This week has been fun. It was my week off between classes. I'm moving to the 4th level...whoo! So instead of spending my week off here, I went to Hong Kong with my cousin Tiff. It was pretty fun. It started out fantastically! We got to the airport a bit early and when we were checking in, the guy at the desk asked us if we wanted to take an earlier flight out. I hesitated for just a moment, but then these magic words made the decision for me. He said, "we'll upgrade you to BUSINESS CLASS". I answered right away for the both of us...haha! I've never flown business before so I was a little too excited compared to all the other people sitting near me. I got a little snap happy with my camera too. It was only going to be an hour flight so I figured I'd just watch a bit of TV...but no....they served us food! And it was good food too, not your normal airplane food. I had shrimp pasta with red wine and then a cake with a fruit salad for desert. It was delicious! Well, that really was a nice beginning to the vacation. It was the only time I had wished the flight was a little bit longer.

We got to Hong Kong and had no troubles getting our bags and getting trough customs. It was just so nice and easy. We took the airport tram to a subway stop and then took a free shuttle to our hotel. Then we checked in and that was that. We still got in a bit late...so we just went on a coffee run and then just walked around and checked out what was nearby. The next day we took the Star Ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon and got some dim sum and then went shopping. The shopping was better there than it is here, but it is more expensive. Regardless, it was fun. We then met up with my cousins friend from college. She took us out to this nice Cantonese restaurant. I had some abalone and a pumpkin soup. It was yummy. We had other stuff too...but those two things were the best.

The next day we did some touristy things. We went to "the Peak", the highest point in Hong Kong with a 360 view of the city. I took a bunch of pictures of course...but I'll just put one. They are all pretty much the same thing. Then that night I went to my Dad's favorite pub, Ned Kelly's Last Stand. When my Dad use to live in Taiwan, he'd often go to Hong Kong for Visa reasons. He would eat a bunch of Western Food and come to this pub. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. There is a live band there every night that plays dixieland music. I think if you have a meat pie with a drink and add a little music, it equals a lot of fun. I think we were there for almost three hours! Thanks Dad for the heads up!

Overall, It was a really fun trip. We were there for 4 days and 3 nights...but counting all the traveling time...it was really like two and a half days. We got a lot in and had loads of fun. I'm glad I went!

If you know me...or think you know me, then you know that I'm fascinated with entomology. So interestingly enough, since i've been here in Taiwan, I'm always looking around to see what kind of funky insect is around me that i've never seen before. So I'm devoting this blog to all the weird insects i've seen so far! The first picture on the left is from my trip to Hua Lian. This is a longhorn beetle. It was the length of my hand! This is the first time I've seen one alive...hehe. This next one on the right is a insect I saw when I went to Yeliu. I think this is a six spotted tiger beetle. I'm not 100%, but I think this is a pretty cool looking bug. I have this random...or some might say "unique" ability to find these hidden insects. I think it's just that I'm always looking for them...hehe. But sometimes, the insects find me! This next picture is of another beetle. I didn't have to go very far for this one. I was doing homework one day and it just landed on my laptop. I think this is a milkweed bug. It looks like some that i've seen at home. If it isn't a milkweed bug, then all I know is that it is in the Lygaeidae family. Yup...that expensive Cal Poly education for an accounting degree... I remembered all the important stuff didn't I. Well this next one is an insect that's been so noisy these last few months. Every where on campus were these scary looking insects. This is the first time i've seen a cicada this big alive. The ones back in San Diego are so puny in comparison. Well this will conclude my little excerpt on insects i've seen so far. I've seen a lot more but I guess four is enough for now. If any of you care and want to see more, I'll post another blog with a few other creepy crawlers. Until then...

I've been living in Taiwan for a little over 8 months now and I got to thinking...I have been here for so long, but I haven't really shown any one where I've spent most of my days. So I thought it would be fun for me to write a little bit about where I live and about my school, National Taiwan University. So for anyone who doesn't know, I've lived in Taipei before. I was born here and I use to live about a 2 min walk from where I currently live now. I live in an apartment on the 20th floor of 24 floors. I have a nice view when it isn't raining, but it's not nearly as nice as living in San Diego. The benefit of this place though, is that it is super convenient. My school is literally right across the street from my apartment...and what's better is that my classroom is in the first building when you walk into campus. Can't really complain about that. I'm sure I've told you guys all about this before so let me get to what I really want to talk about.

Everyday I walk through this campus. I have to either walk to work, walk to the MRT station (subway), or just walk to the other side of campus. Every time I walk through campus, I think about how pretty it is. I didn't think about it that much before because during winter, I didn't feel like going out. But now that it's almost fall, I can see what I was missing. This campus is full of old buildings...some nice and some...well not so nice. Those that are nice are really nice in the terms of it's architecture. There are a lot of buildings that have a Japanese influence to them. So it's kinda fun because it stands out. Also, there are so many trees here that sometimes it's just nice to stroll (if the weather isn't a scorching 100 degrees!). I tend to take the same paths every time I have somewhere specific to go. So I decided one day to take a few pictures so that you guys could see what the campus looks like.

Whenever I go to the gym, I walk by a pond. Some days it looks really nice, some days not so much. Luckily I got a picture of it on one of it's better days. And there are just so many little things that are fun to look at too. This pond has fish, turtles and ducks. Growing next to this pond is a Lian-wu tree. One of my favorite fruits here in Taiwan. So as you can see, it's kind of a fun place to be. If only the weather wasn't blazing hot, I would enjoy it more.

So I went on a mini day trip a little while ago and while I was going through the pictures I decided that I should write another post! (And everyone reminded me that it's been a while since I've posted...heh...details) I decided to go to a place called Jiu-fen. Rumor has it that Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" used this town as inspiration for the town in the movie. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but it was fun going and seeing all the lanterns anyways. This place is on a mountain side Northeast of Taipei. It was pretty fun. There was a lot of little shops and a bunch of food stands. I had something called yu yuan. They are these little taro balls served with ice, red beans, mung beans and fruit. They were pretty good. See the picture...it doesn't look that weird! Then I did a lot of walking and checking out all the shops. Because this town is on a mountainside, there were soooooo many stairs! It was like I was tricked into exercising! At least the view was nice and the food was good. Couldn't ask for too much more. If I stayed in the shade, then the weather wasn't too bad, but it's summer, so there isn't much I can do about that. Well, that's all for now. I have a bunch of pictures to post...so I'll be back...soon!

This is just a random post. Right now, this is my favorite commercial...check it out!

I normally work on Saturdays, but I got the day off yesterday. Last week students and workers all got Thursday "off"...but in reality, they really just changed days. Instead of having a real day off, they had to make it up on Saturday. This meant that all the kids that I normally teach had to go to regular class yesterday, so I got the day off! I was going to waste the day at home and just do nothing...but I changed my mind. I went on a day trip instead! I went to a place called Ye-Liu in North East Taiwan. It is famous for its crazy rock formations. I took a bus from Taipei with two of my friends and we headed up to this place to check out the rocks and the beach. It was such a nice day. We spent all day there. I got to see a bunch of rocks that had been eroded by the salt. It was pretty fun. There was a lot more than just these rocks too. We were surrounded by tide pools and hills. The tide pools were filled with crabs, small fish, and brittle stars. I tried to catch a brittle star, but they kept going into the crevices! Then after we had our fill of the rocks and the ocean, we all decided to climb the hills. It was a pretty steep hike, but it was fun. I didn't realize that there were a bunch of butterflies and insects here as well. So then we spent time checking them out. I've seen a lot of them before, but my German friend hadn't seen them before so it was fun for him. Then only thing they didn't like was that they all got mosquito bites...I didn't. They just don't like me as much as the other foreigners (which is totally awesome! Their bites are so itchy!) so I'm not complaining. After 8 hours out and about in the sun, it was time to go home and chill. I was so glad I had the day off. I finally went out of Taipei and did something I have been wanting to do. My goal is to try and go somewhere new at least once a month. I'll have to wait and see what I pick next!!!

May 24-26 I went to Hua Lien. I finally had a week off from class...only because the term ended, but time off is time off. So my Aunts and Uncles decided to take my cousin and I to Hua Lien and Tai Dong. We went to Hua Lien, the middle-ish part of Taiwan, to check out a place called butterfly valley (just for me!). But just as my luck would have it, the moment we got there, it began to rain. And it rained the whole time. So I didn't really see that many. I was a bit bummed. I did get to see a few, and got some nice pictures. Then we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast that night. It was so nice. It had wooden floors and awesome beds. Plus there was air conditioning. It was a big plus! The B&B was out in the country side. It was extremely homey. I loved it. When i woke up in the morning and looked out my window, I saw a meadow of flowers and in the background a bunch of mountains. So peaceful! Then the next day we went to Tai Dong, which is the in the South East part of Taiwan along the coast. It was also really pretty. It made me miss San Diego. There were a bunch of Palm trees along this beautiful coast line. The water was so blue and the sky was nice and clear...well at least until night time (it rained again...tropical islands do that a lot). We drove up the coast for a few hours and enjoyed the scenery. Then we stopped at a coffee shop that had such a nice view of the water and the landscape. I of course took a million pictures, but there just isn't room for them here! So after we did all of this, we went back to Hua lien to stay in a hotel. It was the same hotel I stayed in about 10 years ago when I went with my family to Hua Lien the first time. It was kinda weird. It was something like deja vu. I was like...I know this place. I think i've been here before. And then I found out it was...hehe. We stayed here because the next day we went to the Taroko Gorge National Park. It was really nice here too. The whole trip was a very naturey trip. I got a bunch of pictures of this too. I'll just give you one! Overall, it was a cool trip. I got to see a lot of eastern Taiwan and a national park. There were also a lot of other butterflies and insects that kept me busy when the scenery wasn't enough. I'm glad that my cousin got to experience it too. It's always nice to do something different. The trip was just too short. As soon as I got back, I had to go back to work to grade some papers (I know...it sounds weird!) and had to do other work that I had put off. And then before I knew it, I started class again. I just finished my first week of class. It was ok...but that is a whole other blog that just might have to be written at another time.

I decided to leave you with one more picture. This was on the drive back home to Taipei. My Uncle thought it was so nice that he decided to stop so that we could take a picture. Looking at it now makes me think of how different Taiwan really is. The city and the countryside are leagues apart. It's great to get out of the city once in a while and experience something beautiful like this!