i.love.country.music.
well, the burn update is that i went to carrefour, bought some neosporin, jelly bandaids and anti-scar cream. i had the jelly bandaids on from noon until 7ish but i got on the mayo clinic website and they said to just cover it with gauze until it heals itself, so i did that instead. who knows.
today i made red curry with coconut milk, carrots, potatoes, eggplant and chicken. yumm. and i napped, watched tv, showered. i bought the same body wash i was using at home. Ivory brand lavendar body wash. it smells so good, i love it.
i was kind of in a crummy mood all day. we can't watch much of the olympics here. they televise weird sports like badminton and something that seems like soccer but you can use your hands.. it seems like NBC bought the rights to all of the cool sports and taiwan isn't in on the action. i tried watching live video online, but taiwan 'is not an accepted viewing region' so it wont let me. so that was annoying. and it's hard to be in a foreign country when youre sick or injured. and keith was studying for the MCAT all day and didn't want to be bothered, so i couldn't chat with him and no one in the dorm was really around for most of the day and i just didn't feel good.
but now i feel better. i caught up with gram and spanky on the phone. it had been like a week since i had talked to them and it seemed like forever. i think i really just needed a nap and some food. i went to latini's and had caprese salad that was really good and a frozen latte. came home and watched Gatica with people. noww it's time for bed!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
and a fairytale princess
well, my 9am kindy (short for kindergarten) still seems like it's at 5am. i was so tired this morning. waking up at 7 when you usually wake up at 10 or 11 is pretty rough. we had fun though. lots of flash cards. in my in-between time, from 1030 to 130, i got a hazelnut latte and toasted blueberry bagel with cream cheese at starbucks. it was so tasty. they don't really have cream cheese here and i was craving it. read some more of The Secret. more on that later.
my sub class was pretty good. not quite as fun as last time, but still fun. i can remember everyone's name except this girl who wore a garfield shirt last week and this week, so i continued to call her garfield. it didn't seem like she minded. they like nicknames. anyway as i was leaving, joanna at the front desk handed me a fax and i said oh noooo because faxes mean you have to go do something or you have to sub a class. they wanted me to sub a class that night from 6 to 730 so i said yes. it's my understanding that you aren't really allowed to say no, and i didn't have anything to do at night anyway. it wasn't so bad but i did have to kill time from 330 to 6. went back into town, ate a delicious leek pancake thing with bacon and read more of The Secret at cheng gung (the downtown branch) for an hour while i waited for keith to get out of class there at 5. the secret was talking about how all you need to do is know what you want and the universe will reorganize itself to bring it to you. i thought 'i have enough money right now, all i want is a scooter and ballet classes.'
..so i met up with keith and he scootered me to guei shan on his way home and we had ice cream and chatted about what i had read. then i subbed the class at 6 and the first thing i did was play this word relay game and they had to come up with words with a certain number of letters, and they got to choose the first one and the only constraint was that it had to be a 6 letter word, and one team picked Secret. that could have been a coincidence. but..
keith picked me up after class and we went to the grocery store. when i got off his scooter, i backed into the exhaust pipe and burnt the heck out of my calf. i've been keeping ice on it since then and it looks like:
pretty gross. it's like the size of a golfball. that's my leg and the bag of mixed vegetables i've been keeping it cold with. it huuuurts. i can squish around the layer of skin on top. it's like a giant blister without any liquid in it.
anyway i beelined it for the ice cream section so i could ice it immediately, and keith got me a bag of ice from the lady butchering live fish across from the ice cream and we did a quick check for tortilla chips (which is what i was looking for in the first place), didn't find any, and were on our way out when i was thinking 'it's too bad that i'm in too much pain to think about what i actually need here so this wouldn't be a totally wasted trip' when i saw this girl in a gray sweat suit with a wrap front like dancers wear and i looked at her feet and like an inch of them was exposed and she was wearing pink ballet tights and i could see an inch of shiny purple leotard peeking out from her top and i looked up at her mom who was looking at me and i asked if she spoke english and she said a little, and i asked where the girl took ballet and it's right down the street from me! so i'm going to look into that next week. but it only took 3 hours for that to materialize. now i have to focus on a scooter. although i'm kind of angry at scooters today.
i'm all on a Secret, everything-happens-for-a-reason kick because my friend jerry is a total nonbeliever and he's driving me crazy arguing about it so i've been paying extra attention to all of the things in my life that aren't coincidence.
anyhow now i'm home and not going out dancing with josh and some others because i can't be away from something icy for more than a minute before my leg starts feeling like it's being branded with a red hot poker.
my sub class was pretty good. not quite as fun as last time, but still fun. i can remember everyone's name except this girl who wore a garfield shirt last week and this week, so i continued to call her garfield. it didn't seem like she minded. they like nicknames. anyway as i was leaving, joanna at the front desk handed me a fax and i said oh noooo because faxes mean you have to go do something or you have to sub a class. they wanted me to sub a class that night from 6 to 730 so i said yes. it's my understanding that you aren't really allowed to say no, and i didn't have anything to do at night anyway. it wasn't so bad but i did have to kill time from 330 to 6. went back into town, ate a delicious leek pancake thing with bacon and read more of The Secret at cheng gung (the downtown branch) for an hour while i waited for keith to get out of class there at 5. the secret was talking about how all you need to do is know what you want and the universe will reorganize itself to bring it to you. i thought 'i have enough money right now, all i want is a scooter and ballet classes.'
..so i met up with keith and he scootered me to guei shan on his way home and we had ice cream and chatted about what i had read. then i subbed the class at 6 and the first thing i did was play this word relay game and they had to come up with words with a certain number of letters, and they got to choose the first one and the only constraint was that it had to be a 6 letter word, and one team picked Secret. that could have been a coincidence. but..
keith picked me up after class and we went to the grocery store. when i got off his scooter, i backed into the exhaust pipe and burnt the heck out of my calf. i've been keeping ice on it since then and it looks like:
pretty gross. it's like the size of a golfball. that's my leg and the bag of mixed vegetables i've been keeping it cold with. it huuuurts. i can squish around the layer of skin on top. it's like a giant blister without any liquid in it.anyway i beelined it for the ice cream section so i could ice it immediately, and keith got me a bag of ice from the lady butchering live fish across from the ice cream and we did a quick check for tortilla chips (which is what i was looking for in the first place), didn't find any, and were on our way out when i was thinking 'it's too bad that i'm in too much pain to think about what i actually need here so this wouldn't be a totally wasted trip' when i saw this girl in a gray sweat suit with a wrap front like dancers wear and i looked at her feet and like an inch of them was exposed and she was wearing pink ballet tights and i could see an inch of shiny purple leotard peeking out from her top and i looked up at her mom who was looking at me and i asked if she spoke english and she said a little, and i asked where the girl took ballet and it's right down the street from me! so i'm going to look into that next week. but it only took 3 hours for that to materialize. now i have to focus on a scooter. although i'm kind of angry at scooters today.
i'm all on a Secret, everything-happens-for-a-reason kick because my friend jerry is a total nonbeliever and he's driving me crazy arguing about it so i've been paying extra attention to all of the things in my life that aren't coincidence.
anyhow now i'm home and not going out dancing with josh and some others because i can't be away from something icy for more than a minute before my leg starts feeling like it's being branded with a red hot poker.
Friday, August 8, 2008
beijing
oooh man weren't the opening ceremonies of the olympics so cooool!! i missed them when they were on live because i was teaching, but we just watched a big montage of the coolest parts and it was so awesome. so chinese. they spent $100 million on it, it ought to be cool. my favorite part was the men in the lightup suits who did marching formations.
in my GL3 class tonight we had a mini-olympics of our own and i had them compete in all of the activities to see who would get the gold metal. i think the concept was completely lost on them, but it was fun for me. the moms seemed happy this time which makes me happy. and my coteacher was wearing these: http://shop.crocs.com/pc-1174-4-cyprus.aspx?reqid=1174&reqProdTypeId=41p&subsectionname=footwear§ion=products
except hers were army green with light pink accents.
i have no stories today. i talked the fruit lady down $10 (30 cents) and i was forced to buy a disgusting pork, tea egg (a soft boiled egg, peeled and soaked in rancid..ok it isn't rancid but it isn't delicious.. tea for weeks at a time so that the whole thing becomes brown) and bamboo shoot dinner at beef noodle lady in guei shan even though all i wanted was rice. the lady didn't understand what i said and then when she understood that all i wanted was rice, she said that since she already packaged the meal for me, i HAD to buy it. i guess that's fair enough, but she was really not being nice about it and i didn't enjoy it at all =\ so on my way home i bought one of the leek pancake things and 2 bellfruit.
time for bed! i have early class tomorrow.
in my GL3 class tonight we had a mini-olympics of our own and i had them compete in all of the activities to see who would get the gold metal. i think the concept was completely lost on them, but it was fun for me. the moms seemed happy this time which makes me happy. and my coteacher was wearing these: http://shop.crocs.com/pc-1174-4-cyprus.aspx?reqid=1174&reqProdTypeId=41p&subsectionname=footwear§ion=products
except hers were army green with light pink accents.
i have no stories today. i talked the fruit lady down $10 (30 cents) and i was forced to buy a disgusting pork, tea egg (a soft boiled egg, peeled and soaked in rancid..ok it isn't rancid but it isn't delicious.. tea for weeks at a time so that the whole thing becomes brown) and bamboo shoot dinner at beef noodle lady in guei shan even though all i wanted was rice. the lady didn't understand what i said and then when she understood that all i wanted was rice, she said that since she already packaged the meal for me, i HAD to buy it. i guess that's fair enough, but she was really not being nice about it and i didn't enjoy it at all =\ so on my way home i bought one of the leek pancake things and 2 bellfruit.
time for bed! i have early class tomorrow.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
ghost month
I found this article which explains ghost month in a pretty entertaining way..
Eastern religions are a little more sanguine and pragamatic about the whole deal (and, on the whole, also don't make films with either Demi Moore or Patrick Swayze). Rather than banishing the spirits they try to appease them by inviting them temporarily into the world of the living. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Taiwan during Ghost Month. On the first day of the seventh lunar month, 'Open Day' in hell is held, the gates to the underworld are opened and the spirits are allowed to cross over into the living world.
Not only do the Taiwanese accept these hauntings with admirable equanimity, they actually give their ethereal guests the full VIP 5-star treatment. At the Chung Yuan Festival (about halfway through the month), huge banquet tables are set out in temple courtyards and mountains of fish, vegetables, meat and other delicacies are offered as sacrifice; hanging lanterns are erected to guide the ghosts to the table; non-stop operas entertain during dinner and fake money is burnt so that guests have a bit of pocket-money to spend when they return to hell.
This hospitality is not entirely altruistic - it's insurance against paranormal acts of retribution. Other do's and dont's to be observed during ghost month include the following: weddings, special plans, business deals and outings should be put on hold till the end of the month; no whistling, whistling is not a good idea, whistling will lead the ghost straight to your home; talking ill of the dead (even if it's true) will just bring tears and heartache; special care should be taken when walking along riverbanks where a water ghost can easily steal a living spirit; and adding to the numbers by burying the dead is, unfortunately, not a good idea. On the 30th day of the month, the gates of hell are closed again and the ghosts return to the other side.
I was told that during ghost month, you're not supposed to hang your laundry out to dry, swim, or whistle at night. The first day of the month, almost every store owner had set up a card table in front of their business with lots of food on it with incense stuck in the food. The second and third day, they burnt paper money in these big silver pots. Nothing has really happened since the 3rd. I was told that in the middle and end of the month, the tables of food come back out.
Eastern religions are a little more sanguine and pragamatic about the whole deal (and, on the whole, also don't make films with either Demi Moore or Patrick Swayze). Rather than banishing the spirits they try to appease them by inviting them temporarily into the world of the living. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Taiwan during Ghost Month. On the first day of the seventh lunar month, 'Open Day' in hell is held, the gates to the underworld are opened and the spirits are allowed to cross over into the living world.
Not only do the Taiwanese accept these hauntings with admirable equanimity, they actually give their ethereal guests the full VIP 5-star treatment. At the Chung Yuan Festival (about halfway through the month), huge banquet tables are set out in temple courtyards and mountains of fish, vegetables, meat and other delicacies are offered as sacrifice; hanging lanterns are erected to guide the ghosts to the table; non-stop operas entertain during dinner and fake money is burnt so that guests have a bit of pocket-money to spend when they return to hell.
This hospitality is not entirely altruistic - it's insurance against paranormal acts of retribution. Other do's and dont's to be observed during ghost month include the following: weddings, special plans, business deals and outings should be put on hold till the end of the month; no whistling, whistling is not a good idea, whistling will lead the ghost straight to your home; talking ill of the dead (even if it's true) will just bring tears and heartache; special care should be taken when walking along riverbanks where a water ghost can easily steal a living spirit; and adding to the numbers by burying the dead is, unfortunately, not a good idea. On the 30th day of the month, the gates of hell are closed again and the ghosts return to the other side.
I was told that during ghost month, you're not supposed to hang your laundry out to dry, swim, or whistle at night. The first day of the month, almost every store owner had set up a card table in front of their business with lots of food on it with incense stuck in the food. The second and third day, they burnt paper money in these big silver pots. Nothing has really happened since the 3rd. I was told that in the middle and end of the month, the tables of food come back out.
ding ding ding went the bell
this is me and serena a minute ago. she's from chicago
i can't think because the trolley song is stuck in my head and it's overwhelming the voice in my head. let's seeee...
oh, went to taipei this morning to pick up my resident visa! now i have to apply for my ARC (alien resident card) that'll give me some more privileges. i can get a scooter and i can go to health clinics and get reaaally cheap prescriptions. keith came with me because we were both feeling kind of weird about me going alone and my intuition has been really strong here so if something seems weird, i just don't do it. anyway i was happy to have company. we took a taxi from the train station, went straight there, and went straight home. this really nice spanish? guy helped us find the bus station when we were lost. people just pop out of nowhere when you need help.
bought a cuteee top on the street. (see below). it makes me feel like a german milkmaid or something. i love it. it's crocheted on top but you cant really see it in the tiny picture. click on it if you want to see it better.
it looks weird with my yellow skirt :P and serena found me some taiwan-tastic leggings. they're black with pink bottoms. (in the picture). i didnt wear that all day, by the way. i was just trying on my new shirt.
i don't really have a whole lot to say about today. my good class was good, my horrible class was horrible. oh! so in my good class, i have a mom who sits in the back. tonight at the end of the class, my coteacher told me that the mom said that she doesnt want me to wear tank tops like i wore today, andd i shouldn't whistle at night because its GHOST MONTH and you arent allowed to WHISTLE AT NIGHT. i called shenanigins on that. i understand cultural differences, but i mean.. i like to whistle. i didn't realize how much i did it until someone told me not to.
time to chat with jeffy and go to bed.
i can't think because the trolley song is stuck in my head and it's overwhelming the voice in my head. let's seeee...
oh, went to taipei this morning to pick up my resident visa! now i have to apply for my ARC (alien resident card) that'll give me some more privileges. i can get a scooter and i can go to health clinics and get reaaally cheap prescriptions. keith came with me because we were both feeling kind of weird about me going alone and my intuition has been really strong here so if something seems weird, i just don't do it. anyway i was happy to have company. we took a taxi from the train station, went straight there, and went straight home. this really nice spanish? guy helped us find the bus station when we were lost. people just pop out of nowhere when you need help.
bought a cuteee top on the street. (see below). it makes me feel like a german milkmaid or something. i love it. it's crocheted on top but you cant really see it in the tiny picture. click on it if you want to see it better.
it looks weird with my yellow skirt :P and serena found me some taiwan-tastic leggings. they're black with pink bottoms. (in the picture). i didnt wear that all day, by the way. i was just trying on my new shirt.i don't really have a whole lot to say about today. my good class was good, my horrible class was horrible. oh! so in my good class, i have a mom who sits in the back. tonight at the end of the class, my coteacher told me that the mom said that she doesnt want me to wear tank tops like i wore today, andd i shouldn't whistle at night because its GHOST MONTH and you arent allowed to WHISTLE AT NIGHT. i called shenanigins on that. i understand cultural differences, but i mean.. i like to whistle. i didn't realize how much i did it until someone told me not to.
time to chat with jeffy and go to bed.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
aicha
i just don't have much to say about today other than about how much of an angel keith was. he took me to school this afternoon as he always does on wednesday now "because it's on the way to yoga" even though he didn't go to yoga today, and it's not even close to being on the way. i think he just gets a kick out of my kids freaking out when they see us kiss in front of school.
and he let me borrow some of his eggs. i only meant to borrow 1 but the first one rolled off the counter without me noticing until it was too late, and i broke the yoke on the 2nd. the third one turned out perfect. i loveeee fried eggs and toast. they're more or less the same in every country.
and he picked me up from school tonight since he was 15 min away.
aaand when i got home, aunt carol's post card had been slipped under my door and he's the one who did that.
and he bought a nonstick frying pan for the kitchen because we neeeeded it to make eggs. we needed it for a lot of things.
he's my favorite guy in taiwan. and really in the world right now.
today briefly..
taught 4 hours of my own classes and then subbed a class. nothing of note there. odd names: belinda and a boy named Joy.
wednesday night dinner was at a foreigner-owned bar named Feebies. i had a pizza pocket anddd warm brownies with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream and berries. i could have dieedddd it was soo good.
beth took me there and back on her scooter and i was laughing so hard the whole time. beth has a hard to describe sense of humor but she's really funny and dry. she's fun. her scooter is only 50ccs though and it did not want to carry both of us. we were like leaning forward trying to make it go.
i think that's all the news i have for today.
and he let me borrow some of his eggs. i only meant to borrow 1 but the first one rolled off the counter without me noticing until it was too late, and i broke the yoke on the 2nd. the third one turned out perfect. i loveeee fried eggs and toast. they're more or less the same in every country.
and he picked me up from school tonight since he was 15 min away.
aaand when i got home, aunt carol's post card had been slipped under my door and he's the one who did that.
and he bought a nonstick frying pan for the kitchen because we neeeeded it to make eggs. we needed it for a lot of things.
he's my favorite guy in taiwan. and really in the world right now.
today briefly..
taught 4 hours of my own classes and then subbed a class. nothing of note there. odd names: belinda and a boy named Joy.
wednesday night dinner was at a foreigner-owned bar named Feebies. i had a pizza pocket anddd warm brownies with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream and berries. i could have dieedddd it was soo good.
beth took me there and back on her scooter and i was laughing so hard the whole time. beth has a hard to describe sense of humor but she's really funny and dry. she's fun. her scooter is only 50ccs though and it did not want to carry both of us. we were like leaning forward trying to make it go.
i think that's all the news i have for today.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
so much cooler online
so i remembered that i have radio on itunes and i've been listening to country music all day and it's been lovely. i didn't realize how much i missed listening to the radio until today. i closed my eyes this afternoon and when i opened them i had forgotten i was in taiwan.
well, apparently my chinese name is ridiculous. all of my kids have laughed their heads off when they've seen it. i think it's the equivalent of them having names like tiger and mabel, it just doesn't make sense. it means 'plum flower root' which i guess doesn't really work. anyway theyve gotten a big kick out of it and i'm used to not quite fitting in here, so i don't mind.
my class was in shambles tonight. they were just all hyper and being crazy and fun. there are TWENTY FOUR of them which is the max number of students that can be in a class before they split it up. we had a really fun night tonight. we played lots of games and they were making fun of my artistic skills (they called my grasshopper a dragonfly, my dragon a monster, but were impressed with my taiwan). our QA was about directions and where certain cities in taiwan are located, and they started asking about europe and the US so i drew a giant map and they saw how small taiwan was compared to texas and they thought that was crazy. i think they also fully realized how far away i live. i told them i came all the way over here to teach them english and they just looked at me like 'ohmygoodness.'
made DELICIOUS pasta salad today:
before i forget! best name in taiwan: Hymen. he's one of beth's new kids and she was trying to explain what it was to the coteacher and the coteacher was like 'oh blahblahablah (in chinese)!?' and this other chinese-only-speaking-girl was like 'balahbalablah(chinese) ?!!?' but they didn't change it.
keith time.
well, apparently my chinese name is ridiculous. all of my kids have laughed their heads off when they've seen it. i think it's the equivalent of them having names like tiger and mabel, it just doesn't make sense. it means 'plum flower root' which i guess doesn't really work. anyway theyve gotten a big kick out of it and i'm used to not quite fitting in here, so i don't mind.
my class was in shambles tonight. they were just all hyper and being crazy and fun. there are TWENTY FOUR of them which is the max number of students that can be in a class before they split it up. we had a really fun night tonight. we played lots of games and they were making fun of my artistic skills (they called my grasshopper a dragonfly, my dragon a monster, but were impressed with my taiwan). our QA was about directions and where certain cities in taiwan are located, and they started asking about europe and the US so i drew a giant map and they saw how small taiwan was compared to texas and they thought that was crazy. i think they also fully realized how far away i live. i told them i came all the way over here to teach them english and they just looked at me like 'ohmygoodness.'
made DELICIOUS pasta salad today:
before i forget! best name in taiwan: Hymen. he's one of beth's new kids and she was trying to explain what it was to the coteacher and the coteacher was like 'oh blahblahablah (in chinese)!?' and this other chinese-only-speaking-girl was like 'balahbalablah(chinese) ?!!?' but they didn't change it.
keith time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
