haven't bought any because they are twice as expensive as the Fuji's we've been eating

We're going to have to buy one of these just to find out what it is.  I photographed it at a fruit stand, so I assume it is fruit. 

We pass by the Sun Merry bakery morning and night and they have these "pineapple pies advertised.  They come in a pretty little box.  We bought one and found 12 little "pies".  It is actually a little cake with a pineapple filling in the middle.  We were very disappointed - but we are eating them anyway.

 

Whatsis

Our Mandarin teacher has asked us to learn 2 sentences every day and to use them.  Today is shopping day and my sentences are:

Nin jiao zhege shenma?  What do you call this? and

Zhege jian yao duoshao qian?  This thing requires how much money?

My next questions will be: 

"Is it fruit or vegetable?" 

"Do I cook it or eat it raw?"

These are sold at the open air market just a block from our apartment. 

 

This is eggplant.  Since we like eggplant, we will probably try some.  However, we don't have an oven.  All we have is a little toaster oven.  It isn't big enough to do much other than toasting bread.

 

 

They call this guava but it isn't like any guava we know.  They must be in season because Wu Mama (who gives the office gifts from time to time) gave us a bag full.  We brought them home and cut one open.  It is fruit.  It has seeds in the middle which Wayne immediately put into his mouth.  He says the center is tasty but the seeds are too hard to eat.  We both ate some.  It tastes a little like an apple, but if you love apples, it is very disappointing.  The texture is between an apple and a pear.  It has the grainy pear feel.  We decided to give these away.  They are wasted on us.