Asian Weekend

Even though I've lived in this country for over 5 months now, I still feel like I'm visiting at times. This past weekend however, we sort of acted like the locals (sort of) and looking back on it, it was nice to just live in Asia and not feel like I'm visiting.

My weekend actually started on Thursday night when my friend Kate and I drove downtown to go to the big lantern festival in the central park of Taichung. I saw a total of three other white people that entire night and it was great. I had yet another version of the Taiwanese green onion pancake- this one in a swirly form sort of like a savory cinnamon roll- and some other delicious street food. I also saw a random local pop group which, if you read my last post, was right up my alley.

Friday night we went to Family Mart as always and then went to a local restaurant and had some great Taiwanese food- we couldn't order at this place normally because the menu is all in Chinese but we brought some of the Taiwanese teachers from our school with us to do the ordering and general communicating. The fun didn't stop there obviously and we headed to some our favorite bars to hang out with the film crew and actors for the Life of Pi movie they're shooting in Taiwan right now (That's right, google it. I talked to the lead Indian dude who is incredibly good looking but really stuck up). Too late of a night but worth it, lots of food, fun and friends which is perfect for a Friday night with no Saturday classes to teach.

After sleeping in on Saturday, we all got up and headed to our favorite mall to shop. I stopped at my little grocery store on the way home to grab some milk and my new favorite fruit that I have no idea what it's called in English but is like a tiny little apple with a nice crisp taste (see picture below). Saturday night was low key, just watching tv at home, because I need to lesson plan and grade today. But as I sit here and procrastinate from doing just that, I realized that it was just about the perfect weekend in my opinion. It's official, I live in Asia...

My new favorite fruit from the Whale Tale Grocery Store.

Cool graffiti on a wall outside the mall I was shopping at on Saturday.