The Power of Scooter!

At long last, we now have a scooter. We purchased it from a departing colleague, Justin. It is a 125 cc black Yamaha Fuzzy and gets us where we need to go with little hassle. The most difficult part of owning a scooter is remembering where you parked it, since it tends to blend in with all of the other scooters. Therefore, it is important to have a defining marker that makes your scooter stand out from the others. Our scooter can be easily identified by the sticker on the front which reads, "Folly" (refer to scooter images below and at the bottom of the posting and note, the speedometer has both Arabic and Roman numerals!!). We also purchased helmets at the 24 hour store, which stocks virtually everything you can think of... and more. James' helmet is black and mine is pink with Pepsi knock-off logos on each side.

When Ben and his wife, Joo (the owners of our favourite tea shop), found out that we bought a scooter, they invited us out to the infamous 'Fungja' market. So, after they closed up their shop, at about 12 a.m. one night, we all drove on down to the market. They led, as we had never been there before, and kept their speed down to about 40 - 50 kph, since it was virtually the first time James had ever driven a scooter.

At the Fungja market, Ben and Joo kindly treated us to the popular 'stinky tofu' (it kind of tastes like sweaty hockey gear if it is steamed or boiled, but we had the fried kind -- chow dofu -- which had a yummy crunchy crust and only a mild stinky tofu flavour on the inside) and foot-tall ice cream cones.


While at the Fungja market, James and I purchased scooter masks. James', of course, is plain black. My mask, however, reads, "Happy Cookies". Many of the captions on posters, signs, t-shirts, pollution masks, and the like, often make no sense whatsoever, or contain grammatical or spelling errors. I have therefore made it my goal to only purchase casual clothing that bears these traits of Taiwan, so as to carry the memories of our stay here to Canada when we return in the distant future. Note the image of me wearing my, "I'm happy I of you" t-shirt below.

In other news, on September third, Columbia held its first annual 'Sports Day'. Consultants were assigned to either referee or team captain positions. James and I were the captains of the "Gazelles" -- though you'd never know it, given that our team flag bears only Captain James' name. For our team, James and I created 'Gazelles' name tags and activity schedules. Everyone received (and wore, during sports day) free Columbia t-shirts for their participation. Team captains were given black Columbia t-shirts. We got to keep our flag as well.

Our team was eaten alive by the other animals (as Gazelles usually are, in the wild), but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. In spite of the mid-afternoon thunderstorm (which seems to occur everyday at approximately 3 p.m. this month), the barbecue also seemed to go over well.

And last, but not least, today marked our first visit to 'Jimmy's House' (a place where musicians go to practice and jam). Shaun, from work, showed us where it was and joined us in a quasi jam session. James bought a practice pad and some drum sticks while we were there.

My car is gone

Greetings all!

Thanks to everyone who posted or emailed me concerning my last blog; your suggestions and comments were welcome. Well, we've decided on Taiwan. We decided on Sunday. We're just going to go over and get a job. This is the advice posted on numerous sites, and after a shaky beginning to our job search (suspect practices and ever-changing details of the job), not to mention my friend Will, who will be graciously providing us with a place to stay until we get on our feet.

So, as a sign of our commitment, I sold the car today. It's gone, no longer in my possession, or under my ownership. It now belongs my family's long-time auto dealer, Gold Fleet Subaru (thanks Cliff). This gives us the cash to pay off some bills, book our tickets to Taiwan, and a little breathing space (money is always tight for us).

I guess that's it for the time being....I'm walking again. Hopefully this will help me lose weight, that being my goal and all. I just can't believe it's gone, in the blink of an eye!

I miss my car...