currently

editing: photos from our trip to the Pu Tian temple and statue garden, random adventures around Hsinchu, and from our Chinese class party. hoping to get it all done before chinese new year break, since I'm sure to amass more pictures while on vacation.

eating: curry fans is our latest restaurant obsession. can you call twice in 4 days an obsession? after a cold and windy scoot around town, walking in and being handed a hot bowl of flavorful broth is like a sip of heaven. their thai beef pumpkin curry is perfection in a bowl. just incredible. I can't seem to find a website, but expect a post on this place in the future. I also made my own refried black beans for the very first time... amazing. we're never buying canned beans again.

sweating: my first run! [well, kindof.] now that I'm done with subbing, I've been getting back to the gym. I've graduated myself from the bike to the elliptical, and earlier this week I warmed up with a jog around the indoor track. it felt wonderful to run. next trip, I did two laps. my knee had been pretty achey from all the rain and cold, but I'm trying to build up some endurance in anticipation of our vacation. I plan to spend a lot of time on the beach, but I'd like to be able to suffer through a hike or two and some sightseeing.

decorating: I finally finished painting the third canvas that I bought way back when. I've been trying to figure out what will match our living room and decided to copy the pattern on our chair. the colors aren't exact, but it turned out really well. the first canvas was this DIY tape project. the second canvas... I'm going to repaint because it did not turn out right. I've also been working on a Valentine's revamp of my bunting banner, and started a display for my mini instax photos.

anticipating: our trip to thailand! we leave in 10 days, and just finished booking our hotel in bangkok and flight down to krabi. I'm already starting to get panicky about packing... I've never been on a trip like this... or had only a backpack to travel with. I'm trying to remind myself that barely 6 months ago I packed MY ENTIRE LIFE into 3 suitcases and moved to the other side of the world, so 10 days out of a pack in Thailand should be a piece of [gluten-free] cake. regardless of what will or won't fit in my bag, it's going to be an incredible trip. temples, markets, longtail boats, beaches, waterfalls, tasty food, good company, and more stamps in my passport. and most importantly, some time to relax.

reading: I recently downloaded a bunch of classic novels, and I'm debating between starting Wuthering Heights [have not read in a decade] and Little Women [never read]. in the meantime, I've been catching up on blogs. the internet has been full of awesome inspiration since the new year, so I'll leave you with a list of posts that have really resonated with me:

rejecting negativity [wonderforest]
adapt, quit, or evolve [a beautiful mess]
"finding yourself" [the daybook]
taking care of yourself [maiedae]
fear + blogging [our city lights]
relationship challenge [the happiness project]
28 questions to ask yourself [tiny buddha]
this is your year [the atelier]

["currently" post inspired by Danielle at Sometimes Sweet]

taichung, part 2: adventures in natural history + turkish cuisine

after Husband and I went to the rainforest greenhouse in Taichung, we walked over to the National Museum of Natural Science. the very first thing we noticed was a giant Mayan pyramid in the courtyard of the museum, with a countdown clock to the end of the world. clearly, the world did NOT end on 12.21.12, but the apocalypse exhibit was still interesting.

the museum also housed an assortment of dinosaurs, historical artifacts, and science exhibits.  we wandered around until closing time, then meandered through downtown in search of a Turkish restaurant we had heard a rumor about.

Taichung has a really interesting feature: a very long park that runs through downtown for miles [or would that be kilometers?] the botanical gardens are at one end of it, but it stretches for quite a while. we didn't walk the whole thing, but there were tons of people out jogging and skating and walking their dogs.

after a while, we found the road we knew we had to turn off of to get to the restaurant. but we didn't know if we needed to head north or south. we turned left and walked for about 20 minutes [ok, maybe it was 5. my hunger-brain might have exaggerated it at the time.] before deciding to stop and ask some friendly Nova store workers ^^  if they knew where this mysterious Tukrish place was.

after debating with 4 different employees and searching on 3 different electronic devices, they determined we were heading in the wrong direction and called us a cab. [side note: I love how friendly and helpful people are here in Taiwan] the cab showed up and a few minutes of rush hour traffic down the road, we were there. turns out "very far away" and "30 minute walk" translates to 800 meters. oh well.

the food was well worth the adventure in getting there. Husband lived in Istanbul for 6 months during undergrad, and then traveled the central and eastern part of the country with a Fulbright program in 2011. he gave the cuisine his stamp of authentic approval. we had tea, goban salata, beyti kebab, lentil soup, the works. the owner/chef came out and he and Husband chatted in Turkish for a few minutes while I drank my coffee. we definitely plan to go back next time we are in town, and recommend it to anyone looking for some tasty Turkish while in Taiwan. [for more info, read this thorough review of the restaurant]

after dinner, they called us a cab and we were off to the high speed rail station. our trip into town took about 15 minutes, but that night our crazy taxi driver was fueled by some awesome tunes [courtesy of Madonna and Air Supply] and we made it out to the station in less than half the time. even after living in New York, I can definitely say that was the most terrifying cab ride I've ever had. but we survived, and made it to our train with plenty of time to spare. all's well that ends well I suppose, but  next time I will be wary of getting into a cab blasting 80s pop...