What have I been up to?

What have I been up to?  I have driven a car a few times....not so bad if you know where you are going, just watch out for the scooters!  If you don't know where you are going.....bummer!  All the signs are in chinese.

I went on a tour with 4 other gals to see the 100 year old Zhinan Temple.  It was very beautiful, up high in the mountains with incredible views of downtown Taipei.  It would have been so interesting to see the city get built up from that view.  The tour guide said that most temples are shared by those of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucius faith.  In this particular temple they worship a 'green-eyed' God that supposedly will break up a couple if the relationship is not healthy, many people who are about to get married visit the temple to test their relationship.  In the temple, we saw people praying to their God, they pray to numerous Gods.  They kneel at the altar and ask their God a question.  They then throw these wooden 'orange slices' on the ground, depending on how they land, that is your answer to the question.  The answer is either yes, no, or maybe...ask again.  It was very colorful inside.  We did not have to wear special clothes or take off our shoes or wear a scarf, it was a welcoming environment.  After the tour, we took a bus to the Maokong tea region.  It is up in the mountains too.  There were so many tea houses to choose from, luckily the tour guide had a special place in mind.  We had to walk down a paved trail in the woods/jungle to get to this tea house.  We sat in the 'tree house' table.  It is in the trees overlooking beautiful views.  We ordered local black tea and a light lunch of noodles and tofu.  Thankfully our tour guide knew how to make the tea.  The tea house brought a large tray filled with many cups and teapots and hot water, etc.  This wasn't just dunking the lipton bag in your hot water tea.  She had to warm up the cups with the hot water and dump it out, then had to warm up the tea pot, and dump it out.  Then she put the loose tea in the bottom of the pot and added the hot water.....and she proceeded to dump that tea out (I guess you don't drink the first steep).  After she poured the tea in to our cups, she put another cup on top of it, you are supposed to dump the tea over into the other cup and smell the empty one to judge the tea by.  Once again, glad she knew the process, otherwise we would have been drinking tea sludge.

I went on a field trip to Madame Chiang Kai-shek gardens with Lily's first grade class, it was a very large, beautiful botanical garden.  Unfortunately, the day was too hot and sunny.....we didn't see as much as we could have.  Also, we had to elbow our way past a multitude of Chinese tourists.  People from mainland China can only visit Taiwan with a tour, no solo travelers (this is what I was told....do not quote me on this).

Paul and the girls sent me to a lovely hotel in downtown Taipei to have a Mother's Day massage.  It just so happen that Lady Gaga was staying at the same hotel.....there were quite a few photographers waiting for her to come outside the front doors........they had to settle for me.

I have been to two more ladies luncheons (I even cringe as I write that), have met many new people and now I think I need to buy some dresses to lunch in (how sad is that?), I felt frumpy in a cute skirt, tank top, cardigan and sandals.

Week 3 of my tennis lessons....still loving it!  I hope to be playing in some leagues this fall.  We might be buying a car in a few days (for me.....I am a bit intimidated by this).  The girls are done with school June 1st.  I have signed them up for 1-2 weeks of summer camp.  The girls and I will be coming to Minnesota for 5 weeks starting July 1st......lookout Target, here we come!

I have met some really nice people here, but just as the relationships are forming, some are moving or just taking the summer to travel back to the states....I worry that I will have to start over in August.  I am curious what my thoughts of Taipei will be this summer as I come to the U.S.?  What will I be thinking returning back to Taipei?  I don't know.....but will share when I do.  People love it here....I am still pining away for the U.S.   .....I wonder if/when that will shift.

After the bus dropped us off, we had to walk up this small road to get to the temple.

Lion guarding the temple.

View from temple of downtown Taipei.

Where you burn incense.  You stay and pray at the altar until 1/2 your incense stick is burned.

Wooden 'orange slices' that one throws to get answers from the Gods.

Altar

Detail of an old roof. (elephant)

Food and tea for sale on the way to the temple.  The silver canisters are filled with tea.

A tea field.

Tea house, the most requested table in the restaurant.

Our guide, Jenny, making the tea.

Our lunch of tea oil noodles, tea oil tofu and bamboo shoots.

Some of Lily's classmates on the field trip.

Lily has had a few playdates with the girl in the center, Mira.

Emma being goofy with a few of her friends.

Emma (right) with two other friends at a middle school play (I took one for the team and went with).

Yay!  I figured out how to use my oven for something other than frozen pizza....the forgiving brownie.

Eating cake with chopsticks, celebrating a birthday in Taiwan.

Homemade pizza, crust too!

A local accessory shop......I think they raided grandma's attic, it has everything you threw away in the 1970's.

Paparazzi for Lady Gaga.

Lunch at a Korean restaurant....look how excited the girls are! (not)

A daily newspaper column, kind of like the horoscopes....I think I will stay in bed!