Saturday: I worked for two hours instead of four because my tutoring got canceled. I went and got a hair cut and relaxed in a salon chair about about two hours. Then shopping at Xinmending, which is the teen capital of Taipei, and where there always will be lots of good shopping. We had dinner at a steak place where I got confused about how to order the temperature of the steak. Here, they ask what percentage do you want the steak cooked. So you would equate 50% with medium, right? Well, apparently it doesn’t work like that because my steak was definitely still mooing when it came out, and I couldn’t really stomach it.

Then out to J’s Place, a wine bar, that serves American-esque food and snacks i.e. lots of cheeses, tomato and mozzarella, cheese & salami plate, etc. We order a plate of nachos, which turns out to be Doritos with really good salso on them. It was genius. I usually don’t even eat Doritos, but these were amazing.

Sunday: I spent the day with my American grandparents at their amazing new apartment. They live in a high-rise, gated community in Dansui with a gym, movie theatre, basketball courts, ping-pong and pool tables, indoor pool. It was really nice, and their doors have these electronic locks on them. None of that old-school key in keyhole stuff.

We played some pingpong and went walking around the tourist area by Dansui. Afterwards, my aunt took me to the ShiLin night market where I bought a stash of winter clothes. I shouldn’t worry about getting cold here anymore, neither do I need to go shopping at malls anymore. Street vendors are where it’s at. I also brought home some stinky tofu for Jen to try. Last time we tried it, it was a horrible experience. We got it from a stand up the street, and it tasted and smelled terrible. I couldn’t let Jen have that impression of stinky tofu forever, so I had to redeem myself by getting her legit and tasty stinky tofu.

My weekends go by way too fast. Before I know it, it’s another work week again.