June 19

Today our big outing was to go to the sausage factory museum. Our first stop though was the Walmart type store not too far from our apartment. We decided to get new ponchos and this time to get the nicer ones so they would last. We then went back out in the rain and walked the rest of the way to the museum. The ponchos made a huge difference. Everyone was happy and we were all dry. 

On the way to the museum we stopped by a bead and antique market. It was one huge room with tables set up in rows and people had their items on the tables. There were lots of vendors, but not too many customers, so when we walked into the room everyone turned to look at us. Then all of the eyes followed us as we walked up and down each row. And the whole time we heard whispers of “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 – 6 small children!” 

The museum was fun and an especially good way to spend a rainy morning. 

We finished the museum at lunchtime and found a small restaurant just right across the street. A guy there offered to buy our food, because he thought we were so amazing to have 6 children. While we were there I saw on the TV a news report of the dragon festival. And I was on it! Well the back of my head at least. What happened was we were sitting in the stands and the people in the first row of the stands had done a pretty good job making sure no one stood in front of the stands so we could all have a good view. Well two ladies and a guy came up and stood there. They were aboriginal people and a few of the people used some pretty derogatory terms to tell them to leave. It turned into a huge yelling match, which is really rare in Taiwan. A lot of the other people who were sitting there apologized to us and said they were really embarrassed. Well, the person who filmed it must have been standing right behind me, so my big bald white head is in the bottom corner of the video the whole time. And that made their news here. Rebecca and I liked the lunch, but the kids were not huge fans. 

On the way home we stopped in to a pet store. They mainly had fish, but also a few cats and mice. Asher is at a stage where he loves animals, so he was in heaven. As he looked at each one he would do a really laud scream like a siren that could be heard throughout the store. When we got back to the apartment Asher was asleep so Rebecca was able to sneak in a game with the children. This place that we are currently in is just so small that it is impossible to play while he is awake. 

For dinner we went out to find a couple different restaurants. The children got pot stickers, bakery items, and the custard pucks but with chocolate instead of custard in them. Rebecca and I got some Taiwanese sausages and egg covered rice. It was all delicious! I forgot my iPod again though so maybe we will have to go back again tomorrow night and eat the same thing. There is a restaurant right next to it that always has a line a block long to get into it. Inside it only has 3 or 4 tables and it looks just like all of the other restaurants on the street. Rebecca had been wanting to go there because it is so popular, but we found out that they are known for making dishes with the different parts of the pig in them. So we decided it wouldn’t be worth the 2 hour wait.

We stopped by a temple on the way to the store. I love the carvings on the walls of many of their temples.







It was really funny. This story had huge sections for men and women. I was looking for baby ponchos, and I couldn't find the children's section. So I asked one of the workers and she led me to this isle. The isle for all of the children's clothes and shoes and everything was smaller than they section they had just for adult rain gear. Really shows the small market for children's items. Many people comment to us on how the low birthrate is a real problem in Taiwan. Right now the population for Taiwan is at 24 million, but it is estimated that over the next 50 years it will drop down to 16 million. The government here even offers large cash incentives for people to have children, but the people here say that it just costs too much.


At the bead market.






Rebecca got a sausage sandwich to start our visit off on the right foot.




This sign had all of the different things they make out of pig. At least that is what the English sign told us. I am not sure why there is a cow on there though, unless they feed pig to the cows.












Some of the lunch we got.


There is my head, in the bottom right corner of the TV screen.