October 15th, 2011
So I woke up with the worst headache in the world. I haven't experienced a headache like this in a very very long time. I couldn't even open my eyes in the morning because the light was causing my temples to pound. I looked in the mirror to see if I could see them moving because that's how much they were throbbing. I took 2 ibuprofen and went to back to bed and woke up 2 hours later and took two more because it was still there. Then I made some coffee for myself and it slowly diminished. It was really nice out, I couldn't sleep all day! I planned to meet up with some Dewey people at the Taichung Jazz Festival later that day and at night go out with Shija to some bars that we read up on.
Saturday is like my shopping day! It's unfortunate that it's the most crowded day for shopping, but it's never a bad time. I tried a bunch of stuff on at this one little store. The sales associates were throwing clothes and accessories at me like crazy. I kept my composure though. I kept asking myself if I neeedded the item kind of like a scene from Confessions of a Shopaholic. .."do I need these cashmere gloves..yes because it is winter and I have hands." haha I love that movie. I guess the department store was having some big sale that if you spent a certain amount, you get money back. That's always a nice surprise. The sales associate had to take me to the 13th floor of the mall to get my little cash back voucher, which was a little inconvenient, but she was so nice and kept mentioning that she wants an English tutor and asked if I was available. We exchanged information so we'll see. I got lunch at the noodle place that I always go to and went back to my apartment to get ready for the night.
The jazz fest was about a 20 minute ride away but on the bus it would've taken about 35 minutes. I decided to take a taxi. I wasn't expecting much because I had yet to experience a fun event in Taichung, but the Jazz Festival exceeded my expectations! The crowd was huggeee and very diverse! I've never seen so many foreigners in one place! The entire lawn in front of the stage was filled with blankets and families and there were about 100 stands of food and drinks all around the lawn. The drink stands varied from different types of beers and mixed cocktails that I feel like I could only get in America. One little drink stand was making mojitos and Shija and I jumped right on that. They were good (and fairly strong.) Jim and I were trying some of the various beers. He had a few stouts and I stuck with the German beer stand. There was a ton of different food choices and I went with a bratwurst that Jim recommended. It was good! We didn't really hear much of the music, but it was a fun time.
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| Shija with Dunkleweiss! Mmm.. |
I decided to take a cab ride back instead of the bus again..I just never know which one goes where or when they arrive. If I was in Chicago, I'd be taking taxis over the L so not much different than living here... When I got back to my apartment, I got a phone call from Lien. Her and James were over at the night market by my place. The night market closes down by 10:30/11 but I decided to quickly meet up with them, otherwise I'd be going straight up to my room to watch tv shows. I decided to hop on my scooter to make the trip over there quicker, and not even 20 seconds later, 3 cops had a road block at the end of my street and a cop stopped me. My heart was pounding. At first he pointed to my headlight and even though the switch was turned to on, the light didn't go on. So I wiggled the switch and it went on. Then, he started to say some random Chinese in a very stern voice and I just used my English and said "Huh, What? I'm sorry I don't understand." Then he just goes, "Passport." And I give him my ARC card and he looks at it for about 30 seconds and just waves me off. I was like.."I'm ok to go? Ok?" And without even the slightest emotion on his face, he let me go. Not even a week into owning the scooter and I was already stopped! And judging by the way the bouncers acted at the clubs here, I'm thinking the cops may be the same and don't pay attention to the whole "cute girl flirting or pouting act." I gotta get that light fixed asap. I briefly met up with Lien, James, and his co-worker. The co-worker is Taiwanese and was teaching us some common slang they use. One word they use to describe a Taiwanese girl that marries a foreigner is a Puma. I was dying laughing. I was like "me and my friends call each other Pumas! In America, Cougars are older women who go for younger guys, so we joke and say that we're Pumas, not cougars.." He didn't seem to get the joke (most people here don't usually understand my jokes, I just say them anyway and laugh at myself.)
When I got back to my apartment, I noticed that the garage light was left on and I go to walk up the stairs, and the first door is completely wide open leading into the pitch black classroom. I'm like..ok you have to be kidding me..this was all locked on my way out (clearly I'm really good at locking doors behind me) So I got a little freaked out but walk up there anyway (with keys in between my fingers which I learned from a female self defense class in college. You can jab the intruder's eyes with your keys..) I turn on every single light in the place, classrooms clear, well then I walk through the classroom to the second door, and THAT one was unlocked too!! Ok that's pretty freaky considering I'm the only tenant in that little building. I email Sam with my iPhone saying I'm freaked out can I pleaseee get my landlord's phone number now?? (he still hadn't given it to me after the lock out incident) But I had my phone in my hand ready to dial and the keys still in the other hand and I went up to my room. All clear, no robbers, rapists, barefoot locksmiths, or students. So I'm safe and sound in my room.
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
I stayed up fairly late after the whole apartment scare, and skyped with a few people, and then woke up early this morning to skype with Nettie and Marissa. I knew I'd be expecting a call from Sabrina to come over early that day which I wasn't tooo thrilled about. I like Sabrina but I still feel weird going places with new people and I wanted to sleep in. Sabrina called me at 10 saying she'd pick me up at 10:30 and her and her family are going to take a day trip to Lukang and wanted to know if I'd be joining them. Now I was like, oh great an entire day, I thought we were just doing lunch! I googled Lukang and it looked neat and I was up and ready to go by 10:30.
Sabrina and her family were right on time and her husband introduced himself and her two children were in the back seat, Leon and Sunny, and they were the cutest children I've seen in Taiwan. They both said "Hello how are you," in perfect tiny English voices. Sabrina insisted I sit in front with her husband and he apologized ahead of time for his English. The car ride was going to be about 45min to an hour and I was afraid it would be an awkward Chinese speaking ride all the way there, but Sabrina had her family spoke English the whole time and they even turned on an English radio station. She's like, "me and my husband like Bon Jovi and Chicago." I was like omg I love Chicago! I have their "Greatest Hits" c.d's! The plan for when we got there was to go to a traditional Taiwanese restaurant that's well known in the Changua district (where Lukang is) and then we'd go to the "Glass Museum," and then the market in town. The lunch was ..interesting! Both kids asked to sit next to me and I can't get over how these kids eat! I know kids that are super picky eaters and I tried imagining them in this situation and think they would've just gone hungry for the day. The restaurant didn't look very..clean, but it was know for it's very fresh seafood. The tables had the turn table thing on top and the first dishes that came out were rice with some sort of meat on top, shrimp, clams, and squid. I tried everything. I actually ate the grilled calamari because it had this ginger vinegar sauce with it that I could've drank a cup of. Then they bring out this giant bowl of soup with fish chunks hanging out of it and I guess it was salmon soup. Sabrina and her husband are just filling their kids' bowls and plates and the kids are eating everything! I obviously had to. The last thing brought out was this big clear glass bowl filled with ice and beans, and the kids literally cheered. They were like "yayyyy!" I look at Sunny and I'm like.."what's this..?" and she goes "Dessert! Yum!" I'm like..ok gross. (can I get an ice cream cone or something..)and they pour me a bowl and I took a few spoonfuls and I'm thinking like..ok well it's mildly sweet but It's nothing I would ever consider for dessert. Sabrina said it helps digest the meal..and I'm thinking..well yea..it's a large bowl of fiber..are you going to give me a glass of prune juice on the side too? Overall the meal was good and I ate things that I would never ever order at a restaurant on my own. The seafood was really fresh and tasted great. They took care of my meal which was nice of them, and Sabrina's husband thanked me again for helping her with her paper and they were glad to treat me.
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| Dessert! |
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| Yumm.. |
We started to drive towards this glass museum and we ended up driving into this area that didn't have anything around it..it was like a desert with a few 711's. Turns out, Sabrina's husband wasn't too sure of how to get to the museum so we were a little lost/turned around. Next thing you know, we're being pulled over by a cop on a scooter. He said that Sabrina's husband ran a red light. They were explaining to him in Chinese that they're kind of lost and then I think they some how involved me in the situation saying they're trying to show me around and stuff. The guy ended up lowering the ticket from 3,000 NT to 600NT haha. Not sure if that had anything to do with me or not..The glass museum was interesting. We got to see a few glass blowers and all sorts of little glass figurines and other glass items..exacting what I pictured when I was told we were going to a museum that was devoted entirely to glass..They also had some fun things going on for children. A magician and a guy who would make these clay animals super fast. That was the most entertaining.
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| Cop giving ticket |
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| Glass blower |
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| Glass floor |
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| Glass wall.. |
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| Glass mirrors.. |
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| Glass fanatics |
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| annndd glass monkeys |
We finally arrived at Lukang village but this market was like..twice as crowded as the night market by my house. Crazy amount of people. It looked different than the one by me though..not just because it was during the day either. Sabrina was telling me how Lukang is know for it's architecture and it's historic buildings and that was very apparent. I haven't seen a town like this in Taiwan yet. Very pretty cobblestone roads, houses that looked like they belong in an old European village or something (even though I have no experience to back that up) and even the shops and food stands weren't the typcial night market metal carts with fried food and crappy forever 21 clothing and crowds of high schoolers. There were family run restaurants, old shops selling hand crafted art work, fortune tellers, and lots of games for children to play. It was an overall friendly atmosphere. It also helped that Sabrina's family was so welcoming of me and treated me like a part of their family. The whole time I was holding the kids' hands like I was their big sister and Sabrina was buying me something small from every little stand saying "Oh you have to try this! It's very famous!" and they insisted that I experienced everything the town had to offer. It really was the first time that I felt like I was treated like an old friend rather than the new foreigner who we want to practice our English with.
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| Amazing iced coffee |
The absolute greatest part of the day by far, was when Sabrina took me to this famous fan painter's shop. This tiny little shop on the side of the market that had this little old man who was so in to his work, that when we walked right up to him to watch him painting this fan, and would comment and talk, and he wouldn't even look up at us. At first I assumed he was a grumpy old man and I didn't even want to ask "oh how much for a fan, what a great souvenir!" but then he finished his work and started talking our ears off. He didn't speak English, except for a few simple words, and he had a hearing aide and probably was a little over 5 feet tall. He started pointing at different fans in glass cases and said what he made them for or what his inspiration was and he showed us his pictures on the wall with the Taiwanese president and some other important people. I pointed out one framed picture that was clearly an old picture of him as a young guy and he's receiving an award. I pointed at it and looked at him and said "is that you! so handsome!" And he says to Sabrina in Chinese, "yes that's me 20,000 years ago and I used to get perms. They would hurt soo bad. I hated them. They'd put my hair in tight curls and my head would hurt!" He was so funny.
He was talking to me in Chinese and Sabrina would just translate. Not only have his fans been showcased all over the world, he told me that he went to America to show off his other famous talent which was top spinning?? He quickly goes behind his desk and grabs this old beat up bag and takes out a stone top and a rope and some metal rings. And then after he tells Sabrina that it's been awhile since he's done this trick, he tells me to stand still and hold this ring in my hand and he's going to flick this heavy stone top at my hand. I mean..don't get me wrong..he's a nice guy and I'm sure he used to be great at this trick..but the man is pushing 85 and decides to try this out on me for the first time in decades..so I was very nervous. He wraps the rope around the top and takes his time eying the ring on my hand..then flings it and it hits the ring and falls off. He's determined. He tries a second time and tells me to keep my hand still. And he misses again..he gets disappointed in himself but tries again. Third times a charm! The top lands in the ring and is spinning in my hand! I got so happy for him because his face just lit up. He was so cute it almost made me cry haha. After a few more top tricks, I tell him that I want to buy a fan. He opens up cabinets and starts taking out hundreds of fans and taking off the rubber bands, opening them up, shaking his head no, and then closing them. He was trying to find me a good one : ) He finally picks out a few of his favorites and I chose one with pink and green flowers. His Chinese signature was already on it but Sabrina asked him to sign and date it for me. This was the difficult part..I don't have a Chinese name so he had to write English and he doesn't know how to write English. So we had to teach him how to write "Diana." Again, he was determined to get it right! He practiced on paper with his paint and the "a" and the "n" were the trickiest. He went very slow when he finally decided to write it on my fan, and when he got to the last "a" he messed up a little and got so mad at himself! I was like "no it's perfect it's great! I love it!" And I was serious, it's probably the greatest souvenir I've gotten since I've been here. Actually, this is the first experience here in Taiwan where I actually felt like I was embracing and enjoying the culture.
After our visit to the fan man, we passed a fortune teller and Sabrina goes "do you want to get your fortune told?" and I'm like..umm no that's ok, I actually got my palm read a month ago..and she was like.."are you sure??" and I asked her if she believes in fortune telling and if she ever got her palm read and she was laughing and saying "yesssss because I wanted to know when I'd find Mr. Right!" Too funny, so she was my translator and I got my palm read..again..Some things said were the same which was interesting..this man talked a lotttt about health though..he told Sabrina that I've been very stressed at work and that I'd be better off at a job where I'm the boss (which I'm not sure if I believe that at all..) He said I'll be married at 30 and have 3 kids (just like the last guy) so we'll see in 5 years if that's true..but at the rate I'm going, I can't even get a date so a fiance in less than 5 years seems a bit out of reach at this point.. We got some "turkish" ice cream. The guy at the stand was funny. He was Turkish but spoke fluent Chinese and he had this microphone and as we walked by he yells out at me and goes "HEY where are you from!?" I was like..uhhh "America?" Then he said something to Sabrina in Chinese and she's like "he says you don't look American." He gave me free icecream, it was pretty good.
The kids were so good and lasted that entire day without a nap. Leon was a character though. He was doing everything and anything silly that could get him in trouble and Sabrina and her husband just laughed at it. I could tell he needed a nap..when Garrett would get all squirley and crazy I'd be like, "ok time for a nap!" We headed back to Taichung around 5 and Sabrina said her and her husband would like to take me to their favorite Italian restaurant and I was like..um OK! We got there and it was this cute little place that was by their condo. It's a very nice area. Sabrina and her husband were asking if I was comfortable in my place and I told them about the previous night and how I get kind of freaked out that I'm by myself. They told me they'd help me look for a new place that's in their area because they live by a university and the apartment buildings are new and have younger people. I wasn't opposed to this! Sabrina mentioned that she'd be staying up late to work on the English singing competition that was coming up in November. She asked for my advice on some things and I told her I can't sing but if she ever wants me to hear them sing and correct their pronunciation I would. She got very excited about this and was like "REALLLYYY?" I'm like..ya no big deal..they're singing "You are my Sunshine.." This will be entertaining to watch..
