Eating, Drinking, Shopping, Movie, All done here. Ximen. 西門、台北

This is what it looks like.... YUmmy, right? I had the chicken leg (top right in the picture) It has good pepper flavor and soooooooooooooooooo good. yah, i loved it. I wish i could take it back to Japan and share it with everyone. or.. wait, then i wouldnt have to come to taiwan to eat it so thats bad, so ya please dont bring this to Japan. Local food must be eaten in local, in that atomasphere, and with this price.

もし台北で時間があるなら、MRTで西門までいって駅から歩いてすぐのこのお店に行くべき。私が食べたのは写真の通りご飯の上にお肉や野菜がのったものとチキンフライのセットとってもおいしい。スープもついてきてたったの１３０NT それは430円くらい？

写真の右上のフライドチキンが濃い青の主食のところにある鶏脚飯のこと。　左が琲骨飯　一番上のやつね。

IF you want to order chicken on the right top in the pic, its the second one in the dark blue in the menu.

As you can see from TOP left "main dish" its between 120NT-160NT which is like around 500yen- 5 US dollers.

Fried chicken(breast), leg, Fish, Curry, and rice/noodles come with it. also small bowl of soup which has almost no taste (but i love that somehow) comes with every main dish.

and the light blue letters on the right is the side dish like green veges or TOFU which are like 10-50NT.

これがメニュー。日本語読める人ならだいたいオーダーは簡単。鶏とかいていればそうチキンのこと　飯　とかいているのでだいたいのお店はごはんの上にチキンがのっているのだけどこのお店は別々に出てくるので嬉しい。出てくるときは一つずつでてくるかもしれないからごはんがきたときに上に肉がのているからといって「これは間違っている」と思わないようにね。私は思ったよ。

and this is what rice is covered with. some green, meat, and whatever its good.... everytime i eat it i dont know what it is but noone has successfully explained what they are to me... im just gonna say it taste like tofu but better, and a little harder than tofu, like chewy but its not seafood. my best guess is some kind of bamboo or plant. anyways, its good. we never know what we would like in a foregin country.

これがご飯の上にのっている野菜　肉　とうふのようなとうふじゃないとてつもなくおいしい物体。　これが何かということを

台湾にきて誰もうまく説明することができないので私はいつも不思議だと思いながら食べるけど毎回感動して

「これはなに？」と言ってしまい、その名前を言われ　それがわからなくて何でできてるの？ときくと

説明するのが難しすぎる　といわれるのがオチなのよ。

 

東一排骨總店　　　　　Get off at MRT XIMEN station

台北市延平南路61號　　MRT西門駅から徒歩5分くらい

(中山堂警察局斜對面)

http://tw.maps.yahoo.com/#lat%0125.044645%02lon%01121.51046%02z%012%02pos%01%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%82%E5%BB%B6%E5%B9%B3%E5%8D%97%E8%B7%AF61%E8%99%9F2%E6%A8%93%02pok%011%02mrt%010%02pos1%01%02lat1%010%02lon1%010%02pos2%01%02lat2%010%02lon2%010%02shop%01%02sok%010%02sp%010%02slat%010%02slon%010%02rcate%010%02rok%010%02rlat%010%02rlon%010%02lok%010%02llat%010%02llon%010%02mtab%011%02pr%010%02up%010

MAP　↑

 

Friends from Taiwan :>

Last night I met my friends from Taiwan (well, they are my boyfriend's friends but Ill just say they are my friends )

My day started so early since i had to work in the early morning at VasTre( i started an extra job at a hotel restaurant i love it its awesome ) Then I had the Daycare Saturday English from 330, so i got pretty busy but i was so excited to see them !!! I met Osajo, Showmeng, Mark, and her friend Lai (very Taiwanese style- we just meet everyone at once.) Mark and Lai were so good at English so i was really reliefed, because acutally showmeng and Osajo are my friends as well and we had some things we wanted to catch up but we normally end up not being able to communicate very well. hahahha

Well, i was thinking something like "Sushi" or "Yakiniku", somewhere around that for dinner, something we can sit down together and really just try out all kinds of different fresh fish or meat but they said they wanted to eat "RAMEN" and as a Japanese we go "Don't you chinese people eat that all the time...."  but believe or not that RAMEN SHOP was full of ASIAN TOURISTS!!!!!!!YES, Japanese Ramen is a real JAPANESE FOOD,very different fromthe noodles of Taiwan or China.

I kept saying "i need a beey right now! im so tired" but my friends were surprised that i dont "look" tired, i look rather happy or excited. haha thats because im "too tired" and got super high from lack of sleep but thats great i dont look tired when i am, thats much better than someone telling me"you look really tired, go take a rest"

So we went to this Ramen shop which normally has at least more than 15 minutes waiting line which i had never been (haha!) Lai had everything planned out for this trip and she was so organized where to go next, i almost felt like i was helpless.  I can just read and speak the language, and i dont really know the places  so bad...

The Ramen shop was a new experience. Ive only been to the one where you buy the ticket at the machine or just order at the counter, wait for the Ramen to arrive, eat and leave.... but this one, after you buy the ticket at the machine which I thought it was interesting that they only had ONE MENU "RAMEN" - thats all, no flavor choices. Hmm thats cool, they must be so confident with what they have to offer. (you can actually by the ticket "egg" or " Pork" and add extra them on your Ramen) After you get the tickets we were asked to sit in the "waiting seats" inside the shop then walked to the "Individual Booth", not a table!!! its pretty hard to explain so i will post a picture.

 

I call it "Taking the finals"

 

but they call it 味集中カウンター　(Counter for Tasting concentration)

 

There is a small curtain in front of you so you wont see the ktchen, you open the curtain and give them the ramen ticket and the little piece of paper that the lady gives you before you walk to the counter with all the request check list. There are things like "How do you like your noodle?" Loose, Normal, Hard  or "Would you like Garlic?" YES, NO  "Would you like leaks?" Circle Green or White  (green onion or White onion) I was amazed you can pick one... haha of course i chose white onion i love shironegi! Of course at the end of the day- i needed a beer, i finished it like THAT! so quick!

Of course my friends were pretty confused but amazed that everything was so systematic but awesome. and deeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllicious!

We finished eating then we decided to walk around to see some souveniors, I got my bf Niku miso (its like a meat and miso spread you can use for cooking or on top of rice) and Showmeng got more than enough stuff

It was really nice visit, tomorrow they will go shopping and sightseeing more, then to Hanshin basball game Monday, going back on Tuesday

 That is more than enough fun for 4 days!! GOOD JOB THANK YOU

 

 

 

 

 

 

YOGA!

Last Monday, I　went to my first "real" YOGA class.

My friend Yuko who is an owner of "Hana Canna" , body salon in Horie, Osaka is the insructor for this new class and surprisingly she only charges 1000yen for almost an hour and half class. So when she announced that she will start teaching yoga class, i was like "why not?!"

Only problem is yoga class is held in Tamatsukuri, Osaka which is almost near Osaka castle where my granma lives, so so so so far, from my Monday work. I　work in Okubo, Akashi city until 530 on Mondays and yoga class also happen to be every Mondays! But then I　thought, "this is a good chance to visit my granma!" since from yoga class to her place is a walking distance.

There were 7 ppl all total men and women, and it was the first time or everyone. I felt good about it, i mean if i was the only one who had no idea what to do, i would totally feel embarassed....

although i realized i had forgotten my yoga clothes and i had to rush to 100yen shop to buy a t-shirt, i was reliefed to see almost everyone wore a t shirt or some sort, nothing too yogalike. haha

My favorite part of the yoga session was when she said

"Let your body worry about it, and you can relax"

体のことは体にまかせましょう

 

yeah, and we rested, for about 5 minutes, and for second, i really, felt that i "flew" somewhere, or I　moved to some different world until she said "ok, now slowly come back to your heart"  i was totally out, i think i was even dreaming and felt really relaxed after that. like i had a good sleep. how amazing!

it wasnt a difficult stuff, some of the poses were new and my body needs to get way more flexibile to be like her, but i could feel some changes in my body especially my bottom bones and back. Breathing and relax is almost all it is, there is nothing complicated ^^ but i guess it is hard to be simple when you TRY to be simple because you are "thinking" too much about being "simple" i hope you are getting this, hahaha

anyways, its great for me, and i feel really reliefed about my friend being a teacher so i will go to this class whenever i can!! 

Thank you teacher!!! I will do some light yoga poses before bed every night!!!! i feel great!

 

SMILE CANDY PROJECT Newest Update!!!!!! 最新情報！

スマイルキャンディープロジェクトのパッケージを

今日無事に２箱、送りました！！！！！

 

よかった！！！！

 

I　finally sent the two packages(smile Candies) to Kesennuma city, Miyagi pref. today!!!! 

it was a long way until i could find out where to send since everyone had been rejecting me (not in a bad way, they cant have too much stuff)

but i had talked to the city councilman directly and requested some support in finding out a place.

I　got a phone call from him last night sayind that he talked to the city council of Miyagi pref. and that he got an address for me to send the package and if i send them to that address there would be children to receive those.

So i am really glad this worked out, and thank you so much for the support.

I leared a lot of things through this project.

I　cant really express that with words, but  i feel so happy that I, we, achieved something.

ok, maybe thats just making me feel good for doing something good some people might say thats not for other's sake, and just for your sake. but whats wrong with that, now ive got so many to involve with this, especially my point was to teach children about the importance of sending our hearts and prayers by sending these messages and candies. They are too young to understand? its okay. they will remember that they did "something" with the candies that "they didnt get to eat" which is almost like a punishment for little kids. candiesn in front of them and not being able to eat. hahaha!!

Ok, so thats all for today becuase its my day off and i wanna take a bit rest and snack something... hehe allow me to be lazy :>

oh, and i have only17 days till Taiwan, im so excited.