Welcome to Taiwan!
Goodbye America ;.;
Hello Taiwan!
One week ago, I left Seattle for New Jersey and three days ago I left New Jersey for Taiwan. So, within the past week, I went from cool 70s (where I still incessantly wore a jacket) to hot 80s to even more humid 90s. Quite a bit of change. As I'm writing this, it is 5:40am Sunday (still a bit jet lagged).
Mom at Osaka airport
Bro and I goofing off on plane
My family and I are staying in a friend's home in a surburb near Taipei called Sanxia (三峡). Yesterday (Saturday), we explored Sanxia's street market and old town areas eating a lot of Taiwan's famous "little foods" (小菜), window shopping a lot, and of course, helping the Taiwanese economy by buyng many cheap goods (I got a few sundresses for $2 USD each!).
Sister on the metro bus in Sanxia
Brother sipping his mango juice with his favorite goods (Angry Birds) in the background
Right outside old Sanxia
For my foodies out there, a sampling of some of the things we ate (sorry I don't have pictures - was too busy eating):
- Shaved Ice (my brother and sister's first time; they loved it)
- Mango juice
- "Paper-like" pork (a variety of thicknesses from bacon-like to paper-thin)
- Thin rice noodles (米粉)
- Noodles for lunch
- Dumplings for dinner
Noodles for lunch! nom nom nom
I have an Ace of a sister
The weather is quite an adjustment - after an hour outside, my brother starts complaining about feeling sticky. But, so far it's definitely been fun and I'm excited for the next two weeks ahead of us. Right now, we're taking it slowly to allow ourselves time to adjust to the time difference and tropical heat, so we spent part of the afternoon back at the apartment playing Bananagrams, Prez (a cardgame my sister brought back home from CTY), and pool and watching a bit of BBC's Sherlock.
This is my brother and sister's first time to Taiwan and my brother's first trip to another continent, so they've been taking in a bit of a culture shock since we've arrived. Surprisingly, I'm not completely lost here and have been making good use of my freshman Chinese class - reading (or attempting to read) subway and street signs as well as practicing my Mandarin.
Today, my mom's giving a talk at the biggest church in Taiwan and afterwards we'll be hanging out my grandma, great aunt, and uncle. So psyched! Toodles / 再见！
