WARNING: If you’re not into cats, then you may want to skip this post. A momentous afternoon as Jules and I got past that red velvet rope that bars children under 12 from entering the more exclusive cat cafes in town. Here’s how it went down: Jules: Mommy, look it says ‘cat cafe,’ maybe we […]
Taiwan
Winning the Taiwan Receipt Lottery (統一發票)
Eeeeeee!!! We won, we won, we won!! Granted it’s only 200NT ($6.62 USD), but winning just about anything is pretty darn exciting. Started in 1951, the Taiwanese government was trying to find a clever way to boost tax revenues without people realizing what was going on. So, the crafty finance chief encouraged locals to obtain […]
International Day of Peace 2017
Yesterday marked the 36th annual International Day of Peace as set forth by the United Nations in order to promote peace around the world regardless of our differences. As it turns out, the Big Orange didn’t get the memo. Nonetheless, the Taipei European School certainly did, and it was sweet seeing so many of the […]
Sunset in Danshui 淡水
What better way to take advantage of the respite in crazy heat here in Taipei than travel to the old fishing town of Danshui, which means “fresh water.” Once a major fishing and trade port, it is now more of a tourist center. It reminded me a bit of Venice Beach in LA without the […]
Howard 舅舅 and Jungha 阿姨
Uncle Howard and Auntie Jungha…our first visitors! Although we’re having a great time experiencing things here in our new country, it’s always nice to have a piece of home in a new environment. I realized that this is the first time my brother, Howard, and I have been in Taiwan together since we were children. […]
Becoming Taiwanese
Aaaahhhh, we finally did it!! After months of incredible amounts of stress and running back and forth to buildings like the one below, we finally obtained Jules’ Taiwanese passport today! I practically squealed when the lady at the passport counter at the Bureau of Consular Affairs handed over the passport. As you can see from […]
Ghost Month 鬼月
We are in the midst of Ghost Month, or the 7th month of the lunar year, here in Taiwan. And no, we don’t get to dress up and go trick-or-treating. Buddhists and Taoists believe that spirits jailed in hell are released for one month a year into our realm, so massive feasts and offerings are […]
2017 Summer Universiade
Today officially marked the last day of the 2017 Summer Universiade, aka the Taipei 2017 Universiade, an Olympics-lite event organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation. This was the biggest sporting event Taipei has ever hosted, and they pulled out all the stops. Although tickets to all events were sold out by […]
Getting Around Taipei
Bear with me, I’m devoting an entire post as an ode to the public transportation system in Taipei. I know it’s not fair to compare the 21 year old metro system here, the MRT, to the 92 year old one in New York City, but I can’t help myself. Not only are the metro stations […]
First Day of Third Grade
Today was Jules’ first day of school as a third grader, or the American equivalent of French CE2, in the French Section at the Taipei European School. He’ll be alternating his days in English and French with a bit of Chinese thrown in on a daily basis. Luckily, the school is only a 10 minute […]