Night Markets, Eats, and Classes

'Twas rainy today.

I went to the Carrefour in Taipei, which for those who may not know, Carrefour is a very large French-based grocer. I bought a bunch of food, so that I would not have to continuously spend money on food out for every meal. This was tricky considering that the dorms do not have a refridgerator in them, so some of us opted for powdered milk. I know a few of you are thinking about the melamine issue in China, but Taiwan is a very different place and I think the Quaker brand will be okay. In a strange way, I consider Taiwan the ‘America of Asia’. Both are very market driven economies whose consumers prefer quality, variety and convenience (this does not always hold true in both countries, but there seem to similar expectations in both countries). I have not had any issues with the food, I think the general rule of thumb is to find the longest line at the night market and join the line. The food is usually quite good, and is fresh since they have to continuously keep making it to serve such a long line. The government here has become much more strict about food standards in the last decade (or so I am told, hopefully I will not discover otherwise).

Yesterday, I ventured to the Shilin night market (which is deceivingly not at the Shilin MRT stop off the Red Line, but the one before). The market is the largest of the night markets in Taipei and looked the cleanest to me. I ate what people call the “Taiwanese burger”. It is literally cooked pork and onions rolled inside of dough and sprinkled with seasame seeds, and then finally deep fried. It was spicy, hot and amazing! Afterwards we went for some sweets, in Taiwan this means shaved ice decked in fruits with a sweet condensed milk drizzled over the top.
The Shilin Night Market at the Jiantan MRT stop.

Shaved ice with tons of fruit.

I felt very short next to this basketball team.

The so-called "Taiwanese" burger.

Yay for classes! It feels like a lifetime since I took classes, because the last time I sat in a classroom for lecture was the first week of December right before my finals. I am excited for most of the classes here, in particular the language course. Also, I will be taking the Chinese course for less credits through the school of management, so that I can get extra practice in. I will be taking a course on Futures, Derivatives and Options, an accounting course (hopefully, waiting for the petition to go through), and another one as well. It is very difficult to find courses that work with each other, because most are actually scheduled at the same time. The classes are very hard to find, especially if they are on the other campus. I am learning the characters for the things around campus, as many are not in English.

I might be going to eastern Taiwan this weekend, I will keep you all posted with the updates.

Ciao!