RUUUUUUUUN!!!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Uhhh. Again…wo hen lei (I am very tired). Let us see if my brain can cough out a decent Taffy. Wait…brains cough? O.O? That’s proof of how dysfunctional my thought process is currently. :P

Starting off the day at University, I was desiring a balanced nutritional meal of fruit, protein, calcium, etc.  The best I could come up to fit those standards while still being yummy was a combination of 7-Eleven fruit and a breakfast sandwich with milk tea for the beverage. OH! Soooo delicious! Healthy too! I learned though that my stomach isn’t big enough to take in that meal without feeling like a thousand pounds. I had to wobble to the classroom :P In case any of y’all are curious, this is what the 7-Eleven fruit I have mentioned before looks like. Obviously this one isn’t the assorted fruit one but instead just guava. Usually the guava package gets five slices but I sniffed one out with a bonus of a tiny sixth slice. If I’m going to pay 35NT for it (not exactly cheap) I shall get the most out of my money!

University class was good. I kicked butt on the test we had today. Whoop whoop! :D Afterwards, Akiko and I power walked to the nearest MTR station in order to meet someone. This someone was a lady that Akiko met on her school campus that happened to work at the “Bread of Life” church that’s extremely close to University. We were going to have lunch together and just talk about things here and there along with some questions about the church. Not only did the lady, Katie, come meet us but also a man by the name of “Ding.” Cute, huh? :P We struggled to find a good place to eat at as we kept turning back and forth, up and down, side to side, all over the place.

The final destination was a breakfast shop where we ate several kinds of foods that I’m not 100% what to call them. I do know of the SOY MILK! :D But there was round dumplings, a type of flaky bread, a non-sweetened bread that mimicked a straightened funnel cake and some kind of pork roll that included veggies inside. All very tasty and the man generously treated us. So the conversation went from here to there. A little bit about the church, a little bit about ourselves, a little bit about Taiwanese culture, etc. It was such a lovely time, both in food and chat. The two people were very friendly, the lady from Britain and the man born in Taiwan. Twas a shame I missed naptime for the meeting but I do not regret it at all. I would gladly do it again! ^_^

Speaking of naptime, when I arrived to Tatung campus and went to the place where I sign in, I learned something new. So during naptime, obviously the students are sleeping. But little did I know that the naptime extends to the adults as well. So I had to ninja my way around the school in order to not wake anyone, student or teacher. ;P

OH! Allie? ALLIE? Allie Drain, are you reading? I hope so because I could’ve sworn I saw you Taiwan today! Getting off the MTR, I found myself walking behind a chica that looked very similar to Miss Drain. The lady had blonde hair with a few strands of pink highlights. She wore a long, black cotton coat that reminded me of Allie and was skinny like her too. The weird thing was I felt like such a stalker. Why? Because I kept looking at this lady who was the spitting image of my friend back in Texas and I was staring for a long time since she was walking in front of me nearly the whole way to my school. I didn’t particularly want to pass her up nor wanted to see her face. I preferred to keep the thought that I saw Allie in Taiwan randomly. But it sure made me smile thinking that Allie teleported to Taipei without telling me.

Today in P.E. class we ran again. This is partially the reason why I’m tired right now. I love running and have enjoyed the increasing distance we trek every Monday, but today was the most we’ve ever ran and it was being individual timed. From what a classmate told me, it was running 800 meters around the school campus for girls and 1600 meters for guys. Woah! I felt sorry for Eric when he had to do 2.5 laps instead of the 1.5 laps I did. Yeah I don’t know how that mathematically matches up but that’s what happened.

Lining up, we got ready for our task. I found it funny how I was so looking forward to this when many of my female classmates were saying how they really don’t want to do this or how they don’t like running. We were released and I shot off past the majority of the class. If the run was going to be less than five minutes, my take on it is, push yourself as hard as possible to get a quality exercise in placement of quantity. I succeeded on quality for sure. My lungs held a burning pain when my run was finished. Don’t ask me how long it took me because I didn’t understand the rapid Chinese called out by the coach :P One thing to note is that the path we ran around the campus was very curvy and quite hilly in one part. The rises and inclines were big meanies! I still feel a slight, but nearly vanished, pain in my chest. Also know that I was half asleep when pushing myself as far as I could go. I was worried about falling over or tripping due to the tiredness. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and I got a good, safe exercise.

Today being Monday, it was time for our culture exchange mini meeting with four other classmates. The subject today was sports…or at least it was supposed to be. They…they…they…* whimper * THEY DIDN’T SHOW UP!!! I waited an hour anxiously to have our discussion but realized it was pointless. Poor Andrea. So instead I invaded Eric’s discussion of ‘love’ half way through. :P Not only did I learn a bit about Taiwan but also of Sweden. Bonus! But since I joined the conversation late and didn’t hear everything, I can’t really report any observations or reflections. Sorry!

Since I’ve been having so much trouble sending e-mails with attachments (when I actually have Wi-Fi which is not very often currently), I compromised by putting a requested word document on a flash drive and physically giving it to the teacher who wanted it. Much to my dismay, my 2011 Word Document was not compatible with her 2003 version. So I told her I would try and get some Internet today and send the e-mail tonight because she wanted it ASAP. Not knowing of any cafes nearby my house with free Wi-Fi (and I refuse to pay for it at expensive places like Starbucks) I decided to try the library close by. Apparently you ask for a Wi-Fi code at a desk, which would be interesting since I have no idea how to do so in Chinese. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to even try since my host father told me apparently the library is closed on Monday. What?! Is that the same in Texas? I have a hard time coming up with a reason for the library being closed on Monday. It’s a school day! I’ll go investigate what days it is open and what times because I felt kinda bad for not sending the e-mail tonight. I did specifically tell my teacher that I might not be able to, so at least I didn’t leave her hanging with nothing.

Maybe this weekend, maybe next weekend, whenever I can manage free time, I plan on just exploring around my house on both the mainstreet and back streets. My goal from this is to familiarize myself with what’s around and finding a café with free Wi-Fi. If the library is closed, I need a second option right? All the cafes I’ve previously been to are either a bus or MTR ride away which takes time and money. I wish I could just live at Gongguan MRT station as it fills many needs of mine: spiritual, Internet, a cafe oasis and greenery. The University nearby is so pleasant with it’s grassy, plant filled campus. Yes, this is the same place where we had the Rotary “Tea Party.” Trees are obviously not common in Taipei’s bustling city life so you must search for them on school’s campuses. My high school campus of Tatung has trees but has a back area that looks run down because it’s the company side of Tatung. The back area was the same place I found myself getting lost in on my first day of high school. :P

Final bit…I am so going to bed three hours early because now it’s getting ridiculous how tired I’ve lately been. From a combo of lack of sleep, missing some naptimes and a lot of stress, I have the hardest time focusing in class, not to mention nodding off. So I bid everyone a good night! Until next time! Oodles of love!

Note: Saturday, Sunday and now Monday blogs have been uploaded! Check them all out if you wish ;D