My Camera DIED!

So for some reason we exchange students were told not to come to school on Friday but rather Monday. We really don't know why but I'm not complaining because it allowed me to stay up later last night talking with the awesome Taiwanese peeps. But we used this holiday if you will, to take care of government stuff.

Before that twas lunch. My mother went out and bought it before she had to leave for an appointment. She told me "it's very delicious" but not what it was. Turns out that she was correct. In the blue bowl was either an onion or cabbage-like soup with a chunk of some brown thing floating in the broth. A thought perhaps it was a meat ball but twas not. It was later I found out the brown cluster was a tofu ball of yumminess. I don't understand why tofu has the reputation in America of being so yucky. It's delicious in Taiwan! I can only conclude that tofu is different in different countries because my mother said that the tofu she had in Switzerland was not at all appetizing as it is in Taiwan. So maybe American tofu is in the same boat. Tofu is one of my favorite part of the meals actually, which is great because it's so healthy. I finally learned that tofu is made from a type of bean that also makes soy milk. Thank you dear bean of greatness! 

The second part of the lunch was just a cluster of vegetables, more tofu (Yay tofu!) and of course rice. Enjoy the picture with its random pokemon ball photo-bombing ;P

Later it was off to the VISA office to get my Alien Resident Certificate thingie. Along the way, all down the streets, there were many, many people lighting fires. I've seen several of these fires for the past couple days and really became curious to what it was for. My parents explained that it is a ritual is for the ghosts that roam around the city. The ceremony includes setting food out on a table and burning paper money in the fire. By doing this, the people are pleasing the ghosts with their offerings of food and money in order to make sure bad luck doesn't befall their business. (So if they didn't perform the ritual the ghosts would haunt and ruin their business) Below you can see the woman to the left throwing the paper money in the fire just as the man on the right is doing. By the way, I believe the paper money is more like play money than actual currency bills. 

I know it's really difficult to see but the picture below shows both the fire pit and the table behind with the food and drink offering. Can you see the blue Oreo package? If the ghosts don't like Oreos I don't know what else to give them. I mean, come on, they're Oreos! The man's business should do well this year ;P

Here's a small shot of the large number of scooters that can be found in such a small perimeter. If you can see, they're a couple rows of scooters behind the first one. It'll have to do for now before I can get a better shot of the enormous numbers of scooters they have in Taiwan. Or I should say motorcycles because scooters to us Americans are referred to as motorcycles here. Same in Spain. Our idea of motorcycles are a bit different.

This is random but the TV in front of me just played a commercial with a weird display of testosterone. Ok so this guy is taking a shower under a waterfall. Looking like a kung-fu master half dressed with only pants, he shows off his skills by performing with some sort of soap. So he's doing kung-fu moves...while taking a shower....advertising some soap...ooooook. It's so hard to explain but try to imagine it. Good commercial though because it stands out quite well and imprints itself in your mind. I mean, come on, how can you not remember the fusion of martial arts and hygiene practices? :P

I'll finish up with no other pictures to show because guess what? After 1.5-2 months from purchasing it completely new, my camera decided to break down badly. I now temporarily have no camera. DARN IT! HOW THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN? It wasn't shaken violently, it wasn't touched by water nor was it dropped. It just felt like being evil and not work anymore. Fantastic right? (Note the heavy sarcasm) Thankfully my mother said she has a camera that I can borrow until we take my dead camera in to get fixed. We just have to find the mentioned camera. XD I do have a warranty on my camera but the sad part is I left the receipt back in Texas. But apparently in Asia it is a lot easier to get electronic products fixed because sometimes you don't even need the receipt. You just have to bring it in and they'll fix it for free or replace it. I sure hope that's the case because that would be wonderful. We'll be able to try around Monday, so we'll see. But seriously, I've only had this camera for about 2 months. 2 MONTHS! Why does it have to break down at such a vital time in my life? Andrea is not amused. -_-

Tonight we had dinner at the Japanese Sushi restaurant I've previously been to. It was really awesome that we went because I actually was craving the food from there. :P I seem to require 4 things when we go there. (1) The egg, tofu and veggie soup (2) The egg and vegetable pudding thing (3) Seaweed ice cream cone (4) Raisin and nut tofu. THOSE THINGS ARE SO DELICIOUS! And only costing $4 for all of it and not bad in the healthy meter if I'm correct. :)

After that my mother and I took Larry to a small store of little whatnots. While they were browsing, my eye caught glimpse of something shiny. This glimmer was a colorful keychain of Taiwan with the different sections bordered and labeled. Now if you know me, you will know that I always get a keychain of any place I travel to as a memory and to expand my collection of places I've been to. So duh I need to get one of Taiwan. Just as I was about to check out, my mother grabs it out of my hands and buys it for me. Sneaky of her, but very sweet indeed. ^_^ I am thankful.

Until next time, love ya! :D

Meeting School and Friends

WHOO! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! (No sarcasm there) I had to arrive at school quite late at 2:00 because it's the orientation day and not actual classes.

But before that I must tell you something that completely shocked me. So in my room there's a window with curtains covering it, save for a small slit that remains open because my curtains won't close all the way. It's very tiny and hard to see out of. But because I can't fully cover the window, I sneak into a small, hidden corner that is out of sight from the opening in the curtains when changing clothes. This morning I was thinking to myself that, 'Oh no one can actually see me through the window so maybe I don't have to change in such a tight area.' Even though my thoughts went along these lines, I still changed in the small space of difficult-ness. Once dressed, for grins and giggles, I looked outside the small slit to see if anyone could actually see me. When I did, I nearly fell down from how hard I was laughing. There I was expecting to see nothing because the apartment next to mine, at the level my room is on, is just a roof.  Instead I did indeed see a person. Two actually. Both were teenage boys. Shirtless teenage boys... I was noooooot expecting that at all. Now I know, stay in my safety corner. (Know that the guys had pants on, just not shirts. So no scarring image of horrific-ness)

I believe a quick view of lunch is in order. My mother and I went to "Taipei Milk King." This restaurant specializes in, as you guessed it, a type of drink. The most famous one in Taipei is papaya juice so that's what we ordered. It wasn't quite a liquid but rather a slushie type consistency. Sweet, fruity but not overwhelming, the drink was very enjoyable. The main meal was rice, a type of leaf, seaweed, egg and beef. The seaweed is quite commonly tied in a bow shape/knot which surprised me. Then again, I've never really eaten seaweed. :P

Right afterwards, we took the metro to my school. We arrived about 1:30 at the office. Nice and early right? It will give a good impression of me as an exchange student, correct? Nooooooot really. According to my mother, being really early is not a good habit to have in Taiwanese culture. Whoops. :P Anyway, the school officials directed us to the conference room where we did some paperwork. Four other exchange students came in later and the last student was on a trip with her family so she wasn't there today. So just paperwork and uniform measurements. Oh! With the sizing I'm confused greatly. A man took the three girls' measurements before me by measuring the height from the floor to the hip, the waist and the bust. Normal right? I was up next and the man measured my leg, hip...then my leg and hip a second time. That's totally fine because he probably was double checking the numbers. The male exchange student was last and the man measured his leg, waist and bust. Do see the difference? Do you see it? All the other girls were measured for their bust. Even the GUY had his bust  measured. Andrea did not get her bust measured. ...Should I be insulted? Does the guy have a bigger bust than me? XD Haha I'm just kidding. I only hope the uniform fits fine which I'm sure it will. I'll get all that good stuff Monday.

Next we five exchange students were taken to the orientation. I was actually surprised we didn't get to sit through the entire ceremony, but then again I wouldn't have understood what the speaker would talk about if we did. XD I didn't take pictures because I was afraid it wasn't allowed or it would be considered rude. So I'll try my best to explain the environment. Imagine a two-floored school gym but instead of sports equipment, there is a stage. The second floor is filled with uniformed students while the first floor has hundreds of non-uniformed students sitting in chairs facing the stage. In front of all these students is a single row of chairs that are totally empty. We were told to sit in these chairs. That means sitting in front of all these hundreds of students as if V.I.P.s. I could feel so many eyes at the back of my neck. XD During this a powerpoint was on the screen of beautiful landscapes and chinese characters written across the slide. I only understood a few characters and didn't have any idea what the main message was. Nonetheless the powerpoint was quite interesting to watch. After it finished, a man spoke a message on a microphone. All of a sudden we hear "exchange students." Looking around unsure, we confirmed that we had to go on stage. Walking up the stairs, one would expect a small applause from the crowd. No. No no no no no! We didn't get an applause. We got a riot! These five foreigners got such a warm welcome from the crowd with hoots, hollers, energetic clapping and whatnot else. We were totally floored by this reaction. It was so sweet of them! The speaker then introduced each of us by our Chinese names and shook our hands. I was told we had to give a small introduction in Chinese which I prepared but in the end we didn't. The exchange student from Germany had her name and classroom called out but was totally shocked as several boys in the front where cheering their lungs out. It turns out that they were her fellow classmates. She shall be well received in her class, that's for sure. :) After the introductions, we left the stage and room to do some other stuff. Then we were released and I ventured my first time taking the Metro completely by myself. It all turned out fine ;) But I did make my first purchase in Taiwan! It was towards an umbrella because the sky was leaking.

Developing three lovely, fresh blisters (ow to the 10th power!) and a walk in the rain, I desperately changed outfits and shoes (especially shoes) before going out again to have dinner with my mother's friend. Little did I know that there would be more people coming. Not one but two teachers and four Taiwanese students. I should've dressed nicer than a T-shirt...darn it! Anyway I spent the night mostly talking to the students both during and after dinner. This is what I have to say...OMG THESE PEOPLE ARE SO FRIENDLY!!! They are welcoming, deep and overall wonderful. I had such a fantastic time learning about them and telling them about America and myself. We spoke in English (because I can't learn Mandarin in only a week but I still insert words I know when I can :P) and had many a laugh when the language became a slight barrier. For example, explaining what a rodeo is and saying how we can "raise" animals. They heard "race" and thought we raced bunnies, chickens and cows at rodeos. XD But language barrier wasn't a problem at all because their English was really good and understandable. I know this may seem stupid but I just have to say it. One boy had awesome hair that was shaved on the sides and grew out somewhat long on the top to come behind in a ponytail about halfway down his head. His hair band broke and he was left with a dilemma of how to tie his hair back. That's when I shot in and offered my hair band which he gladly accepted. Because it's such a silly matter, I didn't tell him it was an authentic hair band from America given to him by an American. XD Stupid right? It just makes me smile that I snuck in America to a Taiwanese person through a good deed. He should cherish it because I've had that hair tie for half a year :P Haha, just kidding. He could throw it away if he wants. XD

But the night all boils down to how wonderful people here are and tonight being my first time speaking to Taiwanese teens my age. Though I don't think I'm considered a teen anymore XD All the students tonight were 18 so either way we were all the same age. :P I hope to meet them again before they go off to their universities to hang out and also to give them their gift from America. No, not hair bands but I didn't bring any gifts because my purse I had was so small that it didn't fit anything extra other than things like wallet, retainer container, phone, etc. Lesson learned, bring a bigger purse on outings. XD

Oh? What did I have for dinner you ask? (Because I know you're so fascinated in what I eat :P) Twas salad with honey mustard drizzled on top, vegetables in pesto sauce and kiwi juice.

 Let's finish with a wonderful photo of these mentioned people of never ending pleasantness. Te gusta? You should. If I can spend a year with such an exciting school and wonderful friends, this will be phenomenal!

I Have A Name!

I warned you in the last post that today would be lazy so don't blame me if this might seem boring. ;) The reason I've been posting everyday, instead of only when major events happen, is that I have a lot of free time lately and also I treat this somewhat like a diary. By writing about each day, years from now I can go back and relive my thoughts and memories. It's an everlasting souvenir from Taiwan. ;D

The first half of the day was just breakfast and Chinese character learning session. I'm getting to know quite a few characters to the point where I'm walking down the street or watching TV and I can recognize a good chunk of what I see. But it's still very difficult to translate because of more complicated-ness. I'm working on it ;)

But all of a sudden my bedroom no longer has only one person inside. Instead a second, unexpected person bounces in. This person is my cousin, Melody, who I met on the first day I arrived in Taiwan. We made a deal back then that she would teach me Chinese and I would teach her English. If I'm correct, she went to an English camp and learned quite a bit. So today she lovingly had me repeat words and phrases of her choosing. The problem was I didn't know half of what she was saying. I could understand "My name is..." and "pillow" but when she dove into full blown sentences and questions, my mind exploded. XD Somehow we transitioned to the piano which was quite delightful. Melody would play a small ditty and then teach me it. I didn't recognize the first song but the second I was like "EUREKA! MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB! I know this!" That worked out lovely because she couldn't remember the last part of the song, so I was able to teach her something as well. Twas a lovely exchange of bonding time.

A trip outside was in order as we took Melody and Larry to the game machines frequently found in toy stores. They began with the Pokemon station which is a total different gameplay from a traditional Pokemon game. Don't ask me how it works because I haven't fully figured it out yet. Right now I just nod and smile, nod and smile. But after they finished, Larry wanted to play the animal versus game. Unfortunately Melody didn't like the game so I played with Larry inside. Whipping out my lucky American owl we began our battle. Now in this game you get 3 rounds and best 2 out of 3 wins. We were only on the first round and I wasn't doing so hot. All of a sudden Melody, the girl who said she didn't like the game, takes over control and plays the owl character for the rest of the game. I just took a step back and let her do her thing. It made me laugh at the irony of this action but it was enjoyable to see the two kiddos have so much fun playing together. Sadly my baby lost to Larry's wolf. I figured it out, only when an American plays as the American horned owl are the combo invincible. Like I said before, I'm enjoying the thought while I can before Larry kicks my butt. :P

Dinner was in Taipei at a small restaurant that had a fairly diverse menu. There were many things that I wished to try but what caught my interest the most was "shabu shabu." Remember? The meal of overwhelmingness? This version was smaller and served on a tray for only one person. Desiring to give the scary meal a second try, I chose a beef and seafood bowl. So it came out on an elevated wooden platform with a small cup of what I believe to be was oil, that they lit on fire to warm the pot. Beginning with lettuce and some clump of long mushrooms, the food was quite tasteful. Enjoying every bit I savored the flavor. Only minutes later the pot starts to violently boil. Panicking, I scramble to take some ingredients out that were finished cooking and replace with new, raw ones. The food that was just taken out is placed in the rice bowl and allowed to cool, otherwise your tongue shall be black from the amount of burning it would receive. The problem was that before all the food finished cooling, the pot would start to boil again. Frantic, I stuff the cooling food into my mouth to make room in the rice bowl for more cooked food to subdue the violent boiling. Then the previous problems repeat in a cycle of "oh-my-gosh-this-pot-is-going-to-EXPLODE-and-hurt-someone!!"-ness. See the first shabu shabu I experienced that a feature on the table that allowed the customer to control the temperature of the pot. This shabu shabu, however, didn't because it's just a cup of oil burning underneath. The whole time I'm hoping the oil will run out so I have time to enjoy every bite of food, but nope. I barely tasted the food in attempt to make sure no one was killed due to Andrea's noob shabu shabu skills. But I don't think it's my lacking of skills because my mother and father were also surprised with this lack of control of the temperature. So, phew, I'm not such a disgrace as I thought I was. ;P

After the main meal, Melody and Larry were playing a game they created with pokemon tokens. I think I figured out how to play from watching them but I think it would be pointless if I tried to explain it in words. Let's just say it was a form of kid gambling as you can win the other players tokens if you succeed. But note they weren't actually gambling, it was just an innocent game that was fun to watch. FYI, Melody won. XD The two are even because Larry won the animal versus game. Nice equality going on there. :)

We took Melody to her home and she taught me a bit more Chinese, though I couldn't remember much because I was tired. But back at our home, I bring up the subject of my Chinese name. (A Chinese name is required for school registration and perhaps even government papers since foreign names like "Andrea" don't work out well.) Thanks to my dear friend Colleen back in Texas, she suggested the name "Ming Hai" which means "Shining Sea." I was really liking that name and brought it to my parents for approval. Even though the websites online say it can be both male and female, my parents said it's a very masculine name. That's no bueno. So in attempt to find a more feminine name, I retreat to the interwebs. I find three more names. Bringing them to my parents I get a negative reply. I find seven more. Still nothing. Some names were weird sounding, some not traditional and some way too common. Thank god I have my parents because the internet didn't tell me any of this and I had no idea. My parents were wanting a unique name and relating directly to my personality. I think it's so sweet of them to desire such a goal and taking the time and effort to help me find one. It means a lot to me. Anyway, no online names were working out so they asked what kind of things would I like to have in my name. Based on the type of things I saw online I chose four: moon, happiness, warm and peace. Why? I've always loved the moon and the other three characteristics are related to my entire purpose of being a Rotary Youth Exchange Student/Ambassador. Plus they're so lovely in general. ^_^ 

Expecting them to create a name with only one or two of those words, I was shocked as they magically came up with a name that embraces all four. Woah! I was not expecting that! The ending product is "Wen Jing." That's the best romanization I have because they pronounced it like that but wrote it in character format. "Wen" is my mother's family name (so that is the family name I'm taking). Note: It's in Asian format, so the family name is in the beginning and the first name at the end. Though usually in Taiwan, the first name is two words, mine is only one which actually is common in China. It's very difficult to describe but my father was saying how special and awesome the name is, as it sounds great and encompasses many of aspects of my personality. Such aspects like studying hard, musicality, etc. So yay! I have a Chinese name! A pretty name nonetheless that I quite like. Just a fun fact, with a two worded name, I would be called "Wen Jing" and not just "Jing." 

Wen Jing shall be official tomorrow because it's my first day of school which mainly is meeting my teacher, principal or whoever else to discuss my classes and to register myself with my Chinese name. So Wen Jing it is. Once I practice the character form a bit more, I can take a picture of my true name because my family and I are not certain of how to spell it in romanization form.

And so ends the last day of summer. With that note I should get to bed earlier than midnight which has been the usual time my family goes to sleep these past vacation days. Nighty-night! :)

Serving Shoes and Misunderstandings

So today we were going to go on a trip but due to complications we didn't and it just ended up being a lazy day. So if you want to, read on. Nothing much save for a couple asia fun facts.

I finally took a picture of a normal breakfast in our family. We eat around the coffee table in the family room, right in front of the TV. So we have our fruits, bread and milk. FYI, the ice cream on the left is not normally part of the morning meal. ;P I was smart this time and took a small bite of the grape before I ate it all. I say that because in Spain, I ate a grape whole and found out it wasn't seedless. Not a pleasant surprise. But yes, the grapes do indeed have seeds in them. On the side we have our protein of almonds and life force of water. Aaaaand that's it :)

Instead of the initial trip destination, we just went around to some stores for my brother save for the phone store for me. I now have a working phone for Taiwan! Yay! I think it's an iPhone 3...it's an iPhone something that's a bit thicker and rounder than my own. I'm not sure but I'm just thankful that my counselor provided me with a phone, period. ^_^ But it has no cover on it...do you know what that means? It means I can go shopping for adorable asian phone covers! I see something extremely cute in my future just as soon as I figure out where I can buy them ;D

We then went to a shoe store for my brother. The system is different from America and I'll show you why. First of all here is a display of shoes. If you can see, the shoes are wrapped tightly in plastic. Like, super wrapped in plastic. There's no getting in to the actual shoe. Look at the below picture and you might be able to see the plastic wrapping better. That's what the shininess on the shoe is. Just a few weren't wrapped. I don't know why, but ok, whatever they want.

Oh the umbrella reminds me, today as you guessed it, was raining. The typhoons are still in the area but nothing really serious in New Taipei City at least. Just a bit of rain and wind. So no worries about safety or anything. ^_^

Secondly the shoe system in the store had a small box-like opening at the bottom of the back wall. In this hole is a conveyor belt that both takes and spits out shoe boxes. So the employee on the floor is essentially a waiter. He inputs the customer's shoe order in the computer above the machine. Workers/chefs in the back then find the requested dish and deliver the leathery meal via the magical transportation box on the floor. The waiter then walks the shoe to the waiting customer and see if it's a match made in heaven. If not, the process is repeated with a different recipe. Like my analogy? :)

Afterwards we took the bus to a shopping mall to the toy store in order for my brother to play some games. We tried a Pokemon game but both machines of the same game ended up being broken. So instead we played the animal versus game that I mentioned before. I used my baby again, the horned owl character, and guess what? America prevailed again! (The owl is from America) Bwhahaha good job my baby! Though I bet my brother will beat me next time, I like to think of my darling owl as a good luck charm of unbeatableness. I'll savor the thought when I can but really it all boils down to me and my bird loving bias. ;)

Stopping by the food court at a burger place called "Moss Burger," my host father asked what I wanted. He was pointing to the food menu so I thought we were having a meal. Though to me it was strange because it was 3:20 and we didn't have lunch, so I just thought it was a really late lunch. So I choose a curry burger with veggies, a salad and iced tea. When the meal came I found it weird because here I was with a full blown meal and my father and brother only had drinks and sides. It was then that I find out this was not a meal but instead teatime. Teatime! Oh I'm so American because I didn't know they had teatime. I knew of coffee and tea breaks but for some reason I wasn't thinking properly. Oh well, on the positive side my linner/dunch was yummy. Get it? Linner? Dunch? Get it? *eyebrow wriggle*

I've noticed the majority of my blog is just meals and food. Because guess what? It's time for me to talk about tonight's dinner! Yay more food talk that may be boring to youuuuu...sorry. My father and I left the house to wait for my mother at 7-Eleven, a VERY common convenient store. As my father was stopping at the ATM, I browsed through the magazine rack. K-Pop buddies, are you there? Because this is what I found...

 I love how the magazine has all these well known names, yet it's totally biased to BEAST in name and picture. (Woah, right as I was typing "BEAST" the audio I'm listening to currently, said "beast." THAT'S AMAZING! I know. I'm so easily amused ^_^) But anyway, on the top and slightly to the right of the cover it states it costs 88 NT dollars. That is roughly 3 US dollars. I was trying to ask my mother if 88 NT is an expensive price for a magazine or if it's normal. Practicing my Chinese, I spoke the number 88 in Mandarin to her. As I finished my question, her eyes widened in amazement. From her reaction I guessed that yes, it was really expensive. She then confirmed my deduction by saying that's extremely pricey and more like a monthly or yearly subscription rather than one issue price. Now the last statement confused me because that would mean magazine pricing is dirt cheap if $3 US is considered a lot. My mother and I kept going back and forth with how expensive the magazine I saw was until the language misunderstanding was cleared up. Now in my mind I said "88." But my pronunciation was wrong and instead my mother heard "848"which is about $28 US. So she thought I was saying a single issue cost $28. Nooooow it all made sense. That is my failure of the day ^_^

Onto the actual dinner, it was at an italian restaurant called "Tomatoes" but had a asian spin on it as the place was feng shui-ed. The meal big, not nearly as ginormous as the previous italian restaurant was actually quite tasty.

 Starting off with a healthy salad with italian dressing...

Moving on to chicken mushroom cheese whatnot

A bowl of onion soup. Oh goodness, I now confirm that I love onion soup. Who knew how sweet it actually is? (Lots of people except for Andrea apparently)

Pastaaaaaaaaaaaa! 

Finishing off with orange juice and the Chinese pudding flan thing. The difference with the beverage is, as my father says, it's only 10% orange juice and the rest is sugar and water. Never in my life have I ever tasted such a sweet and sugary orange juice labeled beverage before. Something I expected to be healthy and provide my needed vitamins ended up being the exact opposite. Who knew? XD

As of now, tomorrow will also be a lazy day as nothing is planned except for Mandarin and Chinese character studying. Until next time, peace off! :D

I can see everything from here!

Ah. Tired, tired, tiredness. I've had a full day and now feel the results. First off was my Mandarin test which....ahaha....oh ahahaha was....interesting. There were two parts, a listening and reading part. The listening part was so-so because I recognized a lot of key words but the problem was I wasn't sure if they put a negative in front of the word, therefore enticing the opposite of the word. The tape was playing so fast, it was engaging the brain for sure. Oh, the test even had an authentic intimidation period before the actual test. :P The reading part was so frustrating. Here's why. Many exchange students didn't really know how to read characters so there was a lot of nervous laughing when we reached that section. I was thrilled because I could read several characters like "I," "he/she," "number of"and more. The part that was frustrating was that when I recognized something like "cup" in the question, all three answers had a picture of a cup. All...three... It did not help me at all. *sigh* Oh well. At least I know I can read a bit even if my test score doesn't reflect it. XD We should get our assigned group tomorrow so perhaps they might even have my score. We shall see!

After the test, my host father and I rushed to my counselor for a lunch meeting at a very nice Western-type buffet. I would've taken many pictures but photography was not allowed. Sad face. The food varied from steak to chicken fillet to sushi to salad to ice cream to whatever else they had. It was way too much variety to taste and see it all. In hopes of finding water to drink I ended up getting something waaaaaaay off from water. All the drinks were in machines with mostly Chinese and no English. Whatever the heck I got from the machine I do not regret it at all. IT WAS DELICIOUS! A curious mix between fruit juice, milk and smoothie taste, this drink was sweet and savory. Enough about food though, wait wait, I have to say something real quick. THEY HAD CHECKERED COOKIES! OMG! Ok, now I'm done. ^_^ The lunch meeting had two surprise guests I didn't know of, who were my counselor's son and his girlfriend. Both lovely, lovely people, they work in the music industry. Super nice, super pleasant as they continue the reputation of Taiwanese being some of the friendliest people ever. Our conversation for the most part revolved around music. They were such fascinating people, difficult to describe because of their wide range of talents and interests. Just know they were awesome and I hope to meet them again, perhaps in their studio to see their work. ^_^

Following Andrea being stuffed from the buffet, I met up with several other exchange students along with some "locals" if you will, at Taipei 101. As I've said before, I've been inside Taipei 101 but yet had I to travel up observation deck. I can now say I've stood in the second tallest building in the world at the 89th level. We couldn't go all the way up to stand outside because it was closed off due to the unsafe typhoon winds. 

But before going to the top, let us view the bottom, shall we? To the left is a tiny bit of Taipei 101's shopping area. It's mainly all fancy-shmancy stores that are pretty expensive. It's the bottom floor that is better to shop because that's where the food court is. Yummy food! (This is where I got my healthy pregnant food at XD) The food is soooo much cheaper than the higher level shopping. The expensive stores would be modern art, crystal sculptures, millionaire clothing and such. Not very affordable...at all.

 Here we have two teens trying to push over Taipei 101. Oh noes! Unfortunately my picture is blurry because I burst out laughing from pushing against air. It's a very weird feeling and hard to keep a straight face with. So instead it looks like I'm high-fiving the building and giving it a handshake all at once. XD

Let us take the elevator up to the 89th floor now. Watch your step coming inside. There we go. The doors have shut...we're now going up. This is the world's fastest elevator going 1010 meters a minute, taking only 30 seconds to reach the top. Be sure to swallow now and then to avoid your ears popping. It does have aerodynamic pressure controlled features but still, swallowing would be a good idea. *bing* Ah! We have arrived at the observation deck! And look! Our timing is perfect because the sun is just setting! QUICK! Grab your camera!

 

 

 

Did you see that beauty? IT'S GORGEOUS! The transition from day to sunset to night was a wonder to behold. The sky was just breath-taking as it was accompanied by the city's dancing, vivid lights. That little red and white thing we Texan exchange students are posing next to is called a "damper baby." A damper is designed to reduce movement from wind by 40% to ensure stability and comfort while maintaining flexibility for earthquake zone buildings. The enormous one in Taipei 101 is the "largest passive tuned mass damper in the world" weighing 660 metric tons. DANG!

There it is. The damper of oh-my-gosh-this-thing-is-huge-ness. Thanks to it I didn't die, so thanks damper! ^_^ Want more fun facts? Ok! The damper is 5.5 m in diameter and is suspended from the 92nd floor to 87th floor. Meaning it is gigantic!

Did you enjoy your visit to Taipei 101? I hope so because I'm closing this post now as I dive into bed. Thanks for reading my stuff! Byebye! ^_^

Seaweed Ice Cream Cones

Lookie lookie. Another sleepy day. Thanks to my over-sleeping-self I missed an opportunity to go to the hot springs with another exchange student and their host family. Darn it! Oh well. At least I'm getting sleep to prepare for my coming school days. Tomorrow I have to take the Mandarin test. Wish me luck! Though I think it won't really matter if I ultimately fail. :P

Skipping all the way to dinner, we went out to the family's favorite Japanese restaurant that they go to at least once a week. It was in the sushi moving table form that looped around the tables. I've seen many pictures of this type of restaurant but never have I been to one up until today. IT WAS SO EXCITING! Absolutely fascinating to say the least. The way the dishes worked was the pink dishes cost 39 NT dollars each, roughly $1.00 in US currency. What a bargain!

The dish to the left was a kind of egg pudding consistency. But boy was it delicious! Almost like a dessert even with its natural sweetness!

 This interesting piece of art was rice sushi with nuts, raisins and beans on top. I don't think there was any fish on it but the nuttiness was fantastic! A very nice spin on sushi!

To the right is tuna sushi with corn inside. Yummy yummy!

Ok...good lord this egg soup was mouth-watering!! Infused with tofu and vegetables, this creation of genius only cost a buck! Cheap cheap cheap for something so great great great! There was a good amount of volume to the soup too! I perhaps see this soup in my near weekly future :P

Here was something completely new to me. A traditional Japanese food that looks like a healthy ice cream cone. A seaweed wrap with several vegetables inside with an amazing sauce that was similar to a sweeter kind of mayo. OH SO DELICIOUS! If you ever come across this, try it!

 These are yummy black beans with a bit of sugar in them. My host mother said Chinese people eat these to lengthen their life. I'm guessing it's the type of bean that does that rather than the sugar. Otherwise I'm going to live to a hundred with all the sugary pastries I've eaten in my life. :P

I snuck a picture of my brother Larry counting the number of plates we had (33 total). He's very shy so it's not easy to get a picture of him. I'M A CAMERA NINJA! FEAR ME! >:D So we had all but one pink plate, the yellow one being more expensive. But a very satisfying, filling meal for four people was 33 plates. My mother told me she had a friend who in one sitting ate 30 plates all by herself, no problem. WOAH! What an amazing appetite! I would probably only eat 5. I didn't really count and most plates I shared with my family. I look forward to the next time we eat here! I was such a great restaurant!


After such a lovely meal, I continued the night by going to Starbucks with my mother. Yes they have Starbucks in Taiwan. A good amount of them too. She often goes there to study and have coffee. She so kindly invited me to join her in her trips to Starbucks. So sweet of her! The trip tonight was such a pleasurable time. A Rosetta Stone Mandarin session with chinese character lesson on the side, accompanied with a frappuccino? I'll take that anytime! It's a great bonding time too as I study Chinese and my mother studies psychology.

*impersonates the Crocodile hunter* Cri-key! It's a wild Andrea practicing writing Chinese characters! Look at that beaut! Those strokes of the pencil! The focus she has! I've never seen anything like it!

Ok I'm done. Sorry. :P I shall sleep now as my test is tomorrow and I have to wake up early. So good night my peeps! Sleep well/have a good day (whichever time zone you are in).