Tuesday April 30th, 2013
In the very beginning of school, a classmate presented me
with a large orange bag as a gift. She said it had Taiwanese snacks from an
area between 台中(middle Taiwan) & 台南(southern Taiwan). Thanking her for the
thoughtful kindness, I held out my hands to accept it. Plop. The bag was
heavier than it looked. It felt like getting snacks that would last an entire month.
Peering in revealed that the weight came mainly from a hefty bag of condensed
looking candy. There were other smaller snacks of varying types. All of them go
against my accepted nutrition diet and obviously overwhelmed me in that area.
But since they are unique to Taiwan and it is good to at least give the snacks
a try, as long as I spread out the consumption, I’m very happy to have new
foods to try. More importantly I’m grateful for caring classmates that think of
me. Thank you my lovely classmates! ^_^
Half way through
the morning and another classmate gave me a bag with two different types of
Taiwanese bread. She said she ate the same thing for breakfast and wanted me to
try it. Again, I’m appreciative of the kindheartedness but so much at once is
overwhelming. Slowly, bit by bit I must space the consumption of these foods so
I can safely try each one. The trick is willpower resistance. ;P
Lunch! Yeah, more
food I know. XD This is the healthy stuff though! Choosing a few different
selections, the cube of tofu was ok at best. The salmon(?) was pretty good with
the white tofu underneath being quite appetizing. But the chicken took the
prize with flying colors! Oh Lordie it was delicious! What exactly made it so
scrumptious alludes me. Perhaps the oil or spices it was flavored with?
Whatever it was, it makes me want to eat it in the very near future if
possible. ;)
I liked today’s
Chinese class but it effectively confused the heck out of me. The grammar we
are currently learning doesn’t make any sense to me, an English speaker. Direct
translations from Chinese to English can have the opposite meaning from what
the translation says. AUGH! IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! I need to flee to a native
English speaker friend that speaks Chinese for help cuz I really need another
angle on this or just keep banging it into my head until it magically clicks.
:P
During a break in
between Chinese class hours, I tackled the Taiwanese bread I mentioned earlier.
I offered to share it but none of the other foreign exchange students wanted
some though the teacher took a little.
First was a soft,
thick tortilla-like bread with green onion flavoring scattered inside. I
thought it was pretty good but only for tasting (because I’m not a frequent
bread eating kind of girl). As a prediction, I think Americans would accept the
flavor pretty well.
The second bread
was hard sour dough(?) with raisins. By itself, the bread isn’t yummy. The
raisins were the saving grace. Therefore I just plucked the raisins and left
the remaining bread alone.
Following getting
out class, I headed to the farthest north part of the subway line, the
well-known Tamsui. I’ve been here a couple times before but the visits were
short and included an extremely tiny part of the area. Today was the same case
because it wasn’t meant for exploration but rather to celebrate a special
occasion. Our dear friend from Colorado, Mariko’s 17th birthday!
Forming a little party of three with Mika, we met up to have dinner at her
would’ve-been third host family’s restaurant, which coincidentally is the same
family as Brittany’s (Australian girl). I’ve previously eaten at the same
restaurant and knew it was good though a bit pricy.
Our small but close
group of friends happy as can be! ^_^
The gift I gave to
Mariko was a little something I brought from America. One part was Swiss Miss
hot chocolate mix because who doesn’t love a satisfying mug once in a while?
The other part was the kicker though, a purple dream catcher. Mariko is a tiny
bit Native American due to some past relative, consisting perhaps a 1/16 of her
heritage. Such a small (or even smaller) fraction doesn't matter to her because
she readily accepts that she is truly Native American since she adores the culture.
Therefore the dream catcher was a perfect gift. Yay! ^_^
At the restaurant,
Mariko asked an employee if her would’ve-been host father was there. She said
no but Mariko pointed out that it was her birthday and hoped to see him. Just
by saying it was her birthday (maybe even the fact saying she was close to the
restaurant’s owner), the lady kindly gave us a plate of various sausages and
another dish with fruits and cake. All free of charge. Very nice indeed!
Three different
types of sausage. I have no idea what either of them is consisted of. What I do
know is that I like the top right one the best. But those little unknown white
dots are quite the puzzlement. What could they possibly be? Hmm…. Seriously I
have no clue. XD
Birthday Girl’s Mediterranean
seafood pasta and the free plate of fruits and cake. Happy Birthday chica! :D
Chicken Cesar Salad
for mwah. While avoiding the croutons, this salad was FANTASTIC! Both the sauce
and bacon bits were soooooo tasty! What a wonderful salad! Nums!
To top off the meal
and to satisfy Mariko’s sweet tooth, I broke out the snack bag and brought out
the condensed, powder covered candy. Neither one of us knew what it was nor tasted
it before so experimentation was in order!
Each candy was a
chewy lump surrounded with white powder. We guessed that there were three
different kinds based on the different colors of pink, light brown and dark
brown. All we could conclude was that the light brown was peanut flavor. The
others were undistinguishable. These things weren’t to the tastes of the
Americans of our party but Mika said she liked them. Therefore I just gave the
bag to her since it would be better in her hands.
While waiting for
the bus home, I unexpectedly ran into host mother who was also headed home. The
bus ride was filled with pleasant conversation between us, a rare treat since
she’s so busy with work. It was really enjoyable. ^_^
That’ll about
conclude the day, a day that seems overflowing with mainly food. XD Ah but all’s
well and ends well. Good night y’all!
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