Friday

I'm always posting backwards.

Friday was a national holiday- in English Double Ten Day (10/10, get it?); in Chinese Shuang Shi Jie (Twin Ten Holiday).  It's also called National Day.  It's a little hard to pin down what it means.

It was a fun day- had a little road trip with Jasmine, another friend (her English-ish name is Viann, sounds like Vienna without the last syllable) and her daughter Chien-Chien. 

This is how the little girl- she's 4- rode in the car.  Yeah, standing up between the front seats.  It drives me crazy but that's just how people roll here. 

 

She has kinda light hair for a Chinese person and people kept asking if she was my daughter.  "Is your husband Taiwanese?" they'd ask.  Ah, no.  She was a little wild but it was fun playing with her.  I went from begin Auntie to Big Sister (Ai-i to Jie Jie) as the day wore on.

Here we are at lunch, eating Taiwan's national dish- beef noodles.  It's broth with noodles that are maybe fettucine-thickness, hunks of stewed beef (often with weird gelatiney stuff that is somehow part of the beef) and a little bit of green vegetables.  These ones were really good- homemade noodles and the broth was a little spicy.  We ordered sides of vegetables- sprouts, and boiled greens with oil and soy sauce.  No fresh veggies here!  You just take them off the communal plate with chopsticks.  Jasmine often puts an extra pair of chopsticks on the plate in consideration of my sensibilities but really I've gotten used to this- it's not too gross as you more use chopsticks to put food in your mouth, versus eating off them like we do with forks or spoons.  You can also see our cups of green tea!  Most small shops like this sell beer and weird soft drinks but don't mind if you bring in a drink.  Most Taiwanese people don't necessarily have a beverage with their meals, especially if they have soup, but I still like a beverage!  I offered to go buy tea and Viann was like, "Do you know where to find the tea stand?  Do you know how to order?"  She doesn't know my too well- set me down in any random town and I'll find the tea stand!