plead with me, shout, scream

the baking continues. i wanted to make something with the leftover chocolate chips.. but i ended up making biscotti which contains no chocolate chips. it is yummy/just the right amount of work though. it was on my list of things i've always wanted to make but been a little bit afraid of. but it's so easy.

make a giant cookie

let it cool, cut into strips and bake both sides again

voila! i used hot chocolate mix which had little chocolate flakes, and sliced almonds. yummm.

ok friends. prepare yourselves for the most awesome maternity pictures you have eeeever seen. seriously, what is america thinking?

that's my pretty coteacher, augusta. she had a baby girl on february 9th.
changed your life, didn't they?

很喜歡台灣

12 hours ago..well, i managed not to cry in the car even as mr. kuo dabbed at his eyes without saying a word, but i haven't really stopped crying since i walked through security (and i haven't even read what the people in the dorm wrote to me in my goodbye book). it makes me think of the first time i was in this airport, crying my eyes out because i didn't know what anything said, everyone was staring at me, and i didn't know how to get to my house or have anyone there except those friendly taxi drivers, who didn't understand a word i was saying, to help me.
(bras on the sidewalk in front of carrefour).
now i can ask for help and talk to the people around me. sometimes i can figure out a sign even if it isn't in english. i've swum illegally in taroko gorge, gotten $3 massages in the philippines and learned to dive in thailand. i've eaten squid balls, pig intestine soup, sheets of seaweed and fried durian.
i'll miss the stares on the street and people who talk to me through giggles just because they think i'm pretty. i'll always remember all of the things i've done and seen, all of the people i've met and things i've eaten. it's been an awesome year and a couple of months.
(asian-fab post-its).
even though i have blonde hair in blue eyes, i'll always feel a little taiwanese on the inside. i already find myself wishing i wasn't hearing the english around me. i've gotten pretty used to everything in chinese and i always looked forward to seeing the little change in people's faces when i started speaking chinese to them.
(entrance of carrefour.. which isn't usually filled with shopping carts).
time to get on the plane! all i brought in my carryon is my laptop, a book i had all of my friends/kids sign, my blanket and some shorts. and my pillow. first stop: honolulu. i asked for an exit row seat. here's hoping whoever sits next to me isn't a germaphobe because i still have a pretty annoying cough.
(fruit market).

thank you for following along with me for however long you've been here. even if you've never commented, i know you by your city from my hits tracker. from dumfries to sunnyvale, grandville, rockville and denver, columbus and brampton, the netherlands, hong kong, finland, france, sweden and beyond.. it's been nice to have you along for the ride and i hope you come with me wherever i end up!

i've found my strength in you

these are some random pictures from the last couple of days.
i have the creepin crud (scratchy/cruddy throat, achey body, chills, headache) so i went and got a 2 hour massage today at the spa one last time. margaret is 4 months pregnant now! her tummy is pretty big. we had a conversation half in chinese and half in english today! she didn't know i was leaving, but she's very excited. she's going to send me pictures of her baby (we're hoping for a girl) and i'm going to send her pictures of me in DC.

the massage was fantastic. i managed to keep my mind from wandering for the majority of the time, which is always a struggle. every time i go, they've added some more things you can customize. which kind of oil for your foot soak (orange), which kind of spray for your room (nameless chinese stuff), which music (anything without birds), which oil for your body (lemon), which kind of tea (rose).

text message from mr. wang. it says miss megan.. something something america.. something something. mr. wang.
benny drying himself off after he took a bath in the sink after daisy creamed him with tin foil full of shaving cream.
then tonight, a whole bunch of us went to taipei for indian food at this really authentic restaurant down some little side street off of the jungshan denhua stop (exit 3, take a right, take a left at family mart and then right at the next little road. it's on the left). it was kind of my going away dinner. we had a nice time.

the bus ride home was pretty strange. we were the first ones in line for the taoyuan bus and they let the 10 of us on the bus and then stopped the line, so we were the only ones on the bus, even though there were still 20 or so taiwanese people in line. then the bus driver stopped at a light to walk back and count us. then he stopped to ask if we had seen any glasses. then he stopped to show us he had found them, so we all clapped. he was laughing. it was odd. we thought for a minute we were being kidnapped.
that's emily in her taiwan-fab top. she bought me pants from the same store. they're cream colored with red, blue and green polka dots all over them aaaand bows.
i'm still mostly feeling bummed about leaving. i'm sure once i'm home i'll be excited, but for now i'm just sad i'm leaving. i'm proud of myself for getting to the point that i wasn't missing america or my family really since we talk so often. there's been a lot of reflecting on how far i've come this year. i'm just trying to feel my feelings while i'm here so i don't get home and then freak out. done that once already!

p.s. the kid who walked from florida to washington to raise awareness for childhood homelessness emailed me back. i'm going to help him get a letter to the president's desk. it should be easy enough, right? there can't be a bazillion 11 year olds walking up the coasts of america for a cause.

aand this is a video of corey from tongue in cheek on the back of a motorcycle with her husband. if you've never been on a scooter/motorcycle before, you should watch it. he has more guts than me taking those turns so tight. i'm always way in the middle of the road.

goodbye wednesday

goodbye wednesday class. i'm going to miss how you spoke mostly chinese all year and then once you found out i understood some of what you were saying, you started speaking it just to test me. i'll miss how you're too cool for me because i'm all sunshiney and augusta is your favorite because she's strict and strong.
i'll miss that mindy and tina, the mean girls, actually started showing small signs of friendship with offers of chips and candy even if it was done by yelling across the room in chinese during the movie. i'll miss nicole and jane's sweet notes during QAs. i'll miss joyce 1 and joyce 2 even though i never learned which was which.
i'll miss how aaron even said 'i don't know' in chinese and how justin was a jerk in front of the class but really sweet one on one. i'll miss harrison's grandma who gave me a ride when i was new. i'll miss ben and how everyone picks on him just for being the smallest.
jane gave me a present! it was wrapped with shiny pink and silver wrapping paper that said 'i will miss you' all over it.
and hooray for sweet notes. they make the world go 'round and jane was my favorite so it really means something extra special.
p.s. wouldn't you try to marry a taiwanese person just for these wedding photos? the next 5 minutes will be the highlight of your day, seriously. look how lovely my coteacher is!

hei se de mian bao

..megan walks into love cake wearing a drippy rain jacket, picks out some bacon garlic bread and some normal garlic bread. at the cash register, there's a sample with black bread under the glass cover.
megan: why is this bread black?
woman: ummm.. [hands megan a flier]
... this is why it's important to always ask. it didn't look like that picture though. it was like a jellyroll with cheese inside but i couldn't tell what the other bits were.
anyway i ate half of it and then decided that fishy bread just isn't my thing.

they do a bunch of birthday cakes. birthday cakes in asian bakeries are all this funny bubble shape. all the better for cutesy designs!
..and not so cutesy designs.
the flier itself has the censoring. oh, taiwan. i'm going to miss you.

these vagabond shoes

i feel like i've kind of failed at showing you pictures of what taiwan actually looks like. i have a bunch of pictures of food but hardly any of anything outside of the big park or this dorm. in the last week and a half, i'm reaaalllly going to try to suck up my foreigner-shyness and take my camera with me everywhere i go. i'm definitely going to get the fruit market, tea shops, guei shan and da chu areas, the train station, etc.
food is easy. it's right inside my house and it can't make me blush. this was dinner tonight. deeeelicious skewers of pork wrapped around mushrooms or scallions ($1 each), and some grilled bell peppers and green beans with a little bit of spicy sauce from a BBQ stand in guei shan. can't beat $4 dinners.
tonight i told my baby class i'm leaving. they were not thrilled at all. carol asked them if they wanted a guy or girl to replace me and they just said "MEGAN! MEGAN!". i'm going to misssss them. one more week though. and my older kid, favorite class ever, class was asking me animals in english and i'd say the chinese. they were super impressed that i knew hippo and crocodile.

p.s. do you think my mom had any influence on my sense of style?

like mother..
(this is her new office space for designmyyard).
like daughter..
(my room 2007).
though i think my yearlong obsession with design blogs has seriously influenced my sense of style. i guess we'll see what post-DC apartment looks like.
hopefully something like..


i've since lost all of those sources. no copyright issues intended.

such a long road we've been walking on

these are some pictures from the very end of the night. dane came over after everyone had left.
it's funny how time flies by so much faster when your schedule is full. it would be nice to be able to push pause. i've been doing a million things every day; getting ready to leave taiwan, tying up loose ends and filling out forms, and i haven't even really begun to look for housing yet. i did buy my plane ticket! sept 5, DC here i come!
a bunch of things that used to be annoying just seem like funny quirks of taiwan lately. the ladies pushing dollies full of trash and recycling across the street in the middle of traffic, wearing their flowered arm covers and big sun hats. getting lost in tiny little alleys. getting stuck behind the trash truck as everyone comes out with their bags in hand. going to tea stands and seeing all of the workers run to the back of the shop and force the one sort-of-english-speaker to the front.
bobo called me from the book store today to ask if i wanted her to buy a chinese children's book about obama for me. she read it to katie and i today at lunch and the story is sooo cool. i'm supposed to get it signed. we'll see about that.
time for bed, i'm behind schedule.
..let's look at the dress one more time before the window of time has closed that it's acceptable to keep bringing it up.
facebook album can be seen here

from around here

some of my favorite pictures from last night:
my coteacher augusta and her fiance, jerry. last time i saw jerry, i couldn't say much chinese at all, so every time i would talk to him last night, he shook his head and said 'it's so weird to hear you speak chinese!'
jerry, katie, krissy, phil and george
augusta's taiwan fab shoes.

the couples were awesome.
alan and natalie
steph and carly in perfectly taiwanese matching couples shirts.
martin and olenka (in homemade shirts)
tess, danielle and i (look at that dressss!! i felt like a taiwanese princess)
evvvveryone playing bubblegum
dancin'
i bought balloons for minimal cost + maximum decor impact
katie, me, tess, phil

tonight i went over to the apartment to pick up some stuff i forgot and i asked the security guards what we should do about the cable and our lack of hot water. the security guard called the cable guy (at 11:30pm), woke him up, and scheduled an appointment for tomorrow.
megan: we don't have any hot water either
retired guy who hangs out behind the desk: you can say that in chinese
me: we don't have any hot water
guy: did you turn on the gas?
me: we can cook with it, but the water isn't hot
guy: did you try turning on the gas..?
me: we're a bunch of american girls who can't read the chinese. i don't know how to turn on the gas
guy: let's go try
me: now?
guy: yeah, why not?
..as we're walking to the elevator..
guy: you guys had a lot of people over for your party last night. was it fun?
me: yeah it was a lot of fun, i'm sorry we were loud, but we just wanted to show all of our friends the new apartment
guy: it's ok. it was saturday. i went to sleep at 2am
me: could you hear us?
guy: yep

so that was funny/productive. turns out the battery was missing from the hot water heater unit. we never would have figured that out on our own. we were also surprised to find out that the retired man lives on our floor, across the hall. he asked why i wasn't staying there that night and i told him i'm not going to live there since i'm going home. he told me to come over often. those guys are so nice.