my english is so crap

...or the more crude version "my english is so shit" is a phrase we hear a lot here when people with English skills 100x better than our Chinese skills are apologizing for not being able to communicate something.

On another note, sorry for the long lapse in our blogging! We were bored out of our minds during Chinese New Year and got out of the habit of blogging because it didn't seem like there was too much to write about. We thought the Chinese New year would be filled with parties and parades, but aside from firecrackers going off at every hour of the day and night...CNY turned this bustling city into a ghost town. We did do a couple of fun things during that time that I can mention quickly...one being that we went to the Chaing Kai-shek memorial hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Chiang_Kai-shek_Memorial_Hall) which is beautiful Chinese architecture. In the basement of the hall there is a Modern art museum with an Andy Warhol exhibit going on. Even though we weren't working and had all this free time during the week, we stupidly decided to visit the exhibit on a Saturday. So needless to say, it was extremely crowded and I think it ruined it for Alan. All he could talk about is how bad people smell in large groups. It was pretty amazing to see his artwork though...all of the famous pieces were there from the Marilyn Monroe's to the Campbell's soup can and the Velvet Underground banana.

After Chinese New Year, I still had one week of vacation before my job started (which happened today). We decided to take a vacation from our vacation and headed down to Kenting Beach. Kenting is the southernmost tip of the island and is a national park on the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful! The one drawback is the public transportation-we are so spoiled in Taipei that we didn't think that we would need to come up with a form of transportation down there. You have to have a Taiwanese license to rent a scooter or car there (and they do enforce this law, unfortunately). So besides walking our only other real option was to take a taxi around which isn't all too expensive but they are few and far between. We stayed in a cozy and extremely nice and clean hotel run by a very sweet family. They would all eat dinner in the lobby every night and every night when we would be heading out to dinner, they would invite us to sit and eat with them. We refused their offers though because they didn't speak any English and we don't speak Chinese and so we thought it might be a little awkward. And also because I'm still a little scared of most food here and I was nervous of what they would be serving us and that I might not like it.

One thing the owners really helped us out with was setting us up on an amazing snorkeling trip. It ended up being about $12 each and Alan and I agreed that it was the best $12 we had ever spent. A guy picked us up from our hotel at 8am and brought us to a place with snorkeling gear. We wore wet suits because the water is still a little chilly this time of year. Then he brought us out to the beach and just pointed towards the ocean. We were both expecting some sort of boat to take us out to a reef but no. This wasn't a nice sandy beach either, it was a rocky beach of dead coral reef. Alan and I were both a little nervous. I had read things in my Lonely Planet book about how the current is really bad in some areas and that you shouldn't swim out too far. This guy was pointing us to swim out to a floating dock about 3o feet out. Once we got out there we were both put at ease quickly because it was very calm and there was amazing coral reef and all types of tropical fish. Alan, being the saltwater tank expert was excited to point out fish and pull me up to tell me what each of them are. It was nice to have such an informed guide!

After about an hour of snorkeling, another group of Taiwanese arrived. The guide could barely get half of them in the water so that made me feel braver than I had earlier. Once they got out in the water a boat came to pick us all up. The crazy driver took us out in the boat and then we all got on one of those hot dog looking rafts and got pulled behind. None of the guides or passengers spoke any English so we just had to go with the flow. But it was a really fun time and again--the best $12 I had ever spent.

Davis encourage Alan and I to sign up for couchsurfing.com to meet new people. We were a bit skeptical at first about the whole couchsurfing organization but I'm so glad we signed up. We went to a CS event this past Saturday and met some really great people! First the group met up for bowling, which I am horrible at but it was still a lot of fun, then we went to eat dinner in a hot pot restaurant which is popular here, then we all went to a club to watch a reggae band. Some people came for one event and most stayed for all 3 events, like us. It was really nice to go to a restaurant and have someone tell us what to order and what to do! The group was a good mix of Taiwanese, Americans, Canadians, Koreans and one guy from Singapore. All in all it was a fun night and it is nice to now have some friends to go out with! I met one girl who I really clicked with named Olivia. She is young, only 21 I think but she is the sweetest thing and offered to help me go get my haircut. I have been needing a haircut but have been afraid to go into the salons, thinking they would know no English and I wouldn't be able to communicate what I wanted them to do (Olivia told me I was right in thinking they probably didn't know English). So we're going Wednesday night to get my hair cut.

This weekend the Lantern Festival started so every night people send off lanterns into the sky with a message inside about something they want to achieve for the new year. (I think...I don't know too much about the Lantern Festival yet) Alan and I are going to try to go tomorrow night to watch the celebration. It is supposedly a sight to see.

I had my first day of work today but this blog is far too long already so I will write more about work...and the Lantern Festival soon!

Bayly