My positive surprise of getting my own bed was maybe a bit too much, as it is hard as a rock (healthy I guess?) – though a bed. Anyway the jetlag and my cold did not make my sleep better, but as I had been awake for a while in the night I managed to sleep until 11 o’clock local time – and that is good :)
I woke up to a bit of a Taiwanese brunch: a bowl of rich for each person, and a lot of small dishes such as fish, seaweed, chicken, tofu noodles and a lot of things I couldn’t recognise. Later, when we went to a small supermarket, my host mom asked me, what I would like to eat for breakfast, and I used the opportunity to show her some rolled oats, so hopefully my next brunch will not consist of fish – delicious, but not in the morning :)
At the supermarket we bought a lot of candy, and I kind of figured out, that Sunday was my families candy-day. But as soon as we got home I found out, that everything we had bought had to be sacrificed to the ancestors. As I hadn’t bought anything I decided to give the ancestors some of my lakrids! I wonder if they like it… (well, if they like the cola and M&M that my family gave to them, then why not lakrids…) :D
At half past five my oldest host sister, her boyfriend and a friend took me to Shihlin Night Market. It consists of a lot of narrow passages covered with cheap shops. One passage migt be with food, another one with clothing, and a third one with dogs. We went and oat some Taiwanese specialities: Oyster omelette, prawn omelette, some fried fish and stinky tofu (I’ve been warned about the last dish because of its smell, but it wasn’t so bad, and I actually liked the taste) :)
After walking through a lot of passages and visiting some shops we found a box, where we could take photos of ourselves and have them made as stickers! And here my prejudices about Asian people doing the “peace-sign” every time a picture is taken was confirmed! Now I have six stickers with me, two girls and even a boy posing very… funny :)
The last “provocative” experience was a drink called frog eggs! It consisted of some liquid and a lot of jelly pieces called frog eggs. Of course it wasn’t frog eggs, but the fact that I wouldn’t consider this a drink but a dish (every time I took a swallow it consisted of more “frog eggs” than liquid) made me dislike it… :)
Anyway I really love Taipei!
Julia
