Monday May 13th, 2013
Let the day begin! With no high school today, that means no
school uniform. I could wear whatever I wanted to! Whoo-hoo! Simple but
comfortable, I went for gray pants, black shirt and a yellow vest combo. It
felt good to be wearing normal clothing to University, which by the way
included the first part of our(Class C) Chinese final. The test consisted
solely of grammar. It threw me off because I thought there would be more
vocabulary elements. Nevertheless, the diligent vocabulary studying may not
matter for the test but it’ll help out for my Chinese in general. Win-Win
situation I reckon! ;)
Able to take lunchtime as slow as my heart desired, I meet
up with some exchange student friends to join them for lunch. Each bought a
take-out meal and brought it to an outdoor coffee shop. Here they obviously
purchased a beverage to go along with their food.
Nothing at nearby shops really appealed to me at the moment
so I settled for two tea eggs from FamilyMart convenient store. These were only
ok tasting but still nice for filling me up. Eating them, I wondered whether or
not I was eating too many eggs, for the day anyway. The fried egg in host
grandmother’s egg cheese toast sandwich, a morning tea egg and then two tea
eggs for lunch. EGG OVERLOAD! There’s nothing wrong with four eggs but I
started to worry that it would cause diet imbalance with a lack of other
nutrients, such as from meat, fish or veggies. Well, at least I could redeem
that at dinner when back at the house but in the mean time, twas an egg morning
and afternoon.
I only visited “36 Coffeehouse” once a looooong time before
and couldn’t remember what I ordered or what the verdict was. Taking Akiko’s
suggestion, a hot Vienna coffee was selected. Though it takes quite some time
to make (a big reason why I don’t go more since the previous time almost made
me late to high school), the beverage was served in a sturdy coffee mug,
obviously not for take-out. An attractive mound of cream and drizzled chocolate
topped the steaming coffee. Tasting the prettiness, the cream deserves mad
props! Not skimpy light stuff, not thick molasses consistency, it achieved a
delightful middle perfection with delicious flavor! Uber kudos! I almost wanted
to eat the cream alone instead of mixing it in the liquid. XD But I did stir it
all in and attained a pleasant cup of coffee. Really emjoyable!
Yours truly. A tad extra holding help underneath the cup was
needed because it was a heavy mug! See that yellow vest? It’s just an adornment
to spice up the simple T-shirt and jean combo, plus I hadn’t yet worn it in
Taiwan. I thought, why not wear it today? I’m pointing this out because I want
you to remember the vest for later. ;P
A good number of exchange students gathered at the coffee
shop, some staying for only a little bit while others remained there for quite
some time. 10-15 people might be a good estimate. Our time together reached
nearly two hours, extending past 1:10PM. Oh me oh my it was truly wonderful! I
adored such a lovely time! It’s clear to see how some exchange students are so
much closer together because they can be with each other for so long. Me on the
other hand, I don’t normally stay that long just because of high school. Yeah,
their schools are a lot less strict and they don’t want naptime. Even if I
didn’t attend naptime, I still would have to leave a lot earlier than them. No
matter, I enjoyed today’s company immensely though I do wish I could’ve
partaken in it more often. Still, I have no regrets. ;)
As people began departing to their schools (yes they had
school today though I’m off because of major tests), I took my leave as well.
The little plan I had for the remainder of today basically was searching for
things on my buy-before-leaving-Taiwan-list. So off it was onto the shopping
expedition!
First was checking the nearby General Merchandise around the
corner for some Taiwan flag styled products. Last time I searched here, none of
the items were available much to my disappointment. But happy day, today they
were! With great satisfaction, I happily bought a Taiwanese flag, Taiwanese
flag stickers and a mini Chinese-styled bag with a Taiwanese flag design. All
cheap and fantastic things I had desired for quite a while! Already the
majority of my to-do list was cut down. Yay!
The other stop was at Taipei Main Station to two underground
mall sections. Browsed here and there from clothing to anime stuff with all the
ease in the world. Purchases followed occasionally and I will recall a few but
first a random encounter story!
While looking through a cheap clothing store, a girl younger
than me can up and asked me a question concerning where to find a certain type
of clothing. This confused me and I suggested her to ask the shop owner because
I didn’t know. I was only a visiting customer after all and not a knowledge
employee. Why would she ask me? Later I realized…she though I was an employee. The blame is on the
yellow vest I was wearing. It struck me that it could be accidently mistaken as
the type of vest people wear if volunteers for events or employees at certain
shops. Though it was certainly not that kind of shop, I see why the mishap came
about. Then I got thinking…do all Taiwanese think of me like that with this
vest? Yes or no, I didn’t care, not when having a jolly good time. :P
Onto some new treasures! The final thing on my must-to-buy-list
was some kind of jade jewelry. Jade is a very important stone to Taiwan,
probably more so than diamonds or gold, and you can see people often wearing
some sort of jade jewelry for luck and other such positive symbols. Usually
they wear a solid circle of jade as a bracelet, like my host grandmother will
do. The solid bracelet isn’t much to my personal liking so instead I tried for
a ring or necklace. And success! I found not one, but two beautiful jade
pendants.
Both pretty and agreeably cheap (about $3US per pendant),
one is a dragon circle bordered with a Chinese-style pattern and the other just
an overall attractive design. I really love both of them and am so glad to have
jade jewelry off my list. Yay!
Even though I thoroughly browsed through the long hallway of
numerous anime shops, I didn't expect to find much. Really, I wanted to give it
one final good-bye check before returning to America. The selections were
pretty much the same as what I remembered but with a few differences. Still, it
was fun to look around. Fun save for one painful reminder of coming upon the
figurine I so terribly want but can’t get with its ridiculous price of 5800NT($194US).
I quickly passed it to minimize the fact that I’m poor. :P Pfft, no I’m not
poor, it’s just ludicrously expensive. XD
When at the last few anime shops, the feeling of not finding
anything was present and went into auto half-hearted search mode. What? I was
getting tired and dehydrated. Don’t judge. :P Anyway I was simply scanning when
BAM! Heartbeat temporarily was
non-existent and all I could do was merely stare in loving disbelief. Right
there, right in front of my face…was Motochika. An uber special voice enabled Motochika
that I’ve seen online for beyond unreasonable prices (like $150-300US) that I
never ever expected to see in person. Something I’ve hankered for thinking it
only a unattainable dream. Yet there he was, only his model and not any other
characters of the corresponding series. What a stroke of luck! Immediately I
thought ‘I WANT TO BUY, NOW!’ Therefore my eyes darted to the price and…
STAB! Right in the heart.
A depressing 3000NT labeled his box, meaning a whopping $100US. Though cheaper
than online, it still is preposterous. Dear, why must you be so expensive? I
admit, I was very tempted for a second but came to senses quickly. Even though he
would be absolutely wonderful to have, I’m not so selfish to waste hard earned
money in such a greedy manner. Therefore, I shuffled out of the store fast.
Back in realistic price world, here’s a little something
quite cheap and entirely delightful! A wee little stamp of the Chosokabe clan
symbol! I won’t go into the story of why this sign is special to me, but know
it makes me certainly cheery! Paired with a proper shade of purple ink pad and I
got myself a charming stamp combo that I will have utmost fun with! LOVE!
Tuckered out and managing to consciously travel back to the
house, I settled down for the night with easy-going work. More importantly, my
must-to-buy-list is complete! I can return to America content. The completion
satisfaction is not only in shopping but also physical places. I’ve seen,
bought and eaten all that I absolutely had to in Taiwan (with the exception of
this planned Wednesday) so I have no untied ends or regrets. All that remains
are nice things to do before leaving this country but not personal requirements.
It’s a good feeling! ^_^ Btw, only two weeks left in Taiwan. Holy sha-moley
time is flying fast!
Hope my shopping trip was entertaining even if just a little
bit. Sorry if it was a bore. I’m a little too tired for a proper writer
mindset. Perhaps tomorrow might be better if today wasn’t your cup of tea.
Anyway, good night and good luck! ;D
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