This morning I stood outside of my English classroom waiting for class to begin and sipping my morning milk tea. My classroom overlooks the school track. I watched as a little boy, probably in 2nd or 3rd grade, walked across the grassy area in the middle of the track. The sprinklers were on. He was very carefully avoiding the water and somberly enjoying his obstacle course. He would wait till the sprinkler spun the other way to proceed. He held up his sweatpants so that the cuffs would not get wet. It was sweet. I felt myself hoping he would succeed in the challenge he had created for himself. And then, the minute he reached the other side of the grass, perfectly dry, the sprinklers turned off.
I laughed out loud. Lucky little guy... two minutes later and your walk would have been totally boring.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Ode to my Breakfast
Good morning America. Meet my breakfast. It consists of three types of fruits: a guava, a green-egg-New-Year's-fruit, and a thing that looks like a small orange and you eat the peel not the inside (sounds like a bad idea, but isn't).
I did not know two of these fruits existed until I came to Taiwan. This is why I give lengthy descriptions instead of names: I don't actually know their names. Although my suspicion is that the orange one is a kumquat- a mythical fruit I had heard of but never seen in America. I think the green fruit looks like an egg. And someone told me you eat them during Chinese New Year. So that's the origin of my highly imaginative name. I have absolutely no idea what it is called in English. My guava is sprinkled with this sugary-not-sugar substance which I learned how to say in Chinese but not English. I believe it is dried, pulverized plum sugar. It's good. That's for sure. It is kind of tart and puckery and is really good with guava.
My breakfast also included homemade starfruit juice that my host family made. Starfruit juice is not photogenic. But it is good to drink.
My point, essentially, is that Taiwan is full of delicious fruits that, unfortunately for your tastebuds, you have never tasted before. There are fruit stands everywhere, where you can buy a huge variety of yummy fruit for very small amounts of money. Every few months a new fruit comes into season and you enjoy it while you can until the next delicious mystery fruit ripens. The argument that everything delicious is bad for you does not hold on this island.
I did not know two of these fruits existed until I came to Taiwan. This is why I give lengthy descriptions instead of names: I don't actually know their names. Although my suspicion is that the orange one is a kumquat- a mythical fruit I had heard of but never seen in America. I think the green fruit looks like an egg. And someone told me you eat them during Chinese New Year. So that's the origin of my highly imaginative name. I have absolutely no idea what it is called in English. My guava is sprinkled with this sugary-not-sugar substance which I learned how to say in Chinese but not English. I believe it is dried, pulverized plum sugar. It's good. That's for sure. It is kind of tart and puckery and is really good with guava.
My breakfast also included homemade starfruit juice that my host family made. Starfruit juice is not photogenic. But it is good to drink.
My point, essentially, is that Taiwan is full of delicious fruits that, unfortunately for your tastebuds, you have never tasted before. There are fruit stands everywhere, where you can buy a huge variety of yummy fruit for very small amounts of money. Every few months a new fruit comes into season and you enjoy it while you can until the next delicious mystery fruit ripens. The argument that everything delicious is bad for you does not hold on this island.
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