First Week of School Recap

So the first week of classes are over and we have worked out all the kinks in our schedules. I have switched out of my original class and into a much better class. I took a pronunciation class and after my third day of class I spoke to the Pronunciation teacher if she knew of a better teacher that was more likely to speak english and teach me Pining, the english equivalent of the chinese alphabet, so she suggested her own morning class. So my schedule has not changed and I am in a much better class.

We have been eating a lot of the local stuff and we have also been walking all over the city to find interesting little stores and places in addition to familiarizing ourselves with the city center. We have walked to Sogo and Breeze, the big malls, and also all the way to Taipei 101. Who ever says walking isn't an exercise is doing it wrong. My legs are killing me from all this walking and stair climbing, 190 stairs to my class on the 10th floor. All this exertion explains how people here eat so much.

In addition to our normal classes we have also been attending some additional classes such as Taiwanese and Cuisine and Dining. We are going to start watching the chinese movies as well. We have to accumulate 15 hours a week of classes to qualify as full time students for our visas and our regular only counts for 10 so we will be getting credit for the movies as well as the other classes we are taking. I have taken a few tests already and feel very comfortable in my abilities to learn quickly and stay at the top of my class.

Been eating a lot but my camera is heavy so it hasnt been making it out into the heat or into the rain so not many pictures. I am becoming a big fan of the bakeries here, though its a little difficult to figure out if the baked goods are dessert like or snack, meal like.

Best food of the week has to be the Green onion pancake that are fresh here. You can buy them frozen in the US. Each goes fro about 25 NT so for two its just a little over a dollar. One of the few places that is open for me on my way to school at 8 in the morning.

Went into class today hoping for a better outcome, English or some pinging, roman letters for the Asian characters, but was told that my teacher wont teach it to me. So I am switching classes. I don't plan on wasting money on a class that wont be teaching me. The good news is I ran into some fellow Americans who's teacher does teach the pinging as well as the characters so I will be doing the paperwork to move into that class tomorrow. There is of course a trade off. It is in the same time slot as the Cuisine and Dinning class, Jen is going to still take it but I will fit it in my schedule during the next semester.

Went to our favorite local dumpling place again and got our normal Korean and Curry dumplings, and tried out the house special pork. I think we are sticking to our Korean and Curry. Pictures up soon showing all these yummies, I promise.

After classes we walked over to Gongguan and each got a cup of the Boba Milk and then walked the campus of National Taiwan University. Very large campus with an entry that resembles Stanford in regards to the palm tree lined drive. Took the MRT back into our neighborhood and got some Burger King! The onion rings dont compare and the ketchup here is terrible, Jennifer loves it. They got the burgers right though so it was a taste of home. Sent of my post cards today so let me know when, or if, they arrive so I can get a feel for how long it takes.

We decided to walk back from the Train Station, where we hoped off the MRT and ate, and of course about half way home it decides to rain and I left my umbrella at home today. Need to go do some studying. Pictures, some of them, tomorrow morning.

First day of class

My teacher doesn't speak English. This is going to be a long semester. In addition to not speaking English my class is made up of people from Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mexico so we cant really help each other since we don't speak the same language. Argh!

Just had some crackers this morning before my class and went with Jennifer over to Century 21, not the movie theater, to get some chicken sandwiches. In a land of cheap food, this meal doesn't really belong. Mediocre food, higher prices and didn't offer the student discount even though it is located on campus. On a high not though they have a chant they all sing together like at Johnny Rockets when you play Chicago on their juke boxes.

Went back to class and did some listening exercises and got homework out of the way. Started at 8am and left after 7 hours. Long first day.

Met up with some of the people Jen went to school with last summer and ate Din Tai Fung, the steamed dumpling place. Luckily we weren't stuffed to the brim this time so we were able to eat our fill of the tasty treats. Hurray!! Like I said before, you should find this place and eat there. It is that good.

Made it home with just enough time to do all my memorization and go to sleep. Have a test tomorrow morning.

Finally caught up!!

I want to point out that after almost two weeks of days written in retrospect in only a few days i am finally writing about the current day, i will hopefully have all the pictures up tomorrow! Woohoo! Anyways back to my dailies.

Started the same as we usually do by eating our rice stuff, nearing the end of our stockpile, before heading over the the park we live next to. After strolling for a few minutes we realized how hot it was and headed home. We heard from Jen's mom that there was an expo going on nearby so we decided we would go after lunch. We went back to our favorite dumpling place and tried out the fried dumplings this time, the Korean (our favorite) and the curry dumpling. I could eat these things all day. Yummmm. Dipped in hot sauce or soy sauce you cant really go wrong.

Walked over to the Taiwan's Designer Week Expo and took a look at the art works and cool things people had made. My favorite was the Automated Scotch dispenser, exactly the same as the mechanized wine bars. The exhibits we varied from wood to computerized pieces to interesting tableware and cups, sometimes the boundaries between the categories blurred such as the USB storage device mug.

So I lied about the photos being up already. I am working on it but I have homework now so I will have to work it in.

For dinner we went to Shida night market and got our usual sausage and tried out some chicken nuggets that were nothing special. Had my first taste of beef noodle soup. Not only is this soup one of the best I have had but while you are waiting you can watch the noodle guy slice pieces of the noodle of a giant block of dough and it falls right into the pot, very exciting to me.

Ximending and Shida

Continuing our diet of sweet rice triangles we ate and took a nice long time to wake up today. Eventually we decided it was time to go and greet the world so we walked to our local MRT station and headed to Ximending. Lots of little stores and food spots, pretty modern and geared to our generations interests. We spent awhile trying to find where we were going but were very satisfied once we found it. Modern Toilet is a bathroom themed restaurant that is very serious about there theme. We got the chicken curry, some lemon chicken wings and some ice cream. The food was good but its the novelty we came for. Even the sink is a toilet.

After our trip to the bathroom we went back out into the street and shopped around some more. The sun felt like it had magnified since we had arrived so we headed back to our apartment to wait till it cooled down before heading back out.

Headed out to the closest night market to us, Shida night market, and got or favorite sausage in a sausage and a bun stuffed with fatty meat, lean meat and some green thing, i think it was a veggie but who knows, picked up a lemon drink and headed back home to eat.

Orientation

Had another one of the sweet rice triangles for breakfast and we headed off to school for our orientation. We received our class schedules bought our books and already have our first term planned out. Looks like we are going to be very busy for the next year. Luckily they offer a class on Cuisine and Dining so our menu reading abilities will improve.

Made it home had ate some more of our salty rice trianlges and explored our books and transfered our schedules around and looked at all the supplementary classes offered and are very excited for the semester ahead.

As an afternoon snack we headed out to a street near us that has a variety of different foods and we tried steamed dumplings this time. Korean, basically kimchi, and Pork dumplings this time around. While both are good I will be returning for the Korean dumplings.

For dinner we headed out to Shilin night market, noted as the best and one of the oldest in Taiwan, to try some of their street foods. We got some fresh mango juice and turned around to find out that our friends that we had hotpot with were standing behind us. As a group we went over to another stall and got some Stinky Tofu, amazing with the mysterious chili sauce they have on the tables, and an oyster omelet. After this we did some looking around to find Chicken Butts, basically the tail section deep fried, and some coffin bread, thick toast that is carved open an stuffed with assorted yummies. We split up after the toast was gone but we were still craving some good street dessert so we got Snow with fruit on top. Unlike shaved ice, snow uses flavored milk or juice to make the ice and is shaved differently so it melts on your tongue. If its in Southern California i will find it and let you know or you can follow me there since i will be a regular customer.

Since we were full and we were already at the night market we decided to do some shopping. It goes without saying that i bought some watches. Whole trip to the night market cost us less than $10. If you are frugal you have to love this place.

national taiwan democracy memorial hall

As we left Miao Li we took with us some Xian Zhong Zi and some Tian Zhong Zi, triangles of rice with meat and beans rolled up in banana leaves. Tian being sweet and Xian being salty.  So we had the sweet for breakfast with simple syrup over the top. We also steamed some of the salty to take with us on our trip over to the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, formerly Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

We picked one of the warmest days to walk over but hey we made it out the door so we will survive. Entered the grounds on the side so we didnt have a great view to start with so we passed through the bass of the memorial and visited the CKS exhibit there. Checked out his bullet proof Cadillacs and some of his possessions.

Went back outside and hiked up the 89, representing his age when he died, stairs up to the top where the bronze statue is located. From the top there is a great view of the grounds in front of the monument including the National Theater and the National Concert Hall.

Since we were so hot we decided to head over to Gongguan on the MRT and get some of Jen's favorite boba. Instead of using tea like I am accustomed to they used only milk and let the Boba, tapioca balls, flavor the milk. Now I have come to love real milk tea to a point where i cant really go a day without it but if i am in the area again i would most assuredly push aside my milk tea and reach for this milk instead.

We took the MRT back home and realized that we hadn't eaten our lunch in the park so we supped at home before going to SOGO and Breeze, Taipei's answer to South Coast Plaza. After walking all over the place and trying a Taiwanese sausage in a rice sausage, i really dont know why this isnt popular in the states-when i come back i am going to sell Spicy Italian sausages served on a spit bratwurst. On the way back we made our first visit to McDonald's. The Big Mac i received was almost picture perfect and as i ate it there was no falling apart. The meat was a little different, maybe steamed but tasted about the same. Instead of getting fries here though you can order corn chowder, most notable difference.

Sept 1st

Went out to get our R.O.C., Republic of China, Id numbers so we can open bank accounts to facilitate our stay  and so we can eventually apply for our ARC, Alien Resident Card, later. Headed over the the National Immigration Agency and after we got our numbers we got some extra passport photos to have for when we need them. We opened our accounts and are now ready to go.

Had brunch with a giant spicy fish, asian fajita meat and veggies, Laa, and a green leafy veggie. I am having trouble keeping track of the green veggies here. They are all leafy and look somewhat alike, and of course they arent written in english so it makes thinks complicated when i want to order them later.

Jen's mom left us today and we are now officially on our own in Taiwan. She was very helpful in helping us to get around and also was quite adept at reading menus.

We rode the MRT, subway, for the first time and headed over to the Eslite bookstore. Wasting some time before meeting up with some friends also on a trip and getting hotpot. I didnt do a good job this time. No name or picture of the exterior like i usually get so i dont know where we ate. Here is how this place works though. You have 2 hours to eat and drink as much as you can. They bring you a big bowl of broth (hot, mild or both) and you drop in what you want to cook. There is a burner in the center of the table that keeps the broth boiling and cooks your thinly sliced meet or veggies, among other available items. So finding ourselves at yet another all you can eat place we did what we had been practicing since arriving here. Stuffed ourselves to the bursting point. After a dozen trays of meat, an assortment of vegetables and mushrooms, fish balls, noodles, tofu and 4-5 bottles of soda each we hit the all you can eat ice cream, Hagen Daz, bar. I have noticed on my travels that asians are unaccustomed the to the act of scooping ice cream. In the time it takes me to make a my cone, first scoop throughly stuffed into the cone and second sitting on top, the native girls next to me managed to accomplish a single scoop apiece into their bowls. Such a shame. Needless to say we gained a few pounds and opted for the walk home instead of taking the MRT. (Small side note: if you havent tried their new flavor Cappuccino truffle you should)