Trip to Taitung, Taiwan

On the southeastern coast of Taiwan sits the town of Taitung. We traveled down to Taitung to visit our friend Sho Sho, who just delivered a baby boy, the same day we arrived! We loved Taitung, with its gorgeous views of the eastern Pacific coastline. That's Grandma Chang holding Rayley. Is it me, or does Rayley look like my sister Lacey? I definitely see a resemblance.

Flowers of Taiwan

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics from Taiwan. The top shows a pic of our family in one of many flower fields near Papa's house in Meinong. Many people around Taiwan travel to Meinong around Chinese New Year to see the various flowers. The next two pics are of orchids from Papa's orchid farm. Finally, I just stuck a pic of Rayley and a cat in here for the heck of it.

Thanksgiving pics up before Christmas!

So some people have been bugging me to post some pics of the Thanksgiving festivities held at our house. Here are pics of most of the worthwhile activities that went on, although one particular event will not have any photos associated with it, to protect the viewers of this blog. Here among the pictures is a picture taken from the Muir Beach overlook, just north of San Francisco. We were originally trying to visit the Muir Woods National Monument, but were going to be too late for entry, so we took a detour and found this place, right at sunset. It is truly a breathtaking view. The picture of us in front of the Sacramento Temple was taken on the day that Rayley was blessed. The picture on the top-left is Rayley is trying to make friends with Benji, the only other asian-american baby in our ward. The other pic is my parents holding Rayley at the Muir Beach overlook. 

The Resun Asian Kids are smarterer than American kids

We have all heard and seen the stereotype about Asians being better academically than the rest of us. Typically, kids over in China, Taiwan, Japan, or Korea are 2-3 years ahead in math and science than similarly aged kids over here in the U.S. This has always puzzled me, since I have spent time with kids in Taiwan and Japan, and they did not strike me as particularly smarter than kids here in the U.S.
Ellen and I had a good long talk about these stereotypes, and she shed some serious light on why kids perform better in Asia, especially in math and science: beatings

Corporal punishment was once pretty common here in the U.S. When my folks where in school, the principal really paddled kids butts if they screwed up. When I was a young lad, the principal had a paddle, hanging on his wall, in plain sight of all the adolescent troublemakers eyes. I never knew the feel of Mr. Melican's paddle, and my classmates who went down to his office often, told me it didn't hurt. I suppose they got worse beatings at home than what the principal could dish out. Well, I'm here to tell ya that NOTHING here in the states compares to what students get in Taiwan.
When Ellen was in school, kids were literally beaten across the face, wrists, knuckles, legs, etc until the bled. Ellen told me in all seriousness how she would get struck across the face for failing a test.
"If we had a math test with 10 questions, I would get hit on my hand, leg, or butt for each question I missed, by the teacher."
Wow. Here in the states, if a kid messes up on a math test, he gets a tutor, or a special committee is formed to help him gain confidence in math, he's placed into an afterschool program, or he is coddled over to the shop class or "industrial arts" program. We have sissified legions of Americans whereas over in Asia, millions upon millions of kids learn what "compulsory" in compulsory education really means. How are we supposed to compete with that?

Trunk or Treat

Just some pics from another ward's Trunk or Treat we crashed this week. We just wanted to show off our cutie, "The Office" style of course :)

She is supposed to be a pea pod, and we decided to complement her with our groceries for the week. 

The Culinary Conversion of a Rice & Noodles Gal

We've been married almost three years, and in that time, I have had the privilege of eating hundreds of bowls of rice, and hundreds of other bowls of noodles. Asian fare is the norm, and American fare the exception. Most folks say "hey, lets do something different and go out for Chinese tonight." In our home, its "gosh, wouldn't it be different to go out for burgers, or steak, or a pizza? Lets do something really weird and eat hot dogs!" If we really feel adventurous, we hit a Mexican place, which in California, are as ubiquitous as McDonald's. Since the birth of our first baby in July, however, Ellen's appetite has undergone a transformation that is nothing short of a minor miracle. No longer are we shopping weekly at the local Asian"Shoon-Fung" (that's how ya say it) supermarket where I'm the only guy over 225 lbs, and definitely the only guy with hair that isn't black. Now we hit places like Winco, Wal-mart, and Raley's. (Yes, the grocery store was kind of an inspiration for our daughter's name. Don't laugh.) Those are stores where there are always a lot of fat people, stinky people, thrifty people, and some brave and clean people, but few reverent people. It's  a mixing pot of all races, faces, and criminal law cases. Anyway, this is a post about food, not food stores, so I continue below.

Tonight was the realization of constant campaigning on my part for a change in standard cuisine at the Newcomer household. I figure, if we are going to eat carbs, we might as well let potatoes and bread be part of the mix, right?

Well, feast your eyes on this food lovers, I present to you....

Ellen's Surf & Turf Special

Enjoy a mouthwatering USDA choice cut ribeye paired with pan-seared scallops in garlic and bacon sauce, complemented by a garden-fresh vegetable medley, Trevor's famous home-made bread, and bacon & ranch kissed pasta salad with fresh greens. 

Too dumb for Ellen

No, I'm not referring to myself in the title of this post, but maybe I should? 

This weekend, some friends had a game night, and the featured game was "Mexican Train Dominoes." Ellen has grown up playing Mahjong, a fast paced and somewhat complicated game where each player must make quick memorization of several tiles, all with different characters and numbers on them, and then making several calculations throughout the game while tiles are being played and discarded in pretty rapid fashion. In Taiwan, I have yet to see a Mahjong game played where money isn't gambled as part of the game. Can you imagine playing Uno here, but you have to pony up $50.00 just to join in? (Maybe some of you do that already). 

Well, Ellen was playing the dominoes game this past weekend, and the whole time, she was speaking to me in Japanese saying "This is a really dumb game. Dumb people must like this game." 

After two rounds, she finally had enough, and asked the host "Is there a game we can all play that needs more brain power?"

Thats my sweetie.