Saturday November 3rd, 2012
Greetings from a new location! My temporary host family’s
house! It’s so much bigger than my first host family’s house yet still embraces
a cozy feeling.
This will be a very quick post because I’m not going to say
too much about the house until I know more about it. That will come in time.
I’m not sure whom all is living here but I met:
-Auntie Jenny (the mother)
-Allen (a son in his 20’s)
-Pi Nan (a son/new father)
-Yavanna (daughter-in-law/wife of Pi Nan)
-Xiao Di (the five month old blessing of a boy)
-Yi Na (The working lady)
Uncle Eric also lives here, obviously since it’s his house
but I didn’t see him today. I also heard a reference to the grandmother living
here as well but I didn’t see her either. So quite a few people are living
here! Not to mention one cat and one dog. Both are adorable!
Basic rundown of today’s events (it’s because it’s really
late and I need to get to bed very soon)
Auntie Jenny, Allen, Pi Nan and I had lunch together at the
house. I think all the food was crafted by Auntie Jenny who loves cooking. It
was all Chinese food of deliciousness! There were vegetables, meat, rice and
some tasty soup! She really can cook well!
Afterwards was sitting down with Allen for some TV and talking. Pi Nan was kind enough
to go out and bring back drinks for the family. Guess what he gave me? It’s an
extremely Taiwanese drink…Bubble Milk Tea! I haven’t had this stuff in awhile
to be truthful! It was a pleasant treat to have and very thoughtful of Pi Nan
to get one for me.
Later Allen, Pi Nan, Xiao Di and I took a short trip
outside. They walked me through how to use the MTR closest to their house. I do
know how to use the MTR pretty well but the station by their house is slightly
different from what I’m used to. So it was very nice of them to take the time
to show me the ropes. During this process, we went to Gongguan station and
stooped by a shop that was famous for “Dou hua.” Similar to Tofu, it was a
sweet, sugary version. I had never tried or even heard of this creation before
so I was very grateful to be introduced to a new bit of Taiwanese culture.
Sorry I didn’t bring my camera with me. I thought we were
only walking to the MTR station close to the house and back, rather than taking
the subway somewhere and doing something. Regardless, “dou hua” is basically
sweet tofu submerged in sugar water with peanuts included. This dessert comes
in an ice version during the summer (what we had today) and later comes in a
hot version when it gets cold during the winter. The treat was very tasty and
it was lovely to spend time with, well, I guess I could call them my host
brothers! It seems a little strange to call them that because I’ve only
referred to them by their names. But hey, now that I think about it, 我 有 兩 個 ge ge! (“I have two older brothers!”)
The meal of dinner ranged
from angel hair noodles to beef to more vegetables with what I think was the
same soup from earlier today. All of it was SO DELICIOUS! I sort of hope I can
help cook in any sort of fashion and maybe learn a thing or two. That would be
amazing!
Following dinner
was heading to a Saturday night church service for teenagers with Allen. The
building was fairly close but walking would take a bit too long. So instead Allen
drove us to church on his scooter. YESSSSS! I’ve been wanting to try riding on
the back of a scooter in Taiwan! IT WAS SO FUN! The road we took was as close
as you can get to countryside in Taipei. Barely anyone else was using the road
so it was a pleasant, smooth ride. At first I didn’t know where to put my feet
on the scooter so I just held them in the air as if riding a horse. Goodness me
it felt so great! The drive didn’t challenge my balancing skills at all but the
slight feeling of balancing while in that position was so refreshing! That’s
about as close as I’ll get to mimicking the feel of riding a horse. ;)
The church service
began as if it was a rock concert. People got super into the music and sang out
their souls. It was quite inspiring! I wish I could’ve joined in but the lyrics
were in Chinese and I could only read bits of characters here and there. During
the sermon part, Allen was kind enough to translate some general ideas to me in
English as well as pulling out translated Bible scriptures on his phone. I
brought a Bible with me but the pastor was going so fast through each scripture
that I couldn’t find the page in time before he moved onto the next one. Wow he
was fast! Also when listening to the pastor I kept thinking, ‘I dare anyone to
try and fall asleep through this guy’s preaching!’ He was really hi-ho and
energetic through the whole thing. I commend him for his effective
presentation!
Back at the house,
we hit on the subject of electricity versus water. Apparently electricity is more
expensive than gas in Taiwan. WOW! That’s a lot! Therefore I am to turn off the
lights and air conditioning when not using it. Totally understandable as I
already made a habit out of it while in Texas. But what really shocked me was
when discussing taking a shower. I asked Allen if the family showers every
single day because it sounded as if they did. According to him, the family
indeed does because water is dirt cheap in comparison to electricity costs.
WOAH! I am so surprised! I thought it was the other way around! Well it’s nice
to know I won’t have to crunch on water usage though I still will use as little
as possible since I want to be considerate.
Anywho, time is
short and this Taffy was so poorly written. I apologize but more details and
pictures can come later. Until next time, bye-bye! :)
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