Shaved Ice and Cream Puffs... Am I at the State Fair?

What a great day. 
My class is really phenomenal. I truly enjoy every one of them.
It's amazing how much we learn from each other every day. 
We talked about seasons, stereotypes and did a tour guide activity.
It was pretty great seeing their reaction to the pictures of the crazy blizzard we had last winter. 
It is impossible for me to imagine never seeing snow. weird. 
The tour guide activity was a lot of fun because they were able to plan a trip for me around Taipei that included four stops. 
I'm definitely going to use them! In fact, a group of us are planning on going to Danshui (a pretty awesome beach...or so I'm told) and the Taipei Zoo (PANDAS) this weekend! 
I think the most interesting part of class was our discussion of stereotypes. I thought they would have mainly negative stereotypes about America, but that wasn't the case. Instead, their stereotypes were mainly focused on how outgoing and forward Americans are (I think I feed into this stereotype...oh well!). One interesting stereotype that is prevalent in Taiwan is that being pale is beautiful. 
Yes, you read that right.
Pale. 
Girls here use whitening creams on their skin and use SPF umbrellas whenever there is a chance of sun. 
Talk about a case of "the grass is always greener"...
Here I am working on my tan so I have a nice summer "glow" and girls here are hiding as much skin as possible from the sun. 
My hypothesis is that it is because it is so gol darn hot here. The sun is always here, and it is always hot.
In Wisconsin, we only get a nice hot sun for a few months, so when it finally comes, we run out and bathe ourselves in it. 
If only we all could just enjoy the way the good Lord made us...
After class, we went to Ed's cafe (a popular stop for us because Ed loves Americans and speaks English to us) for iced coffee and then enjoyed some wonderful Justin Bieber/Nicki Minaj/90s Rap singer music. 
When we finally decided to move, we went to a different mall from last night, and I think I found out what is eaten in Heaven. 
Brown sugar shaved ice with mango, bubble tea and Din Tai Fung dumplings. 

Yes, that is shaved ice. 

Love me some tapioca!

so sheepin' good.

SO TASTY.
We also snacked on cream puffs as we walked around.
Don't tell the WI State Fair, but they have nothing on the cream puffs from that shop.
amazing.

Cream puff, ma? 

Oh, and we found a delicious imported beverage in a fancy grocery store.
You may know it, it's called 
Mountain Dew. 
Sound familiar? Maybe it hasn't come to America yet... :) 
(Yes, I bought one. No, I don't regret it!)

MERICUH

Din Tai Fung, the restaurant we went to, is quite famous in Taiwan (from what I've been told) which would make sense because we had to wait about an hour before we were finally seated. 
totally.worth.it.
Bottomless cups of Jasmine green tea, dumplings, buns, and a spectacular atmosphere made it probably one of my favorite Taiwan experiences yet. 
It definitely helped that the whole meal for four of us cost 750 NT (about $26USD). 
Food is so cheap here.
It's wonderful. 
Food, food, food, that's all I talk about. Maybe some day I'll become a philosopher.
Tomorrow's class is going to be based around fortune telling!
Until then,
With love from Taiwan,
Lauren.

The MRT station is so artsy!