PACKED FULL Day! Market, Guards, Miniatures, Kung-Fu, etc.

Wednesday January 16^th, 2013

Why is not having school awesome? Because I can do things like going to a food market only open during midday hours with host grandmother to help her out. She picked out the food, host father paid for it and I rolled the cart around that carried the groceries. Teamwork! :D

Here’s host grandmother (lady to the far right) buying seafood stuff. If you look at the other lady’s hand, that’s what the baskets look like to carry your groceries around in. They are your own personal ones because it’s not like the supermarket where they provide carts. You bring your own.

This market was a long street of mainly food but had a few stands with household items and some with clothes. But really it was a place to buy ingredients for cooking. I guess not many foreigners are taken there because I was heavily stared at, more than usual anyway. XD Host grandmother was famous because of it since people came up to her and asked about me. She looked like she was having fun. ^_^

Afterward we shortly visited what would be my host aunt (sister on my host father’s side/host grandmother’s daughter). It was really quick and nothing memorable.

Host father and I went back to the house to drop of host grandmother and the groceries then headed back out. Our first stop was S.Y.S. Memorial Hall to watch a guarding changing ceremony. At this memorial hall sits a large statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of Taiwan. Two guards stand in front of it, guarding much like the British fluffy black hat guards do in England.

The procession of switching guards was a long process as two other guards lead by a leader slowly marched into the room like molasses. It was like raise your foot and arm. Pause. Stamp it down. Pause. Repeat until you eventually reach the destination.

Then a whole fancy shmacy gun handling ceremony took place as they stepped off their posts and switched with the two new guards. All throughout they had stern faces and precise movements. After watching it, I felt like I should be doing their strange walk of molasses speed yet clear-cut actions just or the heck of it. XD

Photo time outside of S.Y.S. Memorial Hall.

As it was nearing lunchtime, the two of us met up with my host mother at her government work building. It had an underground cafeteria where you can get a large amount of food for cheap. All this plus free refills of rice, soup and tea was less than $2US. That’s the perk of eating here and not out at a restaurant. It all was very tasty.

A characteristic of this cafeteria was that it had many large round tables that could fit about 8-10 people. There are no smaller tables so you have to sit with several other people. The thing is you may sit right next to someone but not a word is spoken between y’all. It seemed like people weren’t open to meeting new people even though they work in the same building and are eating together. So when my family and I were sitting down a young man in his 20’s had joined our table. When I brought my observation of not meeting new people to my host mother, we whipped up a conversation with the nearby guy. It resulted in finding out that he’s a very bright, friendly man who would make a great friend. See what happens when you reach out to other people? Good things happen!

There was a little museum in the same government building concerning the surrounding area’s history.

Picture time with host mother

Now with host father

This was part of a miniature depicting one of the several gates that created a box-like area that existed many a year ago. It shows a bit of Chinese architecture.

This gizzy was a fortune cookie without the cookie. What happens is you pull out one of the sticks and a piece of paper is printed out with your fortune on it. I believe it mimics fortune giving that is present at temples but without the printing aspect. I so conveniently have lost the fortune under the piles of brochures and papers but I know it was at least good. The fortune paper had a whole bunch of Chinese characters with a small spurt of English on the bottom. I’ll find it again…eventually. XD

The last part of the museum was a little theater that showed a film promoting modern culture in Taipei. A coolness factor came into play because it was a 360° film, meaning you are a circular room surrounded by screens and the floor rotates slowly around. That was totally new for me and quite impressive! What if an entire battle movie was filmed like that? You would definitely feel like you’re in the battle since you are completely surrounded by action. Next step after 3D perhaps? ;)

Leaving the building, host father and I headed to a new one via subway. This one was adorable because it was the “Miniatures Museum of Taiwan.” It was filled with miniatures of all types of buildings and rooms from English origin to French to German and so very many, many more! Better shown than explained!

Here’s “Rose Mansion” which is American. But I say it like “A-mur-ican. XD

Random miniature room but it’s so realistic that it’s almost like I can just step into it and jump into that fluffy bed! There were quite a number of rooms such as this throughout the museum.

ADORABLE TINY PASTRIES! OH MY GOODNESS LOVE!

OH MY GOSH MINI ASIAN FOOD! THAT IS TOTALLY CUTE! ME GUSTA!

This English castle was on quite a large scale with numerous detailed soldiers guarding its splendor. It was quite impressive.

My favorite miniature of them all! Roman ruins! I love it because: (1) the amount of detail was astonishing (2) When I looked at it, I saw Ezio jumping from structure to structure. XD What?! I’m an Assassin’s Creed fan alright? You can’t erase it from your mind once it invades. ;P

This was the final miniature…or rather…large-ature. Buckingham Palace is what you are looking at. It was quite big and remarkable to look at. Then I stepped behind the front and was shocked back in amazement. The back view didn’t show the outside of the building but rather the inside of the front rooms. Deep royal red coloring was displayed throughout the rooms with gold accents in a very majestic manner. The lighting was too dark for pictures but it was quite a splendor to look at. Good job to whoever made this piece of art!

The gift shop called for several sequels from the cuteness factor of tiny things, especially when it came to food. XD Near the cashier was the best tiny thing of them all. A…mini…bible…of the Old Testament…less than two inches in length and one inch in width…with full scriptures! The best part of it all…I could actually read the extremely miniscule print! I shocked both the saleslady and my host father with my awesome ability of read-a-fa-cation! He bought me the tiny bible just because of the skill and since I’m a Christian. How sweet of him. ^_^

Leaving the museum, we headed out for dinner at Sushi Express. Yay! I’ve been craving this place’s food! The selections were all delicious but the sushi conveyer belt didn’t have my favorites. Sadness. My taste buds shall some time have them again! >:)

The final event of the day was my first lesson at outside school club martial arts class. Same teacher but different location and this time I pay for it. The place is kinda far from my house, an hour away, but it still was fun to try something new. The class was from 7pm-9pm and had older students. When I say “older” I mean people in or past their 50’s. I was by far the youngest of them all. Kinda amusing. XD

For the first hour it was basically stretching and exercises like stances or kung-fu movements (kicking, punching, etc.). Following that was the grasshopper routine run through. Then it was onto some new fun stuff of comebacks! We were taught five moves that counters an opposing punch. I felt like I was learning self-defense, which is totally sweet and useful! These moves basically turned the punch into a painful arm lock of some sort. The only problem was my practice partner was an older lady who I was afraid of hurting her. The point of the moves was to cause pain. I didn’t want to give her pain but I wanted to learn the moves. As a compromise I performed the moves gently hoping I did them correctly but without the hurt aspect. Perhaps when I get back to the USA someone young would volunteer to be my practice partner. *eyebrow wiggle* I’ll teach you the moves as an inceptive. ;D

Overall it was a fun new experience and I’ll continue to attend lessons until my mind is made up whether or not to stay dedicated to it for the rest of my exchange. We shall see! Until next time, good night all! ^_^