posh

certainly not the majority.. but quite a few people i talk to about taiwan have this idea that it's primitive. i've heard the term 'third world' more than once. so tonight when i was clicking through my coteacher augusta's album on facebook, i thought it would be fun to show you the apartment she designed with her husband, jerry.

pretty fancy, huh? and to think she chose all that white and they have a nearly-two year old.

her english name is naomi, but they call her Omi. so sweet.

augusta's husband jerry is a body builder. goodbye, stereotypes!

the best thing

a couple of things of note happened today. well, a few.

1. gram called while i was in the middle of trying to write this blurb for a website about thoroughbred cows. she suggested 'they're udderly great' and we couldn't stop laughing. we almost decided to hang up at that point because we couldn't think of anything to top that.

2. it was the first night of my bowling league for the fall. the team is really nice. a young married couple, a girl who has a 2 year old (her husband hung out with the little girl all night), and a guy who has to be almost 7 feet tall. we came in last, but we had fun. coincidentally, i wore yellow socks and we turned out to be the yellow shirt team.

3. on wednesdays, guillermo comes over, we eat dinner and chat about health food. he's been reading books written by athletes about how to live a healthy life so he's on this special diet. it's very interesting to chat about quinoa and kale with someone who previously ate a diet of buffalo wild wings and the like. it's really been amazing though. he's lost 16 lbs somehow when you wouldn't have thought he had anything to spare.

anyway! i usually drop him off at school because he's too silly to get a parking permit for the university.. and up until now, i've been able to pick him up when his class gets out at like 8. but tonight i had bowling until 1015, so he literally walked two miles down the highway and i picked him up on the side of the road. he would hate that i'm telling you that, but he doesn't read this, so. so ridiculous though. only a boy would do something like that. he said he was going to ask a classmate to drop him off at my house where his car was, but he didn't want to ask. boys.

ps this is totally unrelated, but does anyone use a certain brand of eye shadow that they love? i bought MAC most recently, but i can't stomach $15 eye shadow right now while i'm on the macbook pro savings plan. i just want one sparkley neutral and a deep brown.

open letter

dear fall,

WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST COME TO TEXAS ALREADY. it is nearly october, and we've had one day that was even mildly sweater-appropriate. we are begging. and no, that little 5 minute rain shower today didn't count.

sincerely,
megan and the entire state of texas and much of the southern US

warm and bright

i'm reading a book called other people's children by lisa delpit who specializes in multicultural education.. and the chapter i just finished is about lessons she learned when teaching in papau new guinea and alaska. two paragraphs really stood out to me.

the first is a quote from an alaskan teacher who didn't see why we have the tradition of calling role when you can clearly see that the kid is there or not. she said..
'What I do is to greet all the children in the morning and talk to them. I ask how they slept and what they had for breakfast. I also ask them what they saw on the way to school. "Did you see any clouds? Was the ground wet? Ooh, was it really cold out?" Every day I ask them more about hat they saw and pretty soon they begin to notice more and more because they know I'm going to ask. Then I can lead them to make connections - to learn that when a certain kind of feel is in the air then it will snow, or that when a certain kind of cloud is in the sky then the weather will change. They'll learn to learn from everything around them; they'll learn how to live in their place. And since I'm talking to them anyway, I'll mark them present!'

isn't that a nice idea? it reminds me of the 'how to talk to little girls' article.

second paragraph i loved was about the experience of being a foreigner.
'My experiences in these geographically diverse settings were some of the most important of my life. I was very much the "other": I had no opportunity to see myself reflected in those around me. Under such circumstances, one learns to see much more clearly the assumptions one makes about the world, and to see that they are just that - assumptions. Some people in similar circumstances, I have discovered, hold on to their worldview with great tenacity, insisting that all of the others are wrong, peculiar, undeveloped, heathen, or uncivilized. I found that my survival depended on my being willing and able to learn from my new acquaintances and my new setting, to see the world through their eyes.'

one of the most interesting things about teaching in taiwan was the evolution you go through. i got there and could barely eat i was so out of my element for the first couple of weeks. i was that person who couldn't stop pointing out differences at every turn. but slowly, you learn that you won't survive if you do that. beyond that, you're being incredibly selfish and have totally forgotten the point of being somewhere new. so once i made that connection, it was interesting to watch the new teachers go through the same thing and see how long it took them to get past the initial stages and realize that they're the one who was peculiar.

but you don't have to be in a different country to experience that, or to apply the lesson to situations where you feel like your worldview is being challenged. i guess that's also part of growing up.

sailin' around the world

jeff, maj and i have been talking a lot about coincidences lately and how it's interesting how the universe puts you back on track every once in a while and shows you that things are happening for a reason. this week, jeff was feeling creepy in certain offices and not in others (he's an IT person. the VP of the company, incidentally) and he had a theory about why they were creepy. later in the week, his suspicions were confirmed when he overheard some staff talking about running patients through the offices 'like cattle.'

tonight i was reading a blog i like (one of the infamous secret mormon blogs), and she had a link to this woman's blog about plastic surgery. i kept clicking and clicking through her story of an eyelid and brow lift because of the way she wrote, and eventually i clicked on her main page. i don't know why, but i kept reading her post about her step dad and how they had never really gotten along,.. and then at the end of that post, there was a picture of her mom and her step dad at their wedding.. in Taiwan.

when i read 'at their wedding in Taiwan in 1978' it was just instantly a feeling of 'oh, that's why i kept reading.' just one little teeny reminder that you're on the right track, even if it's just happening upon a random blog on a friday night.

city-wide convention tomorrow! early to bed, early to rise.

p.s. this is from another favorite blog. don't you want to buy a plane ticket right now? i'll go with you.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

just love the way it is

it's a funny business making new friends. it's a weird mix between things you know people are thinking about you and knowing what the truth is. i suppose part of the fun is looking back after a few months and telling what your first impressions were.

but it's been interesting around the office because everyone keeps commenting on my voice and how girly it is or how young i sound or how soft it is. i guess when you're talking to normal strangers who know they aren't going to become friends with you eventually, they don't feel a need to comment on things like that.

but the other day, i'm sitting at a phone, calling people in my area.. when faye calls out across the room "Megan, you better leave your ID out on the table next to you when you're making calls in here" and one of the three people sitting between us asks why and she said "because the police are going to think we're violating child labor laws in here! they're going to think we have a 6 year old making phone calls!"

faye and i are like besties, so it didn't bother me at all, but i thought it was interesting when she admitted a few days later that when she was young, people used to make fun of her because her voice is so deep and she has such a tiny little body that you wouldn't expect a voice like that to come out of.

this is unrelated, but jeffy told us this story the other day and i thought you would enjoy it:

jeff is at a gas station, buying something or other
cashier: dude, i'm not gay or anything, but i just wanted to tell you you have pretty hair
jeff: ..thanks
cashier: is that your natural color?
jeff: no, i dye it
cashier: well, it looks really good

gone away

(talking with miriam about making pinatas)

me:  i've been wanting to make one for a really long time

so when i finally found a reason to make one, i did

 Miriam:  i cant think of anyone else who was looking for an excuse to make a pinata

thats amazing

that makes me laugh. i have the crazies right now! i think it's because i had a cup of tea an hour ago? too much caffeine on an empty stomach? my mom and jeff were in my room a moment ago discussing majjy talking to dead people in her mind at her intuition class. crazytown.

round and round

at 9:30 last night, i decided that instead i would make a piñata.

'

(the handle was the hardest part because i didn't think of it until after i had already assembled the whole thing.)

pie chart for progress updates.

love that everlasting japanese masking tape. 3 years and going strong with that stuff.

it was sooo much fun, but now i am sooo tired.

lights will guide you

trying to decide what i want to write about tonight when there's so much going through my mind right now. one of the main things is about goals and how it's interesting how some people are goal motivated and some aren't. i am highly motivated by goals. if there's a number, i will reach it. and i want to be first or have the most of whatever we're counting. it took me a while to realize not everyone felt like that.

i just finished a really interesting book called the essential 55, and it's a list of rules one teacher uses to motivate his class and keep them well behaved and on track. some of them seemed a bit extreme at first..

ex: Rule 9. Always say thank you when I give you something. If you do not say it within 3 seconds of receiving the item, I will take it back. There is no excuse for not showing appreciation. 

Rule 44. When in a line, walk single file, two to three feet behind the person in front of you with your arms at your sides. You should face forward at all times. There will be no talking.  

but a lot of them make a lot of sense, including rules 9 and 44. he reminds you that kids love/need structure, and they're really proud of themselves for the way they walk down the halls with military precision.  he goes to the extreme of outlining their behavior for almost every situation imaginable (how to wash your hands in the bathroom, how to eat at a table, how to leave a message when calling to ask about homework, how to take your fair share of food at a buffet [only fill 3/4 of the plate, do not stack anything on top of another piece of food], you get the idea.)

so by the end, i was a convert. i would never take it to that level, but a few more rules would have been really helpful in any experience i've had with kids.

i can't help but hear the kids from chinese preschool and afterschool in my mind when thinking about rules. christopher, now a second grader, is the king of rules. if you do one thing out of accordance with the rules we had established, he would let you know. we tried to play memory with a chinese-only speaking 3 year old and he almost flipped when she kept turning over cards when it wasn't her turn yet. we eventually just made it a rule that she could do whatever she wanted and it didn't matter.

for gram

my mom, who's a landscape designer, had her guys come by this week and build and stucco a wall/fence in the back yard so we can let the dogs out. 

jeffy's house and the fence that matches the fence in front

this isn't the best picture.. but they took out some of the grass and put in decomposed granite and built stone planters around the trees. we can't plant any plants until it rains around here.

i've been watering the rosemary with the water that's leftover in the kettle every morning, and now it has all kinds of new growth sprouting up.

too bad we can't say the same for this guy..

brought me to this

..so on sunday i began looking at macbook pro's online. today is wednesday. tomorrow one will arrive on my doorstep. i have no patience! i am my grandma's granddaughter/father's daughter/brother's sister. it's in the genes. i had no choice.

well, goals are being reached. tasks are being completed. hours are being clocked. it is so busy around here.

i'd also like to note that it's 10:36 and neither maj or jinky have arrived at home yet. thank goodness guillermo has a class way up north on wednesdays so we can do dinner together. he commented on how it seemed like i had lost my mind a little bit..but really i was just so excited to have company. cabin fever? it's no fun to spend all day in an empty house. but starting tomorrow, i'll be one of those mac coffee shop people!

每天很忙

(that chinese says mei tian hen mang which means every day very busy)

be careful what you wish for? i went from having 0 commitments per day to having scheduled myself for a 45 hour week. that being said, it's still very flexible and will be totally fine/a really nice change.

this morning i made smitten kitchen's 44 clove garlic soup. i think the actual roasting of the garlic in the oven might have been even better than the soup itself. the whole house smelled like olive oily, sweet garlic. you roast 26 cloves in the oven first, and then saute the other 18 with onion. the best part of the whole thing is dipping bread into the leftover olive oil in the bottom of the roasting dish, now that it's all garlicy and hot.

it kind of looks like wallpaper paste (delicious wallpaper paste), so i didn't take any pictures, but i highly recommend it for a winter weeknight soup.

it's great.. to be..

marisa is usually the thrifty one in my blogroll, but i'm saving up for one of these, friends. 

it's the new(ish) macbook pro. i'm going to be spending way too much time on my laptop for 2 part time jobs and a 15-hour-a-week volunteer commitment to keep using my current dell, though it has served me well. 

so no more buying new nail polish. i'm taking a break on sushi rolls. the good thing about having very few expenses is that it shouldn't be too hard to save up the money quickly. we'll see how it goes. 

illegal touching

the texas football team finally resurrected tonight and beat BYU 17-16. our (i think he's a senior now?) starting QB, gilbert, is supposedly talented, but he just never ends up connecting with receivers. but! there's hope because now the two younger shipley/mccoy brothers, jaxon and case, of former best-friend-duo, jordan and colt, are doing great! faj likes the shipleys because they're from burnet, which is this little town on the way to the lake. i just like them because they win games.

it's even inspired me to update the 2011 UT football season sidebar on the side way under the links section. let's hope this season has a few more in the 'W' column.

dog and ducking

me: well that's very cool that you're the authority on austin cops. anyone who wants to know will just ask you
patrick: yeah! just like anyone who wants to know about ... vegetable gardens and dresses will ask you!

wildflowers

today there was an elderly woman sitting beside me while we were making phone calls this afternoon. i've seen her around the office a bunch while i'm volunteering, but i haven't talked to her very much. she has white hair with bright blue highlights. we're talking crayola marker blue.

so today while we both had a free minute, i asked what her story was with the blue. she said she had seen an asian woman with a really bright turquoise streak and that she thought it was so beautiful, so she asked her daughter (who likes to do hair for fun) to put the blue highlights in her hair so she could show her support for the campaign.

she said she's thinking about going blonde next because she has to go to several functions where blue hair might not be very appropriate.

she and i were cracking each other up because she has literally the loudest sneeze i've ever heard. it made me jump out of my chair twice. and we were laughing when i kept saying 'wild flower' instead of 'wild fire' as i was leaving messages about how people could donate to the wild fire victims.

fun day. it reminded me that everyone has a story, and it's usually much more interesting than you could imagine.

fiji

you know i'm faj's daughter because when i get an idea about some trivial thing that i neeeeddd in my life, (like a certain perfect shade of pink nail polish, for instance) i can rarely go more than 3 days without pricing out and buying said object.

so today, i was about to go to ulta to buy this nail polish i've been pining after, but then i discovered it's also at walgreens, which is a mere 3 minutes from my house. on the way over, i was weighing whether or not i should look in their little coupon flier, but then i decided nothing i'm actually buying is ever in there, so i wouldn't bother.

i picked out the color and was walking to the front register when the makeup counter woman intercepted me. she complimented the nail polish and remembered that she might have a coupon for it. so then she pulls out this little accordion file with handwritten dividers for different products and brands. i asked if that was something walgreens did, or if she made it herself. she said different companies send all kinds of coupons, but that she keeps track of them herself.

not only did she find me a $1 off coupon for the nail polish, she sent me home with all kinds of little samples of lotions and creams and things. i don't know what it is, but girls love beauty products like guys love food samples at costco. i was thrilled.

the only downside is being a little distracted looking at my nail polish during downward dog in yoga this afternoon instead of keeping my head clear. they started the 40 day challenge today ... i think i'm going to sit this one out. we'll see.

forever my love

ripley gets a flea bath every weekend at the lake now. my dad thinks it helps keep her flea-free.. we have differing opinions, but ripley does seem to enjoy her weekly bath. 

kinda.

it's a long story, but we've been the foster home for one of jeff's friend's dog, jigsaw. she got a bath, too. 

ripley is one of the most attention-loving creatures there is. she loves to be dried with the towel after a bath, or she'll rub up against one if it's hanging on the railing. she really likes if you sit on the floor cross-legged and she'll put her nose into your tummy and wait for you to flip her so she's laying on her back in your lap.

but her favorite is if you pat her butt. she'll come stand beside you when you're sitting in a chair and just keep barking until you pat her. and if you stop, she'll yip again. 

anyway it's funny because we thought there was no dog that loved attention or being around people more than ripley, but jigsaw is right up there. she follows you around everywhere you go, waits for you outside the bathroom door, stands up whenever you stand up, and paws you when she wants you to pet her. 

it's been fun having them both around though. double shadow.

two fluffy puppies. we think jigsaw's face looks like a seal.

haven't made your mind up yet

too comfy in bed to get my camera and upload pictures of the lake this weekend. i'll do that tomorrow.

i turned 26 yesterday! the whole fam went to the lake, which hasn't happened in quite a while. we swam, we went to dinner, we watched the king's speech. it was a low-key birthday. i asked for a purse (the one in the DC pictures) and window tinting for my car for my birthday. we dropped my car off to be tinted yesterday. very excited. it is 1 million degrees in there.

it's crazy in texas right now. it was really windy because of the hurricane in louisiana, and we have 3 major wildfires in the austin area. nothing near our house. it's just so dry here now that we're at something like 80 days over 100 degrees. it's only supposed to be 92 or 95 tomorrow which sounds so nice right now. and in the 60s at night which is almost beyond belief.

jeff and i were talking about how ready we are for fall; soup, stew, long sleeves, delicious chai, scarves. my new car has heated seats! come oonnnn, fall!

lay down this bottle of wine

some random pictures and a link to allll of the pictures at the end! get excited, as becca says. 

this is us at happy hour. 

 the ring pillow before it got bedazzled

so adorable.

andy feeling rough in the first hour of the wedding. it was funny/sad.

john's phone

toasting. but it's more to give you an idea of what the tent actually looked like (while the power was on)

you can look at the whole album right here. and i think you should be able to see the professional pictures too if you're interested. (can someone let me know if that link doesn't work? thanks :)