Friday and Saturday of week 3 and all of week 4 weren’t too exciting so, we’re just going to put everything together!
Week 3 Friday: I may or may not have the best temper, and I don’t let things go too easy. As a result of this, I’m still very upset in the morning. My roommate said nothing to me, so I said nothing to her. I just spend the day trying to figure out my current class schedule, planning classes at Pitt next semester, working on my Chinese homework, and exploring google flights for more places to go (my favorite past time.) I really just got a lot of work done on Friday. Since I had just made some new friends the same day, I had lost some, I decided to reach out. I asked my new friends if they were doing anything fun on Saturday and if I could come. They said yes. They were going to Jiufen. I got excited to go out with my new friends and explore a new part of Taiwan.
Week 3 Saturday: I went to Jiufen! It was raining that day, but also hot. I was a little late going down the mountain. I knew I’d probably be taking pictures, so I wanted to make sure I was practical and cute. Had to make sure to hit the double whammy. It took a while to get there. We had to take a public bus, then the train. then another public bus (but it looked a felt like a charter bus.) It took about 2 hrs. to get there by public transportation. and was a little less than 150 NT$ which is about $5 USD. I’m going to be honest and say that I thought I was going to die a few times, but I have what I like to call transportation-induced narcolepsy. I always get so tired when someone is driving me around. The roads were slippery, we were up on the mountains, and they bus we were on was big and had to make some sharp turns. I was fine though. Thank goodness for sleep. I think it solves all problems. When we got there, we didn’t do anything other than eat, drink, and walk around, but that’s all you really do anywhere in Taiwan. It was extremely foggy, but the scenery was still breathtaking. There is so much greenery and fresh air in Taiwan because of the lack of development on the island. I have a Taiwanese friend who would vehemently disagree with that statement, but he’s a whole other story. I drank so tasty Jasmine tea right out of a teapot, ate yummy Taro Balls (get the hot ones not the cold ones), had some good 小笼包, tasted a mountain of ice cream and you guys….. I did it. I ate a piece of intestines. I already don’t like spicy food and don’t drink milk tea. I really don’t like being THAT American that’s not open to trying new things, so I tried the intestines just like I tried the stinky tofu. As I suspected, I didn’t like it, so at least I can say I’ve tried it and don’t like it as opposed to me refusing to eat it. We sat and ate some other stuff, took more pictures, and waited a lot. There were a million Japanese and Korean tourists there so we would all me walking in these narrow outdoor stairwells and streets, but people would stop to take a picture every 10 steps, and there’s no room to go around them, so it took forever to get any one place. One of the friends I made is actually going to Bali the same time I am so we’re going to meet up and hang out. I’m excited! Over all, I had a great time and was excited to meet some new people!
Week 4 Sunday: I went on a date with two tinder guys. FYI: Hookup culture is very different in Taiwan and Tinder works differently. While some people are on there for the traditional purposes of the app, several Taiwanese people are on there to meet foreigners and make friends: which is why I downloaded it again. I met this one Taiwanese guy that lived in Seattle for a while. His English is really good, and while he’s a character, he’s cool for the most part. This is the guy that thinks Taiwanese air quality is bad, smh. However, he did take me to this amazing Beef Noodle Shop: 老外一品牛肉面 in the Zhongshan district. It’s Taiwanese beef noodles cooked by a Persian chef who came to Taiwan a brick ago, speaks perfect Chinese and is married to a Taiwanese woman. When I tell those noodles were BIG POPPIN! Whew Chile, it was like it wasn’t spicy, but it was spiced, and I felt like the beef was so fresh, the owner had a butcher shop in the back. Those noodles, and his bone soup, and his dumplings are all so delicious. This man has cultural appreciation down to a TEE. It’s also super affordable, only around 135 NT$. The closest MRT station is the Xingtian temple station. Go go go!!! After we were done eating, he drove me to my next stop for date #2. Hehehe yes, I am a finesser like that. The other guy confused me and is boring so we’re not even going to talk about that one. I will say that I had to buy my own drink and it was like 200 NT$ for a lemon drop that tasted like lemonade with no alcohol. A LEMON DROP IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SHOT. At least I learned not to go back to that bar or text that guy again. Neither of them is worth my time. We love a good learning experience. Still haven’t spoken to my roommate and I just leave the room because #1 when I’m mad, I try to remove myself from the situation because that person’s presence just makes me madder and #2, I never get any work done in my room.
The rest of the week: I don’t remember what happened on what day and it doesn’t really matter so I’m just gonna word vomit here. I went to one of the cultural ambassador’s hip hop dance class. I can’t hip hop dance for my life, however it was fun to watch everyone else get really into it.
I got a ton of fricking mosquito bites in the two days that it was really warm, and the sun was out. Surprisingly none on my arms, but ya girl decided to wear a dress and shorts so there were 29 in total on my legs.
My roommate and I didn’t talk the entire week until Thursday when she said she was moving out, but she wanted us to be cool. At this point I wasn’t made anymore so I was super open when she asked to talk, because I was going to ask her the same thing the next day. She said she didn’t really realize what happened, just that I wasn’t in the room and wasn’t talking to her, so she felt the tension. (I also did something else that was slightly petty. We all have minor slip-ups that resemble to our younger, less-wise selves) Now mind you, she hadn’t said anything to me either, but this was forgiveness time, not argument time. I told her the situation through my eyes, and she told me her side- where she basically said that she didn’t know what was going on, which is dumb because she was standing there the whole time and she could’ve asked me at any point buuuuuuut NO DRAMA. I have a class with this girl 6 hours a week and we’re going to be the only ones that are here in June. (Even though that won’t make a difference for me because everyone has already been excluding me from everything for the last week) Ok! I’m done being shady! Sometimes you just gotta get these things out ya know. Also, this is a personal blog, not a super professional one. I make lots of mistakes, and I’m documenting them all here, so I learn from them. One of my biggest goals over the past year and a half and for this trip has been self-growth especially regarding communication and destructive behaviors. My current me is less shady and less petty that previous me and hopefully future me can cut all of that bad stuff out in due time, but for now a bit of shade might be thrown out here and there.
My old roomie moved in down the hall with one of the CIEE ICLC girls. She is doing the academic year program instead of the semester program. I don’t know if that has anything to do with her not getting a roommate at first, but it might. Apparently, she was getting a roommate soon, so now I’m just getting whatever roommate she was going to get. I’m nervous because, this person could be any student at NCCU. I highly doubt that it’s an international student, because the majority of international students have their housing situation settled long before they even come to Taiwan. It’s most likely going to be a Taiwanese (or maybe another nationality) girl that straight up attends NCCU. The nervousness stems from the possibility that this person might not speak English. I’m sure you can imagine possible problems that might arise when you and the person you’re sharing a room and bathroom with can’t even speak the same language. I went to April to ask if I could move to I-house or possibly get a single room. I knew both of them were long shots, but it never hurts to ask. I-house was full with an already long waitlist as expected, and apparently single rooms are only for Doctoral Students. The doctoral student thing doesn’t make any sense to me because why would a person in the late twenties want to be living in a college dorm, but NCCU is far from everything. I still don’t get it, but alas, it is a battle that I am not equipped nor willing to fight. I also don’t get why someone would be moving in a dorm 1 month after school starts but apparently there’s a long waiting list. That doesn’t make any sense to me either though, because if there’s a long waiting list for the dorms too, then why didn’t the other CIEE girl from before not have a roommate? This are all questions I have and have thought about, but I just take everything day by day and hope that I won’t get another roommate. For some reason, I have a gut feeling that that’s not gonna happen and I will get another one, so I’m keeping all of my stuff in my closet and on my side. Whether I do or don’t get another roommate I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, and if it has to end, I’ll try to be friends with her and make the best out of the situation.
Saturday was our Scavenger hunt! We went around the city and solved little puzzles and ate famous food and got good bubble tea. Ngl, I was lowkey tired and hangry the whole time, but I was putting in SO much effort to be happy and have a good time because one of the ambassadors, Ian worked really hard to put it all together and I didn’t want to bring anyone else down just because I was a grump. Fun fact: It rained basically all of weeks 3 & 4, so it was real gloomy which I think contributed to my grouchiness in these weeks. I do, however, feel like I am more naturally grouchy than most people. I do not know why. Maybe I watch too many Oscar the grouch scenes from Sesame street and also The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland was one of lil’ Brit’s favorite movies. I dare you to ask my mother how many times she’s seen that movie. If you triple it, that’s probably my watch number. Watch your children watch people, it could model their whole life. Anyways, we went to 3 different places: Gongguan (which I’ve been to quite a few times), Dongmen, and Raohe night market. I’ll detail all of my awesome food in my food post that will be coming in the next week or two so stay tuned. It was beautiful, again I had fun. It was a really good ending to a mediocre week.
Don’t forget to use the fund Widgets at the top! Are you from another country? The google translate button translates the entire page. The calendar counting down the days until I come home. Recent Comments show what are people are telling me and asking me!
There’s also a social media button where you can donate to my gofundme and connect with me on most forms of social media. HMU!
Abroad, Black, 会说 Chinese 