monday and tuesday

Monday
After work, I went to Hwahsi Tourist Night Market (华西街观光夜市). pretty cool place. but since it was a monday, there was not that many people there, so it wasnt as exciting. nevertheless I took pictures.

entrance of the market
inside the market
oh yeah, Guangzhou St. Pedestrian Area was there too! They had alot of roast pork (feet/leg/hand/etc) and seafood stands that are not seen in other night markets. I didn't order any.
I almost bought some F4 cd's from this one store, sicne they were cheaper than the stores I have been to, but they only had 1 F4 cd (vanness' "In Between") and only the more recent Farienheit one (just forcredit: I don't like Fareinheit, just doing someone a favor). The manager told me that 2 additional cds I wanted would be in the next day. so I toldh im I would be back. I figured that if I bought more, I could bargain for a discount.

i saw the aftermath of a motorcycle-motorcycle accident. the dude was ok. but the lady was laying in the middle of the intersection. i didn't see any blood, but I hope she is ok. reminds me of why I was scared of TW traffic in the first place. I am now super super careful on my bike.

Tuesday
I just went to hang around Taipei Main Station instead bcause I was kind of exhausted. For some reason, though now I can sleep the whole night through, I still feel very tierd =(. Anyways, walked around for a while trying to look for shops that sold cds. Must I say, I really appreciate how the US video stores sections off the pornographic materials as 18+. No, taiwanese store managers, I do not enjoy looking at other females!

I finally find a video store with everything I wanted F4/Fareinheit and this store was like super good-ly priced! Especially the F4 stuff=) I went to check out and tried to bargain with the manager, but he was like, my stuff is already really cheap (which it was). So I just bought it from him. He gave me a F4 button and a F4 folder!

I stopped by Shida on the way home to buy a super cheap bike lock.

我愛F4
>.<

不要放棄!

SOP concert #2 - Saturday 1430
Aw. this concert was a repeat of friday night's. but that's ok, the whole point was to worship and the worship was even better this time because I knew the songs better. (I bought the CD friday night and listened to it 3 times while I was wasting time on my computer. I went to bed at 0430... haha. and then I got up at 0800)

I went exploring in the morning for awhile before I went to the concert. Since the 2 other kiddos went to Kenting, I got to borrow their bike. Even though I was able to travel very fast and I don't have to walk anymore (woohoo!), I had 3 problems:
1) the bike was TOO tall for me. I am glad I am not of the male gender. enough said
2) when I first came to TW, I already thought that their traffic was crazy. but after walking for a few weeks, I got quite used to it and figured everything out. heh heh. different story on bike. there was about 5 instances where a car/motorcycle almost crashed into me, and I was following traffic rules. they weren't.
3) I really a want bell. I don't want to have to say "excuse me" every 5 seconds

don't get me wrong, I really like riding a bike. walking takes ALOT of time. I suppose I could just take the MRT, but I can save $ this way and spend it elsewhere =)

and...
4) this is not a problem, but I think I now know how to walk as a pedestrian. it is annoying as a biker to have people in your way. I will make every effort I have to get out of bikers way. motorcyclist, however, is a different story. they should be getting out of MY way. jk jk.

inside the exterior of Dr. SYS MH... see? it's gonna rain
Dr. SYS
changing of the guard ceremony. yes. I still think that US military has better drill. ROTC ppl, know what I am trying to capture in this pic?
and here we go again
NJROTC has made me really critical and has up-ed my attention to detail towards drill and precision for drill

you can see the actual hall in this picture. I was hanging out by a pond inside the exterior of Dr. SYS MH
anyways, back to the concert. So I get to Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial hall about 1300 and proceed to find tickets. One of the staff members told me to just get in line and that tickets will be distributed later (they were waiting for people with extra tickets to return them. tickets were free, it was just about the number of seats inside the auditorium) about halfway through. About 1315, I ask the people around me if they had tickets, and they ALL did. uhhh. I ask the person behind me to save my spot so I could get tickets. They still didn't have any. I went back at 1330 to see if they had any and they did. This time, however, I didn't tell the people behind me, so on my way back to the line, they kind of looked at me to see ifi I wanted my spot back, I felt bad since I forgot to tell/ask them, so I just went to the end of the line. (the line was LONG). oh yea. in this orginal spot, the lady who was in front of me had cut in front of me earlier, so I was kinda annoyed by her and since I didn't want to go into worship in an annoyed state, it think goign to the end of the line made it better. I get in line and wait for Janna to arrive. She calls me 2 mins later and tells me that she needs 2 tickets, one for herself and one for her friends. AHHH. i just came back from getting 2 tickets, now I have to go back? urgh. ok. I tell the people behind me I needed to go to the bathroom. haha. yea I lied because I already had 2 tickets in my hand and they would have looked at me funny if I said I was gonna get more tickets. afterall, I did go to the bathroom, becauseI really did need to pee. I had bought a 700cc boba and drank it in like 10 mins. because they told us not drinks/food inside and I didn't know what time we were going in. so it wasnt a lie.

The line begins moving and still no sign of Janna. I call her and she says she is coming and told me to wait for her when I get to the entrance. I get there and wait.... and wait.... and wait... and wait... and.... you get the point. I was kind of annoyed, I actually had a good spot in line and could have had good seats. I kinda felt used actaully, getting her ticket for her, holding a place in line,... only for that to all go down the drain. she FINALLY showed up and her friend, well um, never did. what a waste of a "lie"

the concert soon began. halfway though, at the beginning of one of the songs there was a blackout! 1 minute in, while SOP team members were debating on what to do, everyone in the crowd began praying and all the sudden, everybody was saying "不要放棄! 不要放棄! " (Do not give up!) (If you don't remember, this happens to be the theme for SOP this year =).) it was a very touching and moving experience. a few of the stage lights turn on by a back-up power supply. and Rev. Sandy Yu begins leading worship.... you guess it... by a MEGAPHONE! I haven't watched this yet, as I have no sound on my work computer, but here is a Youtube link of the instance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmKzzz-ADE

worship was ON FIRE after that.
SOP team*
taken from backstage*
concert eneded at approx 1615. janna and I stayed inside the memorial hall because it was raining outside and we didn't want to get inline for the night concert. She bought me this seaweed wrap rice thing from 7-11 with shrimp and fish roe. it was really good. and then we also shared half a bagel. In TW, their bagels come with spread inside, not cream cheeese through. Since it was a blueberry bagel, it was blueberry jam inside. pretty decent for my "dislike" of bagels. (at one point, I had it everyday for lunch. I am not complaining though, I had food to eat and that's good enough)

SOP concert #3 - Saturday 1900
the evening concert began at 1900 and this one was different that the other two (good!) haha. which means I didn't know the songs and couldnt sing along as well. that's ok, I got to see something different.

Janna and I before the concert
I biked home and then watched the first episode of Hell's Kitchen season 6! I tried to watch the 2nd episode but my internet was like a dying snail, so I went to bed instead =/

Sunday
I went shopping around Taipei 101 (臺北101大樓). New York New York Dept. (纽约纽约) was by there, as well as Xinyi New Life Square (新光天地), Vieshow Cinemas (Xinyi) (信義威秀影城), eslite bookstore (XinYi). So many shops and so many food samples! Around 1400, Mr. Tseng calls me and tells me that he has a bicycle for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He comes by and let's me try it out. It ws perfort. short for a short person. I switch bikes me with him and he takes the bike I had been using home for me since it was too tall. I told him that I would buy a bicycle lock for the bike he gave me, but he insisted that he would buy it. So I took the lock on my borrowed bike and put it on the shorter bike and continue shoppping. I didn't buy anything though. except for a snack that was super on sale. easiest way to make money from me? sell me junk food.

Interior of Taipei 101 Shopping Mall. Why are Taiwanese shopping malls so grand and pretty?
New York New York!
An artistic cow I saw outside of Xinyi New Life Square
I liked the rainbow windows on this eslitle bookstore (Xinyi)
this dude is all gold! give him money and he will move (actually, he didn't stay as still as I thought he would) this totally reminds me of San Francisco. saw him outside of Vieshow Cinemas (Xinyi)
Hollywood in TW?.. wannabe is more like it! I think they should etch my name on it. hehe
I ordered a "bi bim bap" for dinner with LAMB meet. 130NT. Yea. it may have been more expensive than other places in TW, but it is really cheap in American sense. It was really, really good. I miss Korean food. there was no side dishes though. =(

there were SO many shopping places/stores around Taipei 101. it was crazy. it would take me like 10 years to go through all the stores

SOP concert #5 - Sunday 1900 (I didn't go to concert #4 at 1430)
It was about 1830 when I left the food court, and since Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall was on the way back (sort of) I decided to go to SOP's last concert instead of going to a night market. on my way biking there, it began sprinkling. Since it was almost 1900, I decided not to stop and just bike fast to Dr. SYS MH. Except... there are these things called stop lights that stay red forever in the direction you don't want it to. while I was waiting for this particular stoplight, it began pouring... super super hard. I was soaked by the time I cross the street. In front of me wasw Taipei City Hall (臺北市政府), so I went under its overhang until it was a lighter rain, then I biked on. Needless to say, I was quite a sight when I walked in.

SOP staff directed me up to the 4th floor. When I got onto the elevator, one of the lady who was also attendign the concert asked me if I was a "外國人" (outsider- not from TW) I said yes and asked her if she could tell by the way I spoke Mandarin. She said I looked like it. I guess a girl wearing basketball shorts handed down from my brother who doesnt fit them anymore and a tank top soaking wet did not look like a sight you would see from a Taiwanese girl. HAHA. the other ladies in the elevator couldn't tell I was a "外國人" LoL.

There was so many people in the auditorium. They were also recording that night. I think I am goign to be on nathional TV on Aug 16th!. I had to sit on the stairs on the side. During one of the get to know your neighbor time, the guy next to me started talking to me. At one point, he asked me how old I was, and I told him to guess. He guessed that I was "15." LoL. ahha I told him older. then he guess "18." When I told him I was 20, he did not believe me. xD. I'ld rather look younger anyways. (Janna's initial guess of my age was 19). He told me I would look 20 by the time I am 40-50! yay. thats good. Anyways, he told me he would send me some CD's with other praise music from other Chinese bands like SOP and some of SOP's other CDs. I wonder if he will actually do it. He told me that he came from Taichung (台中), since he missed the concert there, otherwise he said we could meet up again. (ok. this guy is like a grandfather. not some dude trying to hit on me). He left me with this statement "This is all God's plan that we got to meet" yea I agree. Thank you Lord for letting me meet such wonderful Christian while I am in TW =)

another backstage view of the audience. so many people. around 2500~3000+ in attendance for each concert!*
yea, my eyes are closed. but I think this picture is a good representation of how I felt this weekend
I guess my mood really showed through. On saturday, Janna mentioned to me that I was so happy and joyful while waiting in line, while others had a bored, unhappy,and irritated expression. The grandfather dud I met also told me that he thought I was very happy also =)

Concert ended, we said goodbye and then I bike home. When I got back, I proceeded to find the bike that Mr. Tseng brought home. I couldn't find it for the longest time and was very worried it was stolen (He bought a lock, put it on, but he hid the paper with the combo under the wheel) I called him and asked for its location again. I FINALLY find it (phew! I don't know what I would say to NCREE if it really was missing)... with no lock.... wait hold on, someone stole the lock and not the bike?!?!?!?! bizzarre! this was ALL by GOD'S GRACE (Mr. Tseng had called me early to tell em the combo/that the combo on the paper was left on the bike and I was super worried. I prayed the WHOLE day that nothing would happen to the bike) Once again, He took care of me and answered my prayer=)

*pictures are taken from SOP webpage. I was not allowed to take pictures during the concert

大聲唱 唱哈利路亞 (We're singing "Hallelujah!")
歡喜快樂吧 勇敢往前踏 (Come and celebrate! He will lead the way)
大聲唱 唱哈利路亞 (We're singing "Hallelujah!")
活出神放在 心中的藍圖和盼望 (He has made us glad. Live a life of hope and calling)

I am not of this world I belong to Jesus, the King

我不屬這世界
我高舉耶穌的名
>.<

有耶穌在我裡面活著, 我勇敢站立

WARNING: this entry is unlike my other entries. if you do not wish to read about Christianity/worship, I am going to ask that you skip this entry. my purpose is not to preach, but to share a wonderful blessing that I have received during this trip. Don't get me wrong, I actually ENCOURAGE you to read it. If you choose to read and would like a deeper insight/have questions/or woulk like to talk, please don't hesitate to talk to me =)

Dr. Lin had another meeting yesterday, so our usually Thursday group meetings got moved to today (friday). Since I was planning to go to 2009 Stream of Praise (讚美之泉) Asia Tour Concert at Dr. Sun-Yat Sum Memorial Hall, I was going to leave NTUH early so that I could explore the area, but I didn't get a chance. =( I was scared to tell Dr. Lin that I needed to leave early and considered not doing so, meaning I would either be late to the concert or skip it entirely. I am SO GLAD I didnt! If you have never heard of Stream of Praise (SOP) before, they are like the Chinese version of Hillsong =)

I get to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館) and proceed to find myself a ticket. What happened was, when I found out about the concert (via FB! haha), the deadline to mail-order (free) tickets was way passed 6/19. But I really wanted to go. At the same time, I was too chicken to call. I even tried convincing my dad to call and inquire about tickets for me. haha. he wouldn't do it =(. So I called and they told me that if I arrived early enough, they would have extra tickets for those without tickets! I was so excited. Anyways, I got my ticket and they told me to get in line. There were two lines that were really long, but its ok, as long as I get in I am ok. I was actually planning to pick up my ticket and then try to find something to snack on for dinner, but since everyone was in line, I decided against it.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial...the concert hall we were in "Chung-Shan Hall" nice view of Taipei 101=)
took this while I was waiting in line
then I asked the lady behind me, Angela, to help me take one!
There were two lines, I was in the shorter one, this picture does not capture how long the other line was

How I met Angela: While waiting in line, the lady, Angela, behind me said "ridiculous!" I turn around and reply "yea, it's alot of people." Her friend, Janna, and some other woman, Hanna, came 5 minutes later and I start talking to them. Pretty nice people. When we got inside, Janna and Hanna rushed to get seats and Angela pulled me along=) The first touch of His love for the night =)

I didn't know I couldn't take pictures, so I snapped one of the stage before it started. hehe. Though this picture of the stage came out bad (as in, you can't see anything really), I think it really captures the essence of the whole night/concert, so I will post this one instead of one without "underexposure," as my camera likes to call it
the banner says
"不要放棄
Do Not Give Up
滿有能力
I am Strengthened in Him"

However, a very unfortunate thing happened. Since Angela was very familiar with the stage setting and has been a stage manager, she got very antsy when the concert did not promptly at 1900 like it was supposed to. She kept saying that "so disrespectful to God! stop waiting for people to sit down and start already. people will never finish sitting" she even grabbed one of the usher girls and told her to tell the stage manager to start already. poor girl. the girl comes back and replies, "we are waiting for the seats to be filled" and Angela replies, "this is not how it is supposed to be! when you guys say 1900, you should stay on time! look at the audience, not sitting in their seats and talking loudly. so disrespectful" and on and on and on. She told me that she almost didn't come because it is like this every year. At 1910, she left because she did not want to wait anymore and thought that the audience and the performers were very disrespectful. (I will keep my thoughts to myself). Hanna apologized to me when she left, but I said it was ok. After all, the concert was free, is an outreach, and the whole idea was to minister to as much people as possible. Plus, I love how the entire auditorium was filled. What a blessing it is to see SOO many Christians gathered in one place to worship the one and only King. I have never been in this (big) worship setting before, but I look forward to much more!

We sat in approx? the 7th-10th row? I just snapped a picture so you have an idea of how big the hall was. tomorrow, I will take one with people. the hall doesn't look big in this picture cause I couldn't capture all the seats =(
with one of their banners after the concert
Hanna, Janna, and me after the concert
I think this concert touched me very deeply. Don't really want to spill everything on a public blog, but I would be happy to share otherwise. I have decided to save my Kenting trip to go (possibly) with my mom. Janna told me that each concert they have they play a different set list. So I plan to go to the remaining 4 concerts they have in Taipei this weekend =) Janna even gave me her number and told me to call her if I was gonna go so I have someone to sit with. Before they left, Hanna even gave me a bag a guava/pear that she bought. I was very grateful for it. maybe God told her that I hadn't had dinner yet. =) God's children taking care of one another.

On the way home, I prayed that cancelling my high speed rail ticket would not incur any cancelling service charges, or if there was some, that it would not be too much. God granted my request, and I was charged $0 service charge!!!! I check the HSR website for their cancellation policy to see if there is just no charge in general. But nope, it clearly states that there would be service charges for ticket cacellations. GOD, does infact, ANSWERS PRAYERS.

I bought their newest CD, "Do Not Give Up, I Am Strengthened in Him" (不要放棄, 滿有能力) most of which they sang during the concert. The best part was that they invited (and encouraged) the audience to sing along to worship together. While I was buying the CD, some of the singers were outside manning the table because they did not have enough staff. I wanted to take pictures with them, but they said they couldn't because the whole concert, and their purpose is to give glory to God, and they could not take credit for it. Therefore, they don't take pictures like stars. What humble servants of God. I hope that one day I could bow down to the King in such manner. As for now, I think that my pride/self-ego is too much. I pray that I could lay down my life 100% for Him.

This concert has made me realize how far/distant I have been from God, especially this past year. Please pray that I will go to church not as a chore, but because I cannot live without Him. Angela to me that even though her parents are Buddist, from the very first time her teacher brought her when she was little, she loved going to church and worshipping God.

And finally, I think that the concert has opened my eyes to worship. Though I have been on several worship teams, mostly playing flute, I have never seen this side to worship before. SOP's worship team had an oboe and flute player (both of which I play). I realize that even though they sound so elegant, they did not stick out in the sense that they were "showing off." They were using their God given talents to glorify Him. I think that over the years, its because of the complements that I have received made me feel like I was showing off, even though it wasn't really my purpose. But eventually, it got to me that I was really there to "show off," to the point where I even switched instruments and refused to play flute to be less "show off." I hope that by the end of the SOP Taipei concerts, that I will be able to get over the barrier so that I could return to glorifying Him with what He has generously gifted me.

Actually, these are more like worship nights, rather than concerts. I have been to a few since I have been at UCSD. I love singing with the congregation. This is my first time singing (like every song with lyrics reading) in Chinese. If I stayed in TW longer, I think I would remember/learn/improve my Chinese reading/writing skills ALOT. I don't even bother to sing in Chinese at my home church in San Jose. That will change when I return in December. Mental note: I need to go to the Chinese congregation instead of the English one.

There is one line in one of their opening songs, "I Am Strengthened in Him" that I want to share with all my special readers!

有耶穌在我裡面活著
我勇敢站立

translated into English:

I know that the King lives in me
I am strengthned in Him

耶穌愛你!
>.<

what a buy!

edit: pictures for this post will be up later!
edit #1: pictures are sorta up. i will take pics of my swim suits later =)
edit #2: pictures of my awesome swimsuits are up!

I went back to shilin last night, because the first time I went, it was with my dad's friend to go eat. the second time I went, it was mainly to jewelry shop. this time, it was to clothes shop (yes. I have finally succumed to clothes shopping even though you all know I hate it, but the prices here are amazing). I walked around and found a shop that was selling 2 pieces (swimsuits) for $190 NT. Pretty decent price, they are usually around $150NT -$190NT for the cheap ones. I didn't really find any that I liked, but on second glance, I saw one pieces. (I wasn't planning to buy them here in TW #1. the prices are like $45-$70USD, which I might as well get in the US #2. I already have quite a few, though most are pretty worn, but enough #3. I dont own any 2pieces, never did) Keep looking... TYR suits... hm, not bad, not like some crappy china brand "Luck-Dog" or something. haha. TYR suits are not the best kind of swim suits, but they definately aren't bad either. and the best thing was, it was $190NT each (wait! did I read it wrong?) I comfirmed with the sales lady, and yes, infact it was $190. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where in the world would you EVER find a swimsuit at that price. That's less that $6 a piece!.

one of the streets in Shilin! so pretty with lights
Since I have not been swim suit shopping for like 3 years, I totally forgot my size. I asked the lady if I could try it on, and she said no =(. Hehe. I looked around and pretended to look at shirts I liked. I grabbed two to cover the swimsuits and went into the changing room. to try on the suits only, I didn't even bother with the shirts. bad Jen. bad Jen. Found my size, put the incorrect size back, and then proceeded to look for all the swimsuits that size in colors I liked. Unfortunately, there were only 2, same pattern different colors. I wanted a third one with the same pattern, and my favorite color scheme, but it was too small. oh well. Two swimsuits for $380NT is such a buy.

Shilin Night market "food garage" as I would like to call it. I took this while waiting for the MRT. The chinese letters ( the lighted) part didn't come out as well as the other pictures. But the only way you could see the English writing is in this picture. oh well. you can't always have best of both worlds. so compromise!
here's a "day" view. much better!
I forgot to bargain. I forgot to bargain in danshui as well. I don't know what my problem is. whateves. still a good deal. I will post pictures of my suits when I get around to taking a picture of them.

here is the long awaited pictures of my swimsuit!
Shilin wasn't that great last night because there were police around, so the "middle of the street illegal vendors" kept having to hide. I actualyl got to see them run away, it was pretty interesting. they ran so fast I didn't even have to to pull out my camera and record it. I don't even think I shopped all of Shilin, I couldn't find all of it. On the other hand, I found the "food garage" I couldn't find last time.

oh yea. so I get home at like 0000 and went to bother LJue so that I could use her phone charger. I think my parents gave me the wrong charger, the charger doesn't charge the phone o.-?!? Since it is my "emergency phone" it doesn't matter too much. but I am glad I have it. The phone that Mr. Tseng lent me went spastic the other day and I had to use my emergency phone. the point is, my emergency phone needed some battery so that I could use it if I needed it, otherwise, it would be a quite pointless "emergency phone" haha. we ended up talking until 0130. uh oh. my sleep schedule is already wack and I am beginning to think I have insomnia.

I get up to my room and discovered that my toilet leaked water when I flushed it. I went downstairs to file a report and when the lady asked me for my phone number, I didn't know it (again) A few days ago, I had to complete a form in order to get my housing deposit back and didn't know my number, so I called LJue to tell me. (I was using the emergency phone and didn't have my own number saved in this particular phone). this time I couldn't call LJue cause it was so late "so early." The lady made fun of me and was like "you don't know your number every time" haha. yea. she knows who I am now. she probably remembers me as the chinese-looking-but-crappy-chinese-girl. whatever, I get around fine. She asked if I wanted it fixed right away or in the morning. I said in the morning, since I needed to go sleep, even though I probably couldn't.

I scheduled them for 0900, but they didn't show up until 0930. the dude was cute though, so its ok that he was late.

oh yea. squat toilet = 2 : me = 0. i really had to pee.

I should probably get back to work now.

我不想工作!
>.<

Cheers to my new "M"license

Friday
didn't do much. I didn't even go to lab. I just walked to NCREE to meet up with LJue and Spiras and then we went to dinner with An-Chien and his friends to celebrate SPiras' birthday.

pictures of two out of the million dishes we ordered
good food=)

Saturday
I was supposed to go to lunch with my lab group, but Dr. Lin could not make it back from Japan, so the lunch got moved to Sunday. I went to Danshui instead to go shopping. I didn't get home until 2330 =) It takes 44NT for the MRT each way and 40 mins for one-way.

sunset at Danshui

they even had a section where you could go soak your feet. Swimming is prohibited, but I saw someone do it.

Sunday
I can ride a motorcycle now! What do you mean you don't believe me, here's proof!
Since several members of the lab are leaving, one is going to Greece, the other to Japan?, we had a farewell lunch for them. We had Japanese food for lunch and even reserved one of those rooms where you have to take off your shoes and stuff (I don't remember what it is called, unfortunately, neither do I remember the restaurant name). But that's ok, cause we had ALOT of sashimi. super super good. and for what we ate, $12 USD per person is a really really good price.

"Wu liao" smiley face A-Yeh made with food nobody ate
A-Yeh was trying to model with the sashimi? (ahah)
actually, they were trying to get me to do it instead. LoL (picture taken with Ting-Rong's Canon EOS 5D. such pretty quality!)
Group Picture! (again, taken with Ting-Rong's camera)
Actually, this is actually what happened...
lol. A-Yeh did ask if I wanted to try to drive his motorcycle, but I told him I didn't want to die yet. haha. it was so fun. my first time being on a motorcycle ever and I hope I get another chance before I leave TW. When he first gave me the address of the restuarant, I was thinking, no way would I ever find it (I have been lost almost EVERYWHERE I aim to go in TW). It's a good thing he offered that I could rent/hire him, otherwise I would have never made it there.

After lunch, A-Yeh dropped me off at Eslite Bookstore (Dunnan Branch). It was pretty cool. The bottom floor sold CDs, DVDs, movies, adn other things of the sort. I found (almost) the entire F4 collection there! I was going to buy the CDs that I wanted there, but I figured, I might as well wait a bit longer and maybe I can find a better price in TW. The other floors of the building sold food, clothing, and books, which I quickly browzed through.

front entrance of Eslite
I saw a Chinese marching band (with Western instruments though) while walking to SOGO

i miss MHS Marching band... =(
Since Sogo Department store (Dunhua Branch) was near by, I figured I would also drop by so I wouldn't have to return. I didn't actually buy anything because the clothes/items were quite costly compared to the prices at street markets. I did ride the elevator all the up (and all the way back down) thought, just to see how TW shopping malls are. They are extremely pretty and clean, unlike US one. Somehow, I think that Sogo is like a giant Macys.

front of Dunhua Branch
Since I was so close to Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT station, I figured I would go there so I could explore the east Metro mall. I found some pretty cheap shoes and jeans, but the jeans didn't quite fit well (it was way way way too long for my short legs) and there was a defect in the padding inside the shoe I wanted. I asked the lady if I could get it for cheaper, but she said only 10NT cheaper, so I was like "forget it."

cute ducks inside the metromall
When I finished walking the metro mall, I was at Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station, which is next to SOGO Deparement Store (Zhongxiao Branch). This branch was even prettier than the previous. And again, because things were too expensive, I just rode the elevators all the way up, and all the way back down.

front of Zhongxiao Branch (the prettiest entrance)
It was getting kind of late and because I was planning to walk home, I decided I should start walking. Low and behold, I cross the intersection, and guess what I see? Another SOGO Department Store (Fuxing Branch). ahaha. of course I decide to go in again. Afterall, AC is free. After taking the elevators up like 12-14 floors in the other two branches, I figured I would not go all the way up. Afterall, it is just a mall with things too expensive for me to buy and shiny tile floors. But the AC felt so nice, so I decide to go up all the way =) (what a waste of time, I know)

front of the Fuxing Branch
elevators inside the mall
In between the 6th and 7th floor, I see these pretty lights of the roof and I had to take a picture=)
When I got up to the 11th floor (11th-13th floor were all fancy restaurants, a few shops), there was this super cute display. Since I could not take a good picture that included most of the scene, I went up to the 13th floor so that I could shoot downwards. I had to take like 50 shots before the lighting would turn up right in the pictures. =( But I felt that it would be a waste of all my time take the elevators up so many floors if I didn't capture a picture of the display, so I had to.

pretty?
picture of the 11th and 12th floor taken from the 13th floor
For the last few years, I have been increasingly interested in photography, especially wedding photography. haha. that would be a nice side job, but I think being a doctor is hard enough work. Though I am not complaining about my camera, I would really like one that is a bit more professional that will take better quality pictures. the type that I would have complained about being too bulky a few years back. Too bad I don't have a job, otherwise, I would totally treat myself to one for a combined x'mas and bday gift. xP

but anyways, I have spent ~$500 NT (give or take) each day for the last 3 days. Not that that is alot, but I am trying to use only my food money and nothing else. Which I do have alot saved up, so I think it is ok.

我很喜欢吃生鱼片
>.<