Temporary Move!

Saturday November 3^rd, 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! :)