High School Bands, Hockey, and Coffee

Saturday morning I woke up early, ate breakfast, and walked to McDonald's where I met with some friends to catch a bus. We were headed to our friend's, Jerome, school's birthday. Jerome plays guitar and was performing at his school. Jerome's school is way bigger than ours is! Each class had a tent that they were selling food out of! We pretty much watched the performances the whole time. There were some incredible dancers and surprising singers. When Jerome's band went up we were already pretty hyped so we cheered and whistled and pretty much just had fun. His band was great! We had to leave in a hurry because David's hockey game was at 11:50 and we had to take the bus and the MRT (metro) to get there. David's hockey games are always late at night, most of the time past curfew, this one was during the day though. Because of this when we got there a lot of exchange students were there already. Two of his host families and one of his teachers were also there. it was a lot of fun. David's team won 2 to 0! I finished the day by going out for coffee with a group of exchange student girls. I love that because I live in Taipei I can do all of those things in one day! Truly, it's a great place to live.

Halal Khan's Shawerma 沙威瑪

Thursday, after school I went to Ximen with Elena. William had told us about a kebab vendor that we both wanted to try. We arrived in Ximen and walked around awhile, looking for this vendor. Eventually, Elena looked him up on Google maps and we found him quickly. IT was called  Halal Khan's Shawerma 沙威瑪.  His stall was tiny but the meat we could see was quite impressive and it smelled amazing. The vendor was not Taiwanese, he spoke perfect English and Chinese. He was very friendly and the food we ordered was delicious, it was defiantly somewhere we will visit again. We found somewhere to sit and we talked for a while over bubble tea and tropical fruit. Before we went home we stumbled into a building with many booths where everything was designed or made by local artists, most of whom were sitting at the back of their booth. Being the broke exchange student I am I just bought a beautifully drawn postcard and bookmark and two stickers for my water bottle. I will defiantly be back before the end of my exchange (when I have more money ;)

A Rotary Tour

Saturday I woke up early to go on a tour with Rotarians and some of there families. Two other exchange students were there, Dani from Mexico and Marta from Spain. Unfortunately,  we were on different buses. Our first stop was a place that made grass jelly and tea. I tried two kinds of grass tea and two kinds of jelly. Grass tea is a flavor that's really hard to explain. It's really bitter but they usually sweeten it. Grass jelly is pretty much a soft jello made out of the tea. Our next stop was a historical site from when the Japanese occupied Taiwan that had been turned into an art gallery. My favorite piece was a delicate flower relief. Our third stop was a beautiful hiking trail next to a lake. We took many pictures but I love just being in Taiwan's nature. It varies so much from what I'm used to it's incredibly interesting. After the hike, we went to lunch. The other two exchangers were at my table so I was able to talk with them. Everything was going fine, I had even successfully tried pig intestine but then I tried the stinky tofu. I've had stinky tofu before and it's fine, what I didn't know about this Stinky tofu was that it was covered in hot peppers. I have gotten much better with spice since I got here but this dish was hot. My face got hot and my eyes started to water so much that tears actually made it past my cheeks. Thank God I was facing away from the rest of the restaurant! It was fine, I handled it with good humor but I was pretty embarrassed at first. Fifth on the list was an Old Street which, unfortunately, I can't remember the name of. This Old Street was crowded but fun. My host sister and I hung out with Jeff, who hopes to go to Spain next year, and his brother Ivan, who went to Germany for exchange. At that point, I was getting tired and kind of grumpy so it was a bit difficult to enjoy. Our final stop was dinner at dinner I tried three goat meat, which was quite good, and chicken feet! The idea of having a chicken foot in my mouth was very strange. I would try fried but I don't think I'll be eating boiled again, it's too soft. After a long day, our trip was over. The exchangers, past, present, and future, exchanged hugs and we said bye to everyone else before we parted ways. Although people do not hug in Taiwan, just about all exchange students hug hello and goodbye, it reminds the inbounds of home and the rebounds of exchange.

Such a Beautiful Day

On Thursday I left early with David and his host mom to 無耳茶壺山 (Teapot mountain) On the way we met with Nils (from Germany) and his host mom and Martin (from France) and his host mom. The seven of arrived at a gorgeous mountain next to the sparkling coast. The hike was easy and beautiful. Every time we came to a lookout point we stopped to take photos of our breathtaking surroundings. All three host moms were so sweet and fun! They all spoke a little English and were very patient with us when we tried speaking Chinese. I know David really well but I hadn't got to talk to Nils or Martin much. Martin is kind of quiet but still knows how to have a good time. Nils, like David, is really funny and easy to be around. It was so much fun! It was exciting to be that high up, we couldn't have asked for better weather, and the guys were really fun to hang out with. At the top, we met some Canadians who I talked to a bit. David and Nils Climbed onto one of the flatter rocks and did the dance we had learned for the coming of age ceremony, which their host moms and I thought was hilarious but they were having fun. After the hike, I had Taiwanese beaf noodles for lunch (which I love) with mango juice. Then we headed to Jiufen Old Street. We didn't stay for very long because it was crowded and we were all a bit tired. The third and final stop was Christmasland where we wandered around and ate pizza. It was an amazing day. 

Did I mention we took a lot of photos?