week 83_the Life of Convenience

Living in Taipei is living in the land of convenience. Not only is there a convenience store on every street corner (thank you 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Hi Life, and OK Mart!) but there is also abundant street food, drinks, and even individuals peddling tissues and such at every turn.


Being pregnant, whereby my own inner Hobbit has revealed itself.... 

Baby: But what about breakfast?

Me: You've already had it.

Baby: We've had one, yes. But what about second breakfast? [..........]

Baby: What about elevensies? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? You know about them, don't you?

So, it comes as great relief to me that our life in the city is so accommodating to my ever-changing (and fairly demanding) needs these days! 

We recently made a glorious investment and purchased an in home water dispenser! Although the Taipei government has officially declared Taipei's tap water "safe to drink" for years now - and I would really like to believe them - even the locals will not drink the tap water without boiling it. People inform us that it would make us sick, and a friend's vet advised them not to feed the tap water to their cats for fear of infection! So alas, for more than a year and a half now we have been purchasing bottles of water from the corner convenience stores and bringing them home on an almost daily basis. Even Brita filters or similar leave me hesitant to trust the tap... (Not so different from Dallas I guess!)

Water delivered to our door!

Thanks to a friend, we found a company in Taipei that vends water AND has English speaking customer service staff ~ hallelujah. You can check them out here: http://www.maxpure.com.tw/ It seems silly to know now how many plastic bottles we could have avoided recycling, and my sweet husband no longer has to fetch me water in the middle of the night when my preggo belly starts aching [I finish off those smaller bottles pretty quickly these days ;) ]!

Oh yes ~ COLD water please :)

We may have been the only new customer all year to request a dispenser with a COLD water option ~~~ One major cultural difference here is the tendency to drink room temperature (warm) or even scalding hot water... It's extremely common, and considered to be healthier for your body when the temperature of the water is the temperature inside you. Nevertheless we paid the few extra bucks (and slightly larger size) to make sure we will be able to enjoy a nice cool drink on the VERY hot summer days to come!

[I'm sure this is not as exciting to you dear readers, but it is a major upgrade in my daily routine]

Aside from that, I've just been especially grateful for the street food vendors lately. Trucks with fresh fruit, steaming sweet potatoes, and peanuts abound in every neighborhood and they give me great healthy options to snack on when my pregnancy (aka Hobbit) stomach starts growling.

fresh pineapple ~ whole or diced

Pineapple must be in season because I've been seeing them everywhere, and this truck parks on my street every evening. There's nothing quite like being able to swing by the truck a block from your house and pick up fresh ~tropically delicious~ pineapple (or watermelon, or whatever fancies me and is available that particular day)...

The many joys of pregnancy have not made my life any easier thus far, but I am especially pleased to live somewhere so terribly convenient. (And healthy!)