My Favorite Holiday is Approaching.....

“Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

From the song “Let It Snow” by Sammy Cahn, 1945

“Oh the weather outside is frightful (ly hot)

But the pool is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let It Blow! Let It Blow! Let It Blow!” (for our Jacuzzi)

A remixed version for Taiwan.....

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Yes, I miss the cold snowy days of my New England youth...and in Taiwan, there is just no way to celebrate a "real" xmas - at least in my book...but I will (and have) take what I can get. I mean, the weather is still very hot these days and I am in t-shirts and shorts....sigh!...but I will perservere in the face of these odds....

Alright! Enough whining!

I dug out the Xmas tree the other day and assembled it as part 1 of making this apartment Xmas 'worthy' in my eyes...

I bought this awhile ago - my cool blue spruce Xmas tree, but it needed a wash....

Setting up the space - where you also have to take in consideration room for gifts......

Now the tree is up and looks ready for lighting....

I decided to veer from the standard rainbow colored lights, since while looking good, are a bit loud for an old geezer like me...nice soft yellow and white look great here...and Jo agrees...
Notice the apparent 'randomness' of the placement of the lights....that is on purpose! haha

Ah, ornaments are on and the room is set for the 'ambiance check'

Mmmm, ambiance is good - very good!

Now let's pray for some real snow!
Well...maybe not like this....haha

Jeff and Jo

A Visit to Bei Gang to see Jo's Oldest Sister and Family

Jo and I made arrangements to head down to Bei Gang to see Jo's oldest sister and family over this past weekend (I will say "recently' from now on, since sometimes weeks go by between posts....). Anyway, it was fun and we had a good time, even though we only spent a few hours with them.

I remember Jo told me about her family many times and I keep needing reminders to remember all the names and such, but I am getting better. However, one person in Jo's family I won't soon forget is Pei Ying, who is Jo's oldest neice.

When we got married at the court last month, Jo had actually not told her mother yet and was planning to wait for an 'auspicious time' which really meant she was nervous about telling her and just wanted to let the fact that she was getting married to a crazy foreigner cool down, so that she could say later that the deed was done.

However, not realizing how good Pei Ying's English ability was - course I guess you can tell from the pics... - she was very curious about her youngest Aunt's situation and was very interested in our blog (she is probably reading now, right? Hi!) and found out we got married at the court. She then told her mom (Jo's sister) and then, well, you know how news like that travels....

But all is well and everyone is following the adventures of Jeff and Jo. Of course there are worries about marrying a foreigner since many of us tend to make a bad impression on many Chinese, but that is not the case with all, as Jo has mentioned many a time. Plus, being able to speak Chinese and having lived here for so long seems to ease some of the worries. Anyway, thank you Pei Ying for keeping up with us!

So we met the family, who live in a small town near Jia Yi, which is the nearest big city. It is quite laid back and cozy so the feeling was good.

Here is a pic of us - which is now my new family as well!

From left to right, Pei Ying, Jo's oldest sister, Yu Shiu (Jo's younger neice), Jo, Me, Jo's brother in law, and a good family friend. Actually, I asked all of them to crouch down a bit, so that is why I am a little taller in this picture....

Many people say that Jo and her sister do not look alike, and while a bit true, can you guess the part that is almost exactly similar? If you guessed their mouth - or more precisely - their teeth, you are right. Geez! I have never seen so many perfect mouths and teeth in all my life. Anyway, as you can tell, Jo's family (as well as mine) is very young at heart, so we smile a lot and thus look younger than we really are.

The same goes for this picture. I bet you will have a hard time guessing ages here. I know I was shocked a bit when I found out the real ages (or horoscope signs of Jo's sister's family). Anyway, I have always told Jo I will look 27 til I am 65 at least.....She jokes that she will look 24 til 90 and I sometimes believe it....

Oh, I will not attempt to list out all the titles that Chinese families use between relatives since it will easily take up 50 posts...but one thing I would like to mention: From when I first arrived in Taiwan, most people did not call me "Jeff." They called me "Jie Fu" since an "f" on the end of word is not in Chinese phonetics. In Chinese, "Jie Fu" is what you call your sister's older brother in law. Thus, when we met, to be polite, I called him "Jie Fu" and he called me "Jieffu", which was a bit funny....but you had to be there.....haha.

As you can tell, they both use crutches to walk and that is because when they were growing up, polio was still a problem and affected many families. The cure was found, but many people still became affected. That does not phase them though - she was off to a dance show that afternoon and he was busy showing us his new battery powered traction wheelchair. Cool.

Anyway, both Jo and I look forward to spending more time down there. Also, we would like to say Hi to Pei Ying! Post a comment when you can!

Jeff and Jo

An Outing To Ba Gua Mountain (to see my mentor)

Jo and I headed out for a drive the other day last weekend and ended up at Ba Gua Mountain, after randomly choosing a direction headed out of the city. It was not far away - only about 40 minutes drive, which is the average time for cool things to pop out at you while driving. Oh, by the way, Ba Gua means "Eight Diagrams" which is symbolic of the Yin/Yang relationship in Buddhism and Taoism.

Below is a picture of the Ba Gua patterns:

To be honest, Jo has been a great help in getting my butt in gear to go exploring again. I did a lot of traveling when I first got here in Taiwan, but it petered out after awhile. Thus, when Jo asks if I have been somewhere, I just say "Maybe, but let's assume not." since it has been a long time since I have seen the beautiful countryside (which IS very beautiful, by the way...)

Anyway, I was not sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to not only find one of the largest Buddha statues (that you can walk in and peer out his Third Eye (that alone is worth it...), but I got a chance to see one of my mentors (or at least the person I am trying to emulate, even though Jo dislikes this....). So overall it was a great trip.

We plan to make a trip every other weekend or so, so I will try to keep this thing updated...sigh...haha

Below are some pics of the day.

Here is the Buddha with the typical Dragon Pond in front

Getting closer to the big guy....you can see his Third Eye better now.

Since we can actually climb up inside the Buddha, I had wanted to peer out of his Third Eye.....for both dramatic effect and symbolic meaning. However, when we got to about his chest level, we could not go up any further since the head area was undergoing remodeling. Too bad.... But we did have a chance to learn more about Sakyamuni (the title of the Buddha - his name was Siddhartha - great book by Hermann Hesse, by they way) and his life by little diaramas through out the interior, like the ones below. Interesting!

This is depicting the birth of Buddha - for those of you who don't know this story, it is worth reading - or if you are really lazy - check out the movie The Little Buddha, which (even though it has Keanu Reeves in it) is still pretty good..

I liked this one since all the animals are offering him gifts as well...the monkey is offering what looks like a corn dog or an egg, but it was cute regardless.

Jo laughed when I took a picture of this, but for most Westerners, this is a new thing. No, it is NOT a candy dispensing machine - but close....you put in some money to give you the right to ask the Buddha or a prayer.

Honestly, we both did not know what the buttons were for, but maybe it is a game you play. Anyway, you put your money in, take 2 little moon-shaped rocks, pray to Buddha, and then throw the rocks. Depending on the side the rocks land, you will get an answer. Basically, both rocks down means that Buddha declines your request, both rocks up means that Buddha is frustrated with you, and that one up and one down, has a positive response, BUT you then have to go to pick one of those wooden things (coming out of the top there) and read the inscription on it to figure out what the Buddha is trying to say.

We did not try it, since I don't want to press my luck, but it is interesting to watch the whole process.

This is the ornate temple behind the Buddha, where you go and pray, of course. I did not take any pics inside, since that is a general rule around here, so you will just have to trek on over and see for yourself. Just prepare your eyes...it gets awfully smokey from the incense.
This is one of the few pictures that I think is pretty good (from all the angles), but I admit I still need to improve my skills...

Here is a funky elephant guarding the entrances to the temple - which I thought was cool since most of the time lions or dragons guard the entrances. Take a look at his tusks! Cool! (Can you tell I love elephants?)

A close up of some of the carving skills. Very detailed and beautiful. Plus, more elephants. I am not sure, but I think the reason there are many elephants here is that they were thought to be the largest being, yet they are extremely intelligent, brave, kind and passive (unless they are protecting their young).

Ah! Here we are! As we were walking around, I found my mentor - the great Mi Le Fo - or Happy Buddha (Fo is Chinese for Buddha and Mi Le is Happiness).
Much to Jo's chagrin, I am emulating Happy Bud - as I call him - fat tummy, cool ears, plump breasts and all. As you can see, I have a long way to go yet, but I am sure I will make it!

After all, he is happy since he knows how to take advantage of good food and relaxing activities and is a general inspiration to many! Who can not like the Happy Buddha?!

Here is the traditional mode of praying to Mi Le Fo - by rubbing the belly or the breasts....seriously!
Course, I guess 'cupping' is more a personal thing.....


Below are a few random shots from outside the temple grounds:

Alright! Geez, some of you were getting ready to berate the fact that you have not seen Jo in these pics...so here you go! Yes, I love my lovely wife, but she usually tells me I take terrible pics of her anyway! (course that probably only a 'woman' thing anyway haha)... This one is ok though....sigh....

Jo asked me why I wanted to take this one, since I was laughing to myself. I mentioned that I would not really have picked that particular place to sit.....finally Jo chuckled, too...

Another thing that was cool here was that there were about 10-12 large carved calligraphy pieces that looked beautiful (for those of you who don't know, I love Chinese calligraphy and often incorporate it into my abstract art). Anyway, both Jo and I stood here looking at these for awhile and then picked our favorites to stand next to.


Mine is obviously much better, but that is ok...haha..

Close up of the calligraphy carvings...yes, they are carved and then painted in.

Here is another close up of one cool character.

Another part to this area was a nice walking area with waterfalls and paths, so we explored a bit more. However, the battery was getting low, so we could not take too many pics....

And there you have it - Our day at Ba Gua Mountain!

(please don't make me post such another long post again!) haha

Pre Invitation to the Taiwanese Wedding

Dear Friends,

As you may know, Jo and I got officially married on Oct 11th, 2006 in the court building in Taichung. But as you also may know, marriage in Taiwan does not become 'really' real until you can celebrate it with friends, associates, aquaintences, family and any other wedding crashers that come along to eat drink and be merry.

To that end, we are planning a reception on Feb 3rd, 2007 at lunch time (12:00) and hope that you will be able to join us in a fun and relaxing celebration where the food is good, the scenery is excellent and the company is grand.....

We are going to have a buffet luncheon at the Xia Fei Hot Spring Resort in Da Keng mountain area (info below) in Taichung County. Jo & I recently went to another good friend's wedding near there and liked the scenery and ambiance, so we tried to find another similar place (thanx Sean and Alice!). A hot spring resort sounds like a weird place to hold a wedding reception, but when you go there, you will know why we picked it. Plus, after the reception, we will try to get a few rooms/areas for the hot springs and relax in style.

Anyway, Jo and I sincerely wish you to be a part of our special day and hope to see you there.

Now, this email is a pre-invitation. We will still issue out 'official' invitations but wanted to give some people the heads up a little bit before. So, if you can, at some point, please reply back once you know if you can attend or not. However, we will also send you an invitation and you can reply back then as well.

Best wishes,

Jeff & Jo

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Info on Xia Fei Resort

Xia Fei Resort (Chinese Only)
http://www.xiafei.com.tw/

Intro of Da Keng Resorts (in Chinese and English)
http://www.tccg.gov.tw/site/40c3dd66/414d5453/files/95240-41.pdf

Same Article on the Taichung Website (in English)
http://webeng.tccg.gov.tw/index.php?page=government_news_01&cate=0&id=149

Map to Xia Fei (Chinese)
http://www.xiafei.com.tw/html/map/map.htm

Some pictures off of above site
http://www.xiafei.com.tw/html/about/about01.htm

"Technique" or "Torture"???

Everyone has a breaking point.....

....but I have not found mine yet when it comes to Chinese Torture (thank god....or gods...).

I mean, what do these things have in common?

1. An ordinary glass cup...

2. A match (or more precisely - matches...)

3. A box of tissues....

4. And a crazy old Chinese man....

Oh, sure, Chinese will call it "Medical Practices," but it is torture nonetheless, and I am very happy to say they did not break me.

I was "tortured" on a whim from Jo's sadistic mind.

You see, since she had a serious car accident when she was 19, her spine has hurt off an on til now and even though she has been to about 100 doctors to help torture her, recently it was acting up again and she decided to try yet another doctor - for the heck of it. I mean, what is one more torture session? She loves it....

Anyway, this doctor - Let's call him Dr. Wang (and for those idiots out there - it is NOT pronounced "W-ay-ng" but "W-ah-ng" Geez!)....anyway, Dr. Wang is reknowned and a bit of a celebrity for curing people with serious back problems.

So Jo went and started to go through the process that I will explain in a moment. After it the blood was wiped off the floor and the carcases sprinkled with lime, Jo mentioned casually to the Doctor (as in Heir Doktor Mengela) that this foreign guy should try it. Now to be honest, I was very interested and curious since while he was performing his 'art', he explained that 9 out of 10 women don't make a peep, while 10 out of 10 men usually scream or bellow in agony.

Well, that made me curious right off, since as I was watching Jo's back twist in 5 ways and fire consume her flesh, she - rightly enough - did not make a peep (even though her face was a hardened grimace for awhile).

Not to be outdone (and being the local celebrity myself - I mean, I am a foreigner who can speak Chinese....), I was surprised, but curious nonetheless.

I do remember saying: "But I don't have a back problem..."

To which all he said was a faint: "We'll see...."

Hmmm...

Ok, have you guessed the "Medical Practice" mentioned above with the pictures? This time, I will give you some choices:

1. Acupressure
2. Acupuncture
3. Acutorture
4. Moxibustion
5. Moxi-w-ah-t?
6. Moxitorture

Did you guess #4? No? If not, you are an idiot.

No, just kidding, Wendy (she is pretty much the only one who reads this page anyway....haha). Yes, actually, it is #4 - Moxibustion, a word I learned when I stepped into Taiwan. Kind of resembles Water Boarding in a more painful kind of way....

(A common Waterboarding Technique)

Ok, ok....in truth, it is weird, but does wonders. Here is how it works (for all you people not up on your torture methods....):

• You take an unwilling subject or a curious idiot foreigner...
• You take off their shirt and have them lay on their stomach (you might have to loosen the cuffs to do this).
• You take a cup, fill it with a tissue, then take a match.
• Light the match.
• Stick the match in the cup, making the tissue catch fire.
• Up-end the cup (with burning tissue) onto the curious idiot foreigner's back.
• This will cause the flame to go out - no air, you see - and the skin under the cup to be sucked up into the cup.
• Yum!
• Do this repeatedly with about 10-15 cups all over the back.
• When you have them all on, start moving them around the back - without lifting them up - in a kind of - guess-where-the-bean-is-under-which-cup type of movement, which - all I can say - is OW!
• Grimace if you are a woman, and scream if you are a man.
• Stay like this for awhile and drift in and out of consciousness....

Now, I am no Jack Bauer, from 24 fame, but I lasted pretty well under duress, even to the point that Dr. Mengela - I mean Wang - said "Hmm, he didn't say anything.....what about THIS...." to which he added on a few more just for good measure to see if I wasn't faking it or something....

This is the result...


hNow, as it happens, I may indeed have a back problem, but I distinctly remember it NOT being there before the 'technique"...however, as I was lying in agony, both Jo and Heir Doktor were making little sounds like "Ohhh" "Ahhhh" and my favorite: "Hmmmm", making it seem like I was in fact due to die or keel over at any moment.

After I was revitalized with a dose of epinephrin (ok, I admit, I watch too much 24...), I groggily came to with them both telling me that I had a Qi problem. I had this since when the "technique" (Torture) is applied, the little circles of burnt flesh should be a healthy light shade of pink, but as I could plainly see (actually I could not since I did not have a mirror), that my shoulders and neck were screwed up.

Just come back 500 more times and he would straighten me right up...I think he said between gaffaws of laughter...

Jo was nodding.

Anyway, a problem in my neck and shoulder I did not know I had started to feel a hell of a lot better. I don't know much about biolo - qi (as the song goes), but it did do something - something more than qualify me as a "woman" in the eyes of Heir Doktor....

So to make a longer than necessary story short, the technique works and Jo is fine now. Amazing stuff.

I am now ready for more kinds of techniques (torture) now that you can easily find in Taiwan.

Jeff & Jo


Ps. This is what Qi looks like in Chinese (if you are interested)

A Present For Jeff & Jo

At the gathering we had the other day, my group of students/friends also (in addition to wanting to test us - read the previous blog entry) wanted to make a gift for us, which was really cool. Here is a progression of the process.

The table was set and crayons (from the test) were used...

A group pic - something that is very uncommon for Taiwanese to do...
(yeah, right....)

Jo and I had no idea what they were doing since we were busy entertaining other guests
who were - now that I think about it - trying to keep us from looking...

Looks like it is almost done.....now for the names of the artists...

Here is the beautiful picture they made for us...
Pretty cool, right?


Was made by first coloring a layer of many colored areas, then a second layer of another group of colors were used. Then they all used chopsticks (go figure) to scrape away to get the design they wanted.

Well, Thank you guys! It looks great and will hang in our house!

A Get Together...with a twist!

You know, you usually have a get together to relax, enjoy time with friends and associates, eat, drink and be merry.

There is nothing in the GTR (Get Together Rules) that stipulate having a test, but that is what happened at a casual get together we had with some of my art students a few days ago. Oh, ok, sure - to be fair there are games and activities - like Pictionary, stupid drinking games, card tricks, etc....but not #2 pencil fill-in-the-dot type of thing....

Ok, ok....I am kidding...

I get a call from Blanca one day (one of my favorite students - who is now a good friend) saying that she wanted to have a party for Jo and I. I say sure! (as I usually do), and we agreed to set up a time. Basically, a group of students/friends would come over my house, bring pot luck and drinks. However, while talking, Blanca lowered her voice and asked "You still have paper and crayons, right?" Of course I do, I say - I am still doing a bit of teaching. "Ok, good. I want to do something." I am curious and say, ok, how much do you need? She does not answer too quickly and is not sure what to say (oh, when speaking with me, she tries very hard to use English, and sometimes it is a bit interesting what comes out).

But I assure her that no matter - I will have enough, even if I had to give an impromtu art lesson or something.

I realized a bit too late what the paper was for...

But, let's first take a look at some pics!

Here is the instigator herself! Blanca
Do not let her size fool you! Her personality is in direct inverse proportion to her mass.
In fact, Jo and I have asked her to be the host at our Taiwanese reception party.
When you meet her (if you have not already), you will see why....

Here is Venus and Rita, two more students in both my Art and Cash Flow seminars.
I am proud to admit that their art skills improved so much during the classes!
They did (and I hope are STILL doing) good artwork!

Here are some other students/friends. From left to right:
TheGame, Kevin, Venus, Myra, Joanna, and Louise.
Keep Drawing!

One of Jo's friends also came and added to the fray; Jia Yi.

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Then, Blanca started gathering everyone's attention (which - for her - is very easy), and told everyone why they were all here and what was going to happen now. Basically, it was to celebrate our wedding and that we would soon have a Love Test.

Wha?

I am a good sport and fairly confident in my skills so I was not anxious, but I was wondering just what was going through Blanca's head - since my thoughts and her thoughts could be very different. Thankfully they were (I guess I have watched too many Survivor epidsodes or something...).

Anyway, the first test was a simple "Lift Test" to prove my strength of will.

Needless to say, I passed easily - even though I was much more curious as to why
my lovely wife did not have to pass a Lift Test....hmmmm, not fair, I say!

Next was the "Mental Match Test", which as it turned out, is basically like the show on tv many years ago that had married couples answer questions posed by the moderator and if they both had the same answer (they could not hear or see what their spoouses were writing or saying), they would get points. I was already thinking about what questions they would ask, so I at least was ready.

We we set up like a King and Queen (or was it criminals in front of judges)
and were prepared to handle anything they dished out.
Well, looking at Jo's expression...maybe not...since she knows her memory is worse than mine!

Here is Blanca explaining the rules....

...where basically we had to write on the paper seperately within a time.

Ok, we were set.....

....and the First Question: Where did we first kiss?

As we set to write, the judges seem to be arguing about something...basically,
how risque can they go? I am fine for any question, but there was some hesitation
from some of the interrogation squad....
After all, many Taiwanese are very conservative and asking about first kisses is
a bit too personal for some....

So when I mentioned if they wanted to more specific details, another
ruckus was about and my offer was refused....

So we answered the easy and tame question and what Jo and I wrote were almost identical,
which is amazing since we both have terrible memories
(Jo's is worse than mine - amazing, but true!)

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So it went on like this for awhile and there were about 8 questions in all. Some were easy and some had to be translated back and forth for a few minutes for Jo and me....but overall, we passed. Once of the questions: "What is the other's favorite movie?" came up right for me (Jo loves A Beautiful Mind), but Jo guessed Pollack - which is damn close, but I wil revert back to my manliness and choose The 13th Warrior.

Thank god we passed...I would hate to know that we failed even at our own party!

Jeff & Jo!