[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) 

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  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).