2014年12月15日--12月18日
On Monday the 15th I went to Ximending「西門町」 with a friend to go get my ears pierced. I figured since it was going to be my last chance, I wanted a physical ~*~study abroad~*~ memory to remember Taiwan before I left for the Philippines. Only problem being we couldn't figure out where the dang piercing shop was. My friend had been earlier in the semester to go along with another friend of ours get a piercing. She said she likes coming along with people to get piercings done, idk. Anyway we looked all over the Ximen「西門」 area and stopped at a coldstone for some ice cream. They had a winter special where each order came with a free Americano「美式咖啡」 and while we sipped our coffee I snagged their wi-fi enough to figure out where the piercing shop was so off we went. It was going to be my first piercing so I didn't know what to expect really but my friend debriefed me a little before it happened, and honestly, it didn't even hurt that bad. I'm not one to freak out over needles or anything like that so it was relatively easy. My only problem was sleeping since I'm a side sleeper, and I got both my ears pierced at the same time, so trying to fall asleep on my back while being extra cautious not to aggravate my new piercings was too much pressure for bedtime (one of them eventually fell out later in the week and closed up before I woke up lol).
On Tuesday the 16th, a few friends were planning on going up to Jiufen「九份」and I wanted to tag along since I never got the chance earlier in the semester. Jiufen is a small mountain village in Northeastern Taiwan and served as the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away, along with another Taiwanese town by the name of Keelung「基隆」. Before we left, a friend of ours said their parents had come all the way from Massachusetts to visit her and that they were going to tag along. We met up with her parents at the hotel they were staying at, an offshoot hotel at NTU where they had free breakfast buffet.
On Monday the 15th I went to Ximending「西門町」 with a friend to go get my ears pierced. I figured since it was going to be my last chance, I wanted a physical ~*~study abroad~*~ memory to remember Taiwan before I left for the Philippines. Only problem being we couldn't figure out where the dang piercing shop was. My friend had been earlier in the semester to go along with another friend of ours get a piercing. She said she likes coming along with people to get piercings done, idk. Anyway we looked all over the Ximen「西門」 area and stopped at a coldstone for some ice cream. They had a winter special where each order came with a free Americano「美式咖啡」 and while we sipped our coffee I snagged their wi-fi enough to figure out where the piercing shop was so off we went. It was going to be my first piercing so I didn't know what to expect really but my friend debriefed me a little before it happened, and honestly, it didn't even hurt that bad. I'm not one to freak out over needles or anything like that so it was relatively easy. My only problem was sleeping since I'm a side sleeper, and I got both my ears pierced at the same time, so trying to fall asleep on my back while being extra cautious not to aggravate my new piercings was too much pressure for bedtime (one of them eventually fell out later in the week and closed up before I woke up lol).
On Tuesday the 16th, a few friends were planning on going up to Jiufen「九份」and I wanted to tag along since I never got the chance earlier in the semester. Jiufen is a small mountain village in Northeastern Taiwan and served as the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away, along with another Taiwanese town by the name of Keelung「基隆」. Before we left, a friend of ours said their parents had come all the way from Massachusetts to visit her and that they were going to tag along. We met up with her parents at the hotel they were staying at, an offshoot hotel at NTU where they had free breakfast buffet.
From Taipei Main Station, we met up with another friend whose mother was visiting all the way from New York, and we took the train to...Keelung I think? I'm not sure. We hopped on a taxi and just asked the driver to take us to Jiufen.
It was super cold and super rainy and yet there were still hella tourists like? Go home perhaps? They were all p much Japanese and Korean tourists too like yes we get that you've seen the movie but it is literally so cold and wet outside? I got an excuse, I'm leaving in like three days.
(also spot homegirl's kanken in the front i literally saw them everywhere and they were like under $30 maybe? try and find one under $75 here i'm still upset i never got one ugh)
Anyway it was basically just...another tourist trap, unfortunately. There was some good street food but like, you don't come to Jiufen for the street food, you go to Keelung for the street food. You come to Jiufen to see the stairs and take a photo and leave. It was still nice weaving in and out of the shops, tho. I found some nice bougie chocolate that I bought as a gift for my father, and there were #instagram opportunities all over the place.
Anyway it was basically just...another tourist trap, unfortunately. There was some good street food but like, you don't come to Jiufen for the street food, you go to Keelung for the street food. You come to Jiufen to see the stairs and take a photo and leave. It was still nice weaving in and out of the shops, tho. I found some nice bougie chocolate that I bought as a gift for my father, and there were #instagram opportunities all over the place.
I distinctly remember having some rly dank fried mushroom thing that I also remember having in Kaohsiung when the homie Phoenix took us to like this day street market? We had fried mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes and ai-yu jelly and it was just entirely the business. But anyway, it was cold and we were cold and we wanted to go to a teahouse.
The first place we hit up, we figured they'd have tea but it was more like a dine-in restaurant type of joint. Also it was hilarious because among our large group, I was the only Asian, and so the waitresses automatically started talking to me first as if I was these white folks' Taiwanese tour guide lmao.
On the second try, we happened upon a teahouse that had this huuuge panoramic view of the nearby bay. It was gorgeous, but I think I lost the photos :c Here's photos of tea instead!
The first place we hit up, we figured they'd have tea but it was more like a dine-in restaurant type of joint. Also it was hilarious because among our large group, I was the only Asian, and so the waitresses automatically started talking to me first as if I was these white folks' Taiwanese tour guide lmao.
On the second try, we happened upon a teahouse that had this huuuge panoramic view of the nearby bay. It was gorgeous, but I think I lost the photos :c Here's photos of tea instead!
Also at one point we ran into like, hella kitties, and we were tired so we stopped to chill with some cool cats. One in particular (who was missing an eye) took a liking to my friend and we kinda flipped. It was like we were blessed by the Taiwanese cat gods or something.
Anyway the ride back was just as gloomy and rainy, we took the bus back and it was crowded but thankfully we found some seats for the 90 minute or so bus ride. It was cold af as we got off the bus, too, as it was already night time. I decided to stop by a roadside stall next to NCCU that was popular among the university students and ordered my favorite Kimchi Fried Rice「泡菜炒飯」 for like, 85 NTD which isn't even $3 US like? And it's a huge portion too?
After my dinner, the NCCU choir asked me to come to their Tuesday practice, which I thought was odd, because they only ask you to come to one practice a week and I usually came Thursdays, but since I was leaving Taipei Thursday morning I figured it wouldn't hurt. Basically they surprised me with a card and said that it was a pleasure having me join their choir even though it was for such a short amount of time.
On Wednesday the 17th, I don't actually remember doing much in the day? I know it was the last day of English session leading at NCCU Affiliated High School. For the duration of the semester, I lead after school English application sessions with a friend of mine from the university. We were to pretend we didn't know Mandarin, and basically were told to just come up with ways to engage the students for 50 minutes at a time. My friend and I took this as an opportunity to subtly indoctrinate them into understanding nuanced forms of social justice in the United States (oops) so we talked about things like human rights violations and poor self-image. It was great, tbh. We also talked about pop culture and watched a lot of music videos, for discussion and lyrical content. They were around 15 and 16 years old with the English skills of a 9 year old native speaker, so coming up with ways to engage their English in age-appropriate ways was kinda difficult, as most lesson plans involved things like...animals, or, childish word association games. We weren't entirely about that life. The 17th was our last and final session, so my friend and I decided to hold a small Christmas party for the students. My friend and I met up at the local Wellcome Supermarket「頂好」to pick up candies, candy canes, and hot chocolate packets. I wore this ridiculous red and green get up but was lowkey feeling myself. I felt bad, tho, because one of our students said he didn't like chocolate and we were like oops that's all there is to drink. We asked the students to bring stuff also, sorta like a potluck, and they brought like, baked goods and grapes I think? It was pretty good all things considered. Also apparently they said we were some of the best English session leaders they've ever had, which is pretty dope. Some students even wrote us cards and gave us gifts.
After that, I slowly realized I was leaving Taipei in like 12 hours and didn't even start packing lmao. After class I grabbed dinner with one of my closest study abroad friends and had a cute lil wrap up date with some $4 hotpot.
Then from like...10pm to 5am (lmao yikes) I packed my room. I had to get up at 6am for the Res Hall adviser to check off on the cleanliness of my room and the girl was like (in Chinese) "oh wow" and I was like what and she was like "yours is so much cleaner" and I asked her compared to who? and she pointed to my neighbor's room and was like "his was so dirty!" I was dyin. Anyway my taxi for the airport picked me up at like 6:30am and my Taiwanese university ambassador came to see me off. The local stray dog who I affectionately called 小黑 also saw me off I kinda wanted to cry tbh.
Anyway I kinda talked about that earlier and this is already way too long so imma stop there! You may or may not see a post in the coming days on Boracay. Maybe somewhere or something else I did in the Philippines, who knows.
Peace,
和平/PK
Anyway I kinda talked about that earlier and this is already way too long so imma stop there! You may or may not see a post in the coming days on Boracay. Maybe somewhere or something else I did in the Philippines, who knows.
Peace,
和平/PK