Hello All! Just wanted to update you on this past weekend. On Friday afternoon, I went to Taipei 101 area with Amy which was a lot of fun. We went to this famous English book store called Page One and ended up staying in there for a while because we got so caught up in all of the amazing books. I have to say it was one of the best book stores that I have been to in Taiwan so far.... I will definitely making a trip back there soon! I think the area around Taipei 101 is so much fun to explore and definitely feels like you're in a big city with all of the tall buildings surrounding you. We were going to go to a movie on Friday night, but the girl we were planning on going with didn't end up calling us, so we ended up just walking around; I was pretty exhausted after a long week as well. On Saturday Amy and I went to Danshui... we ended up walking along the boardwalk and ate some small little snacks for our lunch. We eventually found a Starbucks that had a great view of Danshui, so we ended up sitting on the balcony at Starbucks, which was very relaxing. After Danshui, we took the MRT to Guandu Temple, which was one of the most beautiful temples that I have seen so far while I have been here. It was so expansive and had so many beautiful statues. I ended up having to rush back because I was meeting up with Susan, a new friend from Taiwan and her husband for dinner at 5:30. I ended up making it back in perfect time. We went to a really famous restaurant that actually serves a lot of Shanghainese Cuisine; it was so delicious. We had dumplings, egg fried rice, chicken soup, spicy sesame peanut noodles, and for dessert a taro steamed bun! It ended up raining on Saturday night, of course, so I ended up going home after dinner. I was pretty exhausted after my long day of traveling to Danshui, so I was happy to get home. Mei and I ended up watching the world cup soccer game. She really gets into the game and loves FIFA; I wish I shared the same interest. It was still fun to get to watch the game with her and just relax.
Sunday morning I went to church at the usual mass that I have been going to. It was a nice service as usual. After church, I met up with Mei and Amy and we all went out to lunch. The lunch place we went to was pretty popular, although I can't say I enjoyed the food as much as I did the night before. We had drunken chicken, which is a very popular dish here that I just could not get used to the taste of.
After lunch, Mei and I ended up going to explore another part of Taipei. We went to the Ambassador's house that has been beautifully restored and looks very colonial. Inside the Ambassador's house there was a beautiful cafe; we ended up sitting down and relaxing for a bit, since it was raining again outside. I had a delicious caramel machiatto drink and really enjoyed the atmosphere. The Ambassador's house also has a movie theater that shows independent movies at. I really want to go watch a movie there while I'm here for the summer.
After the tour of the Ambassador's house we went to the fine arts museum, which had just opened an exhibit called "From Monet to Picasso"; it featured a large collection of impressionist artists from the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. I really enjoyed seeing the exhibit, as I love the paintings of Monet, Picasso, and Degas.
After the museum, we were both pretty hungry so we ended up going to a food court near the museum. Food courts are a big thing here and usually have a large selection of different cuisine. I ended up having Indian food, which was not like Indian food in the US, but it was pretty tasty.
Well that pretty much sums up my weekend adventures... this week I have the same routine of school every day! It's good that I have class every day though, because it structures my week days, and also forces me to keep studying Chinese and practicing everyday.
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