Diary of an Asian Kid

6 Feb 2011

6 February 2011, Sunday

Dad used to snore, but since he's got a breathing machine (or whatever, I'm not sure what that is), he doesn't now. But Victor does. Or at least, due to his perpetually stuffy nose, he makes a lot of repetitive noises akin to snoring. As I was the last one to fall asleep in our room, I would know.

I usually wake up much earlier than usual when I'm not at home. Don't know if it's because of the foreign surroundings, since I have equal amount of trouble falling asleep everywhere. In this case, I got up sometime around seven thirty, because everyone else was up and the TV was on. I recall something very similar to this happening on my graduation trip.

For some strange reason, the breakfast here is served very late, at eight, and it is Chinese style. Porridge. Yuk, yuk, yuk, disgusting! I hate porridge, and it was also hot enough to scald my tongue. I mean, I do NOT like rice, especially first thing in the morning. Yeah, I'm a mutant Chinese who doesn't like proper traditional food. So sue me. I prefer Western style things.

The two cockatiels were in a cage in the corner, and they were making a terrific amount of noise, adding to my irritation. I went back to the room right after I torturously finished my breakfast.

The weather was still quite nice; the past few days are the first times in MONTHS that I haven't had to wear a coat. Winter in Taipei is much colder than in other parts of Taiwan (we learned why in seventh grade geography).

The eight of us went to a zoo-like place, an ecological park, I think, called Green World. It was someplace down the mountain. The whole area's quite hilly. It reminded me very much of Singapore's Mandai Zoo, only much bigger.

It's the fourth day of the Chinese New Year (there are fifteen days in all, not counting New Year's Eve. We get the eve and the first five days off. The fifteen day, when the moon is full, is also the Lantern Festival. For some reason, though, the Chinese in Singapore take lanterns together with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which, when I told some people in Taiwan, was rather ridiculous), which means that everyone has come out to play today. The place was abominably crowded, and there were loads of people smoking. Again. Have I mentioned how much I hate the smell?

When we went inside, for some reason, everyone split up. I ended up with Mom and Victor, while Dad disappeared to take photos on his own. I don't know about Grandma and the others.

So, our first stop was the Animal Star show, featuring quite a couple of macaws in a tiny theater. There was a really large crowd around the small performing area, so I could only see half of it most of the time. This is when being short really sucks. Beside us, there were a couple of tables (there's a small food court here, too), and some very bad-mannered people had let their kids stand on the tables and chairs. Without taking their shoes off. Hygiene, anyone?

The show was interesting enough, but nowhere near as good as the "All Star Bird Show" that we've watched a lot of times in Singapore's Jurong Bird Park (The amphitheatre there is much bigger, too).

Most of the things were aimed at young kids, though. And none of the parrots could talk.

When it was done, Victor and I went to look at some very pretty stuffed animals in the souvenir shop nearby. Both of us love stuffed animals (we have tons of them, although we are both allergic to dust mites. So, as a result, every single one of our stuffed animals has seen the inside of the washing machines at least once. It's made some of their fur rather ugly), and these were no exception. Except that they were very expensive, and being hand-sewn, couldn't be washed in the washing machine, so Mom refused to let us buy them. Sigh. I was looking forward to rashly spending some of my red packet money today.