learnin chinese one word at a time

The super fun thing about living in a different country with different customs, culture, language, and writing system is that getting "settled" is a daily, uphill battle for a while.
Take, for example, the process of learning what parts of the body are acceptable to show. In Taiwan you can wear shorts almost up to your butt, but heaven forbid you wear a low-cut shirt or show your shoulders. (Although I think showing boob is worse than shoulders.) Skirts and shorts are really short around here, while tops tend to have very high necklines and almost always cover the shoulders. (Tank tops are usually for layering, so you'd be putting something on top of your shoulders, anyway.) Despite knowing this, I feel weird going out in shorts and heels, because in the States you'd be calling attention to yourself (particularly your butt) if you were wearing something that showed your legs and called attention to the way you were walking.
Another thing that I'm going to have to learn one bit at a time is Chinese. Today I learned "san," which is the number 3. I ate at a sushi restaurant today, and the amount you owe is calculated by the number and color of the sushi plates you took off the conveyor belt. What's magical about Taiwan is that so many people know a decent amount of English, so the server was able to tell me that I owed money for three plates, but I asked her how to say "three" in Chinese so I could try to remember it. I now "know" a total of three words: three, thank you, and hi. I want to learn as much as I can because I feel so dumb knowing next to no Chinese when half the country (it seems) can communicate with me in English. I'm in their country, so I should be learning their language. I just know it's going to be hard work, and I know I'll eventually be fine, but since I'm just starting out, it's frustrating to know how far I have to go.
I downloaded a handwriting app from Pleco onto my iPod. The app lets me draw characters on the screen so it can look them up for me and tell me what they mean. I intend to use it at the restaurants because nothing is so annoying as going by yet another cheap restaurant and not being able to read the menu. I'm a visual learner, so having to study the symbols and draw them will help me remember them. The app is very accurate, too, and has helped me identify some complex symbols.
Tomorrow Amelia and I are going to Danshui, which is on the coast. I'm really excited to be getting out and about, and then I'll still have Tuesday to finish the lesson-planning work I'm doing tonight.