So after my extreme shoulder pain that I endured throughout my whole Boracay trip, I decided to go to the doctor the week I got back. I waited 3 hours (because I was #35 and the numbers are called after 1:30 pm so there's no telling when you'll be seen..) and the doctor simply pressed hard and squeezed the "tender" spot in my shoulder. I felt like it was some sort of weakness button on my body..like the neck squeeze wrestlers do called the "sleeper"..I don't even think that's real, but honestly, he squeezed and I literally started to sink lower and lower going "ow ow ow ow." He got the point. He recommended an injection in the most "tender" point. This would alleviate my pain and he thinks it will be healed by the following week. This cortisone shot was theeee most painful uncomfortable thing that I have ever experienced. Not only do I HATE needles, this big ol' needle had to be about 5 inches long, and that sucker went all the way in. I couldn't hold back but the combination of fear and pain caused tears to stream down my face (Coldplay style) and I wanted to scream for my mom. I don't think the doctors and nurses are used to people showing much emotion so when he saw me cry, his eyes got reallll big and he looked scared. He said, "um..don't cry..don't cry..are you crying because you don't like needles or because it hurts..?" I said, "yea it's a combination of that and the fact that I waited 3 hours and I'm tired and hungry." He said to come back in a week if my shoulder still didn't feel better but I should be able to lift it above my head and rotate it and what not, after the medicine in the shot sets in.
Well the doctor was right, I WAS able to move it around after he pretty much numbed the pain, but that lasted a good 4 days. It was back to the way it was and I paid yet another trip to the doctor and had a different doctor this time. Thank god I did because this younger doctor really paid attention to the details of when it hurts and where exactly it hurts and I flat I told him, "I don't want another shot.." He agreed and said, I wouldn't get another that day, but if needed, I might need another one. He insisted on another xray even though the initial one from the night of the accident, didn't show anything. So we did that, super fast and efficient, and sure enough, my shoulder was fractured. Awesome. Let's squeeze the shit out of it and numb it and tell me to swing it around like a monkey, and it will be fine.. only to find out that I shouldn't be lifting it up more that 60 degrees (what's that?? give me a protractor!) and shouldn't even be holding my purse or anything with my right hand because it will cause more strain. The guy gave me medicine and told me that I need to wear a sling for a while (he never said HOW long though.) This it the first time in my life that I had a visible injury..when I was young I always wanted a pink cast so kids could sign it and ask what happened to me and it was a great way to get a bunch of attention, but I'm a way different person than I was 3 years ago... I know how the people in Taiwan are, and especially the entire faculty and student body at Yu Ying, will freak out when they see my arm in a sling. They won't let me do anything on my own and they'll try cancelling classes for me and they'll make students carry things to all my classes----wait..this doesn't sound bad at all. The combination of the sling + the language barrier = an annoying drowned out long story involving more charades and body movements trying to explain what happened and then I'll end up injuring myself more.
The day after I got the sling was the weekend that I had planned with Wenli and Miranda to go see the Lantern Festival. It was in a small town in the mountains called Pingxi and in order to get there you have to get to Taipei and then take 2 small trains outside of that. I met up with Wenli at the station that morning and sure enough, she saw my arm and freaked out. She told me that I shouldn't come and that I need to rest and I'm like..noo I wouldn't come here if I didn't want to go..I want to see the lanterns! The whole weekend her and Miranda tried catering to me and insisting they carry my large heavy bag along with theirs and offering different seats on the train which was completely unnecessary..I did get to get my own bed in the hotel room which was good.
The lantern festival was amazing! It was literally the most crowded thing I've ever attended in Taiwan though. I felt like the whole country was there. I tell people that I'm really glad I went, but I would never ever do that again. I got to write my own well wishes on my lantern and everything. They were HUGE, I thought they would be small like in Tangled or something, but you needed at least 3 people to help you open it up and light it and set it free in the air. It was kinda funny to see the random lanterns that people stupidly released near a bunch of trees because they would instantly get caught in the tree and the lantern would catch on fire and burn..and I'm pretty sure those people won't have good luck for the year..They had different colors to choose from and at first Wenli and Miranda just bought one white one for all of us and I was kind of bummed because I wanted to do my own and I was like.."do you mind if I do one too just for the experience.." and they were like, "ohhh of course, but it's 150 NT" I'm thinking..ya ok, $5 is fine. So I picked out a pink one but I guess the pink means "romance" so apparently I'm hoping for some love in the near future (this lantern is doomed..knowing my luck it will catch on fire in 2.2 seconds.) But I decorated it and put my family's name on it and had Wenli write some Chinese on it to make it look legit (English writing is so ugly compared to these Chinese characters.) This lantern festival was definitely near the top of my list for cultural experiences. People get so into it and travel from all over to see it. It's really amazing. It's also a time for "young couples" to write their well wishes on lanterns and it's kind of like a Pre Valentine's date thing. We painted our lanterns next to this cute high school couple..well who knows what their age is, they're probably my age but look like they're 12, but either way, they were cute. I took pictures of them.
On Superbowl Monday (because it played at 7am in Taiwan) I actually had work for half a day which sucked. Everyone else met up at a few bars and had some drinks. Once I got out of school I saw a text from Shija saying they're drinking bloody marys and mimosas at Early Bird and so I got there in real fast. Jim and Dylan were with her and I had a few drinks and a good breakfast. Then we headed over to that new beer place in Top City. The one that has 170 different Belgian beers. It was good! Obviously kind of expensive and all of the beers are in bottles (which is fine) but they did have Hoegaarden on tap which was good! Shija and I saw a movie after that, Underworld Evolution or something, not my choice! But I chose Contraband the time before. Shija and I were excited for this Bikers and Pinups party that was being held at some club we've never even heard of in Taichung. Amber was also coming into town for it so it definitely going to be a good time!
The day of the bikers and pinups party, I ended up going to Chungyo to find a shirt or something for my outfit. I knew I was going to do biker because to be honest, I wasn't sure what they meant by pinup girl..I think of play boy when I think of pinup, but sure enough the entire theme was like..1950's-ish..so it meant the girls with the sailor outfits and rosy the riveter type outfits or something. The cool thing about the make up department in the malls here is that they're always offering to do your make up. "You want to try, you can try!" is a token phrase..and you're never expected to buy anything like when you get your make up done for prom..sooo I decided to get my make up done and I also decided to try out the whole fake eyelash thing. This country is obsessed with fake eyelashes. They sell them everywhere and most girls where them because they think they don't have eyelashes (hence why they thought mine were fake since day one) Shija got hers done before Boracay and they looked good so I went to Shu Umera to get the make up done and eyelashes. I guess they had a good rating for their eyelashes and glue and they did them for me and I like the way they look but you can feel them so it kind of bugged my eyes..I kept blinking and tearing up..I'm not sure what's more attractive, long eye lashes or random eye twitching and tears. I also got my haircut that day at the same salon I got it dyed at before Boracay. The Aveda salon. I liked the girl I went to, Ketty. So I brought a picture and hoped for the best and sure enough, she chopped off way too damn much.. but on a positive note, she didn't attack my hair with a razor and a texturizer so hopefully it will grow out normal.
18 TC was the club this party was held at. Apparently it was a birthday party for two people and you had to pre-order tickets but Amber and her friend Melissa (who I met at the xmas party) saved some tickets for me and Shija. It was good to see Amber but it was loud there and obviously we couldn't have too much conversation. The music was really good at first and then progressively turned into super bass club mix that would hurt your ears. In the beginning the dj did these cool remixes of old songs from the 50's, which sounds strange but it was cool. I saw Caroline and her boyfriend there and it was good to see her as well. There were some crazy costumes so it was fun to go to a themed party considering I didn't have a real Halloween.
Week of Valentine's Day
Apparently Valentine's Day IS celebrated in Taiwan..I'm over here teaching about "American" traditions on Valentine's Day and here the kids are in my classes, sitting and listening nicely, and then there's the one class that's practically at the tail end of the week when you've done this lesson 15 times already, that says, "Teacher..it's the same in Taiwan.." Shit..But in my defense, they DO have another "Valentine's Day" like holiday, and it's in July. One thing that they did think was awesome was the box of Sweethearts that my mom sent me. I said it's a popular candy during this time and the students thought these were like the coolest little things..I guess they are kind of cool..with all the different phrases (which by the way, I give the company props for sticking to the trends, "Text Me" and "Tweet Me," were in that box..) In traditional Teacher Diana fashion, I wouldn't let a holiday go by without some sort of elementary themed craft, so we made Valentine's (English only of course!!) It's amazing what some of these kids can do with just some pink and white computer paper and a pair of scissors. Some of the things they wrote were hilarious and student's also made me some cute Valentines. I started helping out this senior with her college interview questions on Friday afternoons. It's just from 5:30-6:30 and I get some extra cash which is nice.
4 Day Stay-cation..
In Taiwan, they have a holiday called Children's Day..it "falls" on a Tuesday though, so what they do is they give people that Monday off so people can take trips and do something for 4 days. Nice, right? Well what they fail to mention until the week before is that you have to make up that Monday of school that you're "missing" and make it up that upcoming Saturday..This is normal apparently. Well in typical bad luck fashion, the 4 day weekend was miserableeeee weather. Rainy and freezing cold. Shija and I thought about taking a trip to Hualien but when there's any sort of day off, the entire country decides to visit their own tourist attractions (you would think they would get sick of this after a while..) so every single train ticket on every single train (which seriously must be over 2000 seats) was BOOKED! We went the week before to book them and they were all booked. You could however, take an 8 hour bus ride. It wouldn't have been worth it because of the crummy weather..and although I do want to see Hualien and Taroko Gorge, it might need to be forced into a normal 2 day weekend. SO that weekend I literally bundled up and stayed inside. I went over to Chungyo for some shopping but some how, the entire city was STILL crowding every possible place..I could've sworn a majority of them were in Hualien or Kenting or Taipei..why are you still everywhere? How many people live in this city..
On Sunday, Shija and I checked out these famous "cherry blossoms" in Dakeng (the mountain in Taichung) and we went with this guy we met the week before. In order to "see" the blossoms you had to get there early on Sunday..so we thought leaving at 9 am was pretty damn early, but apparently not early enough. People wake up at 6 am to go see these things. So obviously you assume that these flowers are going to blow you outta the water and at 10am they'll vanish into thin air and that's why you need to get there so damn early...but no. They are trees with pink cherry blossoms (which are all over the city mind you) and in true Taiwanese style, people go to take photos of themselves with the flowers. They try driving all the way up a mountain with their scooter and it's PACKED with cars and scooters and they want to park and then take pictures and leave. I attempted to follow this kid with my scooter with Shija and it was terrifying..riding up a mountain is scary enough, with a person on the back its extra scary, with rain and wind its extra extra scary. So I told the kid, look..I'm not riding any further..I don't even think I have that much gas and didn't anticipate riding all the way up the mountain. So we hiked the 2 miles up the mountain, which is fine, but it's cold and rainyyyy. Shija had to stop for a bathroom break up the mountain and it was this disgusting little shack and the line was so long. I felt so bad for her..I'm fortunate to have such a huge bladder..or maybe I have some sort of subconscious hold on my bladder when I know I'm in a strange place where disgusting public bathrooms will be used. My brain knows I'll die of pure disgust if I step foot in a port-a-potty squatter toilet that was built in 1967 that men have to pee on the side of in broad daylight..yep that's what it was. So we get to the top where the cherry blossom trees are..and low and behold..its just numerous cherry blossom trees planted next to each other on a hill. 1000's of people decided to come to a tiny mountain on the same day to take pictures with the cherry blossoms. They're pretty but I've seen some pretty amazing trees and wild flowers allllll over Taichung. Even outside of the school there's these gorgeous wild hot magenta colored flowers that grow on vines all over the wall...now THOSE are amazing..why don't 1000's of people come to Yu Ying to take pictures with those? It was a typical situation..a bunch of boyfriends photographing their non model girlfriends with a $2,000 dollar photographer's camera. We came, we saw, and we got the hell outta there because it was pouring rain. For the remaining part of the day, I put 2 layers on and took a nap in front of my heater. Unfortunately, my hot water was NOT working for the 4th time in a month..it was ice cold.
My hot water continued to not work even after I contacted Sam. I got dinner with Melody and her family, which I was dreading, but it was actually nice. She introduced me to a lady and her daughter that want me to start tutoring them on Sunday nights. I'll get an extra 1,500 NT for just talking to two girls every week! Sounds good to me. We had hot pot and I told her about my apartment and how I don't have hot water, a tv, a laundry line, a couch, and I'm by myself. Instantly she wanted to help me find a place and said she wanted to check out my current apartment that night. So her and the girls (Sueann and Elim) saw my place and she walks up and down the building and tells me that these big metal things on my roof are solar panels and that's probably why my hot water isn't working because it's solar powered...um..what? I've lived here for 6 months and not one person thought that would be necessary for me to know? It's only been rainy for 3 days and the hot water stops working..what should I do during rainy season in April?? And more importantly, why did Sam never mention this to me the 3 times I've called him about my hot water this past month..why would he never say.."hey maybe it's because there's no sun.." I just about lost it.
That Monday, I talked to the landlord and he said he'd fix the hot water for that night but I would need to "quickly" take a shower? That Monday I went apartment hunting with this guy, ChiMing. He took time out of his day to drive me around and we called a ton of apartments and I visited about 4. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything that had a normal shower + tv, so I decided to suck it up and furnish my apartment even more. On Tuesday morning I talked with my landlord again. He said he'd call the cable company for me if I got a TV so you know what, I gave in and I bought a TV...after months and months of every excuse in the book from Sam (and supposedly my landlord) I decided to spend my own money on a TV. I also decided I would get my own couch. It's not fair considering every foreigner teacher has these amenities but I was sick of it. I went out in the cold rain, fit a tv and a bunch of stuff on top of my scooter, I scored a pretty cool couch for only 2,800 NT because it was the floor model, and I got home to take a hot shower and whatdyaknow..it's not working AGAIN. I called Vince, he didn't answer. I wrote a status on facebook asking for advice from anyone else in Taichung that has this issue and sure enough, Sam's all over my facebook news feed, liking people's statuses, commenting on Jim's, updating his own pathetic statuses about how he's fat and single or something..and he's not doing jack shit about my hot water. It was Monday night, my last shower was Saturday. Sorry gross I know, but I did fill up a bucket with scolding hot water and mixed it with some cold water and was able to wash up, but my hair was the issue here..
I decided to give Sam a phone call. Everything from the past 6 months has been building up and I was just so disgusted and angry that he wasn't doing his job. From day 1 I've had issues with him as my agent. Between getting me to the workshops late, giving me an apartment that wasn't set up with internet, a mattress, a FRIDGE, and a closet, and telling me since September that I'll be getting a tv (no wait, I need to buy the tv Vince will pay for cable, no wait, Vince will find a used tv, I need to pay for cable, no wait Vince isn't responding anymore and I have no news about your tv..do you really need a tv? it's all Chinese channels anyway..) and not finding me a laundromat when I asked, which I have emails and messages from December BEGGING him to help me find one...and overall he basically he makes empty promises, is full of shit, and he's doing the bare minimum to sail through his job. When I called him, the conversation was about 20% me talking in a normal voice, 50% me yelling when Sam would give me excuses and blame everything on the landlord, 10% me swearing because he was flat out lying to me and 20% me repeating every thing I had just said because he did that whole condescending voice thing and asked me to "give him an example of lying, give him an example of not following through, give him an example of not trying.." I mentioned I bought a tv and then he says "oh can you return it, there's someone in Taipei who's selling a tv I think..I can ask them if you're interested.." I laughed. I said..wow..that would've been good to say to me back in September and October but NOWWW you're trying to help. Then he would say that we could get me a new apartment but there's only 3 months left (what kind of math are you doing!!?) and I said he should've put that offer on the table when I first had complaints about the apartment and when the landlord wasn't complying with anything. If everything is the landlords fault, then why the hell would you put me in this building??? Because you are a lazy. That's why. It's the first thing you came across and swindled me into signing a lease within 48 hours of being in a foreign country and claiming I knew what I was signing when I signed under a bunch of symbols and zigzags. The conversation could've lasted about 10 minutes but he's ridiculous and we just kept going in circles. I told him that I deserve a reimbursement for all of the expenses I've put into this apartment.
Friday, March 2nd
So I'm trying the whole Lent thing in another country..even though I think my current eating habits are sacrifice enough..I didn't eat meat today and decided to get tuna from subway and I always eat with Mark and Joe on Fridays so they were all confused as to where I was going. I told them the whole no meat/McDonald's thing, naturally..they're confused. They said they wanted to try subway with me and I'm like..are you sure? you don't have to..you can go get dumplings or teppenaki without me..and then Joe was like "wait..you can eat fish? is that not meat?...is chicken considered meat?" I'm like..ya I can't even explain this haha.
It was hilarious watching them eat subway. Joe just kept saying "mine's cold..my sandwich is cold.." and I'm like..well it's supposed to be...and they're like..well what about the vegetables, can you get those hot? Joe looked at my bag of chips and was like "is it normal to eat those with your sandwich?" and I said "yes..is it normal to order hot coffee with your sandwich?" and he said he didn't know haha. and then I took half my sandwich to keep in the fridge for dinner tonight at the school, and they were like, "where will you keep your sandwich, will you put it in the microwave before you eat it?" and i'm like..ew no I can't heat up tuna salad in a microwave!! Basically I didn't think they'd want to go there ever again, but not even a week later, Mark says to me at noon on the dot, "Diana..you want to go to Subway? Today I'm going to try ham and turkey..and I'm going to get chips.." So I guess they liked it because Joe was on board as well.
