Wow, here I am in Taiwan. It feels almost surreal. Actually no it really does feel surreal. I still don’t know how in the crap I ended up here and what I am doing, odd.
But as for what we have been up to the last couple of days…. The first day we got here we arrived at 6 in the morning and then took a 2 hour drive to our city of Changhua. I thought I experienced jet lag when we went to Europe but man of man was I EXTREMELY wrong. I physically didn’t want to function, my body just wanted to shut down. To top all of this off we go to baggage claim and dah dah dah da I only got one of my bags. Awesome, but from across the way I swore I saw someone with my bag, so I went up to them and tried to talk to them. I am new Taiwan and pretty much forgot I don’t speak Chinese, ya I got no-where with looking and getting that bag back. So I went and filed a claim with the dudes. Which yet was another great adventure, trying to fill out papers when I don’t speak Chinese, but luckily the people here are pretty much the most hospitable people around and they just filled it out for me. But luckily we were greeted by the wonderful teachers who we are taking their place and they got us up and moving and showed us around.
What we did the first night we arrived was much more than a treat, karaoke. Everyone should have the chance to experience Taiwanese karaoke. They mean business baby. We walk into this building and it looks like a 5-star hotel! Then we go into these ridiculously nice rooms with leather couches, surround sound, flashing lights, the whole speal. Oh and not to mention on the way there you can hear people singing in other rooms (lets just put it nicely and say that indeed the Taiwanese people are not the greatest singers in this world) it just added to the greatness of the whole karaoke experience. Well we sang the night away and it was pretty dang fantastic. Oh and I forgot to mention, pretty much everywhere you walk around here you smell this awful stench! For most of the time I had no idea what it was and thought it must be some really nasty smelling plant that grows here or something, but that night I was awakened to what the stench was. Stinky Tofu, oh ya and it’s stinky alright. When I ate it though surprisingly it wasn’t too bad, the texture was definitely interesting, but taste… not so bad!
On Saturday we went back into the city of Taichung, where we went for karaoke, for a day of fun. It all started out because some of the teachers who are here right now heard about these hampster like balls that you get in and walk around on this pond in a park. After winding our way through the city and getting lost a couple of times we finally found the park. Man oh man, this was a park, I don’t know if there was something going on that day or what but this park is legit. Blow up toys, the sweetest go carts covered in giraffe like stuffed animals, foods, donkeys to ride, paddle boat swans, and not to mention the sick walk on water balls. So ya know we go over and are taking turns getting in the balls. Well, Americans here already get enough attention as it is, if someone doesn’t stare at you as you walk down the street you almost start to think that something is wrong with you. Well, let’s just say the Taiwanese were having a hay-day about our show we put on while playing in the balls. We had a crowd that was surrounding the pond, taking pictures and everything, of I’d say at least 50 people. What an adventure.
After our wondering hampster experience we went into the downtown area of Taichung for dinner. We went to this place called Happy Toilet, it is hilarious. The whole restaurant revolves around the bathroom and poop. Your chairs are toilet bowls, the light look like poop, your table is a bathtub, and the food is served in either a squatter, urinal, toilet, or bathtub. It was funny and the food was actually really good and ridiculously cheap, like most of the food in Taiwan.
I woke up on Sunday morning and gave my parents a call on skype, while I was telling them all about all of my adventures the phone rang and it was some man only speaking in Chinese. I couldn’t understand him obviously so I hung up the phone, and keep chit chatting with the parentals. Well a couple of minutes later there is a knock at my door. A man had my suitcase!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously wanted to hug the dude, I had never been so happy to see some grey luggage in my whole life. So pretty much for the rest of the day I have been on cloud nine. I will never take for granted my clothes and the comfort they oddly bring to me as I do now. Thank you luggage delivery man! Oh and need I mention that someone did take my luggage on accident… probably those stinking people. So if you are ever in Taiwan and suspect that someone has your suitcase harass them until they let you get a close look at it. After that whole experience we went into Taichung for church which was just heavenly the people here are so fantastic, probably one of the smallest yet greatest wards I’ve ever been to!
6/28/2010
Funny Story
Ok so last night Kayrn and I were going to bed and just chit chatting it up a little bit before we went to sleep. We talked a little bit about how it was weird that we hadn’t woken up yet and been confused about where we were. Well, we spoke a little too soon. I guess we didn’t really wake up doing that but funnier. So I had set my alarm for that morning to wake us up at 8:45. We went to bed about 10:30 right? Ok well, my alarm started going off and I didn’t really look at the time and just pressed snooze. Well for whatever reason I woke up again later. I looked at my watch, which I still haven’t switched to Taiwan time, it was 10:30. Karyn and I both start freakin, how in the devil did we sleep in so late? But you must also realize that we were still half asleep and not thinking clearly. Then I couldn’t remember what time my watch was set to, was it 8:30? No, it was 10:30, WAIT it really was 12:30!! Shoot we’ve gotta get up and get going!! Still being really confused I went to look out the window to find not a soul on the streets. Then it hit, it’s 12:30 at night, duh. Why my alarm decided to go off at 12 I still am trying to figure out but needless to say it gave us a really good laugh to look back and talk about this morning.
Karyn and I both woke up pretty early this morning, so we decided to go take a little walk and try to get our roots set as to where in the heck we are! While wandering around we ran into the track which is actually really nice and close to our apartment. So, with the freaking Salt Lake Marathon coming up next spring I’m sure that puppy will become a good friend. Well as for now we’re just chilling waiting to go to the school and for some stores to open so we can get some errands done, which reminds me of another odd Taiwan culture thing, store hours. Pretty much store owners here open whenever they please and close whenever they darn well please. So if you every have to go do or get something really urgently at a specific place. It’s not too reliable, they may or may not be open just depending on their mood for the day.
