GYM And Breakfast At Night!

Thursday November 8^th, 2012

Iiiit’s a small world after alllll, Part 2! This time I ran into my history teacher on the MRT. I’m waiting to run into a favorite singer of mine, my husband or perhaps a classmate from KC. None of y’all would happen to be in Taipei right now, huh? :P

I was prepared this time! I arrived to University earlier! I had time for breakfast! Whoopie! What better way to celebrate than to get a fruit-vegetable #8 sandwich?! ;D This time I took it up to the classroom and ate it there because I didn’t want to play ‘beat the clock’ when it comes to savoring a meal. I could leave earlier to eat breakfast outside on the Cafe8’s patio but I already get up early enough and there’s no need for me to frantically access Wi-Fi now that Internet is at the house. (Halleluiah!)

In University class we did a small presentation over our biological families with the new family vocabulary we learned recently. It was fun to see our fellow exchange students’ families and hear about their likes. A great majority commented that their family liked drinking tea or coffee. Always 他們喜歡喝咖啡／茶. (They like to drink coffee/tea) Laughs were had, smiles exchanged and my Chinese skills reassured. When it comes to stuff we’ve learned at University, I know it very well. Stuff outside, not as hot. So if we’re talking about likes and dislikes, LOOKOUT because I know my vocabulary and grammar! If we’re talking about politics, prepare to mime awkwardly a lot. XD

When waiting for my #8 sandwich, my interest was sparked as I watched different orders being delivered. I concluded that I would try something new next time though not as healthy. That experiment got pushed forward from Monday to today because lunch was eaten at the University cafeteria with three other friends. So this time it was #9 combo time! It included chicken nuggets and an Asian corn-egg pancake thing with a side drink. Normally I get milk tea but I expanded my experiment by getting black tea instead. All was very tasty. To me the meal seemed half Asian with the corn-egg pancake & half American with chicken nuggets. I haven’t had chicken nuggets for at least 1-2 years! I felt like a kid again when eating them, especially when the shop had ketchup sauce! Whoo ketchup!

In high school land we had club today. Fun yet not so fun. Apparently the club has been having some afterschool practices that teach them stuff outside of what we learn in the allotted club time. The one time I made it to a practice, it so happened that they didn’t have it that day. FML. So I’m behind on our routine and don’t know how to catch up at this rate. I’m thinking of asking to film someone doing it to practice at home but there’s no knowing if I can. We’ll see. We did more of the lion dance, which one part confused not only me, but many other people because there wasn’t a recognizable pattern…yet there should have been. I don’t know. That’s another thing that was difficult in club today.

I’ve concluded that the kung-fu teacher is dedicated to only preying mantis style. The routine we are learning has the preying mantis stance several times and the fact that a picture of the animal was on the teacher’s robes today sealed the deal. Let’s have a fun little survey! What style of kung-fu would you pick to learn?

-Tiger

-Monkey

-Crane

-Snake

-Preying Mantis

Refer to Kung-Fu Panda if you need reference. ;)

On the way back home I received a text from my counselor saying that I will stay one more day than originally planned with my temporary family and afterward move to my second host family. Even though I know leaving my current family was inevitable, I couldn’t help but feel greatly saddened. I thought I would stay with them until mid or late December with the rumors of a delayed switch but it ended up being a premature switch. This is where I say my biological family’s famous quote, “I have tears.” With only five days of being with this host family, I’ve birthed feelings as if I’ve lived there for the whole three-month period. That is how wonderful they are and that is why I must savor every minute with them since I’ll change before I know it.

Since club extends my stay at school an hour extra, I arrived home just before dinner was ready compared to getting home an hour before. Uncle Eric is on a business trip to China and Pi Nan, Yavanna and Xiao Di were out of the house. So Auntie Jenny, Allen and I had dinner together. One dish was fascinating and a highlight of the meal. Asian meatballs! Whoo they were good! I dare say that they may even surpass the meatballs I’ve had in America! Both are good, don’t get me wrong, but the pure idea of Asian meatballs is interesting as heck! I had to rein myself back because I didn’t want a heavy stomach to the place Allen took me today.

THE GYM! HAAAAALLELUJAH!! *sparkles twinkle in my eyes with an idiotic smile plastered on my face* It’s been too long my friend! How I craved the feeling of exercise and sweat, especially recently because a realization dawned upon me. My stomach is getting bigger. Nooooooooo! I WON’T ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE! IT SHALL BE STOPPED! It is my solemn goal to not necessarily lose weight but to remain fairly the same. I refuse to go back to being pudgy! That characteristic is reserved for my bun-buns back in America because the bigger they get, the cuddlier they get. ^_^

And no, Allen wasn’t suggesting anything about my weight by inviting me to the gym. He’s an extremely nice guy and would never mean anything like that. He just knew I was interested in going to workout and was thoughtful enough to treat me with a visit.

Located at Xindian High School, he drove us by scooter. Without even stepping into the building, we immediately went back to the house. Why? It’s because Allen forgot the coupons for a free entrance to the gym and had to go back for them. It was cute. ;P It gave me the opportunity to ride on the scooter even more, which I really enjoy. Scooters are a lovely mix of horseback riding and roller coaster stimulation (two things I love). You must balance, the whooshing wind gracing your face and you speed down roads that would’ve taken a lot longer to walk. When I say ‘speed’, I don’t mean a speed devil but rather a normal, calm pace for a scooter. One thing that is commendable with Allen is his safe and legal driving. Many people in Taiwan don’t always follow the driving laws or are too reckless, which can be quite intimidating. Allen is thankfully different, for example, he actually stops at neighborhood stop signs. While walking, I have to be careful when crossing the street because cars will ignore the stop sign completely and mow me over. XD

Oh wonderful gym how I love thee! It was a small school gym but still have a good variety of equipment and working employees. For one visit it costs about $1-2US which I think is relatively cheap in comparison to others. The people working there were friendly and helpful, one coming up to me and talking in Chinese for a bit. All the lovable cardio machines were there like treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, etc. I did a bit of them all. ;)

First was the treadmill, side-by-side with Allen exchanging pleasant conversation. Then he went off to lift weights while I continued cardio stuff. Gotta lose my stomach! ;D But during the entire workout, I kept smiling like an idiot. My K-Pop friends will understand (SHOUTOUT!). The speakers were playing a certain artist over and over again. Can you guess which one? It’s a boy group…one of the biggest known and standing names…its name rhymes with “Juper Sunior.” This gym played 10-14 songs of Su-Ju while I was there. It was a Super Junior gym! Allie, Collen, you jelly? ;P It was really hard not to sing along or feel energized when songs like ‘Gulliver’ or ‘Pappillon’ were played. I was working on the bicycle machine when ‘Sorry Sorry’ was played and just had to do the dance hands during the song. One employee came by and looked at me strange and I protested not being crazy by saying in Chinese that I knew the song. He just walked away smiling which I can’t tell if I was successful or not explaining my sanity. Or perhaps I am insane. If I am, it sure is fun! ;D

When Allen finished his workout he asked a question to a worker before we left. It involved an exercise to help straighten your back posture. You stand straight with your buttocks and back touching a wall with your hands above the head. Then you bring your arms down forming a 90 degree angle with your bent arm and push it as far down as possible in a straight path by your sides. The goal is to push your shoulder blades together while doing this. I don’t know if it works but it was cool to learn an at-home exercise that doesn’t involve equipment.

The guy teaching us was pretty cool. He was from an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan! That’s a first for me! His name and his tribe’s language was kinda hard to learn because it’s more difficult than Chinese maybe more difficult than Taiwanese (meaning it’s really hard). He told us how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ but they were too complicated to remember after only being told once. It was really interesting to meet him and who knows, I may see him again if I can go back to this particular gym. Yo quiero! ;D

The next best feeling other than getting a good workout, is having a fresh shower to clean up. How I missed this! I need more! No seriously I need more. My stomach proves it. I’ll handle fixing it though. ;) When there’s a will, there’s a way! >:D

Tonight had a trip to a breakfast shop (move like breakfast and midnight snack shop XD) with Pi Nan and Allen. We bought several different Taiwanese foods along with soymilk.

<--The Shop

One was what I refer to as an Asian churro. Less sweet and more soft, this creation’s name sounds like “sao-bing-yo-tee-ow.” Another was a small ball that translates to “green onion crunch cake.” Our friend the Asian churro appeared again but this time holding hands together with an egg. The last food was called “fan tuan” which can be called in English “rice___(roll/ball/together). Take your pick. ;)

They were all very tasty. It sure was a good thing that I was able to go to the gym today!

Feeling 10x better after working out, I bid y’all a very energized “BYE-BYE!” :D

P.S. Guess what made a first appearance today. Christmas stuff! It went from Halloween to Christmas with no Thanksgiving is the middle. Poor Thanksgiving. Just thinking about it makes me want to bake a pumpkin pie. But I rejoice in the fact that I saw some Christmas traces in Taiwan. If I'm not careful, I'll go crazy on purchasing Christmasy stuff to create my own take on the holiday while abroad. XD