You and Me Go Squiddin' in the Dark

When I am old and gray, I will still be telling my loved ones about last night. Squidding is going to be my, "Not again..." story because it was the most amazing thing I have ever done. 
First of all, yesterday in general was pretty much fabulous.
My class is awesome, and we got to look at pictures about each student's life. I love getting to know them! Then we danced.
Cha Cha Slide.
YMCA.
Cupid Shuffle.
Electric Slide.
All very important dances to know if you wish to learn about American culture. 
It was great. (except for the part where I was drenched in sweat, but that's not important)
Since we teach Monday through Thursday, our first week was over.
crazy.
Like I said in a previous post, it feels like I've been here forever, but I wish I could just pause time so that I could stay here for longer. 
Because we didn't have class today, Susan (the director of our program) planned a trip to the port city of Keelung to go squidding.
SQUIDDING.
Now that's something you don't hear about every day.
Although it sounds amazing, if you know me at all, you know about my deep, deep abhorrence of anything slimy.
snakes
worms
frogs
fish
snails
yuck. They make me almost vomit every time I encounter them. 
SO, when I heard we were going squidding and I tied squid, fish, and fishing together...well, let's just say I was a little bit worried. Okay, a lot of bit.
Luckily, the bus ride up to Keelung was very enthusiastic and filled with snacks and motion sickness medication, so by the time we got to the port I was beyond stoked to hunt me some squid.

 Fellow squid fisherwomen. 

SNACKS!

When we got on the boat, Susan told us that the captain's wife bought shrimp before we arrived, and that we would have fresh shrimp with our fish and squid. 
Generally, I'm not a big fish/seafood person, but "When in Taipei..." 

Shrimp+ pi jiu= mm mm good!

I don't even remember how to use a fork. 

Squid= meh. (you can't like everything, eh?!)

We learned how to fish, and I tell you what, if fishing was that exciting all of the time, then I would become an avid fisherwoman. There were only maybe four times that I didn't reel in a fish. 

I'm a pro.

The fish we caught were called Bai Dai or Ribbonfish in English. 
They're some ugly buggers. 

The little ones on top were caught in the squid net, 

the nasty big ones are the ones we caught.

Like shiny, silver snakes with big ol' teeth. 
Nasty.
BUT...I touched it! 
AND...I took one off the line all by myself!
AND...I didn't die!
How exciting.
The night was filled with firsts for me, good friends and scrumptious food and drinks.
I got to try Taiwan Beer for the first time, and it was pretty tasty! 

We capped the night off by singing Under the Sea while riding into shore.
This can't be real.
No person gets these opportunities.
I'm going to start bruising myself from pinching so hard to see if this is actually real life. 

Eating the fish you caught on the boat where you caught it... priceless

So, so blessed.
With love from Taiwan,

Lauren.

This picture was taken for purely educational purposes. 

(not because I wanted to show off...)