Chapter 12

Once again, sorry it's late! Pictures will be posted soon!

Monday, September 7th

I woke up with a sore throat this morning….oh no! I thought, I can’t get sick; my job is ‘talking!’ Just shake it off Tanier! I try not to let the common cold keep me from having fun, so this morning I woke up early to go hiking with one of my student’s parents. Megan’s mom, Peggy, picked me up about 8 a.m. and we drove to the top of Bagwahsan, pretty much the only mountain in Changhua, where we hiked around for an hour or so. It was a lot of fun—of course it was HOT (I brought my sweat rag), but it was exercise, something different from the monotony I’m feeling running at the track!

I love hiking in Asia: the stair climbing is great for the calves, and at every rest stop, a jungle gym of sorts is set in place to stretch. The scenery is beautiful, and I always find myself coming upon cool old bridges (we found and old rope bridge this time, sweet).

After hiking, I had extra time before I needed to be back for work so Peggy told me she’d take me to the ‘branch.’ Huh? Peggy’s English is pretty good, but I was struggling trying to figure this one out…usually a game of gestures will end the guessing game, but because we were in the car, it wasn’t feasible. Peggy and I were both trying to figure it out….she then said the word ‘cow’…..ding, light bulb…..we were going to the ranch! At the ranch, we indulged in a milk popsicle (typical treat in Taiwan…frozen milk cream), and she even bought me a half gallon of fresh milk….yummy….gotta get that calcium! Once again, Heavenly Father knows just what I need. Saturday I bought some cereal at Costco, but they were out of milk…..then Peggy was so kind that she insisted I take some from her, so sweet!

Tuesday, September 8th

Alright, so I broke down and went to see Dr. T today. I asked Sherry, my boss, for a good place to buy some meds for my cold and she was adamant that I go to a doctor. I walked into the doc’s office, no appointment…I waited maybe 40 minutes, saw Dr. T for 10, got my drugs, and was out the door $3.US dollars lighter. I couldn’t believe it!

When Dr. T asked about my ‘condition’….I leaned forward and softly said, “Nothing but a sore throat and cold.” It was soooo funny, her and the other nurses started bustling around, frantically looking for a face mask, “put this on,” she said. Man, it’s not like I have Swine Flu (or H1N1 if you ask anyone around here). I absolutely hate being sick, but I must say…working around all these sweaty, germy children, I’m pleasantly surprised I’ve lasted this long!

In class today Megan came up to me with a beige ball cap, “It’s for you!” she said. Laughing to myself, I wondered what the cap was for. Well, Peggy noticed I didn’t have a hat on when we went hiking, and she found out I didn’t have a hat at all, so she wanted to make sure I was taken care of. I now have a hat so I won’t get ‘black!’ Thanks Peg!

Language exchange ended about 8 p.m. this evening so I thought I’d head down to Clothes Street to see the summer sales. Sherry knows I love a good bargain…and clothes….so she informed me that all the summer sales are going on now. I found a fun shirt and two dresses for just $9.US dollars! In fact, I got the two dresses from that same store that wouldn’t let me try on any ‘sale’ items. I decided to give the place another chance—the same retail clerk was working. She walked over to me, but instead of pushing me out of the store, she kindly told me that it would be alright if I tried on some clothes; thus, instead of one dress, I bought two! Oh the art of reciprocity at work!

Wednesday, September 9th

This morning Sarah and I met another Expat from Pennsylvania at Go Go for Her. Her name is Rayne and her and her husband had originally planned to stay here for 10 months, it’s turned into seven years! She’s way cool. We chatted for a little bit and she totally offered to take us to Costco whenever we need the ride—we foreigners gotta stick together!

After lunch the girls and I hit up Morning market before it shut down for the day. We mainly window shopped, but we did find some nice cheap sandals, $2.US. YAY!

Let me just say that I love the SPE children; however, there are a few kids, as you know, who continually try my patience. You’ve heard about Joe, but have you heard about Kevin??? I don’t know why, but he’s almost worse than Joe….I know, can it be possible? He’s just so smug….he’ll look at me with his cunning little grin right before he does something wrong, like pour the water from his water bottle all over the floor, oh this child! Well, today he decided to do something a little different….He locked the door to the Art room, AKA, my room! That little fart—I could just shake that boy. Sherry, nor Emily, had a key to get into the room, so we had to wait for Uncle Joe, about an hour. My last group of SPE’s didn’t get art, I felt so bad!

Teaching my 7A children is sooo fun! They make it all worth it. Tonight, JoAnna and Martin brought me a stemmed bun, ground pork and onions wrapped in a flour roll….it is so YUMMY! Those kids are so good to me—I love teaching them!

Thursday, September 10th

Go Go night! We invited the secretaries to come with us to kickboxing tonight! We had a great time! Emily is a tall, skinny Asian—she looks like a ballerina. You should have seen her kickboxing, so graceful…and then there’s me, I’ve got the death, gripped fists and my bottom lip tucked up under my teeth like I’m gonna rage on someone! Ha, the girls were making fun of me, but it’s just so much more fun when you get into it! Am I right?

At the night market after Go Go, Hanna and I got our coconut milk, which by the way, is sold by the half gallon….oh so good, I see it now…granola cereal, a sliced banana, coconut milk…delicious! I got my usual dumplings, but then we saw Julie (from our ‘hood), and she had us try some new things….different type of pigs blood, oyster goo, and squid balls. The squid was great…it had wasabi on drizzled all over it; I think I found a new dish!

Friday, September 11th

I taught my 2A students about mysteries today…oh they loved it! I think this particular class was the quietest I’ve ever seen them. Jaws dropped, eyes opened wide….it was so entertaining. I got out some puzzle pieces and told them how solving a mystery is much like piecing a puzzle together. First, I told them the mystery of the stolen car, Mitch’s stolen car, which was found months later. Second, I told them a fictional mystery I made up on the fly about Teacher Tabbi and myself and how we ditched the other teachers….the other teachers got really upset and one of them, we don’t know who, destroyed my classroom and took all my candy! For a moment, I had to remind the kids that the story was all fake. At break, when the mystery had yet to be solved, I could hear the girls in my class talking about who they thought committed the crime….so FUN! I had my kids write about who they thought the culprit was in their exercise books, we’ll see what they have to say….Teacher Sarah, Teacher Hanna, or Teacher Sam.

I have a new favorite SPE student, Jimmy! At first I wondered about this wiry one, but he’s definitely grown on me. For some reason, all the kids think it’s funny to give Teacher a ‘high 5’ with all the strength they possess. Ouch! It’s not so fun for teacher…I’m trying to train them….well, Jimmy caught on real fast and now it’s like a game. He’ll give me a soft pat on the hand, then lean in for an automatic hug, it’s so sweet—we’re tight!

Tonight, after work, I took the train up to Torry’s place in Taichung! I was scheduled to meet Torry outside of the train station around 7:40 p.m. but it ended up being more like 9:00 p.m. I was in my seat and all of the sudden I felt the train come to a screeching stop. I was so tired and out of it that I didn’t think anything of it at first, I just thought it was an abrupt stop, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then everyone started flooding to the doors….I didn’t know what was going on so I turned to the lady sitting next to me and asked what had happened (for some reason, I always assume they speak English….I’m really not trying to be an ‘ugly American’…lucky for me, she did understand). With her little English she began to tell me that there was an accident and we had to evacuate the train. Another man, to my right, confirmed the accident, and said someone had gone over the train tracks as we were crossing, eek! I didn’t get any further details. My seat was at the far end of the train so we had to stay put for quite some time. By the time it was our turn to evacuate, we walked through a couple cars before finding out everything was now taken care of and we could go back to our seats!

Man, I hope whoever was in the accident is fine! I was a little worried about how to reach Torry because I don’t have a phone….I used my new friend’s phone to contact Torry and she was able to meet me….my new friend’s waited with me at the station entrance while I waited for Torry, again….such nice people! Torry and I drove back to her place by scooter. When we arrived home, she had a chicken broccoli casserole warm, and waiting for me….with Tiramisu for dessert….she soooo spoils me!

Saturday, September 12th

WETLAND-SCOOTER ROADTRIP! Torry and I woke up early to go and pick up Hanna and Tabbi from the train station! Torry had her scooter, and I was driving her brothers….she asked me whether I’d ever driven a scooter before…ha, she didn’t ask when….I nodded. Whether I’ve ever driven a scooter before is not the point, I don’t think anyone is prepared to drive a scooter in Taiwan traffic—you just gotta brace yourself and get out there….aggressive driving is defined in a whole new way now! Tabbi rode with me, we had a great time, and I only threw her off about once, ha! No worries, I am slightly exaggerating, but really, the traffic is bad! The experts say, “Just drive as if you’re in a video game, never look back!” Yipee for you dad, I’m preparing for my roadster!

The four of us drove about 45 minutes until we came to a little town on the outskirts of Taichung. Torry has some good friends in the town that she met on her mish. We visited them first before going to the Wetland….Ma and Pa Li, two of the greatest new peeps I’ve met. They are so laid back and easy going. They took us to the wetland, let us splash around a bit, and then took us to a great little eatery for Asian tacos and other yummies! We also had Bing…the slushy ice topped with almond bean, tapioca pearls, sweet potato, passion fruit, taro, and more. Ya it sounds gross, just wait till you’ve lived in a foreign country for three months…it’s amazing!

The wetland was fun—water, crabs, and windmills. The water was so warm, not sure why, not sure I want to know, but it was nice! We walked along the coast, watching others and playing with the crabs! They were EVERYWHERE! I’ve never seen anything like it! The ground was literally moving….the crabs blended in with the mud we couldn’t necessarily see them all the time, but we could definitely hear them creeping around. We’d try so hard to hold still so the little things would come out of their holes, but they were definitely afraid of us. A ways in front of us, you could see the crabs coming up on the sand, we’d start running towards them and down they’d go again. We had a good time!

On our way back from the wetland we found a little trinket store full of fun souvenirs—dirt cheap. I started to go crazy buyin’ up everything! We got back to the Li’s house and took a ‘rest’….only in Asia! Yes, I actually nestled in on their coach for a nice hour long nap!

Tonight we went to the church for Branch games—no one was there! Alright, President and Bush were there, but that didn’t make enough peeps for games, so after a half hour of waiting, all of us girls and Bush decided to go out for a bite. We went to the Modern Toilet. It was quite the restaurant. You sit on toilets and eat over a bathtub. Drinks come in urinals, meals in toilets, and dessert….oh yes, squatters, don’t worry, it was sanitary…I think! I got the Thai coconut chicken curry, to die for! This restaurant was fun, maybe I’ll open one up in StG…

Sunday, September 13th

I spent the night at Torry’s once again. We went to church, rested, read, napped, and had a great lazy day! Tonight we went to a stake relief society meeting….eh, two hours in Chinese, not my thing. I was having a rough time. Sister T (Torry) was translating for us, but even she was getting bored. We learned all good things of course, but really, two hours is a long time to sit in a meeting. Why am I telling you this??? Well, of course every meeting has refreshments, and our refreshments were sushi rolls and cranberry juice! I chuckled softly to myself, Welcome to Taiwan!