Mandarin Competition Game & Underground Mall Trip!

Saturday March 9^th, 2013

Have I got a good day to report to y’all! It began with my host father driving me to my University campus for a Rotary activity. The strangest thing about being at the University today was wearing normal clothing and not school uniform. With good weather to boot I felt so free and alive able to prance around in a pretty summer shirt without needing a jacket nor having to haul around a heavy school bag. It was great!

So this Rotary event was a team Mandarin competition only lasting two hours. The exchange students were divided into about six groups and had to complete several different games testing our Chinese knowledge.

For reference sake, my team (Team A/北) included:

-Maxime (Belgium)

-Lorenzo (Italy)

-Kanon (Japan)

-Emma (United States)

-Mia (United States)

-Anne Sophie (Denmark)

We were determined to win! Right as we got our envelope stating the first station location, we BOLTED! Slightly huffing upon arrival, we found our first game that comprised of a lady telling us directions (Ex: The post office is next to the house) and we would have to place picture cards correctly on a map. Based on how well we did, she gave us a corresponding amount of points/stickers. Even though we did well she awarded us only a few but followed up with asking us to do various tasks like singing a song in Chinese, dancing, etc. for more points. Playing along we did whatever she asked and as soon as we got our stickers and next station’s location, it was time to RUN AGAIN!

Next game was a card memory matching game, the kind where you flip over two at a time and try to find a pair. This version was a picture to the Chinese word for it (Ex. Photo of a pen and “筆”). And again after all said and done, a lady asked us to “entertain her” by dancing Gangnam Style for 30 seconds with a camera-in-hand guy ready to capture our silliness. We didn’t care, we wanted the extra points! Thirty seconds after our daftness, we once again were cheering “RUUUUUUUUUUUN! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUUUUN!” XD

Third game was “老師說” otherwise called ‘Simon Says’ (direct translation is “teacher says”). It had commands like “People wearing T-shirts sit down.” There we found at that the first station lady gave us the wrong directions and screwed up our order of games. Nonetheless we continued on, sprinting of course. ;P

Fourth was “Chinese whisper” a.k.a. ‘telephone.’ The chica spoke a sentence in the first exchange student’s ear and the chain went down the line to me. Understanding Maxime (next to me) perfectly, I confidently said, “我有兩個姐姐， 三個弟弟， 還有一隻狗!” (I have two older sisters, three little brothers and one dog) Oh so close but not correct. Turns out it got warped in the middle of the line and the right answer was ‘I have three older sisters, two little brothers and five dogs’. Nearly!

Next up was what criminals do when leaving an untraceable note from cutting out newspaper words and gluing them on a sheet of paper. XD We were given a long typed message and had to create a duplicate but with newspapers, scissors and gluesticks. English is easy to do this because you can simply cut out all the letters of the alphabet and create words out of it. Chinese characters you can’t. Therefore it is a lot more challenging. My contribution to the group was gluing the cutouts on, some being quite large while others being ridiculously small. It was actually really fun!

The sixth and final station (bet you can guess our speed between transferring places ;P) was a ‘gosh darn it!’ moment when we arrived at the same time as another group but they still went first. So my team was twiddling our thumbs waiting but at least got an opportunity to recharge with water. When our turn came, this activity felt like a game show where something was shown on the screen and you had to answer the corresponding question. This lady also asked us at the end of the game to sing her a song. So we asked when her birthday was, her answering in March, and us merrily singing her ‘Happy Birthday’ in Chinese.

One final SPRIIIIIIIIIIINT  to the finish line and we accomplished first to finish! WHOO-HOO! Twenty extra points/stickers were awarded for this task, a needed handicap for victory. We ended up tying with another team for first place at 85 points. Our prize for this was 3000NT spilt amongst us. It sure was an exciting morning with Chinese knowledge testing and lovely spurts of dashing. Twas really enjoyable! Thanks Rotary! :D

For lunch four buds and I went to Sushi Express to subdue a craving for sushi. As always, it was really yummy and I delighted in every dish (four total) all favorites in my book.

Tuna and corn sushi. The seaweed sheet wrapped around rice tastes just so perfect! Really swell!

Shrimp ‘seaweed ice cream cone’ (as I like to put it ;P). This was a let down in quality compared to others I’ve had but it still was tasty.

 Some kind of fishy. Good fishy. Yummy fishy. ^_^

FAVORITE ITEM HERE! Raisins and nuts on top of rice wrapped in some squishy moist something-something, thin tofu perhaps? I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

Whatever this yellow stuff is, you can eat it between dishes to cleanse the pallet. It as a kick to it and is good tasting. 87% sure it’s ginger.

Mika and Shania!

Maxime and Garrett! Garrett refuses to look at the camera for some reason. XD

After the lovely lunch we spilt up, some having previous engagements and some with homework awaiting. I on the other hand took a trip to Taipei Main Station and browsed through the underground malls yet again. With good-looking normal clothing on instead of uniform, it was even more of a blast. I went with two errands on my list and carried out both.

One was quick and easy, knowing the exact location, price and everything. A short sub-series of three mangas previously seen but not purchased, Sengoku Basara 3:Roar of the Dragon was bought today for extremely cheap. In America a normal manga will cost about $10US. In Taiwan I got three for the same price! And no, it wasn’t in English otherwise that would defeat the major reason for getting them. These were the “Taiwan Chinese Edition For Distribution And Sale In Taiwan Only.” Extra special and great Chinese reading practice/learning. Since I know this series and the characters so well, this is definitely the best choice for my first Chinese book. Having pictures, beloved peeps it’s perfect! Perfectly awesome of course! ;D

The other goal was to browse through a store called “Miki” where I saw a sign last time advertising clothes at 100NT ($3.3US). Today they indeed still had that sign though sometimes misleading. A rack with a big “100NT” sign had some clothes with price tags marked differently like “190” or more. Nonetheless the browsing was interesting though no dressing rooms were available. I found one top that caught my attention and ended being purchased. To my delight, it actually fits and doesn’t look bad. Of course when some pounds are shed it’ll be even better. ;)

Thinking there was only one “Miki”…I was surely mistaken. There wasn’t one nor two Mikis nor even three. It was more like seven found! Each were slightly different but basically holding the same clothing. I would like to buy some cheap, light-weight tops to bring back to America but right now heavy winter clothes are still being primarily sold. Not very useful or pleasant in Texas. XD Perhaps in a month or two, the seasonal clothing selection will switch. *fingers crossed*

Walking down the underground mall I glanced and saw the strangest thing. A man was lying down with a woman with two knives rapidly hitting his back. My thought was “Oh my gosh! She’s attacking him!” Looking at the environment I realized it was a massage business and calmed down. But still, knives? Two inch tall and six inch long knives? What kind of massage is that? Trying to take a picture of it, a worker came up to me and began his marketing to get my money. He was a persistent bugger! I only wanted a picture after all but I can’t blame him for doing his job. He did get me interested in this concept though. Humorously explaining that I thought the lady was using sharp knives, the man cleared things up by showing me the tools. Dull blades. He tip-tapped a bit on my shoulder to demonstrate and it felt like being drummed rapidly with the non-slicing slide of a blade. Cool angle on a massage and I would’ve tried it if not for being pricey at 220NT ($7.3US) for 10 minutes. For massage I prefer kneading down into the trouble spots rather than tip-tapping on the surface. Plus I didn’t have any pain at the time so it wouldn’t be the same compared to the opposite scenario. So I had to try and politely take my leave but it’s not as easy when you’re alone than with other people. With other people you have a certain protection from persistent advertising that you can use to flee with. Being alone is harder to do so. The way I made my escape was an awkward “Thank you” and FLEEEEEEEEE! XD

One last purchase at the underground mall for a mere 10NT ($0.30US) was this adorable bunny and carrot! He’s so cute! There was a shop will a whole box of these bead phone charms anywhere from dogs to pineapples. So many kinds! Even when going through a lot, I probably only scratched the surface of what was available. Nonetheless I love this little guy! ^_^

FINALLY! For MONTHS I have seen the same drink shop everyday when waiting for the bus to go home. Since it was still the afternoon and not right before dinner like usual, I finally took the opportunity to buy a drink my eye has been on. A matcha red bean smoothie! I patiently waited for the single lady to get to my order but enjoyed watching the process.

The lady at work. For those of you who don’t know, see that machine in the bottom right corner? That’ll be a do-dad that cements a plastic sheet on top of the cup. You simply place the cup in the circular holder, it goes into the machine and the magic takes place popping out all nice and sealed. To drink the liquid you have to stab, not poke, stab a straw through the seal. You can see this for yourself at most any Asian drink shop. I think this a great system and America should have more of it. Knocked your drink over on the floor and the lid popped off? Not a problem if you have a Asian sealed one cuz that stuff is strong! Of course you can’t get refills like lids allow, which are the downside. ;P

Bags like this made specifically for holding one cup and straw are very common in Taiwan. Not so much in America.

That’ll be zee drink! The body color green with dark dots for the red beans scooped, not blended, in. For the verdict, I only can give it an average rating. I expected more flavor but tasted watered down. Before I knew it, I was already half way through the drink because I was drinking too fast in attempt to get a firm grip on the taste. Therefore it was hard to savor because there wasn’t much taste there. The only good part was when you got a red bean or two in a sip. Everything else seemed just melting ice with a very faint bit of matcha. It wasn’t bad but my expectations were too high and I don’t plan on buying it a second time. Still was a nice treat though. :)

A nap and dinner later, I headed out to the public library a ten-minute walk away. There I returned “Peeps” and looked through a book displaying pictures of Taiwanese aboriginal clothing from a museum. Lovely! Just before leaving, a small little corner beckoned at me. Taking a book from its small selection, I checked out and merrily bid the library farewell. This book is super cool! The title “Learning Chinese with Signs” explains it all. It basically instructs you in Mandarin using various types of signs throughout China and Taiwan. This is just what I need! I totally want to learn signs relating to food, shopping, transportation and many more! The layout and presentation of its contents is so curiously appealing too! I haven’t even started studying from it and I already love it! XD

Right as I exited the library, two University-aged-looking guys and two girls next to the entrance spotted me and said an English “hi.” Replying with the Chinese equivalent ”你好” the usual shocked gasp of a foreigner speaking Mandarin occurred. For some reason, this disbelief was one of the cutest and funniest reactions I’ve encountered yet. Smiling I walked past and heard a guy say “bye-bye” to which I matched with “在見.” But then I hear a good-humored “I love America,” the kind where the guy said it to be friendly.

Seeing an opportunity to mess with him, I turn around and called out in Chinese, “You think I’m American?” FYI, if you’re a foreigner in Taiwan, you will get accused of being an American at first glance no matter where you originate from. It ticks of Europeans all the time. XD So I played with this concept and had some fun with this dude. Closing the distance between us (cuz I walked about 10-15 feet away before I heard his American comment), the guy looked startled as I repeated my question. With a contemplative expression he asked, “你是英國人嗎？” (“Are you English/British?”). That’s when I told him the truth and he understood the joke. A short chat of ‘how long have you been in Taiwan’ and ‘are you a exchange student?’ took place before bidding him goodbye. It was so quick but so enjoyable. He seemed so nice too. Just a pleasant little time inserted into my day, a blessing. ^_^

One last objective was to visit a bookstore I’ve seen on the bus ride home that’s very close to the library. I spotted anime posters on the door and mangas on the shelves so I excitedly thought I could find more Chinese practicing/learning books there. It was strange though because I don't think they sold books. Either way all the books looked old and none appealed to me. That's fine cuz I already got my three desired books! ;D

As for the three mangas I purchased today, I wrapped only the first. All of them were enclosed in plastic, proving they were brand spanking new (just the way I like it!). Upon flipping through the contents, it transformed a treasure chest with hidden booty in the back! After finding the treasure I retraced to the cover and understood the bottom Chinese section. There was a bonus of two postcards included out of four offered characters. Those chaps are Kojuro, Mori, Motochika (HEART!) and Date. The gems of postcards in my book were Kojuro and by some amazing stroke of luck, Motochika! That is fantastic! :D Oh thank you dear fate! ^_^

So yes today was filled with enjoyment, exploration and wonderful surprises! Good day indeed! Hope yours was too! Bye-bye y’all! :)