To The Market With Uncle Ike

Happy Chinese New Year, Uncle Ike!!!

I heard that you fell down and went boom on your bottom this winter.  What a bummer!  Sorry for the pun.  I couldn't resist.

As you know, I'm living in Taiwan.  I thought I'd take you to the market with me to do a little food shopping.  

This has got to be one heck of a humbling way to go.  "Hey Duck, you better shut up or I'll cut you in half and put your head where your heart is and stick your neck up your ass!"  I guess he made one last wise quack.  HA HA HA HA HA!  I really quack myself up!   

This is your brain.  This is your brain in a deep fat fryer.

Eel!  Eel!  Get your eel here!
FYI, the other bucket is full of frogs with a net over them so they won't jump out.

There's nothin' like fresh fish.

Shrimp, squid, octopus... you want it, we got it!

The lady behind me is mourning the loss of her pet chicken.  It was time to kill "Clucky."

There's no discriminating when it comes to slaughtering.

Or would you rather be hung this way?

They even have all the parts of the pig available.  How would you like to have your skin folded neatly and stacked?

If the whole leg is too much for you help yourself to just the feet.

Pig ears aren't just for the dog anymore.  

They're deeeeee-lishhhhhhh-iiiiiiiii-ousssssss!

Squid? Whole fish?  Carp steaks?  Frogs?

I hope you enjoyed your trip to the market.  Bet you can't wait to come visit Asia.  

I hope you are back on your feet soon!

Love,

Darcy

... and 1000s and 1000s of stairs...

I spent a day hiking with a local hiking group.  We woke early in the morning and traveled 3 hours northeast of Taipei and hiked an historical trail what was one of the most beautiful and ass-kicking hikes I've ever done.  It took over 4 hours to hike and there was a wonderful sense of accomplishment waiting at the end.  We had some good laughs along the way especially when it just never seemed to end and we were faced with the choice to laugh or, well, not laugh.   The people in the hiking group wear bright orange as their "team uniform."  They were so happy to have us join them for the day.  And I must say that I was quite humbled by the women in their 60's who seemed to be in better shape than I am.   The hike didn't leave me without some very sore hip-flexors and butt cheeks for a couple days.  I'm already looking forward to the next adventure.

The hike is over.  Hard to believe we were up on those peaks in the far far distance.  Valarie is from Canada and Erika is from Taiwan and one of my roommates.  What an AWESOME DAY!!!

Welcome to the USA

I'm running an English/American club a couple times a month at my school.  First thing on my agenda was an oral presentation on an assigned state.  This was the first time any of them had even stood in front of a group and talked.  They have a lot to learn but I give them an A+ for trying and working as a group.  

All these pictures are posted and made available for my students to have access to them.

Presentation Day

Last minute preparations