Maxine Writes

A walk through Taipei

2012-02-09T19:35:00.000-05:00

A collection of photos from the past few weeks in Taipei ...

Went with my language partner (and native Taiwanese) to the IKEA here. It looked virtually identical to all the IKEAs I've been to, except the store was a lot more red, probably because Chinese New Year was coming up. There were red banners and lanterns hanging from the ceiling throughout the store. We ended up having lunch in the restaurant (I am a huge fan of their gravlax). I thought the menu here was different from the U.S., but turns out IKEA's just changed their menu ever-so-slightly.

The lime-marinated veggies were really good

My first salad in Taiwan ... and that's cooked salmon, not chicken

The entrees are slightly cheaper in Taiwan, in case you were wondering ... I think the two kids meals combined came out to be about $4, and each of the salmon entrees was about $3. Not a bad deal in the least!

Then my language partner brought me to the Taipei Arena nearby. I think it's where most pop music concerts are held, and sporting events. There was a kid's play center at the Arena, and an ice skating rink.

This was a sign in the bathroom ... typical example of "Chinglish."

Pretty lattes at a café my friends and I went to, where you could complete puzzles while eating and drinking. Although the concept was fantastic, the drinks were subpar and way overpriced (I think my latte was the most expensive one I'd ever had in my life, closing in on $6.) It was so bad I don't remember the name of the café. :)

Perfume Dance

2012-02-08T19:33:00.000-05:00

On the first day after the Chinese New Year festivities, everyone rushed out of their houses and back to civilization. I, for one, could not wait to get back on the streets and eat the foods I wanted to eat, spend time doing the things I wanted to do. My friend took the opportunity to introduce me to one of her favorite "afternoon tea" places in Taipei.

Now, this particular friend is a typical "lady who lunches." Her typical routine during the day rarely evolves outside of eating and shopping. I don't have any friends like this in the U.S., so I'm not really sure if afternoon tea is as common a practice as it is here or it just seems like a common practice here because my friend is an outlier.

"Honey toast" is a thing here, just like fruit tea is a thing. Honey toast is, apparently, an entire loaf of bread with the insides carved out, toasted/baked, and filled with various fillings. My friend brought me to Perfume Dance, which sells honey toast innards:

I'm not sure what flavor this one was, but it was one of their "famous" items

... I'm hereby giving up on expecting anything of Taiwanese dessert concoctions, because they've all been pretty terrible. It tasted as you'd imagine it to taste ... like toasted chunks of sourish bread with ice cream poured over it. Not tasty. I can't remember how much this cost, but whatever it was, it was too much. (It was probably in the $6-$7 range.)

My friend ordered a fruit tea, as usual.

And I ordered my latte, as usual.

We shared a beef quesadilla, which was also a complete letdown. My friend had had Perfume Dance's chicken quesadilla in the past and said it was good, but since it came with pineapple chunks and we had already ordered the honey toast dish, I opted for the more savory beef quesadilla. There was barely any beef in it, just a whole lotta lettuce and a little bit of cheese. She complained to our server about it and eventually he decided he would comp us for it.

Chocolate cake which I remember virtually nothing about, which means it probably didn't taste great.

On the decor side, it kind of reminded me of a trippier (if possible) Alice's Tea Cup. Perfume Dance does the whole "here's our collection of masks ... feel free to choose one and take photos in them" thing. The place was basically feather/harlequin-themed.

I don't think it really needs to be said that I won't be back.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Ritz Box

2012-02-07T19:24:00.001-05:00

So my dear friend Vivian, who I've known since I was 17 and she just about to turn 17, is currently studying in Paris. She suggested way back when I first let on that I was coming here that we do a snack exchange every once in a while. She's been to Taipei before, so she's familiar with the sometimes funny snacks Asians come up with, and I knew I'd be missing Western snacks. Anyway, between getting settled and the holidays, we didn't actually start this little project until this month, when I sent a little recycled Ritz box to her.

Vivian and I have a long but short history: we met online through an early blogging site and exchanged contact information. We would chat online late at night (for me, as I was on the East Coast and she was on the West Coast) and keep each other company as we did our homework. We even "spent" one New Year's Eve's Eve together, pulling an all-nighter as we rushed to get our college applications in, noshing on all sorts of junk food through the night.

Although we occasionally called each other in college after I got my first cell phone, it wasn't until we were 20 that we met ... in London, of all places. And even that was serendipitous. Vivian was studying in France at the time, and I in England, and during our Fall Break, we were both traveling through London, so we decided to meet in front of the Albert and Victoria Museum at a designated time. (She did not have a cell phone that worked in England.) I waited for about an hour and a half and did not see her or any semblance of a person who might be her (keep in mind I'd only seen her through photographs up to this point).

Deflated and frustrated with at least a few hours until I could return to my temporary home at a high school friend's dorm room, I walked towards the tube, passing a fish & chips shop on the way. At that point in my life, I was obsessed with all things English -- especially fish & chips. So I popped my head in for a bite to eat, and lo and behold, who should I see but someone who resembled Vivian.

"Vivian?" I remember asking hesitantly through the doorway.

The girl looked up! And that is the story of how we miraculously met up the first time. The second time was nearly a year later in New York City, and then the time after that was three years after that in Seattle, where she's from. We thought it would be cool to meet up again (in keeping with our 2-3 year "rule"), but it's simply too expensive to travel between Taipei and Paris.

But we have our Ritz Box! Here are the contents of my first shipment to her:

A paper dragon ... I won this during the Chinese New Year sales

Kimchi-flavored popcorn

More chips ... not sure what flavor to call this, maybe grilled foods?

Tastes like chicken (what doesn't?)

Rose-flavored candies ... the outer candy shell tastes really nice, like lightly-flavored rose tea

and the inside is a more intense sour rose-flavored gummy

Strawberry marshmallow-filled mochi, covered in chocolate and nuts (bought in Miaoli)

These are different flavored rice snacks (wasabi on left, sesame on right)

Curious to see what goodies she sends me ...

Listening to ... Jordan Knight and New Kids On The Block

2012-02-06T19:14:00.000-05:00

source: Unknown, but I'd imagine it came from the New Kids On The Block
(delawareonline.com)

Actually, I haven't stopped listening to Jordan Knight or New Kids On The Block in the past year. I can remember the exact day I "rediscovered" the New Kids On The Block, and it's actually marked here in this very blog. That day was February 7 of last year ... another reason to "celebrate."

I'm not actually celebrating, but I'm dedicating this week's song to him and the other four guys in New Kids On The Block (I know sometimes it seems like I forget that they are an actual group, but I swear I appreciate them all ... or most of them). There are two Jordan/NKOTB songs I currently listen to multiple times a day, and those are Jordan's cover of "Tender Love" and the New Kids On The Block's "Let's Play House" from their 1994 album "Face The Music."

Both extremely sexy songs with completely different intentions and textures. "Let's Play House," to me, is a really playful and flirty song that sometimes makes me giggle because of its silly lyrics ("can you imagine / what we could do alone? / turn off the phone, I'll teach you passion" and "when we're together / I love to take off your clothes / undress you slow").

"Tender Love" is much more serious and mature, and Jordan's voice reflects perfectly the feelings between the song. My favorite lines in his version are "I want you more and more / can't resist you" because his voice gets husky, which I think really channels the passion behind wanting someone more and more, and the tenderness with which he sings the words "I surrender," letting it softly fade into the instrumental.

Sigh. One year later, the crush is still going strong. Am I too old for this yet?

Pingxi Lantern Festival

2012-02-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

Lanterns let into the cloudy afternoon sky

Back in early December, I made a short list of things I wanted to do while I was in Taiwan and the second item on this list was to travel to go see the Lantern Festival in Taiwan. As soon as I heard that my school sponsors a trip to take students to the Lantern Festival, I knew I was going to sign up.

I'm not 100% clear as to why the Lantern Festival is celebrated, but here's the Wikipedia explanation if you're curious. I think today it's generally thought to have something to do with love. And I'm still a little confused as to whether the "main" event takes place in a different location every year (per Wikipedia's guidance) or not, but I do understand that there are a number of festivals across Taiwan every year. We were brought to the Pingxi one, which I think was the main event this year because the Taiwanese president was present.

It took about 2 hours to get to Pingxi from Taipei by charter bus, and then we roamed the town square for about an hour. It was horribly, horribly crowded (I suspect the Times Square area at New Year's isn't as bad as this was) and a bathroom was nearly impossible to find. After spending about 45 minutes walking to the nearest bathroom (which probably was a 10-minute walk away on a normal day), we had 15 minutes left to grab dinner AND walk back the length that took us 45 minutes to walk. We grabbed some fried chicken and seafood nuggets to nibble on.

When we finally got back to the meet-up place, we ... waited. And waited. And then waited some more behind a set of huge floodlights. I realized, finally, what was going on ... each night during the festival (which I think lasts for at least 2 or 3 days), they have rounds of lantern lighting, each round consisting of maybe 150 or 200 lanterns. And I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm pretty sure much of it is sponsored by the government (which then allows Mandarin language schools to sign their students up for free, as they are all foreigners and can tell their friends about how lovely the event is ... "free" PR for Taiwan).

Finally, we were led around the back of the main stage (where performances were going on) onto a field marked with rows of orange-capped volunteers. My friends and I were paired up with a really sweet volunteer who was thankful we could speak a little Mandarin because she couldn't explain what markers were. After a few minutes of listening to a Taiwanese rock-folk band (not exactly romantic music for the occasion, methinks), giant orange paper lanterns were brought out to the field.

With the markers, each one of us wrote our wishes on one side of the 4-sided paper lantern. And then we waited some more while the emcees introduced the band, brought out the Taiwanese president, and the President and other local officials wrote their wishes on the larger lantern "for Taiwan." I was surprised at how little reverence there was for the President while he was speaking (I myself didn't focus too much on him while he spoke, but I didn't talk while he was speaking) ... I suspect it had all to do with the fact that the majority of the crowd consisted of foreigners. However, it was also a much more casual event ... I'm not sure how the crowd would've treated President Obama if he had made casual remarks at an American Lantern Festival.

Then a guy came by to ignite a little pad at the bottom of our lantern, which caused our lantern to inflate. We were told to step on the edges of the lantern, and then after a couple minutes, to lift our feet off the edges. All the lanterns in the field gently lifted up into the sky, and it was absolutely stunning. I almost teared up ... almost. But then we were rushed off the field to allow the next group to come in.

This is my personal video

I like this video's perspective better (starting at the 0:59 mark)

And that's when the absolutely agonizing waiting began. Once we left the field, we were herded like cattle for TWO hours, either walking two feet at once and then waiting for another 15-20 minutes or taking bitty steps like toddlers for 15-20 minutes at a time (a real workout, if you ever want to try it ... especially on a mountain). After two hours of this madness and 4-5 more rounds of lanterns being let into the sky, we finally made it back our buses at 9pm, only 30 minutes before we should've been back to campus. Needless to say, we didn't get back to Taipei until 10:30pm, an hour late.

It's an event I would never partake in again. In fact, I want to say that I won't ever participate in a national event like this again (whether it be in Taiwan or England or the U.S.), but it'd probably be a false statement. It was beautiful, but not worth all the waiting and horrible crowds.

The lanterns, collectively, looked like fireflies and then stars in the night sky

Bonjour, Richard Blanc

2012-02-02T20:40:00.000-05:00

On our way home from lunch this week, my friend and I decided we wanted something a little sweet to put a cap on our meal, so we stopped by at a pastry shop called Richard Blanc inside one of the malls here (I still have the tendency not to even attempt to remember names if they are written entirely in Chinese ... I should get over that).

Though I really wanted just about every sweet item they had in the store (including a package of sultana scones and a custard-flan cup), I left with these two items:

Margaret ($1.15)

Blackberry apricot pastry ($1)

Both items were complete hits. I had no idea what the Margaret would taste like since there really wasn't much of a description. It was crunchy on the outside (hours after I'd bought it), and sweet and buttery. The blackberry apricot pastry was on the small side, but it was full of compote or jam, which had a really nice sweet-sour thing going ... the blackberry being tart and the ("fresh" ... not sure they were fresh, but they definitely weren't dried) apricot chunks very sweet. I was very, very pleased with Richard Blanc and will definitely return to try more in the future.

As we continued our walk, my local friend remembered that there was yet another bakery she wanted to introduce me to, a little further back from the main street. We spotted Bonjour, a café-bakery, from the street and hurried over.

I took some photos of the interiors of the cute, French-inspired space but the photos seem to have disappeared. Here I did actually buy a custard-flan cup ($1.50) and a bag of bread ends that they had packaged as samplers ($3).

I had the custard-flan cup at Bonjour and photos of that disappeared with the rest of the batch, but it was so rich and creamy (and dense) that I was only really able to finish half of it. And it wasn't a very large cup -- maybe the size of one-and-a-half espresso cups. Here are some photos of the bread bag:

I was most excited about trying the pink one, because neither my friend nor I could guess what the flavor was. It was strawberry-flavored, and a tad too sweet, although extremely moist and fluffy. The dried fruit one was pretty nice, because there was candied orange rind inside, along with raisins, nuts and cheese (I don't think it was cream cheese ... it tasted closer to a triple-cream brie or something). My favorite, however, was the green-colored one, which turned out to be green tea flavored with bits of sweetened red bean chunks in it. I don't like red beans, but the green tea flavor was so different that it stood out from the rest.

The Bonjour space is so cute that I would consider going back for a cup of coffee or just to study, although there isn't all that much seating space. They had a bunch of pastries that I had my eye on but just couldn't bring myself to buy because I had already bought so many other perishables. I wouldn't be opposed to returning for more ...

Project Australia

2012-02-01T20:28:00.000-05:00

I think I may have already mentioned that it's been a dream of mine to visit Australia for nearly a decade now. I vowed when I started my last job that before starting my next job, I'd take time off to travel to Australia and New Zealand. Now is that time.

I spent the weekend trying to figure out the rest of my year here, before I head home for the winter holidays (that's the plan for now, anyway ... my classmate/friend is convinced that I am going to find a boyfriend and marry before December).

Look, I even bought a notebook! This is what will become "The Australia Notebook." (Even though it clearly has the Eiffel Tour on the cover.)

(I wanted to buy a tour guide, but those things are 700-1000+ pages and I'd have to have it brought via airplane to me, and my mother was not happy with the idea.)

So, as overwhelmed as I am by the idea, I've decided that I'm going to do my research off the internet. I don't know if my mind can handle it. I mean, it's virtually like planning a month-long trip to the U.S. Where to start!? What can't I miss?

I have so many questions. If you have been or are from Australia or New Zealand, please feel free to chime in and let me know what I absolutely must see while I'm there. What are the best months to visit (climate-wise, price-wise)? I'm looking at June or September, depending on who's available to go with me. What's the best way to get around (regionally and all of Australia) without a car? What foods do I have to try? How much can I expect to spend if I take a 3-4 week trip? What if I'm staying in hostels?

Eek. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Coffee Alley

2012-01-31T19:57:00.000-05:00

I'm back to terrorize you with midnight snack cravings! You're welcome.

The week before the Chinese New Year break, my friend and I went to check out the pre-New Year sales at the bigger department stores. While there, we decided to have dinner at a place called Coffee Alley (3rd floor of the ATT 4 FUN building, No. 12, Song Shou Road ... in case I have any readers from Taiwan and/or any of you ever visit Taipei).

My friend wanted me to try one of their more creative concoctions, which is a plate of cotton candy and ice cream over which you pour hot coffee, but since it was dinner time and I wanted real food and real sleep that night, I opted for something a little more traditional.

My friend pretty much always orders a fruit tea when we go out:

Fruit tea doesn't sound all that enticing, but it actually tastes much better than it sounds. Although it must have a tea base, it barely tastes of tea at all. I've tested several of my friend's fruit teas, and they are always overwhelmingly passion fruit-flavored, with various additions (all real fruit) such as apples, oranges, berries, kiwi, pineapple, etc. It really is delicious, and they almost always come in really large carafes so that it's actually 3 or 4 servings rather than just one. These fruit teas can be served either warm (or room temperature, I'm not quite sure) or chilled/over ice. The fruit tea carafe at Coffee Alley was about $5.33.

I chose an iced peach jasmine tea drink ($4.66) ... it was really, really tasty.

We decided to choose one sweet dish and one savory dish to share. Here is the peanut butter and condensed milk waffle ($4). The other waffle options included strawberry and strawberry ice cream, banana and chocolate syrup, etc. This one was the most unique. We were both afraid that it would be too sweet, but it actually wasn't. The peanut butter was American-style (a.k.a. not overly sweet), so the condensed milk (also not too sweet) balanced it out well. I probably wouldn't order it again just because waffles never tend to be as good as they look, wouldn't you agree?

The savory dish wasn't as special: we got the club sandwich with Doritos and egg salad ($5). Now that I'm typing out all the prices, it's kind of ridiculous that the drinks were more expensive than the food, but oh well, the drinks really were that good. The sandwich was pretty good, but the standout for this dish was definitely the egg salad.

The service was fine, nothing exceptional or exceptionally bad. The decor was nice and modern, and very clean. In general, the service I've experienced in Taipei has been fairly good. Between the two of us girls, we couldn't finish either of our dishes, so what they say about portion sizes in the U.S. being larger than the rest of the world is a MYTH! Maybe only in Texas. (Then again, I'm from New York City where it's sometimes acceptable to pay $30 for a pea-sized appetizer.)

Listening to ... Tristan Prettyman

2012-01-30T20:01:00.000-05:00

When I study, I like to have some noise in the background ... partly to keep myself from falling asleep and partly (probably) because I grew up in the city and silence is distracting in an eerie way. Depending on what exactly I'm studying, I tend to listen to different types of noises ... if it's literature or something I have to read and memorize or take notes on, ambient noise or the radio is best. If it's math or something that requires repetitive writing (such as learning Chinese characters), any sort of noise will do, including television.

So I had old episodes of "The Hills" on in the background the other day while studying, because it was something I was familiar with and didn't have to focus on, and a whole slew of really good music came on during a particular episode. It brought me back to a time when I was really into this sort of happy, surf-y "California sound" (a lot of acoustic guitar and raw drum beats), and it really made me miss the U.S.

source: tristanprettyman.com

Among the artists I was really into at the time were Jason Mraz and his (now ex-) girlfriend, Tristan Prettyman. They are both based out of San Diego, California, though Jason is originally from Virginia. Jason's moved away from this beachy sound, but Tristan's sound has remained fairly true to its roots.

"Madly" was the Tristan Prettyman song that came on "The Hills," but my two favorite songs of hers are "Love, Love, Love" and "Shy That Way" (a duet with Jason Mraz).

I love that music can create such a complete mood and ambience, can pinpoint an exact moment in time (even if it never existed).

What January 28 means to me ... an "ode" to Nick Carter

2012-01-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

Nick in 1995 or 1996
source: nickcarter.freewebspace.com

January 28th will always have special meaning to me. And I'm about to make myself look like an idiot with my explanation ... January 28 happens to Nick Carter's birthday. It also happens to be Elijah Wood's birthday. And January 31st is Justin Timberlake's birthday, if I'm going to be fair about it. I have a knack for remembering birthdays, but I have an even greater knack for finding stupid reasons to celebrate. For example, Nick Carter's birthday.

In the early years of my crush on him, I would sometimes use it as an excuse to bake something yummy, usually a cake. By the time I was in my mid-to-late teens, Nick's birthday was unofficially designated the "strawberry cake day" because the first time I baked a cake on his birthday, I was actually baking with an entirely different reason in mind, but it was a strawberry cake with confetti frosting, and it just stuck. Strawberry cake mix is hard to come by, but oh-so-tasty. (If you're into artificial strawberry flavoring.) Later, I would designate lemon cake to someone else.

Nick at 30; June 10, 2010 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC

After I went away to college, I couldn't bake cakes anymore. I remember one January 28th, I was at school in Massachusetts and we had just had a massive, massive snowstorm. I was alone in my dorm room (I was on campus working while most of the other students had gone home for winter break) and it was a Friday night. I wanted nothing more than to walk to Rosie's Bakery to get a "Chocolate Orgasm" brownie (have these been renamed since I last visited in late 2010? They've vanished from the online menu!), a Walnut Dream bar or a Soho Glob. Of course, by the time I'd conceived of this idea, Rosie's had closed and the only nearby stores that were still open were CVS and a handful of restaurants.

So off to CVS I trekked, in the snow. I rummaged through its snack shelves and settled on a box of White Chocolate Macadamia Mrs. Fields cookies, which I brought home and heated in the microwave and ate, probably while watching Backstreet Boys videos online.

Nick at 31, June 13, 2011 at the IZOD Center in NJ

Nick turned 32 yesterday. I've harbored an on-and-off crush on him since I was 12 and he was 17; "on" for about 8-9 years and currently in hibernation mode. "With" him, I've been through the "hurry up and let me turn 18" phase, through the "I wish I looked like his girlfriend" phase, through the "I have the opportunity to meet him and all I can say is 'holy sh*t' under my breath?" phase, through the "now I'm 20 and he's dating an 18-year-old ... when did I get too old for him?" phase, which eventually turned into a "I can appreciate him from afar and all the good times the Backstreet Boys brought to my life" phase, which I think I've been riding for the past 5-6 years.

I grew up with Nick Carter and the Backstreet Boys, but for the most part, we've gone our separate ways. He always called himself weird, but as a teen, I never believed that a guy so mainstream could be as weird as he claims to be. I was blinded by his all-American looks, I guess. Thanks to social media, now I know that he's much smarter than my parents (and I) ever gave him credit for, he can spell (most of the time), and on top of being a video game nerd (which was obvious even back then), he's a huge computer nerd. And a Japanese culture nerd. From what I can tell from the few interviews I've watched over the past couple of years, Nick has also become a man I never expected him to become: wise, thoughtful, seemingly quite conscientious. I never thought too far ahead back then; I thought 18 was the ultimate prize ... it was the year I'd finally be old enough to legally date Nick (ha!), the year I'd go off to college -- the one thing I'd been working towards all my life.

On tour with NKOTBSB, June 13, 2011

Turns out 18 wasn't all that it's made out to be: it's not the end of the beginning or even the beginning of the end. I never thought the Backstreet Boys would still be together nearly 10 years after I'd graduated from high school, or that I would ever think of Nick as anything but my ultimate crush. Back then, I figured if Nick ever got married, I'd be okay with it because I'd be in a happy relationship myself. I'm not, and Nick hasn't gotten married (yet). I think if we ever ended up in a conversation, we could be friends now; I'm not sure what we would've talked about at 14 and 19, 18 and 23. Life takes on funny paths that lead us down and up to places that (hopefully) make us better, more well-rounded people. Life sometimes also intersects others' paths in ways that seem like more than just coincidence ... doncha think?

For laughs, here is one of my favorite videos of Nick. It's not all that flattering, but it's a classic in my YouTube vault (a clip from episode one of "House of Carters," turn your volume down and don't watch at work unless you work with "French"-speaking sailors):

Happy Birthday, ya weirdo. Thanks for the excuse to eat cake! (Though I didn't ... I did have a Mrs. Fields Ginger Spice cookie ... do I sense a trend forming?)

Chinese New Year

2012-01-26T21:45:00.000-05:00

This and all photos below are from the Xinyi District of Taipei

So it seems that the Chinese New Year festivities here in Taipei are over. I still have several days of "vacation" left, but the non-stop eating has ceased. I have already decided that I will never again spend another Lunar New Year in Asia.

A recap: it began on Sunday, when I traveled to a suburb of Taipei to have dinner at my Second Uncle's house. (That's how we call them; I don't really even know his full name ... he's my mother's brother.) It took over an hour to get to the place, and my Second Uncle's wife was there, as was my "Little Uncle" (my mother's youngest brother). We chatted for a bit, I looked at photos of my uncle's granddaughters (my nieces), and then we sat down to eat. Although I don't like Chinese food much in general, I definitely have my preferred "lesser of evils," and I can tell you right now that everything I ate during Chinese New Year OUTSIDE of the aunt's house I currently live in tasted heavenly. (Was that mean?) There was fish, hot pot, sticky rice, peas, shrimp, ginseng chicken soup, and at least another 4 or 5 dishes.

Dinner conversation devolved (or evolved, depending on how you look at it), as is the case whenever Little Uncle is around, into a discussion about politics, education in Taiwan, the real estate industry and environmental engineering. How I was even able to understand what they were talking about, I have no idea. Maybe my grasp of Mandarin is a lot better than I assumed it was. After 5 hours of eating and chatting and traveling, I finally arrived home and crashed. Only to wake up bright and early the next morning (Monday) to prepare to travel another 1.5 hours to another aunt's place for lunch.

Now I had no idea (because in the U.S., Chinese New Year is a one-day, one-meal affair), but there are customs attached to the first 3+ days of the Chinese New Year. On the eve of the actual day of the new year, you are supposed to have a massive family dinner to kick start the holiday, I guess. This is what I did on Sunday night, with my mother's side of the family (since my father is actually not Taiwanese at all, none of his family is here ... this will become important later on in my explanation of what goes on during Chinese New Year).

I think, traditionally, the first day of the New Year (Monday) is supposed to be dedicated not just to eating, but to religious aspects (here in Taiwan, mostly visiting temples and burning incense and offering fruits and food and the like) of the holiday. I have discovered, especially during Chinese New Year, just how superstitious the Taiwanese are. And here I thought I was superstitious when I had all these silly limitations on what I could and could not wear and when during high school so I could maximize my concentration levels before and during tests!

For example, red. You're supposed to wear red or a dark/bright shade of pink for as long as you can during the Chinese New Year festivities, because it's their lucky color, etc. Then there's the foods you HAVE to eat, or at least cook for show: fish (after the proverb "年年有餘," which means "may you have abundance year after year" ... the word for "fish" sounds identical to the sound for "abundance"), long-life veggies (I think it's the actual name of a vegetable here), noodles (the length of the noodles are supposed to represent a long life), tangerines (not sure why, but they must have the leaves still attached), chicken (not sure why) ... I'm sure there are others I don't know about. Oh, I could give you non-Chinese New Year-related examples of their superstitiousness, but this entry would never be completed. I'll dedicate another entry to that later.

Lunch at my Big Auntie's house (she's the oldest daughter on my mom's side of the family) was much more rowdy. Her two sons (cousins I'd last seen in 1987 or thereabouts), their wives and children (now grown and many of them taller than I), and my Little Uncle showed up. The food was amazing, in comparison to what I eat at "home" here. My aunt cooked everything on her own ... plum-sauce chicken, rice vermicelli, shrimp, drunken chicken, hot pot, fried fish, pork, etc. After I ate lunch, my cousins introduced me to their wives (who were sitting with the children at another table), and I ate snacks and chatted with them for a while while watching TV. And then they went to nap (without telling me, so I thought I was so dull that I had pushed them away) ... and then later there was a birthday cake (it was one of my cousin's birthdays), and another round of soup before I was finally allowed to leave.

The entire lunch "trip" took over 8 hours, and when I arrived home (exhausted, having fallen asleep on the subway back), I was surprised to find that my cousin's cousins (to whom I am not related by blood) were over for dinner. All I wanted was to take a nap. I told my aunt that I had eaten a second lunch just before returning home, but I was still asked to join the dinner ... during which time I basically sat silent, nursing a bowl of soup.

The next day, Tuesday, my mother's side of the family came over for lunch. According to my research, this second day of the festivities is the day the daughter returns to her family (assuming she has married). The aunt I live with is actually the youngest daughter on my mom's side of the family, so I don't think they were really keeping with tradition or anything. This meal, I thought, was the most disappointing of all, though there were some special American items, like pumpkin-cheese soup and garlic bread. But unlike the meals I'd had at various relatives' houses, the dishes were fairly one-noted: a lot of seafood and meat. I swear after this meal, I could smell myself, and I smelled like a farm animal.

Lunch lasted for nearly 4 hours, and when it was over, I napped for a bit and then woke up and ate a couple of nougat pieces I'd bought at DiHua Street a couple weeks ago. Regretful, because between that and the "normal" dinner that followed, I felt like I didn't just have a food baby, but a stone baby growing inside of me.

Wednesday was the first day life resumed as usual. I met up with a classmate to do some shopping (sales are good during Chinese New Year). I got my family a modern twist on a traditional Chinese tea set, and an army green anorak-parka without a hood for myself. It was a little pricer than I would've liked, but I've been wanting one of these for a long time. And then, as if I didn't feel guilty enough, when I got home from my shopping trip, I ordered another $60's worth of things from American Eagle Outfitters.

So I'm officially on clothing and accessories lockdown until, like, August, and I'm on meat lockdown for a week. I'm through smelling like a cow! It's not going to be easy, though. I don't think the Chinese or Taiwanese take kindly to vegetarianism ...

NCISushi and Awfully Chocolate ... sound sketchy?

2012-01-25T21:34:00.001-05:00

I think the Chinese New Year festivities are over, but give me another day to digest the food and the craziness. It has been an overwhelming 4-5 days that I wish never to repeat again. More about that later (I'm currently working on it ... it's going to be long, and for that, I already apologize.)

Anyway, here are some photos from the past couple of weeks from my eating adventures ...

My friends are in love with this fusion Japanese sushi place cleverly called "NCIS: Northern California-Inspired Sushi," but as it turns out, it's not really my thing. I like my raw fish plain and simple. At least it was cheap!

Some sort of fried sushi with cream cheese in the middle

Fish on top, fish in the middle ... it looked pretty

I think this may have been eel

I ordered a plain spicy tuna roll and was happy with it. My roll cost $3.33.

Afterwards, we went a little crazy at this dessert place called "Awfully Chocolate." Apparently they have shops in a number of countries.

Dark chocolate ice cream ($3.33) ... pretty good

Chocolate cupcake ($4) ... this was okay.

A slice of their specialty, chocolate cake ... this was awful. We went really late in the day and I've heard that it's actually really delicious when fresh, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. It was dry and kind of tasteless when we had it. This was around $4.75.

I ordered this, which they called "cold poached chocolate" ... It was like chocolate mousse compounded into cake form, or pure ganache. I chose the Grand Marnier flavor, and it was so delicious. But so rich that we couldn't finish it. A pity! It was about $5.50.

This is an indication of how I've been eating over the past 2 or 3 weeks. I don't know how I still fit into my jeans, honestly!

"I Wanna Be Bad"

2012-01-23T22:28:00.000-05:00

For no reason whatsoever, I thought of Willa Ford this past week. I am probably one of about 323 people in the world who own Willa Ford's 2001 album "Willa Was Here." To this day, I still don't even know if I was ever a fan of hers, but she did have one and only one song that made it fairly big, and if you were between the ages of 13 and 25 in 2001, you probably know this one:

The reason the video is in sepia and flipped is because this is apparently the "banned" version of the "I Wanna Be Bad" music video. Because apparently a girl in stripper heels and a plastic corset was too risque in 2001. (Can this really be true?) Here's the original if you really care to watch -- it's incredibly boring.

Let's be honest for a moment, though (not to say that I'm not usually honest) ... the only reason I own her album is because she was, at the height of the Backstreet Boys' fame, Nick Carter's longtime girlfriend. I can't tell you how many "I Hate Mandy" websites there were for her. It was ridiculous. Me, I was going through that period of adolescence when you skip past hating the significant other of the object of your affection and go straight to fascination/emulation. Aside from getting really into "statement tees" and cross-body backpacks (though I don't think I ever bought one), there wasn't much about Mandy Williford (her birth name) I could really emulate. I mean, just look at her.

source: original Atlantic Records photoshoot

In 2001, Ms. Williford would've been 20 years old, and she just celebrated her 31st birthday yesterday (yes, I still remember her birthday). It seems like just a year or two ago that she was on "Dancing With The Stars," but apparently it's been 5-going-on-6 years. It's PAINFUL how quickly time seems to be passing. 1993 feels like 9, maybe 11 years ago, but apparently it's now been 19 years. How can this be!?

Back to Willa Ford. It's funny, watching this video now, how young and slightly awkward she seems, despite being extremely sexy. I don't think "I Wanna Be Bad" was the best song on her album (maybe "Did Ya Understand That" was better), and the rest of her album wasn't terrible. I'm mostly surprised that anyone still knows who she is and that she was big enough to be considered for "Dancing With The Stars" at all. To this day, when I think of her, I think of a really skinny blonde teen from Tampa, living the lifestyle I thought I wanted to live. (This was -- not coincidentally -- when I went through my "Florida phase," which included a pseudo-obsession with palm trees. Now they blend in with the rest of the "scenery" here in Taipei.) Now when I look at photos of her, I see a slight resemblance to Kate Winslet I never saw back then.

I've also seen the girl live, for free, on this August (?) night in Central Park:

It's nice to have little trips down memory lane every once in a while to remember how far we've all come.

Random Reads: 2011 and a Mormon sandwich

2012-01-22T22:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted some of my favorite recent reads, probably because I haven't been doing much reading lately. Now that I'm getting into the groove of the student lifestyle here, I'm trying to find more time to do the things I used to do before I moved halfway across the world. (And since I'm struggling to keep up with normal things during this Chinese New Year break, I thought this would be a nice little distraction.) I've been collecting these since just before the new year ...

The Atlantic did a "2011: The Year in Photos" feature which I thought was really good. It seems like so much longer ago that the Japanese earthquake hit; this year has seemed like an eternity and no time at all all at once.

I finally caught up with one of my favorite bloggers, former "American Idol" contestant Brooke White. She collaborates with Summer Bellessa on this project called "The Girls With Glasses Show," and they put out this video for Christmas. I love it and it put a smile on my face immediately, especially knowing that Brooke is pregnant with her first child:

The New York Times Magazine has a piece with Cynthia Nixon on her life post-"Sex and the City" this week ... Cynthia is an alumnus of my high school, so I've always had an eye out for her, but I think this particular feature had some legitimately interesting parts, like her perspective on being gay.

Mitt's hair has seen better days ...
source: theatlanticwire.com

I have been mildly enraptured by Mitt Romney since his first run for president in 2007/2008. I know most of the basics on him, which might account for why I am so very fascinated by him: he's Mormon, he has a dual J.D./MBA from Harvard University, and he is partly/mostly Bostonian ... ish. Belmont, Massachusetts, to be exact (by way of Michigan). I know someone whose family is friends with his. His reign over Massachusetts coincided with my reign over Massachusetts, and I think he did fine job while he was in office. (I can't really say the same of myself.) Anyway, "Vanity Fair" did a very, very lengthy article on him "dark side" in this month's issue, with details that were previously unknown even to me. And I've virtually read 'em all, including the one with the exclusive interview with the man who prunes his "presidential hair."

And to leave on a feel-good note, a NYC artist deals with a lack of privacy in a very sweet way (The Atlantic).

Back to stuffing my face! I'll do a mid-Chinese New Year recap soon.

Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon

2012-01-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

I get 9 days off from school for Chinese New Year (which is officially next Monday, January 23rd, but the holiday begins at the end of the school/work day tomorrow) ... NINE! In the Chinese classes I took in college, I heard about this mystical Chinese New Year celebration where the entire country was off for upwards of two weeks, and I thought, "Wow ... that would never happen in the U.S." 9 days isn't upwards of 2 weeks, but already I'm anxious about the celebration. I heard that nearly all of Taipei shuts down as everyone hurries back to their hometowns to celebrate the new year (the Year of the Dragon) with family.

Back home in the U.S., I hardly ever celebrate Chinese New Year. In elementary school during the uber multicultural 80s and 90s (or was that just the NYC public school system), we learned about every major culture under the sun ... I think I learned some Romanian and I definitely learned my fair share of Swahili. And Hebrew ... I think to this day I know more about Jewish traditions than I know about Chinese traditions. Back then, we celebrated Chinese New Year in school. I remember one especially harsh winter in the third grade, more than half the class did not make it to school, so my class spent the entire day working on our cardboard box dragon for Chinese New Year. In the third grade, our end-of-year Dance Festival had us doing the Chinese Ribbon Dance.

In any case, at home with my parents, celebrating the Chinese New Year meant making sure we were neatly dressed and bathed, getting a red envelope with a little money in it from family, eating Lucky candy (which I've been looking for all over here in Taipei but haven't been able to find!) and eating fish. The word for "fish" sounds exactly the same as the word for "fortune" in Mandarin, which is why fish is traditionally eaten. Man, the Chinese are superstitious ...

So this is my first time properly celebrating the Chinese New Year. I don't know what to expect, but my local friend brought us to Dihua Street, which becomes a huge food market for foods eaten during the Chinese New Year. We went on the second day the market was open, on a Monday afternoon, and still it was packed. Vendors allow you to sample anything you want, and you can eat more than a meal's share of foods just walking through the market, sampling things.

My Taiwanese-American friend told me that I should be buying things in large quantities, because the reason people shopped at this market was to stock up on foods during the new year celebration, when all the supermarkets would be closed. I left the market with a bag full of gummi candies (about $1.66 worth) and a lot of nougat (nearly $7's worth). Not exactly healthy food that will sustain me for 9 days. I can't resist nougat, though the Taiwanese version isn't exactly the same as the Italian kind I love so very much.

I bought some standard almond and pistachio ones, some cranberry and cashew ones and the darker ones have a date base with walnuts, which is less sweet and actually pretty tasty.

Both my teacher and my Taiwanese-American friend have told me that for all 9 days of the Chinese New Year celebration, you eat very, very, very well (I'm not sure what that means in my particular household, as we already eat what I consider to be very, very well) at each meal of each of the 9 days. And between meals, people snack on candies and cakes and cookies while playing mahjong and other family-centered activities. My friend said that many people gain 10-15 pounds during the break.

Please, don't let that happen to me.

My family hasn't revealed what they are planning for the holiday, but I can tell they've been stocking up on fruits and foods. They're saving the strawberry wine I bought in Miaoli for the New Year. I've filled my hiding spaces full of snacks I know I'll enjoy, since it's unlikely I'll enjoy eating fish 3 times a day for 9 days straight.

I'll report back.

Miaoli County

2012-01-18T19:55:00.000-05:00

Miaoli County, as I've said before, is the strawberry capital of Taiwan. Strawberries were brought over to Taiwan in 1958. I read that Miaoli produces 90% of the strawberries in Taiwan. (Interestingly enough, there is a term called "Strawberry generation" here in Taiwan, which loosely translates to the American term "Millennials" or "Generation Y.") After our stop at the reservoir, we drove about 30 minutes to Dahu, another part of Miaoli County, to pick strawberries. We thought it would be a huge strawberry field, but the driver brought us to a small, family-run field (farm) by the side of the highway.

A little girl told us to put on a pair of rubber boots, and gave us these baskets with a cardboard box and scissors to snip the strawberries off their stems.

I saw some of the reddest strawberries I've ever seen in my life here ... I didn't even realize that bright a shade of red existed in nature. My friend tried some of her strawberries when she returned home and said they were incredibly sweet, but instead of testing mine out, I separated them into two boxes to give away.

I'm not sure how much the going rate was per kilogram of strawberries, but I filled up about half a box and the total came to about $6.50. Again, paying to work ... :)

Lastly, we drove to the Strawberry "Museum," which was I had been looking forward to all day. I'd read that they sell strawberry-flavored everything there, and I wanted to try it all.

Employees working on strawberry people trash cans

I tried a strawberry-flavored sausage ($1) ... it was light on the strawberry flavor, though. The sausages here tend to be very sweet as it is. I also sampled some strawberry wine and bought a couple of strawberry-flavored goodies.

Strawberry Suncake

Suncake is one of my (only) favorite Taiwanese desserts. It's this flaky, flat pastry that has a chewy, sweet center made of sugar (honey? I don't really know). All I know is that it's delicious. I was worried, especially judging from the picture on the box, that it would be strawberry jam-filled and just overly sweet, but I was totally wrong. It tasted exactly like a regular suncake, except the chewy inside (and flaky outside) was made with strawberry. Yum!

This is a terrible photo, but I also bought a box of individually wrapped peanut and chocolate-covered strawberry something-filled mochi. Very yummy as well, though a bit sweet.

There was pig-feeding area, a pony-feeding area, and

tons of rides that had nothing to do with strawberries.

Our greatest find, however, was the area past all the kiddie rides ...

One of the things I've always wanted to do in life is to lie in a field of flowers. The flower lots here weren't all that clean and I think I would've been yelled at had I laid down in them, so I didn't. But we spent a very long time here taking photos.

And then we found the driver and asked him to drive us to the Miaoli Train Station, where we boarded the train back to Taipei, back to rain.

Sanyi

2012-01-17T20:05:00.000-05:00

Another weekend, another city! This time we went down to Miaoli County, the strawberry capital of Taiwan. But before we headed to Dahu to pick strawberries and visit the "Strawberry Museum" (which is more like a fairground), we stayed overnight at a beautiful villa in Sanyi.

My Mandarin teacher recommended the Jones Home Villas in Sanyi to us ... Sanyi is kind of a remote town, not easily accessible. Luckily the innkeeper (or whatever his title is) was very, very kind and basically served as our chauffeur our first night there. He picked us up at the Sanyi train station, then gave us a room upgrade (not a big travel weekend, as it was presidential election weekend in Taiwan) for free, drove us back to town for dinner, and then picked us up a couple hours later. The room (in a modern-day cabin) for 4 (two beds), overlooking the mountain, cost each of us only $16.66. Unbelievable, especially with the amazing service we were later provided.

That night, we went to town to have dinner. The innkeeper was very honest with us and told us there wasn't much to do in Sanyi. He recommended a couple restaurants to us and suggested we walk from the restaurant to the night market (only weekly in Sanyi, rather than daily).

We went to a mom and pop kind of restaurant for dinner, which was filled with locals. We each ordered a different dish, and my friend (who can read more Chinese characters than I can) mistakenly told me that I was ordering hand-cut noodles instead of ... I don't even know what they're called. Floppy chewy flat noodles? Two of my friends ordered rice vermicelli and the other friend ordered standard egg noodles. My dish, which didn't taste too bad in the end, set me back $2.15.

After dinner, we walked to the night market. Sanyi is considered the country side in Taiwan, and the streets were quite dim and kind of run-down looking. A lot of stores remained open alongside the road, however, and you could tell that they were all very much family-run, because the store served oftentimes as a family room (with a large window so we could see their every move), where the kids watched television and the family dog hung around.

We arrived at the night market, which was so much more than the typical night market in Taipei, probably because it only happens once a week. There were carnival games, bumper cars, cotton candy, fried foods that were closer to what would be served at an American fairground ... cakes, cookies, breads, used CD and cassettes (!!), clothes, toys, etc. Someone even set off fireworks while we were browsing. It was very small, though, probably the size of a school parking lot in the U.S.

After buying a couple of things to eat, we headed to the local 7-11 to wait for the innkeeper to pick us up. We went over our plans for the next morning with him ... he originally planned to take us strawberry picking, but once he heard that our itinerary was all over the county, he told us he would plan it for us and let us know the details later.

It turned out that he got us a cab driver for the day, who would be at our disposal, for a grand total of about $16.66 per person. He asked us when we would like our breakfast served, and we asked for it to be ready at about 9am, with the cab coming at 10am.

Our first stop was Sheng-Hsing Train Station, which ... to be quite honest, I don't understand is a tourist attraction. Our cab driver told us it was the highest train station in Taiwan built along the Old Mountain Railway. It was built in 1905 and is no longer in service. To me, the Taiwanese make mountains out of molehills (see my Alishan experience!), but meh.

The highlights of our stop here were the "lei cha" making and riding the mini train. "Lei cha" is a type of tea, made by grinding different nuts and tea leaves together. Basically, we paid to make our own tea. We were given a huge mortar and pestle, and several dishes of ingredients:

Step One: the tea leaves

Step Two: add sesame seeds

Step Three: add sunflower seeds

At this point, the mixture began to get more and more paste-like, as the oil from the seeds began to combine with the tea powder.

Step Four: the peanuts

Coming together as a paste

The tea place also gave us some strands of plain mochi and sweet peanut powder and showed us how to cut the mochi into little nuggets using the metal chopsticks. For some reason, out of my friends, I was the only one who was able to do it, so I ended up cutting it all and tossing the little bits in the powder.

Once the paste was formed, the guy gave us more ingredients to add ...

I think this is matcha powder

Popped rice kernels

Finally, hot water

Not so much a tea as a soup, really!

It was very time consuming, but the end result was pretty nice. It was nutty and had a light green tea flavor, and a lot more opaque in both texture and flavor than any tea I'd ever had. This entire process (complete with the mochi) cost us $2.15 per person. We joked that we were paying to perform manual labor, but it was an interesting experience. There's a certain technique to the grinding, too, which only one of us really got down pat (and it wasn't me).

Then we walked down to the old train station ...

Still in use after all! ;)

We asked if adults could ride, and they said yes so for $1 per person, we hopped on this incredibly narrow (think just a little wider than a gymnastics balance beam) train car for a very short ride.

The head (and tail, upon return) of the train

Completely non-descript train station/tracks/tunnel

Mini tracks between the real ones

We ran into our cab driver, who told us he needed to pick up some OTHER passengers and bring them somewhere, but he'd be back in about 10-15 minutes. I knew this was a bad idea, but he definitely was not giving us a choice. 10-15 minutes turned into an hour, at which point we were all fuming, especially when he chose to ignore our calls. It was silent in the car as he drove us to our next stop, the Longteng Broken Bridge.

Again, not sure what the big deal with this is ... it was struck by two different earthquakes. There's also some sort of legend that says the Longteng area is haunted by an evil carp spirit or something. I don't know what that has to do with the bridge, but it might explain why it was struck twice by an earthquake and damaged to the point of ineffectiveness. It is pretty, though.

The site was right across from a "Bee-cology" center, which might explain

why we saw so very many bees pollinating wildflowers.

These trees look like they were plucked straight out of a Van Gogh painting

The driver next brought us to an unplanned stop, in what I can only imagine was an attempt to mollify our anger towards him, and that was to the Mingde Reservoir, which serves Taichung, a large city in Taiwan about 3 hours away from the reservoir.

This was only half the trip ... next we went strawberry picking, but I'm going to save that for tomorrow but this is already too long!

"Fell In Love With A Girl"

2012-01-16T19:55:00.000-05:00

source: entertainment.ca.msn.com

I had a hankering to listen to Gavin DeGraw's song "I'm In Love With A Girl" the other day for no apparent reason (I don't particularly enjoy his music and I think a lot of his songs sound the same), and while I was searching for the video on YouTube, I stumbled across "Fell In Love With A Girl" by The White Stripes:

About two lines into the song, I kept saying, "These lyrics sound SO familiar, but I'm sure I've never heard this song before ... I don't really listen to The White Stripes." And when I got to the chorus, I realized that it was the "girl version" of Joss Stone's "Fell In Love With A Boy." Except, of course, The White Stripes' song came first.

I think I might be one of the few people in the world who did not know this, but I forgive myself. I didn't love the version above but found an acoustic version, which I now can't stop listening to:

Love these lyrics:

Fell in love with a girl
fell in love once and almost completely
she's in love with the world
but sometimes these feelings
can be so misleading ...

can't keep away from the girl
these two sides of my brain
need to have a meeting
can't think of anything to do
my left brain knows that
all love is fleeting

The lyrics kind of remind me of the song "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall ("and everything around her is a silver pool of light / the people who surround her feel the benefit of it / it makes you calm / she holds you captivated in her palm"), except much less descriptive.

So that's the song that's been on my mind for the past week ...

Two months

2012-01-15T20:03:00.000-05:00

Coming up in 3 days, I'll have been in Taiwan for 2 months. It's unbelievable that it's only been 2 months, and even more unbelievable when I think about how dear my new friends here are to me, and how it is that I could have only known them for a little over a month! Since the one-month mark, I've noticed a few new things about Taipei and Taiwan ... things aren't quite as rosy as they were for me in my first month, but I'm still much happier than I was.

My room faces an alley where there is a popular restaurant and late at night, I hear parties of people leaving, laughing and chatting. For some reason, I still automatically assume they're speaking English unless I stop to think about it. At times, the parties are actually English-speaking, but most of the time they're not. This doesn't happen to me at home ... when I hear Mandarin or Cantonese spoken outside my window in New York City, I automatically register the difference(s) in tone and recognize that they're not speaking English. Maybe in time the default won't be English, though that idea scares me a little ...

Anyway, first and foremost is the rampant sexism here. It's not outwardly evident, but it's alive and kicking. Some of my close relatives are very close-minded about the role of women in society, and my teacher has told us multiple stories of how common it once was for guys in Taiwan to take revenge on their ex-girlfriends (murders, acid attacks) because they felt their girlfriends were their possessions. Despite my teacher being as forward-thinking as she is, I think a lot of the things she tries to drive into us are heavily influenced by the sexist undertones of how the current and previous generations have been brought up. My teacher, who is in her late 30s, stresses how important it is for girls to take care of their outward appearances and preserve their looks and that it isn't as important for men to do the same. She also believes (though she is still unmarried) that girls should really marry so their parents no longer have to worry about them.

I'm willing to bet the attitude of the general population has something to do with the average age of the population. The elderly (and even the not-so-elderly) here are still very traditional in their views of what men and women should and shouldn't do, and since Taiwan's average age is about 63, well, you can guess where I'm going with this.

On a similar note, we discussed homosexual relationships briefly in class once, and I don't know if my teacher was just being careful with her words in order not to offend, but she basically said that "actually, they're not so bad ... they're not so different from us, they're nice people" which, depending on how you interpret it, could be cautiously complimentary or cautiously yielding. While I do see quite a few people who seem to subscribe to "alternative lifestyles" (I mean this in the general sense, not as a euphemism for the LGBT), I think for any society that continues to view women (no matter how privately) as significantly subordinate would have trouble accepting people who choose to lead their lives outside what is considered "normal."

I may have been a little harsh in what I've written, as I don't interact too much with Taiwanese guys here. Just my uncle, my cousin (who has not exhibited any signs of sexism, as far as I can tell), my uncle's side of the family and a handful of friends' friends with whom I am not friendly enough with to say much about.

Other things I've noticed in the past month ... also connected to male-female relationships, marriage (and kids soon after) seems to be the be-all, end-all for most women. And so much pressure is put on women, even by men in their lives, to find a good man who can take care of her. Yes, I've already gotten this talk. And I was even told to ease up on academia and spend more time finding a guy who could take care of me. I was also told that I shouldn't worry too much about money or my career, presumably because this "good man" will take care of all those things for me. But all this "advice" came from one person; I don't want to give the impression that all guys here think the way he does.

While I don't think this still happens in Taiwan, I was told that in Indonesia a dower is still presented to the groom's family, as a token. Ack! I am so thankful I grew up in the U.S. As much pressure as I feel American society puts on girls to get married, have boyfriends, have babies, etc, it's nothing compared to the pressures felt here ... and I'm not even Taiwanese! My teacher says a lot of people commit suicide during holidays here in Taiwan because of the pressure of being interrogated about one's love life, etc. I think that's incredibly sad and I've generally found that the Taiwanese (and perhaps the Chinese and other Asian cultures) put a lot of value on traditions and superstitions rather than individual growth and personality. Oftentimes, there's one way of doing something and only one way of doing it. Obviously I don't agree with that and I think that traditions are nice to an extent, but the world is changing and I think we need to change with it.

My mom laughs every time I complain about any of the above to her. She says this is a delayed culture shock I'm experiencing. I asked her if she would ever move back to Taiwan, and she said she can balance both American and Taiwanese cultures and it'd be the physical things about each country she'd need to take into consideration. But there's a reason she left Taiwan so many years ago ... her mother never valued education and thought she should have stopped going to school after the sixth grade and gone to work. In the past month, I've become very thankful for my parents and their "progressiveness," which is doubly impressive because they are much older than the sexist men I have come in contact with here. They must've been abnormally progressive back in the day!

American food in Taipei

2012-01-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

One of my classmates split her time growing up between the U.S. and Taipei, so she's well-versed in both cultures. While she dresses like a Taiwanese girl and loves Hello Kitty, she much prefers American food. So she suggested that we go to a restaurant (with several locations in Taipei) called The Diner, which (I'm sure you can tell) serves American diner food.

I wasn't expecting too much, or maybe I should say that I wasn't expecting to feel any which way about the restaurant, but surprisingly, the little things at The Diner made me realize how much I (or my stomach) do miss home.

Whenever I go to a diner, my go-to dish is pancakes or waffles, but despite being prepared to order pancakes, I ended up going with a dish called "Mexican Scramble," which was eggs scrambled with salsa, green onion and cheddar cheese and came with two slices of toast, sliced bananas, hash browns, orange juice, tea or coffee, and your choice of two links of sausage or two slices of bacon. This dish amounted to $8, which is not cheap by Taiwanese standards and probably not terribly cheap by most American standards, but cheap by New York City standards!

I started on the scramble at once. I was kind of disappointed, as it lacked any real flavor at first, but once I added some salt, some pepper and a couple dashes of Tabasco, it tasted really, really good. The hash browns were as good as they come in the U.S., but the big surprise that got me really excited was the sausage. I couldn't tell which brand the sausages were, but they were exactly the kind I love to eat at home ... and American breakfast sausages seem to be very difficult to come by elsewhere in the world.

When I was in England, all the sausages were mealy, as if they were one part flour and one part pork or beef. In Taiwan, sausages are typically bright pink, sweet and resemble salami. One bite of these breakfast sausages had me doing a happy dance in my seat, and I'm not exaggerating! I didn't eat the toast, but the Smuckers grape jelly (ah, I am reminded of the crazy fit Grandma Saracen threw about grape jelly in season three of "Friday Night Lights," and the ensuing money quote from Matt) was a nice touch. The coffee tasted ultra-American, too, and I'm no coffee connoisseur.

My friend ordered Eggs Benedict, but the hollandaise sauce looked mighty sketchy to me. It was thicker than it should've been, and a darker shade of yellow. She told me it was "fake hollandaise," heavy on the lemon and light on the butter (or something). But she likes The Diner's version enough to have ordered it, because it wasn't her first time at the restaurant ... I tried the fries and they were true-to-form. I guess it's pretty difficult to mess up fries, though it's definitely happened before ...

Aside from the Tabasco sauce and sausages, my favorite thing about The Diner was its atmosphere. I noticed that its crowd was heavily foreign, and from the accents I heard around me, likely American. A guy sat alone at the table behind us, studying from his Chinese textbook and occasionally asking his waitress for help with the words. Though he must've been at least in his early twenties, he was dressed exactly like the guys in my high school were dressed at age 16, 17, 18 -- some sort of ski/North Face jacket, jeans, a backwards Yankees cap.

I think I may have found my home away from home. Plus, they have what is a rare delicacy even in the diners back home ... PECAN PIE. Next time.

Wulai

2012-01-11T19:39:00.001-05:00

My teachers, classmates and I went on a field trip last Saturday, at the teacher's recommendation. She chose Wulai, which is a district known for its remedial hot springs, "thousand year old eggs" and aboriginal culture. According to its Wikipedia page, "The name of the town derives from the Atayal phrase qilux ulay meaning 'hot and poisonous'."

On the way up, we stopped at the reservoir from which Taipei draws its drinking water:

And then the teacher brought us to a restaurant (in what looked like a giant tin greenhouse) that she says she stops at every time she goes up to Wulai.

That's my teacher in the photo

She did all the ordering ... we had an entire roast chicken, two pyramids of fried rice, some sauteed garlic chive roots and another vegetable I don't know the English name for. Everything was surprisingly delicious.

And then we continued driving, stopping at a hanging bridge. I'd previously walked across a hanging bridge when I went to Alishan, but this one had a much more beautiful view, even in the rain.

And then we headed to the tourist area, where the hot springs were also located. We left all our belongings on the "beach," so I didn't get the chance to take photos of the hot springs themselves (plus it was raining, so we were sitting in the springs while holding umbrellas over our heads ... try to visualize this comical image for a moment, if you can). Nearby, some older men and women were soaking in the springs and even bathing in them. My classmates and I just soaked our feet. The water was intermittently cool and unbearably hot, so I had to get out after about 20 minutes. My legs were red from the hot water. Soaking in a hot spring is supposed to improve your circulation and make you sleepy. It definitely made me very sleepy.

After we climbed out of the hot springs, we went to buy some goodies from the stalls in the market.

One of my friends bought some Chinese sausage on a stick, I bought some grilled mochi on a stick (slathered in a crushed peanut and sugar mix), which was pretty good. And we all bought boxes of mochi to bring home. I'm not sure if the mochi in Wulai is famous, but it was very, very good. So far, I've seen many varieties of brown sugar-"skinned" mochi in Taiwan, whereas in the U.S., most of the mochi has either the original skin (rice) or some awfully artificial flavor, like cantaloupe or strawberry. One of the brown sugar pieces I tried had incredibly smooth peanut butter as its filling and it was SO good. Nice and smooth and creamy.

On the ride back, most of the students started dozing off because we were so sleepy from the warm soak. But after a quick rest, we went bowling! I'll save that for another entry.

Food dump!

2012-01-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

I realized that I've been holding onto a bunch of photos I took of food I've eaten recently, so here I am to stir up your appetite (sorry Amy!):

My friends and I had fried chicken for lunch one day, and we noticed that everyone was using plastic gloves to avoid getting their fingers greasy. I thought it was really funny and tried to use them for a little bit, but I couldn't help but feel that the plastic was melting after coming in contact with the hot oil. The fried chicken was pretty good -- not Popeye's, but pretty darn close to KFC.

These are ramen chips ... they were the rage the last time I came to Taipei (in 2000), but they seem to have mostly been phased out. I found these at the 7-11 in Alishan and rejoiced ... they are basically little discs of dried ramen with seasoning baked in. Delicious! (But probably not too good for you.)

My aunt and uncle went to some Christmas party and brought home these goodies ... this was probably the best cookie and best cake I've had thus far in Taiwan. The cake was mocha flavored, and probably an attempt at the bouche de Noel. It was very good, as was this shortbread cookie with chocolate icing and metallic sugar pellets.

On Christmas Day, my family and I went out to a Thai buffet place for dinner, and passion fruit was one of the desserts. I've never eaten fresh passion fruit in my life, so this was an event! It was pretty tart, but very fragrant.

One of my classmates is actually a native of Taiwan (but an American citizen ... I don't know if that even works), but she studied at the American school here growing up, so she can't really write Chinese characters. She loves going to afternoon tea, and this was from the first afternoon tea outing with her ... my caramel latte. Afternoon tea here can be pretty pricey, though not by NYC standards. My latte and banana chocolate waffles (below) combined cost me about $12-$15, if I remember correctly.

I finally went out for Japanese tonight ... it was a fusion Japanese place. And then we followed that up with extremely decadent chocolate desserts ... next time I do a food dump, I'll post those photos.

I'd be surprised if I haven't gained weight since arriving here! I'm going to have to do some major readjusting to the standard of living when I return to New York. Definitely not looking forward to that ...

Music Mondays are back ... "Promise Of A New Day"

2012-01-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

source: NYPost.com

One week into the new year, and I just don't feel right without doing something music-related at least once a week. Try telling this to my 10-year-old self who loathed, loathed music because to her, music meant sitting at a piano for an hour or two every day practicing classical music, which she hated (and I think I would still hate it).

Anyway, I'm gonna go "freestyle" with this Music Monday idea and not have a theme, because that can be restricting. (I say "freestyle" as a nod to Taiwanese use of English as slang. I still can't quite put my finger on what they mean by "freestyle" ... I've heard it used in a number of different contexts, including a description of how one drives. The word "man" is also used here to describe what I can only assume they mean as "macho." I think that's very telling, don't you?) For now, I think I might just write about a song that's on my mind or especially means something to me.

For now, "Promise Of A New Day" (1991) by Paula Abdul is on my mind, because it's a brand new year ...

I'm not sure any Paula Abdul song should ever really be on anyone's mind, but I really do like this one. (Although the music video baffles me ... not sure what waterfalls and sexy poses have to do with a new day, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt here and assume she went "freestyle.") I first heard it covered on "Kids, Incorporated" in a 1992 episode:

And I still think the vocals are better in the "Kids, Incorporated" version, sad to say ... even with Jared Delgin's total lack of vocal ability. (Ah well, he went on to Stanford and Harvard Law, so I don't feel too sorry for him!)

My favorite part was and still is: "And so time over time / what will change the world / no one knows / so the only promise is / a day to live, to give / and share with one another" ... nice words to remember in hard times.

Outlook for 2012

2012-01-08T20:00:00.002-05:00

Do you believe in astrology and horoscopes? I don't really, but I think it's fun to read anyway. One of the things I do every year, either at the end of the year or at the very beginning, is read my outlook for the year (and then compare my year to the predictions from the past year). Sometimes it's eerily accurate (though I tend to believe that horoscopes are written in a way that makes it easy for someone to read into it any way they please), and sometimes it's only marginally correct.

Every year since about 2008 or 2009, my yearly horoscope has been telling me that the past such-and-such years have not been that great and that the upcoming one will be the year to travel or change careers, that I'll find the person I've been waiting all my life for. Those are the two that seem to recur every single year. This year seems slightly more negative than the past couple of years have been, though.

According to my horoscope, this is basically a year to rest and catch up on all the projects I've been holding back on over the years (true, I meant to take this time to figure out what I want to do with my life and also work on the projects I've been wanting to work on). Other than that, learning and traveling, not much of note is really going to happen. But if I'm lucky in December (aka in the right place at the right time), I might meet The One. Yada yada. I'll return to this at the end of 2012 and report on its accuracy.

If you want to check your annual horoscope (I'm an Aries, so if you're also an Aries you can read beyond the cut), the sites I check (or the ones that look the most legitimate to me) are Astrology.com and Dailyhoroscope.com.

This is my 2012 horoscope, from the site iGoogle uses, dailyhoroscope.com ...

You have been swept up by the fast and unpredictable pace of your life since Uranus the Awakener entered independent Aries on March 11, 2011. This year reveals even more changes that will rattle your windows and shake the foundations of your life. And although you may have concerns about the unknown road ahead, your appetite for new experiences will ultimately overcome your worry. Fortunately, you pioneering Rams rise to the challenge when placed in unfamiliar situations, and eagerly look forward to exploring uncharted lands. Throughout the year, unpredictable Uranus continues to expose buried tensions -- physical, emotional and spiritual -- bringing opportunities for you to make the radical changes that align with your shifting perspectives.

Expanding your awareness isn't necessarily easy, especially around June 24 and Sept. 19, when revolutionary Uranus runs into the first two of seven harsh squares with ruthless Pluto that recur through 2015. Intense Pluto entered your 10th House of Career in 2008, beginning a long-term metamorphosis of your overall direction in life that will, until 2023, gradually transform how you relate to the world in general. Now, however, your professional ambitions are suddenly electrified by the squares from high-voltage Uranus. Unexpected developments require you to alter the course you thought would carry you into the future.

Be patient as you move steadily toward your goals, even if you are tempted to bolt ahead without any second thoughts. Opportunistic Jupiter in determined Taurus visits your 2nd House of Self-Worth through June 11, bolstering your confidence and rewarding pragmatism more than idealism. Meanwhile, your key planet, Mars, remains in efficient Virgo and your 6th House of Work until July 3. His retrograde period from Jan. 23 through April 13 can stall your progress on the job, but gives you another chance to focus on the details and sharpen your skills so you have everything in order once it's time to push ahead. Jupiter's entry into your 3rd House of Communication on June 11 opens the way for you to interact with others on a more positive basis. This can push you to take a significant project to the next level, as long as you don't scatter your energy by trying to accomplish too much too fast.

Relationships continue to teach you important lessons this year as taskmaster Saturn completes its two-year visit to your 7th House of Others. But old assumptions about partnerships come up for reconsideration, and you may be required to reaffirm a recent commitment or make a new one when Saturn enters your 8th House of Intimacy on Oct. 5. Fortunately, you are able to infuse common sense into your vision of the possibilities that lay ahead. Although the challenges you face now are likely to continue well into 2013, hard-earned stability begins to return by the end of this year if you can resist the temptation to aim higher than you can reach.

Rut roh.

A slightly more positive reading, from astrology.com:

Overview
Your quest for radical self-love and self-knowledge continues in 2012. Never has the impetus to know yourself, own your core values (even if it means going against the grain) and possess your truth been more essential. No longer can you deny all that is rare and sensational about you. This is truly your breakout year in which your myriad talents will shine!

And get ready to work your horns off this year, Ram. Although your ruling planet, Mars, will spend the first quarter retrograde in Virgo, it will also push you to focus and finish like never before. The devil is definitely in the details this year. Mars retrogrades less frequently than the other planets, but when it does, you surely feel like someone has slammed on the brakes! But don't panic. Rather, consider this a chance to finally catch up on every loose end and unfinished project that's piled up over the past few years.

With Uranus upping the ante in your stars for another round, the status quo of pre-2010 has been left in the dust forever. And by June, the planet of change, Uranus, makes its way towards an exact square with the planet of death and rebirth, Pluto. The changes you experienced in 2011 were simply the tip of the iceberg! With the onslaught of intense cardinal energies barreling toward a standoff this summer, the potential for one-way change this year is deep and unmistakable. Of course, change can be exhilarating if you release your grip on the past and the specific demands of ego. Getting your own way is practically your divine birthright, but this year you'll have to trust that life sometimes brings you what you need at the expense of what you want.

The eclipse patterns of 2012 continue to speed up change in the realms of teaching, education, publishing and travel. If you have any issues with siblings or other close relatives, this could also come into play during the next 12 months as a result of this year's eclipses. On the upside, however, Jupiter will continue to boost your finances until it moves into Gemini in June. November's total solar eclipse in Scorpio in your eighth house of life force, sex and resourcefulness promises to bring sexy back. This eclipse pattern will also reveal any latent interests in psychology or metaphysics, and could also bring money issues to the forefront.

Romantic
Throughout Saturn's residence in your partnership house over the past few years, you have endured some of the most challenging and rewarding relationship lessons of your life. In October, after putting you through the karmic ringer, the cosmic taskmaster will finally leave this sector of your chart for another 30 years. You'll happily bid farewell to the trials, tests, tribulations and insecurities, despite all the wisdom they've imparted.

When Saturn enters Scorpio this fall, you'll discover deeper levels of your sexuality and resourcefulness than you have in 30 years - if ever. You're ready for the real thing, and that's because you've finally developed the most important relationship of all - the one with yourself. Now that you're crystal clear about what you will and won't put up with in your intimate relationships, there's no turning back! You've set your standards high and there's no need to compromise. You've also learned that you often get what you think you deserve ... or at least what you have the capacity to put up with (consciously or unconsciously). You're also learning not to drag things out - your time is too precious.

Although Mars, your ruler, will take up prolonged occupancy in your work sector for the first half of the year - leaving you little time to even think about dating, mating or relating - you'll more than make up for it during 2012's second half. September is potentially one of your most romantic months of the year, so put yourself out on the dating scene without excuses. And finally, December is your most auspicious time for meeting someone you could settle down with. This is your make-or-break year - so let it rip!

Career
With Pluto still pulling rank in your career sector, your star continues to rise over the course of the year in your chosen field. Of course, with Capricorn involved, this is not without hard work. After all, your stamina is noble. When Pluto and Uranus reach their exact square in June, you'll be confronted with the culmination of a quest for radical change that began in summer 2011. Use the momentum of the first quarter of the year to launch your major projects, since Pluto will turn retrograde between April and September, causing a forced slowdown and re-evaluation of your priorities.

With Jupiter bringing good fortune to your money sector for the first half of the year, you'll experience fabulous ease in attracting opportunities to boost your income. You're learning how important it is to value yourself and not sell any of your talents for less than they're worth. The summer brings fabulous opportunities for writing and publishing, so if you've been sitting on a book (or two) that you know needs to be written, this is your year to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard! The new Moon solar eclipse in mid-May is the perfect time to get started if you haven't already. Chances are, you felt the initial impetus during the new Moon eclipse in Sagittarius in December 2011; 2012 demands that you finalize your copy. June's full Moon lunar eclipse in your house of publishing will bring the final lucky push to get your work seen and put into print!

And for those who believe in Chinese astrology (I don't, really ... this is the year of the dragon, which means people who fall under the dragon sign will have especially bad luck. At least the way it usually works. I'm an Ox), from tarot.com ...

Overview
Did you ever see a flying Ox? Well, things could get a little wild for you this year! Your best bet may be to stay in the terminal, because you probably don't like the Dragon's style -- and you certainly don't enjoying Dragon-style crashing and burning. But you have three favorable months coming, with some lucky days ahead of you even in the unfavorable ones. The trick? For one thing, you'll have to dance to your own tune -- don't let the Dragon's recklessness draw you into something you'll regret. Also, be conservative, as the tried-and-true path is the right one for you this year. Above all, pick your spots. Begin new projects and do important things during the most favorable times, even if you have to wait a bit.

Career
Adaptability is probably not one of your strongest traits, but it may be time to augment your flexibility skills. You might not be comfortable with the sudden changes that occur in a Dragon year. Circumstances at work could shift, whether that means a reorganization of the company, new colleagues or a set of unfamiliar responsibilities. All the upheaval could throw you for a loop. Can you manage your expectations and be a team player anyway? It's probably your best approach. Show a willingness to adjust and compromise. If you're finally ready to make a career leap, do it. You'll need to take action and be completely self-motivated, though. Remember that success usually follows a period of change and concentrated effort. You can do it. Just continue to be dependable and hard-working.

Relationships
Your social life should provide enough highs this year to cancel out any lows. Water facilitates improved communication in relationships. Is it time to finally express your love? Maybe take the next step into marriage? Have kids? Family and domestic life should offer you a sense of comfort, and you may need it. People will lend support in unexpected ways, so take it! If you're single, this is a powerful year for socializing and mingling with new romantic prospects. You'll be feeling more outgoing than usual and will be able to forge strong bonds with new people, so join groups where you can meet others with whom you share common interests. The Dragon loves adventure, so step out of your shell.

Health
Action is the name of the game in 2012. If life becomes overwhelming, your best bet is exercise. Were you a bit sedentary in the Year of the Rabbit? The Dragon loves power, passion and motion. Team sports might be a good option for you since they require you to be social and play with others. Make sure your diet is full of energy-sustaining foods, and try to avoid too much caffeine; if you do, you'll have all the energy you need. If you're a typical Ox, you probably approach fitness with the same consistency and fortitude with which you approach everything else in life. Keep it up -- you could reach an optimum level of health this year.

Wealth
One area in which you'll enjoy an advantage this year is finance. You may not see a huge spike in your salary, but your fiscal conservatism should pay off. With more unfavorable than favorable months on the 2012 calendar, it's important that you strategize carefully. How much can you afford to save each month? Is there enough for vacation, gifts and the occasional big purchase? Luckily for you, you excel at planning ahead. The Dragon might encourage you to make impulsive purchases, but hold off unless you're sure you can afford it.

The Taipei Zoo

2012-01-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

View of the zoo from the shuttle train ... if you expand
the photo, you'll be able to see a giraffe painted on
the tower on the far right (the zoo).

My two Australian friends here are going home in late February, after two school semesters spent in Taipei, and they've made a pact that basically says they will not go home until nighttime every day it does not rain (which isn't often). One of those days, I happened to be with them when they decided they wanted to do something. They'd mentioned to me earlier that they wanted to go to the Taipei Zoo because admission is only $1 here, whereas in Sydney (where they're from), it's $80 Australian! So when this opportunity came up, I reminded them that they'd wanted to go to the zoo, and off we went.

I'm kind of biased, but having been to New York City's Bronx Zoo multiple times as well as the San Diego Zoo (which I was always under the impression was one of the most extensive zoos in the world), I didn't think I would see many animals I hadn't already seen. I don't think I ended up being wrong about this, but I can't say for sure!

The first thing we noticed upon entering the zoo (other than the throngs of families that were there, and little children ... this was early afternoon on a Wednesday or Thursday) was the zoo's infatuation with, of all things, turds.

One of various placards hanging outside the zoo's bathrooms

I don't think you can see it clearly in this photo, but above "Walls of Dung," it reads:

"Zoo Poo Poo ... All About Feces." Nice.

Creative!

Another thing I noticed was that though virtually the entire park smelled of, well, dung, visitors were not at all afraid of eating within close range of the animals' play areas. I spied people eating McDonald's burgers, ice cream, waffles ... everything, while viewing elephants and hippos in their not-so-natural habitats.

Some animals ...

I can't recall if I've ever seen a panda before, but I think I did at the San Diego Zoo. The Taipei Zoo was gifted two pandas in 2008 as "a gesture of unity" (a.k.a. "return to us"). One is a male panda, the other is female, and their names are Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan. Apparently "Tuan Yuan" means "reunion." And (also) apparently, China tried to give Taiwan two pandas in 2005, but Taiwan turned the offer down. It wasn't until Taiwan had a shift in its government that Taiwan obliged. The pandas' names were voted on within Taiwan (not sure who voted, though). There has been controversy surrounding the gift of these pandas to Taiwan, and China's gifting of pandas to countries has been called "Panda Diplomacy," which I find absolutely hilarious ... and potentially troublesome.

I don't know if this is Tuan Tuan or Yuan Yuan, but the two pandas were separated when we saw them, and I was only able to get decent photos of this particular panda because the other one was being quite "antisocial" and sat facing away from the window. I don't really blame him/her ...

I was also able to see a couple types of lorises, including the slow loris. I was first introduced to this animal this summer by my friend Ashley, who shared this video with me:

They really do move incredibly slowly ... I watched as two slow lorises moved from their little hut-haven onto a tree branch ... in slow motion. One leg stretched outwards, touched the branch, grasped the branch, then an arm followed. Then the other arm. Then, finally, the rest of the body. And ... repeat, for the other slow loris. Too bad my photos of them are so blurry, even with them moving so slowly!

Elephant topiary ... I thought the behind was cuter than the front

The zoo was practically in the mountains

I was a little afraid, taking this photo. This is a cassowary, native to Australia, and is a killer bird. I was told by my Australian friends that if it makes eye contact with you, you must maintain eye contact while backing away very, very slowly. They have some sort of toe with a nail that can basically sever any body part it pleases, including diving right in for the heart.

My Australian friends were concerned that so few precautions were taken to prevent an attack from happening (if you can see, only barbed wire surrounds the cassowary's habitat). I hopefully suggested that perhaps the zoo had dismantled its nail.

More Australian birds! Emus ...

And then we got a rest area, safely tucked away from the natural scents of the zoo animals. We helped ourselves to some "waffle trees." Coffee syrup was drizzled over mine:

Lastly, we visited the Arctic animals and were hugely disappointed. They made a big to-do about the penguin house, but there were only a few penguins, and not the tuxedo variety. The rest of the house contained North American animals, such as the brown and black bears.

We left the zoo and we met up with my other classmate at Shilin Night Market, one of the most famous night markets in Taipei. It was HUGE, with rows and rows of food carts and shops, and a mess of clothing and accessory stores. It put my mind in a tizzy, and we left after eating a little and shopping even less.

We had fried enoki mushrooms, which I wasn't too excited about, but they turned out to be absolutely delicious. We also had some fried stinky tofu at a hole-in-the-wall type of family-run place. I know how disgusting it sounds (and it really doesn't smell any better in person), but it actually tastes really, really good.

I've really enjoyed this dish since I was very little, so to know that I still enjoy it was a little bit of a relief. It's been over ten years since I've had this, and that was in New York City after discussing it extensively with my high school friends and bringing them to a place that served it (not common in New York). According to my friends who've been here longer than I have, Shilin has the best stinky tofu they've had and other night markets have stinky tofu that is downright awful. I'm not sure I trust their opinion, because I've never really had stinky tofu (fried, that is ... the boiled stuff I won't touch) that I disliked. And in the case of stinky tofu, the stinkier, the better!