Niu Rou Mian and More: 2 More Days - I find yet more struggles

So this whole uploading pictures thing is really cutting into my blog motivation. So the pictures may or may not come eventually, but for now, the blog posts are more important.
I had to get my schedule and books from Taida on Friday. And also had to move all of my stuff from my hostel to the apartment. I have a place to live now. YAY! But first I had to drag my huge pink suitcase all around Taipei and on the MRT. Oh boy. I left it at ICLP while I went to do errands. We got our schedules and books. My books are strangely all in Chinese...questionable. And all words that I've never seen before...
Hmm...
We did then photocopy our student IDs so that we could get real gym cards. Yay exercise!
And then we went to lunch all together at this place in the alley near Shida. It was so delicious. And cheap! And smelled good. And had a vegetarian option for our vegetarian friend. And of course, I couldn't decide what to get, so I confused the heck out of our poor waiter. Oh miscommunication, how you pop your head into all of my affairs here in Taiwan.
And we got Qing1wa1zhuang4nai3 which is milk with bubbles that are caramelized. So so so so so good. But it started pouring. Oh no! Our books!
We all parted ways and decided maybe to meet up later at night. Then I went back to AmEx to get money for rent. Bah it's so difficult transferring so many lines. I felt strangely unsettled all day since I had no place to call home, temporarily. Only the ICLP office, I suppose, but that seemed odd. And I really just wanted a nap. And it rained. Boo hoo for me, I know.
But my roommate was so nice. We got takeout from this little curry place that was soo good - spicy and flavorful, with great rice and veggies all laid out in an orderly fashion.
I got somewhat settled in and the landlord came over and gave me keys and the contract and helped paint my wall a bit. And then it was time to meet Genevieve for Shilin!
I went to my first night market! Kind of. I guess I had been to Shida Night market without realizing it. But Shilin was planned!
It was definitely overwhelming, the amount of stuff that they were selling. And of course, the smell of stinky tofu. I had smelled it in China and found it not too bad, but I think that maybe the Taiwanese kind is a different kind of stinky because this was a stench intense like none other. Just like rotting things that were probably putrid to begin with. Ugh.
But there were so many cool little things - I wanted to buy it all.

I did not buy this. Although I really thought that it might be appropriate for Safety Dance.

These are bunnies. All crammed into this small space. Not real bunnies. Little stuffed toy bunnies. But still - kind of weird.

We went to just about every clothing store. And after a while, they all started blending together, esp since they were all selling about the same things.
And we were hungry so when I saw what I thought was the character for "su4" or vegetarian, we inquired. Turns out, my rudimentary reading skills were right. So we were rewarded with these delicious buns with a golden crust on one side. And the woman complimented Genevieve on her sweet sneakers.

So we bought things and went home very satisfied.
Saturday morning, I woke up to find my roommate had left me lychees. She's so sweet. Like the lychees, which were just super delicious and juicy. The pits were smaller than ones that I've had before.

I also bought the fattest banana that I've ever seen and also a golden kiwi. Both good, but the banana was a bit underripe and thus sour. The kiwi, though, was pretty much perfect.