Today I Smelled Stinky Tofu.

Saturday!!! Woohoo! So, I taught my elementary class this morning. It has five kids in it and only two showed up today. Then one threw up. And she had her hand over her mouth so it looked like an explosion and it got all over her. Doesn't that story sound familiar, Susannah? Anyway, I felt really bad but I didn't even know she felt sick. She just sat there quietly, and then out of nowhere...puke! But otherwise it went well. After that I went and took a nap because yesterday was a long day and today was a sort of early morning.
Tonight I went with a bunch of the other teachers to the "teacher store." Yet another place that I do not know the actual name of. We call it that because you can get a bunch of different school supplies and such there and teachers get a discount. It was so cool! Of course I am a nerd and love school supplies, so maybe you wouldn't agree with that opinion :)
After that we dropped our bikes off at the school and walked over to the Feng Yuan night market. It is definitely not as exciting as the night market in Taichung, but it has more games. It's cute and small townish. One problem though: there was a lot of stinky tofu. That or one stand selling the vile stuff was enough to stink up the whole market. I have said that when it comes to food I will try everything at least once. That is not completely true anymore because there is no way I'm getting anywhere near that stuff. I am not exaggerating when I say it smells exactly like crap. The smell was so strong in some places that I came dangerously close to throwing up. Sooo....I will be steering clear of any stinky tofu in the future.
I did see some awesome things at night market though. For example...

A Giant Sponge Bob!!! Woohoo! AND...

A guy with a yellow thing around his neck! Just kidding. It was actually the large spinning, glowing Pikachu that was so exciting.

This guy was my favorite. He posed for the photo and I didn't even ask :D

I am naming him Squidward. Because Sponge Bob is on my mind and also because he was selling squid on a stick. Not because he is grumpy and unsociable and plays clarinet really badly.

This is the squid:

This is me holding the squid...

 

this is me still holding the squid, but also eating the squid...

And this? This is me STILL holding the squid but also enjoying munching on the squid tentacles...

 

I was not really as disgusted as you might think after having seen that photo. It was actually really good! Until it got cold. Then it wasn't really good anymore. Don't eat cold squid.

And here is Kendra eating some of my squid. She didn't make any funny faces :(

Ooooo! This lady was cooking quail eggs or something and I wanted to try some but then she started putting weird stuff on them and I decided to get squid instead. So, I will have to try them next time.

 

There was a table full of CANDY! I am a sugarholic, but you should all be proud of me because I only bought three pieces...because THEY WERE SOUR!!!! I found sour candy in Taiwan! People, this is the first sour candy I have seen since I got here (except for all the sour candy papa-san gave me to bring, but that is an entirely different matter).

Chicken feet is also a popular dish with the older generation over here, or so I am told. We saw some nice raw ones in a bin tonight. At first I thought they were deformed rat tails:

Yum!

The blue and yellow truck in this photo is one of many trucks that drive around playing advertisements for various businesses very loudly throughout the streets:

And this is a small group of scooters. They are everywhere! I can't wait until I receive my ARC and can get a drivers license! I found out that I can just rent a scooter for a month at a time. How awesome is that?! I'll tell you: it's extra super awesome.

Also, while I am on a roll with this whole typing and photo thing, I have a couple photos of the potted plants that are everywhere here. There is no dirt to grow things so people just plant flowers and trees, and shrubs, and other such things in pots and stick them out on the streets (there aren't really sidewalks here), on their roofs, on their balconies, pretty much anywhere they can find room. Bougainvillea seems to be rather popular.

 

And Rachel, happily posing by the greenery:

 

We ended our night with a bing-sha. Strawberry-mango style. Bing-sha is the healthy version of Jamba Juice. I hate to say it, but I think they might actually be better than Jamba Juice. Sorry Jamba.