Rotary Conference & National Palace Museum

Saturday April 13^th, 2013

Pleasing, last night’s wintry low temperatures and rain lightened up this morning to a slight chill and drizzle. Getting out of two thick bed covers and winter clothing was thankfully possible without unpleasant jittering teeth. It turned out to be great weather in my opinion, nippy but not freezing and later warming up to just cool temperatures.

Thanks to studying the “Why We Get Fat” book, I want nothing to do with bread. Problem with that is Taiwan is filled with it and frequently consumes it. The breakfast today was a long block of garlic bread. …oh geez. Compromising and showing respect by at least trying it, I tore off barely a third of the bread and left the rest alone. Looking at the inside it was purely white bread, no fillings, no seasonings just white bread. Even worse. Still I nuked it in the microwave and tasted it. Sure the inside was plain white bread but the outside was coated to the max with butter and garlic so not a single spot was left untouched. Woo-wee it was strong! Now I’ve had garlic bread before (in America) and I like it but this stuff did not appeal to my tastes, which made me even more grateful I only took a third of the bread allotted to me.

Now of course I didn’t limit myself to just a cube of garlic bread roughly between 1-2 inches in measurement. A small banana, maybe 3-4 inches in length, was also set-aside for me. But the topper of it all was a Nature Valley Fruit & Nut bar so the meal could be complete. Though I’ve become weary of even Nature Valley bar’s nutritional content now. Until I gain the ability to distinguish it as a food to avoid or healthily consume, it’s my best bet while in Taiwan.

As a parting gift for my host families (only temporary family (Chen) and my 2^nd family (Ho)) for reminiscing, I want to give them a photo book containing pictures of our memories together. This is to both remember each other and for them to positively remember a girl from Texas that hopefully brings a good outlook on my state and possibly country as well as personal self. So this morning I walked to the nearest “FamilyMart” convenient store where I was told you could print pictures.

Entering the FamilyMart, I located the printing machine but was immediately confused. The one I’ve been showed before by Akiko had both Chinese and English. This one had only Chinese with pictures that weren’t clear to what their purpose was. As I’m trying to comprehend it, I hear a voice not too far away asking, “do you understand Chinese.” I turned around to see a guy in normal clothing seemingly on buddy terms with the employee. The situation turned into him kindly helping me navigate the machine to find the folder with the pictures on my USB. Unfortunately a prominent problem popped up. Apparently the pictures weren’t compatible with the machine because they were JPG files and not the needed JPEG type. That information was found out from the cool dude assisting me. So I elected to return home, fix the file type on my computer and return to FamilyMart.

Next problem, I couldn’t bloody figure out how to change the file type. XD I tried Google but the technological force was not with me. It lead to the decision of hauling my laptop to FamilyMart and ask the guy if he knew how to solve my problem.

By the time I returned to FamilyMart, the guy had left and I was at a loss of what to do. I tried once more to figure out the machine but the same file problem stood in the way. Oh well, I’ll just have to bring this matter to my host family for my temporary host family and then do my current host family’s photo album in secret later. ;)

I ducked into Hi-Life quickly to purchase a Mr. Brown Blue Mountain Blend canned coffee. No, I wasn’t in need of coffee but I did want the can. My hope is to have one of each Mr. Brown canned coffee type for a simple but lovely Taiwanese souvenir. They’re extremely light (when empty) so weight doesn’t become a problem, only possibly volume. Anyway I would like to insert an observation of its flavor. The coffee does come out nicely but I think the partnered flavor is more milk than sugar. I believe this to be very tasty since it brings out the coffee a bit more rather than make it taste like a sweet. Me gusta!

Lunch was consumed at the house where the selection contained dumplings (the ones we made together a month ago) and hot pot fish balls. I feel physically and mentally uncomfortable eating such foods without vegetables included so I settled on only eating three dumplings and a small fish egg ball to prevent a stomachache. My plan was to buy nuts or dried fruit at a convenient store to balance the meal out but the plan went askew.

The exchange students were required to attend the Rotary 3480 District 26^th Conference, taking place at the famous Grand Hotel. Though I’ve seen the building in the distance, today was my first time seeing the marvelous inside. You can type in “Taiwan Grand Hotel Taipei” in Google Images for a reference because I wasn’t able to capture a photo, sorry. Once my host parents kindly drove and dropped me off, I thought I could zip by a convenient store. But silly Andrea, there were no convenient stores in sight. The Grand Hotel is enclosed in its own fancy area away from cluttered streets, stores, etc. So my plan failed but no matter, life went on.

In an e-mail the exchange students weren’t told what we would do but had to wear our country’s traditional clothing or our Rotary blazer. I elected to do both, bringing the blazer and wearing the most cowgirl thing I possessed in Taiwan, a plaid shirt, jeans, Native American necklace and a braided ponytail. It had to do considering my boots, hat and belt buckle are back in Texas (which I miss).

At the beginning Uncle Kaiser, whom I ran into, sweetly bought me an adorable pin at a nearby Rotary merchandise table, a pretty rose boarded by jewel beads with the Rotary logo on the other end. It was very generous of him to do so and I think it’s beautiful! ^_^

Before the exchange students had to line up for unknown reason, I stopped by another Rotary merchandise table that included a whole bunch of pins. The thing about my Rotary blazer is that it severely lacks Taiwanese pins. See, exchange students swap their country’s pins with each other so we can have foreign pins of people we met as a sign of international friendship. That being said, we don’t come across Taiwanese exchange students with such pins therefore I have none but have been in great want of some. So when my eyes fell upon them, I target locked and proceeded to go to town!

Eleven pins. Eleven pins total I bought. XD All were a somewhat cheap 50NT ($1.67 US) but incredibly special to me, only found in Taiwan. As a bonus, I supported Rotary with their purchase, which is all the more reason to buy them. ;) Aren’t they all adorable?! Each of the nearly identical Taiwans at the bottom each have a different Rotary symbol of importance to me, all of which I’ve been involved in during my Taiwanese exchange. Above and to the right is a cool dragon in the clouds with the Rotary gear. To the left, Taiwanese flag and Rotary flag. Then American and Taiwanese flag with “Friendship” printed on the bottom (which I adore). Yes I know the random Spain one is out of place but I can explain that. See, on my Spain short-term exchange I experienced the same lack of Spanish pins. So when I saw this awesome do-dad of a pin, there’s no way I could resist! And y’all know well enough the aboriginal Taiwan pin was a must for me. ;) I love every single one of these fine works of art and shall cherish them forever! ^_^

Here’s what happened at this Taipei Rotary meeting whatnot. From 1:30-5:00 we did two things, sit through long speeches (both in Chinese and Japanese) and…take a picture onstage. So it boiled down to being there doing nothing for 3.5 hours for only a picture together. I don’t understand why but I see it as an experience. Plus I really appreciate the purchasing Taiwan pins opportunity. ;) Though the hours and hours of speeches loudly blasting out of speakers…right next to me…ended up in a headache. My temples were hurting and even massaging didn’t help. Ouch.

People filing on stage. Can you spot a familiar face? ;)

Rotary Inbound 2012-2013 Taiwan Group Pic (I'm invisible behind a lady XD)

From an Italian named Lorenzo, I learned of an apparently European gesture. If you rest your chin/head upon an object or person, it shows you trust them. It’s the equivalent of surrendering your head down for a beheading, hence showing your trust that they won’t do anything. Interesting, huh?

At the end of it all, my host parents picked me up in the car along with Mika (Japanese chica) and headed to the National Palace Museum. Yep, we were visiting there for the evening so I could finish my tour of the (currently) displayed contents and Mika wished to do the same as well.

Before entering the museum, we enjoyed dinner at the nearby restaurant in the same premises as the National Palace Museum (“Gu Gong” is its Chinese name). Between five people, host mother, father, grandmother, Mika and I, we had numerous small dishes requested. Double of each dish was ordered so my host family could share between them while Mika and I shared the duplicate. They are as follows…

Sticky rice and beans, just like in the leaf pyramid thing but a different shape

Taro of some sort. Steamed taro cake perhaps?

I believe this is a Tainan rice cake. Inside is mostly thick condensed rice, like a really really thick pudding with a few shrimp and mushrooms hiding inside. The sauce wasn’t to my taste but I liked the rest well enough.

Some type of noodles without soup

Tan Zae Noodles (also spelt Tan Tsai). These noodles are topped with minced pork and one shrimp. The soup is also unique. Apparently these noodles are quite famous and beloved in Tainan (south Taiwan).

Not sure what type of soup this was but it was pretty thick and had two pieces of meat included. It might have been a type of fish ball or something of the sort. Tasty stuff!

The best I can guess, this is a “traditional miniature rice dumpling” with wasabi and garlic on the side. The dumpling part was thicker and the insides were pretty nummy.

“Tainan style pan-fried toast stuffed with diced chicken and shrimp”. Remember the coffin toast from my Tainan trip? This is the same deal. And oh it’s a good deal! ;) It’s a really enjoyable dish, one that I recommend if you come across it.

“Traditional homemade tofu pudding with red beans.” Also known as “dou hua” in Chinese. The tofu is relatively tasteless so the sweetness comes from the red beans and sugar soup.

“Almond curd (Red Bean Flavor).” A.K.A. almond tofu. Nummy num-nums!

Mika and I!

With dinner finished we headed to the museum. The cool thing was that at 6:30, Taiwanese nationals could get free admission by presenting their ID, which includes my student ID card. Coolness!

First up was an exhibition over Imperial furniture. The main feature was curious, intricate little creations called “curio boxes.” Oh wow, these things were so beautiful! They are highly designed boxes both meant to have beauty within themselves but also to creatively present little various art trinkets. A nickname for these boxes are “toy chests of the emperors.” No pictures are allowed at the National Palace Museum but I just have to show you my two favorite curio boxes! (So a trip for downloaded images was necessary ;P)

Just look at how appealing its been artistically laid out! The various different compartments not only compliment each other but also the treasures inside. Truly, truly stunning.

Curio boxes are also designed in mind to be compact. So the same box can be condensed into a smaller shape. Really something else.

Yet another famous box. The left two parts are the top and bottom separated while the right image are the assembled sections but compartments slid out. See that interesting ninja star kind of shape? I realized as I was walking through the Imperial Furniture exhibition, it was shaped exactly like that! So there were four curvy subdivisions in the same contour. That is so awesome! By the way, curio boxes were by far my favorite part of the museum. They are just so exquisite and fascinating not to love! ;D

Following was a chain of beautiful Chinese paintings, one for each of the lunar month (12 or 13). As you progressed down the line, you could see the seasons change in the picture’s setting and corresponding with the seasons, the people’s activities altered as well. You could see kids flying kites in one picture, dragon boat races in another, spring flower watching or, my favorite, children building a Chinese snow lion. Yeah, America has basic snowmen but Chinese had a difficult snow sculpture of a lion. Dude, skills much? XD

We then travelled to a display over rare books. Even though I didn’t understand a lot of it since I’m unfamiliar with these historical books, but even so I could appreciate them. They were bound on the right side meaning you read from right to left and contained long scripts of careful calligraphy. Some books would have the painted calligraphy on the left page and a Chinese styled painted picture corresponding with the script on the right. That type of book was really cool and I wondered if every single coupled pages were like that. Imagine how long it took to write the book if that’s case!

Next we viewed a lovely room with hanging painting scrolls, fan paintings and calligraphy scrolls. The calligraphy scrolls were displayed in such a way that the beginning was some of the oldest style Chinese calligraphy and slowly progressed down the wall into the newer styles with all its different evolving versions. In this exhibition my favorite art by far was seeing Chinese paintings of mountains. Oh, these are just incredibly enchanting! There was even one with heavy-laden clouds so the mountains were just barely peaking out of the sea of fluffy white. So gorgeous!

Nearby was a small place with various Buddha statues. Not the fat, smiling Buddha mind you but another kind.

Going along, the jade exhibition was up. Though I’ve already seen during my last visit, it was still enjoyable to view a second time. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? Heck, a person could return a third, fourth or fifth time just because the items are so unique. While walking through the place, Mika admitted to me some disappointment because strangely enough the signs didn’t have any Japanese. Some exhibitions do in fact have Chinese, English and Japanese to cover a wider range of tourists but jade only had Chinese and English. So I transformed into a translator for her! Our Chinese is about the same level so I could speak things like “this is a thing where you can put flowers in” for a jade vase. She appreciated my help and her experience was made all the more improved with knowledge of what she was looking at. International friendship power! :D

Of course, we had to up close see the infamous jade cabbage and meat stone. These two arts are EXTREMELY well known and can be easily looked up on the Internet. I’ve already talked about them in my last visit’s Taffy so I’ll skip them here.

Mika and I, now a team of two, went on by ourselves because time was running out and we needed to go faster to see the whole museum. We breezed through the bronze display in no time at all. Next was viewing snuff bottles and boxes. These little containers hold powdered tobacco that the Chinese thought to be a remedy for common illnesses like colds, headaches and stomach disorders. There were so many different kinds of snuff bottles and all were good looking. Check out images on the Internet if you’re interested in all the varying types. ;)

With a mere fifteen minutes remaining before the closing time of 9:00, Mika and I had to speed look at a display with Chinese paintings. Oh goodness they were beautiful but time was not on our side. Two seconds or so could be spared for each painting. The sheer overload speed I zipped at combined with exhaustion from the day, I easily became light headed and fought keeling over. Needless to say I passed out on the car ride home. XD

So yay! I got to revisit the National Palace Museum and saw everything (more or less). I am content. ^_^ If one ever travels to Taiwan, I recommend checking it out. ;) Good night all! Sweet dreams!