Ice Ice Baby

If you’re a New Zealander living in Taiwan, I’d recommend signing up to the New Zealanders (Kiwis) in Taiwan Facebook Group. From time to time useful organized souls post details of upcoming kiwi events in Taiwan, such as ANZCham sundowner events. ANZCham= Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (http://www.anzcham.org.tw).



This week, the New Zealand U18 Ice Hockey Team were in town to participate in the International Ice Hockey Federation Div III competition (http://www.iihf.com). I was unaware of this until the game roster was posted on the Facebook group website (many thanks!) but once informed I turned up for the first game in the tournament held this afternoon between New Zealand and Australia.

Bear in mind that I have never in my life watched an ice hockey game. It had been so long that I’d even set foot inside an ice skating rink that I only thought to grab a jersey for the cooler temperature as I was heading out the door. Needless to say, I’d never visited Tapei Stadium before, but the facility to my eyes was first rate and well maintained. Also, entrance was free. Bonus!

When I walked inside, the ice smoothing machine was hard at work only minutes before the match, the event banner was hanging up on the far end wall, and the officials were settling into their sideline spot at the computer table:



And the five flags of the participating teams hung on the wall at one end of the rink; Australia, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, South Africa and Mongolia:



As I try to give a description of how the game proceeded, please bear in mind – I know nothing about the rules, and about every 5 seconds I cringed at players full body slamming, skating full bore into a wall and spectacularly going skates-up on the ice. The New Zealander supporters were far out numbered by the Auzzie supporters, but it was great to see all the parents who had flown out from New Zealand to watch their sons play.

First the Kiwis came out for a quick lap around their half of the court:



Huddled in front of the goal – either having a last minute pep talk, or fighting over which night market was first on the list – who can tell from the sidelines!



Then both teams lined up to face off before the game kicked off:



Once the game got underway, it all got a little unclear. Lots of sin-binning, lots of breaks to change players, lots of narrowly averted goals (thumbs up to NZ’s goalies who were put hard to work from the get go), lots of elbows, tangling of sticks, falling over – even a broken stick. I had no idea what was going on, so I just kept yelling – Go NZ, Let’s go NZ, You can do it NZ, (“insert encouraging words here that avoid the fact I have no idea what exactly I’m encouraging the players to do”) NZ!!! P.s. my throat is sore.

Our boys gave it a good effort, although the end result was a substantial win for the Auzzie team. After the game, the teams gathered for a sportsman-like shake-the-hand down the line:



If you can get along for a match, it’ll be worth it to support our boys in black. The rest of the games are at the following times (copied from the Facebook group):

28 February, 2009 (Sat)
16:00 Tapei Ice Rink 3 AUS vs. RSA
19:00 Tapei Ice Rink 4 TPE vs. NZL

2 March, 2009 (Mon)
16:00 Tapei Ice Rink 5 AUS vs. MGL
19:00 Tapei Ice Rink 6 NZL vs. RSA

3 March, 2009 (Tue)
16:00 Tapei Ice Rink 7 MGL vs. NZL
19:00 Tapei Ice Rink 8 RSA vs. TPE

5 March, 2009 (Thu)
16:00 Tapei Ice Rink 9 RSA vs. MGL
19:00 Tapei Ice Rink 10 AUS vs. TPE
21:30 Tapei Ice Rink Closing & Awards Ceremony

Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for: game shots! Capping off this
post is a (very shakey sorry - especially near the beginning where we thought we'd scored a goal but didn't and the camera went everywhere - I may have been both jumping and screaming at the time, uncomfirmed rumour) video of random footage from the game, and the few of my pictures that didn’t come out blurry:

Cougars, queens and more on carbs

Finding a cougar equivalent

One of ICLP’s catch phrases is “Shuo hua, shuo hua,shuo hua.” Continually reinforcing the vocabulary and grammar structures during group class conversations and getting immediate suggestions/corrections from teachers has been an important part of my learning so far.

This semester (my third semester both learning Mandarin and at ICLP) my texts are Modern Chinese Conversation (新編會話), Practical Audio-Visual Chinese III (實用視聽華語(三)), and Taiwan Today (今日台灣). The third textbook is a series of readings around different everyday life in Taiwan topics. This can lead to some quite wide ranging conversations about cultural differences. In a class of three guys and one gal, a fly on the wall during the chapter on finding a husband or wife would have been well entertained.

During the current chapter, discussion wound its way to the completely unrelated topic of cougars. What is the significance of “cougar”, the teacher asked. In English, a cougar is typically thought of as either an adorable yet dangerous large feline, or a lady of a certain age who particularly seeks out the company of younger men. A short side debate on whether the cougar had spots, stripes or nothing later, the teacher thought the meaning might be equivalent to the local expression Bai4 Quan2 (敗 犬) – literally roughly meaning lost/lowly dog. After some further exploration, I thought “bai quan” might be closer to spinster or old maid.

Queen of the cougars

In any case, during the cougar – lost dog debate, my teacher in all her wisdom fed my Taiwan drama addiction by mentioning the phrase was used in the title of a new local drama: 敗犬女王 (Bai4 Quan2 Nu3 Wang2), roughly translating to lost queen. This drama stars the charismatic Cheryl Yang (楊謹華 / Yang Jin Hua) and the leading man of the moment, Ethan Ruan (阮經天 / Ruan Jing Tian). You may remember Ruan from Fated To Love You – he was the good looking guy with a lot of screen time who kept saying “Jia you Chen Xin Yi!” You remember? Good.

Yang plays Shan Wu Shuang, an almost 33-year old unmarried career woman who is trying to make her name in the media business by busting a local politician who has a wife and kids, plus a bit on the side. Ruan plays Lucas, a roughly 25-year-old odd job man; a younger man (oooooh!).

We quickly find out he is the heart throb martial art instructor at a local high school (some of the translation in that scene is a bit strong, surely attack would have been less cringe worthy than molest with the same dramatic effect!), and dresses in a Santa costume for rent money (the first scene is set on Christmas Eve). As a side note, these actors are playing roles that are the same or thereabouts as their real ages; a breath of fresh air from western dramas where 20-somethings will play high school roles.

Things get rolling when they of course have an encounter of the infuriating kind with each other. Although I’m only on the first episode, this is definitely finding a regular slot on my watch-list. Catch up on the first six episodes at my http://www.mysoju.com/my-queen/ then follow the drama as it unfolds on TTV/SETTV Sundays 22:00 - 23:30.

Carb Catch-up

For those who were interested in my previous post on low-carbing in Taiwan/Taipei, here’s a quick update: Boy is it hard to low-carb over holidays. Never you mind, I’m back in the saddle.

Jasons now has ground flax seed both at the location mentioned in the previous post, and in the health supplement section between the frozen fish/salmon and the toiletries at the back of the store. Also, I located at the top right hand shelf of the oils section virgin coconut oil, for those who like to (hopefully) kick the metabolism this way.

Weight Watchers drink flavour sachets are now available at Jasons. If you enter the store through the bakery, immediately as you exit the bakery into the store one of the aisles on the far upper left has them alongside lime flavouring sachets. Beware; they’re pricey and do have carbs which could easily add up!

Hot-pot as it turns out is not just for eating out. I am well into my exploration of turning out a just as yummy low-carb equivalent at home. This has been made very easy by the availability of low in carb frozen hot-pot soup bases at just about every grocery store I’ve seen so far. I like to pep up the soup base with a good handful of fresh coriander. So far duck and ginger has been my personal favourite packet base. This mutton and herbs base was also pretty good, and (according to the back of the packet, cross fingers it’s accurate) is particularly low in carbs:



For those who want to branch out into different kinds of mushrooms (I’ve been a traditionally timid button girl myself, although golden mushrooms as mentioned in a previous post have stolen my heart); pick up a pre-packed selection such as this ones which also came from Jasons:



Everything can be easily picked up from your local supermarket – thin sliced meats, seafood and veges of all descriptions. If you have others in the house who are not low-carbing, they can add noodles (near the end of the meal so that not too much leeched sugar is contaminating the soup base), and dumplings which can also be found in pre-packed hotpot selections, such as the one below:



There you have it – low-carb hotpot at home, it’s so so easy.

Smelling the roses

As part of the 2009 Yang Ming Shan Flower Festival (further information, see http://www.taipei.gov.tw) flocks of locals have migrated to Chiang Kai Shek’s Shilin Presidential Residence at no. 60 Fulin Road to take in its extensive gardens, in particular the many rose (mei2 gui1 玫 瑰) varietals.


View Larger Map

It’s easy to get to these gardens using public transport. Hop on the MRT to the Shilin Station (not Jianguo) and take Exit 2. Immediately turn left and follow the road (including across a traffic light intersection) for about 5 minutes. If it was anything like today, it will be easy to figure out as everyone else will be flooding out of the station and following the same path:



You’re getting close when you pass some massive herbaceous bovines on your right:



Then a driveway leads the way inside (you may miss the relatively small entrance sign but it’s fairly easy to figure out):



Alternatively, from Exit 2 you can walk straight ahead and take the other entrance on your left hand side. A short way inside the entrance you’ll find a pathway lined by the same tall trees used at the Taipei Botanical Gardens:



Their dramatic effect helps distract from the decidedly un-picturesque open drains:



From some perspectives, they also make this collection of sculptures appear to be behind jail bars – an eerie but cool (presumably unintended) effect:



The main reason for the crowds was the large collection of rose bushes planted throughout the grounds. Although it’s hard to match the Wellington Botanical Garden’s rose garden for quality and beauty, the Shilin Residence was by no means lacking for admirers. Families young and old enjoyed the relatively comfortable weather and each other’s company; and of course life here is not just to be experienced, but also (importantly) captured on camera.



Some areas of the gardens smelled rather like bubblegum - I never found the source of the fragrance. Artistically ordered in a number of configurations, you could view rose bushes winding up trellis arbours:



Alongside curving paths:



Set out in row upon row and flanked with trees, as though it were a rose orchard:



And inside greenhouses, protected from the elements and decorated with ribbons, pearls and trinkets:



Dui wo lai shuo, the most enjoyable parts of the gardens were not the roses, but the number of other treasures tucked around the place, such as this large shady tree with its trunk and branches completely wrapped in leafy vines:



Scultures complementing existing plants and trees, and in turned enhanced by the foliage:









Traditional gardens with plenty of shade and dancing fountains:





Wide open spaces for families to picnic and kids to run amok:



And buildings with tiny details that many people might walk right past and miss:



Set alongside a lily lake, this tucked-away building was lush with greenery, tiny blossoms and berried plants (although the ceiling was low so taller people needed to duck!):







Other greenhouses contained large numbers of orchid plants, and indoor courtyards decorated with draped vines and flower arrangements including animal figures:



To the amateur's eye, the orchids themselves were no different in quality to those found at the Jianguo flower markets, but the setting served to enhance their beauty:



(These were my favourite!):



And of course, who can resist checking out a rich dude's wheels!



If you're interested in checking out the roses, I'd recommend not putting it off if you want to view the blossoms in their best condition (many were already showing that they were into the second half of their race to the grave). As this is a blog post on rose gardens, please humour me as I cap off the entry with a few snaps of the day's beauties. Enjoy!