Coffee/Movie Day!

Tuesday February 5^th, 2013

It’s been awhile since I’ve said what was for breakfast huh? The reason is that it usually is either a meat bun or two slices of toast with egg and cheese. Therefore no real call to report on it. Today was different though. On my plate was the food I have mixed feelings about.

Look familiar? Tis gua bao. I previously disliked the one I’ve eaten before at the house but liked the one eaten out at Gongguan. This one? Well this one was not bad. Can’t say I’m crazy for these things but I can now eat them with a straight face. I believe my bad encounter with these was a result of really fermented vegetables, which were too strong for me.

But enough of that, lemme break down the ingredients in this particular gua bao. So first we have the bun, which is like an Asian hybrid of a taco and hot dog bun. Then inside my host grandmother put a piece of thick meat (either pork or beef) and a large chunk of tofu. See the brown and white powder you see sprinkled on top? I finally figured out what it is! It’s been a mystery ever since I’ve had it on several different types of food. It turns out to be a mixture of peanut and sugar grinded into dust. That would explain the sweetness! My host father said that there’s a saying that the more you eat of this sweet powder, the better your year will be. I can see both truth and inaccuracies in that belief. XD

In the early afternoon a whole bunch of exchange students got together with Leo and Kelly to go watch movies. First we headed to ‘Cama Coffee’, a good quality coffee place in Taiwan, to well…drink coffee but also wait for exchange students who hadn’t yet made it on time. In the meantime Kelly and I spotted a street vendor of jewelry and checked it out briefly. She bought a pretty turquoise necklace for only $100NT ($3.3US). My own eye fell upon a necklace of the same price but with silver-bluish roses that highly resembled ones you can find at Ren Fest. It caught my heart so you can guess what happened. ;)

Some of our coffee crew. The lower left guy is actually a short-term exchange student from Brazil named Yuri. He came on the Rotary Hualien trip with us and is pretty cool. His month of Taiwan is almost up with only a week left. Just think, before I know it that’ll be me leaving in a week. An eye-opener for sure.

We all went to the same movie theater as last time. You pay a $140NT fee ($4.7US) you can watch as many movies as you want to. Today we only viewed two, first ‘Argo’ then ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting.’ Argo was good and really liked to have close calls that make you squirm in your chair. The second movie I didn’t really enjoy. Just not my type.

After getting out from the theater my sickness was really getting to me. I felt weak and tired. Not a pleasant feeling that’s for sure. I did derive happiness from a little toy machine in front of 7-Eleven. Look how adorable these little birdie phone charms are! Too cute! The machine was one of those where you insert coins and a random toy pops out. I just had to try it! The green parakeet of sweetness was what I got. Don’t you wanna just kiss it and cuddle it? I do! ^_^

Dinner was eaten at a Vietnamese place, somewhat run-down. In the mood for a sandwich, I ordered pork baguette sandwich. Yeah it’s not Vietnamese but it was still good. Apart from the pork and bread, it had slices of what I think were white radish pieces. It was an interesting ingredient to add and not a bad option for future sandwiches, FYI. ;)

Lastly we went to a drink place called “Come Buy,” one I’ve never tried before. I settled on a strawberry smoothie with half sugar. In the end, not a fan. It was more ice than strawberry. I struggled to find the strawberry flavor with every sip but just tasted like crushed ice. Blah. Never again.

Took the bus home. “Ooo”ed and “aww”ed at birdies on the internet for awhile. Easily went unconscious.  And there’s my day. Tada!