Today I reached Tea Master status.  I’d like to thank my tea subordinates for supporting me all the way though.  It was a long journey, and I had to study years for this position, but I’ve finally reached the top rung of the tea ladder.  To see all that I’ve worked for pay off… this was the happiest day of my life.

   

Okay, so I learned how to be Tea Master about 20 minutes before I got to be one.  And Jocelyn had to lead me through most of it.  But Tea Master was a pretty hard job!  I had to dodge clouds of steam coming out of the pot, combat hot cups with a cloth shield, and pour tea for all the non-Mormon people at the table without it splashing everywhere.  I was clumsy at best.

 

The ceremony was cool though.  We were supposed to be very dainty and elegant with handling the pots and cups, but we made a huge mess.  Not on purpose or anything… it just kind of worked out that way.  Caitlin and I each made three batches of tea with our respective tea leaves.  We had to let the leaves sit in the hot water for one minute for the first round of tea, 70 seconds for the second round, and 80 seconds for the third round.  Each time, we drained the tea into a cup translated as “the ocean,” or in other words, the big cup for pouring tea into all the little cups.  This was so all of the tea was of the same quality.  If we had poured the tea straight from the pot, the first cup would be the strongest, the second slightly weaker, and so on, with the last essentially holding hot water.  The last two pictures are fermented plums and fried yams.

  

Then at the end, they brought us out bubble tea.  They said that in the United States, the bubbles are made out of tapioca, but in Taiwan they are made out of sweet potato starch and sticky rice powder.

Can we just take a minute to appreciate some more food before I move onto the next topic?

Pre-tea-ceremony lunch, deep fried pork on rice:

Dragon fruit as colorful as Spyro the Dragon (I am a huge fan):

 

Mango bigger than my hand:

Okay, thank you.  Back to my day.

Tutoring was pretty funny today.  On my vocabulary sheet tài tai was defined as “mistress, wife.”  So I commented on how it was odd how the word had both of those meanings, seeing as a mistress is a secret lover.  She was positive a wife and a mistress shared the same meaning.  After I explained it to her, she said that the word for mistress in Mandarin translated to “small three,” as in a small, third person in a married couple.  Interesting.

Working backwards from today, last night I went to the biggest night market in southern Taiwan, called Tainan Flower Night Market.

  

It was huge!  I tried quail egg.  It was surprisingly good.  There was some sort of seasoning on them that made them a little spicy.

I also got my favorite, Winter Melon Milk Tea.  Thanks for the recommendation, Tony.  What is Winter Melon and where can I buy one??

Some people were even so adventurous as to try fried crickets.  Ew, not for me.

Before that, I went to dinner at the steamed egg place again.  This time with Tammy, Jocelyn, and her language partner, Emily.

It’s still my favorite restaurant here so far.  If you’re in the area, you should check it out.  The restaurant title translates to “Happy Day.”  Aptly named.

Here’s the address:

臺南市東區育樂街238號”

And still, before that, Tammy, Jocelyn, and I went shopping on a street near the train station.  Store after store after store.  Taiwan is so fashionable!  The thing is, about 90 percent of what I tried on was too small or too short.  And none of the shoes fit me.  But occasionally I’d find something really good.

Two different employees thought Jocelyn and I were Russian.  Apparently they peg the Americans by the amount of freckles they have, and we are sans freckles.  But we took it as a compliment, seeing as the Taiwanese think Russians are more beautiful than Americans anyway.  Here are my two purchases of the day:

It was cool that they have so many clothing and shoe stores in a row like that.  In the United States, it’s either stand alone stores or malls.  Or, if you live in Westlake, Ohio, it’s indoor malls that were torn down and turned into outdoor malls, even though it’s cold three fourths of the year.  I like this version better— the store set up, and, dare I say it, the weather too.  At least compared to the snow.  I’d rather have the heat.  Oh, and the prices.  How I will miss them come September…