blog 6

Blog 6

09.09 Tainan Old City Walking Tour, Night Market

Another day, another blog. As this trip comes to an end, we continue our journey with yet another tour. This one took us to Tainan Old City, which I thought would be a similar distance away as Anping but it was actually in the city (who knew!)

the super small alley we walked through

This tour was very urban but still had elements of history that I would’ve missed had I been walking around on my own. The first alleyway really surprised me because I didn't even see it til we were standing right in front of it, and then we squeezed through and there was a cafe in there! The department store was also so impressive in just the size of it and the fact that it still had a Japanese shrine on top; seeing the pieces of the wall that were bombed also made it crazy to think about how we were standing right where it happened. The fabric shop we saw felt so fantasylike with the covered roof, and I liked seeing the tiles that were 30cm long (1 Taiwan foot).

After we got done with the tour, I went to the WuSheng night market and ate so much good food. I really liked the fried chicken, fried potato hashbrown thing, and the jiao zi (so much fried food). Katelyn also won a prize from the basketball game, which was exciting! Then, we had a fun bike ride home.

9.10 Tea Culture Experience, Poster, Hot Pot

tea

I loved the tea culture experience! The location, food, activity, and especially tea was all so wonderful and easy to enjoy. The tea was so bright in color and I’d never seen the smelling cups before; I can’t believe how strong the smell became from them and it was fun to do the whole ritual and flip the cups over. I’m glad I didn’t spill too much. I also bought my friend some tea, and I’m so excited to show her the tea process we went through because I know she will appreciate it too. 

katelyn loved the ice dessert

I enjoyed Taiwanese food we had afterwards! The yu beng 油飯 we had reminded me of food
I have made at home, and I was glad to have tried a more traditional one as my grandma has since changed and evolved the recipe to suit her family's tastes better. Although I liked the one at Amei, I will always love the one I grew up with.

After, we also worked so hard on our poster, and even though everyone was so tired, I’m proud of all the work we did and am excited that this is my first design poster!! Seeing it printed with our lamp displayed in front was so cool and made it more tangible. I'm also proud of our group for putting the 3d printed model together because it really pulled the project together! :)

9. 11 presentations, farewell 🙁

our poster and lamp!!!

Final day :(

The presentations went so well! Everyone’s projects were so cohesive and there was so much thought put into the circular design process that I was so impressed with. Even though there were 5, they didn’t feel super long because each one was interesting and visually exciting to watch. Overall I learned so much, and I’m excited to use everything I’ve learned back at UW in my design classes. 

gifts UWxNCKU exchanged

Final night we got more food at Dan Wa House/ 丹瓦樓, and then played mah jong using Jaz's mini set! I also got the BeReal app and took a bereal of our game! I'll miss everyone I've met here and I'm so greatful to have had these experiences! The program and all the places we saw and things we did and food we ate (yum) was so different from what I'm used to and taught me so much, even beyond design.

mini mah jong!

Fin.