#5

Ed and I have been living in Kaohsiung for a month now! We have moved out of the air-conditioned room to another room upstairs... it a beautiful room with gorgeous decor, an en suite bathroom and a balcony! However, there is no air conditioning. Fortunately we are in the "colder" months of the year, so it's actually not too bad. And there is a living room/kitchen area with a fan and A.C. Yes.

It's been a while since my last blog...

Ed met a lovely Irish fellow and decided to have a drinking competition with him... guess who missed the headliner?!

 

At night, the Love River is sensational.

After this very grown up and serene outing, Ed and I arrived back at the flat to something a bit different...

It had been the first Gay Parade in Kaohsiung on this day, so Lexus wanted to get involved...

There are now leaves on the ground!

          

We had a BBQ one night, hmm it was YUMMY!!                                     

Pork, sausages, pepper, there was also mushrooms wrapped in foil with garlic and butter.

Vanessa doing some grillin!

Bee wine!

Outside on the balcony with Ed (legs!), Lexus and two Spanish friends Temma and Ilario.

After the BBQ the night digressed into a work out session...

Very strange behavior. Must be the effect of the heat! 

On Wednesday night I went to watch my friend Hazel sing some songs at The Brickyard Beer Garden (this is a really nice venue, it's a bar outside! Still  need fans though...)

She was fantastic, and now plays there every Wednesday! The Beer Garden also does an open mic session every Saturday evening, so hopefully going to get involved in that at some point! 

On the Sunday after Ed and I went to Hanshin Department Store in the northern part of the city. It was a rainy day, but that didn't stop the music!

They were playing traditional Taiwanese music on some beautiful instruments!

I want!

I've never seen such a vast selection of jelly beans... yummy!

Lego sweets!!

Oooh, glammy!

"STREETWEAR DESIGN THE POISONOUS SPARKLE POSSE" hahaha wtf?!?

That night, Ed and I cooked our first meal at the flat:

It was so good! It had chicken, mushrooms, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, mmm yummy!! It's actually more expensive to buy food from the supermarket and cook it at home then to buy a meal off the street... which I find quite odd, not cooking has been weird. But then again, the food here is delicious! It was good to indulge  in some home cooked food!

For Ed's 26th birthday, we went shrimp fishing! I'd never even heard of such a thing back home, I mean, I know what shrimps and fishing are, but doing it as an activity with friends?! But it was really fun, partly because I didn't actually do any fishing at all due to KTV being an option... Ed caught 5 shrimps! Whilst Lexus and Dom (my friend Hazel's boyfriend, who is also a DJ) only caught 3. The shrimps must have known who the birthday boy was!

This is the shriming pool! At the back are the KTV rooms.

 This was our KTV room. One of many...

Pauline starts the singing off!

Dom and Ed chewing on a betel nut... apparently it tastes disgusting but feels good, like your first cigarette.  Not my cuppa tea. A betel nut (the actual nut is the areca nut, but it wrapped in a betel leaf for chewing) is grown in Asia and parts of Africa. It produces red liquid which is then spat out. A rather disgusting habit... but it's been a tradition in Asia for 4000 years.  You often see large areas of red stain on the pavements from betel nut. 

Ed getting excited to catch his first shrimp!

This is the net where you put a caught shrimp. It hangs in the water so the shrimp is kept alive ready for eating. If it dies, it will become poisonous very quickly.

Ed's first shrimp!!!

He is clearly very very very happy!!

KTV gets underway...

AHHHHHHH!!!! aren't they disgusting little creatures?!

Dom and Ed 

                                                    

Meanwhile, Lexus gets involved with KTV!

As does our friend and new flatmate Boysan!

Yes boys!!

Busted!

Things get a bit out of hand...

Vanessa doing some funky lights!

These are all the shrimp the guys caught! I think there were about 12...

   

The shrimp then get skewered... but they don't actually die until they are put on the grill... I was actually too squeamish to take photos of them squirming and twitching around on the hot heat. Ugh. 

                              

But they were delicious!!

Ed had an awesome birthday!! As you can tell!

This weekend coming up is special in Taiwan, as on Monday (10.10.2011) is the 100th anniversary of the country!! There are events and parties all weekend, and workers get the day off on Monday! Woop! There is a spectacular firework display in the evening (in Taipei, so we'll miss them but I'm sure there will equally amazing displays here!) in front of the Presidential Office Building to "represent the bright and colorful future of Taiwan." Also Ed is DJing at the club Brickyard this Saturday! Yay!

Thank you for reading! I know it was a long one this time, but I've been busy trying to get a job! I had my 4th interview yesterday morning, with the same school as Ed! I am waiting to here back from them this afternoon. It is a great school so I would love to work there! However, I've got another interview set up for another school next Tuesday if this one falls through. Fingers crossed though! 

Bye!