Friday April 19th, 2013
Why even bother to bring the old school jacket? It still was
drizzling in the morning (calling for an umbrella) but had a nice cool
temperature. Screw wearing a jacket! Let’s go out and enjoy the slight chill
when still possible before it gets sweltering hot again! Whoo! The danger in
not bringing a jacket is you never know whether today’s classroom will be
Antarctica or not. Thankfully it stayed at a moderate coldness without inviting
penguins to slide on ice banks. :P
At the beginning of the school day our homeroom teacher
(Athena) gave each student two pieces of assorted candies. Both the ones I got
were never before tried but I have seen the orange candy in a larger bar
version at convenient stores. Feeling in package, the grape wrapper just seemed
to be hard candy, something I didn’t want. So I just gave it to Redy who I knew
liked grape stuff.
Speaking of Redy, yesterday after the Interact meeting she
said she wanted to talk to me about my speech but didn’t have spare time at the
moment. Therefore the conversation would be postponed until the next day
(today). Initially her wish to talk to me birthed some worry in me. Perhaps I
did or said something wrong in my speech that was offensive or just too
outlandish? What if I pronounced a word so incorrectly that I voiced some
ancient intense Taiwanese taboo? Did the students think my story was downright
boring? Yes, I was anxious to say the least.
Turns out that Redy wanted to expand on my question of
whether or not the students liked my speech/story. I had asked because many
people didn’t laugh at humorous parts or had much of reactions at all. Today
Redy explained that the students didn’t expect a presentation with such
personality, energy, etc. but that’s what made it special. Instead of droning
out the words, I happily added flare and life to my presentation. Though I will
say I lacked audience eye contact because my gaze was glued on my paper to not
screw up pronunciation of Chinese words I haven’t yet learned. Compared with
the other exchange students, my speech was by far the most outgoing. So yay the
Taiwanese students did like my style! :D Whoo-hoo!
My buffet food selection for lunch was the same as Wednesday
being oh so yummy and healthy. Well, there was one difference. I got three
cubes of stinky tofu instead of the previous two. But who is picky on such
details, am I right? XD What delights me is that it seems all these foods are
generally available everyday. This provides me with a crutch knowing I’ll have
delicious nutritious options to always count on. Of course I do want to try new
things but these might be the healthiest options out of them all. Either way, I
LOVE THEM! ^_^
After naptime and speeding to Chinese class across campus, I
caught a quick view of my reflection in a hallway mirror. (Btw, huge hallway
mirrors are strangely common throughout Tatung. Weird) It looked like I got
royally punched in the eye because the entire area was bright red. That comes
from resting my head on my arms for snoozle time but 30-40 continuous minutes
of this will leave a prominent rosy mark for some time. And it happens every day along with legs falling
asleep. Joy. :P
I gave the orange wrapper candy from earlier a shot since it
seemed like a popular enough treat to be interest enticing. Nearly 1.5 inches
in length, it was a slim little bar. Taiwanese brand, mind you. Its outside is
a thin chocolate coating with a chewy white filling. At first the smell and
very first ounce of taste reminded me of Reese’s but that thought was quickly
banished after a second. There’s not an American candy I can make similarities
to. Reading the ingredient label and confirming with the Chinese teacher, the
five main ones were chocolate, peanut, cream, milk and butter. The peanut did
come out with small sandy tan looking bits within the inside, difficult to see
in the picture but can just barely make them out. This candy’s uniqueness and
flavor was pretty good, enjoyable in fact. I would say it’s above average but
not outstanding on my radar. Feel free to try it if you get the chance because
it’ll be a nice experience. ;)
Oh look, another new food I tried. ;P That seems to be the
majority of my Taffys lately. XD Well you can’t blame me since food is the
biggest part of Taiwanese culture. This next chow is the last Taiwanese snack
given to me by my classmate, a rice cake of some sort. Apart from, of course,
rice there were bits of peanuts and seaweed sheets within the patty. Both of
these together provided the rice cake a slight sweetness and a slight
saltiness. Something else special was you could distinguish each ingredient
pretty clearly. Though some bites were saltier and some sweeter, most of the
rice cake was perfectly balanced with two flavors that blended quite well
together. With great balance and execution of taste, I thought this to be quite
the pleasant little snack. It wins first place out of the three deriving from the
brown paper bag classmate gift. Congratulations rice cake! You’ve won a trip
through Andrea’s digestive system. :P
A calm night gently slipped in and all was peaceful. Twas a
nice end to the weekdays. Now onto the weekends and whatever adventures they
bring with them! ^_^ Peace out!
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