Days 3,4, and 5 (12/31-1/2)

Daily Happenings

Day 3 (Tuesday, December 31): What a busy New Years Eve in Taipei! Just thinking about Tuesday even though it's Thursday, is making me tired. I started the day off with a riceball and tea breakfast from 7 Eleven. My riceball was filled with salmon which allowed for the perfect amount of savoriness. The walk to class including a breakfast stop is only 10 minutes. I feel very lucky because most people here have to travel by bus or MRT (subway) to get to work/school.  I was placed in to an advanced intermediate class. My class' material picks up just where I left off at UMD, which is great! My class consists of two Indonesian boys, 2 girls and 1 boy from Japan, 1 girl from Vietnam, and a boy from Korea. I am the youngest in the class, the oldest being 25. During class we learned a new set of vocabulary that described a situation in which someone's car is stolen. What a light and happy lesson to start with! Classes start at 8:40am and end at 11:30am. Luckily, we are given two 10 minute breaks. My teacher, 孟老師，is extremely nice. Although our class consists of many different native languages, she is able to explain concepts in Chinese extremely well. She went to Peking University, which is a very prestigious university in China. I suppose this explains her tremendous teaching ability!

     After class, a small group of us searched out a cheap place for lunch.  We were in the mood for meat after a carb heavy diet so far so we stopped by a small restaurant with ducks hanging at the entrance. For only $3 or 90 yuan, we got a lunch box filled with freshly carved duck, pork, greens, rice, and tofu! We enjoyed our lunch in a nearby park. 

Duck with marinated tofu, rice, and two types of greens. 真麼好吃！

Ducks guarding the entrance. Quack.

After lunch, we attended a calligraphy class. Getting the strokes down was extremely difficult for me. Despite the fact I have studied guitar for nearly 3/4 of my life, my hand coordination with the brush is off to say the least. I still found the class incredibly enjoyable however.

After class we then walked back to our dorm to rest up before heading out to Ximen （西門). The weather on Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous. This sky opened up after calligraphy class to reveal blue skies and the sun for the first time this trip. Taiwan in the winter is notoriously rainy and overcast with temperates hovering around 50 degrees fahrenheit. On Tuesday, it was bright and sunny with highs around 70. It was absolutely perfect. 

We took the MRT subway to Ximen which is an area that attracts many young people. The atmosphere reminds me of what I imagine Tokyo, Japan to be like. Many trendy clothing stores, cutesy trinkets everywhere, arcades, and anime everywhere. We walked around for two hours soaking up as much overstimulation as we could from lights, music, and crowds. 

After touring, we were thrilled to get hot pot for dinner! Hot pot has a concept similar to fondue, but replace cheese with flavored broth. The restaurant also offered all you can eat ice cream, toast (why not?), and drinks. There was also a self serve sauce bar where you could create your own dipping sauce from dozens of different bases and dry seasonings.

And finally, to the main event! After dinner, we took the MRT to Taipei 101 where the New Years celebrations were to occur. We were able to find a large standing space around 10pm which I'm sure is very unlike Times Square New York. We sat around and chatted to kill time. The crowds began to roll in closer to 11. Unfortunately, an American man insisted on pushing through the crowd and yelling at us for sitting on the ground. It was very embarrassing, and we had to apologize to the people sitting near us for his behavior. The fireworks display itself was very beautiful. I feel very fortunate to experience something like that at such a young age. After the display, we rode the subway home after a lot of waiting in crowds, and fell asleep around 3am!

Day 4 (Wednesday, January 1 !2014!): Before Wednesday, I had been falling asleep around 10pm and waking up at 7:30 am. I believe the last time I had this sort of sleeping schedule was when I was in elementary school. However, I had the luxury of sleeping in until 10:45 on Wednesday after a late night. The rest was much needed to say the least. We had no school in the morning, so we could relax a little in the morning before afternoon activities. The weather on Wednesday was PERFECT. Mid 70's, warm breeze, and baby blue skies. It reminded me of the weather I was used to on family vacations in Jamaica. 

 Breakfast was skipped because of time, so I had a delicious lunch of steamed dumplings from a nearby dumpling stall. I ate them too quickly before I could take a picture...whoops. At 1:20 we met up with local guides to travel to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial park. It was the most beautiful sightseeing thus far in Taiwan. We had the privilege of having a Taiwanese woman who could speak English give us a tour of the museum's interior.

 After the tour we stopped by another art museum, and then had dinner at the legendary Din Tai Feng soup dumpling (小笼包） restaurant.

Day 5 (Thursday January 2nd, 2014): Today was a relatively uneventful day in comparison. Woke up, 7 Eleven breakfast, class, beef noodles for lunch, nap, dinner, relax. For dinner we went to Shida Night Market which is only a 5 minute walk from our dormitory. I enjoyed squid and octopus dishes from vendors which was a nice change from the carb heavy meals of prior days. 

Taiwanese Staple 1: Bubble Tea

Taiwanese Staple 2: Beef Noodle Soup 牛肉麵

Cultural Comparison: Today after lunch, I had to go to a local pharmacy to get cold medicine with my boyfriend. He's had a bad cold for a couple days and needed something besides Mucinex. Our chaperone, Dr. Liu, spoke with the pharmacist at the counter in order to get him the proper treatment. In America, you'd simply go to the cold aisle, grab a pill bottle of Dayquil or Sudafed, and go home. However, in Taiwan the treatment is completely personalized. As Dr. Liu would rattle of Will's symptoms, the pharmacist would quickly retrieve pill bottles from behind the counter. He then assembled individualized packs of pills to be taken 3 times a day for 3 days. Dr. Liu explained to us that these pills would not suppress the symptoms, but address the root of the problem. This approach to medicine is very different than Western medicine. The treatment is longer, but is also better for the body in the long run. Perhaps this stems from the fact that Americans enjoy immediate results even if quality is compromised. Whereas Easterners place much value in the balance and overall health of the body and its functions even if that requires more time.

 Future plans: Tomorrow we drive 4 hours south the Tainan! We will be seeings areas where the Dutch occupied and will visit a Taiwanese wedding ceremony. The weather will be much warmer which I will greatly appreciate. Dry heat is my favorite kind of weather. I am looking forward to the fresh seafood the most!