再见

Three months. I cannot deny that I'm unbelievably relieved and happy to be back home and in the US :) But, I also cannot deny God's unbelievable faithfulness these past months either. It's been hard. Really hard. But God's been good. Really good.

Thank you for the lessons, challenges, new friends, new recipes, and new experiences. Goodbye Taiwan. I won't forget you. . .

just some of the reasons why my chef is awesome

Lee Guang Hua

He teaches me all the best-kept secrets of his 18-years of food-making, things that the majority of chefs out there don't know.

He'll try to sneak in whatever English he knows when talking to me... I'll get random "Sank you bery much!" and "No problem"s here and there.

Whenever I ask how to make something (even if the restaurant doesn't make it), he'll take time out to show me. If he doesn't have the recipe on him, he'll go home and make a copy for me. If the kitchen doesn't have something in stock that we need, he'll go out and find/buy it so we can make it.

He pours me a lot of cups of the best pu-er tea. (costs $300USD/600 g)

He knew my teeth were sore from chewing too much, so he made a giant batch of Cantonese congee for me (and went out to buy some thousand-year eggs for it).

He asks me every 20 minutes whether I'm tired, and even if I'm not, he'll tell me to go take a break so that I don't overexert myself.

He laughs a lot and his face turns bright red when he finds my comments amusing (mostly because I have no other way of explaining things except with really simple language...aka "Titanic" is "the very big boat")

He feeds me a TON because he doesn't ever want me to be hungry. He'll buy some Taiwanese small eats for me or scoop some of the food that we make and warm it up for me to eat.

Not being able to communicate effectively is actually really hilarious b/c we'll both just make this face and then start laughing...and move on to the next topic.

He imparts life wisdom on me and tells it like it is. He shares his stories of failures and success and tells me how I can avoid those same mistakes or achieve similar success in the future.

He took me on a field trip on his autobike to a nearby dimsum place in the middle of our workday to get some pork ribs because I said that I really like eating them... And then he asked the head chef to order 10 kilos of pork ribs and taught me how to make it the very next day. Hahaha.

His standards are super high, but he has a lot of patience with me whenever I mess up. When I do improve, he compliments me and tells me that I have a natural knack for food.

When I finish his thought for him, his face lights up and he exclaims "ah! so clever!" to me.

He can really read me and gently challenges me (and humbles me) where I need it most.

He treats me like family and makes me feel welcomed and appreciated.

He treats his wife and kids really well, and he also shows no favoritism at work. Everyone's like family to him.

I commented that one of the pastry cutters was really cute, and he said "here, take it. You can have it." And then he proceeded to give me more pastry tools. Hahaha

His skill with his hand is superb. The things that he wraps are all consistent in size and really really pretty.

He gave me two discs of pu-er tea as gifts -- one to keep in my future store (which I cannot drink until at least 10 years from now), and one that's already aged so I can drink it right now.

He has the sense and integrity not to take me out late at night to eat all the good stuff in Taichung after work because it wouldn't look right. And I totally totally respect that.

My last week of work, he made sure to teach me everything he promised to teach me -- including one of the best pork buns I've ever had, egg tarts, mochi, and ha-gao. After he finished teaching me, he was really really happy that he had lived up to his word.

He *hardly hardly* ever takes people as his "students", but I was an exception. People are lineedd UP to study under him...

He called me the morning after I got home to make sure that I got back to American safely.

He was probably one of the closest friends I made in Taiwan and definitely a huge, semi life-changing gift from God for me for my time in Taiwan. I'm going to miss him, but I'm glad that he gave me the permission to call him whenever to ask him about food, life, ...anything! Yay.

t-i-wan

heineken green tea! Drinking half of it made me a bit tipsy... but of course, the glass is bigger than my face and I'm also kinda lightweight. pretty tasty, nonetheless

who needs punches for seaweed?! completely unncessary.

"bad puppet!! fart nocchio" .... uh, what?

er. yeah, not exactly this year's hottest trend in tshirt designs. why does colonel sanders have pigtails?!

I might be lonely, but not THAT lonely.

poor man's hershey's kiss.

homeward bound

I'm going HOME!

Things I'll miss:

1) My chefs -- how they feed me constantly and how they tell me all their culinary secrets

2) Taiwanese food -- the abundance, inexpensiveness, and deliciousness of it

3) Weather -- always so nice out

4) Shopping -- good-looking leather shoes for $13? I think so.

5) Independence -- I'm a free wanderer'

Things I'm looking forward to:

1) Being reunited with family, friends, and boyfriend

2) Worshiping with my RWC family

3) Eating salads and fruits; working out at the gym

4) Cooking in my own kitchen

5) Feeding people I love the food that I've learned

Will update with some last pictures when I'm back stateside...

Just do it.

1. If there's one thing you have to do this next week, you absolutely have to go to this:

Hello,

Please join us this Thursday for a special event at the church office. Helen, an NK missionary, will be speaking this Thursday. She works for an agency that uses business and humanitarian aid as a platform to go into NK.

Thursday, 12/10

7:30pm

Church Office

28 W 28 Street

The China team members met her while in China this summer. She has awesome testimonies and stories. Please come hear some of these stories and learn more about the work that she does.

When Michelle says that she has "awesome testimonies and stories", that's a severe understatement. I've never so clearly seen God's spirit living in and working through someone as I have with Helen. REALLY, GO. You won't regret it.

2. If there's one thing you have to do before you die, you must try some South African Chutney Chicken. Your taste buds might never be the same again.

totally posed.

I was going for a "candid" shot, so I told my coworkers to just pretend like they're talking to each other normally....

and yet, they still threw up the FOB sign. (and is that jerry's wife picking his nose??) ah, Asians...

egg custard and coconut tarts!

I love that I can eat my work.

funny how some things never change

Out of sheer boredom, I was looking through my old xanga posts. (sidenote - I'm kinda surprised how much I blogged back then, too! haha. I guess that didn't change much, either) But anyway, these "6 weird things about me" haven't changed a bit, even after almost 3 years!!! Here they are again, and just for kicks, I'm gonna tag mr. samchu, steve(n), norman, jeannie, gabs, jaijai, jules, and mark! Please do it and help me relive the good ole' xanga years, even though there won't be eprops involved...but I promise to comment if you do! :) kthanx.

6 weird things about the Feb '07 (and the current) Nancy:

1. I talk in my sleep.
Catherin and other previous roommates can attest to this. I think one of the first days of freshmen year, I yelled out "PASTA PASTA PASTA" and my roommates Lauren and Christina were like.. "?!?!!?!?". Catherin said that one time, I even sat up, put on my glasses, looked around, then went back to sleep.

2. I dream every night.
Maybe this has something to do with me talking in my sleep, but I dream vividly every single night. I may not remember the whole thing the next morning, and sometimes I get so into the dream that when I wake up in the morning, I get so discombobulated and wonder where I am.

3. Immediately after buying something, I like to keep it in its bag.
When I come home after shopping, I don't like to take out the new purchases, take the tags/wrapping off, and put it away. I just keep it in its original bag in a pile by my desk. When I absolutely need to wear it/use it, then I take it out. Don't ask me why.

4. I don't like to use a pen till it runs out.
This is probably bad, because I just keep on getting newer and cooler pens while not wanting to use them up. They just kind of pile up... =\

5. I can't seem to finish knitting a scarf.
There's something about finishing a scarf that just doesn't appeal to me. Blame the "perfect-me" aspect where I don't like hitting plateaus and want to always keep learning something new... so when I find myself doing the same pattern over and over, I get bored and move on to a new pattern or just give up altogether. Hehe.... I have finished mittens before, though.. no scarves.

6. When I get bored of practicing whatever I am playing on the piano, I break out into Super Mario music.
Hehehe, it's so catchy -- how can you resist?

2 more weeks.

Wow, I almost can't believe that there's only two more weeks before I leave Taiwan for home! O_O I would have been absolutely out-of-my-mind thrilled to be going home if you had asked me a few weeks ago, but now that the time is drawing nearer I'm almost sad to leave...

I think I'm the type of person that gets easily attached, though I wouldn't have thought I'd get attached to my life in Taiwan... I'm also the type of person that forgets things quickly, so after a few weeks of being at home, I'll probably have forgotten a lot of what happened in Taiwan too.. =\ Hahahaha... haha.. hah...ha ...

Dunno. Two more weeks. Dang.

introducing...

....my new FOB glasses!!

I figured that since I won't be coming back with a FOB hairdo or eyelid surgery or fake contacts or a FOB wardrobe or anything to show that I've been in Taiwan for the past three months, I should at least get some FOB glasses...

engrish of the day

My chef and I were talking about different animals that we have and haven't eaten, like dog, quail, squirrel (?!!?!)...

Chef: "Have you ever eaten "è yú" before?"
Me: "What's that?"

Chef: "Mmm... you know, in English it's called lacouh"

Me: "What? I've never heard of that...What is it?" (thinking to myself, what in the world is a lacouh?!)

Chef: "You know, lacouh! It has a big mouth...lacouh!" [slight pause, then calling another chef] "Ai! A-wen, how do you say "è yú" in English? Isn't it 'lacouh' "?

A-wen: "Aiya, no it isn't. La-cos is a brand name, not the name of the animal..."

Meanwhile, now that I had realized that my chef had mistakenly thought that an alligator was called a lacoste, I started laughing so hard that I could barely stand, let alone breathe. Tooooo freaking funny.

**Edit**

After telling Sam the story...

Sam: But he's a FOB!!! Not even! He's still over the border!

Me: That's why it's so FUNNY!

oh what fun it is to peel

Don't you love that feeling when you peel a vegetable that's really easy to peel? .... like cucumbers?!?!?! (they're my FAV!) I spent an hour peeling giant radishes yesterday and the skin just sliced off ever soo smoothly. And tomorrow I get to peel maybe 300 pounds of taro. Omgggg I'm so excited!!!

My chef asked me why I still want to work in a restaurant after seeing how tiring it is, day in and day out to stand on your feet and work manual labor. It's the little joys in cooking, like peeling smooth vegetables or scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula to get every drop that make life a little more fun. There really isn't much in cooking that I don't enjoy... I like doing even the mundane things, like washing dishes, measuring out ingredients, slicing and dicing, wrapping stuffs... but peeling vegetables - omg... soooooo nice.

:D

*disclaimer* I'm weird, but I fully accept that.

what a great day.

Let me tell you why:

My aunt & uncle took me out to a fantastic Japanese restaurant for lunch where we proceeded to feast on shark fin soup, beef sashimi, really fresh salmon sashimi, this awesome awesome skatefish sushi with super delicious ginger (I've never had such good ginger before. zomg), in addition to this super fresh steamed fish whose meat just melted apart. Omg. So tasty. They go to that restaurant a lot so the owners know them, and they gave us extra food and extra big pieces ;) hehehe.

Theeeeeeeen, after lunch we went to *drumroll* ....

COSTCOOOOOO. Isn't it beautiful?!?!!? *tears* (my brother told me my previous costco post was "ridiculous", especially with the heart drawn on the map...so I warn you now, the rest of this post will be ridiculous too. Brace yourself)

My aunt and her sister-in-law (who has the card), with a cart ready to do some major shopping damage ;)

Everything looks so familiar. *tears again*

Er, well this doesn't look too familiar. Hmm....

BUT LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I literally did a huge typical "Nancy"-style *GASP* with a giant jaw drop and a little happy hop when I saw this, and people around me actually turned around and looked at me. HAHAHAHAHAHA. (sidenote - I think my cheeks are still swollen from the stupid wisdom teeth surgery...or maybe I just got fatter :( )

I done bought meself a box of this to make for my coworkers as a "goodbye/thank you" present when I leave...

Dude. I've never seen a more crowded Costco in my life. Even Black Friday shopping isn't this crowded... it was INSANE.

Mwahahahahaahaha. I was so happy. Seriously.

My cousin's aunt (my aunt's sister-in-law) is the proud owner of "tea's" tea shop in Taiwan (Ming Ren). They were the second ever bubble tea shop to open in Taiwan some 20-years ago, (Chun Shui Tang being the first). (She really is one of the ORIGINAL original bubble tea creators. A lot of the combinations of flavors and the small eats that you get at St's Alp were her idea...) She treated us to lots of drinks & food, and we had a good 3-hr conversation about running a business, about their families, about life... Man, so much respect for their generation and their work ethic. I already learned so much from her, PLUS she's gonna help me open up shop and make good bubble tea when I open up a place... ^___^V

good day, good day. *content sigh*

some funny moments at work

but probably funnier if you were there. hahaha it's okay, i'll laugh by myself.

(while lining some Shrimp along a glass bowl)

Me: "要放几个?"

Head chef: "二十五个" in a quiet mumble

Me: "huh?"

Head chef:(yelling to the other chefs) "Ai! 二十五个英文镇么讲? [slight pause] One, Two ... One, Two, Thu-ree, Fhou, Fivuh... (looking at me) Two Fivuh!"

Me: "Hahahaha...okay okay"

- - - - - - - -

Chef: "Eh, 美国有很多黑人吗?"

Me: "看你住哪里"

Chef: (with a wide smile to show his teeth) "黑人的牙齿很白，吗?!?!?"

Me: ("omg", in semi-shock inside.... but laughing out loud)

Chef: "是应为他们的皮肤很黑，所以他们的牙齿就看起来很白!!!!"

**omg. I just saw a commercial for this popular toothpaste, and it's called "黑人牙膏!!!!" I guess their teeth really are whiter?! HAAHAHAAHA**

(sorry to those who don't read simplified...I hope I used the right characters...it's been a while =P )

costcoooooooo

All this talk about a costco opening up in Harlem tomorrow had me looking for a costco in Taiwan. And omg! There's a costco down the street (albeit, a very very long street) from me!!! I absolutely can NOT wait until Sunday rolls around so I can take a field trip over there!! I'm keeping my hopes up for some good ole' (cheap) American food... I wonder if they'll let me talk my way out of not having a membership card . . . . . . . .

me: oh

em

gee

there's a costco in TAIWAN

like

NEAR ME

Mike: lol

youre delirious

me: OMG

no i'm not

i'm HAAAAAAAPPYYYY

11:02 PM ohemgee.

i'm taking a field trip there

on sunday

OMG

if they have

AMERICAN FOOD

omg.

i think

i

might

faint

OMG

Mike: wow

i havent seen so many forms of omg used in the such a short period of time

11:03 PM me: oh maaaaaiiiiii goodness

11:04 PM Mike: geez lol

11:07 PM me: i wonder what they sell...

OMG

PIZZA KITCHEN

BAKERRRRRRRRRRRYY

COOOOOOOOOOKIIESSSSS

and maybe CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Mike: omgee

some things guys just won't ever understand...

Being the ONLY girl chef in the restaurant with 20 other guy chefs makes it kinda weird when you have to go lie down due to bad cramps, and all the while the guys are wondering what's wrong with you...

I gotta go home

yep. pretty much exactly how I feel right now.

"Home"

Another summer day

Has come and gone away

In Paris and Rome

But I wanna go home

Mmmmmmmm

May be surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel all alone

I just wanna go home

Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you

Each one a line or two

“I’m fine baby, how are you?”

Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough

My words were cold and flat

And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane

Another sunny place

I’m lucky, I know

But I wanna go home

Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home

I’m just too far from where you are

I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life

It’s like I just stepped outside

When everything was going right

And I know just why you could not

Come along with me

'Cause this was not your dream

But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come

And gone away

In even Paris and Rome

And I wanna go home

Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel all alone

Oh, let me go home

Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home

I’ve had my run

Baby, I’m done

I gotta go home

Let me go home

It will all be all right

I’ll be home tonight

I’m coming back home

chipmunk cheek

"omgosh. what is that?!"

"it's so BIG!"

"boohoo. I'm sad for mommy"

the autumn blues

It was around 4:30 PM on Saturday November the 7th, and as I was laying in bed under the covers with the lights off, I could hear the sound of cars rushing by in the street below, I could sense that the sun was dropping behind the horizon, and I could hear the sound of pots clanging and voices chattering as a grandma and her daughter-in-law were preparing a dinner feast for their family downstairs.

I was struck with a sudden bout of nostalgia as all of these things brought back memories of my childhood, my family, and my 1608 Foxhorn Ct house in Naperville... (Autumn always has a weird way of making me feel nostalgic)

I miss the days when the TV would be turned on in the living room, and my brother and I would be sprawled out on the carpet watching The Simpsons while my parents and grandparents busily prepared dinner before for my aunt and uncle's family arrived...

I miss how the air smells in late October and the breeze that I remember feeling as I went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood...

I miss Thanksgiving dinner and the chaos of waking up before the sun for Black Friday shopping with my siblings and cousins...

I miss hosting large dinner potlucks and dinners at my house followed with Karaoke singing of Taiwanese folk songs, playing ping pong and pool in the basement, and always venturing back up to the kitchen to grab some more desserts...

I miss the duck noodle soup my mom used to make every Saturday for lunch without fail...

I miss my grandparents' beef noodle soup and vodka-heavy pork rib rice...

I miss hearing the sound of kids riding their bikes in my court and moms chatting with each other as they take a stroll alongside their kids...

It's weird when I think about it because I feel like that life wasn't really the same life that I have now -- that that person wasn't the same "Nancy" as me. So much has changed...

But either way, I miss it a lot.

wisdom teeth take 2.

literally.

**edit**

Actually. The dentist only took 1...and it took a whopping 3 hours. Freaaaaaking &$*$^!##@.

I'm so miserable right now.

fun-filled wednesday

I've been spending the past few days back in the dessert room, and since there isn't too much work we have to do (I literally played games on my iPhone for 2 hours today), I put in a special request to my chef to teach me how to make bread, ..

and Tai Yang Bings (aka Sun Cakes, a specialty of Taichung and one of my favorite foods)... !!!!

Mmmmmm......... soo good. (and so cheap, too. People make a killer profit selling these guys)

Then, we went bowling!

The bowling balls look like billiard balls! So cool. Hahahaha

Maaaaaaaaaaad beat up bowling shoes....

kinda lonely.

I miss my friends, and I miss having friends. :(

my day

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