Taiwan Day 27-31

On Monday we found another really cool room to study in in the NTU library. I also discovered that going straight to the library to do work after class is the best way to go to sleep early. Weird how I haven't learned that after two years of college.

Sadly we may not be able to study there in the future because:

Sad face.

Looking guilty...

Matt also discovered the most stereotypically Asian book ever.

The English says "Good to Great" but the Chinese reads "From A to A+" HAHAHA. Of course this is the book that they display in the library of the top university in Taiwan. Maybe I should go back and read it though, hmmm :P

On the way to dinner, Audra let me ride on the back of her bike, which made me feel super Taiwanese because everyone here does it! So many people bike, and half the bikes have people riding or standing on the back, sometimes holding an umbrella over the person biking. 

It's only blurry because we're moving so fast

This is safe, right?

On Tuesday, we discovered these empty cicada shells which everyone thought were really cool. I admit they were cool, FROM A DISTANCE. But just because there's no bug inside does not make it any less gross. No one seemed to agree though, since everyone wanted to keep them as pets. On their bodies....

Only Audra can make a cicada exoskeleton look cute

Oh hey buddy.

Yum. Lots of protein?

Everything was all good and fun until Matt tried to make me hold one. But then I dropped my pen and he put the cicada right on top of it and walked away

If you don't look at it, it doesn't exist.

If only I knew what was in store for me at home..

Thursday morning, Charlotte trapped a cockroach in a cup right outside of our room. WAHHHH. The cockroaches here are huge too. We don't even cook in our apartment and we don't eat food in our rooms, but still....they find their ways in. No matter what anyone says about cockroaches not harming you, I don't trust anything that lays eggs upon being crushed, and can survive nuclear explosions. /end of argument

It's probably better that this picture is blurry.

Connor eventually threw it out of our 9th floor window, which is great, but you know it's probably going to come back for revenge eventually.... I'll be sleeping with one eye open.

This week, Charlotte and I also started tutoring English for a Taiwanese family! We were approached on the MRT about tutoring for the family last week, I guess because we were speaking English. So this week we went to meet the kids, and they are both so cute. We just help them with English and reading, and we also get to practice our Chinese, eat yummy Taiwanese fruit, and get to hang out with a super nice and fun family. Plus it's relaxing but we still get some nice pocket money ^__^ So lucky that this randomly worked out.

Now for obligatory section about food:

Family Mart (全家) has square ice cream cones. Squareeee!!

There is literally never a bad time for ice cream.

Also the convenience and proximity of 7-11 may be our downfall. Sometime around midnight is when the "I'm not hungry but I want food" feeling kind of happens, and then before you know it, you have just eaten everything in the store. Exhibit A:

How much food? Too much food.

Also I have been looking for good matcha tea since I've been here, and have only found normal green tea. But Famonn's green tea latte is actually a matcha latte, so I came back to do homework one day after school. Also, Famonn has a really nice almost pastel blue color scheme, which is cute. 

My one true love.

And then today, school got cancelled after 2PM because of Typhoon Soulik. It was originally supposed to be a "super typhoon" but has "weakened overnight and has been downgraded to a medium-force typhoon." I'm glad this typhoon which is probably twice the size of Taiwan is going to only hit us directly in the face with medium-force. What does that even mean. Good thing we're not on a tiny water-locked island. Oh wait.

My MS Paint masterpiece. I would like to point out the adroitly placed eye.

So we all stored some food and get to stay inside and do nothing all weekend :D all of our weekend plans are cancelled and we can't leave :(

 So heartbreaking.

Taiwan Day 18-26

Remember that one time when I wrote a blog post everyday? Welp. Kind of forgot about that. But don't worry, it's kind of like how I've been telling Charlotte I'm going to clean my part of the room for the last two weeks, and finally did today. By which I mean I shoved all of my stuff behind my bed. Similarly, I've been meaning to write a post for the last 9 days and am just going to shove everything into one post now. Awww yeah analogies. 

And I know what you really want to know about first is not all my fun adventures, not even my super exciting Chinese classes, but all the new stationery I got, HAHA. I promise this will be mildly interesting though.

Ok so first thing is this pen that says, "the rabbit is trying to trick the cat into sitting on her broken chair, while the monkey is pedaling along on his squeaky bicycle." WHAT. So Chinglish is super prevalent in Taiwan, but at least everyone acknowledges that it makes no sense. This is a grammatically, orthographically correct sentence, and is even correctly depicted in the picture but...just...why...hahahaha. 

This second thing is a notebook which is not only cute and a notebook, but has an accurate map of the Taiwan MRT on it, which Charlotte and Connor also thought was really cool, so it's NOT just because I like stationery.No more getting lost! Hopefully. How convenient! The station closest to us is 公馆 (Gongguan) which is 7th stop from the bottom of the green line.

Finally, these cute little flashcards on a ring (they're super small, pen is for size reference), which I wish they sold in America, because they have been super helpful for studying vocab. I'm not really tested in writing characters, because ICLP puts much more emphasis on oral skills. But I don't want to go back to Williams and not be able to write anything, so I make character flashcards for all the vocab/words I don't know. I've probably made at least 500 in the first two weeks...and the're small and cute so are super convenient for studying while walking around, in between class, or whenever.

As for what I've actually been doing...I think I ate lunch in the library every day except for once during the week. Lunch is just so conveniently placed right before my 单班课 and TOCC class... Usually the door for the library is open, but one day it was closed, and I couldn't open the door and had to ask someone for help. Turns out you have to press this button on the side that I hadn't seen to unlock the door. I feel like being physically locked in the library has some kind of hidden life metaphor...Goal for next week: study less so I don't become a social pariah.

Also this week, I went to the dumpling place Shui showed us threeee times. They're just so cheap. 5 kuai per dumpling!

omnomnomnom

It is also currently "typhoon season" in Taiwan. So now in addition to being absurdly hot, we also get random torrential rainfall throughout the day, which is awesome. And by awesome I mean HORRIBLE! It doesn't even get cooler after it's done raining?!?!? Taiwan, what the heck.

Is that a swimming pool? No it's a sidewalk. -__-

Also check out this super fashionable picture. I had to meet up with Matthew to study this week, but it was pouring outside, and I didn't want to get my books wet, so Connor lent me his giant crew jacket so I could wear my backpack under it. Went outside and still got soaked THROUGH THIS WATERPROOF JACKET. With my backpack I just looked like a turtle. A sad, sad, wet turtle. At least my books were safe.

Check out my butt flap. 

The only 好处 is that sometimes it looks nice after it rains.

This week, I also discovered another 方便 Taiwanese thing. Ubike! Basically, there are a bunch of bike racks everywhere, and you swipe your card to take out a bike. If you return the bike at another rack within 30 minutes, the ride is free. Even if it goes for over 30 minutes, the rates are apparently relatively reasonable. Wish we had this in Madison.

LOOK. THE U IS A SMILEY FACE. Asiaaaaa!

On a completely unrelated note, now here is a section called, learning Chinese! I know, this blog post has impeccable transitions and content organization.

So at ICLP, there is a TV that has a 成语 of the day. A 成语 is a Chinese idiom that has 4 characters each. One day, we were standing in front of the TV chatting after class.

Me: So where are you guys going now?

Logan: I STILL HAVE CLASS!!
Me:  Oh. That sucks, hahaha.

Logan: *looks at the TV* Wow, Cindy, you need to 推己及人!!! 

Wasn't even mad at being reprimanded cause his 成语 usage was so on point hahaha.

Thank you, conveniently placed 成语 monitor

And now for a little section lauding the beautiful Pleco/Smart phone. Pleco, which I have mentioned before, is a Chinese dictionary app for iPhone and Droid, and is used by probably everyone here who has a smart phone. I look up probably at least 20 words on it a day. And here is a picture to illustrate how amazing it is:

 

Like actually, look at what I drew. That is actually a blob. I gave up on reading the character and kind of just scribbled the middle part, and it STILL RECOGNIZED IT. There are few things in life that I'm convinced are magic, and I think the list so far consists of Pleco's character recognition and physics.

[insert transition here]

On Saturday, we went to Formosa Fun Coast, the biggest water park in Taiwan.

When it was still sunny... -__-

The water park was a lot of fun, except it started raining in the middle of the day. But we stayed for five-ish hours anyways. Greyson, the kid in the middle of the picture is actually Taiwanese, so I practiced speaking Chinese a lot with him during the day. At one point, frustrated by his Taiwanese accent, I said "I can't understand your 口音!!!" To which he replies "不是我的问题! 是你的问题!!" (That's not my problem, that's your problem!!) How rude!!! Just kidding, it's true, but still pretty 可怜. OTL

Afterwards, went to Shilin night market to get 小吃 and where I bought a pair of crocodile socks that eat your feet, bwaahha.

Then today Connor, Matt, and I did some homework at Famonn Cafe, which is right across the street, and has very reasonably priced and delicious drinks and sandwiches for a cafe. After dinner,we went to a fresh fruit stand and got lychee, watermelon, dragonfruit, and mango. FRESH FRUIT! 很好吃！Especially because lychees are in season. I also got to practice my 讲价 skills since we just did a unit that included that in class, by which I mean I asked "如果我们买很多，可以便宜一点吗？” But oh well, it's a start. And we got a mini-discount. Hehe.

And now I leave you with a picture I took on the walk to school of what look like truffula (from the Lorax!) tree flowers that someone arranged into a heart shape. Awwww.

Taiwan loves you.

At this rate, I guess I'll see you guys in like a month. 再见！

JK, 我开玩笑 hehe