Spirit Week Insanity

No, not LINsanity (that's practically over, even in Taiwan). This week was Spirit Week in the TAS Middle School...and man, was there a lot of spirit involved. It was basically a week full of assemblies, games, dance competitions, bulletin board contests, costume contests, and cheer practices. And now that it's Friday afternoon, I am officially exhausted!

Our 6th graders made a valiant effort every day to beat the older grades, but we were never quite able to win the overall day competition...but we did win a few rounds! It was a fun week, but I am definitely glad that I've got a whole year to rest before we need to do it again! Check out some pics below to see what the craziness entailed! (Definitely on the 3 day countdown to Spring Break after this...).

Neon Day in full force! The kids were all pumped up and ready for the competition!

Ms. Tang coaching the relay team participants!

NINJA TIME! Naden represented grade 6 well in black!

Neon teachers! Totally hit up the Shilin Night Market for this outfit.

Hippie Day! Totally groovy!

Grade 6 cheer practice! I was worried the kid was going to beat through the drum...

Angry bird grade 6 team! The kids were in love with our hats.

All different colors of Angry Birds!

Mr. Cook working hard with the 6th graders to create our bulletin board!

Not sure how the kids came up with the "Fear the Boss" slogan, but they liked it!

Grade 7's phoenix board...pretty cool use of paper!

Grade 8's white leopard! (or something like that). I was pretty impressed by the use of materials...and yes, this was the winning one.

Cooking Taiwanese Style

Last Friday my friend, Shirley, had a fabulous birthday party event - a Taiwanese cooking class! It was a perfect end to a busy and hectic work week. I mean who doesn't like unlimited wine and delicious food on a Friday evening? There were about 15 people present ranging from expert cooks to total newbies (I like to think of myself as somewhat in the middle). We worked in teams of three to (try and) mimic what the lead chefs were doing. It more or less worked out...and it was all delicious so that's what mattered!

I volunteered to help mix the dough for the Taiwanese beef pancakes. Not easy using only chopsticks!

Royce and the birthday girl ready for action with spatula in hand!

Vicky and me sporting our super cute aprons :)

I left Jordan and Zach in charge of our three-cup chicken...luckily nothing caught on fire!

I decided to replace Jordan as Zach's second-in-command.

Our side of the cooking studio focused on Taiwanese/Chinese dishes: three-cup chicken, beef pancake, and ginger milk pudding. I know all of those things have actual Mandarin names, but I honestly don't know them. The other side of the room did Western dishes: steak salad (delish), seafood paella, and crepes. Luckily we all sampled everything so no one got jealous :)

Beef pancake (expertly put together by me) ready to get thrown in the hot oil! Yummy!

Three-cup chicken: chicken, ginger, chiles, oyster sauce, and basil.

Finished version of the beef pancake! Pretty professional, eh?

Everyone's hard at work!

It's hard to beat crepes as a dessert. We were lucky the other side felt like sharing!

Successful cooking trio!

Weekend in Kaohsiung

I finally got the chance to do some exploring of Taiwan last weekend. Jordan and I decided that we needed a break from the dreary clouds of Taipei, so we hopped on the high speed rail (which really does go incredibly fast) and went down south to Kaohsiung! (The second largest city in Taiwan). The train was freaking cool - if we had the HSR in America, everything would be easier.

Yes, I did pack an entire suitcase for just two nights...a girl needs her options!

Off we go to Kaohsiung!

All aboard! We sped south at about 276 km/hour. Crazy!

The weather down in Kaohsiung was beautiful: 90 degrees and sunny all weekend. It was a great mini-vacation full of laying at the pool, eating yummy food, and hanging out with Zach and his girlfriend, Larissa. Kaohsiung is pretty different than Taipei; it is much more "Taiwanese" and not nearly as metropolitan, which was a nice change. It's always fun exploring new places!

Pool time! I wish I had one of these at my apartment.

Enjoying the sunshine at a local cafe.

Hello self timer :)

Being super Asian down by the Love River Walk.

Rockin' the shades.

Mmm...I never say no to salmon sashimi!

A key example of Asia's obsession with Hello Kitty: the hotel we stayed at had a Hello Kitty suite!

Fresh coconuts!! I was pumped.

Cutest dogs ever at the night market! I wanted to take them home.

Watching in disgust as the poor shrimpies were grilled alive.

Freaking cool MRT station - it was more like an art gallery than a train station. 

All that warm weather made me SO ready for Spring Break...only three weeks till Thailand!!!

Pingxi Lantern Festival

To celebrate the end of Chinese New Year, I attended the famous Pingxi lantern festival with a group from school. I had heard a lot about the festival from people at school AND I had seen some pictures, so I knew I wanted to go despite the fact that a few people warned me about the intense crowds...and the possibility of getting trampled. (Considering what I know about crowds in Taiwan, I was actually seriously nervous about this possibility!). Here's a link for more info about the festival: http://www.darrenmelrose.com/blog/?p=354.

Luckily we had fabulous weather for this evening event with clear skies and a warm breeze. The bus ride up to the mountains took about 2 hours because of the heavy traffic - apparently the Saturday night festival is the most popular! The crowds were visible as soon as we arrived at the small town of Pingxi. The other thing that was definitely visible were the lanterns!!! There were already hundreds floating lazily into the sunset.

The first thing we hit up upon arrival was the FOOD STREET. Much like everywhere else in Taiwan, Pingxi was full of food - a Taiwanese specialty!

Yummy quail eggs! These were my first pit stop.

Vicky, Lori, and Linda waiting for their fried squid!

Tubs full of delicious fried things. 

After fully satiating our tummies, we headed off down the crowded street to find the lantern launch site. On our way, we saw TONS of lanterns for sale in all different sizes. Some people buy them at the stores and send them off themselves, but we needed to go to the professionals.

We managed to catch a quiet moment to snap a pic! Notice all the lanterns in the sky in the background!

I wanted to buy all of these...I was envisioning my apartment full of lanterns!

Mini-lanterns! I may or may not have bought a few of these...

Taking a breather before pushing through the crowds to reach the launch site!

After slowly shuffling our way through the crowds, we arrived at the actual site where we could buy lanterns and leave the flames to the experts. I didn't realize that the lanterns would be so huge! The four of us bought two of them and wrote our wishes all over them. Luckily we had Vicky and Linda with us, both of whom speak Mandarin, and they easily ordered our lanterns for us. Lori and I would have been just a little bit lost without the help!

Welcome to the 2012 Pingxi Lantern Festival!

Figuring out what color lanterns to order! We went with pink and purple of course :) 

Getting ready to write my wishes and then send them up into the sky! Hopefully they come true!

The big finale of the night was the stadium show. Every half an hour a large crowd gathered in the stadium to set off over 100 lanterns at a time. The image in the sky was incredible...I honestly have never seen anything quite like it. They looked like giant fireflies in the sky. Definitely worth the trip!

The crew! We stood near the fire truck just in case there were any rouge lanterns.

Crowds anyone? It took people over an hour to get through this crowd, but luckily Linda knew a shortcut so we bypassed the whole thing! Sweet.

Asian Adventure 2k12!

Ok, so this post is a little late in coming seeing as though Chinese New Year vacation was about 3 weeks ago and it feels like ages since it happened, but better late than never! We had a week off of school to celebrate Chinese New Year in mid-January. Four of my best friends from college (Laura, Rachael, Douglas, and Jon) flew out to embark on an epic Asian adventure with me! We've been planning this trip since last May, so the anticipation leading up to their arrival was killing me. First stop was Taipei to check out my stomping ground, then Bangkok to ease into SouthEast Asia, and THEN...Cambodia and Angkor Wat!

Here's a breakdown of one of the best vacations of my entire life. If one word could describe it, it would be...epic. First stop: TAIPEI!

They've arrived! Happiest moment ever right now.

Exploring Danshui in the 12 hours before jetting off to Thailand!

Introducing them to the BEST. DUMPLINGS. EVER. I think Jon wanted to eat these forever.

Next stop: BANGKOK!

8 pm departure time! Ready for 90 degree weather in Bangkok. Woohoo!

Visiting the Grand Palace! Take note of the sweet sarongs that us ladies got to wear :)

Posing with the strange golden men!

UVA meets Bangkok! U-V-A! Go HOOS Go!

Swanky drinks and dinner at the Deck!

Rooftop experience at the Moon Bar! Best view of the city by far.

Next stop: CAMBODIA!

Ready for their first Air Asia experience!

About to eat my favorite meal of the trip in Phnom Penh: Frizz!

Cheers! Checking out some of the interesting establishments in Cambodia's capital. 

We arrived safe and sound in Siem Reap after a long van ride from Phnom Penh. Then we got on our favorite form of transportation: tuk-tuks!

The glory of Angkor Wat!!! It was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Laura agreed!

Perfect girl pic :)

Posing with the giant faces at the Bayon - my favorite temple!

Listening to Douglas the tour guide explaining the bas reliefs of Angkor Wat.

Still can't believe you two flew halfway around the world to see me!

Giant octopus tree at Ta Prohm - the Tomb Raider temple.

5 am visit to Ta Prohm to watch the sunrise...best decision of the trip!

Hello Angkor Wat!

Enjoying dinner at the Red Piano (Angelina's favorite bar when she was filming Tomb Raider!). We needed some major sustenance after our day of templing.

Khmer cooking class. So much deliciousness happened in this room!

Last stop: Back to Taipei!

Exploring Taipei the best way: at the Taiwan Beer Bar!

Ready for some late night karaoke - a must in Taiwan! 

89 stories up in Taipei 101! Laura even has the Asian V out in full force.

The crew posing with the dragon. Seemed fitting!

Last expedition of the trip: Chiang Kai Sheik Memorial. Posing with the big guy!

Going back through these pictures reminded me (once again) of how this was one of the best trips of my life. I love Asia, but I love Asia even more when I have friends to share it with!