Lab

I finally managed to take some pictures of the lab. This is Linda and the main two benches for molecular biology experiments. There're others for microbiology and EtBr gels and for lots of PCR machines...

This is where the computers are and Pan Ding:

The cell culture room: change your shoes before you enter! :)

The laminar flow looks just like the ones in Germany...

My desk:

Taichung

Last weekend I went to Taichung to visit Julia and An Chi. (They visited me in Heidelberg in September and Julia is the daughter of one of my parents friends - Julius. I think I've known here for a long time but when we were children we never could talk...)

During the evening we visited the night market, it was really big and so crowded that we got stuck for several minutes. But still I had lots of fun, I just love night market. I tasted the Taiwan speciality "stinky tofu". It really stinks but the taste is actually not that bad. But I think I would never buy it for myself... let's say it's interesting. :)

I also met Julias boyfriend Martin and Julias grandmother. She's a really cool lady, she's very active and likes to learn new things, so she even knows a few English words!
So here you see Julia, Martin, An Chi and Julias Granny.




The next day we visited the National Galery of Art, I really enjoyed this, the museum was very big and there was modern art of whole Asia. It reminded me of the Tate Museum in London, because there were many video rooms and big walk through art. And I found Asian artists are just as crazy and brilliant as European ones...




I came across another strange food. I don't know how to discribe the taste but it doesn't taste like it looks. It's actually quite good, not too sweet. Sometimes I find drinks here are just awfully sweet, I don't know how people can drink this...
So here's the picture of the strange dessert:

Tainan

I said earlier I visited some cities, so this entry is about Tainan. This city has many old buildings and lot's of temples. There is even some Dutch castle (because acutally Dutch people colonised Taiwan). I went there with my friends Yukiko and Kevin. Yukiko is from Japan but she probably will stay in Taiwan because Kevin is Taiwanese and she like's it here better anyway.

We visited an old German company house:


I spend Saturday with Yukiko and Kevin together and we visited the part where the dutch castle is, called Anping. In the evening Kevin had to leave but Yukiko and me stayed over night. She showed me all her favorite places in Tainan, so I think we actually circled around the whole city and saw mostly all attractions:






On Sunday evening some of Yukikos and Kevins friend got married and I could join them for the wedding party. It was really big and the food tasted great. I also got a chance to wear my fancy clothes. :)

at home

Some weeks ago we had a big Thanksgiving Party at our house and I cooked lots of spaghetti to feed everybody. Allthough most people already went home around 10pm, some friends of Tery and me stayed up till 3am.

These two are classmates of Tery, the left one's called Funny (I gave her the name because she's funny) and Ingrid.


We also drank some Taiwan beer which comes in big bottles:


And I introduced the German custom of "Brüderschaft trinken", which means to drink to a close friendship. By the way, that evening I got a chinese name:
Chan Kung Yi (speak Chan Kang I). Chan is the last name and it's the same last name as Tery's; I think it means old *smile*. Kung Yi means health and happiness. I didn't chose it because of the meaning, but because it sounds cool and I think it somehow fits.


Last Thursday Tery, Viola and me went to some barbeque / hot pot restaurant; all you can eat for only 300NT$ (about 6€). I think that would be really cool to have in Germany, especially some of Dominiks friends would enjoy this. Don't waste precious space by eating carbonhydrates, it's just meat, fish and vegetable (if you like).

Long time no see

Wow, it's already a month since my last entry... oops. :) Didn't have so much time to write, because I either spend my free time visiting some cities in Taiwan or writing the BTP report. But good news, at least for me: the report is finally finished and I feel like a free person again!!!

So, what have I been up to during the last few weeks?
First, I've been to Kaoshiung, the city where my parents used to live some 30 years ago.
There was a big temple opening festival one evening, everybody had tables outside to eat dinner together and afterwards there was a huge parade.
The next picture shows Monika, her Mum and me.





The next day we went to Zoying lake (no idea if that's the right spelling), a place I still remember from my childhood visits to Taiwan. There're big tunnels in the shape of tiger and dragon and you can walk through them and there's a zigzag bridge across some part of the lake.




Afterwards we also visited the Confucius Temple in Kaoshiung, it's a very beautiful place but actually nobody really uses the facilities, it's just for showing and maybe celebrating Confucius birthday once a year.

Updates

Today is Sunday and I really planned to spend the day working on Super Pro Designer to finish my economy report any time soon. (Those of you out there who know Super Pro Designer: We suffer together! *smile*) But of course I got stuck and I don't know how to go on... So now I have time to write another blog entry.

I have some more pictures of the house I'm living in:



Last week I met Julius and his wife Pan Pei. They are friends of my parents and both lived for some time in Germany, so they speak pretty good German. They are also both working at CCU, so we're living pretty close. They took me to a restaurant in Minshong to eat Hot Pot. That's a much better version of the fondue we have in Germany. You get a bowl of soup on a small hotplate and a big plate of raw vegetable and meats. Then you just put whatever you like into your soup and boil it. It's absolutely delicious and also fun to eat because you have something to do except putting food in your mouth.



Just yesterday I met Pan Pei again and we cooked dinner together. It was really fun and I can proudly say that I learned how to cook sweet and sour rips and some delicious fish dish (which I still remembered to be gorgeous from my previous visits to Taiwan). We also made some chinese salad containing cucumbers and bean sprouts with a delicious soya - sesame dressing and some dish of steamed eggs with chinese mushrooms. So many thanks to Pan Pei for introducing me to Chinese cooking. It's actually not that difficult but I think that I couldn't figure out the steps on my own.

Last week on Wednesday Tery (my housemate) took me to a place nearby where you can have coffee and sit outside. (it's only opened in the evening) It's a lovely place, the atmosphere there is just great. She introduced me to some of her friends and we had a great time this evening. I'm meeting so many people here, it's really cool.
So in the next picture from left to right you can see: me, Tery, Catherine, Emma, Tina, Sophia and Michelle.



And finally a short work update: I now harvested my cells and can start the preparation for the micro array tomorrow. I hope nothing goes wrong!

First week over

I've been here for about a week now and I don't miss Germany at all, only the people I left there. I still feel the same about Taiwan as I did as a child: I love it here.

I startet my work on Monday and already got my cells. The first time I have my "own" cells, it's really cool. They are growing slowly but steadily.
I went out with some of my labmates to a pub. Sometimes it's a little hard for me because they always speak Chinese, but I think they are getting used to English a bit, they are not so shy anymore. I actually have a lot of fun talking to everybody at the lab!
So, here you see a few of my labmates: And guess who drank the big bottle of beer. ;) By the way, it tastes similar to some American brands...


Tonight I went to the Night Market in ChiaYi with 2 of my housemates. We had so much fun, I already know I will miss Night Markets when I'm back home...
First we went to eat Sushi (ah so delicious and much cheaper than at home) and then we took a stroll through the market tasting some different kinds of food. I even came across a very small kind of snail, about 1cm long. I stopped to look at them and the guy who sold them offered one to me. So I tried it and it tasted quite good. But I have to say I only found out that it was a snail later on. I also tried a piece of chicken kidney. The sauce was really good, but it was a bit hard to chew.

So here you can see my housemates, on the left Tery and on the right Viola. Thanks again for taking me out tonight, I loved it so much. (When can we go again???) :D
In the back you can see Mongolian Barbeque, similar to the one we have in Germany, but with more choices. Next time I come to the Night Market, I have to try this!




Oh, and not to forget the bad things: We had two earthquakes today. I "missed" one of it, that means I probably was on the bike that moment and didn't notice it, but the second was during our sushi dinner. It was not very strong, but still it's strange and you never know if it's getting stronger or if it stops.