Gone to Taiwan- Summer 2012: Yitiao yu (fish!)

I've spent a little more time in the lab now, learning about ELISA, the major procedure the lab uses to detect different steroid levels in all kinds of samples. To help me learn how it is done, my labmate helped me to analyze progesterone levels in a goat to detect its estrous cycle. Yeaaaa. After some pretty embarrassingly shakey results, I know how it's done at least. Anyway, to some more interesting stuff.

I had a pretty relaxing couple of days, including going to some more night markets and trying some unidentifiable foods that made my stomach not so happy with me. However, I do have a knew love for "wheel cake"- a small pastry filled with either red bean paste or custard. I tried the red bean one, as the flavor seems to always be an option in Taiwanese desserts. I wasn't expecting a bean taste at all, just that it was called red beans. But I was wrong- it still definitely tasted like beans. I told my friends that I didn't think it was sweet at all, and they looked at me like I was crazy! I still really liked it, but apparently I need to get over my American sweet tooth.

I also went to a Chinese movie theater to see Snow White and the Huntsman just to see how different their theaters are. The movie was in English, thank goodness, with Chinese subtitles. I don't think there were any movies at the theater that weren't American Hollywood movies. I now definitely appreciate my unsubtitled movies! The actual auditorium was tiny, with only a couple of rows, but there was still a big screen like what I am used to. The theater was downtown on a busy street, so there is probably limited space for seating, but I was still really shocked by it. And relative to everything else I have bought so far, the tickets were expensive, probably more than a movie costs at home!

I managed to break my shoe while walking around one night. Seeing prices of shoes while walking to lab everyday, I knew buying another pair wouldn't be that big of deal. But my average size 9 foot in the US is definitely not average in Asia! I made the poor girl at a store go back and forth from the storage room to find a size that actually fit me in a shoe I liked. I've been looking forward to shoe shopping later, but now I see it's going to be much more of a challenge than I thought!

Yesterday, Mia took Anbo and I to MOCA- Museum of Contemporary Art, that had some pretty neat music, theater, dance, and art exhibits. Later that night we met up with Kido to have what I have been looking forward to for awhile, legit sushi! Sooooo good.

Well it hasn't been that busy or as exciting the last couple of days, but that is the latest update! We'll see what my luck brings me this week. One down, seven to go!

Some of the unidentifiable foods that I tried, only because the line for it was really long. Usually however long the line is is how I decide on what is most likely the best (I feel like that's good judgement, right?). Lots, lots, lots of tofu, vegetables, and possibly some body parts that I wisely stayed away from. You pick out the foods you want in a basket, give it to a cook who boils it in front of you, adds some ramen noodles to it, and voila!

Found this store and learned that that is how to write my name in Chinese! Better start practicing.

This dessert is called "ice" in Chinese. It has my name written all over it. It's shaved ice with fruit toppings, including strawberries, mango, watermelon, kiwi, or mulberries, with some type of sauce and ice cream.

These were in the museum. They are chips that are a part of a popular traditional children's game in Taiwan that are probably collector's items now. There were hundreds of them there.