Stinky Tofu..mmmmmmmmmm......

We were supposed to go to Kenting and Jualien this weekend but the nurses invited us to attend their nurses appreciation day tomorrow so we have to postpone it…..so today was a pretty chill day. We really didn’t have any plans so we just slept in and caught up on blogging/e-mails, etc. For lunch we all split up and Sophia and I wanted these sandwiches we found earlier so we went in search of them. My nurse gave me a list of food names in Chinese and English so I could use it to ask around. I whipped it out and we got pointed into all different directions. You really have no idea how hard it is when you can’t communicate with people till you experience it. It’s so frustrating! Lol We finally found the place but it wasn’t even open. So we just picked a random place and pointed at stuff on the menu. Ha ha It turned out to be delicious!! Luckily. On our way home we ran into a delicious bakery! It was amaaaazing. Once again I can’t even explain how good the breads and pastries are here. Even the best bakeries in America don’t even come close to the random little family run shops here. Here are some pictures of it.
We then went home and chilled for a couple of hours then met up with some of the nurses from the ICU to head to the night market! They were absolutely hilarious. They were all bubbly and outgoing and just flat out crazy. We had a blast. When we met up they all wanted to take us to the night market on their mopeds. So they put all of their keys into a helmet and had each of us close our eyes and pick a key…then we would ride with whoever’s key it was. There were about 9 female nurses and 1 male nurse……and of course I drew the guy’s key! Ha ha So I got to ride with him, and he had a motorcycle not a moped. The ride was a blast! It was so fun riding around the city at night. But a little bit scary.
The nurses went craaaaazy at the night market. They wanted us to try EVERYTHING. They bought tons of stuff for us and it just kept coming and coming and coming. Within the first 20 minutes I tried pork blood (absolutely disgusting), duck tongue, smoked squid, duck butt, squid balls, and chicken crowns (the things at the top of chicken’s heads. I actually really really liked the smoked squid, squid balls, and chicken crowns. More than anything you just mentally have to get past the cartilage texture then everything tastes good J. To top off the night we had to try STINKY TOFU. Stinky Tofu is fermented (basically rotten) tofu. It smells TERRIBLE and it’s no exaggeration. You can smell it from far away and it smells like crap (literally). I don’t know how anyone enjoys it because it tastes like crap too. But for some reason the Taiwanese looooove it. I had a really hard time swallowing it down. But now I can say I’ve tried it :) It’s now about 11pm and we’re in for the night (like I said it was a pretty chill day). We just found out that next weekend we’re staying at a white sand beach resort…..woo hoo! Definitely beats Utah weather.....

Baseballl :)

Today at work was all play…and a little bit of work. I love being out in the community with patients. The Taiwanese are such a wonderful people. They’re definitely the best part about this entire trip. Most of my patients were out in the countryside. The countryside is beautiful! There are plants everywhere and it’s very tropical. There’s fruit growing everywhere and farms scattered all over growing rice, papaya, coconut, and all kinds of fruit that I’ve never seen before. The people in the countryside are also much more traditional. Their dress, way of life, beliefs, and practices are very different from those in the city. Everything that we learned about the asian culture evidenced itself today. The elderly will not look you in the eye. They feel that it is a sign of disrespect. They speak Taiwanese (the younger generation speaks Mandarin). The Taiwanese language is beautiful. It sounds very different from Mandarin. They are big on hiding their pain to save face. We scraped a decubitus ulcer on one man and he didn’t even wince. They also practice traditional Chinese medicine more commonly. I visited one patient that had terrible ulcers on his legs but he was treating them with TCM so he refused to let us do anything about them. His shaman told him it was a bad omen from going to the hospital last time he was sick and now he needs to avoid Western medicine at all costs. It’s very sad because most likely he will have to have his legs amputated if he doesn’t do anything about them.

One of the patients I visited was a younger man with a spinal chord injury d/t a moped accident. He looooved having Sophia and I at his house. He refused to let us work and made us Karaoke instead! (Karaoke is a big thing in Taiwan and it’s a big deal if you have a Karaoke machine at your house). So as my nurse as doctor did all the work Sophia and I karaoked for about an hour! Ha ha It was so fun. Then afterwards they took us to lunch at a delicious restaurant. There we ordered some food we really liked but my nurse looooves Fish Skin Soup so she ordered some and really wanted me to try it. I was so afraid because it’s full of strips of fish skin with meat on it. But I couldn’t refuse so I tried it……and I surprisingly loved it! When she saw my reaction she gave me entire thing and didn’t eat any of it ha ha Then she asked me if I liked Guava and I told her I did so we went outside and she bought me a full bag of guavas! (Like I keep mentioning they are a very giving people). Then Sho wei took us to the biggest temple in Tainan. It was HUGE! And very beautiful. It was interesting because Sho Wei wouldn’t go into the temple with us because she is on her period. The culture believes that when you are menstruating that you are unclean. She then shared some of their beliefs about pregnancy. They believe in having a balance between Yin and Yang (hot and cold). So after you give birth you can only drink and eat hot things. You drink hot water and you cannot eat ice cream or anything with ice in it because giving birth causes you to lose heat. You cannot do this for an entire month and you can’t wash your hair! Also during a full moon you have to use an umbrella outside at night to avoid getting the moon light on you? I tried to ask my nurse why but she didn’t understand lol

The rest of the patients for the day were pretty typical. Except for one little old lady was adorable. Here’s a picture

I forgot to tell you about the squatters. Here in Taiwan all of the public toilets are squatters (so it’s not an actual toilet, it’s kind of like a hole in the floor that you have to squat down to. It’s definitely an interesting experience. They also don’t provide toilet paper. You have to carry it with you everywhere. And the toilet paper here is like little tissues you pull out of a package. It’s not a roll. Aaaand you don’t flush toilet paper. They have a little basket next to the squatters that you put it in when you’re done. It’s really gross. Also the Taiwanese people loooove pale skin because their skin is so dark. So the whiter you are the more attractive you are. People will carry umbrellas all over outside to hide them from the sun. It’s also extremely hot here (in the nineties) and VERY humid but all of the people wear long sleeves and pants to keep their skin white!

After clinical we went to a baseball game!!! It was definitely one of the funnest things we’ve done so far. It’s sooooooooooooo different from American baseball. The fans beat these noise maker things the ENTIRE game no joke. There are never any pauses. Also the announcer yells out cheers through the entire game. It was so funny. The picture is of us on the jumbotron (we were on it pretty much the entire night! ha ha) The team we went to see was the winner of the Taiwan series (like the world series in America)…..but there are only four teams in Taiwan ha ha They were actually terrible compared to major league teams in the U.S. They are probably equivalent to small college teams in Utah. But it was fun anyways and I had a blast! ….oh and p.s. I’m beginning to think I’ll come back to the U.S. using broken English. My nurse hardly speaks any English so I use 2-3 word phrases throughout the entire day. I came back to our apt today using the same sentences to the other girls without even noticing! I’ve also noticed it in my typing! Ha ha

Clinical and Movies

Today (Tuesday) I was assigned to my nurse preceptor. Her name is Sho Wei and she is absolutely adorable! She hardly speaks any English though so it’s so hard to communicate with her! Most of the time we just laugh because neither of us knows what the other is talking about. I will be with her out in the community until the end of next week. It was also my first time being on my own throughout the day (well other than my doctor and nurse). I felt like a parade animal. Every house that we visited the entire family would crowd around me babbling and squealing about me (none of which I could understand). They would grab my hand and pull me into their nicest room and sit me down and feed me! They would then proceed to talk about me and point at me. It’s so funny! I never know what to do because I can’t talk to them or understand them so I just sit there and smile. And I get stuuuuufffed. Luckily they serve fruit most of the time. They eat lots and lots of melons and papaya. It’s so yummy!

Most of my patients today were very wealthy! It's interesting though because even the wealthiest people aren’t very wealthy compared to most people in the U.S. The extremely wealthy businessmen are probably equivalent to middle class in America. One patient was devastating. He is a 52 year old man that owns a number of factories in Taiwan. He’s very wealthy and he lives in an actual house (a really nice house) and having a house is very rare in Taiwan. One day he was walking to one of his factories and he fell off of a four foot slab. He just happened to fall on his head and he is now brain dead. He’s slightly aware of everything around him but he is completely paralyzed and can’t speak. It is so sad. He’s been like that for an entire year. It Taiwan families will rarely put family members in nursing homes. Instead they hire caregivers from Indonesia and keep them in their homes. Most of my patients have been in comas for 10 years at the least and they’re still living in their homes. It’s very impressive. In the U.S. most families put their members in facilities even when it’s unnecessary.

When we arrived at this man’s house his traditional Chinese therapist was there working with him. It was crazy. She was twisting his body in all sorts of painful looking ways and literally slapping him all over. She was so excited that I was there and she wanted to teach me all about it. She then offered to provide some therapy for me free of charge. It’s rude to refuse anything here so I reluctantly agreed ( I was so scared! Lol). She jumped behind me and began digging into my back. She then grabbed my head and whipped it both ways (I’ve never felt it crack so much). Then she stuck her foot on my spine and yanked me backwards and it cracked in ways I’ve never known it could crack! I was so afraid I was going to be paralyzed ha ha Sho wei and the doctor were laughing so hard. The woman then got my e-mail address because she wants her daughter to e-mail me because she’s learning English.

Also at this same home I went into the bathroom with Sho Wei to wash my hands. Without thinking I reached up next to the sink to dry my hands on the rag hanging up. My nurse started laughing so hard and shaking her head saying No. I was confused but then a terrible smell reached my nose! I smelled my hands and they smelled terrible. My nurse then made a hand motion around her behind inferring that that is the rag they use to wash their private parts. I guess in Taiwan they have a designated rag to wash private parts because they don’t want it to contaminate the rest of their body. And they aaaalways hang it up right next to the sink?? It was absolutely disgusting! But I guess it was kind of funny…..not.

Another one of my patients was a 54 year old man. He once had a brain tumor removed but then got in a moped accident on his way to the hospital once. It completely crushed his skull and damaged his brain. He is now basically a vegetable and half of his skull is gone. His head in just dented in where the skull is missing. It was another sad case. He has been like that for 6 years now. While at this house the wife wanted to buy us lunch because I mentioned that I was hungry. So she went out and bought me 7 of these rice jelly-cake things! It was hilarious. I can’t believe she really thought I would want all of them. I took a couple of bites and I was fine but then I got to all of these chunks of random things spread throughout it and I couldn’t get myself to. I started gagging so I had to secretly pretend like I was done but that I wanted to take it home. So….i left with a whole sack full of rice cakes. Ha ha


Then afterwards sho wei took me out for Cua Bing (the shaved ice with fruit). It was delicious. It had all kinds of fruit that I’ve never had before including star fruit, sweet melon (kind of like a mix between mango and peaches) and these blackberry looking things (but they weren’t blackberries). It was soooo good!

My last patient was an extremely poor woman. The household had about 8 people including brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. Last year they had a terrible flood that ruined the house but they are too poor to clean it up or remodel so it’s completely run down! This gives you kind of an idea. There were dead flies all over and it was so dirty. I couldn’t believe it.

Overall the day was a really good experience. I learned a lot about the Taiwanese culture. What really impressed me is how personal the nurse/patient relationship is. In America nurses are always in a hurry trying to get things done so they don’t spend time with the patient to actually be with them. Here the nurses will spend hours at one house. They will sit down and talk with the family and spend one on one time with the patient even if the patient is unconscious. Nurses will even go home for dinner after their shift is over and then head back out to a patients house to finish everything. That would NEVER happen in the U.S. Once a shift is done nurses head straight home. They would never sacrifice their time for a patient. It’s also interesting because they serve hot water in their homes. They will never offer you cold water or ice. A couple of the patients offered me boiling hot water! I also got to practice a lot of nursing skills. I inserted a ton of NG tubes, catheters, and I even got to change PEG tubes, tracheostomies, and cysostomies! I’ll spare you the details of other things I did because most of you would just puke ha ha
The nurse also sent me home with Toooooons of stuff. Here’s a picture of all of it. And this was all for one day!

After clinical we were supposed to go to a baseball game but we found out it’s actually tomorrow instead. So we went to a movie! We went to see Iron Man. Here they show movies in English but with Chinese subtitles. It was a lot of fun. I almost forgot I was in Taiwan…till the movie ended, I stood up, and realized I was surrounded by Asians.

First day of clinical.....

I woke up this morning at 2 am to my bed swaying. We have bunk beds so I assumed that Sophia was moving around in her sleep on the bottom bed….then it just kept swaying….and then I realized it was shaking. I was experiencing my first earthquake! Woo hoo! Except it was really small. It only registered at about a 3. It was fun anyways though. I’m sure there will be plenty more to come.

Today was our first day of clinical. We woke up at met at the hospital to meet all of the nurses that we will be working with for the next couple of weeks. They were so excited to have us there. However, we were told that all of them spoke English….but they failed to mention that most of them speak very little English. It was so hard to interpret them. They talk so fast and can’t pronounce half of the words. It made for a very entertaining day.

We were split up into separate groups: one that would be working in the ICU, and one that would be going out into the community. Me, Sophia, Hayley and Rainy were assigned to the group to go out into the community (which is great because supposedly the first group in community goes out and sightsees instead of actually working J). We were introduced to our nurses and they greeted us with the nicest presents. They gave us really nice books with pictures and maps of Tainan along with stickers (random), and postcards with a little note welcoming us to Taiwan. It was so sweet of them. Once again the Taiwanese people are so friendly and welcoming. They’re always happy and so willing to give. They then immediately sat us down for some fruit. They brought us a whole watermelon, some pickled mangos, and bell fruit (they don’t have these in the U.S. but they’re basically like spongy apples and they’re delicious).

We then split up with our nurses. Sophia and I were lucky because we got put together with one nurse. Our nurse was named Fen ni and she was adorable. She laughed at everything we said and she was so entertained by us. We then met up with Dr. Li and headed out to our patients. Our first patients were at a government run Disability Center. Most of our patients were elderly with some type of chronic disease and just needed NG (nasogastric) tube changes and Foley catheter changes. One of the patients was a double amputee (which means both legs were amputated) d/t a car accident. That was something I had never seen before. This picture is of us with the nurses at the facility.

The elderly people only spoke Taiwanese (which is significantly different than Mandarin) so we had to pick up entire new phrases to be able to communicate with them. Another interesting thing is that the Taiwanese don’t like to use PEG tubes- these are permanent NG tubes. In order to have a PEG tube you have to put a hole in the stomach and stick a tube into it so you can put formula straight into the stomach-The Taiwanese refuse to use these even though they’re more convenient because they don’t believe in putting holes into their bodies. So instead, they suffer through having an NG tube and have it switched out once a month for the rest of their life. If anyone knows what these are you know that they’re extremely uncomfortable to have put in.
When it was time for lunch and Fen ni and Dr. Li wined and dined us. This is a picture of us with them. They took us to a random restaurant in the middle of the city and bought us some delicious noodles with pork and some dumpling soup. It was interesting because the owners were out front hand washing their dishes (kind of scary).The portions were huge but it’s impolite not to finish so we had to eat it all. Fen ni and Dr. Li were cracking up at Sophia and I using chopsticks so they videoed us and sent it to their kids! We were completely stuffed afterwards but earlier they had overheard that we loved CuaBing (the shaved ice with fruit) so they took us to a random shop in one of the backstreets on the other side of the city. It was like twenty minutes away but it was their favorite place and they didn’t want us to have anything less! It’s amazing what lengths they will go to just to make us happy. This shop had Mein Mein Ice (which is shaved milk). It’s kind of like a mix between sherbet and shaved ice but with a milky flavor. Once again Jeremy would have loooooved this. It was funny because they bought us three orders of it because they wanted us to try all different kinds! One kind was covered in strawberry jam and a raw egg yolk (kind of scary to eat but we did it anyways) Another kind was covered in red beans, peanuts, and raisins (random?). After we were done I think I was ten pounds heavier.

We then went back to the hospital and we offered even more food. We didn’t want to refuse so we had to eat even more. I’m pretty sure if I had eaten one more bite I would have popped. Anyways, we paired up with another nurse afterwards named Mei and another doctor (I can’t remember his name but he spoke amazing English). We went to our first home visit. It was amazing what conditions some of the Taiwanese people live in! The house was extremely small and run down. I couldn’t believe that someone could actually live there let alone an entire family. Taiwan is extremely hot and humid but they had no air conditioning. It was so sad. The patient we were visiting was a 93 year old woman with Parkinsons and malnutrition. She was literally skin and bones and just lays in bed all day long. I felt so bad for her. She also had a terrible pressure ulcer on her back. The worst I’ve ever seen. It was wide open and oozing but there really is nothing you can do about it. We really are so blessed in the U.S.

The other patients throughout the rest of the day were basically in the same situation except without fail every time they had us sit down and they offered us some type of food. Our last patient was a cute little old man and he looooved Sophia and I. He wouldn’t stop complimenting on our big round eyes and pale skin. It was so cute because we had to change his catheter and he was so embarrassed to take off his pants in front of such beautiful girls (according to him). Afterwards he served us some fresh papaya and HAD to get pictures with us. So here’s one

We’re now back at our apartment for the night. Tomorrow is another clinical day and then we’re going to a baseball game!!! We hear that they are crazy here so stay tuned….

Taiwanese Sabbath......

So today is Sunday and we attended a Taiwanese ward. I can’t even put into words how great of an experience it was. The spirit was so strong and the members were even stronger. We didn’t understand a single word that was said but the spirit was still there….. and strong. It was a testimony to me that this church is true and that it is the only true church on earth today. The church is universal and the spirit exists wherever there is faith. It’s unaffected by who the individual is, where they live, or what language they speak. It was an amazing experience. At the beginning of the meeting they confirmed a new member. He was an elderly man that looked in his sixties (and Asians hardly show their age so I’m assuming he’s actually older than that). It was so touching because he was grinning from ear to ear. There was a light about him that shined throughout the entire room. He was in casual clothes and didn’t dress up at all. You could tell he wasn’t very wealthy, but none of that mattered. He found something that made him happy and now he’s dedicating his life to it. I now know exactly what missionaries are talking about when they baptize new members and they talk about the glow the new members have. It was definitely another testimony builder. Another thing that really impressed me is how happy the members are here. Every single one was grinning and so excited to be there. I definitely think that the members in Utah take the church for granted (obviously not everyone). Overall it was a great experience and it made me realize how blessed I am! The members were so excited to have us there and we spent a considerable amount of time talking to the members that could speak English after. The picture is of us bored at the bus stop after church. We lined up according to how tan we were......

Also we saw our first Americans today! Ha ha It’s surprising how few Americans there are here. We’ve been here for a couple of days and we’ve been to a lot of places with a lot of people but we haven’t seen a single American. The American’s were missionaries J….and I think they were more shocked to see us than we were to see them. As soon as we walked in the door they both just froze and didn’t know what to say. We immediately said Hi and they just sat there in silence. Ha ha It was so funny! (the pic is candid no joke, you can tell he was shocked) We finally got them talking and you could tell they were soooo relieved to see someone from back home.

After church Hayley, Rainy, Christina, Sophia, and I decided to get dropped off at a little street market so we spent a little time there. Then we were starving so we decided to go find a little shop for some lunch. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to find food here but it is. It’s actually everywhere but the whole language thing is a significant barrier. Most restaurants don’t have any pictures and the menus have NOTHING in English. Plus here it’s a little risky to just point at some characters on the menu because you’ll most likely end up with something including fish heads. So we spent about an hour walking the streets (no joke) till we finally came to a buffet (woohoo) so all of the food was laid out. We just pointed at stuff and ate it. We ended up eating whole fish stuffed with fish eggs, intestines, and liver….only because we had no idea what it was until after ha ha. It’s all part of the Taiwanese experience.

The rest of the day was just chillin at our apartments and getting adjusted (a lot of the girls were really tired d/t jet lag). Later on that night we went out for dinner and had some of the absolute best meat I’ve ever had in my life. We went to a random street vendor for food on a stick. I got some pork and then some mushrooms. The guy grills them and covers them in layers and layers of sauce and it’s soooo delicious! It’s fun because the Taiwanese people looove eating but they never eat at restaurants. There are literally hundreds of vendors on every street selling stuff so you just skip around and get what you want from each one. Also our apartments don’t have kitchens or fridges so we have to eat out every meal…and I don’t mind.



Afterwards we went to this little café for some Beef Noodle Soup (Taiwan is also known for this) and I had probably my most favorite experience here so far. The owner of the café is a HUGE baseball fan. The entire café is decorated in signed baseballs of teams from Taiwan and he has like 3 tv’s in the café all playing different games. I told him that I loved baseball and he said that he LOVES the Yankees! I told him that was my favorite team and he literally freaked out! He just started jumping up and down yelling all of this stuff (none of which I could understand except for random names of players on the Yankees). He then sat next to me while we were eating citing random facts about the Yankees and talking about them with me (as much as he could, he didn’t speak more than a couple words in English so it was a lot of charades). He knows WAY more than I do about baseball ha ha He then showed me all of his baseballs and all of his memorabilia. He even gave me a baseball signed by a Taiwanese player (who we figured out lives in my apartment building). I asked him for a picture with him and he was sooo excited. We talked for longer and he made me promise that I stop by some time before I leave. It was such a fun experience and now I have a new baseball friend.

Night markets and soo much more....

Saturday was an extremely long day but soooooo much fun. I feel like I’ve been here for 3 weeks already just because we’ve done so much. We got to sleep in so we could adjust. We got ready and walked around to find some breakfast. The city we’re staying at is famous in the country for breakfast….and let me tell you it’s definitely for good reason. Everything we tried was delicious. It puts breakfast in the U.S. to complete shame. Mmmmmm…….but it’s definitely entertaining because you can’t find forks ANYWHERE. They only have chopsticks so you have to make do. For breakfast a lot of us got these pancake type things….so I’m sure you can just imagine how entertaining we were trying to pull it off….

(this pic is of probably my most favorite thing so far. It's a quesadilla type-the only thing that comes close to describing it-thing with potatoes, eggs, cheese, and random stuff with this sweet and salty sauce over it)

Afterwards we had to meet up with our instructor and one of the nurses that lives at our apartment building. As we were getting closer we heard really loud music so we followed it to see what was going on. It was this random campaign for some election and there were TONS of people. As soon as they saw us American a bunch of people rushed up to us and offered us tons of things…..pineapple cakes (they’re really popular here), Taiwan beer (that we didn’t know was beer till after we tried it…..ha ha ), food, and much much more. For some reason the Taiwanese absolutely LOVE Americans. We’re basically celebrities. Everyone comments on how beautiful we are and they all want our attention. They will go to ridiculous extents to get us to talk to them. They will walk by and literally stare…..no trying to conceal it…they’ll flat out stare as they walk on. It’s so funny. I feel like we’re going to be so vain when we get back and we’ll be shocked when people don’t pay any attention to us.

This is a picture of a family at the campaign. The asian kids are soooo dang cute!

After the campaign we met up with Jim (our instructor) and Jane. This is when we had our first taxi experience……or should I say first near death experience. We waved one down and Jane interpreted for us and let the cab drivers know where we wanted to go. Then 4 of us hopped in one and it took off. Let me just say that I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life ha ha (Mom you probably shouldn’t read this part). Taxi drivers in Taiwan are completely insane. There are NO rules and NO inhibitions. They just do whatever they want. They don’t drive in the lines, they cut people off, and honk at everyone. There are no laws about driving either. It’s whoever can honk more and whoever’s willing to take the greater risk. So it was definitely an adventure in and of itself.
The ride took us to Zeelandia Fort in An Ping (This is the fort of Coxinga…I won’t put you through all of the details….let’s just say he’s an important historical figure), An ping is just a part of Tainan, it’s right off the coastline. We first toured through a temple there. It was absolutely gorgeous and all of the people were so friendly. I’ll post pictures of it on facebook, this is just the outside.

We then toured around the fort and museums within it. While we were up at the very top of the fort we heard this insanely loud music and hundreds of fire crackers going off. We looked down by the temple and there were TONS of people. We quickly ran down there and there was a HUGE parade going into the temple. It was so much fun! The parade was just like the ones in the movies with loud music, dragon heads, and crazy costumes. They were celebrating the birthday of their Godmother. Once again I won’t put you through all the details, you can look up who she is if you want. After the parade we were kind of just hanging out. Jim noticed a group of boys that kept looking over at us and pointing. Finally I went over and acted out that we wanted a picture with them and they all freaked out. They started jumping up and yelling and pointing. They were just grinning and so excited that Americans were talking to them. They just started babbling but of course none of us could understand it. We took a picture with them anyways but they kept saying something we still couldn’t understand. Afterwards Jane (the Taiwanese nurse) interpreted it for us and I guess they kept saying they just wanted a picture with just me in it not the other girls! Lol Which is really surprising because they normally loooove blonde girls. I blend in more than any of us. Here's a pic of me with them.

We then walked over to a street market and shopped for a couple of hours. There was so much going on and so much to see that I can’t cover it in here. There’s only one thing that really sticks out in my mind. Every little shop had samples of whatever they were selling so we would walk along and try everything….unless it looked too gross. There was a particular stand that was lined with really good looking meats. I quickly picked up a piece not thinking and popped it into my mouth. When I bit down it was crunchy, bouncy, hard, leathery, gelatinous, and just flat out disgusting….before I started gagging I quickly swallowed it and looked up at the sign. It was chicken feet. It doesn’t sound that horrible…but it was. I’ve already tried a lot of gross things but this by far was the worst. Mostly because of the disgusting texture. I’m just glad I got it over with (because I was planning on trying it at some point). In Taiwan chicken feet are like popcorn. People buy it as a treat on a daily basis. This street market was also where I got Mom the perfect present. You’re going to love it.

This is a picture of a random lady at the street market with a cat in a helmet...maybe he has seizures? .....

After the street market we hopped into another taxi and headed to the Flower Market (the biggest night market in Tainan and one of the biggest in Taiwan). All I can say is wow…..it was HUGE. I was expecting some little open area full of vendors but this spread over a number of blocks and it was packed full of people. There was NO standing room at all. It was like being at a concert where everyone is packed together but instead everyone was trying to buy things and look around. But it was a blast nonetheless and made the experience even better. Here's a picture of the outside. It's gives you an idea of how big it is. Oh ya and I forgot to tell you that on the way to the night market we could only get two taxis so we had to pack 7 people in one taxi….and that’s not very fun especially with how they drive. Plus to add to it our taxi driver was a little crazy and would just laugh when we said anything and he ended up losing the taxi in front of him (full of the other girls in our group and our instructor). So he just randomly dropped us off at the night market and the other girls and instructor were NO where in sight. We split up trying to look for them but couldn’t find them because like I said it was packed. We had no way of contacting them b/c cell phones don’t work here and no one could help us because no one speaks English. We just said a prayer and decided to go into the market anyways and enjoy the night (we would be able to get to our apartments later b/c we know how to say the name of it in Chinese). Literally about two minutes later we randomly ran into the other girls! (a complete answer to our prayers considering how big and packed it was).
The next couple of hours were spent shopping around, trying crazy things, and eating delicious food. Taiwan has amazing food. I had always heard that it was delicious but I thought it was an exaggeration. But it’s not at all. Everything is so creative and different from the U.S. They have so many different combinations of things with so many different flavors. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with American food ever again. Ha ha. And the fruit is amazing. Definitely not like fruit in the U.S. You don’t think it could be that different but it is. Fruit tastes like candy here. It’s so sweet and juicy. The only bummer is that it’s not Mango season yet so there are no mangos anywhere. But supposedly they start showing up in the middle of this month. Taiwan also has ridiculously crazy food. Here's some duck tongue but with the hyoid bone.... Also stinky tofu. It REEKS. You can smell it everywhere. We have yet to try it. Thousand year old eggs (fermented eggs) and so much more. But we did try chicken butt ha ha and it was surprisingly delicious. We decided to save the other weird things for another night. I also got Rico the perfect present here (yes you get a present). We walked by it and I couldn’t pass it up…..At about ten thirty we all met up to go home. We were completely exhausted. We had been going since 10am that morning. We hopped into another taxi and this time our driver kept taking us down random deserted back streets that were nowhere near our apartment. We were getting worried for a bit but we eventually ended up at our place. We found out that he was just lost. Ha ha So now we’re back safely J We don’t have too much planned for tomorrow except for church. Sorry there is so much to read. It’s more for my benefit because this is also kind of my journal. So feel free to skip over whatever you want….

First night on the town.....

Tonight (still Friday) was full of food….lots and lots of it. We decided to stay local for the night so we could all adjust and a lot of the girls were tired because of jet lag. We first went to a small night market just a couple of blocks away from our apartment. It was a blast! There were tons of people and there was a lot going on. It was amazing that they had so much food yet it’s considered a small night market! I’m excited for one of the big ones. We basically just walked around trying random things and talking to people. The vendor owners loved us. They would all try to get our attention and get us to come over to their vendor. Once we did we would order something and they’d make a show of preparing it just because we’re americans. Once it was done they would stare at us while we tried it waiting for our reaction. Almost every single time they ended up just giving it to us for free. We would order it and all of us would stand around taking bites then the owners would say it was their gift to us. Sophia bought a thing of noodles at one vendor and about ten minutes later the same man brought another one to the group for free because they were so entertained by us. They loved getting attention from us and they showed their gratitude by giving us more.

After the market we decided to get one of the infamous Taiwanese massages.The massage was the absolute best thing I have ever felt in my life…..but it was also extreeeeemely painful. It started out with us soaking our feet in a tub of warm water and the therapists rubbed some stuff on our necks. The massage began soft and smooth but all of a sudden the therapists were digging their elbows into our necks and backs and slapping us. It felt good but it hurt so much. Even when you would groan in pain they just kept going and sometimes went even harder because they thought it was funny. They then brought us tea and had us move to a different couch. At this point they started at our feet and proceeded to go up our legs. They dug their fingers into our ankles and grinded their elbows against our shins. Some of the girls were literally yelling out in pain trying to make them stop (you can see katelyn dying in the picture) but the therapists would just start laughing hysterically and keep going. It was definitely like no massage I’ve ever had before. It felt really good to me but the other girls didn’t like it at all ha ha ……but it was a 50 minute massage for $20….who would pass that up?

After the massage we went to a popular bakery where all of the kids our age hang out. The bakery was aaaamaaaazing. I never thought bread could be that good. It seems like such a simple thing but it’s soooo much better here in Taiwan. I can’t explain it. It’s just a different taste, texture, and even smell. The bakery goods are much more creative too. They had all different types of things…things you couldn’t even imagine.
At this point everyone was getting really tired and jet lag had set in so they decided to go back to our apartment. A couple of us had a lot of sleep on the plane so we decided to stay out. We just walked around touring the area around our apartment. We passed a school where kids were just getting out of class (in Taiwan the children learn English after regular school so they don’t finish up until about 9 or 10pm every night) and as soon as they saw us they all started jumping up and down and waving at us. We decided to go over there and let them practice their English with us but once we did none of them dared talk. We left and started walking down the street. About 5 minutes later these two boys on a bike began following us. They stayed about 10 feet behind and kind of stayed in the shadows. It was obvious that they were following us but we didn’t know what they wanted so we just let them be. We got to a temple that we wanted to see and walked up inside. The boys still followed. Finally one of them came up to me and asked where I was from. I told him and we ended up talking for a bit. They were so adorable and they were so excited to be talked to Americans who could speak English.
We left and Jim (my professor) wanted to get a BOBA drink (these are also really popular in Taiwan, they’re the equivalent to bubble tea in the U.S. but they’re only about 50 cents here) so we stopped at a small café. There I got a Wintermelon Tea Drink. This is a completely different flavor that they don’t have in the U.S. but it’s yummy!