Thursday October 18, 2012
I would definitely consider today a success! Lots of good stuff happened and new delightful discoveries were made! Shall we hear of them? Read on if you wish. ;)
As always, let us begin with BREAKFAST! Since I had a grand total of three bananas yesterday, I thought it would appropriate to eat something else this morning. Sticking with at least some sliced papaya from 7-Eleven, I proceeded to browse through the refrigerated isle. There I found cereal, yogurt, fruit milk and more. The problem was, WHAT THE HECK IS NOT LOADED WITH SUGAR?! It’s still difficult to read and understand Asian nutrition labels. Working on it…but still difficult. Settling on something that looked promising, I purchased a good size container of yogurt that had the most value to its volume. Yeah, I know. I’m a health and saver freak. :P What?! It’s a fun hobby of mine! ;D
From what I can tell, the yogurt was mandarin orange flavor rather than just orange. Why do I think so? Becauseeeeeee it had REAL pieces of mandarin orange in it! WHOO! SCOOOOOOOORE! IT MAKES ME HAPPY! The yogurt I tasted before in Taiwan was a solid vanilla flavor. Today’s yogurt was a full-blown, fruity, chunky bits of tastiness! It somewhat reminded me of the Activia I ate every day in America. Needless to say, I will keep an eye out for this mandarin orange yogurt in the future! ;)
Even though I got dangerously sleepy during University class, nearly falling down from standing, today’s lesson was quite enjoyable! XD We learned some very useful material over what’s called ‘measure words.’ Not only that but the teacher answered a couple valuable questions of mine. One question was over the pronunciation of two words “zhen” and “zen.” Sometimes it’s hard to learn pronunciation from just anyone so it’s always nice to double-check the accent with my university teacher. She’s very nice and willingly to help. ^_^
As a group of four, Akiko introduced two other exchange students and myself to a noodle shop she tried last Monday. My eyes popped out from their sockets as I discovered the shop offered wonton soup. WONTON SOUP?! I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS EVER SINCE I CAME TO TAIWAN! YESSSSSSSSSS! Every Sunday I would have wonton soup at a local Chinese restaurant in America so of course I wanted to try authentic wonton soup in Asia!
AND HERE IT IS! Its name translates to English as “Pearl Wonton Noodle Soup.” The type of noodle is fascinating! Why? It’s green! I’ve never seen that before! I assume it’s like green pasta. Whether it’s healthier or not, I have no idea. White vegetable sprouts also were included in the soup along with the obvious presence of wonton. What did it taste like? IT WAS SUPER DUPER DECLICIOUS! OH MY GOSH CAN I HAVE MORE?! The physical proof of how much I loved it is my currently burnt tongue. I loved the taste so much that I didn’t care that my tongue was getting fried. :P Besides, ask any of the chicas that were with me! They would all agree I looked like I hadn’t eaten in days and was desperate for wonton soup. Yeah. It was THAT good. ;)
Picture time with everyone’s meals!
Once I left the noodle shop, I immediately turned into a frantic, excited kid in a candy shop. THERE WAS A FRUIT STAND! WITH APPLES! BOOMSHAKALAKA! The apples were smaller than what I’m used to in America but that could just be a difference in countries and/or apple type. Regardless, I bought one enthusiastically with eager plans for chomping down the fruit on Saturday!
Before heading to high school, I dashed into a “General Merchandise” store for a medium sized backpack. This Saturday if it doesn’t rain (cross your fingers!) my Rotary district will embark on a biking trip around some places in Taiwan. With that being said, I can’t haul around a messenger bag or purse when biking so a backpack was a necessary. Eh, I’m not the biggest fan of backpacks (because of my hair) but I found a pretty nice quality one. I laugh because the color choices were only purple and brown. It’s final. I attract purple like nothing else when it comes to purchasing things. XD I’ll let you guess what color I bought. ;) Too bad! I’ll show you anyway! :D
And yes, it is technically a souvenir from Taiwan because the label clearly said, “Made in Taiwan.” But it says “Paris”…what?! XD Ah phooey, it’s still a good backpack and will do its job on Saturday!
As I was leaving the store, I got super distracted. Why you ask? For those who know me, just look at the picture and it will explain everything.
OH SNAP! Now I really, realllllly want to make a mask! All these masks were part of the selection for Halloween costumes at the store. When I go back to University and see the store on Monday…I might have to just buy one of these creations. XD It’s because Rotary has a Halloween Party and require all the students to dress up for a contest. Students on a budget…super saver Andrea on a budget. Oh crap! XD I figured I could do a cheap costume of a mask and just wear a dress as if a substandard masquerade. BUT I WISH I COULD MAKE ONE MYSELF!
I like arriving to high school early enough in order to make nap time but on University days when I can’t at least read (usually not enough time to reply) e-mails in the morning at the teahouse, I began taking a preference to just sitting in teahouse’s Wi-Fi spot instead of sleeping. That and I can’t always make it in time before the lights go out plus as you know, I have trouble with the hunched over posture.
But for some reason I had an anxiety attack hit me suddenly when sitting near the teahouse. Oh my gosh I thought I was going to explode! There was only one thing to do! It was to pull out my iPod and listen to some Christian Leeland! Remember how I described last Saturday at the park as going into Zen mode? I think I triggered something like that again today. In a short amount of time, I was able to completely calm myself and not give a flying flip about anything around me other than the lyrics playing. Before I knew it, the time for classes to start came around. I think I floated over to my room because there was way too much inward peace in me.
The first class was Math, which I think I realized something. I’m learning to trigger my Zen mode faster and more effectively. For the entire class, not one thought or event around bothered me nor was I asleep. If there is such a thing as total inward tranquility, I for sure found it within that class period. Now I don’t know the significance of ‘Zen mode’ but I just refer to my calm state with that label for now. The actual reason for me submerging into a lake of serenity has to do with my religious beliefs but I won’t go into that. ;) Just know I was indescribably soothed for a part of the day.
The exchange students were supposed to write a report over the on-goings at school/Taiwan for the principle today. We’ve done this before and will continue to do so as a requirement once in a while. But the computer lab was occupied and there weren’t any computers available to type our report. So Redy ended up taking us to our secluded room on the fourth floor and just chit chatting the entire period.
The head teacher in charge of the exchange students (“Bai lao shi”) gave us a thoughtful gift. This is a shout out to my Dad back in America! We were given OREOS! HELLO LOVELY THINGS! As always, those cookies were yummy but the back was fascinating to me. Just look! It has the three-step way to eat an Oreo in Chinese! How cool! Reading the box made me happy because I actually understood some parts like ‘chocolate’ and ‘strawberry.’ That may not be a lot but remember, I learned those things by myself.
And I just have to point this out. Multiple of these mirrors are scattered throughout the school buildings. Why? I do not know. I mean, there are mirrors in the bathroom and nearly everyone has a large hand mirror tucked away in their desk…so? Regardless, I love these because it reminds me of a certain magical mirror in Harry Potter. Ring a bell? *cough* Sorcerer’s Stone *cough* ;)
So let’s review, my taffy tasters! Can I call you that? It seems fun! :P What made this a successful day?
(a) Found DELICIOUS wonton soup
(b) Ate a fruity yogurt of seemingly healthiness
(c) Bought an apple
(d) Consumed some Oreos
(e) Bought a needed backpack of purpleness
(f) Activated inward peace
(g) All of the above
DING DING DING! You are correct! The answer is indeed ‘g’! Your prize…a virtual hug from Taiwan! *huuuuuuuuuuug* ^_^
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