‘New’

This week must be characterized by the word ‘new’. New temperatures, foods, languages (yes, multiple), events, people, places, sights, prayers, smells, experiences, the list goes on… I’ll highlight two for you, one pleasant, one putrid.
 
Let’s begin with the smell first. It occurs along the busier streets and until you learn what restaurant and where that type of restaurant is, there is no predicting when it will hit. One, such as you or I, might be walking along enjoying the evening sounds and people, the incredible number of stalls hawking their soup and squids, their shoes and starfruit (yes, it is a fruit and it is a star shape when you slice it like a cucumber, google images have some great pictures of it). Back to your pleasant walk. Yumm, you smell some chicken noodle soup or maybe some sweet asian desserts. Suddenly, your nose is assaulted by this powerful, overwhelming smell. You bend over double (not ready to ralph … sorry if anyone named ralph is reading this) but just because it is so completely overpowering. A moment later it is gone as a gust of wind whooshes by and you think, maybe I imagined it, nothing could be that strong. You continue along and within a couple steps double over again. No, you realize you weren’t imagining it. Across the street you see a nice little man looking at you over his grill (‘those foreigners, always doing things differently’ he might be thinking) and there on the grill sit the innocent culprits. A pile of tofu, the outsides turned a brown. Stinky tofu – world-reknowned, terrified by some and delighted in by others. *
 
You continue on your walk and continue to pass shop after shop and stall after stall. You come across a little sign that reads ‘The Rock’ and a little door that leads to a second floor room. You enter through a clear glass door to find a simple coffee shop filled with a number of tables. Your ears are filled with many sounds, something like chinese from your right (that is probably Taiwanese, but you can’t actually tell the difference), some more chinese (ah, you hear the words ‘how ba how’ signifying you are correct – evidently your kind little translater – that’s me – tells you it means ‘good, no good’, similar to what young people now say ‘what-ever’). Finally, a familiar voice says hello and you begin to feel at ease. This is a free coffee shop run to encourage the surrounding university student population to engage with us, they learn some english, we learn some chinese and important friendships are cultivated which through time and persistence leads to freedom and new life for many.

* Nobody should get the idea that all food here is like this – there is a wonderful variety and most of it is very enjoyable, just not so entertaining to read about.