Super Typhoon Effects

Saturday was another Typhoon Day - which was too bad b/c it would have been a weekend of ultimate otherwise. I, as most the rest of Taipei, stayed in and slept a lot. I felt a bit stir crazy after and ventured out during the evening to hit up the local 7-11 (the only place open) for some snacks. I then had a very productive chat with my grandmother, exhausting me as usual. Some disc mates were at a local bar watching the Australian-England rugby match - the same bar that is co-owned by one of my classmates. So I headed on over and found a packed house. It was weird to see so many foreigners in one place - I suddenly felt like I wasn't in Taipei anymore. Another weird thing was other women I didn't know coming up to me and insisting that I dance -- in a friendly way. I stayed to watch the New Zealand-France game as well, which was exciting in the beginning and the end - resulting in another upset.

Afterwards, Geoff and I checked out NatureStar 24HR Hong Kong Style Restaurant just down Nanjing E Rd. It was nearly empty so early in the morning. The waiter did the typical eye contact with the Chinese girl (me) and spoke to me in Chinese. When I gestured to Geoff, who can actually understand and speak Chinese (but looks Ozzie), the waiter then switched to English to speak to him. Aye ya! The food was ok, but overall too pricey. (Though Stanley tried to convince me it was an ok price.) Afterwards walking around the neighborhood we saw this blown over tree. It sort of looks like the bike attacked it.

Sunday was Eric's birthday. Geoff gave him a happy birthday whip cream smash in the face. Reminds me of good times in high school - though Eric took it well. He mentioned chocolate sticking in his hair and I refrained from telling him about the oils in whip cream that are sooo hard to remove. [sorry - inside joke here meant for 1] Beforehand, I met Rich and Dan to try out another dim sum place - 京 鼎 樓 47 Chang Chun Rd - a variety of steamed dumplings available, including shrimp, crab, sticky rice, and red bean. On our way, we had to fight our way through crowds like I've not seen before - I think it was a result of Typhoon Day - everyone cooped up for so long, the next day everyone just got out on the street and enjoyed the outside.

Today I met up with John and Fudy again for a hot pot dinner (251 Da-An Rd, Sec 1). I like going to places of their recommendation because they are in the business and have excellent taste. They did a one month tour of the best restaurants in France just recently. Guillaume, Justine and Julian were also there - and I forgot to mention I had run into them at the Brass Monkey watching the rugby match. Such a small world.

Today we had a substitute teacher - and she was awesome! She spoke Chinese the whole time and had us doing a lot of different activities and thinking in different ways. She will be there tomorrow as well. I think our teacher took a couple days off to get away for a while - Wednesday is a national holiday.