matzu update

hey friends, fam and keith :)
i found the internet on matzu. i'm only checking email quickly and then getting back to the whole 'remote, semi-deserted island' thing, but i wanted to give you a heads up that i was wrong, and i really get back monday night. i'm going to try to switch my flight to monday morning to go back on dawn and alex's plane, but in any case, it'll be monday. just didn't want you to think i fell off a cliff or something.

the island is very quiet, to put it nicely. i think the total population is 9,000 people, but our island is one of 5, and it's the 2nd biggest, so we probably have 3 or 4k. anyway, it's very small. there's a main street and a side street. our hotel is literally across the street from the 'airport' and in our day and a half here, we've completely exhausted this island. we're taking a ferry tomorrow to the bigger island.
memorable moments so far..
-yesterday alex and josh were on a scooter, alex pointed to something off in the distance and josh, who was driving, quit paying attention and drove into some brush on the side of the road. they were fine, but it was pretty funny.
-we ate waffles on this beautiful terrace overlooking the ocean today and a bride and groom showed up for a photo shoot. her dress was so pretty, i wish i had the nerve to sneak a picture.
this is the little village thing where we had waffles
-we drove to the highest (or one of the) highest points on the island today and it was ridiculously windy. there was a military outpost up there and out of nowhere, we see 3 soldiers pulling this live goat on a rope. we tried to ask what they were doing with it, but we couldn't understand what they were saying to us.

i guess that's the beginning and end of the memorable moments so far.
i've taken 142 pictures so you can look forward to those.
talk to you monday unless i break down and get online again in the next 2 days, which will probably happen.

we meet every day at the same cafe

i thought my umbrella disappeared and i was super bummed, but yesterday i found a cute new one that's yellow with polka dots and ruffles. i think the lady kind of ripped me off at $5.50, but $6 for an umbrella is ridiculously cheap so whatever.but then when i went to pack becca's birthday box today, my old umbrella was inside the bag of stuff i bought her! it's green with pink elephants, and it has a really cute coordinating strap thing, also with polka dots. i guess i have a thing for polka dots right now.
fun chinese lesson, while we're on the subject:
dian - period ( . )
dian dian - polka dots
dian dian dian - elipses ( ... )
well today my outside class was canceled. i'm not sure why. this week and next week, wooo! i took advantage of my new free time by mailing becca's long overdue birthday box. her birthday was sept 26.

tonight i went to see the vegetable mrs. chan saved for me before she cut it up. it's like this giant, ear looking thing. HEYYY i think i know what it is. keith had been getting 'jews ear' dumplings and it didn't make any sense until right now.. wikipedia is loading. let's see.
yep. it's about as weird in person as it is in that picture. it's flatter, though. it looked like a giant purple pig's ear. wikipedia says: Auricularia auricula, Hirneola auricula-judae) is commonly known as Judas's ear fungus or Jew's Ear, the name from which it derives the "judae" in its scientific name, or as the jelly ear fungus. This jelly fungus is conspicuously ear shaped, ranging from purple to dark brown or black in color with a rubbery texture, and most often found on dead elder trees but also on elms. It was said that Judas hanged himself on an elder tree, which is the origin of the name.

well, i feel better. mystery solved.
anyway when i went there, mr kuo and 2 other guys were drinking this crazy alcohol they make in taiwan. it's 38 proof and i don't know how to describe it other than 'disgusting'. mr. kuo wasn't drunk but this other man was. he tried to teach me some chinese but he kept pausing for long periods of time. i agreed to having a beer with them some time after class.

in class tonight, i offhandedly mentioned how their class time was switching and they wouldn't have me as a teacher anymore, since i assumed my coteacher had told them, but they all looked at me incredulously and they obviously hadn't been told. after class, one of the girls, rebecca, came up to me and asked why i wasn't going to be their teacher anymore and she hugged me and said she would miss me. that class is kind of fun. usually we just sit and chat for 10 minutes or so, but only a couple of the kids talk. i'll miss the ones i actually got to know.

so tomorrow is 10/10 which is a holiday in taiwan. it's like their independence day, even though they're not technically independent.. but a bunch of us are going to a small island off the coast of china, but controlled by taiwan, called matzu. we picked it because we didn't think any taiwanese people would go there since there's not much to see.. i guess the main function is a military outpost. you can apparently see china on a clear day. we will see. i'm bringing my fancy camera to keep myself entertained.
we'll be there friday until sunday evening. so i'll talk to you again sunday, hopefully with distant pictures of china :)
my cell phone is 0987994511 if anyone feels the urgent need to contact me.

p.s.

i knew i forgot one thing from yesterday

so i go to the tea place before i get on the bus, and i hadn't been there in a week or so, so i said 'hao jiu bu jian' to the guy (long time no see). and he looked shocked and then turned around and was like 'hey she just said hao jiu bu jian' to the girls who work there. there are about 5 people who work at that stand intermittently. anyway then he said something else to me in chinese, testing the waters, and i was completely lost and we were back in miscommunication land.
it was such a contrast of high and low all within 2 minutes. i thought it was pretty funny in any case. lots to learn!

if you want a driver, climb inside

memorable moments.
1. bobo taught us 'ni gan ma?!' today in chinese which is 'what are you doinggg?!' for when jerry isn't paying attention. i think i said it 10 times in class today.

2. after the english lesson at the hospital today, the main woman said 'megan, we want to cordially invite you.. we want to ask you.. we were wondering.. do you want to go somewhere with us on an outing?' and then the woman next to her pulled out this big list of everything they had thought i might like to see. it was really nice. we're going to the national palace museum in taipei which is beauuutiful (see below), and maybe the zoo.
other fun facts about the taiwanes health care system
-patients pay 5% of the copay and the government pays everything else
-the hospital doesn't supply towels or toiletries

3. before class, i went to check in with mrs. chan and mr. kuo at the restaurant in da chu and mrs. chan was just taking the burnt rice at the bottom of the rice cooker out to make a new batch and she gave me a little piece to see if i'd like it. it was reaaally good. it tasted kind of like toasted marshmallows. she gave me a little to go container of it.
3.5 as i was leaving, i decided to ask if i could see this certain vegetable that comes with my carrots and peapods. it's purple and kind of oddly textured. they told me it's like a mushroom, but i've always wanted to see a whole one. so i ask 'can i see one of these before it's cut up?' and i can say 'i want to see this' in chinese, but not 'cut up' so i was using gestures.. and they didn't understand, so i kept trying new ways to say it. meanwhile, the entire restaurant full of people has crowded around me and is trying to figure out what i was saying. literally 15 people were standing around me, screaming chinese back and forth and copying my gestures. i was laughing so hard at one point i could barely get words out.
finally, we did convey the message. tomorrow, mrs. chan is going to save one for me before she cuts it up so i can see it whole.

4. in class, we were learning about different ethnic foods and there were drawings of like.. american, mexican, greek, thai, etc food. so when we got to mexican, there was a burrito, rice and beans. i asked if they knew what it was, they said no, i threw my hands up in a dramatic fit and told them mexican food is my FAVORITEEE and explained all about burritos. then they said 'megan, will you make some for us?' andd how can you say no to 24 kids, so i said yes. i need to find tortillas. i know they're at costco in taipei if all else fails.

quickly, 5. i don't know if i mentioned seeing an old white guy on the bus who i didn'twork up the nerve to talk to yesterday, but he got on the bus again today and i this time said hi and we started chatting. he's been here fourteen years and seemed kind of odd to me. he taught for 5 years and then he's been doing lots of random work since then. anyway yesterday i thought i should have talked to him and i'm glad i got a second chance, if only to find out he's a weirdo.

a kiss to build a dream on

there's not much that gram, jeffy and i have in common when it comes to music, but we all know the words to a kiss to build a dream on. it was my favorite song in 8th grade

things i find puzzling about taiwan:
-the buses. i ride one of the most popular routes, bus #15, home. there's always a giant crowd of high schoolers waiting to go home when i get out of class, and the bus driver lets everyone and anyone who's standing there on until no one else is waiting. the aisles are full, the front section by the driver is full, the stairwell is full.
but then, once people start to get off and seats open up, the people who are all crammed at the front a) don't move toward the back and b) don't sit in an empty seat. so the back can be almost completely empty but the people in the front are all squished together in a big huddle. it doesn't make any sense to me.

-there's a 7-11, family mart, OK mart or some other kind of convenience store literally on every single corner in the whole city, and then bunches more that aren't on corners. wikipedia says: Taiwan has a high density of 24-hour convenience stores, which in addition to the usual services, provide services on behalf of financial institutions or government agencies such as collection of parking fees, utility bills, traffic violation fines, and credit card payments.

i brought a package of pretzel sticks to class tonight and there was a mixed, but generally positive reaction from the kids. i think tomorrow i might bring my precious parmesan goldfish. i'm pretty sure they don't have goldfish here.
in other food-related news, i made meatballs and sauteed zucchini and onions with dill tonight and it was tasty beyond words.

well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand if you want to

if you haven't heard michael buble sing 'wonderful tonight' you need to youtube it right now. i'd send you the link but i think taiwanese youtube would be really slow for you. anyway some italian guy (i think he's italian..? it doesn't sound like spanish to me) sings with him and it is soooo goooodd. so good.

jerry and i went to chinese this morning and then we went to latini's for lunch and it was a bunch of fun. we're getting to the point where we can say a lot of general things in chinese which is fun. and since i've been learning and practicing on the owner and the waitstaff this whole time, they always understand what i'm saying which is really nice. lots of times in the real world, people look at me blankly or just refuse to try to guess my meaning.
jerry and i split a delicious pizza and i had a vanilla latte because it was rainy and a little chilly out.
anyway after jerry left, i was the only one in there and i asked one of the guys, justin, if his girlfriend was very beautiful. 'ni de nupengyou hen piao liang ma?' and justin told me i'm more beautiful than her. i told him you're not supposed to say that!
and he asked me, in english, if i had been to taipei 101 and i said 'ni ke yi shuo zhongwen' which is 'you can speak chinese' and he said it again. so things are moving right along in the language department.

i think i got back on the teaching bandwagon tonight. i brought my kids lifesavers and pretzels and they brought me some candy and we had fun in both classes. it's pretty odd to be the rule maker though. i still feel like i'm pretending. they asked if they were allowed to eat the candy in class and i said sure. in general, i'm trying to go with maj's rule that if you don't do anything stupid, you can have a long leash.
the thing is that i never learned what happens if you cross the line. when i was little, the fear of the unknown was enough to keep me from testing the limits, but a lot of these kids don't have that. in my saturday class, i have a kid who i asked to move seats and he looked at me and just said no. i can't really do anything to him though since if there's a discipline problem, they say it's the teacher's fault for not being fun enough in class. so i just held up class until he moved. who knows!

just the sound of your voice, the light in your eyes

jaime being a model at the park

today was a lot of fun. this morning before my chinese lesson i went to play with jaime and joyce at their house. we colored and hung out. it's funny how they're shy for the first 20 seconds i walk in and then the next thing i know, joyce is hanging all over me like a little monkey.
blurry joyce, cute as can be

chinese was easy today. we focused on 'yo mei yo' which is 'have/don't have' and 'yao bu yao' which is 'want/don't want'. linda and i had a pretty funny argument about how you say 'i see the table'. the book has an exercise where you write 'i see _____ but i don't see _____' and i wrote table and pen in the blank and she said i can't say that. you can only see/read/look at newspapers, magazines, tv's and movies. i was trying to ask, what if you want to say 'i see the table?' and she said you need some context like 'i went to linda's house and i saw her new table' but no one would just say 'i see the table'. i tried to explan that i wouldn't usually say that, but we have words to say it. who knows!

after that, bobo called to tell me she and jaime and joyce were riding bikes at the park by the dorm, so i took my camera and went over to play again. i brought a package of pretzels with me and they were a big hit. joyce and i tried to play badminton but it really wasn't working out for us. she rode her tiny bike all around and i walked after her. another parent was saying 'meiguo lai!' to his kid which means 'an american is coming!' which i thought was kind of funny.
when we were done, bobo took me to hot pot (a restaurant) with them to thank me for playing with them all day which was really nice of her. hot pot is kind of taiwan's special thing. you have bunsen burners built into the table and then they give you a big bowl of vegetables, tofu things and cabbage and you cook it in broth for a while. kind of like the melting pot. it was pretty good. i ordered beef and she ordered congealed blood, which i passed on. maybe next time..
i had a ton of fun today. girls between the ages of 0 and 12 are my target audience. i hope i have a whole gaggle of girls or a husband who doesn't mind me girly-ing up my boys.

if you want to see more pictures of us at the park, you can click here to see the album