TAIWAN...that's the plan!: A splattering of thoughts, makes a puddle full of rain...

I have quite decided Taiwanese kitchens are not designed for cooking. Besides the daily battle of wits to be had with the creatures of the kitchen...they just are not conducive to do anything in. I find it hilarious that in our kitchen we have the rickety stove to the right of the extractor hood, not under it - who would ever think of doing that! (Also it doesn't work anyway!) There are no worktops for chopping or preparing any sort of food...though in all honesty, even if there were I would still probably chop and prepare on the dining room table. I try to keep my time in the kitchen to a minimum! It saddens me...I used to love sitting on the worktop and kicking my feet like a small child back home. And of course cooking in it!! The kitchen back home was a rather sociable place. My housemate here also just seems to use the kitchen as a place to keep all manor of random things. So yes, it is easier to eat out in Taiwan. I refuse to be beaten though. I cook the strangest of meals here...talk about student food. My word...potato smilies, roasted veg and sausages was a step up for my cooking out here. Yes I did say potato smilies...haven't eaten them since I was a kid, but as I walked by them in Carrefour I thought I would give in to those little smiles. Taiwan are missing out, I find it really sad that kids have never baked fairy cakes or anything here. They don't have ovens so can't. I've not seen rice krispies...so it's not even like rice krispie cakes are an option either! :O I totally miss bread. The bread here is an epic fail. So I thought to myself, well I could try and make it in the little roasting box...or hey I could make flat breads on the stove. Genius idea I thought. Check t'internet for recipes. Awesome, I have all those ingredients. Ummmmmm...no scales. Curses! Re-think required! Back home I don't eat bread that often at all. Take the option away from me and I get all twitchy! Nutter!

In England we're always told not to talk with our mouth full. I just thought that was a kinda worldwide shared etiquette. Apparently not! I personally don't wanna see what your regurgitated breakfast, lunch or supper. But it's no big deal for the ol' Taiwanese. I find it really weird. Because every time someone does it, it really irks me. I guess it's because from our small years if we ever did speak with a mouthful of food we would immediately be told off for it. So I always feel like you should be told off for it. Plus I can't always understand Chinese at the best of times...how on earth can I understand it behind all that rice and tofu?! Isn't it stupid, we all eat food, it's something every single person has to do and yet we have different methods and etiquette about it!

I have avoided the wee matter of the loos here...(no pun intended!) But I think it's time to release the cat amongst the pigeons! (I totally miss all the silly English sayings we use and the ones I make up!) Soooooo...normal toilets in your homes are fine and dandy, bog standard bog. Apart from the not flushing loo roll down, nope they just have a bin for that. I personally don't get it, it does flush down - it's not a plumbing issue like it used to be. So why it's this way, I will never know. BUT outside...ooh it's a scary world. Most places have squat toilets. Needless to say most of us Westerners try and avoid them. Though you do kinda face the fact that's how it is. The odd place will have a real toilet but they are few and far between. Or sometimes there will be one normal toilet and a bunch of squat toilets. So you are there hoping and praying that when you're at the front of the queue, that the next person to come out of a loo is coming out of the normal loo. In my opinion, you wanna have a squat loo that's fine...but my word the smell, someone clean the ruddy room!!!!!! Makes my stomach churn. Kinda wish I had a silly little mask that all these Taiwanese wear, just for the sole purpose of wearing for any time I have to walk past, go near, or even go in one! And you know with female loos there is ALWAYS a queue...so you have to wait there, enduring the smell, knowing the prospect that awaits...a cubicle with a door that probably doesn't lock, the grimiest cubicle you've ever seen, a stench that can strip your nostril hairs right off and misfires from those before you! I find it hilarious that back home, we can be really fussy about the state of the loo and sometimes we'll even refuse to use it. Because we know that there are much nicer ones elsewhere. Well if you refuse to go out and about in Taiwan...I strongly advise just staying at home!

Moving swiftly on...

So the whole time I've been here (coming up for three months...say what! Half way, oh me, oh my!) it hasn't rained. I think twice there has been a feeble attempt of a drizzle and that's it! Well, these last 2 days that changed. It has rained solidly for 2 whole days. I love it! Yes call me crazy...but remember I am used to living in a country where rain is a daily occurrence pretty much. I love the sunny, hot weather here. But just the sound of the rain, randomly ending up with a huge raindrop landing on your nose...I have strangely missed it in a roundabout way. It's not cold bizarrely though...I mean I still wore a woolly hat, just because, but it's not actually been cold!

Tuneage of the day...mixing it up a bit Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize. She is a really talented violinist, but with a kinda dubstep ish twist. Truly amazing!