Taiwan: Day 2

We both woke early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. After lounging for a bit, then taking showers and talking to some folks back home, we headed down to breakfast. We met some interesting ladies at breakfast (and by "met" I mean we eavesdropped on their conversation at the next table.) One woman is French and the other German. They both spoke English and German and the one lady obviously also spoke French. Don't even get me started on my utter fascination with multi-lingual people. Anyway, they're both moving to Taipei with their husbands for some sort of contract work. They've both got kids, one of them just a tyke about Odin's age, the others ranging up to about 9. Imagine being that baby! He will, in all likelihood, speak at least a bit of 4 different languages! His mother was already discussing Chinese kindergarten, where they apparently teach Chinese and English both, and he'll get some German and French from her. Seriously, language fascinates me...especially more so now that I've actually tried to learn another one and am failing miserably. While here in Taiwan, I have managed to say "Hello" and "Thank you" with passable believability, but that's about it.

After breakfast we walked up to a local department store (Mitsukoshi) to have a look-see. We found some adorable clothes!! We also walked around some other stores and finally did make a purchase for Odin in Toys-R-Us. It's a purple sensory ball exactly like the one he was playing with in the video of him at SLC. We saw it and thought he might like to see a familiar toy when we bring him back with us to the hotel.

Then we dropped our packages off at the hotel and took a cab to the Tien Mu area of town for lunch. Cab drivers are a breed apart. You've got to give them credit, though...I haven't seen a lot of accidents. We ate and walked around Tien Mu for awhile and then caught another taxi back to the hotel. His driving didn't scare us nearly as much as the first guy.

After resting in the hotel for a bit, we decided to venture out again in a different mode of transport: The MRT. We took the MRT to the Shilin night market. For my relatives: The Shilin market is a LOT like Court Day. The main difference I saw was the food. Don't think I've ever seen candied strawberries on a stick at Court Day. Or chicken feet, either. The berries looked de-lish. The chicken feet, not so much.

We finally returned to the hotel on the MRT, only to turn around and leave again to grab some dinner. Sorry to disappoint you, QJ, but we went the American Route again. I think I posted someewhere on the blog about my bizarre (and picky) eating habits. I just don't have the adventurous spirit yet to try the local fare. I'm trying to build up to it slowly. When Katie and Alex show up, she has told me she's taking me to eat the dumplings somewhere. I want to try it...but I'm just awfully weird about food and if it smells the slightest bit strange my stomach will revolt.

That's it for Day 2. We're exhausted!!