I'm back in Taiwan to study for the summer. First week of classes is over. It's great to be in a place that is simultaneously foreign and familiar, exciting and comfortable at the same time.
It's apallingly hot and humid, though not as hot as India in the summer. Here one can actually go out and do things, though one has to be prepared to sweat. I'm normally not a sweaty guy, but the 4 flights of stairs to my room will soak a shirt through under my backpack. Tomorrow I'm doing a 3-4 hour hike and I think I'll need about 2 liters of water.
My class, from left to right: Ewan, Ito, Andrei, Hengwon, Lin Laoshi (our teacher), Coraline, and Yukio.
The view of the NTNU campus from our classroom.My neighborhood is very studenty, with a bustling night market. This is where you go for snacks and other necessities of student life (clothes, music, beer, music). There is one main alley and a few side alleys in the market, lined with stalls and packed with people. I was pleased to find some of my old favorites, like BBQ'd stinky tofu and the soft waffle pockets stuffed with custard or sweet red beens. The best stalls are those where the food requires some skill to prepare, and the proprieters show off a bit. I was rather impressed last night to see a guy debone half a chicken and cut it into bite size pieces with a pair of kitchen shears in less than half a minute. I could hardly watch for fear that I would witness the loss of a finger. Next he added chives, minced garlic, oil and chillies and shook the mixture in a sealed piece of tupperware. Then it went into a plastic bag from which I fished out pieces of chicken with a little skewer. Delicious.
The night market.
