Saturday, September 13, 2014

A Little of This and a Little of That

This post is dedicated to all of the little moments these past three months that can't fill a whole post but still deserve an honorable mention.  

1. Bukka Cafe and Costco
  As was mentioned in my last post, I was invited to a bear cafe and Costco back in July. After the mornings fiasco (see previous post), I was really lacking any desire to be adventurous - luckily these moments were full of things that reminded me of home. The cafe had a cute hipster charm to it. The only thing that would have made it feel more American would be music I can understand and menus I could read.








2. Laughing Buddha 
Several blocks away from our church building is a laughing buddha. One Saturday we went to go visit. The end.

3. Language Exchanges
Early on in the semester Peggy asked me if I would be interested in doing a language exchange. I was thrilled because even though I am not gifted in language I have made a much larger effort to learn the language this time around (it only took me three times in a foreign country to get there). Every Thursday Ib, myself, and several other secretaries go out to dinner or some other activity and practice our language. These nights are often filled with so much laughter and memorable experiences. It has turned into one of my favorite nights of the week!




4. Night Markets
Night markets are a big deal here. I don't really care for them, but yet I still find myself there most weekends. Some of the more popular ones are packed and can get crazy. Luckily we have found ones by our house that aren't too crowdad. But regardless of what night market you go to they will all have one thing in common- they STINK! For some reason the Chinese people love to eat stinky tofu (yes, that is really it's name)- it smells like raw sewage. I hate it. However there are occasionally some good finds at the night market like these roasted corns you can get for about 1 USD.
Or these jiao zi (dumplings) we found at the night market in Taipei for about 1 USD (seriously the best I have ever had).
There's always money in the banana stand... And occasionally yummy chocolate dipped bananas.
And no trip to the night market would be complete without a mango bing sha. This is a little spendier at 2 USD. (But do worth it for the whip cream)
Then there are the not so good finds:

The great thing about night markets is you never know what you are going to find like this shirt: 

Or even this:
Which is why I even though I don't love night markets you can still find me there on a Friday night.

5. KTV
There is a little past time that Chinese people love- in America we call it Karaoke, here they call it KTV. I have so many memories at KTV from all my travels to China. There was the memorable first KTV experience at the young age of 19 with Collin-oli. 
There was also the time when Jameson's face said it all as 10 girls busted out "My Humps" in honor of Haley's favorite shower jam and who can forget this dazzling duo busting out some Chinese song at our Christmas party festivities.  
Even though I have been KTVing so many times it never gets old. Plus it is fun to see others experience KTV for the first time, and let me just say this group killed it. If there was ever a place made for Cassidy, Josh, and Ib it would be KTVing. I will say the Chinese take their KTV very seriously, but that didn't stop us from having fun... I even busted out a tune or two (or three or four), despite my natural tendency to not sing in front of others. 



6. Typhoon  Matmo
Back in July we experienced our first typhoon, which really just meant we got the day off teaching and stayed in our PJ's all day. We eventually ventured out in the afternoon to go to the store/McDonald's. 



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