Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda

This one is from yesterday as well. It's from the gardens at Yangmingshan National Park here in Taipei. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the flowers were blooming. I came at cherry blossom time, which was fortunate. The park was packed, but on the hiking trails there were very few people. It was lovely.

(If you couldn't tell, I really like Hipstamatic for my iphone. I love the effects, and I often use it on random. Though for Yangmingshan, I used the same basic combo for everything - Lucifer VI lens and Ina 1935 film. It worked beautifully with the scenery)

( This is longer than I expected it to be... )

TL;DR
- I left Korea.
- I am sad I am not in the same country as Big Bang anymore.
- I am now in Taiwan.
- It is cold here.
- I do not like the cold.
- I am also sick.
- Being sick sucks.
- Patata is good.
- Yonghe has no Family Marts that sell inari.
- I am pleased at myself for not hiding inside all day.
- Tomorrow IDK what's happening.
- There are tiny ants on the walls of my room.
- Now I have to sleep!

I was just reading about worms (don't ask), and it reminded me of the hanging tree worms in Taipei. We only ever saw them on Heping, around the school. They were horrible because they were tiny enough so that you couldn't see them easily, and they'd end up in your hair, on your clothes, etc. Seeing as I don't kill insects (but like most people, get freaked out over incests in my hair) I was constantly trying to avoid them, or save them from being killed. I really should have gone native and carried an umbrella during these times (women in Taiwan carry umbrellas all the time for two reasons: freak rainstorms, and sun protection)

For about a week, they were everywhere. I should have taken a picture. I really should have taken more pictures in Taiwan, of the more mundane stuff that I now miss. *sigh* Oh Taiwan, I'll be back for you one day!

In other news, I want this Lego man necklace. How wonderfully kpop (also reminds me of Lego necklace I bought in Taiwan). Though easily something I could make myself.

Tomorrow, at 9pm EST, YG is announcing their surprise thingy. I'm excited, because some YG peeps (2NE1, Teddy, and Se7en) are supposedly in the USA. Not on my side of the USA (why does no one ever come to the east coast?! WE HAVE NEW YORK! *grumbles* stupid LA...), but still. If they are in the US, it's probably for an MV, but a girl can dream about a YG Family tour... If I had known Big Bang in 2006, I would have dropped everything and gone to the YG Fam concert in DC.

Alas, in October 2006 I was enduring 10 hour school days (being a college student in a science major is no fun).

We found a German bakery and biergarten in Tienmu today (along with ANOTHER cat/dog cafe). I seriously love Taiwan. It's so random and awesome here.

The german place is cool, because they have traditional german desserts, but also imported german food like bavarian mustard and weissbier. They also had adventkalendars, which was super cool.

Speaking of, does anyone else celebrate Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day) on December 5/6th? In college I was heavily involved with the German club, so I adopted a lot of German traditions, that holiday included.

That's also, incidentally, why I usually try to travel to Munich Germany every year in December; Munich's Christkindlmarkt (christmas market).

A few more pictures!

The Lover's Bridge in Danshui. As seen in several Taiwanese dramas! It's super pretty, and being near the ocean always makes me happy!
( Danshui Fisherman's wharf, Xin Yi, and the Confucius Temple )

I finished the first book of The Vampire Diaries not long ago, and holy shit I love it, in all it's badness. And I've got it SO BAD for Damon it's not even funny. Stefan kinda bores me, being all righteous and stuff. Then again, I DID prefer Louis to Lestat, so apparently I am fickle.

The typhoon didn't hit (yet), but it sure feels like it. It's been raining, cold, and windy. I can't say I mind that much. Today, for the first time since being here, I wore a long sleeved shirt. It was nice.

Sometime soon we're going to go to Alleycat's, because I'm just SO sick of Asian food. I want some good old American style pizza.

(Yay for being awake at 2am, huh?)

Today (or yesterday, rather) after class we went to Ximending. Ximending is an area in Taipei that is likened to Tokyo's Harajuku district. This is apt. It is also the closest you'd get to Japantown here. Japanese pop culture influence is EVERYWHERE. There was even a maid cafe!

We basically just walked around for awhile. Our mission was to find the eslite bookstore, which was quite the feat, as apparently eslite owns several mall-type buildings in the area, so we kept ending up in those. And then when we finally DID find the eslite, they didn't have what I was looking for (MUSIC), or what Lisa was looking for (manga that wasn't in Chinese). We did, however, amuse ourselves by looking at the magazines. It's interesting, because all the magazines are plastic wrapped, which is, I guess, so people won't read the magazines while sitting in the bookstore. (But OMG there were some NICE magazines. Mike He is on the cover of Men's Uno, Joseph Chang is on another magazine, Wu Zun and his utterly flawless face were on yet another, and finally there was one with Cheryl Yang!!!)

We ended up at a Daiso, a store I know of from when I was all into bento-ing. In Japan they're 100 yen shops. In the US they're $1.50 shops. In Taiwan, they're NT$39 shops (~ $1.18 USD). There was much amusement to be had at these shops because the engrish is just amazing. I haven't seen a LOT of amusing engrish (or rather, chinglish) in general here. Japan seems to be the master at engrish, as I saw more in Daiso than I have in my entire time here so far.

We also visited a music store that DID have the Big Bang CD I was looking for. However it was weirdly wrapped in paper, and it was kinda sketchy, so I decided against buying it because seriously, wtf?! I'll just wait to buy it... (Seriously, though... Why does Taiwan hate Korea?! Again the only Korean music I could find was SuJu, SS501, the Boys Before Flowers OST, and a random Kim Jeong Hoon "John Hoon" album.) Also, interestingly, we found an alley of tattooists.

Walking around Ximending was amusing, mostly because I kept stopping to take pictures of ads. Because, hello, FAMOUS TAIWANESE PEOPLE ARE MY FAVORITE. (Speaking of! I keep seeing this ad in the subway of a guy hugging a golden retriever while advertising for mooncakes, and I swear to God it's Eric Tsang, but why the hell would he be advertising mooncakes while hugging a dog on a subway advertisement?!)


Ximending is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Taipei that I've seen so far.
( More pictures, including highly amusing engrish, scary shop buildings, fun ads, and what Ming Dao does in his spare time )

Other awesome tidbits from Ximending!
- There's a restaurant there called "Cola Forest" that is American themed. They have a HUGE drink menu, and some interestingly named food, notably the "chicken naggets"... (NOW the chinglish is starting to rear it's head!)
- Apparently Show Luo is a spokesperson for EVERYTHING. I saw him in ads everywhere. I only really remember the Edwin Jeans ones though. I still prefer Brad Pitt though.
- Have I mentioned how awesome Taiwanese Haagen Dazs' are? The one in the 101 has these awesome ice cream mooncakes that I'm dying to try!
- We were apparently around an area that is famous for it's corn and peanut ice, but we didn't try it. Sometimes I wonder about the preoccupation they have with corn here.