Weekend Flower Market

"Cubasian" Yeh is back in Taiwan.... and that means Saturday night was reserved for dancing. We opted for Club 75 (over Barrio) since the last 2 times I was at Barrio, there was some cheesy performance by a European blond boy stripping down to his sequinced thong and giving the Taiwanese girls the equivalent of a lap dance. So very NOT salsa... and in such POOR taste! Anwyay, we danced until about 3:00 am, at which time, we went for Taiwanese breakfast: shao long bao (pork dumplings), Luobogao (turnip cake), danbing (crepe rolled up with fried egg) and re do jang (hot soy milk).

A you can probably imagine, I didn't sleep till after 4:00 and not up on Sunday until noon. At about 2:00pm, I decided I needed to get up and run to McDonald's for coffee (no coffee shops in my neighborhood). When I reached the corner, I realized that my yoga pants were on inside-out and my yellowing Budweiser T-shirt wasn't long enough to cover the tag in the back... Oh, well. No worries. I am the only person on the street in summer slides and short-sleeves (not to mention my hair is still wet from the shower) anyway. I might as well add to the image of complete dishevelment. I suddenly realize why people in Taiwan think that Canadians must be impervious to cold weather (aside from the obvious fact that Canada is more North than Taiwan -- and the US for that matter -- and therefore MUST be freezing all year long). Canadians can wear short-sleeves in December! (This is, however, not as much of a shock as it would be in Japan where there are specific dates when you are practically required by law to stop wearing short sleeves). Well, the air is only a little bit brisk in my opinion. If I were to be out longer than the 10 minutes needed to collect my coffee etc, I would have brought a sweater. The place where I really freeze is in the office where the air conditioner is on full-blast. (I wear at lest 2-3 layers there-whereas my Taiwanese couterparts wear thin cutesy shirts, sleeveless blouses, etc).

Anyway, I go home and roommate has woken up. He wants to go to the weekend flower market. We hop on his motorscooter (I have since changed into more appropriate clothing) and we whiz through Taipei (okay, it feels cold now) to Jianguo Street. The flower market is already playing the "goodbye song." We buy a couple pots of miniature orchids, and many bundles of cut flowers: some green leafy stuff, brilliant gerberas in orangy-red, red anthuriums, yellow calla lies... a bunch of fushia roses, pink gerberas, more more yellow flowers (??) and finally, my 6 red roses. Let's see if the fung sui works!