Temples, Walking, Anniversary, Walking, Chilling, Walking, Walking

-A few days ago we went to visit the top two temples in Taiwan. Longshan, and Zhinan. One is a Taoist temple, and the other is a Buddhist one.

-We got our Taiwan buddies!

-My 7 month with Sage was on the 17th! It was nice and relaxing.

-Relaxed and chilled for a whole day while everyone else went out and did stuff.

-Took a walk around the student district; got to eat some Mango Shaved Ice NOMNOM

-Going to eat hotpot with Jessie at 12 today, as well as our second class at the museum.

 

Will put in more detail later. Too tired to write more.

Buying Textbook, National Palace Museum, and… BURGER KING?!

Okay, I’m sure you guys think that I’m starting to get lazy since I don’t update on the day of anymore. That isn’t the case. We do a TON of walking (yay exercise!) all day, so by the time we come home, all we do is lay in bed and watch MTV. Yes. We are like that. Anyway!

Yesterday morning, Sage, Linda, Randy and I went to order some Bao Zi again. This time, I got a Man Tou, Pork Bao Zi, and a Green Onion Juan (Green onion roll). I liked my Man Tou and my Bao Zi as usual, but I honestly think that my mother’s Green Onion Juan tastes a lot better. This lady’s juan was just a bitttt too salty. On a side note, Randy ordered all by himself and the lady understood him! He’s doing really well for someone that has never learned a lick of Mandarin before.

Went to buy our text book at 11. These things are MASSIVE AND HEAVY. And I swear the text is 8pt. T-T Le sigh. The lady that sold it to us is old and super cute! She’s tiny and she’s just so peppy and happy! We also got a huge discount on our book. YES! Sage and I are sharing, so it’s all good.

We all met up at 3 to start heading toward the National Palace Museum. This museum is filled with ancient artifacts throughout the dynasty’s. They were moved from China to Taiwan right before Japan invaded, so that’s how they were saved. Otherwise, they might have gotten demolished. We took the subway down some stops, and then the bus the rest of the way. The whole trip takes about 2 hours there and back, otherwise 3 if there is rush hour.

Professor Smith was very passionate in talking about the different dynasty’s and what each dynasty did/made, so I really think that I’m going to enjoy the class. I also really like that he’s talking to us, not having us read from a book and then discussing in a classroom. We were at the museum from 5-6, in which during that time, we got to see the orientation gallery and the jade exhibition.

After we left the museum, Sage and I headed back to the dorms while everyone else went to another night market. We stopped at Burger King and ate. Yes. BURGER KING IS SOOO GOOOODDD HERE ZOMG ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And after that we went back to the dorms and we all passed out at like 9. Or 10.

And I’ve been up since 6 because a mosquito won’t let me sleep! >:(

s/n: I’m really starting to miss people back home.

Calligraphy and XiMenDing

Welp, this morning we all woke up early because the previous night, Professor Smith had told us that we had to get up at 10 to go see a calligrapher. Evidently, he meant that at 10 he was moving out into his apartment, and the calligrapher was at 2. FAIL! So, we went to the back store and ate some sandwiches, then went around to a gyoza place and had some pretty amazing gyoza. After that, we went to some convenience stores and a bakery. I bought a Milk flavored Ice Cream Bar. Nomnomnomnomnommmmmmm

We chilled until 2, then all met downstairs in the lobby and walked to the calligraphy place. The two calligraphers they were showcasing are not only well known in Taiwan, but they are also brothers. It was amazing and also calming to watch them showcase their amazing skills. We go to try it too, but we were nowhere near as good as they are.

After the calligraphy show, Randy, Linda, Heather, Brenda, Shelby and I went to XiMenDing. It’s so big and fancy! I got to eat a lot of cheap food along the storefronts. The clothes are so fashionable and fancy there; I love it.

Now we’re back at the dorms watching shows on the tv. And Linda Lor is falling asleep, nothing new.  

Flower, Jade, Handicap Markets

We had a lonnnnggg day of walking yesterday… so I was too pooped to write up a blog entry!

Yesterday morning at 8, Sage, Linda, Randy and I walked along the streets of the student district exploring  for food (like always). We found a Bao Zi place a little bit down the road. The lady at the stand sells her Bao Zi for 20, or 6 for 100. since we all spent an over amount of money these past few days, we’ll probably be stocking up on Bao Zi for Breakfast and Lunch, then have a nice dinner.  What’s really weird (but healthy, I guess?) is that we’ve all started eating breakfast, when back in the US all we had was lunch and dinner.

We all ordered Pork Bao Zi. They were HUGE AND DELICIOUS! We wanted to try other things, but I forgot how to to say them in Mandarin! What a fail We’ll try again in a few minutes (since it’s tomorrow now!) We went to the park to eat. It was really nice and calming. We recorded Randy having his first Bao Zi ever since he came to Taiwan as his final project for Film. It’s pretty interesting! And he has an amazing camera. (Do want. I’ve been wanting a camera like that for forever. Sigh)

We gathered in our group and started walking toward our destination: The Flower, Jade and Handicap markets!

Along the way we stopped in a park where there were people set up in stands selling various types of foods. I bought Sugarcane juice with a hint of Lemon. We all agreed that the lemon overpowered the sugarcane…so no lemon next time! We also bought some more Sausage; it wasn’t as good as the one we bought at the New Year’s market. Qiu Laoshi bought a type of fruit and had all of us try it. It was   a bit bitter, just like a grapefruit. As we walked through the rest of the park we came upon a section of the park made for health purposes; AKA rocks. They have rocks set in different positions on the ground. You’re supposed to take off your socks and walk on them. The more they hurt, the more they heal, because we have all of our pressure points in our feet. By walking on the rocks, we are healing the various parts of our body that hurt. I walked on it and it didn’t hurt too badly, so I must not be as jet lagged as I had previously thought!

After some more walking, we finally got to the markets. The Handicap Market is a market where people that are certified handicap by the government can go and sell crafts that they make. They had some really interesting stuff! Will post up pics when wordpress decides to work with me hahahaha.

At the Flower Market Lind and I bought ourselves a little bamboo plant set in a panda cup! Sooo cute! We didn’t buy anything at the Jade market. Linda left with Brenda at the beginning of the Jade market to go back and eat, so Randy, Sage, and I did a walk through. At the end of the Jade Market we decided to head back and walk. My feet hurt pretty bad halfway back. Along the path back toward our dorm they had campaign posters sticking up in the bushes since the vote for presidency was then.  We found one that had been torn down, so Randy and I took it for his senior project. Yep.

When we finally got back to the dorm we decided to go to the Ramen shop that Sage has been talking about for three days straight. Sage and I ordered Pork Katsu, and Randy got a HUGE bowl of noodles and soup. We also got a side of Lemon tea to drink, and some salad, as well as the usual miso soup. This miso soup tasted a LOT better than the one back home, probably because the ingredients used are real. Hahahahahahaha. I asked the lady if we could get a student discount, and she gave us 16 dollars off! WINNNNNN!!!

We went back to the dorm and promptly fell asleep. I had a hard time waking up at 5 to get ready to go eat at 6. We met downstairs and Professor Smith then took us through back alleyways and multiple twists and curves to the Sichuan restaurant. We had mapotofu, ants in a tree, seafood soup, green beans, eggplant, and some other dish. This other dish consisted of Pig blood, intestines, and STINKY TOFU. I have absolutely no problem with the first two, but I cannot STAND stinky tofu. At least I can walk away and say I had the experience of trying it. x.x We got to drink REAL BOBA. It tastes like warm milk/cereal. It’s delectable!

Professor Smith proceeded to leave us stranded at this market and told us to explore, aka “find our own way home.” Needless to say, we got lost. But it all ended up being okay because we found our way back before all the other new people!

And then we crashed and I’m ending it here because i have to go eat! Maybe edit later.

Bye!!!!!!!!!

Pictures!

FAIL WILL TRY AGAIN LATER

Chinese New Year, and night markets

This morning Linda and I woke up at 6am. We went out to a little place behind our dorm with Sage, Randy, Courtney, and Brenda to eat breakfast. Sage got a katsu egg sandwich (“It was really good”). The rest of us had an egg crepe thing with hai xian sauce. It was pretty good. We also got some cold milk tea which was DELICIOUSSSS!!!!!

After we ate, we went to 7-11, Watson’s, and got some hygiene stuffs. I also found Green Tea Meltykiss! On our way back to the dorms we passed some awesome bakeries. They make super cute cakes and pastries. Will upload photos on here and facebook later. After we got into our room, we chilled for a bit and watched some Powerpuff girls and MTV (Sage: “What a joy that was…”) At 11:30 we went downstairs to the main lobby and gathered with the rest of our people. We walked to the general building around noon and got to watch some performances that the students of NTNU put on. We also got to eat some fooooooddd!!!! (s/n: Brenda gets hungry. A LOT. LOLOLOLOL)

After the performances there were prize drawings. Linda won a scarf, and I won a new $1 coin for 2012! Though the prize drawings were long and tedious, it was pretty entertaining. We went to the subway station and I put money on my bus card. The bus card can be used to pay for almost anything anywhere. It’s like a cash card. We went to the New Year’s Market to see what they were selling. There were many people that tried to coerce us into going into their shop. And yes. I mean coerce! It was all in good fun for us though! I loved the crowded atmosphere; It reminds me of Beijing. I got some sausage for $20, which is less than $1 USD!!! Pro!

We took the bus and subway back to the Student district and walked back to our dorms, where we watched some National Geographic. At around 7 we went to the Shi Da night market. I found a FroYo place! They had a lot of different stores there that sell a number of things. We went to a restaurant located near the entrance. Sage and I had hot and sour sup with noodles, Linda had beef noodles, Brenda had tomato noodles, and Courtney got egg drop soup. We also had some Jiao Zi. It was cheap and pretty good. After walking around for a bit and scoping out the stores we wanted to hit up, we went to the Rilakkuma store (plushies galore!) the stationary store, and a store where they sell shower slippers.

It is currently 9:30, and I’m going to go take a walk with Sage.

Update tomorrow!

We made it to Taiwan!

After some lonnnnngggg loonnnnngggg flights, we finally made it to Taiwan! Of course, Linda Lor was sleeping the whole time.

I got to the airport at 5:30, checked in, and HASA was there to see us off!! Mama Marvel took a bunch of pictures hahahaha 

We took off at 7:40, and got to Chicago at 7:40 their time. We had a four hour layover, so Linda, Sage and I went to Chile’s and had breakfast. Thennnn, Linda and I proceeded to pass out. I woke up and walked around with the boys, and then Linda woke up so we went downstairs to find Randy some food. The lower level was jank. There was some magical music playing complete with rainbow colored walls and lights. We went back to our gate, where Linda passed out AGAIN so I took a bunch of pictures of her. MUAHAHAHHAHAHA. Then, we had a 13 hour flight to Japan. I sat in between Kyle and Randy, which was pretty cool. We talked a lot, read some books, slept, and generally had a good time. The flight was looonnnng and I kept going in and out of half sleeps. That resulted in me getting a huge headache when we got to Japan. We were only there for about forty minutes, so Sage and I walked around the airport and bought some drinks. 

We got on the plane to Taiwan and I was in a row with Kyle. Kyle passed out and kept ROLLING ON TOP OF ME X.X But I didn’t really notice since I passed out. Austin was the one to inform me haha. I did, however, wake up just in time for some food. Japan Air’s dinner was beautifully presented for airplane food. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I was too hungry -_-. They gave me rice with egg on top, okra, carrots, mushrooms, and some other vegetables as my main dish. I had a side of Seaweed salad which included shrimp and squid. For dessert they gave me frozen tofu with pine nuts/almond nuts. It wasn’t that great, unfortunately. I also got some green seaweed something which looked like rice cake but wasn’t Then I got a Salmon sushi!!! I also got to eat more Salmon since Austin didn’t want his. (YAY!) 

We finally got to Taiwan at 9, got our bags, and rode a really nice bus to NTNU. We all got card keys that double as an activator for Air conditioning. Our room is NICE. Though it’s a bit worn down, it’s neat and clean. The room is a lot bigger than the freshman dorms. Our bathroom has a shower in it and the floor is tile with a drain, which is really convenient. 

Tomorrow we are going to the General building to participate in some activities for Chinese New Year!

My whole body is sore and I feel like I’m moving around like I’m still on the plane with turbulence x.x 

 

Time for bed! 

 

(a/n: I really need to work on my journaling skills…lololololol sorry if it’s super boring or not detailed enough.)

:(

Just got an e-mail from Professor Smith last night saying that United changed their international baggage policies… We’re only allowed one, and the second one will cost $70. My plans on splurging have been squashed. Sigh. Ah well. At least it will help me save money.

TAIWAN IN THREE DAYS!

Hokay,

I found this old blog I used to have for music… and instead I have decided to use it to document my Taiwan trip.

Let’s see how well I can keep up with this!