A Day with the Gods

Hsiu-Li took me to a temple!

Praying to the gods.

A necklace with the good luck god for those
born during the year of the ram/goat on it.

Blessing my necklace.

Hsiu-Li and me!

The botanical gardens

Lotus flower

That's my name!  Kǎi lì Hotel!

Today my Taiwan buddy, Hsiu-Li, and her friend took me to a temple and the botanical garden.  Both were extremely gorgeous.

At the temple there were people burning incense everywhere so you had to watch out!  When you walk in you're given several incense sticks, you light them, and then go off to pray to whichever gods you wish.  I pretty much prayed to every god asking that he would help me improve my Chinese.  You bow and then tell the god your name, your age, where you live, and whatever you want.  After you pray, you stick your incense stick into a pot filled other incense sticks burning and bow again.  There are different gods for different things, like the god of education, the god of childbirth, and the god of the house.  Besides these three, there were about ten other gods.

I purchased a necklace with the god of good luck on it.  It was also the specific god of good luck for the year of the ram/goat which is my Chinese zodiac sign.  I had to take the necklace and do the same prayer ritual to the main god.  Then, I had to hold it inside the incense burning pot and twirl it in a circle three times to bless it.

After the temple, we went to the botanical garden which was filled with green.  There was a huge pond full of lotus flowers.  Also, there was an ancient police station which had been renovated.

I hope you're all doing well,

Kar

Busy Week

At a traditional tea house.

National Palace Museum

Shaved ice

The gorgeous view from my classroom.

On Tuesday evening, my classmate and I went out to look for a place to practice our Chinese and we stumbled upon a tea house!  It cost us about $20 US dollars for both of us!  We got about two pots of tea, but that is still very expensive for Taiwan.  There was this entire fancy procedure just to make and drink the tea.  You had to pour the water into the teapot, touch the pot to a cloth, pour the tea into a large cup, pour that into smaller cups, smell it, pour it into another small cup, smell the empty cup, then you could drink it!

On Wednesday, we met our "Taiwan buddies" which are people that live in Taiwan and are going to show us around while we're here.  My buddy, Hsiu-Li (pronounced Sh-ow-Lee), is awesome!  She is a forty-five-year-old tomboy that doesn't want to get married.  She took me to Taiwan's most famous bookstore and had me try fried dumplings.

Thursday night, Hsiu-Li took me to get shaved ice.  I figured it'd be similar to a snow cone, but it definitely isn't.  I got different fruits put on mine but Hsiu-Li got beans on hers!!  Mine was delicious and I don't think I could get beans on ice and enjoy it...  Then, she took me to a HUGE night market.  It was kind of overwhelming and hard to see everything.  Apparently it takes two full days to see it all.  She made me try pigs ear and pig blood cake that night.  Both weren't bad but I don't think I'll be ordering them again anytime soon.

We also went to the National Palace Museum on Thursday morning.  It was gigantic and home to the biggest collection of Chinese art.  My professor told us that five pieces were stolen last week and that when the man tried to sell them nobody believed him and thought they were fake.  So, he threw them away!  Four out of the five were retrieved.

Friday was a pretty easy day.  We, as a class, went to a vegetarian buffet.  The food was okay but the ice cream was delicious!  I tried green tea, peach mango, kiwi, and a ton of other flavors.  Then we had class and after, I went with the girls to Ximending.  Ximending is a more upscale night market where most of the stuff from smaller night markets comes from.  We had Sushi Express which is where you sit down and the sushi goes around you on a conveyor belt and you just grab whatever you want.

A typhoon hit eastern Taiwan so it has rained here all day.  I will probably just relax inside and study for my placement test on Monday!!!

I love you guys,

Kar

Beginning to Feel Comfortable

Our homework assignment was to bargain for
something while speaking only in Chinese.
 For this necklace, I got the price down from
 $NT 190 to 180...  which is really only about
thirty (US) cents less...

Peaceful shortcut to the University.

Chinese medicine culture class!

You can't really see but I have a burning herb on my right
hand and  acupuncture on my left  arm near my elbow. 

Probably the greatest thing I've had here thus far.
  Cold coffee in a can.  $NT 15 = $.50

So, we ended up not having to take the placement exam yesterday, but instead we're taking it Monday.  Until then we'll be in a group language class where we'll be taught basic things to help us get by.  So far we've learned how to buy/bargain things and how to discuss the weather.  Our assignment for today was to go to the night market last night and bargain.  In Asia it is totally okay to say "tai gui le" aka "too expensive" whereas  in the US that'd be totally rude.  Shop owners either try to bargain, walk away, or laugh and walk away.  I bargained for the necklace above and bought a dress but couldn't get it priced down, but it was gorgeous so I needed it...

Yesterday I finally ventured out alone which wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be!  By the end of the day I was able to walk to and around the night market by myself!  It's actually pretty nice to walk around alone because you can take your time or walk fast; you can check out whatever stores you want and eat wherever you want.  

Today we had our first culture class.  A doctor came in and showed us different types of Chinese medicine such as food therapy, kung fu, and acupuncture.  He explained how different foods can heal certain things.  He told us how a woman had lost her sense of hearing and had gone to every doctor but no one could help.  Then, she found him and he told her to drink a certain type of soup every day for three weeks and it opened her ears up again!  The doctor also told us which foods would help cool us down or warm us up.  After that, we got to practice some kung fu in the classroom.  Then, we got to try acupuncture!  I have a close up photo but I figured it'd make you guys sick...  It didn't hurt til he decided to wiggle the needle around...

We then had a small break and language class at 2.  The class is very difficult and yesterday I got really nervous because I couldn't keep up, but today was way better.  Our professor, Song Laoshi, is amazing.

ZaiJian!

Love you all, Kar

Day 2!

Breakfast!

Where I live!

To cover up construction, walls of shrubbery like this are put up.

Flower Market, orchids for you mom!

Trying different teas in the market.

Today us girls ventured out to find breakfast and we stumbled upon a bakery.  It had all sorts of breads, sandwiches, sweets.  I bought something that looked like an egg sandwich but it tasted sweet!  Laura, the girl on the left in the photo of us eating breakfast, bought something with bacon on it and said it tasted like a cinnamon roll!  Nothing is what you expect it to taste like here.

After breakfast we met up with the rest of the group and our professor took us to a park.  There are stone paths throughout the park and you're supposed to take your shoes off and walk on the stones.  The Chinese believe that the feet are very important in healing and if you walk along these stones you'll feel more energized.  It was true!  Also, the more healthy you are the lesser it hurts.

Then we went to the markets that are only open on weekends.  These markets are located in the parking garages underneath the freeway.  They're air conditioned (yes!!!) and packed with tons of things to see/purchase.  One of the markets we went to was all flowers and plants.  There were so many unique types of flowers, none that I have ever seen before besides the orchids.

Just resting now 'til dinner.  Tomorrow I take my placement exam and I'm very nervous!

Made it!

"Umbrellas 10% off if it's sunny, regular price if it's raining."

Our first meal!

Just a sliver of one of Taipei's markets

I made it to Taiwan!  It's gorgeous here!!!  There's green everywhere.  Trees and all sorts of plants fill the city and wrap around everything including the buildings.  I'm in the less luxurious part of Taipei, but it is way more beautiful and the people are incredibly nice and helpful, plus everything is cheap!

Random, but super interesting.  In Taiwan, having a career as a flight attendant is considered a "glamorous life."  Flight attendants are only women and are required to be unmarried with no children, stay under a certain weight and wear heals during the flight.  All of them are so beautiful and were all dolled up, most were even wearing fake eye lashes!  Although, while it's a glamorous life, the pay is not very good.

Anyway...  We arrived in Taipei at 6 AM and couldn't get into our rooms until 3 in the afternoon!  It has been a long day and I'm still unable to take a nap because I'm trying to hold off until bedtime so that I don't mess up my sleeping schedule.  We spent those long nine hours walking around Taipei and somewhat site seeing, but it was difficult to truly take anything in with how drained we were.  

The food here is delicious and fills you up for a long time!  We tried many dishes at a restaurant for lunch and I couldn't even tell you what any of it was... but it all tasted amazing.  At the market I bought  a fruit called litchi.  It looks like a strawberry but the skin is actually very rough and you peel it off and eat the inside (except for the pit!).  It's very sweet and sort of syrupy.

Tonight we are going to the night market to get some food and then headed back to our rooms to sleep!!!

I love and miss you,

Karlye