New stuff
So I’m feeling more at home in my cracker box now. Haha. Above are some pictures taken of the past week or so. I have been extremely busy and working an extra job. Today I’m hanging out in my shoebox because I am sick. The reason I emphasize the smallness of my apartment is because my friend Colleen came over a few days ago and had seen my apartment for the first time, and she said, “Wow, it is a lot smaller than I anticipated.” I’ve told everyone it is small…but apparently they don’t think it is truly the size of my old bedroom…that’s it! But, it is perfect for me and has almost everything I need. The view and bathroom really sold me on this place. I’m on the 19th floor overlooking the city and can see the mountains behind everything along with some neat sunsets when I’m actually here to see them.
I bought a scooter a few days ago and the guy who sold it to me gave me some instructions and sat on the back while I drove. Still, I can’t seem to get the courage to take it for a spin on my own. I think I need a few more lessons before I enter the stampede! Over here, you will see a whole family on one scooter. Mom, Dad, and the kid in front sitting on their lap. That is totally dangerous, but normal over hear. I’ve only seen one scooter accident since I’ve been here, and it wasn’t pretty. I think I am overly cautious here because the last time I drove was when I got into the accident with Micah.
So, excuse me if I repeat myself here, I can’t remember what I have already written. My memory here is awful…I may be showing signs of Alzheimer’s already. I think it is the schedule I keep here, and so many new things to remember.
Well the other day I was out with Colleen and Mtende and we met a really nice Taiwanese guy who showed me around a few days ago. I drove on the back of his scooter and we went into the mountains (see pics above) and then I ate some food without having any idea what it was because he did not know how to translate it. That’s cool, I’m adventurous like that. Well, in the pic above with yet another foreign food entering my mouth, it tasted pretty good and he finally figured out the translated for it…you’ll never guess. “Oh, that is rice with duck’s blood.” Ahahaha! My response was, “Wow, awesome, people in America would freak out if they ate this.” So that was fun, I probably ate some more scary things but they tasted ok. Might as well try it all right? Next is snake’s blood. Well, after all of this, yes I did end up getting sick, but not from the food. When we rode throughout the city the pollution was so bad that I’m pretty sure that is what got me sick because the next day I got a sore throat and now I am congested. It’s all good though because right now I would normally be out, but now I am forced to be lazy today. I was going to go hiking at 8am or church at 10:30, but had to cancel both because I feel so crappy today. So I’m just sitting around drinking O.J. and watching HBO and writing.
There is so much left to do here and so little time. I really want to get more into the sightseeing around here. Once I get my scooter up and running I’m sure I will just wander around more. And I’ve been thinking about what I am going to do when my year is up over here. Well, most people end up staying in Taiwan for longer than one year, even though that is their intention. I’m not sure what I am going to do yet, but I am sure that my future will involve more traveling. I love this idea of moving around and being able to adapt to other cultures. Hmm…I guess it has something to do with growing up as a military brat huh?
On another note, did anyone hear about the earthquake that hit here a couple of nights ago? It was a 6.6 and lasted for 30 seconds, but it didn’t feel like that to me, probably because I was pretty high up though. There wasn’t any serious damage that I have heard of.
To talk a little bit about the nightlife, I tried out a few places over the past couple of weeks and they were each quite different. First was Luxy, which has three floors and a different type of music on each floor. Guys, I will have to tell you that Asian people CAN NOT dance! It was hilarious to say the least. Not only that, but they don’t dance together, they dance by themselves most of the time. I also tried a Latin club (the only one here) called Hips. That was pretty nice, and it was great to hear Latin music and actually talk to some Latinos! I haven’t used any Spanish since I’ve been here so even though they spoke English, I had to speak spanish for my peace of mind..haha. The other place I have tried out is a jazz club called brown sugar where a soul sister was singing. Man, she was great too! Not only could she sing ANYTHING, but she was hilarious…it almost felt like a comedy show with live music. And yes, I have also been to one comedy club earlier on that was pretty neat. Eventually I hope to try out a few places with an open mic night so that I can play on stage. But anyway, there is tons to do here because I’m just used to being in little old Melbourne where the only cool places were Barnes and Noble, moonstruck and house of joe! (Which I do miss by the way…along with Chijioke.)
Hmm…what else to say…I’m meeting new people each week that are here from all over the world either studying, teaching, or doing some temporary engineering job here. Did I mention that there are basically NO blacks or Latinos here? I’ve met VERY few. Actually here, they are kind of scared of black people. A friend of mine from Malawi said that people will take pictures of him, and one time a guy actually got so scared that he hid behind the wall when he saw him! I’ve seen Asians breaking their neck to stare when they notice a black person. So, the difference here is that it is kind of a naïve racism as opposed to some places in America where people are just racist because they have issues. And I will have to say that I often feel like people don’t want “us foreigners” here. There are some nice people here, but at the same time, I think some of them don’t like seeing a white girl who is probably making more money than they are and doesn’t speak Chinese. So when I do meet other foreigners, we stick together and usually complain about the situation here…haha! No it’s not that bad, but I know what it feels like to be a “minority” now. Well, guess I’ll get going now, white chicks is on and I’ve never seen it before! Then it’s laundry time!
