A funny thing happened at the tide pools

The rocky shoreline of a volcanic island is a majestic thing, and a haven for lovers of tide pools.  Today I decided to do a little beach combing along the coast here at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

 (Wonderful afternoon at NMMBA)

 (Western Coast of the Hengchun Peninsula) 

(Must carefully maneuver to not add more scars to my body)

(What I looked like to the creatures in the tide pools)

As I took each calculated step along the jagged, wave beaten ancient corals, I day-dreamed of writing a light-hearted blog post about the wonder of the shapes nature creates. And I will get to that. But first I must share with you an unreal experience I had. Despite going only going about 100 yards in two hours, I had to take some breaks to rest (see jagged shoreline above). As I sat with my feet in a sun heated pool, watching the critters scurry about, and listening to the ebb and flow of the waves, I became consumed with appreciation for the impact of nature. Now I'm not just talking about a moment of "wow, this is really beautiful," I mean lump in my throat near tears moment of awe. Awe as in the true sense of the word. Stunned.

 (Sun-warmed tide pool)

 (Moment of awe)

 (Fishing on the coast)

(Ebb and flow of the waves)

I watched the water completely fill and empty crevices with every pull and push of a wave. I watched a local carefully navigating the sharp points of the rocks to get the edge of the water to fish. I watched the juvenile fish in the tide pool refugia jump from one pool to the next. As I walked along, I took a moment to study each pool; seemingly the same but amazingly distinct. One thing I was not expecting during my afternoon adventure was the emotion.

(Right where I should be)

For those of you who know me well, I am typically not an emotional person. Very few people see anything except the happy, energetic, outgoing Julia. And even less see any emotion other than happiness and anger. I try to keep a level head in most situations (despite what my mom and Eric might tell you). And there I was, sitting almost in tears, because the water looked pretty. I know it sounds ridiculous. It was ridiculous to me as I sat there, but nonetheless it happened. I guess it means I am happy, or that I love what I do, but it must mean something more than that. Why don't other people feel that way? Does anyone else ever get this way? I challenge you my readers at some point this week, to stop the task at hand, take a deep breath, and look around you in silence. It can be in your own back yard, a walk around your neighborhood, or just looking up at the clouds. But take a moment and appreciate the nature around you. It is a powerful thing, that is so heavily reflected in our everyday lives, but we get so consumed with our immediate goals we forget to appreciate it. Now I am not expecting everyone to have the same crazy experience I had, but maybe it will spark in you some sense of wonder. As for me, I know I will never, ever stop exploring.

Lots of love,
Jules

The halfway point

Today I reflect on the fact that my stay in Taiwan is halfway over. I absolutely cannot believe it. I have been in this wonderful country a month. A MONTH! In some ways it feels as though I've been here a long time, but certainly not a month. This experience has already taught me so much.  I have learned to get by being completely illiterate. My scooter driving skills have increased exponentially, seriously why don't we drive scooters around town in the States?!? They get amazing gas mileage and they are damn fun! I always knew I liked mango but I never knew I could become completely obsessed, seriously everyday Eric asks what I've eaten that day and everyday mango is on the list. So I'm going to list a few of my favorite things in Taiwan and follow it up with a few things I am more than ready to get back to.

 (The wonderful fruit at the roadside fruit stands - that's 3 varieties of mangoes you see there!!!)

 (The sunsets - every night I get this view outside my room) 

 (Iced black tea - so very, very yummy and refreshing and not the same as ours)

 (My lab - the people are incredibly kind and helpful)

( The Band - these wonderful people never cease to make me laugh)

Despite all the wonders Taiwan has to hold, and I'm sure I have yet to discover some, I still miss a lot about home. And my departure will most certainly be bitter sweet. Here is what I'm ready to get home to most:

 (My man, not the gator he can keep those)

 (Samster - the best "puppy" in the world)

 (My crazy little house)

 (My amazing friends)

(and of course Alabama football, Roll Tide!)

Love to all!

-Jules

...and it just kept coming

Yep, it is still raining here. Just when you think the sun may come out, more rain clouds can be seen in the distance coming right for us. A tropical depression has parked itself right on top of us.

(I am where the yellow arrow is pointing)

While a little rain never bothers me, especially since you don't notice it under water, the conditions are not safe for diving with strong currents and high sediment loads from the river discharge. So I have been spending most of my time here:

At my sad little desk in the lab. On the bright side, I have completed a lot of lab work and have been working on analyzing data for a manuscript I've been working on. I am grasping onto high hopes that I will be able to get in the water before week's end.

It doesn't look too good though!

Stay dry! Love to all!
-Jules

And then the rain came...

The months of June-August are the rainy season in Taiwan. We've heard stories after stories of people getting stuck on campus at the aquarium during a typhoon with only instant noodles to eat. So when the first two weeks of being here were bright and sunny and happy, I got spoiled. But of course, I had to be put in my place.

This weekend 6 of our friends came down from Taipei with high expectations of beach house living and beautiful sun drenched days. Boy were we all in for a surprise. The rain came, and it came good. Luckily the tropical depression never developed into a typhoon, and we didn't let the rain slow us down. In fact, I think it had quite the opposite effect. Naturally this weekend would have been amazing with some of the coolest individuals I've met, but the rain made it unforgettable in every sense of the word. Naturally our only mode of transportation was scooters. So we rain geared up and hopped on, then to the beach we went. I have never been so soaked for such an extended period of time.

We took advantage of the dry moments and got some great beach time in , and we discovered a great pizza place/bar in this little surf town called Nanwen. This area is probably my favorite visited yet. It's very laid back, very international, and has great surfing.

 (Peter at the beach bar literally soaking it up)

 (With James and my hot pink sunglasses)

 (Sarah and I on the beach)

 (Filling up our rides)

 (A moment of sun)

(The troopers, unfortunately missing Cammie and Alex)

Lesson learned this weekend: make your own fun! It's easy to look at a situation through negative eyes (which I felt myself doing occasionally this weekend), but it's the moments of complete chaos where you can break down and not leave the house or buy ridiculous sun glasses to protect your eyes from the pelting rain and go out and laugh. Always choose laughter!

Love to all!

- Jules

Busy, busy week!

Hello everyone out there in blogland! Well as you might suspect from my lack of posts this week (booooo) I've been really busy (yaaaaay)! I've been on a bunch of dives and successfully captured 8 lionfish. Bringing my grand total of lionfish captures to 9 (hey, there's quite the learning curve here).

I'm very excited to share with you all (okay brag a little) about my day yesterday. I spent the afternoon diving with the man who quite literally wrote the book on diving in Taiwan. Two of his books sit next to me on my desk in lab. He and his assistants went out with Xiawin and I lionfish hunting. It was part work part professional photo shoot (pictures to follow). After the diving, and 4, yes 4 lionfish collected, we went to his assistant's house and grilled buckets full of shellfish and sat around eating and drinking beer all night. It was glorious. Granted I totally missed out on the conversations as I don't speak Chinese, but it was still a GREAT afternoon and evening.

I am so completely and utterly grateful for my experiences here so far, and can only imagine what lies ahead in the next 5 weeks. Sorry no pictures today, I'm a bit behind on uploading, but I will share again soon!

Love to all!
-Julia

The Ocean

It is a pretty safe assumption that I have a minor (some may say major) obsession with all things ocean. Which is a good thing, since my career is built around exploring and attempting to understand the ocean's diversity. So how did a girl from the Midwest, become obsessed? Growing up about as far as one can get from the ocean, all I learned about the sea came from three sources: the movie The Little Mermaid, the book Rainbow Fish, and summer vacations to the coast. Luckily my parents fostered a sense of curiosity and adventure regarding the ocean and island lifestyles. Come to think of it, it's possible that all came from the endless stream of Jimmy Buffett music playing in our house.

While most kids put a plant in the dark or test the fastest matchbox car for the science fair, I planned months in advance building wave simulators with my dad to test efficacy of erosion preventer devices or convincing my computer engineer neighbor to help me make a program to test the interference of different sound wavelengths with whale communication. My excitement for the ocean came on early, and continues to persist to this day. I have what I've penned Reverse-Ariel Syndrome (I can do that since I took a psych class in college); Ariel wanted to be part of our world, well I want to be a part of hers. Every single time I get in the water to work, I find something new to amaze me and stun me with wonder. I know I have flooded my site with underwater pictures, but I'm pretty sure you only come to look at the pictures anyway. Without further ado, I'll leave you with just a small sampling of that which awes me every, single day.

 (Zebra lionfish I sampled today)

 (Zebra lionfish playing dead, don't worry he was fine)

 (Octopus on this morning's dive)

 (Beautiful Kenting sunset)

 (Coral in Taiwan)

 (Coral with polyps out in Honduras)

 (Spotted eagle ray in Honduras)

 (Eel in Key Largo)

 (One of my favorite reef shots from Key Largo)

 (Here sharky, sharky, sharky)

(Releasing the lionfish back out today)

Love to all!

-Jules

Taiwanese Night Markets

Imagine, if you will, a place to go where you can buy exotic fruits, whole grilled squid on a stick, and of course stinky tofu, play skeeball and ring toss, buy clothes, shoes, and yes even pets. Can't imagine it? Well, walk into a Taiwanese night market and it will all smack you right in the face. Night markets might be the best thing ever. No, but seriously, they have made it into my top 5 favorite things to do. We have now been to 3 different night markets, and every time I'm amazed and excited. We started at the Shilin Night Market in Taipei, which was very, very intense. It is huge, loud, and extremely touristy. But I did have my first taste of wonderful Taiwanese fried chicken and bell fruit there, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I've posted some of these pictures previously, but I'm showing them to you again because it was that great.

 (A pretty terrible picture of Shilin)

 (Nom nom nom...fried chicken!)

 (First taste of pineapple beer)

(With Lizzy!)

While my experience at Shilin revolved around food, and not very adventurous food at that, the night market in Kenting revolved more around fun. I did eat some delicious fried sweet potatoes, which taste like super tasty funnel cakes, at Kenting, but mostly we played games and shopped.

 (We were pretty good dart throwers)

 (Cammie playing balloon darts)

(Showing off the sweet glitter headband and nerd glasses she bought)

We had so much fun at the Kenting market, and I cannot wait to go back! This evening we ventured out with some of the Aquarium students to the closer night market in Hengchun. I stepped a little further out the box this time. Baby steps people, I'm trying to work my way up to stinky tofu! Tonight's night market served one purpose: dinner! I bought some wonderful savory and sweet breads (stocked up for the week), a fried banana pancake with chocolate sauce, and....drumroll please... an oyster pancake (see picture below). The oyster pancake was not terrible. I even enjoyed a few of the bites. BUT it had a weird texture, kind of a mix between an undercooked pancake and grits. Will I get it again? Probably not. But it was worth a shot.

 (Hengchun Night Market)

 (Dwarf Bunnies for sale: how much trouble would I be in smuggling one home?)

 (Typical food stand)

 (The blender on the right held our amazing blended mango with ice)

(Ready to eat! Top left: oyster omelet. Top right: some of the breads. 

Bottom right: fried banana)

So far, I'd have to say that the Kenting market is my favorite. And I cannot wait to go back to it next weekend when I'm back down there! But that's like picking a favorite ice cream when you know they are all delicious.

Love to all!

-Jules