I'm (finally) slowly but steadily wading my way through the backlog of photographs.  These are from back in May, when my cousins took me to Sanxia District to walk the famous (and very touristy) Minquan Old Street.

Built during the Japanese occupation, the street is lined with beautiful brick archways, typical of Japanese colonial architecture in Taiwan.

My little nephew had just knocked out his front tooth by a bad fall the previous day, and was not in a very happy mood.  All is momentarily forgotten, though, when ice cream is present.

Walking out of the main street and towards the Zushi Temple, passing by stall after stalls selling croissants and pig's blood cake.

We lazed on the sunny bridge for a good hour or so, watching the spintop man do his spintop throwing tricks -- a real performance complete with rope, fire and balloons.  It was a perfect afternoon.

so, what they say about asian work culture is true.  basically, "work = life" sums it up quite nicely.  between meeting deadlines and site visits to China, finding the time to do the laundry and take out the garbage has been challenging.  now that i'm finally feeling more settled in, i've resolved to get back into blogging.  i'm already losing much of the fresh first impressions of becoming Taiwanese that i most wanted to capture!  so, here is my vow: i will blog at least twice a week, on wednesdays and sundays, because those are the nights without any garbage collection.  (garbage collection...ah, i'll post about that another time.) 

above are some photos from Jiu Fen (九份), where i took my friend Peter on his quick visit to taipei.  (it was a good while ago, as you can tell by the long-sleeves; right now taipei is 36 degrees celcius!)  i really do love it there, even if it is overcrowded with tourists all days of the year.  it used to be a mining town, and all the small alleyways winding up the mountain are so picturesque they make me itch to sketch.  i must make a sketching trip back there by myself before i leave taiwan.

Outside: Toronto under snow, snow and more snow.  We shoveled, shoveled and shoveled again, then refilled the bird feeder in the backyard and gave the cardinals a busy morning.

Inside: The cat mightily asleep for the entire day, not even disturbed by all the birds merrily chirping outside.  I wholeheartedly agree with his philosophy.

it's been almost a month since my birthday, and i'm just starting to sort through my photos.  for the third birthday i've spent in california, my parents, my sister and i went on a roadtrip to monterey.  nothing makes me happier than smelling the sea salt in the air and watching the endless ripples disappear into the horizon.

we saw sea otters...

and hairy otter!

birthday oysters :)

when i was sixteen, twenty-seven sounded so old.  i thought i'd be married, buying my first house or apartment, perhaps planning a kid.  the reality is that right now i can't imagine doing any of those things.  it's funny how you can plan life as much as you like, and yet life is exactly what happens when your plan takes a detour.

the first thesis draft is completed, the portfolio is finished and job hunt is on.  i have to remind myself constantly that i should not be just applying for any positions available in this economy.  i deserve it to myself to take the time this time for something that will be challenging, rewarding and inspiring.  i know that it's going to be hard to keep this mentality in a month when i don't hear anything back, so here's a note to self: hey, you're worth it.  you chose to stick with the environmental design profession, and you knew the consequences.  don't go off track now!

my last weekend, jumped on a BART from sunny berkeley...

to a greyish millbrae, at the end of the line, right by san francisco international airport...

...to attend an empanada class with my sister, where we embarked on making three different Argentinian empanadas: spinach and mushroom, chicken and leeks, and beef and onions

behold one of my empanadas, fresh and hot out of the oven

argentinian empanada crust is thin but not too crispy, baked to gold in the oven.  quite lovely and this went into my stomach within a few minutes.

back at my sister and brother-in-law's, visited Miles, their newest member of the family, and presented him with a new toy from me

the next morning, hopped on a train from millbrae

passing foggy san francisco

back to sunny berkeley

the weeks after our final thesis presentation (at the end of august) were filled with days of sleeping, packing and moving, cleaning and daydreaming, and really just catching our breath and starting to pick up our old lives again -- enjoying a good book, heading back to the gym and the pools, having long dinners with friends, rediscovering the outdoors.  last weekend we packed ourselves into a rented SUV and drove to Yosemite (i was lucky enough to find a last-minute campsite cancelation).  it was so lovely to be sitting around a campfire again, making smores and laughing with dear friends.  and to gaze up at a sky full of stars, and those rocks and mountains that have seen things that we can't even imagine, and be reminded how small and insignificant we really are in this universe.

things are slowly returning to normal.

life as a graduate student is coming to a near end -- all i have left to do is to finish my written thesis, which hopefully will just be another month of work.  next up is the more emotionally stressing process of looking for a job while being officially in unemployment status.  i'm keeping my sights open -- who knows where i might end up in a few months?  for now, i'm going to enjoy california and san francisco, and explore as i didn't have a chance to this past year. 

i do know, however, that i am tired of moving around.  for the past five years or so, i've not lived in a place for longer than a year.  i'm tired of making new friends and then leaving, of discovering favourite cafes and hidden alleys, and then having to say goodbye.  wherever i go next, it's time to stay for awhile, and establish some roots.  i'm not ready to go back home to Toronto yet -- i am still in my restless twenties, after all -- but i'm ready to be in one place for a couple, or three or four or five years this time.

there's been so many things that i've missed in the past year: music, crafting, writing, my sewing machine, volunteering, sketching.  blogging.  i wonder if it's even possible to live a life without constantly neglecting parts of yourself in order to focus on other parts.  perhaps it's better not to be distracted by so many things at once.