no plans are good plans

if you haven't heard by now, cherie and i have a lot of interests in common. and the importance of having something like that really shows on days like yesterday. like all we did yesterday was plan our outings on where to go to eat. then we came back home in between and watched House MD that I downloaded and brought over to watch together. for people that plan their outings differently, feel like they need to go out and do more just because they are in a different country, or maybe don't like the same tv shows, then yeah, yesterday might have been a boring day. but for me, and i'm sure for her too, we just had loads of fun just doing just that. not to say that is all we're going to be doing. i'm still here for a week.

yesterday, she took me to this hot pot place next to her cousin's apartment she stayed in when she first got here, got some water melon juice at this stand, went to a super market...she pointed out some interesting items. like snoopy toaster, snoopy water heater, 3 other snoopy matching kitchen products, "black man's toothpaste" (not very pc, but it was called just that). we bought some groceries, i picked up this black seasame paste that you spread over toast like peanut butter. then we got some red beans with shaved milk (like shaved ice, with milk).

for the evening we got on the MRT (subway) for the first time, and went to the night market around Shilin. it was a really cool place, geared towards the younger crowd. we had some oyster pancakes, guava juice, some ground pork over rice, then we started playing carnival like games where you can win stuffed animals. unfortunately we didn't win a single thing, but its much cheaper than in the US. in the US you can easily blow through $50 in a matter of 15 minutes trying to win something. here, at least it doesn't go as fast, although the odds of actually winning something might be much lower. the last thing we did there was they had this place where you catch live shrimp, then they'll cook it for you. after about half dozen failed attempts (the hook kept popping off), the guy finally showed us the correct technique, and we easily caught 4. after you catch them, they'll cook them for you over a bbq so you can eat them.

i haven't gotten sick yet, even though everyone was saying everyone gets sick their first time there. {knock on wood.} i have been taking some echinecea and vitamin c just to keep my immune system boosted. and the weather couldn't have been nicer. the smog is still there, but we don't need the ac at night, and its just the right temp to be walking around at any time of the day without having to wear an additional or less layer of clothing.