Today I think I'm going to write something in the morning since we have a good day planned out ahead of us.
It's sunday, and the only free day we have for this entire program. Why am I spending it in my room? Well, last night I was so tired after traveling around the night market that I kept falling asleep while writing. Thus, I appreciated the ability to sleep in today, even though I still woke up at around 8:30... Later we plan to go to Tamshui! I don't know what's there, but it sounds fun from the description of people from NTU. Anyway, I'm supposed to meet Weining and Fan Yang for lunch at 11:30 but it turns out I have to meet with my mom's friend to get a new ATM card, and also she wants to meet me for lunch. I just have to find out a way to get to Tamshui by myself... since I don't know the way. Oh well, will figure that out later when it comes time. I think in general I'm pretty decent at directions, so I'm not all that worried about getting around.
Anyway, to continue yesterday's post, after running into Lisa, we went to the Shilin night market, arguably the largest night market in all of Taiwan. We probably visited less than 1/4th of it in a few hours... but as usual, the food was amazing. I think my favorite so far is the chicken meat wrapped in chicken skin and grilled. It's pretty much a hotdog made of chicken. All meat. Yum. Mostly, I stayed with Dominique, Fan Yang, Weining, Anbo, and Hsuan. We went around and I wanted to buy stuff, but had no money.. worst place to have no money -___- I would have bought so much! But hopefully today I can get some.
Okay, time to go.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Quick post because i'm freaking TIIIIIIIRED. Lecture in the morning about food, so everyone stayed awake. Weining was late again -_-' Shouldn't be surprised.. Second lecture about aboriginals was cancelled because the professor either forgot or something, not quite sure. Had a bunch of free time, then got on a bus to go to the national palace museum. Our guide was pretty amazing, and she spoke english with very little accent. I think the highlight of my day, though, was on the bus ride back from NPM -> Shilin night market.. I was talking on the bus with hsuan/dominique/yunwen when suddenly this white girl kinda peeks at me through a whole between people, and asks if my name is Emily. I was like uhhhh yeah 0_0. The weird thing was that, maybe a few minutes before this, I somehow felt that something was interesting about her, but couldn't quite place it... Anyway, she asks, I say yes, and she's like, did you go to Hercules? And all of a sudden I remembered her from high school, and WHOA. It was pretty mindblowing to run into someone I hadn't talked to or seen in at least 5 years, especially halfway around the world on a bus in Taipei, of all places. Super crazy! The reason I didn't recognize her at first was most likely because she'd cut/curled her hair, and I didn't have a memory of her like that.. Also, I guess I haven't changed all that much besides high school, since she was able to recognize me so quickly.
Okay, falling asleep as I type, so better update tomorros! :)
Okay, falling asleep as I type, so better update tomorros! :)
Thursday, June 28, 2012
"You look more like a girl when you wear red!"
Fan Yang said that to me tonight when we were walking back from calligraphy class (which, by the way, is one of my favorite things to do.. or it was when I was a kid back during Chinese school. I wish there was more time to practice that type of thing now) -_- Me, him, and Weining stopped by the night market on the way back home (dorms) from the classroom and got Black Sugar Frog pearl milk tea! I think it was the MOST amazing boba I've ever had/will have.. the tapioca melted in your mouth and was so soft, not like the hard, chewy stuff we have in the US. I shouldn't have expected any less from Taiwan. And the best part is that it only cost 1 USD! EVERYTHING HERE IS SO CHEAP. I can't even begin to express how great it is that I can buy a whole day's worth of food for less than 5 USD. In the morning I get up and walk downstairs to the 7-11 and get two tea eggs/a pork bun for 50 NTD. I lovvvvveeeeee Taiwan :) Not just because of the prices though!
Anyway, the past couple days have been quite fun. I think I won't really talk about the events too much because everyone will write about those.. people are more interesting. Yunwen has been teaching me lots of Chinese and I'm glad she's very patient and good at explaining! I think I can start to say some sentences now, but every time I want to say it, it comes out in English first... I need to try harder. Eventually I'll start to think in Chinese instead of English. Also, Weining was late again this morning and almost missed the entire trip like Alicia -__-' What else.. Oh! I should ask around to see who still needs a group for the project in Shitou. Also, every time I decide not to bring my backpack somewhere, there are stamps and I don't have my notebook T_T but every time I bring my backpack there are never any stamps.. sigh.
Ugh it's too late (only 11:30 PM and I think it's late? Very strange..) so I will continue later.
I think I'm just glad to have friends! ^^
Fan Yang said that to me tonight when we were walking back from calligraphy class (which, by the way, is one of my favorite things to do.. or it was when I was a kid back during Chinese school. I wish there was more time to practice that type of thing now) -_- Me, him, and Weining stopped by the night market on the way back home (dorms) from the classroom and got Black Sugar Frog pearl milk tea! I think it was the MOST amazing boba I've ever had/will have.. the tapioca melted in your mouth and was so soft, not like the hard, chewy stuff we have in the US. I shouldn't have expected any less from Taiwan. And the best part is that it only cost 1 USD! EVERYTHING HERE IS SO CHEAP. I can't even begin to express how great it is that I can buy a whole day's worth of food for less than 5 USD. In the morning I get up and walk downstairs to the 7-11 and get two tea eggs/a pork bun for 50 NTD. I lovvvvveeeeee Taiwan :) Not just because of the prices though!
Anyway, the past couple days have been quite fun. I think I won't really talk about the events too much because everyone will write about those.. people are more interesting. Yunwen has been teaching me lots of Chinese and I'm glad she's very patient and good at explaining! I think I can start to say some sentences now, but every time I want to say it, it comes out in English first... I need to try harder. Eventually I'll start to think in Chinese instead of English. Also, Weining was late again this morning and almost missed the entire trip like Alicia -__-' What else.. Oh! I should ask around to see who still needs a group for the project in Shitou. Also, every time I decide not to bring my backpack somewhere, there are stamps and I don't have my notebook T_T but every time I bring my backpack there are never any stamps.. sigh.
Ugh it's too late (only 11:30 PM and I think it's late? Very strange..) so I will continue later.
I think I'm just glad to have friends! ^^
Monday, June 25, 2012
I never quite know how to begin first posts, so I suppose I shall just pretend like I've had this blog for a while.
In any case, today was a nice day up until about 3 hours ago when I lost my ATM card.. My parents arranged for a family friend to give me a bank card so that I could just withdraw cash when necessary. Within 15 minutes of meeting up with her and saying goodbye, I'd attempted to get 1000NTD, successfully taken said 1000NTD, and... didn't get the card back. I went to try and ask a 7-11 cashier for help, but it started taking too long so I went back, only to find out that someone had stolen my card :( My fault for leaving the machine unattended, but wah, now I must wait until Saturday.. oh well.
Speaking of 7-11's, they are quite common and very, very nice here. Wifi (that doesn't work for me, but I think it's a phone problem, sigh), bar to sit at, air conditioning (<3), and most importantly, TEA EGGS. I LOVE TEA EGGS. Had two for breakfast this morning before heading off to the opening ceremony.
We had a scavenger hunt today which was fun, especially since our team won :D 11 stickers! Even though we got owned during charades. Our prizes were postcards, I shall send out eventually. I can't really bring myself to rip them out of the book, they look so nice... Also had some lectures on entomology (I'm slightly ashamed that I said ticks/scorpions were insects. I should have known better! Immediate regret) and fauna of Taiwan, which were interesting as far as lectures go, but I definitely wanted to fall asleep just from being tired/hot. I'm excited for when we actually get to see the animals, live ^^!
I guess I should mention something about yesterday as well, since it was a big day of firsts: I made friends, who are all very nice and thankfully are helping me out with learning Chinese/translating for me into English. I'm sad that I didn't pay more attention in Chinese school :( but hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to talk to them in mandarin! Had lunch at a train station which was pretty much a miniature mall, and ate beef noodles *drool* After the day's activities (memorial plaza, NT museum), we took a break and I met up again with... well, let me see if I can remember everyone's names: Dominic, Tracy (Wei-ning?), Zoey (So-chi, or something that sounds like it), Cassie...?, a girl from Maryland that majors in Ag. Econ whose name I've forgotten, Anbo, Fan (?), Vivian?
I think I did a terrible job but at least I can recognize their faces, which counts for something, right?
In any case, we went out to the night markets and ate and walked and ate and walked and ate, and walked, and ate... and walked... and ate some more. Tried a bunch of different things which were all delicious, hehehe. I don't think Shu-chi came with us. Also, ordered a che lun bing by myself! Sort of, Dominic helped @_@; Learned a term called "chi huo" which pretty much translates to "fatty"/"bottomless pit." Ended the night with shaved ice ^___^ Everything here makes my stomach happy.
On a related note, all of the people here make me happy, too! Everyone is so easy to be around, and I can't wait to see how the next 4 weeks are going to go. Looking forward to it.
Until next time,
emily
In any case, today was a nice day up until about 3 hours ago when I lost my ATM card.. My parents arranged for a family friend to give me a bank card so that I could just withdraw cash when necessary. Within 15 minutes of meeting up with her and saying goodbye, I'd attempted to get 1000NTD, successfully taken said 1000NTD, and... didn't get the card back. I went to try and ask a 7-11 cashier for help, but it started taking too long so I went back, only to find out that someone had stolen my card :( My fault for leaving the machine unattended, but wah, now I must wait until Saturday.. oh well.
Speaking of 7-11's, they are quite common and very, very nice here. Wifi (that doesn't work for me, but I think it's a phone problem, sigh), bar to sit at, air conditioning (<3), and most importantly, TEA EGGS. I LOVE TEA EGGS. Had two for breakfast this morning before heading off to the opening ceremony.
We had a scavenger hunt today which was fun, especially since our team won :D 11 stickers! Even though we got owned during charades. Our prizes were postcards, I shall send out eventually. I can't really bring myself to rip them out of the book, they look so nice... Also had some lectures on entomology (I'm slightly ashamed that I said ticks/scorpions were insects. I should have known better! Immediate regret) and fauna of Taiwan, which were interesting as far as lectures go, but I definitely wanted to fall asleep just from being tired/hot. I'm excited for when we actually get to see the animals, live ^^!
I guess I should mention something about yesterday as well, since it was a big day of firsts: I made friends, who are all very nice and thankfully are helping me out with learning Chinese/translating for me into English. I'm sad that I didn't pay more attention in Chinese school :( but hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to talk to them in mandarin! Had lunch at a train station which was pretty much a miniature mall, and ate beef noodles *drool* After the day's activities (memorial plaza, NT museum), we took a break and I met up again with... well, let me see if I can remember everyone's names: Dominic, Tracy (Wei-ning?), Zoey (So-chi, or something that sounds like it), Cassie...?, a girl from Maryland that majors in Ag. Econ whose name I've forgotten, Anbo, Fan (?), Vivian?
I think I did a terrible job but at least I can recognize their faces, which counts for something, right?
In any case, we went out to the night markets and ate and walked and ate and walked and ate, and walked, and ate... and walked... and ate some more. Tried a bunch of different things which were all delicious, hehehe. I don't think Shu-chi came with us. Also, ordered a che lun bing by myself! Sort of, Dominic helped @_@; Learned a term called "chi huo" which pretty much translates to "fatty"/"bottomless pit." Ended the night with shaved ice ^___^ Everything here makes my stomach happy.
On a related note, all of the people here make me happy, too! Everyone is so easy to be around, and I can't wait to see how the next 4 weeks are going to go. Looking forward to it.
Until next time,
emily
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