Random Things

I've always found racial color perceptions in different countries very interesting. In the US, there's a veritable rainbow of racial colors and I get pinned with being yellow. Last summer in Angola, I was dubbed white (basically for not being black). Here in Taiwan, my family teases me for having "black skin" because I have a tan. (Although currently, I'm the palest I've ever been because of my 2+ yr stint in Boston.) As in most East Asian cultures, it's desirable to have a pale white complexion. Something about indicating higher class. So if you mix that all up, you get some sort of beige? hahah.

My dad feeds these cats that hang around the house. They have short tails with kinks in the end. My gramma says that those types of cats are better at hunting mice. Huh, who knew?

At the wedding yesterday, some of the old ladies were talking about the bombings in their childhoods. Apparently, Taiwan was very heavily bombed at the end of WWII because it was occupied by the Japanese. They remembered hiding for days "too scared to even come out and cook rice" because if the planes saw people, they would drop more bombs. See, I try to mix a little History Channel in with my mostly Food Network travel blog. =)

More pics on Flickr.