Living in Taipei or Memphis

Memphis Taipei

I am from Taipei, Taiwan. As I mentioned earlier, Taiwan is a small island country, 35,960 km² big with over 20 million populations living in it. Taipei is the capital, size of 272 km² with 2 million populations. Still can't image how crowd it is? Let me bring some numbers up, you will have a better idea about it. Compared to Memphis, size of land is 763.4 km² and populations are 680,768 which is almost 3 times big of Taipei city, but only has 1/3 of populations living in.
Because of the high population density, people live in sky high buildings which are made of concrete and steel. The whole city is not only full of people but also cars and scooters which cause serious air pollution problem. Thank god! Because the oil price keeps going up, more and more people take subway and bus to work.

Some people saying, Taipei is a restless city, because there are too many stores running 24 hours: you can watch a 2:00am movie and have your breakfast at 4:00am, or drive up to Ya-ming Mountain to have a hot spring bath in the middle of the night. Whatever you want to eat, shop, or be entertained, the options are overwhelming.

In contrast with Taipei, Memphis is a quiet and slow pace city. Most of stores are closed at 9:00pm, and only few cars drive on roads at 11:00pm. People here live in 1 story or 2 story high of houses, have yards with lawn, and flower beds, have a park just around the neighborhood. People are friendly and never in a rush. They greet and smile on pedestrian walkway, at schools and at stores.

Although life in Taipei got all of the conveniences you can image, in Memphis you got healthier and better environment to live with. No matter where I live, I think I enjoy both.

How do I deal with the Memphis heat?

This may sound weird, but I like the Memphis hot summer with one remark: with an airconditioner at my home and with A/C in my car. From my point of view the heat is better than cold. At least I don’t need to spend a lot of money for buying good warm clothes to survive in a terrible frost. Also I look much prettier in a summer dress then in winter big cloths with a red-blue cold nose and cheeks.
I came here in the beginning of April by my car (by the way, no A/C in it) from NY. The weather was so nice and pleasant, I even did not want to think that soon it is getting hotter and hotter. In the middle of May my brain started to melt on the way to work and back to home. I decided to stop this turture and bought a car with airconditioner. Now I am happy and like the Memphis heat.

My Favorite Dish - Seol Leong Tang

Seol Leong Tang Kim Chi

I forgot what Caroline asked us to write, so I picked one that I was interested in: My Favorite Dish.
Lately I have addicted to Seol Leong Tang, a traditional Korean food, which is made of ox legs and simmered in a big pot of water for hours, in old times, even days.
Because of the long time cooking, the flavor is extracted out of ox bones and the soup turns to snow white color. Usually people use salt and green onion to season, and eat the soup with rice. In the popular Korean drama, My name is Kim Sam Sun, the leading actress even mixes the soup with Kim Chi (Korean fermented vegetables) sauce.

How did I survive summer heat in Wuhan

My hometown Wuhan has a blistering summer time. When I was a little girl, most families lived in a small room without air conditioning. When the evening came, almost all the people moved their bamboo bed outside onto the pavement of the road. Everybody used a palm leaf fan to expel mosquitoes and cool themselves. They chatted all the night and slept outside to survive the hot summer.
When I was a teenager, the majority of the citizens owned an electric fan in their room. Most of them did not sleep outside, only some people were still enjoying slept outside on their bamboo bed.
Before I came to America, most families in Wuhan used an air-conditioner in their apartment. Nobody slept outside anymore in summer.

My first independance day in USA

What's special on independance in USA.

On my first independance day in USA was so quiet . Because I didn't know anybody except fireworks.I was in America for about 1month and I didn't know a lot of people except our neighbour family.They had barbecue outside and the invited me and we drank some beer.I watched fireworks at home because I didn't get any transportation way.

But this year was different from last year because I went downtown to watch fireworks and I went to a party.They most supprising thing is before I came to America I heard a lot the American National Anthum,but since I came to America I did never hear it even on the Independance Day.

How do you survive the summer heat?

The first time I went out in the summer I thought I grilled. It was hot in Africa where I used to live but not like here. It is the hottest place I have ever been in my life. I feel sometimes like I wanted to cry . I am glad that now we have a car so that we do not have to wait and wait for late buses. We learn how to survive the summer heat.

We always have to put on the air conditioning in the house . We notice that it become hard to drink something hot. We always put all the drinks in the refrigerator . Someone is always trying to take a shower to avoid stinking. We have to wash our clothes more frequently too. The opening as the doors and the windows remain close to save on the gas bill. We also have a special habit for outside.

It is necessary to put on suncream , to wear sunglasses. It is better not to stay out for a long time. We also turn on the air conditionning in the car while we are riding. We also have to use deodorants. It is also fun to swim because the water is cold.

To sum up it is a daily lesson to learn how to survive the summer heat . We try to be open-minded to every advice because we are still new . All suggestions are welcome.

The United States' Independence Day

Independence Day is a very important for most countries which had been colonized. It is a special moment to remember those who fought for freedom and liberty for us, the later generations. Subsequently, the 4th of July in United States of America is an exciting day. You can notice alot of activities going on .

First the stores were closed. You can imagine that people got ready days ago. Many people did not work on that special day. In the morning our neighbors were grilling . Some set up picnics. They ate hot dogs. It is a lovely picture you see because families had a little bit time to be together . If you watched the television, you could learn on certains channels alot about the Independence Day. The very exciting part is the evening.

Then many people were getting ready to go out. Many of them were dressed up. Some went to restaurants.Another part went to the movie theater. However the majority wacthed fireworks. Some families made their own fireworks. The first time you hear it , it can be very scary . It is just fun . They are so beautiful to look at . The circle shape with different colors are so wonderful to see. And there were so many .

Finally we really enjoyed it. It was a pity that we did not have a chance to hear the national anthem . We still were impressed by how the American are so proud of their Independence.

The National Day of China

On Oct. 1st of 1993, my son was born in Wuhan, China. Actually, my son's birthday should be Sep. 17th, but he did not come out on that day. I was so happy and excited, because Oct. 1st is the National Day of the People's Republic of China.
China has recorded over 5000 year history. Different dynasty chose different date as its National Day. In 1912, The Republic of China overthrew Qing dynasty. Dr. Sun Zhongshan, the first president named Oct. 10th as the National Day. Mao Zhedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party declared found of the People's Republic of China on the tower of Tian An Men on Oct. 1st of 1949. Thus Oct. 1st was selected as the National Day of New China.
Every year of Oct. 1st, Chinese people spent whole week celebrating the National Day. Every 5 years anniversary we could watch parade in Tian An Men Square on the TV. When we are in my son’s birthday party, my son always says that whole Chinese people celebrate his birthday. He felt so special on that day.

My First Indenpendence Day in US

At that time, I stayed at my aunt’s place. She invited her friends to come over to her house to have Bar B Q and sing Karaoke. The house was full of people, food and noise, so I prefered to stay outside to watch my cousins playing in the pool. When I was getting bored from watching kids, one of my new friends that I met in IEI showed up and took me out. She drove me around the town, but not much thing to see - everyone was celebrating July 4th at his/her own place or friends’, even supermarkets closed early. Since there was nothing to have fun with in outside, she could only took me to her apartment and we watched a movie together.