Never Quite...Right

This picture is the perfect visual of expat life in Taiwan.
In the mood for some good ol Nachos? Too bad. This is as good as it gets.
I saw the real nacho cheese first and I was thinking, no way, real nachos? What are the chances that cheese isn't disgusting? Mmm, slim. But I decided what the heck, and ordered some.
Imagine my horror surprise when they loaded them up with Doritos.
What? Why?! I know there are tortilla chips on this island so why can't I have some with this (not so bad) cheese?! Where is the disconnect?
It's like they almost get it... but just not quite.
What don't they understand about the definition of Nachos being tortilla chips and cheese sauce? Did they think it was fine cuz they are the same shape? Or did some one think the cheesiness of the cheese sauce just wasn't enough? That using Doritos would take things to the proverbial next level?
Because it doesn't.
Not only does it not look right- therefore I was already prejudging on the taste- but the cheese sauce is almost canceled out by the taste of the Doritos.
THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST NACHOS, nay AMERICAN FOOD, even AMERICANS!

Moral of the story: Never get excited about comfort food from home (or anything). They don't "get it" here, therefore, neither do you.

Kohen Quote of the Day

Tonight during Friday Night Movie Night there was a preview for The Man From Snowy River. It was an emotional, moving preview. Kohen was entranced. As soon as the preview ended Kohen jumps up and says to me, "Can I be a man like that?!!! Can I be a man like that?!!!"
Surprised by his excitement I say, "Yes, of course."
Without hesitation he follows with, "But where will I find my horse?"

Strawberry Farm

 Kohen recently had a field trip to a Strawberry Farm and I was able to go with. I was curious about said farm seeing as Strawberries are really quite expensive here. I brought over all this Sure-jell thinking I could continue making delicious strawberry jam only to be bitterly disappointed to discover they are hard to find and super expensive.

 The farm was really well kept considering what we are used to around these parts. I was impressed. There was a pig that Kohen had no problem communicating with, he'd snort and the pig would snort back, endless fun.

 Not the best pic (he had his neck all scrunched down) but this bird was with chickens who had laid eggs recently, and it strutted around just like a rooster but that's as far as I am willing to venture in my guess as to what it is.

 When it was Kohen's class's turn to pick they were each given a little pair of scissors and a basket and they started out. While I was trying to help Kohen's buddy get the right number of the right size berry that he had chosen to pick, Kohen was clipping happily away. Before I could barely turn around he had clipped a dozen of the smallest, most jaundice looking strawberries. Luckily I knew when it came time to eat them,  Kohen would be up for it.

There really were some gorgeous berries, and they were delish. I ended up picking 12 large strawberries and by weight they cost me 200NT which is somewhere around $6. And though I felt fine about it at the time, upon reflection, it was not an amazing deal. About average, though I have never seen such large and red strawberries in the markets. 

But it's the experience we're supposed to remember, right?! And I think being out of school, eating good food, and being with Mom, is always a good time for Kohen.

Gone Shrimpin'

 On one of our days off we decided to look into "Shrimping". We had heard about it before and decided we needed to try it out. On this one random road there are a whole bunch of little shrimpin places. Apparently, the one we went to was the nice indoor one.

We got a couple of poles and some ^ bait, which was disgusting. Little dried baby shrimp and some sort of liver... or other... part. I dunno, but gross.
I will say though, that of the families that came with us, Nathan was the only one man enough to bait the hooks. I was proud of my Idaho Boy, not gonna lie. Do I want any part of baiting the hook? No. Does it kinda turn me on that my hubby just digs in with both hands? Disturbingly, yes. It must be my Idahoan roots behind that attraction.

 Anyway, after your 2 little hooks on the end of each line are baited by my Man, you simply throw your line in, sit back and wait. and wait.... aaaand wait some more. It was a very full house the afternoon we were there and I think that had to do with our lack of luck. But after a while, Nathan of course snagged one.

 Dang these are ugly creatures. Can I get an "AMEN!"?

 But it was still really exciting to pull one up out of the water. Kohen, of course, was absolutely in the middle of the action without hesitation.

Aly experienced some... hesitation. 

 To illustrate the classy- ness of the joint, I had to get a picture of the owner puffing away like a chimney right next to the giant "No Smoking" sign. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words as the patrons had no problem lighting up either. Yuck.

 In the end, at two different times I had a shrimp on the hook but right as it came out of the water it escaped. Dang! Nathan caught two and our friends son caught six. He was the Shrimp Whisperer. In the end he was just showing off when he pulled up a shrimp and there was a second shrimp just hanging onto the first shrimp! It was crazy.
But that was it. No one else in our group had luck.

 The owners must've felt bad cuz they just gave us some more shrimp before showing us how to rinse, skewer, and salt the still live shrimp. eew.

 Kennedy was surprisingly okay with this portion of the process. I think she was glad to finally get her hands on some shrimp one way or another.

 We threw the shrimp on the barbie (said with my best Australian accent) and let em roast for a while.

 Pretty soon it was time to dig in....
Or was it?
Let's just say they also got a firsthand lesson on when a shrimp is not fully cooked. I say "they" because I  had no part in the eating. Shrimp and I are tentative friends and I only can handle them under certain circumstances. Eyes and antennae still attached is not one of them.

 Eventually the shrimp were fully cooked and a small shrimp feast took place.

 Though his face here may lead you to believe otherwise, Kohen LOVES shrimp and even ate his fair share of these questionable ones.

At the end of the afternoon there was only crustacean carnage left to show for the whole adventure. I think next time we will come back when all the Chinese are back at work and we will catch them but pass on eating them there.
I mean, it's not exactly a Bubba Gump caliber operation but it made for some memories.

Swimming at the "Spa"

On our CNY break we did lot's of fun stuff just hanging around town. We went to the high school to cheer on our team in the Rugby championship games- can I just say, that is one brutal, physical game? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm even man enough to watch the games- the way they just crash into each other with out pads or helmets *cringe* But I loved learning all about the game, I like it a lot.

Tangled also came out in theaters here (FINALLY) so we obviously went and completely loved it. The fact that it only played in English and 3D is a vent I'll spare you but hello! way to rip off the foreigners. 

One afternoon our friends invited us to go swimming at an indoor place they had some passes to. The warmer pool where the kids could pretty much touch was where we spent our time. It was the pool with all the spa/water features.

As 5 kids cannon balled into the "spa" pool, I'm sure the quiet relaxation for the other patrons quickly drew to a close. Our kids had to try out each of the water features, of course.

They had fun with all of them but I tried to steer them clear of the one at the far left of ^this picture because, frankly, I was suspicious of just what the water was massaging. 

After a while the newness of the pounding water features wore off and they enjoyed themselves just swimming around.

These bubble bath bed things were the favorite and were how they finished off their swim. It was a great afternoon with friends.

The Year of the Rabbit

For Chinese New Year the Kindergartners do something called The Red Market. Lot's of fun food and all sorts of activities in all of the different rooms. I got to work in the "Beauty Booth" and I did lot's of little heads of hair which was fun.

As usual Ander was an amazingly good sport. I was asked to do hair at the last minute so Ander had to just hang out in his stroller for a looong time. He entertained himself for quite some time with Kohen's hat, and Kohen would bring Ander a piece of pizza every 15 min or so and that helped a lot.

 Each class had made a dragon out of all of their hands which looked neat I thought.

 They had Chinese character painting, dragon tatoos, Fishing, musical chairs, a chopstick and M&M game, face paintings etc. I was impressed, it was really well run and the kids made some good memories.

Fun to see the different outfits, and I especially love Kohen's impromptu "Rabbit paws".

We have this week off for Chinese New Year so there will be more to come. But for now let me be the first to wish you Happy Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit. Xin nian kuai le!!!!