That was me today. I turned this crappy day around, though. Like a boss.
Even if you don't know those days exactly, you know how terrible it is to wake up that next day feeling like you just closed your eyes. Then you get to work on time, but you still don't know if the fact that you did all that worrying and not-sleeping the night before is going to even be necessary. Then only one of your students shows up, and you're all, "Well, there goes everything I planned, because 75% of it is group work because I was expecting a group." Except, thank god, two more students show up. Except you're nervous about teaching them, so after re-starting the class and making the on-time student sit through the same lesson twice, you get to 10am having conducted what was probably the worst, most boring and uninformative class of your life and will likely result in the students deciding to quit.
Your only defining moment in that whole two hours was letting them play a sticky-ball game where they got to throw stuff at the whiteboard. And that was the last three minutes of class. You did not in any way redeem yourself for the dull, mind-numbing hour and fifty-five minutes of before.
Moving on, though. Thank god that was my last class of the day. But I had some other stuff to get done, so sleep was out of the question. So after I finished all that, it was the afternoon, and I thought, "You know what, I'm gonna go get myself some food that is delicious and not necessarily cost-conscious, because I am getting paid next week and I have not eaten much at all today."
So after consulting Amelia, whom I swear I'm going to end up making expensive long-distance calls to after she leaves Taiwan because I'm still figuring out how to order food and take the buses, I took the MRT to Dunhua, where there is some very good food.
I ended up eating this:
That is angel hair pasta with a cream truffle sauce. It came with soup and a drink. It was the most gosh-darn incredible thing I'd eaten all day because, one, it was really good, and two, it was the first real, filling food I'd had all day. This stuff rocked my soul. The waiter came to get my dish because I was too busy texting Amelia about my awesome lunch to finish the last few bites, and I was like, "No! I'm not done!" So while he wandered a polite distance away and waited, I ate the rest, so he was finally able to take my plate and get my drink (green tea, half the sugar).
Getting to the MRT station after that was a task, because my stomach was over-compensating its digestive efforts due to its shock at even having something real to digest. (I think it'd given up on me by then.) Fortunately, it doesn't require much effort to use the MRT. Find the train going in the right direction, get on it, sit down until you get where you're going. I went to Housampi station, because less than a block away is Wu Fen Pu.
I have mentioned this place before, guys. You know how I feel about the Fashion Mecca of Taipei.
I'm a bit TOO excited about my paycheck, if I'm honest. No, I'm not going to blow it on shoes and shorts and jewelry the second I get it. I have to blow a nice chunk of it on my rent and electricity bill, first. But it's getting a bit depressing looking in my closet for things to wear. I don't have nearly as much Taiwan-appropriate clothing as I'd thought, partially because of the heat and partially because I brought a lot of business attire only to find out that the school buys my "uniform" for me, which is two white polo shirts. (I still need to get black pants.) So I have a bunch of stuff that either doesn't fit the season, is too dressy for everyday wear, or just plain doesn't fit the fashion or dress code here. (Read: my entire selection of tank tops.)
Also, I just really like the clothes here. It's a bit theatrical, which you can't get away with in the States without looking like you're trying too hard. Here, though, there are enough people wearing not just clothes, but a "look" that you can get away with being a bit more flashy and extravagant. I already stand out on account of being white, so I can dress up just a bit more and have a "personal look" that fits my unique, American self.
What made today so great, though, was the fact that I used the MRT and buses and wandered the streets on my own without getting too lost. I failed to get off the MRT at the right stop once, and had to hop off at the next stop and take the other train back to the previous stop so I could get off and get on the right train. No big deal, though. I also got lost in Wu Fen Pu, because when your bladder is exploding from all the green tea you drank earlier, it's hard to concentrate on where you've been or where you're going, but I asked a random white guy how to get to the MRT station and he showed me.
Finally, when I got back to Xinjhuang safe and sound, the familiarity of the area was so overwhelming that I suddenly thought, "This is my city." It was pretty cool.
I'm getting to the point where I can wander around without being too worried about never finding a familiar street again. I'm getting to know the food stands and the shops and even some of the people I see (although it's just the cashiers at Wellcome, Family Mart and OK!, the last two being convenience stores near my home and they see me so much they know me). Heck, tonight I had a partial conversation with the lady whom I got dinner from (veggies and tofu cooked in soup with some kind of pickled veggie on top, so good) without really understanding what she said. I'm trying to learn numbers in Chinese, partially so she doesn't feel like she has to get someone to translate my total cost for her whenever I show up. On the other hand, she asked me questions directly, and I was able to answer them, and the other day I even asked a Wellcome cashier if the bananas were really 51NT (using hand signals and "Quai, ma?" which is the word for the money here, and then "ma" which is like "ka" in Japanese, where you often stick it at the end of a sentence to make it a question).
Stuff like this makes me feel like I might actually, one day, be able to not just live in this city but interact with it. I hate feeling cut off. People here aren't always sure what to make of me and I don't want them to be afraid to talk to me. I'm scared to talk to them, because my Chinese ability is less than one and I don't want to be be snubbed for it. But I still don't want them to be worried about me. I wave at little kids on the bus or on the elevator when they stare at me. If I am the first non-Taiwanese person any of these people see, I want that experience to be a good one. I want them to see me as friendly.
Completely Chinese-illiterate and with a debilitatingly limited vocabulary, but friendly.
Okay, I really need to sleep now because Amelia and I have adventures tomorrow. Toodles!
Dinner! Because I just wanted to brag about the Taiwanese street food I'm eating out of a bowl bought in Taiwan. And how awesomely "authentic" this is. :)
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