Monthly Archives: July 2009

Lily

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One of my closest friends, Lily, came and visited me in Taipei! She was on a trip with her parents to China, and they decided to stop in Taiwan to visit for a bit. She also brought me my bridesmaid dress. Nothing like a hand-delivered satin gown across the world to say true friendship.
We didn’t have much time together, but I took her to get some of the local eateries like vermicelli noodles and mango ice. It was fabulous to catch up and talk and talk and talk again. I’ve missed my girlfriends very very much.

Pandas!

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During the summer, I’ve been teaching a few high school kids who are home on vacation from Canada. They need extra English help, so they’re taking morning classes with me and another teacher to work on reading comprehension, writing, speaking, etc. On Tuesdays, we get to take them on field trips because the new Neihu-Muzha MRT line recently opened, and it’s right by our school. Last week, we went to the Fine Arts Museum but there wasn’t much to see since they were in transition for exhibits. (The Pixar exhibit starts Aug. 7! We might go back for that.)
Yesterday, I finally convinced them to go to the zoo, so we went and saw the pandas! The weather wasn’t bad; it was cloudy so it wasn’t too hot. But humidity is always a given here. First you had to get a ticket to see the pandas at a certain time. Sometimes, if there’s lots of people, the tickets run out and then you have to miss out. (The pandas are also closed to the public on Mondays.)

Thank goodness there was no line when we finally got to the panda exhibition place. They built this giant indoor/outdoor facility just for these two bears. You could see the setup outside for when the line gets to be quite long and wounds alllll the way down the sidewalk. We walked right in though, zigzagged through the ropes, and then finally got to the glass enclosing. You get about 20 seconds to ooh and aah, take a few pictures, and then the security guards usher you along again. The whole experience takes about 45 seconds. This was all I got to see of the pandas.

Beauty, Unquestionably, is Pain

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First in the news, I got my ears pierced. Again. A coworker of mine wanted a buddy so I made the spontaneous decision, “Sure, why not?”. And so we went during our lunch break to this cute little shop in an alley by school. It was only $100NT ($3USD), earrings included, and very sanitary and efficient complete with alcohol pads and the earring gun. It was sore for awhile though. I’ve forgotten how much getting nailed with a needle hurts. The last time I got something pierced was my belly button during my freshmen year in college, and that was sore for like 3 weeks.
Speaking of pain, I went and got a wax. It took me ages and ages to find a decent, non-sketchy, and most importantly, sanitary place in Taipei. I finally found this place called Nude Waxing. So for any females who need to know this important information, I highly recommend this place! It’s in an easy-to-find location by the 24-hour Eslite on Dunhua, and the place is clean and soothing with very friendly personnel.

Dead Friday

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Got home at 12:40am from poker last night.

Finally crashed into bed at 1am.
Got woken up by the neighbor’s f-ing bird at 5am.
Barely slept for the next 3 hours.
Alarm went off at 8am.
Finally dragged myself out of bed at 8:15am.
Got dressed and out the door by 8:30am.
At work by 9am with breakfast and coffee.
Waiting for class to start at 9:30am.
At 10am, realize that I have no students and therefore no morning class.
Next tutoring session is not until 1pm.
What am I to do now?
Can’t go home. Commute time is a waste. (When I move into my new place, then commute time would be significantly less, and I could totally be napping by now.)
Maybe I’ll go get my hair washed and pass out there.
Oh yes.

Girls Make the World Go Round

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I spent the weekend making new girl friends. Don’t act so surprised. I’m fully capable of making girl friends too. It’s just harder here with the language barriers and the cultural differences. And most of the English teachers here are males, if you haven’t noticed.

Friday night, I met up with fellow blogger, Serena. She was already cool just by sharing the same last name, and Wu’s don’t disappoint. We had dinner at Taipei Main at Sababa’s and just talked for an hour or so. I insist on being a good wingman for her, but first we need to solve her curfew situation.
Saturday was Thu Van’s good bye party since she’s leaving Taiwan. We had a great time at Barcode after bowling with one of Michael’s friend and girlfriend. I’ve been doing a lot of bowling lately, even pulled a muscle. That’s hardcore bowling for ya.
I think we’ve finally found another couple to do couple things with. Michael’s friend and his gf are totally awesome, and we’ve gone bowling a few times already and such. The gf and I went out on Sunday for lunch and shopping, and I officially got to hang out and do some girly things with Taiwanese girls. I have to admit, getting to know these girls have changed my perspective on Taiwanese girls a bit. Girls are innately girls; it’s just the cross cultural differences that make it harder to get to know them better especially since girls are already a bit more reserved and conservative than boys. But I’m learning, and who knows, maybe my Chinese will finally get better.