Social Bonding and Korean Food

Who's up for some Taffy? I know I am! ;D

As usual, let us begin with breakfast. The wittle round bun things I'm not too sure of what they are called or even what they contain. Inside is some kind of green vegetable if I'm correct. They're not only for breakfast because my family has had them at other times during the day. They're tasty but I'm also confused with it's flavor because I can never figure it out.

 Lookie lookie! I took a picture of the beverage's carton I've had every morning this week. On the label it says "Functional Yogurt." ...Not too sure what that means (should I be scared?) but it's yummy for sure. All I can determine is it be similar to a combo of milk and yogurt. One of these days I will learn how to read an Asian nutrition facts label. :P

 I wasn't quite satisfied with just those 3 buns and beverage so I ventured out on a quest! On the way to the MTR station I walk straight past what I've determined as a breakfast shop. I see the triangle sandwiches on display and have wanted to try the shop out. I love how it's literally a minute away from my building so I just had to taste it's stuff. My cravings called for the triangle sandwich and soy milk. I knew they had the first item but I was unsure with the second. How did I solve this problem. Andrea did research and learned how to ask "Do you have soy milk?" So not only did Andrea try out a completely new place, she ordered in Chinese WITH figuring out a new phrase by herself! BOOMSHAKALAKA! What was my reward? A deeeeeeeeeeelicious breakfast. Good lord I LOVE Taiwan sandwiches and soy milk! I took the picture in a hurry but the smushed sandwich comes from the rough trip to High School in it's baggie. :P It contained egg, lettuce, meat, sauce of yumminess aaaaand....is that it? OH! The bread isn't white but I can't tell if it's wheat. I can only guess that it is wheat so it makes me happy I found a healthier type of bread. Whoop whoop! The soy milk was only size xiao (small) but I couldn't tell what the lady did to make it. She seemed to prepare the drink from several machines, as if adding different liquids to the same beverage. Maybe it was soy milk and water combo? I don't know...I just know my tastebuds where happy afterwards. :P

During break a box of memories was brought out. Memories of dear Winnie the Pooh. Or in Chinese "Way-knee." Some classmates and I had fun exchanging the different names for each of the characters. Pooh and Eeyore were the most similar sounding with slight changes. The others were waaaaay different sounding which I shan't attempt to type. XD It a great little box that allowed some bonding time with the character's names. But then it extended the bonding through me spotting "con sorpresa." In my mind I went "Eureka! Spanish! Yo quiero!" but soon afterwards I found out it was Italian. For some reason I miss speaking Spanish. My guess is memories of my exchange to Spain and learning the language are intertwining with being in Taiwan learning Chinese. So to entertain myself I read the nutritional facts on the bottom that included the Spanish version. While reading, my neighboring classmates were shocked and intrigued with my ability. This led to them asking how to say 'hello,' 'thank you,' and 'I'm sorry' in Spanish. I obliged happily, pleased that I could teach them something in return for all they've done for me.

 Alright, K-pop amigas, who is this person to the right? You have 3 seconds. Yi....er....san....DING DING DING! That's right! Lee Hongki! This little doohickey is a hand mirror with a famous Korean idol placed inside. I noticed it on the desk in front of mine and had to comment on it's cuteness. But my knowledge of who it was blossomed a surprised/amazed reaction from several girls around me who knew as well. It was even more bonding time. Thank you Korea for that fun little time :P

Being a little social-bunny, I hopped up to a classmate and wanted to ask his name. I asked "Wo jiao shen me ming zi?" He, looking a little confused, said "Wen Jing." As the confusion spread to me, I immediately face planted into the wall (literally) because I accidentally said "wo" instead of "ni." So basically I asked what my own name was. Goodness I was embarrassed but quickly fixed my mistake. Don't worry, he was a nice dude so he forgave my foreign-ness. :P My goal is to eventually know all of my homeroom classmates' names. It's difficult for me because Chinese names are so different and complicated to what I'm used to. Slowly but surely I'm working on it. For now, I'll still just say "Ni hao" (Hello) to peeps. I finally greeted the guy behind me who is super quiet. He merely waved but I got a reaction now the less! Victory! I am steadily going to invade his mind with my growing Chinese. ;)

 Lunchtime~! My classmates introduced me to a breakfast shop at Tatung High School but not wanting to wait for Tuesday to try some of its food, I ordered a Chicken Egg Sandwich and...duh duh duh, MORE SOY MILK! What? I want my calcium. XD Remember the size of the small soy milk cup? This big size was only 7NT more. SOLD! (That's a really good deal by the way) Mmmmm this meal was nummy nummy as well giving great pleasure from the chicken, egg, lettuce and ketchup combination. If I'm correct, I think the ketchup here is sweeter than normal ketchup back in Texas. What's even more fantastic about the shop where I bought this is that the menu has an English version, so I'm able to know all its choices as well as giving me a chance to learn some Chinese characters. I took pictures so I shall study it well. :P

IIIIIIIII'M A CAMERA NINJA! Look at how there's no blurriness, yet I captured their expressions before their protesting of paparazzi. :P What I love most about this picture is the photo bomb of the guy in the back. Hey there man! XD But yes, these are the peeps I had lunch with today as they eat their noodles. (Another one is to the right but not in the shot)

For dinner four classmates took me to a Korean restaurant for dinner. What's awesome about this is that I finally got to try Korean food for the first time! YES! I AM HAPPY! It's spicier but still enjoyable food! I absolutely loved the shop owner who was a sweet Korean man that poured out friendliness to an American. With good intentions, he brought a fork out because he thought I would need it. Wanting to reply that I was fine with chopsticks I said "you kuai le."...Que confusion... Que laughter. See, chopsticks are "kuai ZI." "Kuai LE" is happy. So I just said 'I have happy.' It was a good laugh and story. :P

Here are the dishes we had at the restaurant. I do not know any of their names except for the small red dish to the right. Tis the famous Korean kimchi! I got to try kimchi! YEEEEESSS! (FYI, I've wanted to try this dish I've heard about before but never got the chance) Hoooo-wee! It was SPICY! Hothothothot-t-t-t! Not caring, I kept on trying it because I was just elated I got to taste kimchi.

 Notice, this picture is the same dish above but with the meat added. This type of restaurant was totally new to me and I thought it strange a pot had such a bulbous mount in the middle. What that little dome is for is cooking the beef with the vegetables and soup collecting at the dip in the side. Mmmm the beef and onions were soooooo delicious. It made me want some French onion soup. :P

 This....not sure at all what it is. But it does have fried egg...and vegetables...of some sort. Andrea is clueless. That's all there is to say.

 Ummm....more cluelessness. Cabbage...spicy sauce...cylinder of rice thing...uh...it was good alright. XD

 Here's something interesting. Seafood pizza! To be dipped in what I believe was soy sauce, this was a highlight of the meal because it was just so strange and exotic. And yummy in the tummy! :D

I KNOW THIS ONE! RICE! :D Riiiice, rice, rice, rice! Rice...were in Asia. Of course there's going to be rice!

Look at the friendship radiating from us! The chica next to me and opposite from me were the girls who first took me to Shilin night market and have helped me immensely survive in Tatung while showing me around Taipei. They are wonderful friends who protect me from things like devilish students that want to trick me into learning Chinese cuss words. I know I can trust them so I'm really thankful for their help. ^_^

Tomorrow is another Rotary event and this weekend will be busy busy busy! I have an overload of work to do for school, Rotary, personal, club and more. Andrea shall be occupied for sure. I still plan on doing the Supplement Sunday and have drafted a blog layout which shall be provided here! http://supplementsunday.blogspot.tw After a couple of posts and experiments, I'll work out any design kinks it has so if you have any layout suggestions, don't be afraid to let me know! The design as it is now radiates 'ANDREA!' Though I'm having trouble getting the orange to be a color lighter *grumble grumble* Yo quiero the BRIGHT ORANGE that is similar to my P.E. uniform. And I say again, I LOVE MY UNIFORM! IT'S AWESOME! If you combine Tatung's uniform and a public school's uniform that's close by you would get the perfect outfit! It would have an orange shirt with a BUNNY logo by the heart paired with purple pants. It's like I would be wearing my Taffy blog. XD

And with that, I close this post with a virtual bow. ^_^