#it’s so strange and weird to think about how this is a BASIC hygienic routine that i simply wasn’t granted

[stonesandswords]

may my moving out posts not be forever annoying but omg

[husbandograveyard]

W L E H B for luffy general alphabet? :)

General Alphabet - Luffy: W L E H B 

B -  Boozy - What is their alcohol tolerance like? What kind of drunk are they?

Luffy doesn’t really care about alcohol? Like at all. He prefers food over drinks anyway and then will drink anything what is offered to him, he’s not that picky. He will drink whenever the occasion calls for it and he is offered booze, but if he is offered the choice, will mostly opt for something non-alcoholic. 

He does not get drunk very easily, his tolerance higher than the average person, as it is for many pirates. But he does get drunk eventually. 

He is an absolute idiotic drunk. I cannot phrase it any other way. More of his impressions, gomu-gomu-no-I-am-know-in-need-of-untangling, the whole circus. It is pretty funny though, but gets annoying after a little while. 

E - Explosive - Are they quick to get angry? What kind of angry are they?

It takes A LOT to get Luffy angry. He’s usually super carefree, happy-go-lucky, and just so easygoing, even in more trying times. But well there are a couple of things that get him going. Hurting his crew or his family are on top of the list. He will go to the ends of the earth to make sure they are safe, happy and in a place to reach their dreams. General injustices get his blood boiling as well, he just doesn’t get how people can find joy in oppressing people, how they can profit off of other’s backs. 

Luffy is always a no think-just do- kind of person. And when he’s angry, he becomes even more of one. He follows his (luckily pretty sharp) instincts, and he’s not afraid to punch someone in the face if they won’t listen to initial talks to right their wrongs. 

H - Health & Hygiene - Do they take proper care of themselves or do they need to be reminded to have better habits?

Luffy is...a pirate, with a general pretty childish view and way of life, even though he’s usually connected to big political schemes and such. He does not have much of a routine, acting much on instinct. When he’s hungry (always), he eats, when he’s tired, he takes a nap... so generally his hygiene habits aren’t the best, although still better than some on the ship (looking at you, “I only take one bath a week if you’re lucky”- Roronoa Zoro). 

He’s relatively healthy, mostly because Sanji makes sure his diet is the best it could possibly be for someone living on the sea, and while he does not really actively practice good hygiene, you need only ask for him to take a bath, brush his teeth or change his clothes. He needs some reminders, but he will not actively neglect himself, he just has a very high tolerance for dirt and smell. 

L - Love Language - What is their love language? Does it change when it’s a romantic relationship or are they consistent with how they show love to friends and partners?

Luffy’s love language is physical touch and acts of service. It doesn’t differ much between friends and potential romantic partners. His physical touch usually manifests by wrapping himself around those he cares about, a gomu-gomu-no-hug, although it is not always comfortable for the receiver, Luffy sometimes forget just how strong he is. 

Other than that, acts of service, outing itself in his loyalty and protection of you and the rest of his family and crew. He will do basically anything you ask of him. There’s not necessarily a thought process behind it, Luffy thinks it’s only normal to help out those you care about.

If you need a more verbal component to your love life, you will have to explicitly ask Luffy about it. He just goes with the flow, but is not really good with words and will need some instruction as to how to express his love, when you need more than what he’d usually do. 

W - Weird - Do they have any habits that are considered strange or abnormal by other people? What are they?

Luffy as a person can be considered ‘weird’ in the way that he is very much a pirate, and yet such a hero to so many people. His personality charms so many people, even though he doesn’t even actively try to. He doesn’t really have consistent habits thought that would be considered especially weird, with the only exception being just how far he is willing to go for food. It’s far more than any other normal person would do, and it’s both endearing and terrifying. 

[spartandiggle]

Of Cinnamon, Coffee, & Cohabitation [1/1]

Show: Arrow Characters: Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen, William Clayton Ship: Felicity/Oliver, William & Felicity, William & Oliver Words: 2848 Notes: Listen I just want to understand more about how Felicity, Oliver and William came to be as comfortable around each other as they were in the beginning of 6.11. Speaking as someone who is part of two combined families, nothing comes that easy - because kids are weird and dynamics are hard to establish. So, I just wanted to explore that idea because I love this little family!

A well-oiled machine doesn’t just spring into existence. It’s built - one painstaking piece at a time - until each piece comes together to function in harmony. So, when it comes to building her family, Felicity is willing to put in the work.

(An interlude between 6.09 and 6.11)

[read it on AO3]

It’s not like she and Oliver come back from Central City married and everything is suddenly perfect.

Their lives don’t really work like that. She’s been building a rapport with William ever since she and Oliver decided to start seeing each other again. Officially, anyway. Not just not-so-subtle flirting in the bunker and weighing the pros and cons of making out with each other in the elevator before the doors open.

It was, needless to say, an extremely frustrating few months as they worked to keep their distance. But, now, with things settling down and them finding a nice, cozy groove to wedge themselves into? It’s all just starting to click.

Well, sort of. William seems fine with the change. Maybe too fine. Or is Felicity just projecting? She remembers being around his age and watching men walk in and out of her and her mother’s lives. Trust issues were basically built into her core after her father left, so she wouldn’t blame Will for being wary of her relationship with his dad.

Especially since they’d left the city only a few weeks after getting back together for one weekend and had come back married. A move that could definitely seem a little impulsive, especially to a teenager who hadn’t been around for their first go at the whole marriage thing.

So, moving in is a little strange. She and Oliver are splitting their time between trying to seem normal around William and trying to track down Cayden James. Felicity barely sleeps and, when she does, it’s usually in small bursts in front of her computer. It doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for establishing family dynamics.

One morning, she manages to pass out in their shared bed and sleep through the night. It’s been almost two years since she’d had a typical office job that required waking up at a specific time, so it’s jarring to be startled awake by the sound of Oliver’s alarm buzzing.

“No,” she huffs as the bed moves with Oliver’s waking. He laughs at her, the alarm cutting off as he presses the button on it. The fact that he still uses an actual alarm clock, rather than the app on his phone like every other normal person, is so unbelievably him.

“Can’t you be late for work?” She pouts, pressing her face into the pillow beneath her. His fingers move gently through her hair, catching in the knots and easing them out. “You used to be so good at that.”

He huffs and she thinks it’s in offense, but she’s too sleepy to soothe his wounded ego right now. She’ll make it up to him later.

“I have to get William ready for school,” he explains, rather than debating the claim. Felicity goes a little rigid.

It’s not that she forgets about William. You don’t just forget a whole person, obviously. It’s just that sometimes it’s easy to slip back into the mindset of where she and Oliver had left off two years ago. Which did not include the responsibilities of suddenly becoming a stepmom.

Oh, God, what if she fucks it up and totally screws him up for life? Should she buy a parenting book? There’s probably tons of scholarly articles out there on childhood development.

“Right,” she says, more awake now. Oliver’s hand moves from her hair, warm palm skimming over the skin revealed by the tank top she’d worn to bed. “Um, can I help?”

She shifts, turning her head to peek out at him from where she’d been pressed into the pillow. He leans forward, brushing a soft kiss over her exposed shoulder.

“I’ve got it,” he assures her, pulling away from her to sit up fully in bed. He hits the switch on the lamp next to the bed, filling the room with warm, yellow light. Her eyes track the movement, catching the way the silver band on his finger reflects the light. It makes her warm inside, something she doesn’t think Oliver Queen will ever stop doing to her.

Felicity watches him as he slides out of bed and pulls on a t-shirt. She drifts back towards unconsciousness as he disappears from the room, sliding the door shut behind him. Through the walls, she hears him knock on William’s door, calling softly to wake him up.

She wakes again to the smell of cinnamon drifting through the now slightly ajar door to their shared bedroom. Against her body’s wishes, she forces herself out of bed and ventures towards the living space. Oliver is standing in the kitchen, a mug of coffee in one hand as he frowns at the news playing from the television in the living room.

“Where’s William?” She asks, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm the tresses. What she needs is a shower. Oh, man, she actually doesn’t remember the last time she’d washed her hair. Fucking Cayden James.

“He left for school,” he explains and Felicity pouts a little to herself.

“Oh,” she offers lamely, feeling like the worst parent ever. It’s probably stupid, but she feels like she should have gotten up in time to see William off. That’s what parents do, right? They make you a lunch and double check your homework and send you off to the bus with a kiss on the head.

At least, that’s what 90s sitcoms told her.

“I made cinnamon waffles,” Oliver tells her, offering her a soft look and not commenting on her disappointment. He motions towards the microwave, where the heavy smell of cinnamon and sugar is coming from, and she opens it to find still warm, leftover waffles.

She pulls down a plate and picks two waffles off the top, covering them in syrup as Oliver watches her with mild disapproval. Used to his arguments against her sugar intake, she ignores him.

Halfway through her food, Oliver empties the last dregs of his coffee into the sink and slides in behind her where she’s seated at the counter. He wraps his arms around her stomach and nudges her hair aside with his nose, placing soft kisses on the skin beneath her ear.

He smells like cinnamon and coffee and she leans into him.

Tomorrow, she thinks. Tomorrow she will see Will off.

---

Once she is, once more, sleeping on a schedule that one may call remotely human-esque, Felicity begins to wake with Oliver and William. Part of it is that once Oliver leaves the bed it becomes significantly less warm and a shared shower in the morning is much more enticing than a cold bed. But, also, she likes getting to eat breakfast with the men in her life and chat with them.

William is stupid smart. Like, truly, so smart it’s almost unbelievable. He pulls his homework out in the mornings and sets it on the counter. Some morning it’s complete but a lot of them he’s scrambling to finish it up, which is a very Queen trait, she thinks. She checks it over as he works, impressed by the ease with which he completes things even in his sloppy, rushed handwriting.

“I thought you said you finished your homework last night, buddy,” Oliver says almost every morning, more teasing than annoyed with his son’s antics. Felicity figures that as long as it’s getting done on time and done well, Oliver is happy.

William gives him the usual caught smile, like the conversation is new rather than routine. Felicity underlines a dropped remainder with a pencil and slides it back towards Will. He spots the error and corrects it easily. Oliver frowns down at his tie, hanging untied from his collar, and lifts one end of it.

“Does this match?” He asks and Felicity startles, realizing the question is directed at her. Usually, he’s the one with an eye for matching his tie to his suit - Felicity likes her dresses and her lipstick and her shoes but menswear has never been her strong suit. No pun intended.

But it’s been a long week full of meetings with city council and the press and dealing with the backlash of the anti-vigilante bill. He’s nervous and strained, stretching himself too thin between all the things he’s committed himself to. Sometimes she thinks of the ways he’d shirked all other responsibilities - work, family, general hygiene, her - in the name of the hood he’d worn, but those days are long gone.

Now, he gives maybe too much of himself to each thing he loves.

“The blue one would look better,” she tells him, because he’s wearing a black suit and a white shirt. Any tie would match, but it’s not really about the piece of expensive fabric tied around his neck. He offers her a quick thanks, pulling the tie from his neck and heading out of the kitchen area towards the bedroom beyond.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so nervous,” Will offers, setting his pencil aside and gathering up the worksheets he’d been finishing. Felicity slips out of her chair and rounds the counter to refresh her coffee.

“You should have seen him on our first date,” she jokes, lifting the coffee pot and filling the porcelain mug in her hand. She turns back to Will, leaning forward on the counter. “He just wants to be sure he’s doing the best for the city,” she explains, tacking on, “And you.”

William rolls his eyes at the sentiment, but Felicity’s thinks it’s more to avoid the emotional truth than out of any real annoyance.

“You guys don’t have to try so hard, you know,” he says matter-of-factly. He opens a folder and neatly stacks his worksheets within the flaps. Felicity frowns at him, prompting him to continue, “I just mean it’s been… weird, I guess, with all the changes around here. But, you know, good weird. It’s been… nice.”

He’s got a pinched expression on his face, like the sharing of his feelings is physically paining him and Felicity thinks it’s the most of Oliver she’s ever seen in him. She lifts her coffee to her lips, humming in response.

“Good to know,” she admits quietly, earning a shy smile from William.

“So, can I have some coffee?” He asks, abruptly changing the subject. Felicity fumbles for a moment, surprised at the change, but nods. She pulls down a second mug from the cabinet and fills it. She holds it out to him over the counter, but Oliver appears behind her, taking the mug from her fingers before Will’s can make contact.

William sighs like he’s been caught and Oliver gives him a look.

“You’re too young for coffee,” he reminds him and Felicity cringes apologetically at both of them, pulling her own mug towards herself and clutching it self-consciously. “Is your homework finished?”

Will nods, slipping his folder back into his bag and gathering his things to leave.

“Do you want me to pick you up later?” Oliver asks, holding a paper bag with his lunch in it out to William.

“That’s okay,” William says, shaking his head and shoving the brown bag lunch into his backpack. “I’m gonna hang out with a friend after school, if that’s cool with you guys.”

“Very cool,” Oliver says warmly. William calls his goodbyes before heading for the door. Felicity spins around, caught between Oliver’s form and the counter, and his hands fall easily to her hips. She presses up on her toes to kiss him, her arms draping over his shoulders.

“He’s making friends,” he says, a tempered excitement to his voice. Felicity smiles up at him, filling with warmth for the two of them.

“Sorry about the coffee thing,” she sighs, shaking her head at herself. “I didn’t even think about it. I mean, I was drinking coffee at his age. But, then again, I turning into all of, you know, this.”

She removes one arm from his shoulder to motion vaguely at herself and Oliver laughs, leaning down to kiss her once more.

“I like all of this,” he reminds her in between presses of his mouth and Felicity hums in response. He backs off enough to give her a serious look, “It’s fine, Felicity. Don’t be so hard on yourself when it comes to William, okay? He already likes you and it only matters that you’re trying.”

She narrows her eyes playfully at him, “That was very wise. Who are you and what have you done with my husband?”

“Well, you know, I do have my moments,” he offers dryly, rolling his eyes at her in a very similar way to how William had a few minutes earlier. She hums in agreement again, pressing up on her toes towards him once more.

“No doubt,” she says, guiding his head back down to her.

---

Slowly, things start to hum. It helps when Felicity starts sleeping more and trying less. She gets up with Oliver in the mornings and they share the shower. He rouses William and gets him up for the day while she dresses.

They begin to move around each other easily, the awkwardness of her first few days after moving in long behind them. William and Oliver eat breakfast and, quite often, goof off while Felicity does her hair. She usually checks over William’s homework before he leaves and eats the food Oliver leaves for her in the microwave.

She recognizes that they’re still keeping a secret from William - the irony on her end and complexity of which is not lost on her. So far, they’ve managed to avoid any huge fallouts. William sometimes gets an attitude with Oliver or retreats soberly into himself, but so far? Things are somehow working.

“Is this too easy?” She wonders aloud one night as they prepare for bed. Oliver is changing out of his dress shirt and slacks and Felicity sits on the bed, watching him.

He does that adorable scrunched-faced confused look and she warms with affection for him.

“What?” He asks, expertly undoing the buttons on his shirt. Felicity plays nervously with the strings at the waistband of her pajama pants.

“You know, just,” she halts, dropping the strings and motioning at large to the room around them, the apartment outside, the son in the next room, “this. Has it all gone too smoothly? I feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Oliver gives her the softest smile, settling on the bed next to her. She looks him over, dress shirt opened to the t-shirt beneath, tiredness due to a night of video games with William, rather than the kind that comes from crime bosses and evil hackers, shading his eyes. She wants to kiss him, a want she actually has the ability to fulfill.

He lets out a soft sound as she presses her lips to his, something low and comfortable from within his chest. Felicity places her hand on his chest, toying with one of the loose buttons as she pulls back from him.

“I think when it comes to our lives,” he shrugs, “we should just accept the easy things.”

“Oliver Queen an optimist?” She teases, leaning back towards him with a grin that he mirrors. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

He places his hand suddenly on her waist, pushing her back into the mattress and covering her mouth with his own. Her lips open under his, giving in easily to the familiarity of him as he hovers over her. She strokes her fingers over his shoulder blades, encouraging him to settle further into the cradle of her hips as she hooks one of her legs over the back of his calf.

“I know things are a little crazy right now, with the team and with Cayden,” he admits in a low voice, pulling back from her. Felicity moves one of her hands over his shoulder, towards his jaw, where her finger stroke over the short hairs there. “But here, at least, with you and with William, I finally feel like I have everything I need.”

She pouts affectionately at him, letting out a small noise of agreement that makes him smile. She knows what he means. Between him and William, even with the team being split and her company in limbo, it feels like they’ve found a groove. There are going to be problems ahead, outside of this apartment and the bubble of comfort they’ve created for themselves and, she hopes, William. But it feels like they have everything they need to weather those storms now.

“I’m glad we finally found our rhythm,” she says, meaning both the way she and Oliver had managed to find their ways back to one another, but thinking also of how their small, combined family unit moves around each other. Humming parts of a machine, weaving in and out and around each other to create the most effective output.

Oliver gives her the kind of smile that still makes her stomach squirm with excitement like the first time he’d asked her to dinner.

“I never doubted it,” he says and, yeah. It’s definitely everything they need right now.

[hencethebravery]

If you’re listening to the OUAT podcast that @the-reason-to-sail-home and I produce on a bi-weekly basis, then you might’ve heard that she’s a tad bit obsessed with a certain S7 headcanon that we’ll most likely never get to see, but which I promised to give her. This is me fulfilling that promise. If you don’t like it, it’s not my problem, since it’s Tessa’s weird fantasy and not mine. I’m jk, it’s so fluffy all ur teeth will fall out. btw, if you’re not listening to @podeverafter, you effing should be, ok?

+ Emma Swan’s always hated Sunday nights, mostly because they are often followed by Monday mornings. It has been suggested that she take advantage of the unique kind of quiet inherent to a Sunday night—the feeling that the entire working world is just as content as you, bellies full with a good meal, relaxed on the couch with a book or a TV remote. That was an easy thing to say, if you weren’t an orphan or struggling to make your rent. Even after she started making decent money catching incredibly stupid, irresponsible criminals, she still couldn’t quite get the hang of the kind of Sunday rhythm she’d always heard about.

It was just the whole Monday morning thing, ya know? It didn’t matter how pleasant her Sunday, how idyllic the evening went—it was still Monday the next morning, and it always came too early.

If she could go back in time and talk to a post-Neal, post-prison version of herself, a young woman who had recently lost the man she thought she had loved; a child who would never get the chance to love her back in the same way she did and always would adore him, she would tell her that the misery of a Monday morning? The grating buzz of an alarm in her ear; the fact that the space behind you is colder than you’d like; the depressing thought of an empty fridge? Yeah, all of that and more—one day it would just be another sad thing of a very distant past.

Their alarm goes off at 8:15 AM every Monday morning, but it doesn’t really need to, because Killian wakes up at 7 everyday, if not earlier, and reads beside her until it’s time for her to wake up. In fact, she almost never even hears the beeping, since he turns it off first and wakes her up with a kiss to the cheek instead. And this is the kicker, the thing that would make her past-self straight up laugh in her face—there’s usually a cup of coffee sitting on her nightstand, the steam reaching towards the ceiling with an enticing wave.

It had been a bit of a shock at first. Not because it wasn’t nice; it was one of the nicer ways she’d ever been woken up in her life, but because it seemed just a little bit too good to be true. The “good things” never seemed to stick around too long when it came to Emma Swan. In her experience, if things were ever “good,” it meant that things were undoubtedly about to take a turn for the worse. While she could’ve just as easily talked to her husband about the uneasiness of the whole thing, she retreated to her fallback position instead. Had given him a bit of a cold shoulder until she came to her senses and realized this was a problem most easily solved with a few choice words instead of a quiet grudge match he had no way of knowing he was a part of.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it,” she had reassured him hurriedly, hands twisting nervously in her lap, “it’s just a bit too...”

His eyebrow rose in a kind of, “continue,” gesture, and she tried to ignore the complete lack of surprise in his eyes. Like all of this, all of her craziness, he didn’t really need to go much out of his way to deal with it. In fact, it was a bit of a stretch to even say that he was “dealing,” with anything. He just sat there and listened, patiently, like he actually wanted to.

“...Nice?”

It had sounded absurd as soon as the word left her mouth, and she closed her eyes briefly in mortification. “I just mean,” trying to smile her way through the awkwardness, “I’m not used to it. That’s all. It’s strange to think I can have this kind of thing now.”

“I know, love,” he answered on a sigh, lightly pinching her chin. “And I’ll stop if you’d like, but I just need you to know that you deserve it, Swan.”

She kind of hated the way she still couldn’t help herself from blushing when he said shit like that, had to turn away from the love in his eyes, the tenor of his voice.

“You deserve all that and more.”

It didn’t take her nearly as long as she thought it would. It was almost like the sharing her feelings thing actually, um, helped? Who would’ve thought. Anyway, a few months later and she’s not quite sure how she’d ever gone on so long without it. The feeling of him beside her, the knowledge that even though she’s asleep, blissfully unaware of the sun peaking over the horizon, he’s there beside her, awake and ready.

She never thought she’d be one of those people who enjoyed the domestic routine they’d fallen into. This well-orchestrated dance of kisses and coffee and sharing the same sink at 9 AM before work. Spitting into the same sink even—a distinctly not-romantic move, but somehow it worked; all those winks and nudges in the mirror, his hip bumping lightly against her own.

If they ever ran late, which did happen occasionally, as she had been blessed (or cursed, as the case may be) with an arguably handsome husband, and she was only human, the usual choreography of their Monday morning went into double-time, a swift and less graceful exit from their home by 10:30 AM. During their quicker mornings there wasn’t always coffee on the nightstand, and every once in a while she happened to skip brushing her teeth, but there was always an inappropriately timed kiss, as if there was no time for basic hygiene, but a kiss, yes, absolutely.

The way he’d gently pull her against him with her jacket halfway over her shoulders, his gaze warm and his grin infectious. “We really don’t have time for this ya know,” she’d remind him with a stupid smile on her face, only vaguely concerned with the unfortunate fact of her morning breath.

“We’ll always have time for this,” he would say breathily, staring down at her lips like they weren’t chapped and dry from sleep. When he’d say shit like that her life would flash before her eyes; like some sad documentary about some other girl’s life who wound up poor and alone somewhere, her entire life come and gone with no one to care for and no one to care for her. And then he’d be there, his own breath just as unpleasant, his lips pressed firmly against hers and she would suddenly remember that her life didn’t end that way, but that it was still happening. Every morning.

[carolkaeli]

It’s been... 3 years

Hi.

Feels kind of strange to start blogging again. Would you even call this a blog? I’m sorry if I’ve disappeared for the past three years... I’ve done a lot of reconstructing, off the map kind of works and taking time off to heal from my anxiety and all the other pieces that needed a bit of work. I’m a broken person but luckily for me, He ain’t finished with broken pieces. Not till they’re whole again. But you know what, I think this is actually great because a lot of people who would’ve used to view this blog regularly would’ve gone through their own journey, challenges and walks too... so it makes me feel like... we’ve grown up together :) No?

I’ve never answered my ask tabs - a lot of you had the same question - why did I delete my other tumblr, promised to start a new one but then never went ahead with my new tumblr (this one) and basically dropped off the face of the earth? 

Well. I’m not going to lie, the past 3 years were kind of tough. A lot of inner work. A lot of burdens, I guess. And I felt like I was in no position to lead any of you, my dear readers, into what I was going through. I didn’t think I had much to say... that would end up being coherent or positively influential. Hahaha. Hey hey, social media is a powerful platform. We all need to be careful of what we write and post I think. Your words can bring life! (Or not but let’s avoid that.)

I’m truly thankful to those who still follow me though. Really. I would’ve unfollowed myself. 3 years and gone without a trace. Haha. 

So a quick update in what I’ve been doing with my life:

This year I’ve taken off 6 whole months from life to travel and be a potato. Hahaha I’m kidding. I guess all the secrets I had inside of me were just about to explode. I’m a weird person. 

Firstly, I went to South America. In South America I got to see the world from another perspective. I thought from another perspective. I threw away my boring routine life to live and help out a local in a tiny community/village in Cusco Peru and for the first time since I’ve started using makeup (which is probably Year 10..? Gosh that’s a long time ago) - I went makeup free for one month. It turned out not only to be make-up free experience but I was mainly burden free, worry free and most importantly - I was me. In all my natural elements. No masks, no hiding behind my hair, no excuses, #nofilter 

It feels great to be you, you know. Cos that’s what you’re best at. Being you. 100%, completely and unapologetically you. 

I spent my 21st birthday there building toilets for the community, starting off with hygiene lessons with the kids and ran artwork shops for the elder children. The children sang the sweetest birthday song for me and I continued with my day like another other day. I don’t think I’ll ever forget my 21st. I think it was probably the first birthday I had that I didn’t feel a sense of urgency or awkwardness about where I was in life and how to respond to all the “happy birthday” messages that were about to come my way. I was right where I needed to be. I would say that in Peru 2017, that would be the beginning of my healing journey.

Following that, I travelled to Busan, South Korea for 3 and an ish months. By myself. Working. Teaching English. 

Korea taught me to:

1. Embrace myself and face my insecurities - it’s funny how God puts your worst fear right where your fear is centralised in the capital city of where looks is prioritised. 

2. Let loose and do what I like, chase my passions and not to be afraid of showing my colours - I’d say this changed me the most. Coming back to Sydney, it seems like the quiet little Carol is not so quiet anymore. Still probably somewhat of a pushover but hey, it’s getting better.

3. Find my calling - probably explain this is a future post... it’s quite long!

4. Stand strong amongst trials and temptations - can I get an amen for the amount of times God has given me incredible travel protection despite my stupid actions?! God you are so good to me. Mentally, physically, emotionally and even spiritually you provided above and beyond. 

Oops that didn’t end up being short. I’m sorry! But now that we’ve sort of all caught up, welcome back to my tumblr :)

Until next time, 

Carol Kae 

[curiouskarenscapers2017]

Volume Two – September 2004

Ni Hao! (Chinese for hello remember)

Ok, so after about three tries we got it right and the teething problems are over, we are at press!

Thanks for all the compliments and please, if there is anything specific you want me to check out lemme know, it will make my life more interesting here!

I got the photo’s downloaded and we’re A for away. Will let you know about those.

Anyway, where were we, oh yes. We lost the two Canadian girls and got a South African, Penelope (Pen for short, because the locals had a problem saying the name) and the Canadian Kimberley (Kim for short, just easier) a day later instead. Poor Penelope’s luggage never left SA and two days later she got them delivered to the school by Cathy Pacific! They were put in a new apartment just down the road from us. Pen was having a very hard time about it. They were shoved into teaching the next day with no training whatsoever.!! Hectic, now where did I hear that before……oh yes, it happened to me too!! Anyway, the weekend they had time to breath after a terrible and disastrous two days teaching. They would be fine. I told them they must just calm down over the weekend, do an orientation stint then while it’s quiet and brace themselves for Monday. It will be better and it does get better. My week was a total nightmare hours wise. 13 hrs a day, 71 hours a weak, 306 hrs a month! But obviously I’m not being paid for the hours spent at the office only teaching hours are billed. It’s cruel!!! The initial 3months are used for training then after that you can go home if you don’t have class. For the first 3 months you have to stay at the office weekdays from 1pm – 9pm and Saturdays from 10am – 4pm. This is fine if you are not doing a kindergarten class that starts at 9am and you have to be there at 8am to prepare! So all in all my 1st three months will be 8am -9pm. Cool!!!!!

Anyway, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!! I finally went to the night market the other night. What an experience!!!! It was a maze of narrow rows between hundreds if little stalls that ranged from food to gadgets and of course the cell phone stores in between!!! My word! The food, the smells and some of the smells…..eeeeeuuuuwww. But overall the food look appetizing and very oily, everything is fried…fried dumplings, fried, noodles, fried meat etc. etc. ect. But what a vibe, Tuesday nights and Friday nights the night markets lives on, with people flowing like blood through it’s veins. Awesome. Better than Leki in Lagos. But different in a way as well. I liked Leki for the unusual stuff, with the odd little Chinese store in between, here most of it is shiny, glittery and it looks like Taiwan is stuck in the eighties!! So I’ll do the expected and start buying cool glittery hair clips and baubles for my hair, seeing as I don’t have much of a choice in the heat, I’m tying it up…can you guys believe it!!

Some beautiful hair stuff. Stunning Jade jewelry. Small trinkets for about NTS300 = R60 to NTS3000 = R 600. Stunning bangles of jade as well. You get a light white jade with a hint of green and then others are dark green. All little religious symbols and things you find at our Chinese stores back home as well as some different ones. This market is just interesting with all it’s stuff and smells. The gadgets are the best, the lighters are awesome, everything flashes!! Lot’s of CD’s DVD’s and VCD’s. All quite cheap. Didn’t look too closely as I was swept away by the stream. Boy what a stream!!! It’s like the game with the frog that has to jump across the road and avoid being hit by a the cars, level advanced!!!! I actually at one stage had to fall back in the stream the way I came and pop out a quiet pooled area on the opposite side and make my way upstream along the side I wanted to get to in the first place!!!! Anyway, it was a great experience and I saw lots of stuff for everybody. The girls will love the hair gadgets and clips and the brother will love the guys shirts here, very with it and clubby!!! The interesting food caught my eye as I was bustled by. Ducks head an neck fried to a crisp, Chicken feet fried to a crisp!!

Saturday I did my time at the school, had to teach 2 classes and then started on this volume. The girls are moving today which means I am moving into the big room with the en suite bathroom, going to miss them and the dogs!! Will go visit as Teri is leaving in 5 sleeps and poor Abby will be alone at home with the kids!

I had a weird traditional food on the Saturday that taste like raw dough…my favourite….but has a spicy or sweet centre that looks like fried onions. Weird, but ok. Won’t buy too many of those. They also look like the green goo we used to buy when we were kids that didn’t stick to your hands, it just kind of went through your fingers but left your hands clean. These balls were like that, they stuck to the plastic they were in but didn’t come apart or leave goo behind…very interesting food. Wonder if it will stick to a car window at a high speed………

Anyway, I moved and have never in my life sweated so much as when I was cleaning out our flat when the girls left. My word, it was soooo hot on Saturday, I went to bed in the quiet apartment and Sunday spent time going through all the left behinds to see what is useable and what’s not. A whole new way of life for me!!!! You don’t want to end up buying something expensive and you can’t take it with! So use what’s left behind and save on costs. The en suite shower is quite an experience, in  there being no shower!!! The is a wall mounted tap set and the shower head and away you go, next to the loo in the middle of the bathroom, no curtain, no indent just a slight downward angle and two draining holes…..quite cool actually. Maybe it would be a good idea for the resort…a fiberglass bathroom floor, raised and sealed along the edges and everything in it. Easy cleaning for the crew, you don’t need a bath for the resort and it’s hygienic! Viola, all these ideas!!! I tell you!

  So I finally get the dreaded cold I was bracing myself with Vitamin tablets against!!! Got it after Sunday’s cleaning and felt it more on Monday, Tuesday evening I had it full blast with a day from hell the next! Like I said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger….right?….just incase you don’t hear from me again after this edition…….I love you all!!!! I mean it!!! Naaah not this “onkruid”.

Judy (the owner) was shaking her head in disbelief at the most amazing and well timed, managed, organized way my passport and visa was done compared to EVERYONE ELSE. For some weird reason, I’m the only one with no problems getting a 60day visa, secondly for some unknown reason my visa is the only one, now that they did leave it too late to get the ARC in time, able to be renewed until Oct 21 at the local police station without having to leave the country!! Strange but true, I’ve been telling everybody I’m easy and nobody believes me!!! I’m being looked after big time……as usual. Anyway, I have a three empty rooms, and I know who’s all living in them at the moment while there is space….once again!!!!

So, this is a sign for them maybe to…..I don’t know….hurry the process up a bit with the ARC!!! I’ll stay on them. Just a reminder if I haven’t mentioned it before, the ARC is the Alien Residency Certificate, basically allows me to stay here and work.

(Verimark add scenario)This new rice diet I have tried really works for me! I can’t believe the results! I was a lonely fat teenager all my life and the Chowfan rice diet has change all that!! I can look at people and say….yes, it’s me!!! …No really it’s me, me? Karen, remember? No really it IS! Look, see it’s me…..yes!! Over here, it’s me, I’m here!!!…..okay, maybe not THAT thin yet, but the loss of 10kg’s in my first month and a half, says something for the Chinese people’s cooking. There are very few obese people here, except for the foreigners who eat things like, fried dumplings, fried calamari, fried rice, tipenyaki and all the 7eleven can offer, because of their money that is. But once again, money is the root of fat, the less money the thinner you are….so I have come to the equation – no money = thinner! Eureeeeekkkkaaaa! I better hide my money away from myself after payday! But where….where?????

In my huge room I now have, I have cordoned off a section for exercising. I got some foam tiles you buy in a pack of 6/8 and you connect them to form a mat. I do my sit up/push ups etc all on this little piece of lime green foam. Good to have an exercise routine, I have been missing it! Made a list of what I need for the flat, so that I can go get it this weekend after payday Friday!!! Wonder what we’ll be getting?!!!?

Saw Teri off on Wednesday night at work…can’t believe she’ll be at home tomorrow sometime. Weird to think she’ll see boetie before I do! And I probably won’t see him for nearly a year! Never happened before!! I’ll have to organize…and what about the family, what about my friends and the cats…….aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Anyway, I’ll survive!

Found out a few minutes ago that we don’t have to sit here for the whole 13 hours a day, so we won’t!! Not that my classes are scheduled in such a way that it will benefit me though. But the small gaps in between might help getting away a bit! We’ll see how that goes.

Well I it finally happened again and this time I gave in to my deepest maternal instinct! The first time, someone found a few weeks old stray puppy and I refused point blank, emotionally, space wise and this place is no place for a dog. No grass, no fresh air, no…..wait, I want those things!!!! Anyway, so yesterday evening Abby and Teri was taking out their trash when they found a 3 week old orphaned kitten. She asked me today whether I would please take care of it, I didn’t want to, I said I don’t know, really I did, I was soo strong!!!!! Then I remembered last night when I got home, to my huge empty flat with no life in it at all…….! And then it happened…that little niggly feeling deep down inside, what will happen to this little orphaned kitten? Who will help it? Here? no one!

With typhoon season in full swing, it will probably drown in the trash or get swept away down a drain or…what if the stray dogs eat it??? What then??? It got to this stage and obviously needed help to have a full happy life further, it was meant to be found by them and be taken care of by me! It will have a wonderful life!!! It might just become the flat cat! I’ll see him tonight (Thursday 9/9)

We’re making plans to do the Carrefour journey this weekend to get all the necessary living items. Like bedding!!! I have been sleeping on a fitted sheet and a pillow! Amazing how it turned out that we got here in Summer, Winter would have been a bit funny with no bedding!!! Anyway, it’s not and I don’t have to! Carrefour is actually just around the corner, well sort of, maybe about 5km’s away. Can’t wait.

Ok, so off we went on Saturday after school at about 5pm. What a place!! About three stories high with everything your heart desires! From toiletries to food to bikes to hi-tech stuff……I was like a kid in the proverbial candy store!!! And every time I saw something I saw something else at the same time and bumped into myself a few times until we both pulled in the same direction!!! Stunning!!! Got stuff for the flat, like a wine opener!!!!!! Got bedding at long last, now my bed looks like a bed not a temporary couch I spent a month and a half on. Also the temperature is slowly declining at night and in the wee morning hours, so the new fluffy thick duvet with my different types of blue colouring looks homely and cozy!! You have never bought so blind as here. 1 picture with a full bed set on it. 4 pillows, 1 duvet, 1 fitted sheet and when you open it you have 1 pillow case and a duvet cover. Then you buy another to see whether you could get it as close as possible to the colour and then you find a fitted sheet with 1 pillow case in another….so at the end of the day you have a semi matching set consisting of a denim blue duvet cover with a check pattern and a light blue broad border that isn’t on the picture, a bright blue fitted sheet with circles on it and matching pillow cases and an old night frill around the bed frame that was left in the flat of a different blue….viola!!!!!

  Anyway, I sleep well and it feels more like home!! Back at the store! I was still shopping away. Myself, Jane and Melissa(the new Canadian girl that is sharing with me). She was a legal secretary for 8years and decided to do something different, got married the day before she got here! Hectic!!!

So we stopped at the cats/pet section and I got Draco/ Shao Long (Little dragon) a sandbox, very fancy, we should get one for the cats back home!! Some  Friskies for cats and Purina for kittens. Jane (one of the Chinese teachers here) was my shopping planner/co-ordinator. She eventually took my list and off she went! People were checking us out because we were probably the loudest shoppers in the mall, well definitely the most excited ones!!! So, we got all the basics and some nice things, checked out the bikes and saw a stunning red Coca Cola bike, but it was a bit of a girls bike….but really cool looking! I eventually left it for now as I wanted to check out the bike place where all the other teachers go for bikes. A toaster, a vacuum cleaner and a few other essentials came to a very reasonable price! We would never pay that in SA for all the things we bought! The coolest part was between the different levels where they had a walking escalator not a stairs one. The best part is that the trolley’s are magnetized and sticks to the escalator!!! You can’t move it!!!! Even with a full trolley, it didn’t budge up and down the escalator…cool!!!! I even approached it at a running speed….amazing! I will definitely go back there. We called the taxi and at about 7o’clock we left Carrefour!! I want to go try out all my stuff at home! Can’t wait!

So that evening the other girls came over, Pen and Kim and we (or rather Melissa) made stir fry, we watched a movie and they left with plans for going exploring tomorrow morning to find the everything store!

Well what a variety of everything stores this place has. Just when you thought this is definitely the everything store you walk into one that has more everything than the first one! I was so sure I got it until we actually got it! We walked a mile….but we were in good spirits and it went quickly. Our first stop was a video/DVD store where we enquired as to how much to rent etc. etc. Worked out to NTS1000 for 80 DVD’s That is a good deal compared to our Blockbuster deals. R200 for 80 DVD’s!! We’ll remember that and we filed down the road again. Next stop was the Pizza shop. Stunning little yellow shop with inside seating and two tables outside. We opted for inside as the aircon does make a difference in a place like this. A small pizza and iced tea worked out to about just over R10 something. Very good as well, I took a membership card as we left and immediately got it stamped!! We’ll be back!! Next stop was a big pharmacy on the corner of a main intersection. They even have a counter as to when the lights will change, this one started at 80sec and counted down. Cool really. Anyway, the pharmacy had quite a bit of paraphernalia and interesting weird stuff. A huge baby section was located upstairs. It’s quite a big deal having children here and they definitely cater for it! Didn’t find what we wanted, which was for me to get nail glue! Everything else is false around here except nails……….

Then we went across the road and found a huge book/stationery store. Cool, books below and stationery above. I left the girls to wonder around in their as I continued my quest for the everything store……just past the book store I found it, I’m sure of it!! A crammed supermarket type shop with everything in it. Looks like a typical Indian shop, you can’t move in the isles. Lots of food and further down lots of household stuff, like cutlery dustbin bags for cheap and then a huge section with beer….interesting! Got two little dustbins for the bathrooms, lots of bags for them and the big dustbin in the kitchen and was off to find the girls and let them know! Got back to the bookstore and they had disappeared into the myriad of shops in Changhua, swallowed by the black hole of consumer marketing and products on demand! So what to do…do I go on shopping or do I go find them….hmmmm…sat on the corner like a foreigner for a few minutes, nothing, walked up a while and side ways, nothing….Oh well, they’re all together so I’ll go exploring down this way………found some shoe shops and a huge everything shop with red writing further down the road. Cool and they had a little bit of nail glue! Must remember this place! Got some sparkly stuff for my hair and felt like a kid again. One with neon orange flower bits with a clear bauble behind it, two with two pink squares on either side with a mother of pearl shine and one with clear squares and a red elastic. Cool!!!!

Walked out and back down the street and as I came to the corner again they were crossing the road. I told them about the shop and they wanted to go see it. I waited at Mac Donald’s with Kim and had a Lemon Coke. We started our journey back nearly 4 hours later. Stopped at the Yellow store, a huge yellow electronics store called BC. Lots of gadgets in here!!!! Translators, camera’s MPR3 players to die for, CD players, TV’s you name it. Laptops are the same to a tad cheaper that home. HP Presario’s at about NT35 000 which works out to about R7 000 to more. I was hoping for much cheaper but they too import them. Then we checked out the Hi Fi section and we all had our favourites. I got a small Philips Hi Fi with a sound to die for and all the extras including a USB port to connect your laptop to it to play MP3’s. Also plays MP3, CD’s RWCD etc etc etc etc. Boetie, will love this!! Nee, dis myne!!! Stunning little thing for under a R1000. They had to order one. Got two fluorescent lamps for the bathroom and kitchen and we were off again. Got closer to home and found a huge fresh market. Walked in and they had all sorts in there! ALL SORTS. We took a quick route past the live chickens being slaughtered and checked out the seafood and other meats. Interesting but also very fresh and good pricing. Calamari to die for doll, squid, octopus, shrimps, clams bubbling away in their cold water crates, eels and al sorts of fish. I wonder if they have butter fish, we had it in Paternoster as part of our sea food platter, I could make a huge seafood platter with these things!!! At the end they had pastries and it smelled stunning! We left and suddenly walked into “The Everything store”. From pots and pans to electrical things in one huge corrugated iron room. Got a lamp for next to my bed, a squeegee to clean the floors with and Melissa also got some stuff. We were nearly home and passed so many eating places on the way. We made an arrangement that once a month we will try out one of the eating places, maybe twice a month as there are so many!!!! Got home, the girls left and I did my hair and nails and went to bed….a good shopping day!!!

The week started with a bang and I was back into my 13hour shifts. Although I had no class on the Monday until the afternoon! Then later I found out they went to the Confucian temple! I wanted to go tooooooo! Abby got the brochure and we’ll go soon. The week flew by and the guys from BC phoned me to come fetch the HiFi. I organized with Jane, my new Chinese best friend, and after work on Wednesday we got on her scooter and went to go fetch it! Great, it was there and they had it waiting. The box was not too big but just uncomfortably sized. At least it had handle holes on the sides. So we started planning how we were going to get the box, me and her on the scooter, so Jane suggested I ride and she’ll hold the box, I advised against that option as she knows her bike better and will be able to counter weight etc etc . So she got on, I got on with the box resting on my left knee and leaning to the right and we were off. The poor scooter! Thank goodness it didn’t rain. We dodged a few cars, had to organize space for us to squeeze through and we got home. I obviously immediately started assembling the thing well into the evening and borrowed CD’s from Melissa to check whether the 5CD changer option worked well! It did, and what sound!!! I’m happy, I have a real room now, bed and Hifi what more do you want! Now, I’ll need to get CD’s!!!! Leki market used to have them at R25 a CD in Nigeria, get this, here, none of them are over NT35 which is R7….I’ll stay here…please send your lists through to me!!!

Anyway, Friday arrived and I had to go to the new school. Asked Judy for her scooter and she said no……..what?…no? What do you mean no? If I have enough time they want us to either walk or ride our own bikes because of the safety hazard on scooters. FINE!!! I’ll take my bike!! I started cycling in about 30C heat and in jeans! It was great! I had such a cool cycle. With the bicycle you go past things slower and you can actually see shops….more shops….cool places to come visit! I made it to the school in just under 20min. Shows you what the scooter does to you, it makes you lazy!! I had a good workout while window shopping. Today they had a world Peace moment from 2:00 to 2:30 and no cars drove around….best time to get where you want to! On my way back from the school, I saw many army trucks and a road block….so much for world peace!!!

I had the weirdest epiphany while cycling back to the school. I suddenly realized fully I was in Taiwan. A country I have only heard about in my entire 34 years. The other side of the world. If I start digging now I’ll come out in Jo’burg somewhere….I’m sure of it. It was so cool, I looked around me saw the emerald green rice paddies in the fields between the buildings, suddenly was aware of all the Asian people around, the writing and the odours from the shops and small votive temples along side the road! Wow, I’m really here! Cool!!! I’ll let everybody know……oh wait, they already do, I’ve been here for two months on the 24th already. Ok then.

There is a Moon Festival party on the 24th in our complex and we are all going! I’ll take pictures! This Saturday is Kim’s birthday party at the Flamingo and we’ll go flea marketing or something on Sunday.

Well, the party at Flamingo’s turned out to be quite the party so we cancelled Sunday! It was great. We were all sitting there and even the Chinese teachers joined in! Melissa and I bought a small little cake at the night market on the Friday. It’s a bout a A5 size compared to a A4 sized cake….if you get the picture. We whipped it out, got the stale sparklers going….my idea of course and sang while the sparklers were going haywire and nearly burning the pub down….so typical!!!

Anyway, we sang for Kim and Sara. Sara is one of the front desk ladies that help us in all our teachings and materials for teachings etc etc etc. It was her 22 birthday to……….WHAT!!! 22….wow, when was that? 19………sad hey? I’m ok…I’m ok. So there we were, Sunny the owner is quite the cool Chinese guy and the place just got fuller and fuller. And guess what, all foreign people, they were coming out of the woodwork!!! Even more SAfricans emerged. From Cape Town nogal! It was great seeing normal faces where ever you looked. Weird! We had a ball and left at about 2:30. In bed by 3:00am and sound asleep. Sunday we woke up after 10 and remembered we organized to go to the morning market near Abby’s place. Nothing happened and I went to the roof to go read my book and relax in the sun. We had a craving for KFC and I went to go fetch it down the road. All the tour buses were parked outside the temples and people were in the streets with their uniforms on waving little flags. Interesting, obviously celebrating the moon festival period. At about 5pm Abby arrived and we all just sat and chatted and watched 2 CSI Miami’s in a row and she left. The one day weekend went so quickly….why?????

So the rest of the week went by. And I had to go get an extension on my Visa….after all that!!! Lucky….once again for me, I could do it at the local police station 2min from the school. I came to school early on Tuesday, got everything organized and was off. Got there and this huge fancy Police Station looks more like a hotel foyer than a police station in our country! So I ask the guy at the front desk what I should do and he gave me a form and I filled it out. Now, they are not supposed to know that I am working. I am only extending my Visa for the sake of holidaying a bit more. I had to go to a room around the corner and spoke to a very straight forward Chinese lady. I had to get the friend that I was staying with to come in and then it changed to I should get this other form filled in by the friend. So off I go again and in between my lessons, Mr Woo (Judy’s husband) got everything filled in for me. And at about 13:30 off I go again. Then the back office people were on lunch and they’ll be back at 2:00. Ok then, back to school and only at about 4:00 could I go through again and they close at 5pm. So off I went again! This time there was a guy that could help me. Very funny guy…don’t know his name. After a barrage of questions, he said to me “OK, I give you two months.” I couldn’t believe my ears. From a normal 2 month visa I’m getting nearly 5 months wear out of it!. Coollll!!! Anyway, as we were talking he said that I must just get a work permit before I start working here….I was like, what was that? Noooooooo, I’m off to Sun Moon Lake and my friends want me to stay for the Moon Festival etc etc. He just smiled and handed me my passport with my extended two month visa. He knows, I know it. I think they get so many people doing the same thing and the next week or two you face him again with a work permit!!!! Teeheeeee.

So there I was, free from any stress of having to leave the country to get a renewal, although a trip to Hong Kong or Thailand would have been great round about now!

Friday arrived and we were all so paste with working so many hours that we were a bit lethargic when we spoke about the Moon festival party at our apartments. We said we’ll see what they have going when we get home. Got home and it was one big Karaoke event with families sitting around their tables and eating and braaiing. So more of a thanksgiving party kind of thing. We decided to give it a miss and have our own. The girls and Ryno pitched in and we christened our rusted braai that has never been used and after a tremendous Smokey Robinson effect in our flat we ate at about 1am. We all just chatted , listened to music and never got around to the 10 VCD’s on the table Abby brought. I got some fish and meat at Yumawo and some mayonnaise for the potato salad Abby was going to make. Got wine and was ready to party. Kim, Abby, Neps, Melissa, Ryno, myself and the Draco(the cat). He had a ball with all the attention and we realized that he had grown double his size since he was found, just skin and bones. He was eventually passed out hanging over the couch arm behind the wine bottles. Would have been a cool photo!!

Found Ming Chia Mei on Thursday, Abby took me to show me where it was. What a shop. Like a huge double story Clicks! Everything you want regarding cosmetics, clothes, shoes, snacky types of foods and kitchen stuff. To die for doll and everything is on sale! They have absolutely all types of things here and even things I recognize from home although the names are different. Once again the logo’s stay the same! Thank goodness. Taking the rest of the girls there on Saturday after school.

It’s Joyce’s birthday on Tuesday and everyone is invited to a coffee shop around the corner called Vogue. They have a strange way of celebrating their birthdays. Just a tea with the friends late afternoonish and then that’s it! No presents, no party till dawn, no nothing, just a card and a cake to die for! I must say, they rival the Germans with pastries here! Their cakes are quite a big thing here for special occasions. The night at Flaming when we whipped out our A5 sized cake they maneuvered in a cake that makes ours look like a cup cake! The box alone is impressive with gold writing on a cream background and the famous, nasty translations of a once stunning birthday wish or something. I’ll enclose some of the translations here……you will kill yourself laughing if you get over the confusion part……WHAT? Can you say that? Is there such a sentence pattern?

It’s the thought that counts! So, tomorrow, Sunday 26/9 we are off to the Moon Carnival at Sun Moon Lake, about an hour or two from Changhua. Can’t wait, camera ready, batteries new….ready, pose, shoot!!

Just as well I did take the extra batteries and my original memory card because I filled it all! I still had photo’s on the cards from the beginning of my trip. I got it downloaded at a little Fuji camera shop. So now we can start seeing what’s going on. Well, what a jol this weekend was.

We got up at about 7am, got a taxi to the train station, Kim, Neps and me. We met up with three new people we didn’t know but that were friends of Abby’s and Nicolene. We explored the train station for the first time and boy, am I going to travel now!!! It’s like a gateway to anywhere! NTS 27 = R5 for a trip to Taichung. Coool!!! Anyway, we had 3 min to get to the platform and we got on the train and was off.

Reminded me of the last time I rode on a train. London underground and this was so similar. We got to Taichung station at about 9 and started looking for a bus to Sun Moon Lake.

A guy approached us with a taxi kombi and quoted us a price on taking us there. After about half an hour and exploring different options as well we decided to take him up on his offer. So all 8 of us got into the taxi and off we went. I called him James, the driver. Just so that I could say “Home James” He immediately handed us brochures of Sun Moon Lake. I think he was very well organized for a bunch of foreigners. It was excellent. We eventually paid NTS 250 there and NTS 250 back and boy for our NTS 500, which is about R100 we got a full on guided tour, stops and chauffeuring around the lake that we would never have gotten on a bus! He was looking after us from 9am to 6pm when we got back home! AND he dropped us off in Changhua that we didn’t have to get a train back. It was the best deal out, we’ll definitely use him again, good driver too. He definitely planned it well, had all his connections along the way where we stopped and shopped….clever.

So we arrived at a small town called JiJi.

This little town has a unique tourist attraction which is a animal freak show. Albino snakes and weird animals. We didn’t go in, had other things to do, like shop around.

They were having a festival outside the small JiJi Train station. The small train that uses their railway is called Chi Chi. It’s like a banana express or the Cherry express etc. We were finally ushered into a shop that we didn’t really want to go into with lots of snacks and biscuits etc. We eventually walked out of there with about three paper bags each….empty nogal. I think these Chinese people must think there is something seriously wrong with us foreigners. It is probably like them walking into Checkers in SA and asking for 3 plastic carry bags and being ecstatic about it because they will use it as gift bags for presents back home. That’s us in JiJi. We freaked out about the stunning brown paper bags with a picture and Chinese writing on. I actually felt a tad embarrassed as we were trying to pay for the bags and they refused point blank to take our money for it. So I bought a yogurt to justify getting three stunning paper bags!

Next stop Sun Moon Lake. Our driver serenaded us a bit more and the next minute the blue green water of Sun Moon Lake stretched out before us and a holiday atmosphere was evident. People all over and stalls and colours and food smells! Stunning! Reminded me a lot of Hartebeespoort dam. The water was just clean and green blue because it was clear not full of algae! There was an International swimming contest on as well from one end of the lake to the other!

Quite a distance but on a day like this, what a pleasure! We drove around the lake and I just wanted to get out and start exploring but we kept on driving to the top of a hill where the magnificent Wen Wu Temple sat overlooking the lake! What an impressive site! We got out and started doing the tourist thing. I explored the flea market as we usually do, quite organized so that I don’t miss anything. I came upon a little stall with a honey drink. And obviously had to try it. It is called honey vinegar and it smelled a bit like vinegar but when you taste it, it has the most amazingly refreshing honey taste. I bought two glasses on ice and eventually had to buy the bottle to take it home and make it there! We then got to a stall that had a soup made of 8 different mushrooms in a huge pot. We stopped and had our breakfast there. It was a clear soup with all these mushrooms in and some herbs. Stunning! I never new there were so many different looking mushrooms…..you could eat! From weird little button type mushrooms attached to long stems to the weird huge ones cut up into pieces. I was sure I was going to be quite happy the rest of the day! The tastes were mixed and nothing like our bland Denni’s mushrooms, fresh crisp and spicy tastes and tastes I’ve never tasted before! Devine!

Anyway, we made our way into the temple and had to stop at the curio shop first. The most beautiful Chinese material tops and shoes. Most way to small but they are starting to cater for the fuller figure!

Well, what a temple! If you think the Roman Catholic Cathedrals are ornate and decadent, you must see this! The most amazing wood crafted window panes, the gold filigree in the walls and the statues in the little prayer rooms were amazing craftsmanship! Here was a little shop in the temple about the third floor with the most stunning woodwork I have ever seen, except for ma’s and tannie Elizabeth’s work of course! I took some photo’s. We went right to the top of the roof where it looks out over the different levels of the temple roofs and the lake in the back ground, what an experience, this is what life is all about!!

  After that we went to the Peacock and Butterfly park. The peacocks were a tad dodgy an looked like they have been harvested! Shame, they looked OK but a bit worse for wear, not like ours with at least the full plumage. The white ones were a bit dirty but the idea was cool.

The Butterfly park was closed…..since 1999 when they had their bad earthquake. It destroyed many of the buildings, including the butterfly park. We then went back down the hill to the town and where all the people were milling around the swimming contest. Got there and the contest had finished so we decided to go on a boat trip on to the lake. So for about R40 we got a boat of our own and we organized some drinks for our what was going to be a booze cruise. We designed a new shandy called the Taiwan Shandy, which was using Taiwan Beer and Nestea Lemon tea. Stunning, please try it! We just started and we stopped at a little drifting island in the lake.

The whole island which was probably the size of half a rugby field was entirely made out of drifting platforms of plants and flowers with a solid piece of island in the middle with a monument. Beautiful, it nearly looked like it could be Avalon.

At this stage there was a storm brewing and the mists were all over the place and the mountains, making it look just like a Scottish lake. Too beautiful! Their monuments are so well organized and soo much effort had been put into them with quality material and workmanship. The platforms were of a sturdy wood and the tourist information was on pieces of glass framed by the wood. They sandblasted the island shape and information on these pieces of glass along the path as you circle it. Every piece of glass had some information on a plant on the island with pictures of it. Stunning! We were there for about 15 min and was back on the boat off to a town on the opposite side of the lake. This town was the starting point in the swimming race. A long wooden jetty with a pagoda at the end greeted us. As well as a huge blow up bridge with two dolphin shapes bobbing merrily on top of it, probably the starting point of the race.

What a cool little town this was. The colourful poncho’s were lining the streets. This was more a historical village that showed us a bit more of the original inhabitants of the lake. The Shao and Han people. They are called aboriginal as well and their art reminded me a lot of African art. The figurines, the straw hair the shapes. Very interesting. They had some extraordinary arts and craft here and we’ll have to come back! Not enough money this time round.

We had a very interesting lunch snack at about 5. They make a thin dough lining in a circle shape, fill it with veggies like spring onions and some other greenery and lots of mushrooms, fold it closed into a little ball and deep fry it.

Stunning!! This was so nice, except for the oil it was quite healthy.

It started to rain and the foreigners walked back to our boat. The boat actually looked more like a typical taxi with a dragon on the side breathing fire! Cool!! We got back to shore and got into our taxi and off we went…..Home James!

But James had a another stop to make first. We stopped at a heritage village shop. Nobody wanted to get out of the combi, we were so tired and just wanted to go home. But we did and after all we were definitely getting our money’s worth! SO we got out and the next minute we were all being dressed up in traditional wear! We looked sooooo cool! Bright reds and blues and silver beading on the tops, jingling away merrily as we started posing for photo’s against a traditional painted background outside. Seeeee, everything happens for a reason, we had a ball after all and that’s not all……..then we were treated to green tea! This was turning into a typical Tupperware party. All the girls( all 8 of us) around a table and an old white haired Chinese gentleman pouring us tea from a little stove in front of him on one side of the table. Then they brought out the merchandise……honey, royal honey to drink, royal honey to use on your skin which has amazing rejuvenating abilities. Made by the queen be only, it’s not sticky or sweet like normal bee honey. We were all sold and bought some royal honey to stay young forever! Then we could buy a royal honey drink mix, but I declined saying I had my honey drink already thank you….next time. We got a little tour of some famous peoples pictures that were taken years ago of Chang Gai Shue, a famous person in the history of Taiwan. The Taipei airport is named after him. I will find out more about him.

Then we saw a weird little packaged item in the counter and asked about it. It turned out to be a deer fetus and there were 5 of them! They believe that if you grind it into a powder and drink it you will have longevity and health. At NT$15 000 = R3 000 per fetus! Interesting. What next? How do they get deer fetus if they don’t have to kill the mother? So much for the continuation of that species!

Anyway, we loved the experience and once again told James Home! This time we ended up in Changhua and walked home at a leisurely pace. I quickly went into a Fuji film shop and transferred my two filed up memory cards onto disk for NT$50. Excellent, now I can start all over again!

I couldn’t believe it was the end of the month already. Nearly payday, then we can travel again!

The 28th September is a holiday, no ways……an actual real holiday that people don’t go to work…weird!! So Tuesday came and the Moon Festival was celebrated. It was full moon on Monday night and Tuesday. They celebrate it here by having braais( BBQ’s) with their family, very much like a bit of a Thanksgiving, like I said. We slept late for the first time in a while! Did as little as possible and went shopping at Yumawo (our Woollies) for some braai things. We’ll have a braai of our own. We ate at about 7pm and everybody went to bed early! The Fire crackers have not stopped since. They started about a week before and carried on for about 2 days after. The poor dogs around here! There is no control over fireworks here and we saw kids lighting massive sounding crackers!! I don’t even want to know about it….thanx! So the crackers were going full blast until way past midnight on the Tuesday night. Chasing the bad spirits away! I’m sure it worked well………..other than polluting an already heavy polluted environment and air. The sky was thick with things burning from incense to fireworks to their little stoves on the door step burning paper to ward off evil over this time!

Anyway, savouring my day of doing nothing for a second I listened to my music on my Hi Fi, with Draco (the cat remember) trying to suckle my ear and fell fast asleep!

Well until we meet again………miss you all…….wish you were here!

Tsai Chien! (Goodbye in Chinese remember…there will be a test in the future and you could win a Chinese gift…….made in Taiwan, teehehheee)

  Taiwan Times Vol 2 Volume Two – September 2004 Ni Hao! (Chinese for hello remember) Ok, so after about three tries we got it right and the teething problems are over, we are at press!