Anita's Blog: Formosa Land Day 3

Hello.

Day 3 of Taiwan.

Mixed breads from the gourmet french bakery.

Today woke up at 7:25 to do my Auntie's yoga class. She's like an extreme yoga guru, and she holds a class in her own living room on Mondays and Wednesdays. To be honest, I think she treats yoga as a culture and religion now, instead of an exercise or wellbeing aspect of her life. She's a vegan and meditates daily, and even answers the phone with 'Namasday' or something, which is greetings in yoga language.

Go figure.

I don't know if I really like doing yoga. After doing a few dance classes, yoga seems really slow, although a lot of the movements are really good for balance and core strength, and stretching. There is this other thing called 'yuen shi dien' that my Auntie also really believes in. It's pretty much pressing pressure points (lol) to heal and set your glands and whatever back to normal. (Oops, I think I was typing too loud ^^'). I'm still kind of skeptical of the pressure points because last time my sister tried, I think I just had a few round bruises all over...no magic healing story that my Auntie claims.

Why a croissant? Because it's vegan, for my Auntie

Oh, that's the thing about yoga. Sometimes it really does sound like a religion in the way they 'preach it' to you. Like I think my mom is to eager in terms of accepting yoga as a religion. Whenever she's in Taiwan, she seems really motivated to follow my Auntie's lifestyle. However, one thing that bothered me today was her having a go at eating 'late', which was around 7:30-8:00 pm. My Auntie and them eat at around 5:30pm, which is pretty early. In all honesty, I think that's a tad early, because you get hungry after 5 hours. That being said, I also agree with not eating too much for dinner, because eating too many carbs or anything too filling makes me feel gloopy and gross. But I disagree with not eating anything at all, because a little bit of fruit or yogurt or protein after dinner, or a bit later, or even a few bites of bread lets you sleep a lot better. I also read somewhere that your brain needs a bit of carbs at night to sleep well; which makes sense as your brain needs a little bit of energy to keep going and heal your body as you dream...etc.

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High Tea

So yeah, after that, I went online for a bit, checked out some of my uni things, and then went shopping with my mom. Bought some clothes, and then met up with one of my high school friends at around 2, and shopped with her and went for high tea. I wish there were more young people around Taiwan atm because I feel like I'm getting old and boring by talking to adults all day. I need people who are in with my generation. Sucks because my cousins are all really busy with thier lives as well. I miss the old days when we used to be bffs. :)

High tea was so good. They had a savoury bottom rack with pototo things, danishes, a whole wheat bread with mushroom sauce and cheese, and some scone-like bread. Middle rack was two cakes; a fruity strawberry one and a chocolate layered one. Top rack was biscuits; chocolate, normal flavoured, a very unsweet brownie-like one, and your standard chocolate cake. I was pretty hungry after eating a vegetarian lunch and walking around all day, so it tasted so good.Also, I think it's pretty bad because I was half zoning out when my friend was talking to me because quite honestly, there's way too much to look at in Taiwan. So many shops. So many awesome things. But yeah, it was good seeing her and catching up with her.

Friend and me

Biscuit (top plate) of the high tea

Photo of a photo being taken.

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Then after that, I went back, got my things, and went to dance class. I googled some dance places in Taiwan, and found the HRC Dance Academy. At first I was kind of worried, because unlike back at home, they don't split the classes into different levels, and I saw a lot of little kids; so I was afraid the classes were going to be really easy. However, it turns out, the classes are pretty much my level, and the people there are fairly good. I really enjoyed the instructor for hip hop. His instructions were really clear, even though they weren't in English. Like 'from the top' translates to 'from the head' or something, so he'd pat the top of his afro. It was pretty good that I had taken some dance classes back at home because the end of the class was really similar in the fact that they'd split the class into two groups, and both would alternate performing the learned piece at the end. The only thing that was different was that he put the two different groups facing each other; thus it was practicing your recalling skills without the use of a mirror. Nonetheless, I failed that part; but I will improve! I bought a 15 class card and I plan on using them all and maybe more.

Lobby area of the academy.

Then afterwards, Dad took me for some more shopping. I didn't really see much; the style in Taiwan is a bit weird for me. Like all the girls in their adverstisements wear things I'd never put together, and all in weird colors. And the shoes that are popular back home aren't as popular here. I think the really wolly sweaters are what's in style now, and there's no way I'd be able to wear it back home. I did buy a nice pair of fake shoes for 200 yuen, which is about $7.00. The quality of their fakes has improved. Like for their fake converse, it says 'All sport', instead of 'All star', and the sole, designs, and lines are all identical to real converse.