Saturday, March 12, 2011

Being Practical

For the most part, my weekdays here can get repetitive. It's not at all boring or unexciting for me, but it doesn't make for very good reading material.

It rained for the first time in a very long time on Wednesday. It just so happened that my aunt and cousin came to Taipei that day, so the weather wasn't very good during their time here. We still went to Raohe night market at the Houshanpi MRT station, but didn't stay long because it was difficult walking in the rain.   There's a good possibility I'll be able to see the two of them again when we go to southern Taiwan for spring break.

On Friday, a friend received a text from her sister that said: "You have 20 minutes, get to higher ground now!" We had been eating lunch at the time, and had no idea what to think of the text. We ignored it because we noticed the 'locals' were not running for higher ground. But after we had finished and gotten dessert as well, we all went back to the dorms to read online reports. Some people were unfazed by the tsunami warnings (especially since we are very far from the coast and in 14 floor buildings), but a friend came to my room because they were concerned. Apparently the waves were much smaller than expected, but everyone agreed that it was good to hear that people were concerned for us.

Since today was the first day that it stopped raining, we went out to eat and shopped in the Taipei Main Station underground mall. They had plenty of inexpensive merchandise and snacks. The best part of the night was when I found the coffee bread that I had been looking for for the past three years. Mom and I had stumbled upon a small shop in Kaohsiung when walking to a department store and I had loved it! But we ran out of time to go again during that trip, and unfortunately, the store most likely closed, because we were never able to find it. So, when a friend had said that they had eaten the best bread, a bread with a crisp coffee topping and buttery inside, I knew that it was the same bread. It's not the same store, but the concept and TASTE are the same.

My beloved bread! I love unhealthy things.

My favorite midnight snacks are my peas. I bought the original flavor and wasabi. I mix the two together so I won't have plain by itself, nor an overwhelming amount of wasabi spice at once. 

I was cleaning my room the other day, and decided to wipe down the bed frame that my mattress and blankets are on. When I took the mattress off, I noticed that mold was starting to grow on the bamboo mattress. The dorm administration e-mailed us warnings about mold on our clothes and belongings, but I never expected mold to grow on my bed. I separated the bamboo portion from the rest and washed it down with bathroom cleaner in the shower. I consider myself to be a clean person, so I knew that if I had mold, other students probably did too. Sure enough, about 80% of us found mold. However, mine was minor in comparison. At least we know now to be even more careful about moisture.

My moldy mattress

The banana and chocolate crepe my aunt bought me at Raohe night market

My dinner from tonight: minced meat spinach and minced meat rice

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