Yonghe-Phoenix Diner; Cafe Bastille at Shida Night Market

Today I went to Yonghe-where my grandma lives-to have brunch but it ended up taking up nearly the entire day. She introduced me to a bunch of her friends who live in Yonghe..and apparently they knew me but I didn't know them. We went to this awesome (albeit expensive) breakfast joint. It was quite classy. It was called Phoenix Diner. I loved the drink--it was this tall carafe of small limes (only found in Taiwan, the tiny kind) and pineapple and apple and coconut--that's all I could figure out from tasting it. We also had millet and cornmeal broth with sugar...and everything else I'm too lazy to explain using English.

I fell asleep after eating so much back at grandma's apartment. Then we went electronic dictionary shopping but it was too expensive. My aunt gave me her's and she is going to buy a new one, but I want one that has ENGLISH and a back-light. They ranged from 1,500 to 10,000 NTD. I wanted one where you could write the character with a stylus and the dictionary would recognize the character. My aunt's electronic dictionary has that function and I use it a lot--it's quite sufficient. (Maru said he would show me where he got his, which is smaller, has English, can write the characters, and has a back-light...but it's 5600).

Simon (from Univ. of San Fran) called but he said he was going to a movie at 9:30 PM, so it would probably be too late when it ended to go out...LAME. Mike didn't call but his Facebook status was "is never drinking again"...LAME. So I called Maru about going to the ranch instead of going to the Maokong (which is too hot to go to now). And he said alright. Masao isn't going bc the commute is too much for him (he lives all the way in Danshui) and we are leaving at 9:30 AM tomorrow since the event starts at 11:30 AM. (Update: Simon later called me at 12:30 AM and said they were going to a club called 399 and asked if i wanted to go...i was in the middle of watching a "Pride & Prejudice" plus I had to wake up early go to the ranch so I said I couldn't bc i had to wake up early tomorrow...).

So I met up w/ Maru and his Taiwanese friend (Johnny) at Shida ye shi and then we walked to the Cafe Bastile to have coffee. They climbed a mountain today and then went to a different hot springs (one that didn't smell of sulphur). Later they toured the red light district...but Maru was disappointed bc there wasn't a lot to see...remember he's from Japan aka Perverse Nation. So at the cafe we talked about things concerning that nature...I won't write about that on this blog, but the ti cai (material) was quite amusing and interesting. We also talked about how Tokyo has the used panties vending machines and "maid cafe," where you can look up girls dresses. Japan...sigh...haha. Taiwan has none of that stuff...Taiwan doesn't even have strip clubs apparently...

Tomorrow I'm going to a Fourways Ranch! I'm excited--it's for the USC alumni event. It's 2 and a half hours away in Miao Li. My cousin, the taxi driver is driving Maru and I there and we are all going to stay there and mingle and eat.

I think tonight's going to be a relaxing night since I have to wake up early tomorrow. So I'm just going to watch some American TV shows online or I might watch a bootleg DVD (brought by my uncle from the Mainland)--I'm considering "Miami Vice," "Pride & Prejudice," "The Pursuit of Happiness," or "Around the World in 80 Days"...I need to go to my aunt's place to stock up on more DVDs.

I really want to watch Se, Jie ("Lust, Caution") and Ashito No Kioku ("Memories of Tomorrow"). They were both discussed in class by my teacher and they sound interesting. They are both yi shu pian (independent/artistic films). The former is a wen yi ai qing pian (artistic love story) and the latter is a she hui xie shi pian (realistic film concerning society's ills/issues)--haha I'm utilizing my lesson 19 vocab! It's very practical vocab.