We are getting into the swing of things.  Got Mae up first and got her breakfast- thought it best I walk her to school then would have her walk home alone.  Easy walk- well easy but already hot!  Took the “back way” home.  It is a smaller road that runs perpendicular to the busy road we live on.  It is lined with markets and shops, instead of going to a big super market most Taiwanese visit these markets located in every neighborhood, there is a fruit vendor-sometimes also veggies, veggie vendor, egg vendor, meat ………

Every spare bit of land is planed with food.  You will see urban gardens by most houses- even with a foot of soil, people will have planted something- this is very common all over the Mainland- and still alive and well here on Taiwan- the renegade Provence.  When the Nationalists lost to the Communists in the 40’s, the Nationalists lead by Chiang Kai Sheik came over to Taiwan-then called Formosa.  When we were here in the 80’s the island was in a state of “war” with the mainland- mostly over a set of rocks/island in the Straits of Taiwan.  There was ZERO diplomacy…….fast forward 30 years and i’d say a good 80% of the people waiting in the immigration line at the airport were from the Mainland.  This was unheard of nay, unthinkable 30 years ago.

And as American travelers who have been labeled the “worst travelers the world”, we have been surpassed by the Mainlanders.  They travel in very large groups, they  are usually in some sort of undress (not unusual to see men in suit bottoms and a wife beater shirt- on the plane, walking down the street, in the immigration line….” .   With the growth of the middle class in China they are having the disposable income to travel abroad for the 1st time ever.

Went back to apartment, woke Max and decided to walk him the “back way” to school so he could walk home this way.  Then back to the apartment for a shower- the heat and humidity is hard on us desert dwellers.  Did some laundry…….

Zach got up about noon- he is loving sleeping in……..we headed out to explore area just north of us.  Took our 1st taxi about 1 mile N of us.  Still in Tienmu- got out of cab with no plans and saw a yoga studio!  Spent the next 30 min there getting signed up for a class i’ll take on Friday- should be interesting.  It was a very nice studio with 3 classrooms!

We were hungry and walked around a bit- found a  couple places but they did not have anything for me to eat.  Chinese are funny when you tell them you don’t eat meat- i’ll often get “ok, pork?”, “ok, only fish”.  Settled on a diner- Zach was in heaven he got the breakfast platter:

Met a girl who had graduated from college a year ago, she has been teaching English in Taiwan from WI for 10 months.  She was really enjoying her experience.  The kids here go to a regular school day, then if possible attend “cram schools” after school and on weekends where they study for entrance exams.  These usually include a day or two a week of English- these schools last from 3-5 hours AFTER their regular school day.  Cra cra!

We had left a note for Max that we might be home later then 2- he had the 2nd set of keys and to let Mae in if we were not home by 3.  He let himself into the apartment – our security guard is downstairs from about 8AM-5PM.  We made it home by 3PM to buzz Mae up.  I make sure the kids have some NT$ (New Taiwan dollars) and the business card from the dentist on the 1st level of our building.  Max said he 1st went into the building right next to ours- he went up to the 11th floor and it looked different- same same 4 apartments per floor but we only have a gate for 2 of the apartments on one end and this building had additional security gates on BOTH of the sides.  He figured it out and went next door to our building.

Hung out at home for a bit-Max wanted to go back to the night market so we walked down to the subway/train- apparently there was some big deal BMW at the BMW dealership at the corner- boys were all excited:

On our way to train we passed our “monk”.  Well he must be our neighborhood monk, because we see him everyday.  He is saying something, quietly to himself, he has a counter in one hand and a bowl in the other.   His eyes seem to be almost closed and he stands out there in the heat of the day- usually in the sun- next to a shady spot.  We always give him some money- don’t really know what it is about:

The Shirlin Night Market is HUGE, we again saw parts of it we’d not seen the other night.  Tons of street food- we all ate something. It is always super yummy!