[2013TW] Day 04: Things Changed

  I thought there would be lots to do when I come back, but I was wrong. There's nothing planned for us. I should've taken it upon myself and did the planning.

  Our day started again around 9 am, breakfast was pudding and rice milk. Then as usual, we went to the market and bought some cheap stuff. Special thing is, I was able to find (one of) my favourite type of cookie- French Cookie:

I like this type with no icing inside. It has become nearly impossible to find this type of cookies in the recent years. I still have to go search in another super market for the type that I've eaten in my childhood.

  We ate lunch, again at the market (I forgot to take pictures before we started eating...)

肉圓 Taiwanese Meatball

筒仔米糕 Sticky rice in bamboo

魚丸湯 fish ball soup

Day 04- lunch: 小菜(side dishes): 滷蛋(simmered egg),滷豆干(simmered beancurd),海帶(seaweed), 筍絲 (bamboo shoots), 地瓜葉 (yam leaves)

  We then went to Carrefour, again- for more ice bars and some more food... oh! And my haircut. :/ I can say this haircut didn't really make that big of a difference LOL , it's $100 NT buy 1 get 1 free (so $50NT/cut) which is around $1.5CAD --- lol- I only cut my bangs and I look younger with this hairstyle- all good.

  Then we got home and sat there, surfed on the internet for nothing. So I got bored and asked people from FB to go out and hang. One of my elementary school classmate replied and so we went out for dinner. Yeah, yeah, he's a guy, but really, does that really matter= =? We went and ate Korean food, it was decent:

韓式烤肉定食 Korean BBQ combo

  Then we sat in the "Frog park" downstairs from my apartment and chatted about our old friends and how Taiwan had changed over the recent years. My mom and sister eventually heard our voices and asked me to come home. My mom was pissed when she later found out we went out on his motorcycle- she didn't care that it was not a scooter. It's true that I've never been on any motorcycle/scooter for like 15 years - my mom think those are too dangerous and secretly forbid us to ride motorcycle/ scooter (because I obviously have no idea we are not allowed). Anyways, that blows any future hang out opportunities away - who in Taiwan has the money to buy a car at 21 years old= =?!

  At home, our family sat around and watch TV, like all Taiwanese families and like we used to. Watching TV has always been my favourite activity, but the TV programs nowadays have lost my interest. *sigh* Blame it on online TV programs - watching online is so much better. At least I get to fast forward XD!

[2013TW] Day 03: First Sunday in Taiwan

  I didn't mention in yesterday's journal, but we did go to check out the church five minutes walk away from our house. I have a pretty good feeling about it, so I was fine going there instead of the Bread of Life Church like 15 minutes bus away. The distance definitely is a pro, I'll probably stick w/ Bread of Life Church if it wasn't that far away.

  I woke up at ~9:25, and I ate this for breakfast --- huge, right? It's got milk crisp in it, its chinese is called 菠蘿 "bo luo" , I can't find an english translation for it... dang- should I bother making one upXD? I really should've memorized it when I bought something like this in Canada. 2 of these cost only $1.63CAD here... OMG --- and it taste so much better than those in Vancouver...

  Then we went to church, which I must say, was surprisingly fun. Probably thanks to the guest speaker, it was interactive and fun - mostly about the pastor's stories. Because the hot pot store we tried to contact yesterday (but didn't got through to) told us we'd have to wait in line to eat there, so we stayed to eat lunch at church. The food is decent, nothing can be worse than Canada lol- maybe except for the fish that tasted sour and sweet.

  When we got home, we realized, my Cousin called us. It turns out that she actually went to the Bread of Life Church for the very first time, hoping to see us. LOL- just the night before, I was asking mom if she's going to that church, my mom told me she's never been there. I was even going to ask her to go to church. HAHAHA, see? Should've gone to church, right? Then we'll know to go see you at church! Anyways, she came to our house. I was ordered (thanks, mom and dad) to go pick her up- because the area around my house changed quite a bit...

  I waited for like 15-20 min in the heat= =" seriously... I really could've just ran outside when she called to tell me she's almost here. She's gotten prettier- looking more and more like my mom... I wish "I" look like my mom LOL! But this seems to run in the family, my younger cousin (from my younger Auntie) turns out to look like my elder Auntie. My sister and I just... don't really look like any of them...(I know, dafaq.)

  We chatted till my cousin had to leave for her GMAT prep class ( I think that was it). She's so hardworking, and it made me feel bad :P. Everyone's trying so hard to gain an opportunity to study aboard, and all I do is complain about how boring Canada is. I know I'm lucky to be sent to Vancouver to study, but  sometimes, people just want what they can't have. She has to go see my Elder Auntie, who caught a cold from China (I think) and is suspecting the recent H7N9 flu. Hope she gets better- I actually kind of miss her, I think I get along with her pretty well. I like her personality (probably cuz we're both the eldest daughter).

  We went to my younger Auntie's house to see my grandparents again, this time with my dad. We exhausted things to talk about the day before, so I was quiet, there's nothing to really talk about. Dinner was dad's treat, my auntie picked the restaurant: 川鮮 "Chuan Xian"

address:台北市信義區林口街74號 (No. 74, Línkǒu St, Xinyi District) 

View Larger Map

  Each dish is ~$100. Food are all pretty good. My favourite turns out to be the Shi Ban Fish:

which I think is a gift for spending >$1000NT in celebration of their 8th anniversary. I later regretted not taking a video of my uncle taking out the fish bone and cutting out unneeded parts- he's SO PRO!

  It was really hot (seriously, when has it not been hot in Taiwan since I got here), so we went to eat a famous special ice near here- 雪片冰 "xuei pian bing" Snow Slice Ice

Black sugar snow sliced ice with peanuts, big red beans,  black sugar jelly,  taro jelly.

Snow slice ice with red bean & milk

This is really the first time I've ever had this type of ice- well, it's a new product that just got invented in recent years, so that's not weird. Taste really good. It's a big slice of ice, so it actually taste very icy LOL, if you've eaten shaved ice, you'd know, the smaller the ice particles are the easier they melt and the less icy they would be when they melt in your mouth (technically melt even before reaching your mouth). Different kind of ice, I can't say I like this more than other types of shaved ice :D - I love them all!

  Because of my cravings, we went to buy the salted fried chicken (鹽酥雞 "yan su ji") - favourite item on all Taiwanese cuisine in Vancouver. We came to the shop:

There were so many to choose from, and all of us are full to the degree that we are just about to vomit out all the food LOL- so I only chose the chicken and the 甜不辣("tian bu la")=fish cake. OMG. Taste so good!

If we weren't so completely filled, I swear this would've been gone within 2 minutes.

  After we're back, we've never really been doing anything. Probably because we have so much time to waste (3 months isn't short). I still want to meet my old friends and get a reunion going- but that's gonna take me time and brain... I have to admit, I'm getting a little lazy lol. Now I have to find a good Japan trip to go to before the summer season hit (and price goes up).

[2013TW] Day 02: Family Saturday

  I woke up at 6 am because my sister was complaining to my mom about what a bad sleeper I was. "Stop back stabbing me." I said. So the first thing I did was setting up this new blog and wrote my articles. Then, started my fairly boring, but warm day (both the weather and the hearts).

  We were supposed to go eat hot pot all you can eat somewhere, but the restaurant's telephone number wouldn't got through. After many tries, my sister started whining about being very hungry. We couldn't resist this "princess"'s complain, so we went to the market near our house again for food. Today, we ate some "speed stir fry" restaurant and ate some expensive decent food. This is my snack-cupped rice cake~ tasty~

  Then we went to super market Carrefour (something like Walmart) for ice~ XD~~~ (we bought like 5 different varieties: mango, soda, red bean, pineapple, pudding) they're not all shown, but here:

  We went pass a restaurant (take-out only) for Beijing Baked Duck that had been there since I could remember, but I have no memory of ever buying there. Then I asked if I could have it- so we had that for dinner--- sooooo goooooood, no wonder the restaurant can be there for like, ever LOL.
This is how the restau looks like:

Store Hours: 9am-8pm (2:30-4:00 break)

and this is the map: (address= No. 265, Section 4, Bādé Rd, Songshan District 台北市松山區八德路四段265號)

View Larger Map

  Taste pretty good :D~ it turns out, although I didn't know, my parents did buy me food from there to eat when I'm little.

  I have to go to bed for today, will update day 3 tomorrow :)

[2013TW] Day 01: Arrival

  Thanks to our plane schedule, we arrived at around 6 am Taiwan time at Taipei (well, technically TaoYuan). Due to my lack of sleep, my right ear went through terrible times during the landing. First thing we noticed when we arrived is the heat, and scent in the air. The humidity isn't that bad, probably because we did come from Vancouver- which is still fairly humid.

  Since we checked-in pretty early, our luggage came later, so we waited for them for around half an hour. It's a good surprise that Wi-Fi at the Taipei airport is far, FAR better than Vancouver's. We were able to contact our parents over the internet with LINE.

  Haven't see my parents in like half an year. We're all over-joyed to see each other. I can't believe they didn't bring any breakfast for us, except for a small carton of soy milk- which also taste MILES better than anything I've drank back in Canada.

  My childhood house had changed a lot, some walls had been taken down and furniture had all been replaced. Some things remained here, though, like my bedroom, it has barely changed. Same bunk bed my sister and I shared, same closet we used, same shelves, etc. This time, though, everything seems so much... less clean- Taiwan is really humid and dusty, in addition, these things have been here for more than 15 years. I think I'll need sometime to get used to this environment again.

  We chatted and sent our dad to work. Mom took us to the market near our house to shop for what we want to eat first - the fruits. Markets in Taiwan are on the street, they look something like this:

  Everything in Taiwan is dirt cheap with great quality compared to what we have in Canada- it's heaven for poor shoppers like me. $3 jeans, >$1/bowl of rice noodle soup, etc. We went to eat one of my favourite rice noodle soup w/ fried tofu for breakfast - super cheap and super delicious! (I was so happy eating, I forgot to take picutres T_T).

Fruits in Taiwan are THE BEST! I'm not exaggerating, they are even better than candies! It was cloudy in the morning, so the temperature is just right. However, when the sun came out at noon, it brought substantial heat and we soon went home from the market to eat.

Pineapple has never been my favourite fruit, but I have never eaten any fruit that tasted this great. 

  Fried rice was a bit on the oil side, it's not really on my "like" list (just like apples- which we didn't buy). BUT, still SOOOO much better than anything we can eat in Canada.

ShaCha Lamb fried rice - so good :D

  Mom, sister, and I sat around the lunch table and looked at our childhood pictures. They were pretty much ruined in the event: flooding of the shelf from broken pipe. Anyways, we had a good laugh. We then went over to my Aunt's to visit grandma and grandpa who came up to Taipei from country side in Southern Taiwan.

  My grandparents really want us to stay in Taiwan, but after our talk, they understand that my future career (pharmacist) has way more potential in Canada. I guess, I won't be getting too much of a persuasion to stay from now on. I'm lucky, though, they didn't start the "y u no boyfriend" talk with me. I have a feeling that they didn't really think I need one (LOL). Too bad for my sister, who's probably deemed more in need of protection, she had to be asked details about her boyfriend and being pressured to choose a guy who comes from a better background as future husband. My mom gave me a hug this morning because I behaved really well yesterday and showed maturity during my conversation with our family.

  My auntie live near a big market, I was surprised at how much variety they have for one meal:

2013 Taiwan Day 1 - Dinner 三杯雞(3cup/SanBei Chicken)+炒青菜(Stir fried veggie) +大腸四季豆 (Pig-intestine with string beans)+煎蛋(fried egg)+炸豆腐(fried Tofu)+炒高麗菜(stir fried cabbage) +

咖哩飯 (Curry Rice)

  After dinner, our jet lag got the better of us (and I haven't really slept for 3 hours over the last 36 hours...) we went home and almost immediately fall asleep on the hardest bed I've ever lied on... LOL and I have a back pain now...

  Today is a Saturday and my dad is home. We'll probably go eat something healthy because he can't eat unhealthy food :P --- I'll update this tomorrow morning~

  

[2013TW] On Plane to Taiwan

　　反正睡不著，打點東西。

　　機上，台灣時間９ＰＭ（加拿大出發地６ＡＭ），好不容易把自己逼到睡著，兩小時後　又醒了。是想讓我降落時耳朵痛到死嗎？

　　電影，明明我說不想看，一上飛機倒比那說想看的妹妹馬上多看了兩部。她連一步都稱不完就睡死了，而我，真的是老了？　ＸＤ

　　今天我們很早到，２ＡＭ的飛機，我倆姊妹１０：３０就已經到了在ｃｈｅｃｋ－ｉｎ。我們算是第一批，人還很少。那兩三位空服姊姊大概是看我們倆好像很小所以對我們還不錯，也有可能是長榮特別好的服務吧。有一件行李還有我的隨身包都超重，他們也沒多說。更是很ＮＩＣＥ得幫我們找座位，我手忙腳亂的把行李ＴＡＧ好，妹妹喬位置，她男朋友就幫忙移行李。在ｃｈｅｃｋ－ｉｎ時，兩個沒經驗的小孩，遵照媽媽指示，努力的和空服人員說要坐前面一點的位置。當他們問要不要樓上，我倆哪知道好不好，他們就說一般人都會選樓上，我們就ＯＫ，但是樓上滿了。感謝主！後來和媽媽通ＳＫＹＰＥ，她說樓上會暈，不好睡，幸好沒能選到。

　　等了一下我們被ＯＦＦＥＲ最前面救生門旁的位置，他還對我們說：「如果發生事情，你們要幫忙救人喔！」　我沒在客氣的說：「拜託！一定的啊！難道袖手旁觀？！」　我到底仕女俠客還啥的啊？！明明就手無縛雞之力＝　＝＂哈哈哈－－－上飛機後我對妹妹說，如果初是我一定先讓她下去，我留下來幫忙就好，至少一個來照顧爸媽ＸＤ。還沒到免稅商店，機伶的妹妹馬上就點醒我：會不會沒有電視啊？最前面的位置，常常沒有獨立電視。我們倆心中開始有點害怕，可是又不敢馬上折回去問，就硬著頭皮希望科技的進步讓我們可以不要在沒個人電視的狀況下飛這趟。突然，我也發現忘了用會員卡ｃｈｅｃｋ－ｉｎ，那辦幹嘛啊？！里程數當禳不可以浪費，所以我趁在ＧＡＴＥ那等半天的時候去問了那的服務員請她幫我們，還好有問，一下不到五分鐘就ｏｋ了：）。

　　因為時間很晚，免稅商店開的也不多，媽媽之前明明沒啥想要的，突然說要買Ｂｕｒｂｅｒｒｙ的香水（蛤？！啥時喜歡這牌的香水）。喔，來回找，本來以為只有已經關了的那家有賣，還好當時那家店雖然關著，黑暗中，還有一個服務員在弄電腦，告訴我們往回找第一家有，又去仔細一行一行看才找到。價錢還算符合媽媽開的標準，所以弄清楚是不是她要的（花了好久）就買下了。為了確定可以帶回台灣沒問題，我們還問了那收銀員哥哥，結果，他比妹妹還緊張ＬＯＬ問了她三次：你們只有去台北吼？哈哈哈，可愛。

　　機場找插座不容易，大家都想趁上機前充好電。ＷＩＦＩ不像媽說的，整個爛透了，我妹完全閒到沒事做，我也是靠３Ｇ才比較不無聊。弄半天兩人都在宣布要登機時才恍悟－忘了上廁所（哈哈哈）所以趕緊兩人趁頭等、商務艙的人上機時去上了廁所。妹妹還說著要嫁有錢人才可以搭頭等艙（ＬＯＬ天啊！就為這個嗎？），我就說，錢不如省下來買電腦（我真的無時無刻都要電腦）。

　　看到座位時，我們的位置的確非常寬敞，但是廁所就在右前方，我們也沒看到螢幕，兩人頓時好像被打入地獄開始大肆的哀怨。我：「天啊！這真是史上最坑爹的位置－我這樣講好像大陸人唷！」　妹：「真的沒螢幕Ｔ＿Ｔ還有廁所，完了，臭爆了。」正當我倆發誓再也不選這位置時，也差不多要起飛了，正前方有個位置，有電話的，我們顧著抱怨，也沒多留意是幹嘛的。一位空姐就這樣坐了下來（長榮空姐真的都有一定水準，各個身材都很棒－我得承認，她們我都有多看幾眼ＸＤ），我也忘了是誰先說話了，總之他看我們倆好像年紀很小（應該是妹妹ＸＤ我因為不睡覺真的已經顯老了），又好像聽到我們在說沒有電視，馬上指出在作為旁邊被藏起來的電視（還觸控螢幕哩！）－－－ＯＭＧ！ＢＥＳＴ。ＳＥＡＴ。ＥＶＥＲ。可以調角度，小了點，但是炫斃了！頓時，廁所在前方又如何？！我們就聊到我＆妹都希望妹能當空姐，奈何我們兩個都是哈比人級的高度，今生都無緣這個職業（１６５是長榮規定），但這姊姊言語中似乎透露著心酸。不想，一起飛竟然就哭了...妹妹發現時，我也不知道要怎麼ＲＥＡＣＴ...衛生紙我們也都收在包包裡了，起飛又不能動－大概是突然有感而發？還是溫哥華發生了什麼？：（

　　降落前寫個小紙條鼓勵他一下好了～但是要寫啥呢？寫：辛苦了！一路上多謝你的照顧：）　我們兩姊妹很高興認識你！然後呢？哈哈哈？要留ＦＢ？我連她的名字都因為燈光昏暗，沒搞清楚哩！唉－她一起飛後就沒停歇也沒常經過我們的座位，更不曾坐下來。我想我有點懂了她的心酸與難處，但畢竟是工作嘛，再好的工作都是有他的ＳＨＯＲＴ－ＣＯＭＩＮＧＳ。

　　天啊！我沒事打這麼多要幹嘛啊？是要出書唷？！（我真的可以出書了＝　＝）轉眼也快１２ＡＭ了...順道一提，長榮的食物真的非常好吃（但是西式的主餐不好吃），華航的記憶中也不錯－唉～航空公司真的是台灣的好！空姐正、服務佳、食物棒、配備全－－－再也不想搭別的國家的鳥航空了（ＬＯＬ－我這是被寵壞？！）！