we went to the national palace museum yesterday. i think we spent a good 4 hours there looking at things on our own as well as taking a guided tour. man, we were the only active ones in the english group, it was kind of sad - everyone else were like zombies. im glad we made out curator lady feel cool, or at least i thought she was entertained by us and our comments hoho.

i got a bok choy plushie thing thats super cute. she's supposed to be based off of this jadeite artwork of white and green carved in the shape of a bok choy. the stone was supposed to have been a single piece of jade with natural hues of white on one end and green on the other. a play on the words "white" and "green" are supposed to mean "oh so super pure." there were also a locust and a katydid carved on the leafy part of the bok choy which is supposed to symbolize fertility - because bugs like to lay their eggs in the bok choy... so the entire image combined was supposed to express virtues of purity and fertility and overall awesomeness of this one princess chick, and was her dowry. in any case the bok choy plushie is super cute.

when i first got here younger brother told me that "man, nothing is considered rude here" and after staying here for a good 2+ weeks, nothing said could be more true. the most extreme case of would-be rudeness is the non existent respect of space. i guess it's because everyone has been crammed on this tiny island since forever, but everyone totally walks on one another here without a second thought. people never look behind them before moving around - people dont even look ahead of them before moving around, lol. i think theyve all been desensitized about the whole bumping into other people thing. i find this particularly amusing in the case of little children. i swear the adults here literally beat it into their children haha.

im just walking along the street, or along a shopping mall avenue and i see a mother with her 5 year old kid in tote next to her. as they get nearer they dont arc their path or anything to avoid me - theyre totally looking in some other direction but straight ahead too haha - mommy passes by just fine, but little 5 year old totally slams into my thigh *thock!* and im like, "whoa there little dude" but mommy just gives his hand a firm tug and little boy stumbles along almost un-phased lol. i was like, "man the kids grow up to be tanks here haha" this has happened to me too often for comfort here. kids are like their mommies' rag dolls i swear.

oh, and there are no hot mommies here in taipei - and ive been everywhere - the ghetto and the high class places. i think there was maybe one couple that passed as hot young couple with baby, but their kid wasnt as accessorized so i dont count them. haha in japan there are ONLY hot moms, i swear - and their kids are their cute and pretty accessories. moms really play the mom role here.

and the dumpy look never dies here. i think it has a lot to do with school uniforms. kids uniforms all the way up until high school are some pastel sweatshirt + sweatpants combo. you cant get any more dumpy than that. the sweatpants sit and scrunch above the ankle too which accentuates the effect. everyone wears hightop sneakers too - it's great. and theyre forced to sit on the dirty ass floor for everything haha - poor kids.