I just turned down a chance to make more money . . . I hope it wasn’t the wrong decision! Yes the money would be nice, but it means more work too. It was teaching a conversation class at one of the summer camp schools (the one far away). It was just once a week but for 3 hours. They gave me the info then asked if I wanted to do it. I said no and Steve seemed surprised. But I was honest and told him I’m pretty sure (bordering on afraid) that I’ll have enough work to do here. Heck, it’s my first year of teaching! It’s bound to be rough.
10:30 p.m.
So last night I had a sleepover. But it wasn’t like the good old days when my pals would rush to my house, my Mom would say “eat anything in the pantry” and we would stay up late giggling and talking. This sleepover took place at a hospital (don’t worry I’m not injured) and the main focus was moral support.
My new friend Kelly and I were asked by the bishop to spend some time with Sophia and her sisters at the hospital. One of them is always there and they don’t like to be alone. So we drove our scooters, missed a turn and ended up at the Kaohsiung Airport, received directions from a policeman (well Kelly did since she speaks Chinese), rode an elevator to the 3rd floor, and gave Sophia hugs.
I was very glad to be helping out. I really like her mom because she helped me get to church that first Sunday. Sophia was grateful for our company. She said when she is alone she thinks too much (don’t we all?). Sis. Yao (Sophia’s Mom) has had 2 brain surgeries since her scooter accident. Yesterday she was taken off the medicine that makes her sleep and she responded with some body movements. That was encouraging.
And for the shopping section of the title – quite a bit of that was done today, actually. I ended up going to lunch with Rebecca (Scott’s daughter) who only sat and watched me it. I only needed her for her Chinese :) Then we stopped in at 7-Eleven where I got a slurpee. Mango and pina colada – yum! Our next stop was the hypermarket in our neighborhood. Ha ha. We covered the whole store with me asking questions and Rebecca pointing out good stuff. It was fun and informative. I should have done this the 1st week I got here! Well, live and learn.
I found something that made me VERY happy – Chips Ahoy. Oh yes! I love those cookies! And Becca even gave me hints about how to make things. So great. And we were talking about ramen noodles and she said “we have those!” Sure enough they have cup noodles here. I laughed. And I made Becca model in the picture of them (see below). We had fun together. Becca was happy since she wasn’t sitting at home bored and hot (the store has AC).
Oh I nearly forgot to mention the funniest thing. Becca would show me stuff then say it’s expensive. I would chuckle and say I thought it was cheap. That happened with nearly everything we talked about. I think I’ll adjust to Taiwanese thinking and be shocked when I get back home. :(
Then I mentioned to the girls that I needed to buy some underclothing. They then mentioned it to their mother Sarah. She told me they purchase their stuff at the sunset market and it is open tonight so we’ll leave at 4. I’m appreciating her “let’s get it done attitude” more and more. So we did a bit more shopping there. And we went to a fruit market. Yum. Here’s another thing that cracked me up – we drove our scooters and looked at the food for sale at little booths (best way to describe them) on the side of the road. It was drive-up shopping! Only we were on scooters. It was just funny.
This evening was topped off by a visit to Carrefour with Yvonne, Grace, Becca, and Michelle. We had fun!! And we all spent money :) I purchased 2 shirts which required the purchase of hangars (I have none left). I also bought some food stuff. I had an ice cream in the store – it was tasty. The girls wanted to go to get some paper supplies and clothes before school starts. Again we had different opinions regarding the prices. But it meant I got to buy the cutest shirt. It was $300 NT and they thought that was crazy. I was excited. 10 bucks?! Not a bad deal at all.
Grace feels like she is in my debt because I found her a very cute black shirt (her preferred color) that was only $100 NT ($3 US). She plans to wear it to the church dance this weekend. Here’s a slightly connected tidbit – they allow youth ages 12 and 13 to attend but you can only dance if you are 14. Isn’t that strange?! I remember only those over 14 were allowed to attend. Oh and another tidbit – the girls really laughed when I showed them the dance moves we did using everyday actions (shopping, lawn mowing and showering). I told them to start the trend here in Taiwan :)
This is getting long and I just have a few more funny things. Yvonne told me to wait outside our apartment lobby while she went to get her car. She parks it at the school next door. Then she pulled out her scooter and drove off. Oh yes, I laughed. 5 minutes later she pulls up, still on her scooter. As she gets off she says, “I bet you can guess why I’m back.” I laughingly said, “You forgot your keys.” She confirmed that as she walked past to return to the apartment. Ha ha!
(This might go on forever! I keep thinking of funny things.) While I was waiting for her the 2nd time, I saw a woman getting on a bike and it reminded me of another funny thing I haven’t shared yet. I saw a lady with a CD tied to the front of her bike. I was confused for about 10 seconds. Then the reasoning dawned on me – it was on there as a reflector. Ingenious!
*Sigh* There is more to be said but I’m tired. I didn’t get as much work done today as I should have. And tomorrow I’m observing more classes. It’s good since it means I don’t sit around the house all day. In fact, I didn’t sit around the house today until I ate dinner. What a change! And observing helps me learn about my students; who I will be teaching in a week and a half. Eek! Right now I’m working on 2 somewhat generic lesson plans and my syllabus. I sure wish they would have made me write a syllabus in a college class. I am struggling now.
P.S. You can’t buy a toothbrush on its own (I guess it would be too lonely or something). Becca and I looked – you have to buy a pack of 3 or nothing at all. Random! (But it made me laugh again so that’s good.) Oh yeah!! Becca helped me find cheese in the freezer. Oh happy day! I haven’t had cheese since I left home. Ok, not true. I had some cheese with crackers when my Dad and I met some friends here. But that was a long time ago! Looks like I can now have cheese sandwiches (you’d almost think I’d died and gone to heaven).
P.P.S. A typhoon is headed this way and expected to arrive during the weekend. Yvonne said I will miss them in the winter. I was very confused by this statement. But I agreed after she explained – no typhoons means no school closed.
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