THIS IS HOW YOU PANDEMIC - DAY 12

Because I HAD to complain about things getting bored and wishing for more excitement, the gods of quarantine was like, “Oh yeah? We’ll give you something exciting to blog about!” -

Two big earthquakes happened. The first one was around 9:20pm, clocking in at magnitude 6.7 at the epicenter and about 4.5 in Taipei city. The second one happened around 2:00am, this one only 5.6 at epicenter and about 3 in Taipei city. But when you’re 8 stories high and have major earthquake trauma, it all feels like THE WORLD IS COLLAPSING AROUND YOU AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE ANY MINUTE.

As I mentioned on DAY01, earthquakes are pretty common in Taiwan. As you can see in this screenshot from Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau, there have been five earthquakes since yesterday, and about a dozen since I got back.

I never noticed the cracked egg shell on the Mcmuffin wrapper. Not sure how I feel about it.
 

Before you start freaking out and vow never to set foot on this beautiful island, understand that most of these earthquakes are pretty small and barely noticeable unless you are VERY sensitive (like I was for a couple years post the Great 921 Earthquake.) Most of the “big” earthquake’s epicenter are off the eastern coast of Taiwan (see where the plates meet) and while it does oftentimes cause damage in cities on the east coast, by the time it gets to Taipei and rest of the country, it gets tampered down a bit. Most modern buildings are also pretty earthquake-proof; we even have the world’s largest damper in what was once the world’s tallest building - Taipei 101.

Lastly, it’s actually good to have all these slightly smaller earthquakes throughout the year; it allows energy to be released and prevents it from building up to a giant earthquake. Scientists tend to worry more when we go through periods of “calm and quiet” because it usually means something big might happen at any time. (For an extreme example of this, and if you want to freak out a little bit more, read up on the "Cascadia Subduction Zone” in the PNW.)

All this is to say - YES IT IS STILL UTTERLY TERRIFYING GOING THROUGH AN EARTHQUAKE. It is one of the most unnatural sensations for human beings in my opinion; the entire earth moving, the room swaying and trembling back and forth. It really drives home the feeling of how small and completely helpless human beings are compared to mother earth.

Now that it’s been such an “EXCITING” day, I’m completely okay with the rest of quarantine being entirely eventless and boring. Let’s get on to the boring parts, shall we?

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Breakfast today was *chef’s kiss. Radish cakes and 蛋餅 - it's like a crepe. Both on my list of favorite breakfast foods.

Crepe with egg and corn, and radish cake with sweet soy sauce.

Crepe with egg and corn, and radish cake with sweet soy sauce.

 

Lunch was a Japanese lunchbox with plenty of veggies and a pork-don of sorts.

Day12_06.png
 

The hotel sent up an “afternoon snack” today- tea and doughnut.

The doughnut tastes a lot better than it looks. It’s more like a churro-doughnut. The note says “It’s afternoon tea time! Little Orange has prepared you a doughnut to sweeten your heart (cheer you up.)” It makes more sense in Mandarin.

The doughnut tastes a lot better than it looks. It’s more like a churro-doughnut.
The note says “It’s afternoon tea time! Little Orange has prepared you a doughnut to sweeten your heart (cheer you up.)” It makes more sense in Mandarin.

 

There was another round of OFY GO BUY today (refresher in DAY01) and it came with dinner, which was perfect since it was kind of like dessert.

“Kick start healthy life” dinner again, with “Memo pancake” as dessert.

“Kick start healthy life” dinner again, with “Memo pancake” as dessert.

Seared salmon with brown rice and veggies.

Seared salmon with brown rice and veggies.

 

The OFY GO BUY snack today is from “Memo Pancakes.” I’m not sure if I would choose to translate these as “pancakes” but I guess it works? They’re called 車輪餅, and a direct translation would be “wheel cake” (?), for its shape. It’s origins are from Japan, but it’s now a street vendor staple in Taiwan also. It’s cooked on a griddle and comes in a variety of flavors.

Photo snatched from the interwebs.

Photo snatched from the interwebs.

 

I picked the classic “custard” flavor, and a “black sesame mochi” flavor. By the time they arrived with dinner, they were a bit soggy (they’re best right out of the griddle- hot and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside) but they were still pretty delicious. Paired with a 鐵觀音 Tieguanyin tea (a type of Oolong), dinner and dessert was pretty pretty good.

Custard, and black sesame mochi.

Custard, and black sesame mochi.

 

Two more days to go. Let’s hope I survive these last two days in quarantine, earthquake and all.