TV Performance!

I've tried to put subtitles on this, but have failed miserably, so you'll just have to trust me that this was amusing. So, here I am singing the first versus of 我愛台妹:



I'm back in Philly, but still have like 800 pictures from Taiwan, so have plenty more to come!

Snake Alley

For one of my oral tests I talked about how awesome snake meat and chicken hearts were and suggested we should go out to grab snake meat as a class, since I was the only person who had been. So, of course, we did! It's right next to a Buddhist temple, so our teacher was kind enough to take us on a quick tour through it beforehand. If you're particularly afraid of snakes, you probably want somebody else to take a look through this for you.






After that, we headed over to snake alley:



In addition to the snake meat, you get a glass of (left to right) snake venom, snake bile, and snake blood. I have no idea what the pills in the snake blood are, last time I had snake blood there definitely weren't any pills floating in it. The blood is not pure blood, it's mixed in with something else and it has kind of a sweet taste. The venom and bile taste like paint thinner.


Typically when someone presents me with random pills I've never seen before, and then tells me that they're fine to take and that there's not going to be any side effects, I tend to avoid eating them, but who can say no when they're floating in snake blood?



Here's the main course:




It's actually fairly bland and tastes a lot like turkey:



Not everyone agrees with it so much though:


And in case you had any doubts it was actual snake, this is where we got the blood and bile from. We actually got to watch the full preparation process, but the sign above the snakes there says no pictures, though they let us take pics after we committed to paying for a meal. And no, the preparation process is not very sanitary.


Aside from snake, turtle was right next door, but morale for a turtle trip so soon seemed low. The semi-prepared turtles are under the lamp. No Taking Picture? We'll see about that:


My classmates! Minus the guy nobody really talks to. The two other white guys are American, the girl in blue is Korean American, the girl in purple is our teacher, the other girl is Japanese, the guy on the far right is Indonesian, and the last guy is Japanese as well. This picture is kind of misleading, since like 2/3 of the students at our program are from Asia, with only 17% from North and South America, so our demographic is a little skewed.

Preview

I could quite possibly be the person whose entire body is blocked out by the circle that says "wonderful."

Let me tell you the story...

I had my first TV performance! I'll post more when I have videos. (And after I've translated them...) I assure you, my description is not nearly as amusing as actually watching it should be.
I will say that my dancing was called very "liberal" twice, I almost knocked a girl over, I was spontaneously asked to do 5 different model poses, and sang the first verse of this song. (Up to about 1:15)

Also, (surprisingly), I did no handstands, did not break out any of Rain's dance moves (I wasn't wearing a jacket), or lay down for any poses.


Me being grilled.

While true that this is a typical "You got served" stance for me, I don't remember doing this at all.


Me performing, I think this was at the "we can kiss the sky" part?


Also, completely unrelated, but just for Kristine (and Annika too, I guess):

Surprise..!2

These are from a place called Ximending, which is basically like "West Gate." Supposedly it's more popular with the teenage crowd, so it's apparently kind of strange that I go here at least once a week, but I'm the foreigner, so I get to break the social norms!


Not so lively during the day, but there's an all you can eat restaurant that also comes with all you can eat Haagen-Daas ice cream for 13 dollars.

This is sort of the main entrance street. That giant KTV is directly to the right of this picture.

This is down the main entry street, the screen plays advertisements and some sort of entertainment related stuff.

This guy rolled that ring around and did all sorts of crazy acrobatics. It was awesome.

And at night it's hyper crowded!

Surprise!

Mango shaved ice!


This one type of noodles called la mian. You can get all sorts of different types, this is one of the spicy seafood ones. There's a shop right next to our apartment and it's around $3-4 USD.


Some sort of black noodles with squid rings (the white rings). It was pretty good, though I have no idea what the noodles were.


I eat this for breakfast if I wake up early enough (never). It's sort of like a tortilla with an egg and this sort of bread on the inside.


It's a potato cooked in this giant stone hearth sort of oven. There's a fire in the center and the potatoes are put in little metal holders around the fire. It's kind of sweet.


Durian flavored ice cream. The ice cream doesn't really have a bad smell, and it tastes great. I have yet to try the actual fruit.


This is a sort of Korean dish. The metal disc is heated and you cook the meat on it, and cook the vegetables in the sauce around the edges. It's pretty good, but this was only a personal serving.
The ideal way to eat it is at an all you can eat location:



You get all sorts of different meats and vegetables, then you grill/cook them:

And then you dip the cooked meat (the little bowl) in the saucecof your choosing (on the right) and it's delicious!


Taiwan has a lot of all you can eat places, but this Korean one isn't so common. It focuses more on meat. The more Taiwanese ones are generally called "hot pot" and actually feature a pot with broth in it instead of a heated plate. There's more variety in the vegetables too and they're generally a bit more worth it. Next time!

Partyworld

What is this gigantic building you ask? What wild debauchery have I been engaging in at this "Partyworld"?!


Karaoke.


The place was nicer than most hotels. There's a chandelier in the entrance/waiting lobby.


The face of "Hmm, those characters look really familiar, but I have no idea how to read them. Or those. Or the ones after those. Or these."
It often becomes this face:

"I'm pretty sure I've never seen those characters, ever. I don't...you know, I'll just wait for the chorus to come back up." I don't have any pictures of me in this state, but I was told I looked as if I were about to cry :P

I made it through a few (3) Chinese songs in their entirety (80%), but the crowning accomplishment of the night was undoubtedly:



And finally, a picture of me with other people!