i'm a little behind....

so, i didn't write in my blog yesterday, so this is what happened yesterday as well as today. not all of it, just the more interesting parts. i went to a bookstore called Page One in Taipei 101 yesterday and just roamed around by myself. i asked the guy at the counter for the section with the pamphlets with things to do in Taiwan, etc. i didn't know how to say "pamphlet" so said the version I used in Chinese class, which is the version that people in China use "ce4 zi" and the girl gave me a confused look. so, i said pamphlet in English and the guy next to her started speaking in English with a face that seemed to say, "please, who cares if you can speak English, so can I", no smile. so, some people in Taiwan thinks it's so cool you can speak English and there are some that think ABC's (American Born Chinese) are all stuck up, which is true sometimes if you look at some of them behave here. but, what the heck am i supposed to do?! it's my native language! but then again, maybe i'm thinking too much. on the other hand, there's so much Asian literature here that bookstores in the U.S. don't have!!

then i met up a friend i met last time i was here at Xi Men Ding. it's a really cool shopping area but filled with high-schoolers, tattooed people, emos (sorry that's not the correct term, but u get mah drift), etc. i met her at a restaurant called "the tricycle restaurant"...don't ask me why! i didn't name the restaurant. i went there a year and a half ago once before i left for the u.s. and they had the BEST milk tea i had ever tasted in my ENTIRE life, and i've been thinking about it since then, lol. you never forget your first love. lol, that's not true, actually. i haven't forgotten any of my exes but i wish i could. the idiots are engrained in my mind. lol, jk. i took a picture of my milk tea so i can remember it forever. i love you. *kiss* anyway, she's this really cool girl who was also an intern at the international cooperation and development fund in tianmu. really smart. she's getting her masters degree in international relations right now. we just caught up and talked. i told her my testimony. lol, everyone i know in taiwan is going to know my testimony because it's basically why i came to taiwan. "oh, so why are you in taiwan?" and then goes my testimony... we started shopping around and she told me that her courses are really difficult. she told me about this one class where the teacher is super strict and scary. the class is on a thursday, and every wednesday, one of her classmates, while studying, has a bloody nose. LOL. i mean, everyone pretty much just stays up the night before and studies, but this one particular guy's nose always bleeds when he studies for this class and no other time. lol. talk about pressure...."hao3 kwa1 zhang1"!

i found a store called "CheckFun" (rarely does an english name ever make sense here....they're creative though...) in ximending and it just had these really cute things! i found a corner where they had these miniature like sofas, chalkboards that look like they were meant for a dollhouse. so cute. i also found chocolate-flavored, strawberry-flavored, etc. straws! they're little chocolate pebbles enclosed inside the straw and when you sip the straw, the liquid you're drinking passes through and melts these little pebbles making the liquid taste like whatever flavored pebbles are in the straw. oh shoot. didn't take a picture of those. that's okay, they're only 20NT...i'll probably go to the store again and take pics.

so, i came home and took the "Blue 5" again, and remember when i said all the people rush to the bus? well, this time, i stood at the front and people STILL managed to cut me! you really have to be tough. anyway, i was standing in line, and this guy was holding a shopping bag. suddenly this girl rushes past him and knocks his bag upwards really high, really obvious, and really fast and gets onto the bus. LOL. the guy after him let me go first, probably because he was afraid i would also be "mong3" like the girl. it's taiwanese slang for "aggressive" i think.

after i got off the bus, i went into a small, dingy, and really full stationery store. a tv was playing in the back and there was a shelf in the middle dividing the store into two sections. perfect setting for a horror movie. i walked down the left section towards the tv and i turn to make a right and an old lady was sitting on the ground watching tv! you know those Chinese movies with those old lady ghosts? she freaked the heck out of me! she had white hair, tiny, skinny, and sitting on the ground with her legs curled up and arms around her legs. i almost had a heart attack. then, i proceeded to leave the store, fast and furiously. heh heh.

oh and i forgot the other day i went to the Tonghua Street night market right around here. it's still the same. i wasn't really interested in buying any clothes there. there was only this one store called "Hana", which means flower in Japanese. their clothes are from Korea, and they're really nice, quality clothes and accessories. the rest of the stuff in the night market is crap. people just go there for the food and snacks, which are really good. there's more variety at Shilin night market though. i went with my aunt, cousin, cousin's gf, aunt's husband's younger brother's wife and two kids. lol....family is really important in Chinese culture.... today, i went to get a chemical peel at this skin cosmetic center. it didn't hurt at all but it made my face all red and blotchy. i got a lot of stares so i just stayed home. oh yah, i went to the park with my aunt, cousin, etc....mainly so the kids could play and get some exercise. but i pretty much stayed home, because my skin looked horrible. i also took a nap. boring. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. oh yah, my friend William called me to go out again. HE HAS GREAT TIMING.