Charlie's in town!

 Looky who's in Taiwan!! That's right! My brother, Charlie, has taken off 3 weeks from his job and flown all the way from DC to visit me! Well, he's also here to eat lots of delicious, scrumptious, mouth-watering Taiwanese food, but I'd like to think I am priority. Charlie had a good first few days, but I guess the older we get, the more prone to the effects of jet lag we are:


For the first few days, Charlie would fall asleep around 9:00PM and wake up around 4-5:00AM. Unfortunately, that also meant I would wake up at those ungodly hours because he is a bit terrible when it comes to staying quiet. He didn't quite understand the concept that just because he had jet lag didn't mean that I didn't have jet lag. Needless to say, I had really dark circles under my eyes for days, but I do love my brother and I'm so glad he is here to visit!

Sindy was in town! Sindy is a friend fromVirginia Tech and she happened to be in Taipei the same time Charlie was, so we met up with her (and DJ host Kris) at a popular Japanese restaurant called “瞞著爹” located near Wei Feng (Address: No. 17, Alley 9, Lane 346, Section 2, Bade Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, 105). They have THE best sashimi rice bowls and awesome food! Check it out if you are ever in the mood for some Japanese rice bowls. I recommend the salmon rice bowl and the sea urchin steamed egg. The fish miso soup was also very well-made. 

One thing that I've been trying to do more of lately is helping the community in one or another. My friend, Nicole, and I have started to plan out different organizations that we would like to help. One group that I've come across is one that helps dogs in shelters find homes. I've only helped out twice so far (since it's only once a month). The first time I helped, we went to a shelter in Dong Hu and helped the really nice caretaker (who said I was handsome lol) de-rust and repaint the fences. This time was a lot different; our responsibility was to take dogs out of their cages and to walk them while jotting down their specific characteristics and taking pictures of them so that we could post info on the Internet for adopters to look at. It was an awesome experience and I really fell in love with a lot of the dogs there. If I had money and a bigger apartment, I would definitely adopt one of the dogs there:

His name is RUSTY! I actually gave him that name, and I think he is one of the CUTEST dogs in the world. I loved how one of his ears was up and the other was down, and his tongue was always sticking out. Rusty was also very chill, and would just sit there and daze off into space. Such a cute dog!!! Someone adopt him and give him a wonderful home, please!

 One night, my manager (a mother of TWO, can you believe?!?!) Yvonne, asked me to attend a party with her in Taipei 101. The event was a celebration for the 10-year anniversary of Taipei 101's magazine.

 The event card

 Taking a picture at the front of the event.  I still need to work on not looking awkward and feeling out-of-place in front of the camera in these types of events. I do feel like I'm getting better at it though....It's a lot harder than it looks! When all the flashes go off, you just have to remember to stay natural and composed. Otherwise, you'll look like a deer trapped in headlights

Also bumped into my lovely roommate, Vanessa, and our friend Christine at the event. We definitely had a good time there, having probably more champagne than socially allowed. Hahah, it's never a dull moment when I'm with Vanessa.

Anyways, this was mostly a gateway to more blog posts. Now that posting pictures has become even more convenient, I'm going to try and make posting...posts more of a happening thing. I think I say this every time I post, and I there's usually another year before I post again. I will try and be more disciplined because I want to remember my life when I get old and wrinkly.