It was finally the weekend where I’d got to move!!!

After packing the entire Friday and panicking while at it (God, I didn’t know when I’d finish), I finally got things done by Saturday (merely just dropped all the lil’ trinkets into the box).

Maureen from Animals in Taiwan swung by around noon to pick up the 3 black garbage-full of stuff I was donating for their charity garage sale. However, that didn’t really significantly decrease my luggage, which amounted to…

Over 6 large boxes, 3 luggages, an electric fan, a heater and more!!!

Gosh, being a girl is such a hassle.

Hence, I was so glad I hired a professional mover to help me move. If I asked my friends, I know I wouldn’t hear the end of their complaining and besides, it would’ve taken them ages to get things moving!

Anyway, when the movers arrived, I was surprised on how small they were. However, they (Steven and his partner) showed me what they can do.

First, they brought down boxes on their backs 2 at a time (difficult especially since I didn’t have an elevator) and 15 to 20 minutes later, they were done. With my stuff taking up half the truck (and this is without furniture!) we then sped to my new apartment, wherein placing everything into my room took a mere 5 to 10 minutes.

So BAM! BAM! BAM!

And they were done.

Overall moving time: 1 hour, tops.

I am so, SO satisfied with their speed and service that I can’t help but recommend them to all of you. Here’s their contact number if you want to move. I guarantee you won’t regret it:

Steven the Mover (Steven Chiang)
(02) 2366-1668, 0932-396-030
http://stevenchiang.tripod.com/
steventhemover@hotmail.com

For foreigners peace of mind, an added plus to Steven’s service is that he can also speak perfect English in addition to his fast service and his reasonable prices. So hell yeah, am going to share the wealth by referring him to you! I bet you won’t regret it. 😉

And it’s far, FAR cheaper than treating your friends to Macaroni Grill after a hard day’s work.
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That night, I went to Le Blé d’Or at Nanking E. Road’s Asiaworld (right beside Starbucks and Outback) for a not-so-surprise birthday party of my good Italian friend, PC.

In the midst of the hot/humid summer nights, an outdoor restaurant is NOT the best idea there is — and Le Blé d’Or is an outdoor restaurant. The first thing my friends said as they sat down were, “Gosh, I’m baking in here.” Haha, guess nobody ever thought we’d be eating outside. Everybody thought we would enjoy the AC, myself included. 🙂

The food wasn’t so bad — a lot of fried food to complement their wide selection of beers were available. Hence, that evening, I got a taste of their fried cheese sticks, fried fish and fried onion rings combo (NT$380 or NT$480, I forgot), squid and their fried chicken with orange sauce and served with rice (NT$380).

I also tried out their super-cheesy seafood and vegetable pizza (complete with chicken-flavored tofu), which was just slathered with layers of fat and cheese (NT$280 each).

Overall, there’s really nothing special about the food. You can go to any bar, and be served the same types of dishes, and maybe even at a cheaper price. I think their special offer is in their outdoorsyness, but it was just too hot for any of us to appreciate it. 🙁

In addition, the service was slow (we were practically starving by the time the food arrived) and they even got our orders wrong (e.g., mistakingly ordering seafood pizza instead of vegetable pizza… big difference!).

But most definitely, it wasn’t just the speed of the food that mattered so much as their service. When we asked what were the ingredients in the vegetable pizza, the server just looked at us dumbly and said, “Ummm… vegetables?” And when we asked what vegetables in particular were in the pizza, he just shrugged and said, “Wo bu zhi dao (I don’t know).”

Hmmm… they really should train their servers better.

Their saving grace though is their beer selection which is quite impressive. Even my Spanish and Italian friends were happy with their beer, which were served in HUGE penguin jugs.

But overall, how would I rate the restaurant?

Probably a 2 out of 5 stars — unimpressive, and I’ll only go back if there’s a special event like a birthday party. Otherwise, just save your $$$ and go to the Brass Monkey or Citizen Cain instead. At least they have AC. 😉

Despite the lackluster performance of the restaurant, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. First up, the company was great! It was nice to again see terrific people like Paola, Tiffany, May, Jane, LG, DSC, MI and a few new faces. Haha, Paola even shared to me a bit of her life story in Italy, Barcelona and Madrid, which I found to be thoroughly entertaining.

And besides, it was nice to celebrate another friend’s birthday. PC’s such a great guy, and here’s to wishing him all the best as he enters the Shida Chinese Masters program in September!

Salud!

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On Sunday, I went with some friends to the delightful Yang Ming mountain. There, we ate some authentic man dou (white Chinese bread roll), visited an old traditional Taiwanese house (we even tried out some home-cooked meal served inside), saw a small yet effective farmland (tomatoes, bittergourd, pineapples, you name it… they got it), and even have a hand wallclimbing a manmade wall, half the size of Y17’s!

Since I was one of the only people that could belay, I quickly educated my friends on the joys of climbing. Though pretty strong, they were surprised to discover how hard it was getting up that wall. The walls looked deceptively simple, but no, there was this steep diagonal incline that was just difficult to conquer.

By the end of it, their hands and arms were already aching, and we joked that they couldn’t work effectively tomorrow because their bodies would be aching. Regardless, they had a lot of fun, and hopefully, some of them can join me when I go climbing.

And just when I thought I wouldn’t do any climbing, the owner’s niece came out and adequately belayed me. Haha, so I did managed to get some climbing done this weekend after all! 😉

Afterwards, we sped to the Miramar Mall to catch “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.” Starring the quirky Johnny Depp, the dashing Orlando Bloom and the fiercely-independent Kiera Knightly, the movie was entertaining to say the least, and I was laughing aloud quite a bit while watching it (there’s nothing funnier than Johnny Depp selfishly trying to save himself from savages who want to eat him).

Scoring a whooping US$132 million in their opening weekend making it the largest opening to date, even better than Spiderman, the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is a great film to watch with friends.

However, despite all the revelry and fun, I couldn’t help but gasp when the ending credits rolled, obviously telling us to wait for the third installment to catch the end of the story!!!

COMPLETE SELL-OUT, Jerry Bruckheimer!!! 🙁

They knew they had such a great series that yes, they decided to make another one. And from the looks of their weekend debut, seems like Burckheimer’s right — people just can’t get enough of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Still, I can’t help but feel a tad cheated… I want to know the ending of the story, Jerry!!! Don’t let me wait till next year!

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Anyway, that’s my relaxin’ movin’ weekend! I’ll try to answer Jes’ question this week when I can, and thanks again for leaving a comment. So far, work has been relatively peaceful and I’m so happy with my new place. What’s more, being a very conscientious neat freak, I’ve yet to drive my new roommate crazy yet!

Gosh, hope everything works out in the end! Have a great week, guys!

P.S. Just finished eating sefood instant noodles for lunch. YUCK! Those things are nasty! Don’t know why people still buy ’em. Never again!!! 🙁