Rahoe Night Market

       I know I say this every time I post, but I'm still so. busy. But I don't mind in the least. Last Tuesday my classmates took me out to Rahoe Night Market after school. Unbeknownst to me, the slacker American who gets out of school at 4 everyday, my classmates have class until 5 most days. So I awkwardly waited in class and tried not to draw any attention to myself. After their class was finished, we hung out at school for a while and waited for it to get cooler before venturing out. We all survived the us trip and made it there in one piece.

The best thing about the night market is the cheap and awesome food.

Red Bean Filled Cake

Fish and Egg Dish

Indian Milk Tea

Some sort of cake

Spicy Beef Kabob

Watermelon Juice

Oyster Omelette

Stinky Tofu

Annnd the closest translation I could get to what this dessert was is "pudding"

       Friday at school we celebrated three of my classmates birthdays and suprised them with tiramisu at lunch. Then on Saturday Rotex held a "tea party" for us inbounds. But there was not that much tea involved. We got split up into groups and competed against each other in a series of games that involved our knowledge of Chinese. For example, we were given the name of certain objects in Chinese and the first team to grab all the correct items got a point. Unfortunatley there were reprecussions for the losing team, the winners were given pens and got to draw on the losing team. Thankfully my team won a majority of our games. After the Rotex event I quickly ducked into one of the bookstore chains here that sells English books, somehow I was able to refrain from buying any books. But I did end up purchasing some envelopes and this weekend if I have time I'll attempt mailing off some letters.

       I spent Sunday in Taipei with my brother and parents. We went to the Sun Yet-Sen Memorial Hall and arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards. We also hung out around Taipei 101 because there are a lot of street performers there that are interesting to watch. That night we had dinner with my dad's side of the family as an early celebration for my dad's and aunt's birthday. We had barbecue, which is becoming a rapid favorite of mine here. Seafood is great for two reasons here 1) it's really fresh and tastes amazing and 2) you definitively know what you're eating. When it comes to the other meat, you have no idea. And that's how I tried cow tongue for the first time Sunday night. 

       This Sunday is the Moon Festival here! Saturday, my dad, brother, and I are going down to (I think) Tainan for a Moon Festival party with Rotary. Also my school is having an English singing competition in which the entire class has to participate in. Today my class is voting on which songs we'll sing. I've been asked to help act as a pronounciation teacher when we start practicing, so I'll be even busier. But busy is good! 

       My Chinese is coming along I think. Everyone usually talks to me in English which makes it super easy for me to slip into speaking English instead of Chinese, but from now on I'm trying to forego the English. So here's to me accidentally butchering the Chinese Language!

Abbie