I went to Tainan a couple weeks ago to take the TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language). I passed the listening for my level...and actually failed the reading. Oops. Reading is definitely one of my weak points. Tones are my ultimately weakness though. I just have to continue the never-ending struggle of studying Chinese. It's like running a marathon, except every time you think you hit the halfway point, the distance doubles.
In any case, after the test, I wandered. I didn't even get to the sights across the city that I had originally planned on seeing because I kept stumbling across temples around where my hostel was. I'd always heard that Tainan was Taiwan's historical center but it was another things seeing for myself how many old temples there are. I know many people think all temples start to look the same after a while - I've had the same feeling at times - but each temple I came across seemed unique and I really had a good time exploring them all.
This last building is actually an old Japanese-style building that is now a grade school...I wish I could have gone to school in such a beautiful place with so much history! (Granted, I did go to school in the New Orleans Garden District, which is pretty beautiful and filled with history as well...)
So, I had all these local specialties I wanted to try (coffin bread!) but I ended up binging on some of the most delicious "Western" food I've ever had in Taiwan. Well, the quiche and soup was just okay (from Quail Quiche) but the hummus and giant chocolate rugelach-croissant thing from Imma Bakery and Cafe was so amazingggg. I even ended up going back there on Sunday to buy a bunch of things to bring back to Taipei: spinach quiche, more rugelach, and chocolate mousse cake.
