The Compass and the Anchor: Summer Vacation Day 2: Lotuses and Candies

Hello, Tim!

I know that I had said that I would try to make my summer vacation as eventful as possible, but it seems like things just keep coming to me these days! This is the record of my second day into the vacation, but I’m not writing it until the third day because I was at my cousin, Eliza’s yesterday.

6/30, Saturday

My rush of events started in the morning, about eight o’clock. My mom and I woke up, got dressed, and headed out into the sun for the Taipei Botanic Garden. My mother, she has a particular kind of plants she would like to see on a regular basis: Lotuses. In the botanic garden, there is a large lotus pond that blooms every summer, and my mother has developed a habit of going to watch them in the recent years; like when I was away in England, she told me she went to the pond by herself through text and several pictures she took. It is still the summer vacation, and I like it spent with people that matter.

It was such a cloudless day, and the sun had its full access to look down on everyone with its burning, sweat-inducing focus. The pond was just as it was like when I came the last time, and there was a distinct and strong smell in the vicinity of the pond that I believed was the scent of the lotus flowers. It was a pleasing sight, with the expanse of the patches of lotuses. Despite some of the yellowish old leaves, most of the pond was a beautiful shade of green and some occasional blots of pink. Mom, however, was not quite satisfied. She said that there used to be more lotuses in this time of year, and because of some overly-aggressive weeds that protruded from between the leaves upset her as well.

‘It’s because there is not enough water for them (the flowers) this year,’ she said.

A pond of lotus

Lotus up close.

There was an old man by the pond painting water paints of lotuses.

After some small idling around the pond, we left hastily after being annoyed by the sun too much.

We did go home, and after a few hours of doing nothing than TV show watching, I headed out again for my German class. Our teacher, if I haven’t mentioned it before, is a teacher with an incredible amount of passion. You see, officially, our duration of the course is one and a half hours, but there is no occasion that doesn’t go beyond. Our lessons usually span to about three hours when it’s already nine in the evening, and that is normally when we have to stop.

In my class, there’s a student called Serena and starting from the next semester she’ll be going to Canada. With that on the table, we started to check our schedules since a farewell party is in order. Our final result was, well, the day after (7/1, Sunday).

A few days ago, my little niece Sophie asked me when I went to fetch her from school, that if I wanted to go with her to Eliza’s house. She said she wanted to stay there for the night, and she wanted me to be there, too. Having nothing on my schedule, I said yes without much hesitation.

I rushed all the way to Taipei after my German class, and there, my lovely and cute niece and nephew awaited.

They asked (demanded) me to make this special kind of Japanese candy with them:

This is a kind of DIY candy you can make into the shapes of small Japanese snacks as shown on the picture. You pour out the right package of sugar powder and you add the right amount of water, shape it properly you theoretically, you will get the cute little snacks that is designed to train the coordination of a kid’s fingers since some of the steps require some certain focus and precise operation. It can also serve as a nice entertaining distraction for high school students like I am.

It was near midnight, and Sophie was feeling a bit sleepy, and that was when she asked her parents to take her home.