DISCLAIMER: I had to delete the Chinese characters from this post because they showed up as question marks.  I’m going to have to figure out later how to get support for Chinese characters.

Somehow we were able to plan our Taiwan trip in order of increasing greatness. If we had seen the sights in any other order I think we would have been disappointed at some point.

So after spending some time in Taipei, we rode a really nice train from Taipei to Hualien which would be our home base for the next two days.

Hualien’s a really laid back vacation town that reminds me a little of Mexico. Everyone’s friendly and there’s a general laziness that can be felt everywhere you go. Hualien is known for their Mochi and their Bian Shi. This photo is at their most famous Bian Shi restaurant. Sorry I didn’t take any photos of the Bian Shi, I was starved by the time they served them and basically inhaled them as fast as I could. It’s basically a really tasty wonton soup dish. I don’t think they serve anything else. The women on the left were folding fresh Bian Shi at lightning speed. As you can see, it was a total hole in the wall. I loved it. I was also introduced to a turkey and rice dish in Hualien which was simple and absolutely delicious but I later ate a perfected version in Chiayi which is famous for its turkey and rice dishes.

There are two major highways along the east coast of Taiwan, Highway 11 and Highway 9. Highway 11 runs along the coast while Highway 9 turns inland through the forest. We drove south on Highway 11 from Hualien and drove back to Hualien on Highway 9. We took a treacherous back road that connected Highway 11 and 9 that was single lane with terrible visibility around the corners of the mountains.

The coolest thing we saw on Highway 11 was Shihtiping (Stone Stair Terrace). It’s basically a “one-kilometer-long stretch of volcanic rock that has been eroded into terraces and other curious formations” (Rough Guide, Taiwan). As you can see, the sky was just about ready to let loose on us.

The second coolest thing I saw that day was a rice paddy. I got out of the car to take this photo. Too bad it started raining so I couldn’t take more.

The next morning we drove north on Highway 9 to Cingshuei Cliffs and saw the ocean like this.

We found a path down from the cliffs to the beach. The water was really clean. I think it was bluer than the water at South Beach in Miami.

So after we saw the cliffs we started driving towards Taroko National Park. At one point I made the husband stop the car because I spotted a running stream along the rocks. I took almost fifty photos here. “It’s so pretty! The water is so blue and clean!” Little did I know what was in store.

Holy smokes. My mouth dropped open when I saw this. And it basically stayed open while I took photos.

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In completely unrelated news, my mother-in-law recently gave me this Estee Lauder travel set that is fancier than anything I have ever put on my face (with the exception of Giorgio Armani’s foundation). I usually use cheap grocery store products like Oil of Olay and Neutrogena. I tried the Estee Lauder Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher a few weeks ago and it is amazing. I don’t know how to explain it but it renewed my skin. I couldn’t stop touching my face. It was also a good excuse to use my macro lens. I haven’t had the chance to use it as much as I’d like. I think it’s partly because I’m too lazy to use a tripod for it and that’s how you really get great macro shots.

Here’s a macro shot of the ten pieces of candy our waitress at Kubo’s gave us with our check when she overheard me gushing like a fool about their candy.

And last but not least, here is a photo of the newest addition to our entertainment arsenal. As if we weren’t already completely amused.

Monday night NBA playoffs at the local 24 Hour Fitness tonight with eleven of my sweaty, thick-muscled workout buddies (also known as strangers).  When Joe Johnson hit that 3 with four minutes left in the 4th quarter I pumped my fist in the air and screamed out loud.  Probably too loud because all eleven guys turned around to look at me on my elliptical machine.  I have terrible volume control when I’m wearing headphones.

I can’t believe how crazy Joe Johnson played tonight.  I think the Hawks offensive plan was basically give the ball to Joe and let him do his thing.  There wasn’t great ball movement or anything– just give it to Joe and even if he’s double-teamed he’s going to score.  Ridiculous.  James Posey is the kind of guy that you don’t really respect but you definitely get an uneasy feeling in your stomach when he has the ball in his hands behind the three-point line towards the end of a game.  I don’t think the Hawks can beat the Celtics but I do think they’ve shaken them up a bit and I really don’t know how the Celtics will fare against the Western Conference Champs.

I love having great NBA games to watch every night.  I love that the west coast games are on so late at night.  I kind of think that the referees have been instructed to even up all of the series as far as they can.  But we’ll never know about it.

I like the idea of Chris Webber as a sports commentator.  I just think it’s kind of ironic given how much he hated on the media when he was a player.

Oh, and I like the song in the Dockers commercial they keep playing.  I googled it and it’s Marlena Shaw singing “California Soul.”

My mom cut my hair until I went to college.  And even then, she still cut my hair if I happened to be home when I needed one.  I think that’s why I have such a hard time paying for haircuts.

I cut the husband’s hair about every 3 weeks.  Between haircuts and cooking, that’s how I earn my keep.  Hah, just kidding.

So I’ve been growing my hair out recently and growing out short hair requires a lot of maintenance.  I usually trim it myself but lately I’ve been teaching the husband how to cut it because it’s so much easier for another person to see the back of your head.

Yesterday I asked him to trim the back, which he did very nicely.  When he finished cutting with the normal scissors, I said, “Now blend it by making one high cut all along the edge.”  We have these great thinning scissors that we bought from Sally’s Beauty Supply back in the day when I first started cutting his hair.  So anyway he’s cutting along the edge and when he’s done, I turn to look at him. I see the regular scissors in his hand and the thinning scissors on the bathroom counter.

My eyes grew wide and I said, “Uhhhhh, one high cut WITH THE THINNING SCISSORS!”

We got a huge laugh out of it.  Luckily, he’s a conservative hair cutter so it isn’t too short in the back.  It’ll just set back the growing out process by a little bit.

I like that we cut each other’s hair.  I like to imagine that we’re in the jungle somewhere, taking care of grooming needs on our own.  Well, then I’m snapped back to reality when we put in all of our expensive hair products.

I was expecting to see strange things at the night market but I wasn’t prepared to see ear candling.  Notice their calm, relaxed faces.  In fact, I think the last guy on the right is asleep.

What is ear candling? Wikipedia says, “Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is an alternative medicine practice claimed to assist the natural clearing of earwax from a person’s ear by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. According to medical researchers, it is both dangerous and ineffective.”

As we were leaving another sucker sat down to start the process.  I Googled ear candling and found an article on Quackwatch, although I don’t know how reputable that website it.

I am personally not a fan of alternative medicine although I know a lot of people who swear by it.  I don’t think I’ll ever try acupuncture– even though there is a lot of scientific research to support it’s benefits.  I am too freaked out by needles.

Design*Sponge is one of my new favorite RSS feeds and they recently had an article on Lisa Congdon’s kitchen. What caught my eye was her beautiful plate wall. I investigated a bit further by reading this article from Bluelines (another great RSS feed) and I’ve now decided to start collecting plates for a plate wall. Lisa says that it took her 2 years to collect the plates for her wall so it’ll be awhile before I can complete this project. Especially because I’m not a regular antique hound and I don’t frequent cute stores enough. I do like the idea of collecting the plates over time and from different places so that when I put the plates up, they will serve as home decor as well as a memory wall.

The Tsuis were in full force this weekend in Houston and apparently I am the last person on earth to discover Hulu. It was fun watching all of the primo The Office episodes that I’ve missed over the years. Now I can catch up this summer.

We went home to my parents house this past weekend and we found that they have completely assimilated to the Wii world. My arm is still a little sore from boxing. Wii games are fun but I don’t think I’d buy a Wii. We’re still holding out for a PS3. I was also reminded again of how great my parents are. They’re pretty great.

I like how there are so many politically active people in Taiwan. Here are some photos from a rally/parade in Taiwan for the green party. Notice the slogans “Demand self-determination for Tibetans” and “Stop cultural genocide in Tibet.” I’m really torn as to what party I support there.

The CPS post left you that speechless, huh? Yeah, me too.

I’ve noticed recently that my life leeches off of a lot of New York thing. I read the New Yorker pretty regularly. My first news source is the NY Times. My favorite podcast is now Radiolab (thanks Craigery!) of WNYC. But I would never be able to live there because of the cold weather. Doesn’t that sound silly? I think I’m pretty content to leech. And visit NY for vacations when the weather is nice.

This photo was taken outside of the husband’s aunt and uncle’s fancy condo.  It was really nice, but it was in a tall building.  I like the idea of raising my children somewhere with a yard.  Another reason why I couldn’t live in New York.

I recently went to a place called The Path of Tea and it was a pretty cool place. It’s a unique teahouse in Houston and all the teas are organic and fairtrade. So where you start is at the smelling bar. This is where they have a sampling of all the different tea leaves and you can smell all the different flavors to help you choose which tea you want. They have over 145 varieties of tea ranging from mango rosehip to chocolate mousse. I think it’s brilliant.  They need to start more of these.

Then you choose if you want a large pot of tea or a small pot of tea. Then you get to pick out your teacup. It’s a little Indiana Jones-ish of a feeling because all the cups are different and unique. I picked a small cup because I don’t like to wait too long for my tea to cool. And then you choose whether you want something to munch on with your pot of tea. I went with the lemon curd cupcake and it was one of the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. They put it in a little bento box when they give it to you. The man behind the counter said that they have won awards for their cupcakes. So then you take your seat and they bring out your tea in a cool looking pot (which I later found out cost $150 each).

And last weekend, some of our friends introduced us to Carter & Cooley Company Delicatessen in the Heights, which was pretty awesome. The ingredients were really fresh and tasty and it’s also just a cozy little place to have lunch.

So I know duty-free is kind of a big deal when you’re overseas, but seriously?  I thought this was pretty funny.  We found this while walking around in Taipei in search of the Jade Market.

We watched Moulin Rouge again the other night.  I cried.  It was as good as the first time I watched it.

Disclaimer: When I refer to the CPS process, I am specifically referring to how things are run in Texas. I am not familiar with the differences between Texas CPS and other states. Although I do hear that CPS is a much more efficient machine in other states.

As I mentioned in my last post, the national Social Welfare Action Alliance conference took place this past weekend and I attended several talks. I wasn’t going to write about this but I feel compelled to write this post in light of current events and the way I would feel about myself if I didn’t write about it.

There were several talks about the child welfare system and there were two talks in particular that specifically addressed the problems with child protective services.

The presenters in the first talk spoke about the fine line between poverty and neglect. They expressed that they felt too often, Child Protective Services (CPS) took children away from their parents, not because the parents were neglectful, but because they were poor. While I do believe that this is sometimes a problem with our system and that the government needs to do a better job of helping parents keep their children, most of the people that I have heard criticize CPS are largely ignorant about how CPS operates and base all of their opinions on snippets from the evening news or from personal testimonies of parents who have had their children taken away. I am not opposed to criticizing CPS and pointing out flaws in the system because they do exist. Things don’t improve unless there is honest criticism. I am probably one of CPS’s biggest critics myself.

What upset me was that the presenters portrayed CPS as an agency that takes children away because of too many dirty dishes in the sink or because of a pile of dirty laundry on the floor. I know when you are making a persuasive argument, there tends to be an exaggeration to drive the point home. I get that. But I think it is irresponsible in a professional setting to suggest that CPS would take children away from their parents on the basis of an untidy home.

The neglect cases that I have read have made my skin crawl. We are not talking about dirty dishes in the sink or a pile of laundry on the floor. We are talking about rotting food, curdled milk in babies bottles, severe roach and rodent infestations, animal and human feces scattered or smeared throughout the home, untreated ringworm, painful diaper rashes, failure to dispense prescribed medication, toddlers wandering in the street at night, children who have not bathed in weeks, and in a case I read recently, there were bugs crawling in and out of the children’s noses and ears as they slept. No one ever talks about when CPS rightfully and thanklessly picks children up from those terrible situations.

It’s really a lousy position for CPS to be in. They are criticized for picking children up and tearing apart families and on the other end of the spectrum, they are criticized for not picking up children and allowing children to die on their watch. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

There are a lot of things that people don’t know about CPS. I’d like to list a few of those things so that you can be better informed the next time a coworker or friend shares a shame-on-CPS story.

• There has to be a formal intake report in order for a child to be picked up by CPS. The intake report is screened by trained personnel who determine whether there is reason enough to investigate and what priority each case should take.
• There is an investigations unit that is responsible for following up on cases that the screeners identify and these investigative workers often enter homes bravely without law enforcement, not knowing what to expect.
• When investigative workers pick up a child, they must present their case in front of a judge and show enough cause to remove the child of the home and the judge will either grant CPS temporary custody or he will instruct CPS to place the child back in the home. Judges have more power over this entire process than you can imagine.
• A large number of investigative workers try not to take custody of the children. Instead, depending on the severity of the case, they try to transition their cases to the Family Based Safety Services (FBSS) unit where caseworkers work with families on a regular (sometimes weekly!) basis so that they can provide safe and stable environments in which their children can be returned to them. This process can involve parenting classes, education about hygiene and cleaning, searching for employment, money management– the whole nine. Investigative workers try so hard to help parents keep their children that in more severe cases, they even allow parents to voluntarily place their children with relatives or friends to avoid placing their children in foster care.
• CPS caseworkers are almost always overworked and underpaid. While I’ve met some caseworkers who drop the ball, I’ve met just as many dedicated caseworkers who really care about the children on their caseload and go beyond the call of duty to protect those children. When no emergency shelter or foster home is willing to take in a “troubled” child, the CPS worker is responsible for the child. The CPS worker becomes, for all intents and purposes, the parent of that child.
• CPS also participates in the miracle of adoption. This is an amazing arm of CPS that is not often talked about but does amazing work to find homes for children.

We all fall into flawed conclusions from time to time. I’m definitely guilty of this. I hear a snippet of a news story on a governmental institution and I immediately have an emotional response and I want to enact judgment on that institution. I believe it is perfectly fine to have a reaction– we would not be human if we did not react, but I do believe we have to try our hardest to reserve judgment until we have all the facts of the case. Only when we get a good grasp of the whole scope of the problem can we then make a judgment. And even then, it probably has to be qualified.

Now, give credit where credit is due, the presenters had taken a positive spin on the problem they presented. They have started an organization called Women in Transition in Kentucky that helps parents in poverty navigate through the legal system and the mess that comes along with having a CPS case opened on you. I think that is a wonderful and helpful reaction to the problems they have experienced and publicized. They are doing amazing work and they have helped countless families. I really applaud their efforts.

The second talk was what really set me off. The presenter was drawing parallels between CPS and slavery. I don’t really want to get into a race discussion here but I clearly want to say that I do believe racism is an indictment against the whole world. Anyone who thinks they live in a colorblind world is kidding themselves. With this being said, while racism definitely exists in our child welfare system, it is not appropriate to compare CPS with slavery. It’s almost not worth discussing his talk because his logic was so severely flawed. He made simple comparisons such as, slavery was an institution and CPS is an institution, and therefore, there’s a similarity. And he also made the connection that slave traders profited when families were torn apart and he suggested that foster parents and CPS profit when families are torn apart. Caseworkers are paid very little. If they were paid more, there wouldn’t be such a shortage of them. He then went as far as to read a paragraph out of a book that described the scene at the docks when the slaves were put on auction blocks. It really upset me.

I wanted to write a post about all the good that CPS does. I’m sure you’ve heard about the recent polygamist compound raid that took place (Houston Chronicle news article). CPS workers from Houston volunteered to drive to Fort Concho to help out with the massive situation. They aren’t getting paid extra for this and they certainly aren’t getting any positive media for it. They went because they were genuinely concerned about the well-being of the children.

When Katrina evacuees flooded Houston, CPS workers were on scene to help out. A lot of children had been separated from their parents and CPS worked to reunite families and supervise children who were still waiting to be reunited. It was a round the clock operation with some CPS workers staying up all night to supervise the children as they slept.

Somebody please write a positive article or book about Child Protective Services. And somebody please reform the system at the same time.

A little over a month ago, my Facebook status read: Becky is busy until April 12.

I wasn’t kidding. This weekend will be my first free weekend in awhile and I’m really looking forward to it. The husband asked if I wanted to go to Austin this weekend but I told him I didn’t want to because I really just wanted to have a weekend to ourselves.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a really great kind of busy. Not the kind where I take my laptop home to work on Excel spreadsheets or where I stay late at work to prepare presentations for executives and vice presidents.

School has been wrapping up really well and I am enjoying my time at school getting to know my classmates better and making friendships that I really hope will last beyond graduation.

This past weekend was the Social Welfare Action Alliance National Conference. There were a lot of interesting workshops and lectures such as Deaf Youth in Foster Care, Immigration Patterns from Colombia and Japan, Healthcare Justice, and many more. There was a luncheon yesterday with one of the leading immigrant activists in Houston, Maria Jimenez and it was an interesting glimpse into the world of activism and political struggle. She made a poignant statement about how when people are most oppressed, people start making jokes. It’s like a natural human reaction to seek humor in dire circumstances I suppose. I’m still slowly plowing my way through From Beirut to Jerusalem and it also speaks a lot of the jokes that are passed around in tremendously horrific times of war. I think that’s really interesting.

Last night was spent at Bohemeo’s for a fundraising concert and it was great. One of our professors from school, Susan Robbins a.k.a. Susan Martin, headlined and invited some of her buddies on stage to play with her. We especially enjoyed the Lloyds and Bill Ward. The shrimp tacos and fish tacos were fresh and spicy, the music was mellow and the company was great as always. I especially liked when they ended the night with Lean on Me (total cheese, I know) and the whole bar sang it together.

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We revisited Bayou City Seafood & Pasta today and the crawfish was not as good as it was last weekend. It was disappointing. So consistency obviously isn’t their strong point. But! We each got a cup of gumbo (after we devoured two pounds of crawfish each) to cheer ourselves up and I’m happy to report that the gumbo is as amazing as the restaurant reviews suggest. I like that they serve the rice on the side and you get to mix it in yourself so the rice isn’t soggy.

No, I don’t have an aunt named Stella.

I’m referring to this bakery in Taiwan and Japan called Aunt Stella’s Handmade Cookies & Cakes. I bought some in a shopping mall in Taiwan and I’m in love! I normally like my cookies thick and chewy (the epitome being Chewy Chocolate Supreme cookies from Great American Cookie Co.) but this is a good exception! I also love the cookies from Coastal Express in Sharpstown Mall but those are in a category of their own.

This cookie has really interesting flavors that I’ve never heard of. Strawberry Cornflake, Cinnamon Almond, Sweet Potato, Apple, Espresso Coffee, Apricot, Lemon Rosemary, etc.  My favorite that I tried was the Apple flavored cookie. Delicious!

Does anyone have any good apple cookie recipes? Or does anyone put cornflakes in their cookie recipes? I rarely bake cookies from scratch. The cookies I bake are the kind that come frozen and are pre-cut.

Inversion has a really good Oatmeal Apricot cookie that I love.  Something apricot.

Haha, what a useless post. What wonderful distraction. Sorry guys, I promise to post something better.

This past weekend I volunteered at a PeaceJam conference and it was pretty incredible. For those of you unfamiliar with PeaceJam, it’s basically a weekend conference that happens in different cities across the world where Nobel Peace Prize winners (they are referred to as Nobel Laureates) come together with teenagers from various backgrounds to talk about the reality of peace, how to achieve peace, and what everyone’s doing to work towards peace. There are eleven different laureates that travel to these conferences and here is a page that describes in brief what each person has done to contribute to world peace.

The speaker at our conference here in Houston was Northern Ireland’s Betty Williams. She’s an incredible woman who was so smart, funny, candid and inspirational. She charmed everyone, the college mentors, the staff, the sponsors, the students from Ethiopia and Somalia, the students from New Orleans, the students from the scariest parts of Houston, the students from Tennessee, the students from San Antonio, and everywhere else. Her message was universal. Stop killing each other. Work for peace. Peace is possible. Read her story on wikipedia here.

I laughed and cried through the weekend. It was a really exhausting yet refreshing weekend for me. If you ever have the chance to be a part of PeaceJam, jump on the opportunity.

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On Sunday, after the conference was over, the husband and I tried a new crawfish restaurant. I can easily say that it was the best crawfish I have ever had at a restaurant (the best crawfish is always at crawfish festivals!). The restaurant was called Bayou City Seafood & Pasta (next door to Luling City Market) and the only reason we found it was because we noticed how busy it was when we were eating BBQ next door one day. After reading some fab reviews like this Houston Press Review, we decided to try it.

There was a short ten minute wait but once we were seated we were glad we stayed because apparently, Sundays are happy hour prices all day long. That means crawfish for $3.95/lb. I would have paid more. We ordered fried oysters as an appetizer and those were fresh and delicious. Then came the crawfish. They were huge. Perfectly seasoned. I hate how some crawfish places the flavor doesn’t soak in well. There were no scrawny crawfish in the entire 5 pounds we ate. All of them were fresh and huge! It was so fresh that the crawfish meat looked like crab meat. It was ridiculous. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I know the gumbo is supposed to be awesome there but I won’t try that until crawfish season is over.

We will definitely be back.

The second best crawfish I’ve had in a restaurant in Houston is Cajun Corner. But it’s not safe to go there at night. I didn’t like Mardi Gras Grill’s crawfish. Maybe it was a bad day?