Small town Texas

Becoming Texan?

The last two months in Texas haven't gotten me any closer to an accent and I haven't bought a pair of boots or cowboy hat yet, but that hasn't stopped me from falling in love.What's not to love about a place where you can eat barbecue, biscuits and gravy, and sushi alike out of food trucks, where you can hang out at an outdoor pub on a Sunday afternoon with your dog, or get all dressed up for a night on the town?  I don't even think I've gotten to the honeymoon stage yet, but the activities below have made me feel all head over heels for my new home.

5 Cool Things I've Done So Far

1. Music - saw my first concert at Austin institution, Emo's.  For only $20 we saw three great bands on the outdoor stage. It was cool hanging out in the crisp air, drinking cheap beer, and getting smoke blown in my face. Definitely a must for anyone into music
2. Food - My husband and I celebrated our 9th anniversary in style at Jeffrey's downtown. What a treat! Foie terrine and duck confit for me, crispy oysters and fillet for him. I only wish I would have taken pictures
3. More Food - A trip to San Marcos a few miles away ended with some of the best barbecue I've ever eaten in a hole in the wall we never would have found without the help of Google. Kip's Texas BBQ off I-35 had brisket that melted like butter when it hit your tongue and cornbread that would make a grown man cry and ask for more (okay, there wasn't really any crying but there certainly were seconds)
4. Shoal Creek - A great off-leash area runs along the creek just a couple of miles from our house. We take our dog Ripley down, let her off the leash and watch as she chases squirrels, plays with other dogs, and cools off by laying in the shallow creek. I love how dog friendly this town is!
5. Shopping - I discovered Central Market, also just a mile from our house. This mecca of organic specialty foods is absolutely amazing. The produce section alone could occupy me for whole afternoons.

What's Next?

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty cool here in Austin. Here's a few things I hope to do and blog about:

1. Farmer's Market - I'm hoping to hit up the local farmer's market for the first time this week. I'll post about all the interesting things I find
2. Mardi Gras - guaranteed to be a blast - I'm sure I'll find something fun to do.   
3. SXSW -  South by Southwest is about to start! Good thing we got wristbands -they'll get us into some of the amazing concerts. My husband, the lucky dog, scored himself a ticket to the interactive portion and will be spending a whole week geeking out.
4. Spring Planting - I know this doesn't sound as cool as everything else but I'm excited! It's been over a year since I've had any sort of a garden and I'm looking forward to getting some dirt under my fingernails.

Keep checking back for updates! Spring is in the air and my fingers are itchy to tell stories.

The snow is already all melted, but this morning felt like a winter wonderland when we woke up. Ripley and I went to play outside for a while and it was all silent and peaceful (except for the kids yelling and throwing snowballs at each other down the street). I think most people took the day off. It wasn't a lot of snow but after living on a tropical island for the last nine months it was kind of surreal. Weren't we just sweating our brains out in Taipei a couple of months ago?

Ripley was cautiously optimistic about the snow until she slid on her butt

The last few days have been ridiculously cold. I was excited at first but the dog and I started getting pretty stir-crazy mid week. I hope it warms up next week. We found a great off-leash trail (where dogs can run around off their leashes and terrorize squirrels and unsuspecting hikers) only about a mile away from home. I can't wait to take her back so she can get into the creek and bite at the fishes but it's way too cold out right now. 

We're finally starting to settle in to our new home a little more. It was really strange coming back to the states and to a new city but little by little it's feeling like real life again. The highlight of the week (other than the snow obviously) was my first trip to the local library. I got a card and a stack of books. Something I dreamed about many times in Taipei (yeah I'm weird. I longed for the library...)

Definitely not a scene you see in Arizona.

Overall August was a pretty slow month here in Taiwan. It started out with a fantastic and eye-opening trip to Malaysia (you can read about it in my four part series starting here). We ate ourselves silly, saw some sights, and had a great time with old friends.

Hawker center - Malaysia

We spent the rest of the month in Taiwan trying to stay cool. It was definitely hot in a way this Arizona girl was not used to. We only ventured outside when we needed food. We did find several new good restaurants near our house which was fun, although I'm hoping next month I can be braver and try out some of the less English friendly but very yummy looking food stands by us. I've developed a strange addiction to all the bottled drinks you can get at the convenience stores around here. Milk tea, green tea, jasmine tea, juices of every variety. What's not to like? I'll definitely miss this when we go back home.

Boba and Lemon Teas - two more new favorites

The month ended with almost a full day without power. I've never appreciated air-conditioning so much in my life. At one point we sat around in our underwear and stared at the ceiling. We also decided it would be a great idea to trudge down our 17 flights of stairs to go to the grocery store, stupidly thinking the power would be back on for sure when we got back. It wasn't and I got to fulfill a long standing dream of being a shirpa, lugging our bags back up the 17 floors. (I exaggerate a bit. It really wasn't that bad).

September is looking like it's going to be one heck of an exciting month! Right now I'm scheduled to hit 6 different countries. We're leaving this Friday for the Philippines, where we'll be doing some island hopping and daiquiri drinking on the beach, then a quick trip to Shanghai to see a friend and check out the world fair. Three days later it's off to Europe for me. I'll be meeting two girlfriends and driving through Germany, France, and Spain, eating and drinking and sightseeing and doing other generally girly things. It's my first girlfriends-only trip which I'm really excited about it. What a month I have planned!

Keep reading - I promise to update whenever I can (assuming I can get internet in all these places). And have a good September! Here's hoping for cooler weather.

A girl can dream can't she?

MRdacosta - Photobucket

This post has been entered into the Travelocafe blogging competition.

If you had to choose just one place you've been to claim as your favorite which would it be? Tough question right? When I first saw this competition I wasn't sure it could be done. My mind flipped through all the beautiful places I've been - Ireland, Belize, Malaysia, London. Not to mention all those other places I haven't made it to yet, which would certainly make the list.

In the end though it could only be New Mexico. I spent most of my childhood in the barren, windblown beauty of the place - the vast stretches of sagebrush, the canyons and arroyos carving out pieces of the earth, the mud of the adobe buildings standing tall against the harsh sun - and my heart still lies there.

jbeare - Photobucket

The beauty is hard to see in the cities, but head up north towards the towering mountains that smell of pine, aspen leaves shocking yellow and white against green, or to a Native American reservation where colorful dances still take place to the beat of ancient drums, and you begin to get a feeling for what New Mexico really has to offer.

The rushing Rio Grande surrounded by Cottonwoods always stimulates - raft it if you dare, or just stand on its muddy banks and watch the cold water swirl past.

jbeare - Photobucket

Red chili ristas hang reminding you of enchiladas. Posole and biscochitos, those round cinnamon and anise Christmas cookies all us New Mexicans know so well, are ultimate comfort foods. The blue corn up north and the Hatch green chile down south stimulates even the most uninterested appetite.

virginijakliukinskaite_photos's - Photobucket

Go see New Mexico for yourself. Watch the autumn balloon fiesta, the bubbles of hot air rising above the river, or visit one of the pueblos to see how Native Americans still live on the land they've called home for centuries. Walk down the quiet streets of Santa Fe. You might see the magic that I do.

I'm finding this country to be one of the most convenient I've ever been to.  The best example of how convenient it is here is the Easy Card, the card that gives you access to the subway system (called the MRT).  You buy one of these cards and then just add money to it when it starts to get low.

Of course any major city with a subway system has cards like these.  The real convenience begins when you realize that you can also use this card for the bus system, for ferry rides, for some taxis, to pay for purchases at 7-11 (where you can also pick up packages that are mailed to you in case you aren't home), and even to buy Boba tea at a street market.


Another great example is this little tidbit - Taiwan has the most convenience stores per capita of any country in the world.  You walk down the street and there is literally a 7-11 or OK Mart on almost every corner.  If you don't want to cross the street to go to one, don't worry, just walk a little ways and you'll find one on your side of the street!

Of course in other ways it's very inconvenient.  Bureaucracy is rampant here.  I have to wait until I have a foreign resident card to get a sim card for my cell phone, but that will take a month because first I need to have a resident visa (I only have a visitors visa now).  It's a very paper heavy country.  A good example of this crazy love of paper - we were at a street market yesterday and bought two scoops of ice cream from a street vendor and she gave us a large paper receipt for each one.  The ice cream was great but I'm not sure the documentation was necessary.


Overall the convenience far outweighs the inconvenience of the bureaucracy.  I think more big cities should jump on the band-wagon of the easy card.  It's the next big thing.

"Culture shock is the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown culture such as one may encounter in a foreign country. It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not." - Wikipedia


Culture shock is a funny thing.  It hits out of nowhere.  Little things set it off.  It isn't a constant state at all.  I've decided it's much like scuba diving for me.  Your fine, your having a great time, everything is awesome and beautiful, then all of a sudden out of nowhere you realize how much water is on top of you and you have this horrible sensation that you can't breathe.  All you want to do is rip your regulator out of your mouth and get some air.  But that would mean certain death  because your regulator is the only thing capable of giving you air.


Culture shock has been a lot like that for me - you walk around absorbed in how cool everything is, all these new sights and sounds and tastes, everything is amazing.  And then all of a sudden out of nowhere you feel like you can't breathe.  All you want is five minutes of being back home, five minutes to be out of the smog, to get away from the scooters and the people and the Chinese writing everywhere.


But you just can't have that.  It isn't possible.  Much like you can't have a breath of fresh air 60 ft below the surface of the water.