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JUST. SO. MUCH. (Pictures abound)
OMG my peeps, I have a seemingly unending post to write.
It encompasses several days with several major(ish) trips/activities. Plus other random stuff. Because, really, that's just how I work.
First off, I think I'm finally starting to love Taiwan. Sure, it's still 8 millions degrees, and a billion percent humidity, but I feel a TON more comfortable here than before. Took long enough (just over a month! OMG I've been living here a month. Time is passing too quickly!) Still not watching ANYTHING, and still reading far FAR too much POTC fanfic.
~~~~~
SECOND, the stray/wild/domestic animals of our neighborhood:
Cats -> Frodo, Samwise (they chill together, it made sense), Sensei, Autumn Sadie, and Socks
Koi -> Jaws, Supernova, Creamsicle, Sushi, Sashimi, Sesame, Shoyu, and Amos
Lizard -> Mr. Wang (in english, no less)
Cockroach(s) -> 大衛 (Da Wei). Whenever we see him/them, we yell at it "他叫大衛!"
Tadpoles -> They don't have names, really. Maybe they will once they grow into frogs. If Mr. Wang doesn't eat them all first.
~~~~~
THIRD! We had our first Taiwanese language class today. It was pretty awesome. Taiwanese is SO different from Mandarin, more akin to Cantonese in tones (Cantonese has 6/9 tones, Taiwanese has 8). It's very fluid. And nasally, which is fun. Lisa and I are now randomly saying "li beh ki do ui" to each other (你要去哪裡, 'ni yao qu na li' in Mandarin).
~~~~~
Shilin NM is probably the most famous night market in all of Taipei. Rightfully so. It's HUGE, filled with lots and lots of stuff, and HUGE amounts of people. There's a separate area just for food, one for arcade/other games, and lots of lots of streets filled with shops and vendors of all kinds. I really wasn't prepared for how huge and packed it would be. It truly is a unique experience. We walked down a couple streets, shopped a bit, and finally went back to the station. Unfortunately we did not get to try any night market foods (which was our main reason for going) as I have STRANGELY developed a recent case of agoraphobia, which apparently manifests itself when I am put into huge crowds. I get panic attacks. It's happened once on the train (which I deemed a fluke), but then happened against at Shilin. Distinctly odd. I've never had major issues with crowds before... Either way, I intend on going back, regardless. Luckily I have tranquilizers just for such an occasion.
Outside of the station, Rainie's huge Adidas ad. Also IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE.
The scene at the end of one of the major streets in the night market. At this end there were far far less people. Further down it was PACKED.
Outside of the major game area, with the ever present food stalls. Point of interest, we were walking IN THE ROAD. In traffic. Yeah. Taiwan roads are fun. Someday I'll post a pic of the path we walk from the train to our road. Lets just say it's enough to make your hair turn white.
The two things I bought at the market. A tiny plant growing in some sort of growth media (agar?). I picked the red (favorite color). I also bought a tiny marimo (of which Lisa originally told me about). It's adorably cute.
~~~~~
Today after class we decided to go back to Ximending to look for the Korean music store (which we never found, btw). On the way I saw a bunch of idol posters in a doorway. We decided to go up and look around, and holy shit jackpot. At first I thought it was only scrolls, but then we went further in, and it was EVERYTHING (well not everything. Scrolls, posters, photos, magazines, keychains, stickers, pillows, mugs, photobooks, ETC. Most of the stuff was obviously Taiwanese, but they also had a good amount of Japanese and Korean stuff as well.
The Taiwanese love their kdramas. BUT apparently kpop isn't as hot. The bands that have broken that barrier are Super Junior and SS501 (not counting DBSK, because they're imported through Japan). I'm almost certain that the reason for this is that Super Junior and SS501 make attempts to branch into Chinese music. For SuJu you've got Super Junior M (which, btw, their new song/MV Super Girl is HOT. I saw it on MTV, and immediately loved it), plus the fact that they were the first Korean band (I believe) to go to the Golden Melody Awards (aka the Chinese Grammys), which was a huge deal for the Taiwanese, whom a lot of people tend to forget on a whole. SS501 made strides here by holding a concert here. Because of the culture here, simply recognizing that Taiwan exists and is important to Asia is huge to them.
OH! Speaking of... I remember an article awhile back on how Taiwan wasn't really embracing Boys Before Flowers... Yeah, TOTAL lie. BBF is HUGE here. Lee Min Ho and Kim Hyun Joong are everywhere in ads, magazines, etc. There's ungodly amounts of merchandise. It's crazy.
Anyway, to the good stuff. I combed through racks and racks of goods, and came out pretty well (as well as over NT$1000 poorer...).
I needed a keychain, and one with Zai Zai fit the bill. There were a lot, but I managed to narrow it down to two. This one eventually won out. For two reasons. FIRST, Zai Zai is TOTALLY sporting Yamapi hair.
Second, as much as I hate puppets (marionettes, ventriloquist dolls, and wax figures), Zai Zai holding a traditional Taiwanese puppet was too good to pass up.
And then, well, I found these. A big old package of Big Bang photos. Of COURSE I bought them.
Fourteen photos total. I'm going to hang them on my wall.
So they also had a bunch of, um, Chinese Kpop magazines (shipped in from mainland). I meticulously looked at each one to find mentions of Big Bang. I think there was 5 in total. I bought 2 of them (they were priced between NT$190 and NT$380... I thought it was maybe a BIT too much to buy all of them... plus the other ones only spoke about their Japanese releases). This is the first of them.
Sadly they only had a page about the Arena photoshoot (which happened AGES AGO).
On the other hand, it did feature a lovely article on SuJu.
It also came with a bunch of stickers (mostly SuJu, but there's some DBSK, and at least one of Lee Jun Ki), and a SuJu VCD.
The second magazine was actually two magazines. This is the magazine proper. SuJu again.
This is the second magazine thing. I was intrigued by the prospect of a Big Bang party. Also 2NE1!
Yeah, this was what I opened the magazine to. NOT COMPLAINING. Choi Siwon, marry me please?
This was a surprise. I was like "hey, what's this? Manga? I wonder what it is...", and Lisa was like "uh, it's Boys Love, can't you tell from the dudes hugging?!", followed by my dawning comprehension on the matter.
And we got to the good part! (The magazine also had a feature on the Arena shoot)
Apparently the BB party was Dae's party during the Hite beer concert. WHICH WAS AGES AGO (seriously, April). But whatever, still good. I appreciate it.
2NE1's article!!
The extras in the second magazine. A sticker of Siwon (of which I APPRECIATE), and three VCDs. Two SuJu ones, and one... other one.
~~~~~
On the way back to the station we stumbled upon Tian Hou Temple (天后宮), a place I'd been wanting to see. It's so randomly placed, but totally amazing.
Tian Hou is the first temple we've actually gone too. Chinese temples are amazing. Gilded, ornate, and amazing. Tian Hou is a Buddhist temple, but with a healthy dose of Chinese myth and spiritualism (there were Buddha statues, but also a big Mazu presence. It was amazing. I adore religions, especially Buddhism (I used to study Eastern religions until I transferred schools, and my new school didn't offer it). Whenever I go places I always seek out religious sights.
Part of the entrance to the temple area. Huge carved dragons, gold, red, lanterns, etc. It was gorgeous.
Inside, a less than awesome picture of the front. It was hard to get a good picture, since it was so big and so close to me. Either way, impressive huh?
The koi pond. It was amazing, a big old dragon, a figure of a village, a figure of mountains (off screen), and beautiful paintings. The koi were huge. There was even a black one!
The roof of the temple was hung with lanterns. All around there were candles, and stoves for burning ghost money. I took a video of some worshipers burning large amounts of ghost money in a huge furnace. There were also plenty of flower, fruit, and food offerings. (I forgot to mention, we were here for ghost month, and while we didn't see the ceremony, we did see lots of burning and banked fires from the ceremony of the burning ghost money. We also were here for some sort of offering, where people set up tables with food, incense, and burning stoves)
Mazu's altar. Amazing in its intricacy.
Several parts of the temple were specifically dedicated to Buddha, including this one. I wished Buddha well, and went on my way.
~~~~~
Have I mentioned the popular Taiwanese doll/puppet show?
When Lisa and I first got here, we were flipping through the channels on TV, and came across the weirdest show. Pili is a drama... that uses puppets. At first we just thought it was some crazy fringe show, and thought nothing of it. But we kept seeing it more and more, culminating in finding the following ad at the local Family Mart.
Apparently Pili is huge. And I want NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Puppets are goddamn scary man!
~~~~~
I forgot to take a picture of this stuff awhile ago.
Um, I bought a pencil case (Cokie Bear! I bet he sure loves COKE), and like, a whole bunch of random cute writing stuff (lead, erasers, pencils). I also bought a bunch of those multiple ink color pens (like, um, these), and a CUTE schedule book. It has random Chinese stuff at the back. I want to buy a bunch of them because SO CUTE!
~~~~~
GD's new MV
I like it, not as much as Heartbreaker, but it's really nice to see GD smile and be goofy!
~~~~~
Oh GD... You shouldn't smoke, you're a SINGER, you depend on your voice. But that's not the fail. (Taken, btw, from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
kwonleader)
THIS is the fail.
~~~~~
Have I mentioned Zai Zai lives in my apartment building? I saw him out for a walk with his mother, and a girl named Zai Mei that he must live with
Oh, did I forget to mention Zai Zai is a dog? So is Zai Mei ;D Our downstairs cross the hall neighbors have FIVE dogs. We've met three (Ah Bu, Zai Zai, and Zai Mei).
~~~~~
October 3rd (I THINK) is the Moon Festival. The school is providing us with vegetarian moon cakes! GLEEEEE! (I soooooo want an ice cream mooncake from Haagen Daez) I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but it'll be awesome.
ALSO September 28th is Confucius' birthday. They have a big thing at the Confucius Temple, but I don't know if we'll go... I want to though. I bet it'll be amazing.
~~~~~
AND I am done. DONE. Despite still have a bunch to say. I swear I've been working on this entry for four hours or so. *sigh*
But one thing before I go... I will leave you with one of Mine and Lisa's randomisms...
"There's a big difference between it not mattering and micropenis"
I'm not even going to explain.
It encompasses several days with several major(ish) trips/activities. Plus other random stuff. Because, really, that's just how I work.
First off, I think I'm finally starting to love Taiwan. Sure, it's still 8 millions degrees, and a billion percent humidity, but I feel a TON more comfortable here than before. Took long enough (just over a month! OMG I've been living here a month. Time is passing too quickly!) Still not watching ANYTHING, and still reading far FAR too much POTC fanfic.
~~~~~
SECOND, the stray/wild/domestic animals of our neighborhood:
Cats -> Frodo, Samwise (they chill together, it made sense), Sensei, Autumn Sadie, and Socks
Koi -> Jaws, Supernova, Creamsicle, Sushi, Sashimi, Sesame, Shoyu, and Amos
Lizard -> Mr. Wang (in english, no less)
Cockroach(s) -> 大衛 (Da Wei). Whenever we see him/them, we yell at it "他叫大衛!"
Tadpoles -> They don't have names, really. Maybe they will once they grow into frogs. If Mr. Wang doesn't eat them all first.
~~~~~
THIRD! We had our first Taiwanese language class today. It was pretty awesome. Taiwanese is SO different from Mandarin, more akin to Cantonese in tones (Cantonese has 6/9 tones, Taiwanese has 8). It's very fluid. And nasally, which is fun. Lisa and I are now randomly saying "li beh ki do ui" to each other (你要去哪裡, 'ni yao qu na li' in Mandarin).
~~~~~
Shilin NM is probably the most famous night market in all of Taipei. Rightfully so. It's HUGE, filled with lots and lots of stuff, and HUGE amounts of people. There's a separate area just for food, one for arcade/other games, and lots of lots of streets filled with shops and vendors of all kinds. I really wasn't prepared for how huge and packed it would be. It truly is a unique experience. We walked down a couple streets, shopped a bit, and finally went back to the station. Unfortunately we did not get to try any night market foods (which was our main reason for going) as I have STRANGELY developed a recent case of agoraphobia, which apparently manifests itself when I am put into huge crowds. I get panic attacks. It's happened once on the train (which I deemed a fluke), but then happened against at Shilin. Distinctly odd. I've never had major issues with crowds before... Either way, I intend on going back, regardless. Luckily I have tranquilizers just for such an occasion.
Outside of the station, Rainie's huge Adidas ad. Also IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE.
The scene at the end of one of the major streets in the night market. At this end there were far far less people. Further down it was PACKED.
Outside of the major game area, with the ever present food stalls. Point of interest, we were walking IN THE ROAD. In traffic. Yeah. Taiwan roads are fun. Someday I'll post a pic of the path we walk from the train to our road. Lets just say it's enough to make your hair turn white.
The two things I bought at the market. A tiny plant growing in some sort of growth media (agar?). I picked the red (favorite color). I also bought a tiny marimo (of which Lisa originally told me about). It's adorably cute.
~~~~~
Today after class we decided to go back to Ximending to look for the Korean music store (which we never found, btw). On the way I saw a bunch of idol posters in a doorway. We decided to go up and look around, and holy shit jackpot. At first I thought it was only scrolls, but then we went further in, and it was EVERYTHING (well not everything. Scrolls, posters, photos, magazines, keychains, stickers, pillows, mugs, photobooks, ETC. Most of the stuff was obviously Taiwanese, but they also had a good amount of Japanese and Korean stuff as well.
The Taiwanese love their kdramas. BUT apparently kpop isn't as hot. The bands that have broken that barrier are Super Junior and SS501 (not counting DBSK, because they're imported through Japan). I'm almost certain that the reason for this is that Super Junior and SS501 make attempts to branch into Chinese music. For SuJu you've got Super Junior M (which, btw, their new song/MV Super Girl is HOT. I saw it on MTV, and immediately loved it), plus the fact that they were the first Korean band (I believe) to go to the Golden Melody Awards (aka the Chinese Grammys), which was a huge deal for the Taiwanese, whom a lot of people tend to forget on a whole. SS501 made strides here by holding a concert here. Because of the culture here, simply recognizing that Taiwan exists and is important to Asia is huge to them.
OH! Speaking of... I remember an article awhile back on how Taiwan wasn't really embracing Boys Before Flowers... Yeah, TOTAL lie. BBF is HUGE here. Lee Min Ho and Kim Hyun Joong are everywhere in ads, magazines, etc. There's ungodly amounts of merchandise. It's crazy.
Anyway, to the good stuff. I combed through racks and racks of goods, and came out pretty well (as well as over NT$1000 poorer...).
I needed a keychain, and one with Zai Zai fit the bill. There were a lot, but I managed to narrow it down to two. This one eventually won out. For two reasons. FIRST, Zai Zai is TOTALLY sporting Yamapi hair.
Second, as much as I hate puppets (marionettes, ventriloquist dolls, and wax figures), Zai Zai holding a traditional Taiwanese puppet was too good to pass up.
And then, well, I found these. A big old package of Big Bang photos. Of COURSE I bought them.
Fourteen photos total. I'm going to hang them on my wall.
So they also had a bunch of, um, Chinese Kpop magazines (shipped in from mainland). I meticulously looked at each one to find mentions of Big Bang. I think there was 5 in total. I bought 2 of them (they were priced between NT$190 and NT$380... I thought it was maybe a BIT too much to buy all of them... plus the other ones only spoke about their Japanese releases). This is the first of them.
Sadly they only had a page about the Arena photoshoot (which happened AGES AGO).
On the other hand, it did feature a lovely article on SuJu.
It also came with a bunch of stickers (mostly SuJu, but there's some DBSK, and at least one of Lee Jun Ki), and a SuJu VCD.
The second magazine was actually two magazines. This is the magazine proper. SuJu again.
This is the second magazine thing. I was intrigued by the prospect of a Big Bang party. Also 2NE1!
Yeah, this was what I opened the magazine to. NOT COMPLAINING. Choi Siwon, marry me please?
This was a surprise. I was like "hey, what's this? Manga? I wonder what it is...", and Lisa was like "uh, it's Boys Love, can't you tell from the dudes hugging?!", followed by my dawning comprehension on the matter.
And we got to the good part! (The magazine also had a feature on the Arena shoot)
Apparently the BB party was Dae's party during the Hite beer concert. WHICH WAS AGES AGO (seriously, April). But whatever, still good. I appreciate it.
2NE1's article!!
The extras in the second magazine. A sticker of Siwon (of which I APPRECIATE), and three VCDs. Two SuJu ones, and one... other one.
~~~~~
On the way back to the station we stumbled upon Tian Hou Temple (天后宮), a place I'd been wanting to see. It's so randomly placed, but totally amazing.
Tian Hou is the first temple we've actually gone too. Chinese temples are amazing. Gilded, ornate, and amazing. Tian Hou is a Buddhist temple, but with a healthy dose of Chinese myth and spiritualism (there were Buddha statues, but also a big Mazu presence. It was amazing. I adore religions, especially Buddhism (I used to study Eastern religions until I transferred schools, and my new school didn't offer it). Whenever I go places I always seek out religious sights.
Part of the entrance to the temple area. Huge carved dragons, gold, red, lanterns, etc. It was gorgeous.
Inside, a less than awesome picture of the front. It was hard to get a good picture, since it was so big and so close to me. Either way, impressive huh?
The koi pond. It was amazing, a big old dragon, a figure of a village, a figure of mountains (off screen), and beautiful paintings. The koi were huge. There was even a black one!
The roof of the temple was hung with lanterns. All around there were candles, and stoves for burning ghost money. I took a video of some worshipers burning large amounts of ghost money in a huge furnace. There were also plenty of flower, fruit, and food offerings. (I forgot to mention, we were here for ghost month, and while we didn't see the ceremony, we did see lots of burning and banked fires from the ceremony of the burning ghost money. We also were here for some sort of offering, where people set up tables with food, incense, and burning stoves)
Mazu's altar. Amazing in its intricacy.
Several parts of the temple were specifically dedicated to Buddha, including this one. I wished Buddha well, and went on my way.
~~~~~
Have I mentioned the popular Taiwanese doll/puppet show?
When Lisa and I first got here, we were flipping through the channels on TV, and came across the weirdest show. Pili is a drama... that uses puppets. At first we just thought it was some crazy fringe show, and thought nothing of it. But we kept seeing it more and more, culminating in finding the following ad at the local Family Mart.
Apparently Pili is huge. And I want NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Puppets are goddamn scary man!
~~~~~
I forgot to take a picture of this stuff awhile ago.
Um, I bought a pencil case (Cokie Bear! I bet he sure loves COKE), and like, a whole bunch of random cute writing stuff (lead, erasers, pencils). I also bought a bunch of those multiple ink color pens (like, um, these), and a CUTE schedule book. It has random Chinese stuff at the back. I want to buy a bunch of them because SO CUTE!
~~~~~
GD's new MV
I like it, not as much as Heartbreaker, but it's really nice to see GD smile and be goofy!
~~~~~
Oh GD... You shouldn't smoke, you're a SINGER, you depend on your voice. But that's not the fail. (Taken, btw, from
kwonleader)THIS is the fail.
~~~~~
Have I mentioned Zai Zai lives in my apartment building? I saw him out for a walk with his mother, and a girl named Zai Mei that he must live with
Oh, did I forget to mention Zai Zai is a dog? So is Zai Mei ;D Our downstairs cross the hall neighbors have FIVE dogs. We've met three (Ah Bu, Zai Zai, and Zai Mei).
~~~~~
October 3rd (I THINK) is the Moon Festival. The school is providing us with vegetarian moon cakes! GLEEEEE! (I soooooo want an ice cream mooncake from Haagen Daez) I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but it'll be awesome.
ALSO September 28th is Confucius' birthday. They have a big thing at the Confucius Temple, but I don't know if we'll go... I want to though. I bet it'll be amazing.
~~~~~
AND I am done. DONE. Despite still have a bunch to say. I swear I've been working on this entry for four hours or so. *sigh*
But one thing before I go... I will leave you with one of Mine and Lisa's randomisms...
"There's a big difference between it not mattering and micropenis"
I'm not even going to explain.