Oh you silly boys

Wednesday October 3, 2012

Oh Tatung. How you make me happy! When I went to buy the triangle sandwich of yumminess from the breakfast shop at my high school, I sensed a connection between the workers and I. They recognize me because (1) I’m a foreigner that sticks out so easily and (2) I go there every high school morning to purchase breakfast. You know that relationship when you go somewhere so often that the workers know you well and interact with you in a unique way? That’s what’s developing between the dear breakfast stand and I. YES! I’ve been trying to find somewhere in Taiwan like that! This is the start of a beautiful relationship! ;D

I thought I’d give the relationship a boost and my stomach some satisfaction by purchasing lunch there as well. Gosh I love going there. Good food and special smiles from the peeps there keeps drawing me in like peanut butter is drawn to jelly! Not seeing any of my classmates going to order food (they brought food from home), I went out by myself and braved the feat of ordering in Chinese. Now, Andrea understands how to order drinks well enough, but food? That’s a whooooole other story! Here’s why…

The menu was in both Chinese and English but taped down in a hidden place from the worker’s eyesight. So my method of pointing and saying “one of this please” doesn’t work so well. Also the food wasn’t labeled by numbers so I couldn’t use my trick to easily order by “one of number blah.” Now I wanted the “Chicken Burger + Egg” but I only knew how to say the two middle characters of “chicken” and “egg.” The other two characters at the end, I was completely lost to what they were. I had ordered the same sandwich before but I had some fellow classmates to help me translate the characters. So I ended up staring at the symbols for awhile attempting to magically conjure up the knowledge from thin air. One employee seeing my struggle asked if I needed any help. Gratefully, I pointed to what I wanted and spoke the two characters I knew. He poor man had to do acrobatics over the counter to see the menu but he did understand what I was desiring to order.

But then came yet another challenge...the time of the order. What my classmates taught me is to order your food the class break before lunch (an hour before) in order to have the food ready to be picked up later and avoid the waiting time if you order at lunchtime. Plus it prevents waiting in awfully long and crowded lines. With this being said, the employee helping me was asking if I wanted this for now or later. I replied “later” (in Chinese) but he still had a confused look on his face. Attempting again, I repeated. No luck. Trying a different method I said “not now.” Still nothing. I must have repeated at least five times with no progress. Somehow it all got figured out in the end but now I realize what must have been the problem. When I ask “later,” the man must have wondered what that entailed. 12:00? 1:00? A billion hours away? That would make sense why he was confused. When I picked up the burger, he gave me the tip for next time to say “lunch” and not “later.”

Tip taken because I am so going back. The burger was twice as good as I remember it to be. Including delicious fried chicken, egg, onions, green veggie of some sort, sesame seed bun, a sauce of SCRUMPTIOUSNESS and LOOK AT THAT OOZING CHEESE! I was so tempted to buy another one in the same day! Hey Dad! Hey Mom! Remember when I used to love onions on my burgers when I was a little, little kid? But then later I hated it? Well I’ve converted back! XD Soooooo yummy!

Today’s lunch buddies! Biologically unrelated, these guys are just like brother and sister, having such a loving relationship. I’m a bit jealous. :P The girl in the picture is the chica who is wanting to learn some basic Spanish from me. Today I taught her a bit of the verbs “estar” and “ser!” During the first couple weeks in high school, she didn’t talk to me much at all because of being afraid of speaking English. I’m glad to say that after a month that is all fading away. Friendship in progress! :D

Was it last week that I talked about a guy saying he would eat air for lunch? Did I even mention it at all? I don’t remember! I think it was when I ate an apple for lunch so it would be last Friday. Since I’m writing on a word document until I can copy and paste to Taffy, I can’t exactly see my other posts… I’ll put it this way. A student from another class said he was going to eat air for lunch because he was trying to save money. That dude was the guy in the above picture. Super friendly, super outgoing and excellent English, today he actually ate. His reasoning was that earlier he was poor so he ate air. But now that he’s rich, he ate meat. XD

During class I spent more time studying the drink menu I picked up yesterday. I really, really, reaaaaaally want to learn how to read and speak it. Even more so, I would love to learn the breakfast shop menu. Unfortunately they don’t have their menu in a handout for me to study. I shall find a way nonetheless! I’ll kidnap a classmate if I have to! Once I learn “how do you pronounce this” I will drag someone over to help, against their will if I have to! >:D Pfft, don’t worry, I’m not that evil…or am I? * crooked grin *

If you can recall, my Civics teacher wants me to have a 3-5 minute presentation every Friday over global news I find interesting. Since today was the computer animation class of I-don’t-understand-anything-because-I-can’t-read-Chinese-characters, I thought of going on the Internet and reading CNN. No it wasn’t against the rules to be on the Internet. 80% of the class didn’t even touch the animation program and just chilled on Facebook or played games. The computers to require a log-in username and password that the teacher gave me last week. It was an ultimate fail last Wednesday but I thought to give it a second shot. All I wanted was to check my e-mail for important messages and do my global news homework.

An hour…a whole, flippin’ hour of NOTHING! Nothing but loading and loading and loading and loading and LOADING! It took seven minutes for the computer to log me in Hotmail but then proceeded to be dysfunctional before I could read a single word. I tried logging on again…waited a decade…and then I was disconnected and had to log in the Internet connection again. I should note that logging in to access the Internet took about 5-10 minutes. So when it happened three times…Andrea was steaming. I didn’t get to read ANYTHING! NOTHING! No e-mails. No news. NOTHING! AN HOUR PEOPLE!!!!! Seriously, does Taiwan Internet hate me or something?

There was an important, urgent e-mail I HAD to read that night and required a search for Wi-Fi. The library was my only choice tonight, which I hoped and prayed that it would be open. To my delight, it indeed was! Next step was to battle out Internet connection. Remembering being told to go get a password for the Wi-Fi at the front desk, I ventured over there with my library card. The man, sweet as honey, helped me over the language barrier and managed to explain that there was a server called “iTaiwan” that was free. All it required was a phone number. After entering your phone number, it would send a text with a 4 digit code that allowed you to make a free account. Brittany, the girl from Australia, joined me in my visit to the library and helped solve some slight problems with creating the account. The result…

I…I…I HAVE COMPLETELY FREE FAST WI-FI!!! GOOD LORD I’M ESTATIC!!!! No need to purchase a coffee. No need to pay for Internet. THE LIBRARY PEOPLE! IT’S A WONDERFUL THING! I’ll have to work out what times it’s open but that will definitely be somewhere I will have to go to often for work.

A courtyard view from facing away from the library (the library was too big to get good picture).

If you’re wondering why I titled this Taffy with the one I did, here is why. When working on my laptop, even through my headphones, I hear this snickering. Glancing up, I see these three high school boys walking by with stupid grins on their faces and one unbuttoning the middle of his shirt, exposing some of his stomach. Ignoring them, I look back down and continue my work. Soon after I looked back up and saw them peeking behind a corner at Brittany and me. I think you and me both understand the situation well enough. Yeah, I’m not interested. XD If they were trying to impress us, they utterly FAILED! :P

For the past two weeks, I have struggled to find a free Wi-Fi café near my house that I didn’t have to take a bus or MTR to. All I knew was the library being the closest Internet location. But what do I find on the way to the library? Literally, right next to my house on the side I don’t pass, there is something called “Corner Café” that has a sign with a picture of Wi-Fi. Hello my love! I tried accessing the Wi-Fi on my phone but it seems to be a locked network so my guess is they have to provide the password…or it’s not free. XD I’ll find out eventually because I’m curious of this little place. My hope is for there to be free Wi-Fi, good food, not too expensive and a menu in English. If they don’t have the last one, I’ll have to once again use the “bing cha” (iced coffee) card. XD

Arriving home I was a little confused because there were no house slippers for me to wear. There always are house slippers. It’s an Asian house in Asia after all! Bringing up the problem to my host father sitting on the couch, he just had me walk in the house with my socks on. But, but…I want my slippers. XD I wonder if I should go out and buy some for myself…or would that offend my host family? I don’t know but I just might. No slippers = wearing socks around the house = browned socks. XD The socks I’m wearing right now are the free, cheap ones I got on the airplane flight to Taiwan so it doesn’t matter if they turn black. :P

With visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in your head, have a good night’s sleep! ^_^