WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was an incredibly beautiful, 78 and sunny, clear day.
We had our first Mandarin lesson, which was 3 hours, where I learned how to say, "Hello, my name is Kristen*! I come from America. This is my first time to Taiwan." We also learned how to say and write the Mandarin alphabet, much like kindergarteners do. It's very interesting, and our teacher is fun and feisty.
*my Chinese name is (in pinyin) Ke Rui Qi--pronounced Kuh Ray Chi, which means "Lucky and Beautiful Girl." Thank you for calling me beautiful, teacher, and I definitely agree with the "lucky" part!
After class, Shine and I went to Tamsui to enjoy the beautiful day! Tamsui is a popular local tourist destination because of it's beautiful ocean and mountain views, and it's only two train stops away from school. It's also a "place for couples" as Shine says, but as a single gal, she "has a special place to go to get away from all the relationships." All the single ladies, put your hands up!
The mountain view from the Tamsui boardwalk. The mountains are named after a sleeping goddess: these peaks are supposed to be her bosom.
The Tamsui temple entrance
Tamsui is famous for it's fish ball soup, and it has a museum dedicated to it!
You can't come here and NOT get some delicious fish ball (and wonton) soup!
My beautiful guide, Shine!
You can take a ferry (using your metro pass card) to the other side of the river and visit Bali, which is "a little Tamsui" as Shine puts it. It's more popular for biking.
Those buildings are Bali
The ocean!
We walked along the boardwalk through some beautiful trees. It reminded me of Lanai, Maui.
Some local fishing boats docked near Shine's favorite cafe.
These are the stairs up into the cafe; SO tiny, steep and short!
The cafe was something out of a Hemingway novel. It was full of single students reading, drinking coffee and beer, and watching the sunset over the palm trees. There was also some Damien Rice "O" playing...even more appropriate.
The most beautiful cup of coffee I have ever enjoyed
After the sun went down in Tamsui, Shine and I hopped back on the train and went to Shilin night market; the market where they sell cheap clothes. I could die and end up here, because it's a kind of heaven, haha!
I am SO lucky that this country doesn't carry my size. I would buy everything (US$4 shoes...EVERYWHERE!)
We stopped for dinner, and I got "spaghetti soup" as Shine called it; rice noodles in a sort of greasy meat broth, with some sort of suspicious meat (that NPR story has really got me freaked out, man...), and shine got duck blood tofu soup. Both of them were amazingly delicious.
THURSDAY
On Thursday morning, Emily and moved into our new place. We had to say goodbye to our beautiful, new, huge penthouse apartment, and go live like normal people...ugh! ;)
Our old living room
Our old kitchen
My giant closet
Goodbye, king sized bed and giant reading window...
Goodbye, large bathroom...
Goodbye giant yoga-sized shower, I will miss you most of all!
Emily's old room. She will miss hers a little less than me, because her's was quite small, and didn't have a window.
Our new place is right next to Nellie and Sweta, but it's up a lot of stairs:
Like, A LOT of stairs.
That palm tree top is the top of the stairs. I will have the best butt by the end of this!
Our new place is still nice and big, but sadly, it had not been cleaned, and a bachelor had been living here. For those of you who know me, you know I went on a bleaching RAMPAGE immediately*.
The toilet didn't flush, our air conditioners were filthy...we'll get to that later, there were some strange moth cocoons all over the walls and ceilings (which we learned can push out a little wormy flange and inch their way BACK up the wall), there was moldy bedding left in the closets, half-cleaned dishes in the cupboards, and used sponges and cleaning supplies in the closet. There was much cleaning to be done.
Me, unhappily sweeping the moth cocoons off the the ceiling.
Emily is getting down to business.
Since there was but one bachelor living here in this two bedroom, they had locked my bedroom door so he wouldn't use it. That was their mistake...when I cleaned out my very dirty room, I met the other tenant:
Yes, that is his still-wriggling tail on top.
It would not be so bad, if said lizard had not SHAT ALL OVER AND IN MY AIR CONDITIONER.
Trying my best to get when I can out of there...which was not enough. I will call management on Monday to ask them to bring a new filter, 'cause...eww.
Side Story, Thursday:
In order to get the bleach to clean the apartment on Thursday morning, I had to go the the nearest grocery store, Wellcome. In order to get there, on must walk 1.5 miles down the mountain, 3 blocks over, then .75 miles back up the mountain. There is a military base in the way, so you can't just cut across. On my way back from Wellcome, with bleach in hand, I noticed a tourist woman taking photos of a fenced off grassy park area. I watched as she entered the area through an opening, and walked up a sodded path. I thought, "this must be a way to get to campus! I should try this!" I crossed the busy street and walked in behind her. She crested over a hill and I lost sight of her, just as from behind the bushes to my left, a stark naked man strolled out, smoking a cigarette and masterbating! My immediate reaction was a quiet, "Oh my." and an about-face out of there! WHAT?!
FRIDAY:
We went back to Shilin night market on Friday night. I have been greatly enjoying (too much, really) the Taiwanese bakeries! My stepdad would be proud. :) There are so many, with such AMAZING pastries.
This is a green tea bun filled with sweet red bean and green tea paste. YUM!
This is a neat Japanese-style omelette I tried; they whip the eggs with sugar, then cook it in a rectangular pan, fold it like filo dough, and fill it with something. I got cheese (the middle one), which tasted like a combination of cream cheese, velveeta, and American singles. It was really good!
We stopped for "cheesy chicken" (it tasted just like parmesan chicken), oysters--they cook the oysters on a grill, then crack an egg on to them, and put siracha on them, and squid soup---I think it was just the head of the squid. Not my favorite.
And then we got sherbet--passion fruit!
The baseball game was on (Taiwan vs. Japan, they're in the finals) and everyone was FIXED to a TV.
Check out the shirt we saw!
We finally got internet in our apartment--check out our TINY router! Taiwan has free internet!
SATURDAY:
Sweta and I got up and headed to Xinbeitou (Shin-Bay-Toe) to look for a spa to get massages. Xinbeitou is a small neighborhood, very quiet, and full of spas and hotels because of the natural hot springs created by geothermal heat in the area.
The train was very tourist-y; it was very decorative, and moved rather slowly (it just goes between the main MRT station and Xinbeitou).
It was full of beautiful parks and paths along the river
The water is warm like a bath, so people stop to soak their feet
When in Rome!
We did some wander/site seeing, like this little church built into the hillside.
We stumbled into a beautiful hand-painted pottery shop.
And visited the local folk museum, where there is a Japanese-style bath from 1925 still intact.
As well as a beautiful tea room.
We went to the thermal spring where all of the hot water comes from. The water was so blue/green!
Little steam tornados appeared!
Radium, eh?
We stopped for some amazing udon beef noodle soup.
And walked up the hill to the buddhist temple
Where we enjoyed this breath-taking view
And watched the sun set
We stopped for a beer here, where we met some Canadian* guys who design and engineer ereaders and tablets for a company called Kobo. *Work and live in Canada, but 2 were from Australia, one was from South America, and one was born in India; they all had such amazing stories.
We went for a late dinner at a busy restaurant, but were told "No English," so we just ordered the first 6 things off the menu, which luckily, were all delicious! It was a variety of pork ramen soups.
It was an awesome night. We drank some beer (and tequila, my favorite!), smoked some Taiwanese cigars, soaked our feet in the warm river, and talked about all kinds of topics with these chill, friendly, smart, guys. There was nothing uncomfortable, flirtatious, or weird about it, everyone was just enjoying each other's company in an amazing foreign country. Sweta and I took a cab home, and now I'm blogging about our adventures!
I live the most blessed life, and I am so grateful for all of the experiences I've been given. I can't believe this is my life!
This is amazing. I know these photos probably don't do it justice, but I'm incredibly happy for you. This looks like the opportunity of a lifetime! Keep living in the moment and enjoy all the adventures. Even the lizard poop and creepy cocoons. Though maybe stay out of the nudist park...yikes!
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