MRT and Beyond

Today we met with our student coordinator and a student who travelled abroad to our own university last fall, but first we had to take the Subway on our own. So Kaitlin, Jordan and I started our first day without a guide (for at least the beginning).

We started off early and ate breakfast at a store called Mei & Mei. It was like supposed to be a western style breakfast joint (I think). It was more like a parody of American foods, spaghetti and eggs… my ‘humburger’ had tomato and lettuce but some sort of sauce that was like syrup or honey but not quite. It was good but different (I didn’t have the spaghetti eggs…). We stopped at a convenience store to buy water to drink while we walked (it was a good idea too, its so hot here).

Then we looked for the MRT station (subway). It found it without too much trouble and found our way to Zhongshan with no problems (its illegal to drink and eat on the subway so they are VERY clean). We arrived a half hour early and went to some of the stores like Macy’s but on a grand scale. One store had the first floor was just make-up with people getting make-overs and buying things. There was a magician being video-taped by a news crew. Upstairs was brand name clothes and you know what? Too cute! All of them, very modest and light and some a little punky and some a little lacy. Kaitlin and I couldn’t stop looking… I should have brought less clothes!!  Not all of them were that expensive either.

 

Then we met up with our guides for the afternoon. We weren’t sure what we were going to be doing in Zhongshan, not even when we walked into a restaurant. I was nervous because I hadn’t ate much before and wasn’t very hungry. We had to wait 20 minutes, because the place and very popular and although multiple floors was full. I was in for a pleasant surprise, it was bubble tea!! REAL bubble tea, not like the stuff I had back home in Michigan that was in like a fast food cup where they mixed like coconut and oreo flavors and you could green tea instead of milk tea. This was in glass with the pearls (tapioca) in the bottom (not mixed or ground) and milk tea and it was so good. Bubble tea is a very famous thing from Taiwan. We ate Pig’s blood in a spicy sauce (see picture) the sauce made it good without that, it would have been dry and not very tasty. The other thing was a desert called mashu (umlaut U) and it was like mochi (pounded rice in Japan) but with caramel sauce and peanuts. I really like that.

 

 

 

we went to a park and saw a statue of a soldier from the Han Dynasty. He went to the great wall to be a soldier and his parents wanted him to be loyal and patriotic and it was tattooed on his back. Our student coordinator and friend didn’t remember his name, but it was neat story. We joked about it being Liu Bei or Cao Cao when we saw it. Also got on the subject of Jet Jaguar and Godzilla (lol).

 

We took the MRT back to Jingmei, the area school is in. I was able to get more important groceries (shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, water, sandals for in the showers, a bin to put it all in (and a wet cloth) because it all gets wet when you shower, a little trash can) it looked like so much I was so worried about the cost when I got to the counter. It was so cheap! It was under $20 (US) it would have never been that cheap to get all that back in Michigan. The bin alone may have been $15. Conditioner is more expensive than shampoo that was interesting and of course all the American brands were expensive, I’ve got a new shampoo to try (the ingredients were in both Chinese and English, same basic ingredients as my shampoos at home). Then dinner was McDonald’s. My parents both worked for McDonald’s when I was little so that was nice and it wasn’t expensive like I hear about in China. Not at all. They don’t sell pop at a lot of restaurants and other places, so the coke tasted especially wonderful and it was cold (unlike the luke warm water in my bag).

Then back in my dorm, my roommate returned with her friends. They wanted to try their English if I wasn’t busy. Turns out Daisy my roommate is very shy and was worried about saying things wrong. I tried some Chinese out and they used English, it was great. One of the girls, Stephanie, her Chinese name was Qilin after the mythical beast the Kirin. Super interesting! We talked Chinese music and movies and some Hollywood ones too. Tomorrow we’re going with Kaitlin and Jordan to Longshan  temple 龍山寺.I'm really happy that Daisy’s friends helped to get us talking. We talked about Korean music too, DBSK goes by  Tong Fang Xian qi東方神起 (my favorite group who sadly broke up what last year… T_T) and Super Junior (I’m not the only one who thinks they have too many members).  Also one of Daisy’s friends (I can’t remember her name T_T) she’s a Chinese major and offered to not only help with my Chinese but half-joked about teaching me Tai-chi (she better be careful I’ll take her up on that XD).

Also I need to remember the word excuse me its bu Hao yisi不好意思. Its so crowded in parts of Taipei and it was in Zhongshan. It was terrible mumbling excuse me in English and dui bu qi對不起 which means I’m sorry and isn’t the same thing…