Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2006
Edit Blog Post
So on Sunday I finally got out of this boring town and head to Taichung City. After an hour long scary bus ride, I am suprised I am still alive, people drive SOOO crazy here. I might even be suffering from whiplash! Well I had a note I had to give to the bus driver so I could get dropped off at the right place. That's right folks, I, a 23 year old independent woman had to have a note. Well anyways I got off the bus where he told me to and I freaked out. I had no idea where I was and I have no phone. So like any typical Taiwanese street there was a 7-11 right across from me. So I carefully crossed the street and made a call to my coteacher to come pick me up and take me to the church I was going to. I finally arrived to the church and enjoyed seeing 10 foreigners in the same room! After service my coteacher picked me up and she showed me around the city. Like I was really gonna remember anything, it all looks the same to me. But anyways I went back to her house
Watch out for the Snakes
Dont worry Uncle Jay, I did not see any snakes! and stayed with her entire family, (this includes, scary 96 yr old grandma, mom, brother, sisters, nieces and nephew and whoever else I didnt happen to see) Her nieces took me shopping at a night market and I was able to get my nails done for 200NT, which is about $6 for hand painted design! Nail places are very rare here. Funny how every nail place in the states is run by Asians, I have yet to figure this one out. Well we shopped and ate then we went back to the house.
I had the joy of sleeping on a bamboo mat which, if it is possible, is harder than my bed. I mean I would have slept better on the tile floor. So needless to say I did not sleep well and then had to get up at 6am so we could go to a forest. What they did not warn me was that we would be hiking over 10 miles!!! Are you SERIOUS? I have done no form of exercise in a long time. So we drive 2 hours out there and it is beautiful. The mountains are so pretty and well worth the car ride,
but I'm not sure about the physical activity part. So we begin our hike and I am struggling about 30 min into it. It is 90+ degrees and I am supposed to be hiking. Didn't God create air conditioning for a reason? Well I had no way of getting out of it so we hiked and hiked and hiked some more. I also was the ONLY forrigner there, suprise, suprise. I love it when kids and adults point at me and say things. What little Chinese I do know, I am able to hear them call me westerner, american and big nose. I seriously wanted to call that kid a fat taiwanese but i dont know how to say that yet. it is on my list of things to learn. So we hiked until we came back to the parking lot and I about died. I slept all the way home and my legs are still sore 24hrs later. We evetually got on the bus for another terrifying ride back to Dajia. This one was even worse than the ride there.
Today we had our first staff meeting! And if you think staff meetings in the states are boring try going to one in Chinese. I was bored to tears, I think i might have even dozed off for a minute. The only thing I paid attention to was when the principal said yingwen laoshi, which means English teacher. So I had to stand up and wave then there is a microphone in my face and she is telling me to give a 2 min speech. You have to be kidding? What the heck am I supposed to say? Most importantly why didnt anyone warn me? The movie Lost in Translation comes to mind..... anyways I said Hi and whatever then I was told I would have to introduce myself in front of the entire school tomorrow, 2100 people!! I might pee my pants. The day only got better when after the meeting from you know where I got to meet some of the young single male teachers..... you can guess where this is leading. Yes I have a feeling they are going to try and fix me up, never mind the flippin LANGUAGE BARRIER! I am so happy to be able to leave town and go to Taoyoun and Taipei this weekend to see my native English speaking friends. Maybe I'll even spot a cute guy, but I have a feeling my standards and going down quickly due to lack of availability. I cannot wait to be able to talk in complete sentences, talk fast and not have to use my "body language."
I almost posted this with out adding that at school we have COED BATHROOMS! Yes you read that correctly, the teachers and studnets all use the same restroom male and female. I was suprised to find a young male student at the urinal when I came out of the western stall! I am not sure I can handle this, so I will be looking to use the private bathroom in the library! All I can say is this screams lawsuit in the states.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.159s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 66; dbt: 0.1282s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Doug Stephen
non-member comment
comments from Guangfu
Hi Rachel. I enjoy your comments and observations. I would like to send the link to Lao-puo Suzanne, if that's OK with you. I know that she will enjoy your writings. Overweight little Chinese boys, spolied rotten by indulgent parents, are just our cross to bear over here. Lao-puo and I call them FLF's. Fat Little F......