Today was a busy day. I woke up at 6:15 like all the other days, but Nancy wasn't up, so I decided to bike to our running trail myself so that I could take some pictures. I figured that that was the best use of my time because I knew I wanted pictures, but I didn't want to hold Nancy up next time we went on a run. So, I went beyond our normal trail, and headed up a mountian. It wasn't the mountain to go up, so I didn't make it all the way up to the top, but I did see some amazing views. But everytime I took a picture I was so disappointed because the pictures don't do the views justice.
After the run I came back, but Nancy still wasn't up yet, so I just piddled around
on the computer. Onces Nancy woke up, we rode to the beach and then went for a run. You can't swim in most of the beaches in Taiwan, so this was just a beach that you looked at. We ran along a trail that took us up to a hostle that used to be a Japanese military barrex or something during WWII (I think, I didn't read the sign all the way, but I took a picture of the sign to read later).
Once I was all showered and clean, I decided it was a good time to scrub my walls (yeah, I probably should have done it while I was still dirty, but what can you say? I don't always think things through). There were black marks all over my walls, and there were like dust collections in the ceiling corners, so I just decided to wash down my room (I had the time, it's saturday).
For lunch, Nancy took me to the larger market and we had Hualien's famous dumplings. They were worth the wait we had to stand in line. They weren't like dumplings I'd had before, instead of noodles, the meat was wrapped and steamed in dough. And to drink, we had mango juice (which cost more then the dumplings, so that was weird). After eating Nancy and I walked around the market (because this wasn't just a food market, it was a stuff market). Oh, it's so funny, as we were riding our bikes to the market, I say I giant sign with the playboy bunny on it. I started laughing and told Nancy that I recognized that sign. She told me that it was just a regular store, and that they really just like that bunny, they really don't know what it means. So, as we were looking at the stores, we walked in a shoe place that had the most awesome white and gold playboy bunny shoes. I was so incredibly tempted to buy them, because they were super cute and I think they're funny, but they were like 2200NT$ (which is like $80) and I'm not really willing to pay that much for a pair of shoes. I didn't buy anything at the market, we just walked around and looked.
As we were walking around, we passed an icehouse that Nancy had told me about earlier.
She had explained that they use beans in their icecream, and that it's not really icecream, it's a mix between shaved ice and icecream. So, I decided that I would try Taiwanese icecream. They had a mango and milk flavor which would have been safe, but I wanted a more "authentic" flavor, so I chose one that had sweet potatoe and taro dumplings with three kinds of beans. It was DISGUSTING! They gave us a very large bowl, and I only took three or four bites. I felt bad waisting it, but it was nasty- plus, I was still pretty full from lunch. Nancy laughed and she told me she was sorry that I didn't like it, but then told me that she wasn't really sorry, she actually thought it was hillarious. Well, at least I know not to have that again. Nancy got one with just red and lima beans and peanuts, so I took a bite of her's to see if it was just mine that was nasty. Nope, her's wasn't good either. Plus, it wasn't a mix between shaved and ice and icecream, it was just shaved ice and the dumplings and beans.
Next we went to the church building to meet Yuling. One of the kids that Nancy tutors was in an English play tonight, so we were meeting Yuling at the church so she could show us how to get to the elementary school. I thought that following Nancy on her bike was risky at times, but try following Yuling on her scooter. It was frightning. We actually showed up to the school way too early, because we didn't realize that it was a show for all of Hualien city, and that each play only lasted between four and seven minutes. So, we rode to the night market and walked around there to kill the time. I bought a full pineapple and the guy cut it for me (I wouldn't have minded cutting it, but he had a curved knife that made it super easy-you know, and the fact that he's been doing it day in and day out for forever helped it look easy too I'm sure). And I picked up one of those steamed bread things with meat and bamboo in it for tomorrows lunch and then a little bread snack thing for breakfast.
But the market was quite interesting. They had booths that just had every pig part right out on the table- feet, ears, brains, harts, etc. Then there were tables with all kinds of whole fish and squid, some of the fish tables had the fish heads separate from the body, and one table had really fresh fish (they were still breathing). Then, one snack table had black jello that made me kind of nervous.
We made it back to the elementary school just in time to see the play with the tutor student in it. We stayed for a few of them. They were adorable. It was just like five to eight kids standing on the stage in simple costumes, they read their scripts and had some movements, but it was nothing too ellaborate. The first one talked about why ants live everywhere, another one was Aladin (where Princess Jasmin was turned into a pig), and there was one about Harry Hippo's Toothache, oh, and the other one was about not going to the Haunted House on Halloween.
Nancy promised me that we would have real icecream after I did not enjoy the ice house concauction. So, after the plays, we went to the regular night market and bought some icecream from this old man that makes his own icecream. It was pretty good. I got what I'm pretty sure is vanilla, but he called it milk flavor. Okay.
I went to a fireside tonight at the church. It was sad, not that many people came, well, by the end, there were 20, but that's still not that many. Anyway, it started 10-15 minutes late, and it was a missionary fireside, so the meeting wasn't that long, but then we were sent out into the streets with cards to pass out to apartments. Obviously I wasn't that helpful because I don't speak the language. The cards we were passing out were telling people about the family history center on the first floor of the church (there are three floors) that people are welcome to come in and use. I don't know, it was super weird. But the missionaries are nice, I met some of them today.
After the run I came back, but Nancy still wasn't up yet, so I just piddled around
on the computer. Onces Nancy woke up, we rode to the beach and then went for a run. You can't swim in most of the beaches in Taiwan, so this was just a beach that you looked at. We ran along a trail that took us up to a hostle that used to be a Japanese military barrex or something during WWII (I think, I didn't read the sign all the way, but I took a picture of the sign to read later).Once I was all showered and clean, I decided it was a good time to scrub my walls (yeah, I probably should have done it while I was still dirty, but what can you say? I don't always think things through). There were black marks all over my walls, and there were like dust collections in the ceiling corners, so I just decided to wash down my room (I had the time, it's saturday).
For lunch, Nancy took me to the larger market and we had Hualien's famous dumplings. They were worth the wait we had to stand in line. They weren't like dumplings I'd had before, instead of noodles, the meat was wrapped and steamed in dough. And to drink, we had mango juice (which cost more then the dumplings, so that was weird). After eating Nancy and I walked around the market (because this wasn't just a food market, it was a stuff market). Oh, it's so funny, as we were riding our bikes to the market, I say I giant sign with the playboy bunny on it. I started laughing and told Nancy that I recognized that sign. She told me that it was just a regular store, and that they really just like that bunny, they really don't know what it means. So, as we were looking at the stores, we walked in a shoe place that had the most awesome white and gold playboy bunny shoes. I was so incredibly tempted to buy them, because they were super cute and I think they're funny, but they were like 2200NT$ (which is like $80) and I'm not really willing to pay that much for a pair of shoes. I didn't buy anything at the market, we just walked around and looked.
As we were walking around, we passed an icehouse that Nancy had told me about earlier.
She had explained that they use beans in their icecream, and that it's not really icecream, it's a mix between shaved ice and icecream. So, I decided that I would try Taiwanese icecream. They had a mango and milk flavor which would have been safe, but I wanted a more "authentic" flavor, so I chose one that had sweet potatoe and taro dumplings with three kinds of beans. It was DISGUSTING! They gave us a very large bowl, and I only took three or four bites. I felt bad waisting it, but it was nasty- plus, I was still pretty full from lunch. Nancy laughed and she told me she was sorry that I didn't like it, but then told me that she wasn't really sorry, she actually thought it was hillarious. Well, at least I know not to have that again. Nancy got one with just red and lima beans and peanuts, so I took a bite of her's to see if it was just mine that was nasty. Nope, her's wasn't good either. Plus, it wasn't a mix between shaved and ice and icecream, it was just shaved ice and the dumplings and beans.Next we went to the church building to meet Yuling. One of the kids that Nancy tutors was in an English play tonight, so we were meeting Yuling at the church so she could show us how to get to the elementary school. I thought that following Nancy on her bike was risky at times, but try following Yuling on her scooter. It was frightning. We actually showed up to the school way too early, because we didn't realize that it was a show for all of Hualien city, and that each play only lasted between four and seven minutes. So, we rode to the night market and walked around there to kill the time. I bought a full pineapple and the guy cut it for me (I wouldn't have minded cutting it, but he had a curved knife that made it super easy-you know, and the fact that he's been doing it day in and day out for forever helped it look easy too I'm sure). And I picked up one of those steamed bread things with meat and bamboo in it for tomorrows lunch and then a little bread snack thing for breakfast.
But the market was quite interesting. They had booths that just had every pig part right out on the table- feet, ears, brains, harts, etc. Then there were tables with all kinds of whole fish and squid, some of the fish tables had the fish heads separate from the body, and one table had really fresh fish (they were still breathing). Then, one snack table had black jello that made me kind of nervous.
We made it back to the elementary school just in time to see the play with the tutor student in it. We stayed for a few of them. They were adorable. It was just like five to eight kids standing on the stage in simple costumes, they read their scripts and had some movements, but it was nothing too ellaborate. The first one talked about why ants live everywhere, another one was Aladin (where Princess Jasmin was turned into a pig), and there was one about Harry Hippo's Toothache, oh, and the other one was about not going to the Haunted House on Halloween.
Nancy promised me that we would have real icecream after I did not enjoy the ice house concauction. So, after the plays, we went to the regular night market and bought some icecream from this old man that makes his own icecream. It was pretty good. I got what I'm pretty sure is vanilla, but he called it milk flavor. Okay.
I went to a fireside tonight at the church. It was sad, not that many people came, well, by the end, there were 20, but that's still not that many. Anyway, it started 10-15 minutes late, and it was a missionary fireside, so the meeting wasn't that long, but then we were sent out into the streets with cards to pass out to apartments. Obviously I wasn't that helpful because I don't speak the language. The cards we were passing out were telling people about the family history center on the first floor of the church (there are three floors) that people are welcome to come in and use. I don't know, it was super weird. But the missionaries are nice, I met some of them today.
One last thing, I forgot to mention the familiar sites I say today on the bike ride (be
sides the playboy bunny > : o ) Seven-Elevens are everywhere. I'm thinking that I've got to go and try the slurpees soon. When the days get unbelievably hot, then I'll for sure go down and have one. Also, I say three McDonalds. Oh, funny story about McDonalds, there was a boy who came to school yesterday wearing a shirt with the golden arches on it, but underneath the picture it said "MoDnoalds" And non of the kids realize it's wrong, and the parents don't either, apparently. And the other familiar site was a Dominos pizza place. Just little things that make me smile.
sides the playboy bunny > : o ) Seven-Elevens are everywhere. I'm thinking that I've got to go and try the slurpees soon. When the days get unbelievably hot, then I'll for sure go down and have one. Also, I say three McDonalds. Oh, funny story about McDonalds, there was a boy who came to school yesterday wearing a shirt with the golden arches on it, but underneath the picture it said "MoDnoalds" And non of the kids realize it's wrong, and the parents don't either, apparently. And the other familiar site was a Dominos pizza place. Just little things that make me smile. 
1 comment:
It's funny, Josh was watching the Food channel, or discover channel, and they had this guy visiting the Taiwanese markets and eating the local foods. the markets looked just like you were describing them. He had picked pigeon eggs and dried salted shrimp and fried goose head. We thought of you, but you are ACTUALLY THERE!!!!
Post a Comment