Tea anyone?

On the gondola ride up to the tea gardens...a little rainy but you can see how high up we are!
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Ok, I have to admit, when I heard about the awfully cold weather back home all I could think was "haha...SUCKERS...it's nice and warm here!"...The tides have turned my friends and now it's absolutely freezing!  Not so much outside (cold but nothing unbearable) but inside.  I don't know if heaters exist over here but if they do no one uses them.  I go outside and stand in the rain to warm up.  And by rain, I mean mist but people here use umbrellas even when it's misting.  It's kind of cute...people are running to shelter when it's misting outside.  I'm thinking..."Wow...good luck if you ever visit Seattle."

Nice people enjoying a spot of tea.
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So...Sunday morning we got up early to explore the Maokong/Muzha Tea Gardens.  It took us about 45 minutes to arrive and NO we didn't get lost (knock on wood, praise Jesus, throw salt over your right/left (whichever) shoulder).  It was rainy and VERY cold.  We hopped in line to take the 20 minute gondola ride up to the top.  There are three gondola stops, each with tea houses and natural hiking trails...LOVE IT!  Being adventurous and wanting to hike down we went all the way to the top.  There were herds of people all over the place.  To separate from the pack we decided to venture off on a side street to grab some tea and warm up.  WE ARE SO PATHETIC!  I hate that I know absolutely no Mandarin.  My fault but...in my defense...it's a stinkin' hard language!  The tea gardens are a tourist attraction but the vicinity is extremely native.  No none could speak English and ALL I WANTED WAS A MUFFIN.  I was starving!  Everyone was very nice but we couldn't communicate...even when asking if they had green tea.  After trying 4 different tea houses and making absolutely no progress we decided to walk back to the gondola area where they had a coffee shop...and an english menu....stupid Americans.

Ok...do you see why I don't eat a lot of their stuff here?...it's PURPLE...oh yeah and that's Katy
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When we arrived, I got a nice glass of hot cocoa!  Hey...when I saw chocolate on the menu all I thought was SOLD.  I was going to grab something to eat but remember the whole "bread adventure" incident?  Yeah...didn't feel like experiencing part deux.  There was this weird, gray looking cream in the middle...LAUREN YOU PANSIE! (sad sigh)...After sitting for a bit we went back out to continue our adventure...only...half of us didn't finish it.  I KNOW I KNOW, weak right?  I'm sorry but my limbs were about to freeze off!!  I know God gave me two but I'd like to keep both of them.  I was walking with my hands out in front of me so I wouldn't accidently bump into myself to feel who cold I was!  We made the trek back to our place where I did laundry and worked on homework (yes I have homework...I am getting credit for this, it's not solely for pooh and giggles).

More of the area of the tea gardens.
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Later that night we went to Dante's Coffee for dinner, which here, Dante's is like the rival to Starbucks and from I've experienced so far...Dante's is in the lead.  After a nice dinner of pork teriyaki and rice (yum yum) we made our way outside to roam the streets for a while and during our walk, I got a little craving for some ice cream...weird...who would've thought!  I remember seeing a Coldstone Creamery from the walk home and it was calling my name.  The only problem was I couldn't remember where it was.  So, as a group we decided to venture out and find it.  After searching for 30 minutes we decided to stop a man to ask where it was.  Of course, he didn't speak English...actually I should say...Of course, at this time I hadn't perfected my Mandarin yet, and the communication was difficult.  I was trying to add in some universal gestures like pretending to lick an ice cream cone but I thought "That could come across VERY different from what I'm trying to express"...so I decided against that :)  He told us there was a McDonalds one block down so we hit that up for a soft serve cone...another one of my favorites!

The losers who coldn't bare the cold.
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It was funny because when we walked in EVERYONE...no lie...all the people in there turned and looked at us...probably thinking..."typical, Americans coming here"...but hey they were all there too!  Needless to say the cone was worth the search and my belly was happy!  AND..their McDonald restaurants here and RIDICOUSLY HUGE!  I'm talking three floors huge.  Also, they treat them how we treat Starbucks at home.  You know...McD's is the place to go to chat, do homework and for study groups. Ba Da Bop Ba Baaaa...they're lovin' it.

The winners who could!
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We're going to Taipei 101 on Tuesday and I'll make sure to blog about that next!    Also, here is the link to the school where I am teaching at (which, I'll blog about that too soon because I have been teaching and am REALLY enjoying it!).  If you want to take a look see, be my guest!

http://www.tas.edu.tw/Default.asp?bhcp=1