101, Squid, and "Happy Endings"

The past two days have been so much fun! We went to the top of the tallest building in the world (Taipei 101) and we could see the whole city—it was so cool! Here are some of the best pictures I took:

I also had a very interesting eating adventure that left me a little weary of the food here. We thought we were just eating pork and chicken, but it turned out that we got a whole bunch of raw food that had to be cooked in boiling soup that sat on our table (each of us had our own little stove and pot). It was basically like Mongolian fondue. Things started out relatively normal – just a few unidentifiable vegetables and some raw meat…

…and then a bunch of unidentifiable seafood...

Everything was so pretty, it had to be delicious, right? And when you’re in a foreign country, you’re supposed to be an adventurous eater, right? So…when everyone else started eating the squid, I decided I needed to also. I picked up the squid (which, by the way, was staring at me) with my chopsticks, dropped it in the boiling soup, and watched its rubbery tentacles flail in the water. Apparently “the head is better than the butt,” so I bit right in…and fought back the immediate gag reflex. I somehow managed to swallow it, but since I was trying to avoid biting into it (mystery juices were coming out in every bite), I swallowed it almost whole. Obviously, I felt sick for the rest of the day! Luckily, Pepto-Bismol made my life a whole lot better and I felt normal by the time I woke up this morning. If I can eat seafood that still has eyes, I guess I can eat just about anything here and be okay within 24 hours.

One of the most entertaining parts of being here has been reading all the English signs. I think a few too many people are just using a Mandarin-English dictionary and directly translating to make all the signs and billboards around here! Here are a few of my favorites…a lotion ad (I'm not sure if it's supposed to be inappropriate?), a random billboard, and a clothing store.

Thankfully, lots of useful signs also have English, so it’s pretty easy to find our way around in the city. I don’t know how Chinese tourists manage in Spokane – pretty amazing, if you ask me! Our languages are so different…everything I hear people say here (with the exception of thank you, sorry, goodbye, and American) just sounds like complete gibberish. The people who try to speak English to us are lifesavers!

Well, it’s about time to try and find some McDonald’s or Subway or something else that won’t make me need to bust open the Pepto again. Have a great day, everyone!