New Art Exposure

Tuesday October 16, 2012

Making up my mind to spend a little extra, I headed off to test my skills in Chinese drink ordering! When you think about it, it’s pointless if I study a drink menu and never make use of the knowledge. Plus I am in Taiwan to experience the culture, which the drinks are no exception. And…I wanted to…and I was hungry. XD

For the same price as a package of sliced fruit at 7-Eleven, I could go by the teahouse at my high school and order fruit milk. The particular one I desired to try was apple milk because apple is delicious and it’s been awhile since I last had all its fruity nutrients. With a little preparation, I was totally confident in ordering the beverage. So I walked straight up and asked for “ping guo nai cha.”

To my shock, apparently I wasn’t 100% clear to the gentleman and he had to point to the drink on the menu to confirm my order. NO! I FAILED!

It was later that I figured out why I confused the gentleman. I said “ping guo NAI CHA” instead of “ping guo NUI NAI.” This means that my original order was for apple milk tea (non existent) rather than just apple milk. *facepalm* But hey, at least I got the correct drink in the end.

And it was DELICIOUS! From what I could tell, it was made from real apple slices and milk. The man blended the ingredients for so long in the blender that it created a lovely frothy consistency. I couldn’t tell if extra sugar was added or not because I wasn’t watching closely enough when he made it. Naturally the apple has an organic sweetness, which makes it difficult to determine anything extra was put in the beverage. But if it really is just milk and fruit mixed together that would mean I’ve found a healthy teahouse I can have breakfast at three mornings a week!

What I do on non-University days is arrive thirty minutes early to high school and sit down nearby the same teahouse in order to mooch off the Wi-Fi for a short time in order to reply to any e-mails on my phone that require prompt attention. That’s another reason I bought the drink today, out of courtesy for mooching off the Wi-Fi. :P

Back in classroom-land, the seats seemed to have changed for a reason I know not of. That is, everyone except the two exchange students (Erik and I) switched seats. In the seat directly next to me, the new desk buddy was a dude that I haven’t previously talked with. Greeting my Chinese ‘good morning’ of “Zao an,” I tried to make conversation with him. Once I spoke, two seconds of silence passed as he just looked at me. Then he simply nodded his head and continued on doing something else. Awww! He’s shy! XD It’s so cute. :P

The second half of today’s English class consisted of giving our presentations over the culture discussion from Monday. First was Erik’s group over leisure time. It was a little jumbled and I can’t really give a clear summary over its contents. The second was my group over sports. What happens for each presentation is that the Taiwanese students say their bit first and then the exchange students follow with a short speech. According to my teacher, students in Taiwan don’t get the opportunity to give talks to the entire class for schoolwork. This sometimes results in some bashfulness that can be so adorable! ^_^

This is Eric and his presentation...Two of my group members...

Me...

Art class was a tad difficult today. If you recall, I’m a precise pencil sketching and erasing type person with a side of carefully planned out leather tooling. Today I was forced to be out of my comfort zone with a peculiar project that I comprehend fifty percent of. We begin with drawing a picture we previously drew on a stinky blue board. This board was quite hard for me to sketch on by taking away the ease of erasing on plain paper. Regardless, I took up the entire class to draw a bland picture that really isn’t anything special or even good. It’s a small scene of the front of my classroom with desks, the blackboard and a few school items.

Here’s where it gets tricky. We are given a tool that serves the purpose to carve out lines or sections of our picture. The final goal of this project is a black and white imprint picture if I’m correct. So the blue board is acting as our template. But…but…but…if I mess up…there’s no correcting it. I miss my pencil and eraser!!!! This tool is a bit difficult to control because I’m a total noob at it. Not only that but my picture requires many fine, straight lines that makes it ten times harder! I’M SCREWED!!! I wish our art class taught us some lessons in how to draw instead of throwing us into complex projects without any drawing tips. Oh well, life goes on. :P

What else happened today? Umm, I took a nap upon my arrival to the house. Dinner was a bento box style of rice, meat, and vegetables. A visit to the library took place. Once again was signaled to leave the place with pleasant sounding music. That just cracks me up for some reason! Instead of making me want to leave, the music creates an appeal to just stay and listen to the song. The ineffective irony! XD

Let us all look forward to the upcoming days and enjoy their every precious moment! Have a good day my friends! Peace out! ^_^