Not Nummy Fish Guts

Thursday April 25^th, 2013

It’s been quite some time since I last ate at the University buffet. I decided to give it another shot today but what immediately was an inconvenience was that the buffet wasn’t completely set up yet. Unless I skip naptime (which I won’t), I would have to wait around a while. That I can not do so I selected several things to combine with a tea egg purchase from 7-Eleven.

Obviously the most outstanding feature of this tray is the long fish. Since I was eating alone today, it seemed like the perfect time to finally try eating a whole fish. My skills at doing this are a limited to none so it was an experimental time. …I did not like experimental time. Though I managed to fish out (excuse the pun) some meat, many hiding bones slipped inside my throat and in no way was comfortable. More importantly I think I ate some things I shouldn’t have because I got disgusting bites. Those repulsive tastes must have come from the fish’s inner organs. I quickly learned to steer clear of it and stick with my bony meat. The tea egg provided some redemption but didn’t exactly give a firework finale end to the meal. Following, there was an unpleasant aftertaste from the fish even with a Listerine Mint Strip’s help. No way I’ll ever get that fish again and probably will stay clear of whole fish at buffets in general.

Nothing else interesting to report. How about I love Google’s weather predictions? Because they’ve been spot on and have correctly warned me when an umbrella is needed for the day. Ummm, there was also host father talking host grandmother to see the doctor (for a check-up I think) so dinner was late. They sent me a text informing me so I nuked a few leftovers in the microwave and nommed on a plum. Later they came back and steamed some dumplings, which I had a few of. I’m quite full now. Maybe too full. Who knows?

Sorry this seems like a half-hearted post. Still not exactly overflowing with energy. Sorry. Until next time guys!

Fluttering Flickering Fireflies

Wednesday April 24^th, 2013

Am I in Texas? The weather was quite hot and humid in Taipei so much so that I thought I was temporarily transported back to Texas. Random thought but with the pairing of country music from my iPod, I felt slightly like a cowgirl again. XD

Skipping some things, I’ll jump right to my monthly Rotary club meeting. The lunch was in the rotating table style and had a good variation of food for me to healthily pick from. Nummy meat, fish, vegetables, etc. What I can’t shake from my mind are the confusing, conflicting comments from a couple Rotarians. First I receive a kind invitation to go Chinese traditional dress shopping with Chen father (temporary host father/president of the club) but with it comes, ‘why would you want one? You have to be really slim.’ I let it be known I already have a short one but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Then my counselor, who seems to always like referring to my weight at every meeting, says it looks like I’ve lost some (which is true) but he won’t believe I actually lost the weight in Taiwan. I’m somewhat mentally immune to comments about my weight but I can’t seem to satisfy Taiwanese. Either I’m not fat enough or I’m not skinny enough (usually the second). It’s confusing to say the least but hey, it won’t matter anymore in a month ;)

Back at Tatung there was only one more class to attend by the time I returned. As I left for the day, one guy student in almost a sing-song voice called out my Chinese name followed with a friendly “bye bye!” After I happily responded with “bye bye” and continued on my way, the group of boys miscalculated my abilities. Not only could I hear them but also understood their Chinese of “so cute.” I kept tossing ideas around in my mind at how I could turn around and surprise them but nothing good came to mind. So I thought it best to avoid revealing a blush and just walk on. XD Little do they know that the foreigner can understand their words. They should beware. ;P

Rain began to come down just as I arrived at the house, which threatened to cancel a firefly watching trip my host father had previously planned. One minute it was ‘yes we can go’ then the next, ‘darn it’s raining! We aren’t able to.’ A short time after dinner the rain seemed to stop for good so host father and I quickly pulled on some outside clothes and headed for the car. A car ride later landed us on a winding mountain path. Stepping out, the first thing I noticed was how lovely the weather was. Not only had the humidity gone down considerably but also there was a slight cool breeze. Loads better than earlier in the day!

Then I saw them. Tiny white lights flickering along the mountain, immersed in the shrubbery. They were few in number but had the distinct quality of flashing their lights in an individual constant rhythm. Strange I thought since I knew fireflies to have a continuous glow. Even so, this type of firefly required careful eyes to trail all the lights because they were so faint. The two of us walked along the road for a short time to see more clusters of lights. We came across a plethora of these fireflies that gave me the impression of a dim but noticeable flickering Christmas display. It was quite pretty. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show because the night was too dark with the firefly lights too soft to capture anything. Still, I liked the lovely, soothing night firefly trip. Thanks host father! ^_^

Still really tired for some reason and I haven’t even done any work today. Oh geez. Therefore, nighty night!

Another Num-Num Buffet

Tuesday April 23^rd, 2013

Nothing too special about the morning. Basically just reading “Catching Fire,” getting shocked from the plot twist and all that jazz. I was puzzled when classmates kept switching between the seat next to me within a two hour period. First sat the chica who has that place as her assigned seat, then another chica for a short time, then a quiet boy and later another boy who used to sit next to me (not my first seat buddy though) and just slept. Why? No idea. Do I care? Not really.

For a bit of exploration, I tried the other buffet at the school that I’ve only been to once before a long time ago. It was smaller and more crowded but the final box was a tad cheaper than the other buffet. Though it had a different food selection, I still came out satisfied with my nutrition choices. My box happily contained a chunk of chicken on the bone, single slice of sausage, two cubes of tofu, two slim slices of tofu, pile of green leafy veggies and eggs. Neither tofus were the stinky kind and both were average at best. The slim slices didn’t taste like much of anything but at least the other type had a bit more personality though still shy. Whatever were tossed and cooked with these eggs gave it a tasty advantage over a hard-boiled one, something I’ll have to experiment with back in America ;). FYI, the bulk of veggies was hidden underneath the eggs so there’s more than the eye sees. :P

For the Chinese test today it was ok but I hit a couple unexpected snares though it felt good overall. Camille (French student) was touring Taiwan with her visiting French family and Marilu (Mexican student) was sick, making both girls absent. Therefore it was just Rike (German student) and I at Tatung Chinese class. With a smaller class we went through the material faster and covered more ground. Twas nice.

Since I didn’t have any immediate homework to accomplish, I thought tonight could have a full throttle on the two speeches needing to be written hanging over my head. That was in theory anyway. Reality was passing out for a couple hours from sudden tiredness that popped out of nowhere. Well, I tried to get a lot of work done…kinda… Sure I got some stuff accomplished but not as much as I would’ve hoped for. We all have our good and bad days right? No biggie.

Ta-ta for now! Byes!

Indian Starbucks & Chinese Fan Culture!

Monday April 22^nd, 2013

As of late, host grandmother has often awoken later than usual resulting in several close calls regarding breakfast. More than once I thought I would have to leave without some like today. It was really close but she came through even though I missed my normal bus. One thing I look forward to back in America is being able to make my own breakfast again so I can have control over when and what I eat.

At 7-Eleven I purchased a bottle of water and remembered to take a shot of the tea egg pot so y’all could have a visual reference. Ta-da! The liquid is warm, not boiling and all the eggs are so tastefully steeped.

University didn’t have any special features. We were just told of a random but mandatory speech on May 9^th that requires us to speak for three minutes in Chinese. So far there is no set topic to talk about so anything is up for grabs. Personally I really want to something, anything other than about Taiwan. Every single speech I’ve spoken or heard has always been about Taiwan. Frankly I’m tired of always hearing students talk about how they like pearl milk tea or went to this place or such and such suck-up-to-Taiwanese stuff. It always will follow along the same vocabulary so we don’t learn much anything new.

With this being said I really want to something that doesn't focus on Taiwan. Perhaps a subject involving the entire globe or something non-country specific. Problem is, what? And even if I figured out what, there is a good chance I don’t know the Chinese words required to carry it out. This speech is just too short notice and is going to end up stressing me out. Hopefully I can come up with a topic quickly and get it over with.

Lunch was a surprise today. With Jeanne (the French girl) and Maxime, we walked down a long street to eat at a favorite Indian restaurant of Jeanne’s. I had never been even close to this area so it was all new sights for my eyes. The appearance of the restaurant calls for a giggle or two, don’t you think? It’s like an Indian version of the Starbucks logo. XD

Now I’m a newb when it comes to Indian food. I’ve had it before but my knowledge about this cuisine’s whereabouts is close to zip. Luckily the menu was in English and Jeanne suggested a couple favorite dishes. I chose the “fish masala” and went in expecting the majority of the plate to have fish on it. I love fish.

Then this was brought out…my first thoughts were ‘where the heck is the fish?’ and ‘why do I have a Mount Everest of rice on my plate?’ Quickly I learned that fish masala was code for fish curry. Curry is in my vocabulary, not masala. Curry I know is mostly rice with sauce drizzled on. The thing is, I’m not comfortable with eating a dish that primarily is based on rice. If I eat rice at all, it’s in very tiny quantities (my host family finally understands that I don’t really like rice so they don’t push me to eat it anymore, yay). Anyway on this plate is the mountain of rice, pile of shredded cabbage (?), small quantity of corn something-something and the bowl of sauce. A few pieces of fish were submerged in the sauce, which answered my question of where the heck the fish was. And the sauce was perfect! Not bland though not spicy, it was an incredible flavor that had a kick but not enough to set fire to your tongue. I really enjoyed it! Consuming some rice (5/8 of what was given) for that sauce was so worth it! Andrea’s Indian Cuisine Knowledge level: +3 points!

Eating at the Indian restaurant came with a sacrifice, missing naptime. No biggie though because I simply slept through the first high school class even though I don’t like to do so in respect to the teacher. But I needed it and the teacher was impartial to snoozing students. Therefore, why not?

At night I was Skyping with my sis, educating her with my new nutrition knowledge, when my host parents came in and said they had something to give me. That something was actually three things, two of them related to the National Palace Museum and one that I’ll show you now.

A BEAUTIFUL traditional fan! Oh Lordie I LOVE THIS! For those of you who know, I feel in love with fans when on my exchange in Spain. Those things are lifesavers from the heat, eye-candies in every way and just all out fun to whip open and closed. I do indeed love Spanish fans but my love extends to traditional Chinese ones as well. It hasn’t been exactly a walk in the park to find a true one that’s appealing. Out of the blue, my host family gave me one tonight. Perhaps they remembered how I like them and traditional Chinese cultural objects. Regardless, this was so super kind-hearted of them. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Something interesting regarding gift giving in Chinese culture lies in a bit of taboo in the name. The Chinese word fan (“shan”) sounds like “san”, which means ‘to scatter or to loose.’ A bride traditionally gives their parents a fan to symbolize that she is leaving them for her husband. Therefore to jump through a loophole so they could give me the fan, I ‘bought’ it from them. They merely asked for 1NT (3 cents) to swerve around this part of Chinese culture. Just a tiny but fascinating new fact I learned today. AND I get a stunning fan? It’s a good, good night! ^_^

Speaking of good night, well…good night! Sleep tight! :P

Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center

Sunday April 21^st, 2013

Woke up. Ate breakfast. Went back to sleep. I abandoned the idea of going to church today because I wasn’t feeling too hot. A good quality sleep was achieved for a suitable seven or so hours but it just didn’t feel like enough. Another few hours were necessary to achieve a semi-functional Andrea.

At noon, I was awoken by my host family to come and eat lunch. With my hair in a mess and feet dragging, I slowly shuffled by way to the table. They made a comment on how cold it was but I countered with how hot I was feeling at the moment. This immediately struck them as a sign of sickness and encouraged me to drink some soup. I knew I wasn’t sick, just warmed from sleeping under the covers with my window closed. Regardless it was sweet of them to be concerned about my health.

Once the majority of my senses came to, host father, mother and I took the car out for a two-part trip. First was a newly build sugar manufacturing museum that ended up being short, unimpressive and completely lacking English. Not a very foreigner friendly. But it was a first visit for both my host family and I so it was just exploring.

In the car we passed a short parade-looking procession with loud resounding music and several traditional ritual items. Host father said it was an inspection of a sort, bringing the Gods to see if the area’s people had peace and health. I don’t quite understand why since they don’t do anything other than walk through some streets. How can they know if there’s peace and health? If there isn’t, what can they do? I still don’t know much about Taiwanese religions, as you can tell. :P

The second location was a place called “Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center.” It comprises of four stories, each with various Taiwanese merchandise. Products varied from ceramics, jewelry, wall scrolls, T-shirts, CDs and much, much more. Many items I’ve seen only once in several different places where for the most part all collectively here in one compressed Taiwanese retailing package of a store. I took pleasure in browsing through the wide selection, though only with a window-shopping mindset. In my enjoyment I couldn’t shake a tired and vaguely weak feeling. No I wasn’t very lively but still smiled, talked and all that jazz. I wouldn’t have minded going through the entire four stories a second time but I’ll admit I was relieved when we left. Too weary and mentally lacking was I. :P

We came upon a do-it-yourself, price-based-on-weight buffet linked with a girl’s college dormitory. Despite this fact, many adults ate here for the cheapness, convenience and food selection. My host family was no different. I’ve grown to love buffets because I can choose what and how much I want. Therefore my dinner was a good healthy tray (from what I can tell) filled with delicious choices. And indeed it was delicious. The hunk of chicken was nummy and the tofu wasn’t the stinky tofu I thought it to be. Instead it was just tofu fried on the outside with the inside still soft mushy white tofu.

Available in unlimited quantity was two soups. One was a miso soup and the other a sweeter liquid. It basically tasted like water with a bit of sugar added and a few small jelly rectangles thrown in. Both had their own good qualities.

For the remainder of the night, the most outstanding thing I did was tackle my room. I borrowed a digital scale from my host family to weigh the impending threat of objects scattered throughout the area. Even with paying the penalty of a third suitcase, I’m still worried about exceeding the weight limit for the plane. For early planning and either relieving or worsening my fears, I recorded the mass of my Taiwanese stuff. If the numbers are correct, I seem…seeeeeeeeem to be ok. I still have yet to weigh all the collected papers of Taiwanese landmarks, which are way more than a few sheets. Knowing some are virtually useless, I went through the bulk and weeded out some I didn’t have any loyalty to. At the end my room looked cleaner than before, an appreciated improvement over the cluttered mess of souvenir bags. I liked cleaning but there was a feeling of dread for when I’ll have to stuff this all in suitcases. It’ll be really soon.

Good night now. Catch y’all later.