hiking it

So, we tend to do all our adventuring lazy-kind: on the scooter. The one time we did it on a bicycle was due to a misunderstanding between the two of us. Judge said bike (basically as a joke), I heard scoot and said ok without hesitation, he couldn't back down, and three days of planning later I realized it was bike, not scoot, and by then I couldn't back down, and so bike we did (half-way around the island...ducking typhoons and facing the aftermath of head-winds and torrential rain).

Last scoot into the mountains we passed by a little map that showed a two-hour hike if you did the entire thing, with lots of pictures of the different waterfalls and other scenic spots, so we decided to try it out "some time". That some time ended up being this week. We didn't get as close to the waterfalls as we'd hoped (we'd wanted to play in the water), but it was still a great afternoon - and we got our water-time on the long-cut home ;)

[loving the little fuzzy trees]

[apple-banana tree grove]

[various mushrooms on the path]

[one of the many tiny waterfalls along the trail]

[us on a couple of the many rickety bridges]

[purdy flora]

[cute little guys]

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my night at the airport

Yesterday I went to Hong Kong for the day (visa stuff). 

I live in a town, however, that doesn't have buses heading everywhere all night through like Taipei, Taichung and Tainan all have (the cities I've lived in previously), and so I had to go to the airport on the last train-n-bus Wednesday night so that I could catch my 6:30am flight the next morning (you know - frugality wins over taxi-convenience).

[Catching the last HSR (high-speed-rail) and shuttle bus to airport]

The plan was to hang out in the comfortable terminal over night. Unfortunately I somehow forgot Terminal 1 (the terminal I was flying out of) is the old terminal, and nothing like Terminal 2 which has plush couches and a lot of other goodness.

After self-checking in, making it through immigration and security - with a water bottle!, I entered the completely deserted terminal wing, just to find the air-con on full blast and seats with arm-rests at my gate. Ugh. Not how I was planning to spend my night, so I went on a search for a better spot.

Finally I found an area with armrestless seats, and air-con not set on 'Norway Summer', so I set up camp. I took out my mini-pillow that I knit on my mom's knitting machine when I was 10 or so, my eye-mask, my ear plugs, a thin zipper-hoody, and my scooter-mouth-mask, 'snuggled in' and waited for sleep.

Seems someone had other plans for me though. The air-con cranked up and it proceeded to get impossible-to-sleep cold. At 3:45 I decided I couldn't take it any more - I mean, it was goose-bumps-just-shy-of-shivering cold. Got up and tried to find a better place. Long and the short of it: I got about 15 minutes sleep that night. My advice to any other such thrill seekers: Don't do it! If you decide to camp out at Taoyuan airport, do it in terminal 2!

Getting to Hong Kong was awesome. New city - new country!, just wandering around the streets and feeling its foreignness. Totally loved it [can't wait to go back and really explore it for a few days with Judge some time]:

[Double-decker buses, red taxis, no scooters ~ we're not in Taiwan any more~!]

Was disappointed by the Bird Garden though. Had been expecting a bunch of old men with their song-birds and instead found 'bird-shops' set up (and a few old men with their song birds). Bird-shops (and pet-shops in general) make me sad. [Later I find out it's a small-typhoon day in Hong Kong, which is probably why not many old men were there].

[Bird vendors at the Bird Garden, covering the cages as it is starting to drizzle]

I then wandered over to meet up with a friend from the cross-cultural-romance (CCR) board on ptt, who treated me to a very tasty Hong Kong lunch :D 

[YUM: noodles-n-chicken leg with cheese sauce (mine); noodles-n-egg-n-red-pork with cheese sauce (Ivy's)]

After visiting Victoria Harbour we met up with another CCR girl at her hotel room for a chat and coffee, and watch the typhoon rain bucket down. When she headed off for business and it was time for me to pick up my visa and head back to the airport.

[On airport express - water streaming down the window making Hong Kong blur]

Was able to catch a flight an hour and a bit earlier than my booked seat, buuuut we ended up taking off around my original departure time due to the typhoon skies. And just like that I was back in Taiwan as a Norwegian (kinda nice!). Bus-and-trained it home, and thus my very very long 25 hour trip came to an end.

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sacred status revived

Guess what. I am no longer an English teacher! Last Friday was my last day - which included what I thought would be an exit interview, but ended up being a meeting that went like this: 


Mr. Boss to Mrs. boss: "She's handed in all the required documents right?" 
Mrs. Boss to Mr. Boss: "Yes, right?"
Mr. Boss to Mrs. Boss: "Yes..."
Mr. and Mrs Boss turn to me: "I guess that's it."
Me [disbelief]: "That's it? Why did I have to come in so early before my last shift then for a meeting?"
Mr. and Mrs. Boss: "..."


In any event, that means my sacred status as not-an-English-teacher-in-Taiwan is back in action again. I actually giggled out loud when I first realized it (as in sometime over the weekend...I am not so quick on the uptake sometimes).

[O'Lime listening to his warbles bounce off the cup]

bum-bag

Since I bought my sewing machine a while back, my list of projects has only grown. I came across this and thought of my big, baggy jeans that were big and baggy even when I was 10 kg heavier than I currently am...and thought *perfect*!

I cut them...and then sat there for like four days, because it just didn't seem like it would turn out good if I followed the instructions. Finally on Saturday I got started. Decided it needed a bottom, decided it needed lining and inside pockets, decided it needed a proper shoulder strap.

Slowly started - cut out a bottom from one of the legs...sat for a long while fiddling with it, trying to figure out how best to shape it and attach it.

Went for the lining...took forever to cut and sew it (including lining-bottom) because pant-bums don't lie perfectly in terms of pattern-making, and there were several things to consider.

Had to decide how I wanted to do the zipper. Took a while (of course).

Took ages to determine how to attach the lining to the waistband. Ended up hand-sewing it, because it was too thick for the sewing machine - plus there were some metal studs that would've broken the needle...and I realized after I would have sewn over the bottom third of the belt-loops.

Then the shoulder strap. Ended up making an adjustable one, that can be long and across the chest with the bag resting on my hip, and can double up and turn it into an under-the-armpit kind of purse (fixed one side permanently and the other side has a button-hole - as does the middle of the strap, and buttons are attached on both sides.

Finally, after an afternoon, evening and morning, it was done!

[long-strap for right-shoulder-across-chest-to-left-hipping it]

[left button - and you may recognize the lining]

[right button and long-strapping it - when short-strapping it this button-hole is attached to the left button]

[mid-button hole for when short-strapping it]

[short-strapped]

[ready for under-the-armpit wear]

[innards - lining and duplex pocket in the back]

[monoplex pocket in the front and duplex still in the back]

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the smell of sunscreen

there's something about the smell of sunscreen that lifts my spirits. it makes me excited about the day - makes me feel like good times are a step away - all i have to do is walk out the door and there they will be.

this morning the sun was shining, some clouds were around, the cicadas were going off, and i decided i'd go cruising on the scooter. so, i first lathered on some sunscreen, and out i went. once again i went on the small road along some rice-paddies and small farms that leads from my city to judge's town. this time though, instead of heading over the bridge when i got to judge's town, i kept going...and going and going and going. the breeze, the sun, the smells, the sounds. oh.my.godness. so wonderful.

now i'm home again, looking out to the mountains where the afternoon thunder clouds are rolling in, watching lightning snap-crackle-pop, listening to the cicadas and the booming thunder. i love it!

[plumerias - one of my favorite flowers (along with gardenias). any day that includes plumerias and sunscreen is a good day...has to do with many a maui memory i guess]

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new beginnings new blog!

new beginnings are being had...or perhaps some shedding of old skin...or perhaps a bit of both.

in any event, i decided i would move from kabuffles on to a new blog, to start kind of fresh and all.

i have transferred over a few posts though (as you can see from the posts below) - mainly related to our start as the owens and some scooter lovin that's happened since the owens came into effect (no, not guttery kind of lovin~ adventures!!).

(PS. hakkawegian pays homage to our mix of hakka and norwegian and our future adventures. i know, i know, what about our minnan and american roots? don't worry, i haven't forgotten about them nor do i brush them aside, i assure you. minnamerihakkawegian is just a tad too long~~)

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crack o dawn

Last post ended with a sunset, this post begins with a sunrise:

Taken this morning at 5:30am. No, that is not when I woke up - in fact it was 45 minutes after, within which I took a stroll in the park outside, enjoying the song of the cicadas (really? Song? "Poetic license" is the name of the game), and the dawn light. Not that I have to wake up that early to hear the cicadas...they keep it going all day and way into the night.

I was lazy to participate in the 6:30am 'aerobics' in the park downstairs though, unfortunately. There's always another morning for that ;) It's pretty much the standard morning drill that goes on in many a park nation wide: They gather, slap their body, do some dance moves, and end with some loud 'huh's to get their qi flowing, all co-ordinated by someone who leads them in the drills.

scooting

Judge and I don't need to fly to the beautiful beaches of Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand for great relaxation and adventure. All we need is my crappy old scooter and a nice sunny day.

And that, my friends, we had this past weekend. See - summer has arrived! And I mean hot-hot-heat kind of summer.

We bought us some deep-fried chicken nuggets (Taiwan style), deep-fried doughy-goodness (also obviously Taiwan style...they call it tempura...but it's not Japanese tempura...it's doughy-goodness), wonderful qin-tea (qin is the level between green and oolong), then into the mountains we went.

Oh how I love living so close to the mountains! It's lush greenness, fresh naturally air-conditioned air, winding roads, and friendly Tai-ya (Da-yen) people who wave and shout hello to us (or, technically me) when we ride by - all of these are rejuvenating for the mind, body and soul.

First we stopped by the river-side to eat us our deliciousness.

[A something-or-other on a neighboring rock.]

Then it was up, up, up. At a t-bone cross-roads we came upon a camp-ground and some shops, and took in the view.

[You can see the blue-blue sky! Not so common here, due to high levels of haze - most of it probably smog - as can be seen down towards the far-off distance.]

Then, when we were back into town and riding our secret road between his hometown and our current town, we caught a most amazing sun-set.

Now that is what I call a wonderful day!

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