oh the places we'll go
I am writing this entry from the lovely, hot, damp island nation of Taiwan. For those of you who don't know, it's that puny little speck right off the south-eastern coast of China. We were supposed to peruse the night markets today, but it's raining up a storm outside, so I don't think that's going to be possible tonight. We plan on going tomorrow.
-A night market is basically a large area that is filled with outdoor vendors open late at night, and they sell a lot of random things like food...little souvenirs, clothes, jewlery, and things like that. It's pretty exciting. There's always a lot of people around, all yelling stuff at you along the lines of "buy my stuff!" And the air smells of Chinese sausages. You can decide whether or not you think that's a good thing. In the next few days, Camellia will get here, and I will then switch from living at my cousin's place to living in a hotel. It's a pretty nice hotel right across from a nightclub, so I'm very excited.
-It's really pretty here. My cousin's backyard looks exactly like a tropical rainforest straight out of Jurassic Park. Today we went for a walk through the forest and we saw a frog, and two dragonflies mating. In case you're not thinking straight, no, the frog was not mating with the two dragonflies. The frog was sitting on some stairs, and the dragonflies were mating with each other. I don't know why I felt the need to explain, but that's that.
-Someone on a bike almost ran into me today while we were shopping. He looked pretty mad. I couldn't understand a word he was saying though, so I couldn't respond.
-I went to a Starbucks here, and I was trying to order a vanilla latte in Chinese. It was pretty hard...I didn't know how to say "nonfat"...and ofcourse I didn't know how to say "vanilla" or "latte" either. So that made it even more difficult. But my cousin helped me out, and after a lot of explaining we finally got my latte ordered. Then the girl behind the counter asked me where I was from, and I told her California. After I told her that, she tried to say something to me in English, but I'm pretty sure she messed up because I didn't understand a word she was saying. So I was like, "What?" (in Chinese) and she laughed and said "nevermind."
-By the way, it's amazing how cheap everything is around here. Yesterday I went out for dinner and the Tiramisu cost me only a buck. One dollar...they're like 6, 7 or 8 dollars usually! And this crazy 4 course meal cost only 10 dollars. So either everything here is crazy cheap, or everything in America is crazy expensive.
-A few observations about Taiwan so far:
1. People ride a lot of motorcycles here.
2. Jay-walking is the norm.
3. There are a lot of really sad looking old men here. My sister likes taking pictures of them.
Later guys!
-A night market is basically a large area that is filled with outdoor vendors open late at night, and they sell a lot of random things like food...little souvenirs, clothes, jewlery, and things like that. It's pretty exciting. There's always a lot of people around, all yelling stuff at you along the lines of "buy my stuff!" And the air smells of Chinese sausages. You can decide whether or not you think that's a good thing. In the next few days, Camellia will get here, and I will then switch from living at my cousin's place to living in a hotel. It's a pretty nice hotel right across from a nightclub, so I'm very excited.
-It's really pretty here. My cousin's backyard looks exactly like a tropical rainforest straight out of Jurassic Park. Today we went for a walk through the forest and we saw a frog, and two dragonflies mating. In case you're not thinking straight, no, the frog was not mating with the two dragonflies. The frog was sitting on some stairs, and the dragonflies were mating with each other. I don't know why I felt the need to explain, but that's that.
-Someone on a bike almost ran into me today while we were shopping. He looked pretty mad. I couldn't understand a word he was saying though, so I couldn't respond.
-I went to a Starbucks here, and I was trying to order a vanilla latte in Chinese. It was pretty hard...I didn't know how to say "nonfat"...and ofcourse I didn't know how to say "vanilla" or "latte" either. So that made it even more difficult. But my cousin helped me out, and after a lot of explaining we finally got my latte ordered. Then the girl behind the counter asked me where I was from, and I told her California. After I told her that, she tried to say something to me in English, but I'm pretty sure she messed up because I didn't understand a word she was saying. So I was like, "What?" (in Chinese) and she laughed and said "nevermind."
-By the way, it's amazing how cheap everything is around here. Yesterday I went out for dinner and the Tiramisu cost me only a buck. One dollar...they're like 6, 7 or 8 dollars usually! And this crazy 4 course meal cost only 10 dollars. So either everything here is crazy cheap, or everything in America is crazy expensive.
-A few observations about Taiwan so far:
1. People ride a lot of motorcycles here.
2. Jay-walking is the norm.
3. There are a lot of really sad looking old men here. My sister likes taking pictures of them.
Later guys!