Time off. That was a glorious phrase we heard on Friday. After running around doing all our logistical tasks we had time to explore by ourselves (more like in pairs, but still not in a group). I ended up spending Saturday with the girls in my apartment: Amanda, Crystal, and Imani. In Taiwan, its easier and cheaper most times to eat out than to cook. Fengrong, our apartment building also doesn't have a kitchen so there isn't much of a choice to go out for food.
We decided to just ride our bikes and if any of us saw a place we were interested in going to we would stop. We ended up stopping at a restaurant I can only explain as being hipster Taiwan. It had that simplistic wood and metal style. Apologies: I would've added a picture to better show the brunch destination, but seeing as we were the only foreigners we were already getting weird looks and I didn't want to draw more attention by photographing the restaurant. The menu was also hipster with all the characters being in a calligraphy font.I have a hard enough time understanding Chinese I didn't need the added hurdle of calligraphy. After around 10 minutes of scrutinizing the menu as a group deciphering our options we were able to read a mushroom sandwich, a five meat sandwich with egg, and a questionable sandwich. The last sandwich option we were able to translate the beginning as being 花, flower, and 風將肉, meaning a wrap with a paste. Trying to be adventurous I went with the last option interested to see what a flower sandwich was like and so did Amanda. Once the sandwich came, Amanda looked up with a face I couldn't even describe. She knew the character we couldn't figure out. It was 花生, peanut, to which she is very much allergic to. The day could only get better after that...
Riding our bikes, the only form of transportation right now, across the city we stopped at a little street market. So many of the fruits, meats, and what I can only guess is different kinds of vegetables were on the stall tables. I think the best thing to do is just try everything. Taking in this new mantra I have now tried coconut water fresh from the coconut, a tea egg, and apple custard. The custard is definitely not like home. Its a green bubblier looking fruit that I would've taken a better picture of if it hadn't opened in my bike basket while I was riding. The fruit is sweet and each piece of the meat has tiny black seeds reminiscent of a watermelon. Completely worth the trouble eating it in my opinion.
My weekend wasn't just spent eating. I biked around Taitung Forest Park and discovered Flowing lake, a man made lake that's almost a perfect rectangle that is open for swimming and renting boats. Lucky enough Taitung Forest Park also hosted Pasiwali, a music festival celebrating culture. The event includes food stands, dancing, and singing all free and paid for by the government. It was unbelievable to sit amongst the people of Taitung bonding over the same love of music. What felt like every song the crane camera out in front would stop on us, the group of people clearly foreigners, and wait till we all waved at the camera before it continued on to the rest of the crowd. Some of the music acts even taught dances which we were able to take part in and even though I am unbelievably challenged at dancing I might start to look into Hakka dance to learn more about the culture here.
At this point I realize I shouldn't wait that long to write another post because there is too much to share. I'll keep the rest short. To officially celebrate Amanda's 22nd birthday and get the birthday discount while we could, all the Fulbright ETAs (19 of us) went to KTV. KTV is pretty much a karaoke bar. Its a smaller room for each party where you can blast any song, American songs included, and sing along while drinking Taiwanese beer. There is nothing that bonds a group more than shouting the lyrics to All-Star by Smash Mouth.
I'm slowly starting to take in more of the beauty of my area, not just recognizing the differences. At first all I saw was the scooters everywhere, no English, and sparseness of my apartment. I went along with Liam, another ETA, on a 13k bike trail on the outskirts of the city. The bike trip brought me through the city, the art district, and through the rural areas farming bananas. If you are ever having doubts just look at a mountain. All your worries pale to the sheer magnificence of a mountain towering in the distance.
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