Tuesday October 9, 2012
When I awoke, I checked the table outside my room to see if
my host family set out anything for breakfast yet. There I found a single juice
box of milk. A little confused, a hungry Andrea downed the milk easily and
wondered if I would be given anything else to eat. Much to my relief, my host
father woke up later and prepared some bread with the same sugary juice box of
milk as yesterday (different from the one earlier the same morning). Half of
the bread was in a sliced toast form, which allowed the delicious spreading of
jam over it. The other half of breakfast was a small bun with raisins or
something of the sort in the bread. Both kinds of bread were gratefully
accepted into my growling stomach along with more calcium.
Desiring something other than just bread for breakfast, I
stopped by a convenient store to purchase some healthy fruit. Much to my
surprise, I made a new discovery in the 7-Eleven close to my house. Beforehand
I only knew of sliced fruit packages ranging from papaya, guava and assorted as
well as bananas at the 7-Eleven at the University. Today I found sliced
pineapple in a preservative can (yet still in the refrigerated section for some
reason). SCORE! I LOVE PINEAPPLE! I know my Texan family is snickering at the
irony but it’s true. :P Pineapple is delicious! It’s scrumptious reputation
continued with the preservative can I bought today. Goodness it was sooooooo
yummy. Only $3NT cheaper than the fruit packages, I’m not yet sure which option
is healthier or has the most value. But I do enjoy the fact that I could
probably buy several of those pineapple cans at once and store them for a rainy
day when I’m hungry and can’t go out to a 7-Eleven. I might just do that!
Since the big exam is coming up for the students, my
classmates were pretty darn tired. Several of my classes today allowed half the
period to let the students either study or sleep. When nearly all the class was
sleeping, I happily joined them in slumber. This made at least a fifth of the
school day just sleepy-time! Oh how wonderful! Yes, I’m still tired and
recuperating from this weekend.
For lunch I avoided ordering the same delicious chicken, egg
burger I’ve gotten twice before and tried something new with my classmates. It
can be described as a self-made ramen shop. First you must grab a small basket
and tongs. Next you grab any ingredients you would like to put into your ramen.
Each ingredient is priced differently ranging from $5-$10NT. Then the employees
will slice the food and boil everything. It is similar to the dinner I tried
two Saturdays ago at a night market but this time with definite prices on each
ingredient that allowed me to accurately gauge how much it would cost me. The
ingredients I chose were:
-Something that looked tasty…perhaps it was made of rice…?
-Tofu
-Mushroom cluster
-Vegetable Leaf of some sort
-Regular ramen noodles
The employees working at the stand will then write your
student ID number on the bowl to distinguish them. Unfortunately I don’t have a
student ID number so the lady settled on calling me “A.” Oh if only she knew
the hilarity that ‘A’ was the first letter of my English name! XD
The final result of the meal was tasty but nothing
fantastic. I think the broth set me off a bit with a heavy, oil taste. I’m
happy to have tried it and don’t regret it at all but I’m not going to run
desperately back there as soon as I can. One reason I was inclined to try it
specifically today was because on Friday a classmate asked why I didn’t like
rice. I can only assume she asked that because I was eating a hamburger instead
of rice. Wanting to show her that I’m not isolating myself to only western
food, I joined her in ordering the same lunch today.
After naptime (loved it) it was time for military education
class. Hooray for today! The military officer/teacher/person didn’t have us go
outside like we usually do for drills of some sort. Instead the class became a
study period for the upcoming exam but no sleepy time. I didn’t mind not doing
the usual drills because my lower back right leg has been hurting up a storm
randomly today. Sometimes I was forced to limp a bit from the pain surging
through a muscle that is difficult to massage. Not a happy time. I wonder where
and when the soreness came from. O.o Strange…
SURPRISE SURPRISE! A wish of mine came true! My classmates
have a windbreaker type jacket that is part of the uniform available at Tatung
High School. It looks pretty darn cool and I love the school’s symbol and name
printed on the chest. Since I didn’t receive the jacket in my uniform bag (All
I got was 3 sets of P.E. uniforms) I had inquired what the cost would be to
purchase one myself for both winter and souvenir reasons. A lady just told me
it would be too expensive and the matter was dropped. But HAPPY DAY! The
exchange students were given some Tatung winter uniforms today! Inside was two
long sleeve shirts aaaaaand THE JACKET OF COOLNESS! YEEEEEEEEES! I AM HAPPY! :D
Two exchange students received black sweaters and vests in
their uniform bag. Confused why the rest of us didn’t get that, we talked to
our supervisor “Bai Lao Shi” about the matter. Apparently she made a mistake
when writing the uniform order down for us and accidently checked some extra
boxes for two girls. It just was so funny because a couple girls who didn’t get
the sweater and vest were jealous of the other girls. It came to the point
where they were asking the price that they would need to pay for the uniforms.
XD So we were given the option and prices of the sweater and vest if we desired
to buy but frankly I’m not sure if I should or not. It all depends on how cold
the winter gets for Taiwan, which I have yet to experience. So far I still have
times were it’s hot enough to break out in sweat. Yucky!
Tonight was a needed visit to the library for work. Much to
my disappointment, I didn’t even get half way done with that I wanted to do.
That’s what happens when stuff piles up after several days without Internet.
Fun stuff. Today I learned that the library closes at 9:00PM and had to leave
anyway to make it home before my curfew. But what was new to me was the way the
library closed. On the loud speaker, a classical song would play to signal the
need to leave the building. What a way to close up shop! I wanted to stay and
listen to the song. XD It makes me wonder how the library closes back in Texas.
Anyone know?
Oh goodness I suddenly got very tired. Time to wrap up this
Taffy. Whoo, just in time to! Please excuse me as I become unconscious. Good
night. ^_^
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