WINTER BREAK BEGINS!!!

Monday January 21^st, 2013

Winter break officially begins! WHOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! (to the seventh power!) This fine day began with a crunchy Nature Valley granola bar. Mmm-mmm! It was an early prequel to breakfast because the morning meal was an exchange student get-together at 10:00. That time is a wee bit late for my stomach to be empty for that long. XD It’s a really good thing I did have that granola bar because we ended up eating at 11:00! Some people arrived a bit late, travel time and waiting for the food took a while. In total we had ten people, eight were exchange students and the others were our beloved Leo and Kelly from church!

We all went to a breakfast shop that was small but thoroughly praised by Akiko. She used to go there everyday when staying with her first host family and became very friendly with the owners. Akiko loved both the employees and the food. We all found out for ourselves the truth in all her adorations. The recommended food was called “dan bing” which is like an Asian pancake/omelet. I ordered a cheese dan bing and spilt a bacon dan bing with Akiko. Oh…goodness…YUMM….Y! Best dan bing I’ve ever had! It was a bit crispy, had great ingredients, delicious flavor and a good amount of substance. Paired with some soymilk, this made a fine meal! It puts the dan bing I once ordered at school to ultimate shame! This stuff is seriously the best in Taipei! Even though it’s pretty far from my house, I would love to go again. I’m on winter break after all! :D

Next up was going to Taipei Main Station for some coffee and glass shopping for Lea (a Canadian girl). I got a slight kick of energy from the vanilla latte I had. Luckily no crash followed. Thank goodness!

With only five members left in our party (others left for previous engagements) we headed to a big park somewhat close to my high school. I’ve never been before but it sure was a lovely open space. The weather was lovely, I was outside exploring and getting a bit of exercise in from walking, all of this made Andrea happily energetic and feeling like Andrea. The contrast of health conditions, both mental and physical, comes out clear. It’s amazing how much eight hours in the same small area for high school for so long can effect my well being so much. Being out in the open away from high school and the same subway/bus combo can really revive me. Shall we see some of this park?

This was a little dome made out of bamboo. You are looking at the roof. It made me feel like a little bird nesting when inside the dome. ^_^

Many flowers were planted throughout the park. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

This part of the park was interesting. See this ceiling? It’s made out of recycled plastic bottles. That’s pretty cool and environmentally friendly concept.

As Erin (another Canadian girl) left our group, Akiko, Leo, Kelly and I remained. We all took a quick but Pepto-Bismo demanding taxi to the neighborhood of the dear lovebirds. (FYI, I like to call Leo and Kelly ‘the lovebirds’ because they’re so adorable together!) Quickly we grabbed some food, which was kinda both lunch and dinner. Mine was a sort of thick noodle soup with several side ingredients.

After talking a little bit, we realized it was already 5:00, which meant rushing to the nearby movie theater we planned to see tonight. The cool thing about this place is you pay $140NT ($4.7US) to watch as many movies as you want to. Sure it’s not big or fancy and shows older movies but it’s sure a bargain! We only stayed for two films. The first was a French movie called “Special Forces.” I think that’s my first war type movie. Transformers 1 doesn’t count. ;P It got a wee bit emotional for me. They killed my favorite dude in such a sad manner. Noooooo! Sniper-dude-whose-name-eludes-me, nooooooo! Oh the movie was in 7/8 French and an 1/8 English with Chinese subtitles all throughout. Even with the language barrier it was still understandable enough but Kelly was thoughtful and gave me little translations now and then from the Chinese subtitles. It was fun to guess what the French were saying when I didn’t understand.  The goal is to come up with the most ridiculous stuff. XD

The second film was ‘Taken 2.’ Even though I didn’t see the first ‘Taken’ movie it was still simple to catch on to. The film being in English helped immensely with that. I would still try and read the Chinese subtitles now and then for things I knew the characters for. Fun! I also had some shocks and gasps during that movie. It’s a good feeling to have again as a spark in one’s life.

Bus to the subway, subway to my regular bus stop, bus to the house. Rest now. Good night all! May you have a good night’s rest! ^_^