The Beer Shop

I find myself referencing the Beer shop a lot to friends and family back home and so I thought I should share some pictures and memories we've made there.

I owe all this to Nils, who bought a bike his first week here and spent his evenings exploring the city and, of course, finding a place to drink quality beers. (What can I say I surround myself with classy people.) Anyway, it was during these early adventures that Nils stumbled across L'apero. Now I'm not a beer drinker, but there is no denying that L'apero is an amazing place to pass the time. I will never forget it or the doors it has opened for us.

L'apero is a little like Cheers, except I'm not clear on how to pronounce everyone's name.

The owner's name is Kevin and he's been in the beer industry for many years. His shop, however, is brand new, and it was during his opening week that Nils visited for the first time. Kevin carries a plethora of Belgian beers, some of which come from obscure breweries in Europe with as few as seven employees. He also has a great selection of sour beers that Nils goes crazy over.

 It's like Nils died and went to Asian heaven.

During our visit here Kevin's shop received positive reviews in the newspaper. Duh.

Cloudy is the young girl who works there. As far as I can tell she's there every day that it's open and always has something good coming from the stereo. Cloudy has great taste in music and although she's shy with her English I can tell she's a cool chick.

Probably the most amazing thing that happened at L'apero was Pai, the man sitting across the table from us on one of our visits.

Pai- "Where are you from?"

Me- "We live in Kansas City."

Pai- "I lived in Peoria, Illinois."

Me- "Really? Nils is from Peoria. So, you lived there?" 

(I thought maybe his English was off so I asked him again just to clarify.)

Pai- "Yes I went to Bradley University."

Jaw drops on floor.

Whoa! Talk about six degrees of separation. Here is a man from Taiwan sitting with us at a beer shop in Taipei who went to the same college as Nils. Pai graduated in 1990. He showed us the student ID he still had tucked away in his wallet and went on to reminisce about Peoria's street names and his old apartment, where they put in the new Walgreens and all the professors he had during his time there.

Me- "I can't believe you still have your ID."

Pai- "All my life I look for someone from Peoria Illinois and I never find it."

Don't you love stories like this? Pai has a fondness for America. He has driven his car from Illinois to Seattle and then along the entire West Coast and across Texas. He knows almost all the capital cities and has been to Yellowstone.. wait for it.. seven times!

Pai also loves Scotch Whiskey, the outlet stores and TGI Fridays, where he claims to eat three times a week. No doubt Pai is a character. The stuff that comes out of his mouth is priceless. When he's had a few drinks Pai will often hold up his glass and sing "let's go Yankees". Don't worry I asked him to change that to the Phillies.

Ho and Yuki are good friends of Kevin and seem to be there whenever Kevin is. Ho is a world famous photographer. No seriously, he was a documentary photographer in the 90s and later went on to be the head photographer for Taiwan Playboy. Right on, Ho. Right on.

Moving on with introductions I find it necessary to steal a photo from a non-beer shop excursion. Consider it a sneak peak into exciting new adventures yet to be seen here on Stinky Tofu.

Ho is a character and I've been told he's hilarious. He speaks little English so I can only trust that he's as funny as everyone says he is. Based on his mannerisms and overall jolliness I suspect they're right. Ho also taught us "gam bai" which essentially means "chug" if that gives any insight into his personality.

Late one night (after an entire bottle of Scotch Whiskey compliments of Pai) Ho showed me some of his work. His photography is amazing. It's very political and stirs a lot of emotion. He also shared with me a project he's currently exploring. Although the communication is limited with Ho it's clear he is an educated man and a true artist.

I don't know as much about Yuki other than he's friendly, works in construction and gets made fun of by Kevin and Ho for having a Japanese girl's name. It is an interesting thing to be friends with someone you've never had a conversation with. The three of them have been friends for a very long time.

It seemed unfair to keep this place all to ourselves and not share it with some of Nils' coworkers. Matt grew a mustache while he was in Taipei. I'm sure his wife will be pleased.

Fun Fact- Matt has been told several times that he looks like Roger from "101 Dalmatians".

Kevin gave me a Chinese name, which I have been told by many is very traditional. Here's the break down;

American name; Emily Bond

Chinese Phonetic Translation; On Mei Pong (pronounced un may)

Family name first; Pong On Me

Official Chinese Name; Pong On Mei

You can just call me Pong or On Mei from now on. I no longer go by Emily.

We owe so much to these wonderful people who have taken us in and helped to make our time here that much better. They have become good friends.