Petrol problems

Petrol, among many other items that Nepal gets from India, has become scarce. With a newly adopted constitution that has been in the works for a long time, some things have gotten complicated in the relationship between Nepal and India.

Taxis line the roads waiting for gas stations to get gas; most of these cars were sitting parked with no drivers. The roads are very empty. The news reports small batches of tankers with gas have been allowed through the border, but it's not enough to fill the need. Cylinders of gas for cooking are also in short supply.

We are hoping for a quick resolution. The people of Nepal are still recovering from the earthquake in April, these shortages make day-to-day life very hard for many.

tiny little stories and a more pics than you actually want (or need)

um... what is it and how much do i owe you? and thanks for overcharging me.

-taxi cab confessional-
on friday we got rearended in a taxi. sitting at the light, showing allison something on her iphone (yes, i use it anytime i can get my paws on it) and then we were both moving in slow-mo towards the front of the cab, both not knowing what was happening. then we slammed back into our seats. for a split second i thought it was one of the biggest earthquakes ever (like, dinosaur killer earthquake), but it just ended up being an 18 year old kids with three of his friends. he was extremely apologetic, and kept grabbing my arm saying "my fault, my fault." our cab driver did the cab driver type thing and hopped out of the car, grabbing his neck. if he were playing charades, we would have been yelling, "fake neck injury! i got it, fake neck injury!!!" they exchanged information (and money, i think), and then we left. i wanted to say, "um... what if my back is broken tomorrow, who do i get money from?" but i knew it was pointless. just to make myself feel better, i took a picture of the cab driver's license plate. oh, and he charged us $120 NT instead of the $140 NT he should have. he was so kind to us.

-ikea with two ladies-

getting on the HSR (and representing nossa familia. if you're in portland, support a local business and try their coffee. it is great. it ages well too, right jason?)

allison and i headed up to ikea with one of our (swanky) friends from school on the HSR. that thing is fast. the only problem is, that you're going so fast, you go under a tunnel every three seconds, so it disrupts anything you're trying to upload or send. we left at 10:00am and got back at 6pm, but it felt like we spent three days there. i think we ended up walking through it twice because we didn't know where we were, but we did end up getting a few things and we're having it delivered for $90 US. when we had lunch there, it took us five minutes to find a table, but we ended up getting a huuuge table with a few extra seats. we played a little game called, "scare as many taiwanese people as we can" by asking if they wanted to sit at our table with us. most of them would shake their heads no, and continue to keep looking. eventually we ended up finding a desperate family of three. we made inappropriate jokes (not about them) until we realized the kids probably spoke english and were translating exactly what we were saying to their mommy. oh yeah, also, we were waiting for the elevator and some lil old granny is hanging out waiting and just let a huge burp rip, wiped her mouth, and boarded the elevator. we died.

one of allison's new shirts

-fun at fengjia-
we hit up fengjia night market on friday (supposedly the biggest one on the island), and had a great time. we bought three shirts, all really cheap. it was kind of weird (and gross) seeing every part of any animal ever. the innards of some of the fowls are pretty gross and whole squid on a stick make the stomach turn. we don't even know if we were in the main part of the night market, but it was still really crowded and you had someone touching you from all sides, so it felt like we experienced a night market (and a whole lot more!). we're hoping to go to the one near us this saturday if all goes as planned.

doesn't quite do it justice, but there were lot of people there

potato-ish scalliony cakes

drinks

heading home

-extras-

• hoping to play ultimate frisbee tuesdays and fridays (yes, i'm using bullets)
• started running more than 2 miles every other day
• allison joined a gym (california fitness!)
• i hate hdmi (sound just stopped working)
• went and watched a friend run the duathlon (which, up until now, i thought was spelled dual-ath-a-lon for some reason). and by watch, i mean, hang out with allison and his wife and wish we'd eaten breakfast and that they'd give us one of those damn ice concoctions and then watch him entertain us with jumps, waves, and ballet moves during transitions and at the finish line.
  
• waking up at 4:00am to watch the beavs play psu (fortunately, not the nittany lions this year) this sunday (my time) and will be rooting for the broncos on the blue turf this thursday as they take on the ucks
  
• took part in an online draft during lunch break. good times.

-random pictures-

taichung at night

street at night

underground sidewalk (formerly called a tunnel)

for all you dog lovers out there

alright. back to watching allison play mario kart wiiiiiiii.

ps i'll be watching you

all over the place (like my cab driver)

whew, don't go see orphan if you're looking for a relaxing movie. i spent half of it with one eye closed and the other eye covered up. every time i looked over, allison was covering her face and wrapping her blanket up over her head. i went in thinking the movie was A) rated PG and B) going to be terrible, so i was pleasantly surprised at the end.

finally found a little park to run at near our apartment, but the humidity followed me over there, so it is just as hot. someone at school told us it cools down quite a bit by november, so we'll be looking forward to that. we've been eating out quite a bit and have had some really good food lately. we just got back from "indian food street" over near sogo with a teacher friend.

driving has been lots of fun too. our car is small enough it feels like we're in a little go cart sometimes and we can weave in and out of traffic pretty well when things get dicey. also, u-turns are crazy here. you can just pull into the scooter lane, wait for some open space, and then flip one and no one cares. every once in a while i'll catch myself getting ready to make a triple right or turn left into a parking lot, but then i'll remember anything goes and we're going the opposite direction in no time. allison has been doing great driving and when i'm in the passanger seat, it is only just a little scarier than watching orphan.

speaking of driving, after the movie on saturday, i went out with a few people from school, and took part in the scariest cab ride ever. and yes, i know it probably is tame compared to some other cab rides, but it was insane. he was cutting off other cabs, going twice the speed limit, running reds, and half the time i felt like he was trying to clip the car he was cutting off. (mid post ps. allison is telling me about her multiple mosquito bites right now. also, she sneezed 8 times this morning and 6 this afternoon. she is going for a record. crazy.) we ended up getting there alright, but, seriously. it was like the car chase in the movie the rock.

last thing... got the time capsule (hard drive/wireless router) mom sent and allison loves her 3g. 3gs is supposed to come out in days (or weeks, who knows), so i'm excited. got paid today... heading to ikea on saturday and a night market friday so i can get some crazy chinese/english shirts. hope all is well wherever you are. if you have questions, just ask!

ps someone smuggle in some ddp or diet pepsi for allison. she is dying over here! i found rogue dead guy (12 oz bottles), so i got that going for me, which is nice.

oh, and our friend had her baby!