Gone to the Dogs

Bogart the Wonderdog!

Bogart the fambly dog. My parents adopted him from a shelter in Amsterdam. He is half-Maltese and half-Jack Russell. This is him wearing his orange and getting ready for Queen's Day in Amsterdam :)

Bogart as a puppy with his favorite rubber chicken in Zandvoort.

A photoshopped image(to look like a painting) of Bogart in the snow with his plaid fleece coat at a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in Dresden

I know nothing! Well nothing that can be put on a blog that is interesting.

Although, I want to start volunteering at this organization that helps street dogs and cats find homes. They are set up at one of the parks here every Sunday and boyfriend and I go and lament at how bad we each want a dog but no money, no space and my landlord won't allow it, plus I am out of the house most of the day everyday and it gets soooo hot in my apartment that it wouldn't be healthy for the dog.

But...when I do what needs to be done and move out then I should be able to get one! I really miss having a dog. My parents' dog, Bogart, is the best! My parents got him at a shelter in Amsterdam when he was a puppy. He is soooo spoiled, but we love him so much! I miss him (yes, mom I miss you guys too!! haha!) terribly and tried to replace that feeling of having a dog with a super soft terry/cotton fabric toy dog...He's good to cuddle with at night, but alas, it is not the same.

Boyfriend has been thinking about getting a dog. He always sees this half-Husky half-Golden Retriever mix and has fallen for it! He always wants to ask the guy if it is for adoption but doesn't want to be rude. But finally, he asked the guy on Sunday. I think it is up for adoption, but since my Chinese is limited and the owner guy was laughing and joking with me and speaking very simple English, I don't know if he was serious or not.


So anyway, now I am always going to the sites to see what dogs are up for adoption and to see about volunteering opportunities. I emailed them but they haven't emailed me back. Maybe I need to send a CV?

I was talking to mom about this and she has been lecturing me that I need to start meeting people and making friends. The thing is, I have been a hermit for the past couple of years trying to get myself and my life sorted that I have put friends on the bottom of my priority list and still am.
I also think that this has to due with my past experiences in Elementary, middle and high school. At those times, a lot of my good friends moved away and most of the others weren't good friends and were usually mean to me or made fun of me or spread rumours about me for whatever reason. So I've learned to detach myself...I'm not saying that it is a good thing, but it is my self defense.
Also, when you live abroad, friends come and go so easily! They move to different countries or go back to their home country and none truly stay forever. You try to email and stuff but soon it all fades away and you mesh back into your own life..moving on.

But thinking about volunteering for this group would be good for the doggies and kitties and good for me as well. I want to help those animals find good and loving homes just like Bogart did and hopefully one day I can adopt one of my own. I think it will help me because I can do some good and hopefully meet people with one of the same interests as me: DOGGIES!! :)

I know I am very busy with teaching and I still love it of course, but I really want to help doggies and kitties find good homes!


As for why you should NOT buy from pet stores, here is the wiki on that in Chinese, English and Dutch ironically!

Don't buy a pet from a pet store...adopt from a shelter or something! Here's why!

Chinese Version: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%81%E6%AE%96%E5%A0%B4

English version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_farming

Dutch: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broodfokker

Some Taiwanese websites:

Taichung Paws: http://www.taichungpaws.org/contents/eng/index.htm

Animals Taiwan (Taipei): http://animalstaiwan.org/index.php

savedogs.org: http://www.savedogs.org/english/index.html

If any of you who read this have any positive information about street dogs in Taiwan/Taichung or know of any more organizations that help these dogs, please feel free to comment. Even if I am not accepted to volunteer at this organization I want to contribute in any positive way I can!

One more thing...here is an American site where you can buy nice gifts, clothes jewelry, fair trade products, coll things made form recycled material and etc. Everytime you buy something from the animal rescue site, they will donate a certain amount of food to animals in shelters. I bought a few things from there and they donated like a 100 or so bowls of food from my purchases.

you can also donate to the rainforest, Breast Cancer fund, Child Literacy, Child Healthy and etc. Hmmm maybe I can ask mom if she can order me something from there ;)

http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do?siteId=310&origin=1460

Rainforest: http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do;jsessionid=20E96467764AC17655BC31DC306B3008.prod-a?siteId=221&link=Store_Header_ARS_to_TRS

Literacy:
http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do?siteId=2001&link=Store_Header_TRS_to_LIT

Child Health:
http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do?siteId=314&link=Store_Header_LIT_to_CHS

Breast Cancer:
http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do?siteId=224&link=Store_Header_CHS_to_BCS

Hunger:
http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/site.do?siteId=220&link=Store_Header_BCS_to_THS

Same Ol' Same Ol'

Snorkeling Pics from Green Island-bad quality but has motivated me to buy an underwater digital camera!!

I haven't written in a while because there is nothing exciting to talk about. Nothing that would be of any interest for a blog anyway.

I have been making plans to go to Kenting for my birthday in July. I am also trying to convince Boyfriend that snorkeling is amazing and he needs to do it! I am also researching Thailand for the end of October. Boyfriend hasn't had a NON-business (longer than a day) vacation in a loooooooooooong time so I am killing the proverbial birds with one stone and using this as a chance for him to relax and a chance for me to see Asia finally! Plus, as I had said in an earlier post, my 10 year HS reunion is in October and my better would be better spent going to Thailand (relaxation, beaches, shopping, snorkeling, nature, romance with Boyfriend) than going back to Ohio and drinking myself into a stupor and cursing out all my classmates and the American education system at some bar that EVERYONE frequents in my hometown. Oh lord...the thought of going back there...ugh...and the talk about marriage, baby spittle and cleaning products...I'm not ready for that!!!!! And the second I would mention having lived in Amsterdam and parents are there you know what they will say..."Dude! Amsterdam! You can get high there! Isn't that like in...Germany?" (Author's note: Most of my friends who knew me in uni KNOW that getting high isn't the only thing there and know that Amsterdam is in the Netherlands a.k.a Holland)

Anyway...
So as for Thailand...I'm thinking Koh Samui...good shopping, good beaches, good snorkeling and good nature. Boyfriend wants to do Elephant trekking and stuff, but after doing some research, I can't bring myself to do it. They abuse these animals for purely entertainment purposes and all of them claim to "save" animals when it is the COMPLETE opposite! I just can't bring myself to pay money to support this kind of behavior! Now, I don't know if it is true and I NEED to do more reading before I make any claims, but I READ that these elephants aren't even native, they are just shipped over so that companies get money from tourists. BUT don't quote me on that...I'm still researching that!!!!

Sooooooooo....I have decided to visit the Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park.

It looks nice! And I need to convince Boyfriend that this is a LOT better thank seeing malnourished elephants and monkeys on chains being forced to do stupid things for humans...I mean..I have to admit..when I first saw pics of these tourist things I was naive and assumed that they were taken care of, but after doing some research and seeing more pics...I can't do it. I would only go IF the elephants were in a habitat where they didn't have to lug people around and the babies weren't separated from the mothers and tortured into leanring how to paint pictures.

I heard the place to go to see the real Elephant Sanctuaries is Chiang Mai and as much as I want to go, they don't have beaches there so I have rejected this idea for now!

Well...I don't know anything special. Colored my hair and got it cut and love it! I only paid NT1500 (€30) for it too! Boyfriend and I went to Yi Jong Jie to get our hair cut and then went to those Japanese photo booths and got some crazy pics!!

My First Real Vacation Alone

and it was to Ludau (Green Island) in Taiwan!

Here is the wiki on Ludau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Island,_Taiwan


So here are my travel post recorded each day:
Green Island Day 1, May 7, 2008

I rode the train from Taichung to Taitung and it as so nice! I love riding trains! Then I waited at Fugang Harbour for the ferry and when I got on it and it started, all I could see was blue! It was so cool and I could see little flying fish! The sea looked like dark blue, wobbly "jell-o".!

Then I got to the island and then things got weird. So this guy with betelnut stained teeth (not as bad as his friends which will bementioned later) pickes me up along with his friends (who, I might add, was drunk I'm sure) and kept shouting at me and pointing, "Motorcycle! Motorcycle!" I kept trying to tell this guy in many simplified of ways of English that I knew that I wanted to drop off my stuff at the hotel first THEN get my scooter!!!! So I kept saying, "Hotel number 1, scooter number 2!" Then we arived at the hotel, checked in and went to my room. I looked out to see the view that I paid an extra NT$500 (only€10) and although my room is nice, the view is shite! I kept thinking, "I paid an extra NT$500 for this?!?!?!"But even though the view directly looking out my window was NOT what I expected, I noticed that when I was laying down on the bed...all that shite disappeared and I actually got a good view of the mountains! So then, betel nut guy takes me to get my scooter. It's an OLD orange Mio, and I actually wanted to buy a brand new one of these, same color and everything!

This scooter was a P.O.S. but I quite enjoyed riding it! :)

But after we got gas, the damn thing stalled and so betelnut guy took me to where his friends were until my scooter was ready or whatever. And these guys own a small diving company right by my hotel. Their teeth was even more stained from betel nut! And all I could think was, "If these are my 'hot' Aboriginal snorkeling guys, I quit HERE and NOW!" And so, this one guys keeps trying to tell me in Chinese that there are deer on the island and I haven't a damn clue what he is trying to say so he decides to show me by miming...it was sooooo hilarious!! Finally he drew me an even more hilarious picture of a deer (Chinese pinyin should be Hua Mei Lu) and at that time, it was time to go get my scooter.

This was definitely turning out to be an adventure!!

Then I finally got my freedom and drove around half the island (it only takes about an hour to ride a scooter around the entire island)

Click on the map to enlarge it

After driving around and taking some pics, it started to look rainy cloudy and I was getting tired from all the traveling (5 hours on train, 1 hour on ferry) so I took a nap and slept so hard and good! After I woke up, the hotel manager took me to a BBQ place where you BBQ at your table. When I entered EVERYONE in the place gave the look: "Who the hell is this foreigner, why is she here and what is she doing alone?" (On a side note: I had about 15 people ask me if I was traveling alone. And a few them said "Oh, you are so brave!" These were all Taiwanese people and apparently Taiwanese girls don't travel alone but whatever) It was very awkward and I got sick from food poisoning that Sunday (Doctor said it was probably from fish and the hot pot I had the night before) so the though of frying my own fish sounded soooo good and at the same time sooo bad! But Igrilled up some yummy veggies and got the hell outta there! Plus, the Taiwanese college kids there were drinking and singing really bad KTV/Karaoke and this was NOT turning out to be my Holiday of "PEACE and QUIET!"


Green Island Day 2, May 8, 2008

So I got up and my hotel breakfast consisted of a piece of coconut toast and a small glass of juice...I was a little disappointed at first seeing as I am a spoiled traveler, but got over it fast. So then I took my scooter and drove around the whole island seeing the sights and taking pics! It was so much fun!!!!! I went to Guanyin cave and prayed, met some nice Taiwanese women and took some pics with them on the shore, saw Sleeping Beauty Rock and Turkey Rock and then...did my favorite thing in the world...SHOPPING!!!!!! :) At 14:00 was snorkeling and beforehand I was soooooo nervous!! But my snorkeling really was a "hot Aboriginal guy"! Haha! But I am happy with boyfriend so there actually wasn't an attraction. So it was me, this American guy and his Taiwanese woman. Since "hot Aboriginal guy" had limited English...VERY limited, the couple had to translate for me and although the woman was nice the man was like most westerners here-stuck-up and grumpy looking. So for snorkeling in Taiwan, most wear wetsuits and lifejackets because most Taiwanese can't swim apparently. But the thing is, I really enjoyed having the wetsuit and lifejacket on, plus our snorkeling guide pilled us around while we held on to round lifesaver thingies so that we wouldn't have to do alot of work...I really enjoyed that-haha! Most Westerners do it sans wetsuit I assume, but I liked having wetsuit. As for my FIRST time snorkeling...it was AMAZING!! The sights were gorgeous, the fish were gorgeous and the coral was amazing!! We saw this one coral that was probably 7-8 ft. tall (I estimate this because our guide swum down to the bottom of it and it was WAY over his head) and this giant piece of coral grows about a cm a year! Unfortunately the only pics I took with my underwater camera were of the fish we were feeding before we saw all that damn cool coral!! :( If I'd known, I would have waited.

But...WOW!!!!! I HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!!! (Author's note: I am going to pick up my snorkeling pics from the photo store today and I am praying they came out!!!!)

After that, I showered and went to the hot springs. The hot springs on Green Island are saltwater and only one of THREE in the WORLD! The other two are in Japan and Italy!!! So I went down to hot spring area(there are only 3 hot spring pools there) and there were some people there and so I went to the empty pool and put my foot in (which had been sunburned earlier that day) and OW!!! So effin hot!!! The people in the pool in front of me were laughing and at the faces I was making every time I put my sunburned feet in there and they finally told me that there was a cooler pool(but still warm)close by so I went over to that one and it was soooo nice!!! So stayed in there for a bit and relaxed. until dark when I drove back to hotel.
Green Island Day 3, May 9, 2008

Sitting in a tiny pavilion(beautifully shaded, I might add)overlooking the beach. The hotel manager gave me a free ticket to the "Sika Deer Ecological Park"and when I arrived I was really the only one there (well, it was only 9am) so this one girl at the park showed me all around. She took me to see the deer, so cute!! They also grow screw pine there which is a type of fruit and so I got to try the juice of course!
Ling Tuo Guo?? Screw Pine

And their adorable little dog, Ito kept following me around and when I sat down to have some ice cream and screw pine juice, he would jump up on the picnic table and then sit next to me and even laid his head on my lap a couple of times! I wanted to take him home! So I just got done walking down the bach collecting small shells and tiny pieces of volcanic rock or coral...I don't think you are allowed, but oh well. The sound of the waves is so nice and the sahde feels good on my poor sunburned face! I have about an hor and a hlaf before I go catch the ferry back to Taitung and I should go to 7/11 to get some snacks and a quick lunch, but it's too hot!! And I pray my snorkeling pics come out! So I got to wade my feet in the water and didn't have to worry about jellyfish after all!

I'm Happy!!! :)




(Author's note: Snorkeling pics (if they turn out) and slideshow of pics coming soon! )