Final Post! Home.

Armed with my two carry ons and check in (19.5 kg WHOO!), we left home at 5:20 AM for our 9:10 flight. USA is having a security alert so all persons heading to USA has tighter security checks (yippee). and turns out it was way too early because we sat at the gate and waited for almost 2 hours.

on the longest flight (12.5 hours—not too bad. anything shorter than 13 is great), I sat beside a man who, when he yawned, looked like a surprised gorilla….wide eyes and o-shaped mouth.

first opinion back in USA: Americans are taller and fatter (don’t hate, I speak the truth). I have returned to being normal sized, rather than Miss Ginormica back in Taiwan. Airport here also smells overwhelmingly like fried food, which was frankly, quite disgusting and rather nauseous. Taiwan has fried food too- but it’s not so…overpowering. also, the food options here generally suck. sandwiches and pizza—where are my rice, noodles, Japanese and Korean cuisine? L

anyways, first thing I did when I got home? clean the toilet.

its so quiet in my room. without the city noises outside my window, I can hear the A/C going and everything, and it’s creating this ringing in my ears, so last night I had to turn on the radio to fall asleep. also, my “KILL THE BUG” reflexes are so tuned now, I just tried to kill a piece of lint.

A/C is set at 84 degrees, and I am still kind of really freezing. on the plane rides, the A/C gave me a headache -_-

…I lost 10 pounds while in Taiwan? weird. most definitely ate a ton more than usual (I average at 900 calories a day in USA :P). must be all the walking. and probably lost a ton of muscle mass because I didn’t work out…at all….

First full day back, I have started to unpack (that rhymed), and I am just about over jet lag (no joke—I don’t linger long on different time zones :P). so this is my last post of this blog: thanks for following me through this super journey where I’ve gone through new things that heh, I would never want to do again (COUGHteaching) and discovered new things about myself (contact me and I will elaborate ;) ).

Here’s to a new school year!

Last Day

Yesterday went to Danshui bright and early to take a walk. very empty, not like when we were there with AID two weeks ago….

Started packing yesterday; good thing I brought a carryon-sized luggage inside my check-in on the way here (it’s a must to go overseas, or nothing will fit on the way back). plus one of my groupmates during AID won me a ginormous Doraemon doll at a night market. so that’s basically my entire carry on HAHA it looks ridiculous. but it’s amazing how much stuff can fit around it O_o

airport security will think I'm a freak.

 that’s about all I’ve been doing lately. finding interesting methods to save room in my suitcase ;) I’ve been stuffing socks and underwear inside rolled up posters and thermoses, wrapping pads around my sunglasses, putting things inside my two pairs of shoes that I’m bringing back. it looks interesting.

something I forgot to mention earlier; my aunt likes to feed the cockroaches. they eat peppers, so my aunt says that since peppers are too spicy for humans anyways, might as well let the cockroaches eat them since they aren’t afraid -_- Taiwan: the land where cockroaches fly and are fed.

by the way, today (8/8) is Chinese father’s day! happy father’s day! :D

and something fun that almost completely describes my entire life as a Taiwainese-American:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kswl/21-signs-youre-about-that-taiwanese-american-life-ck4s

tomorrow morning very very early, I leave for the airport! Arriving at home (or the airport, rather) at 7:56 PM 8/9. 

Kaohsiung Road Trip!

Sunday- last minute plans change to go to Kaohsiung (the city I was near while I was teaching) to visit my two of my dear AID Summer counselors~~ I was originally planning to go just on Monday, but then was invited to spend the night at one of their houses.

So Sunday at noon I hop on the HSR (High Speed Rail). originally a 6 hour train ride, HSR turns it into just over an hour (if you don’t stop at every station like I did…) and those HSR stations are so legit. like, the one at Kaohsiung looked like a freaking airport. saw interesting sights, such as a big statue of what looked like a blue chocolate chip with a red polka dot cape.

so 21st century :D

picked up at the station by JILL jie jie, one of my Bus E (WHOOO) counselors! it’s only been a week but I missed herrrrrr. and we went to eat frozen yogurt/absorb air conditioning because we’re afraid to go outside in the heat. then braved the heat to go to Pier 2, an old cargo train station by the coast of Kaohsiung. the storage centers are now used for art exhibits (the term “art” used loosely…)

Kaohsiung Main Subway Station

just so happened that the main exhibit that just opened (on 8/3!) was “100 Years Before the Birth of Doraemon”!!! Remember I told you that I LOVE Doraemon?? Jill jie jie had no idea of this and had bought tickets already. how freaking amazing is that. IT WAS SO CUTE OH MY GAWDDDDD

Literally at least 100 Doraemon statues.

then we went to Kaohsiung Arena to eat dinner. there was a local band there promoting something about the Earth and I thought he was hot but Jill jie jie apparently did not, so we had a kind-of argument about that. and our ideal guy. but anyways.

then I was transferred over to Debby jie jie, who, along with her mom and little sister, took me to eat

a) fried chicken (although it’s more than just chicken- you choose what you want them to put in and they calculate price by what you chose. can have tofu, fish balls, chicken, pig’s blood cake, etc etc)

b) drinks (I got a green tea + Yang Le Duo, a drinkable yogurt-type thing)

c) stinky tofu and Duck’s Blood noodles (congealed chunks of duck’s blood and noodles)

I think taiwan’s night life is all about eating.

then to Ai He, Love’s River, to ride a ferry to see the night view. although none of us could understand a word of what the tour guide was saying. but it was pretty (mind you, by this time it was 10:45 PM. still many people out and about.)

and THEN, we were going to rent bikes and ride around the river, but heh it was past 11 PM and we were kinda tired…so we went home (or rather, to Debby jie jie’s home) to shower and get on the internet.

woke up at 9:40 (note- “woke up,” not “got up.” we just sat there for a long while). went out for breakfast down the road, went back home, got on internet/watched tv/sat there for about…2 hours. (total motivation right there.) took tons of selfies lying on the couch.

and then her mom came home, so we actually got up to do something haha

went to eat lunch (wonton noodles, pickled cabbage hot pot, pig’s ears, pig’s livers. all so very delicious; my first time having liver, but it was even better than pig’s feet! ahhhhh I’ll miss having odd meats back in USA)

then went to Shoushan, or Monkey Mountain, to walk. or climb stairs. Yeah, mostly climb stairs. met a few monkeys on the way ;) apparently they’ve been around humans so much, they aren’t afraid and will run to you and steal your stuff. Debby jiejie’s mom told me some stories of when that happened to them XD I thought they were pretty cute, but Debby jie jie was scared to death…her high school is right by the mountain, and whenever monkeys come by, they have to close all the windows because the monkeys come in to the classrooms to take stuff!

climbed up stairs for 40 minutes. climbed down stairs for 40 more minutes. literally soaking through clothes and dripping sweat. I thought it was really fun, but maybe climbing in a dress isn’t the best idea ;)

they struck a pose for me (or maybe were looking at my camera with interest) and then the baby faceplanted and they all looked away right as I took the picture.

stairs.

then to eat mango and taro shaved ice (YUM). the shaved ice place is really famous in Taiwan (Ah Puo Bing)! on that day though, they just happened to be spraying cockroach-killer so all the cockroaches were out and about. as in, they kept falling from the ceiling. one fell onto my leg and everyone freaked out; maybe I should have haha but my first instinct was to try to pick it up…

and then to Martyr’s Shrine atop a mountain to see the view

and then drove over to XiZhiWan, a district where ZhongShan University is. my dad taught at Zhongshan for a semester several years ago! it’s on the mountain (transport between classes must be a pain…) but also right by the beach.

and we chose a horrible location to climb down to the beach. steep, rickety stairs and the beach was all rock XD but it was pretty!

hair flying everywhere

and THEN rode a ferry across Kaohsiung port to walk around on the other side

and THEN ate dinner of Pork Intestine Soup (LOVE intestines.)

and then went to Zuoying HSR station to ride back to Taipei.

Yingjie 姐姐， 翊筑姐姐，還有翊筑姐姐的媽媽，謝謝你們帶我出去跑！累嗎？下一次來美國唷！要答應哦！^o^ 

getting ready to go home- here's to hoping that everything fits in my luggage!

Road Trip Kinda

Thursday. nothing to do, so I went out for a walk. decided to go to a bus stop and get on the first bus I saw, then ride it to somewhere random. the first bus happened to be 235, the bus route I’m most familiar with :P so I ended up at Zhongxiao Dunhua subway station, about 6 miles from my house. walked the underground mall for a bit (it runs alongside the station) then decided to walk home from there.

except for the fact that I went in the complete opposite direction that I was supposed to and followed the subway in the wrong way, it went pretty well. I didn’t get lost (after I realized I had turned the wrong way three miles after I did…)!

and then at night I went to Shi Da Night Market with my cousin :D food and clothes.

Friday went to Su’ao, where my grandma on my dad’s side lives, to spend the night. no wifi -_- haha we went to a temple and a museum and a Mr. Brown Coffee castle

something-something temple

view from the top of Mr. Brown Coffee castle

You know whats sad? the escalators here have an automated voice that tells you to “Please hold onto the handrail and stand firm” when you get on. I’ve started hearing that in my head when I use squatting toilets……

....yeah so I'm gonna go now. goodnight. tomorrow is adventure time, going back south to Kaohsiung (where my school was near!) to meet up with some AID peeps :DDDDD

Adrenaline Rush.

spent most of the day doing MyStudentBody for college. (after 8 hours, I'm about 1 hour from finishing! I'm thinking that I'm overachieving because everyone else says it's taking them less than 2 hours.)

afternoon- went out for a walk. rode to Taipei Main Station (4th day in a row, haha) but this time shopped outside the station, around all the food stalls and cheap clothes. 

and now the story you've all been waiting for (or maybe not, I don't know haha). while out walking, I was approached by a man supposedly taking a survey (they're common here). 

"Hi, I'm from the Office of *something or another*, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, why not?"
"Are you from Taiwan?"
"No, I'm from USA." (mistake number one- made me an easier target)

"Whoa, your Chinese is really good!" (etc etc, he made lots of small talk, including asking where I lived...needless to say, I did not tell him. I said I didn't know, which was probably mistake number two)

he asked me a few questions about what I thought of something political (in hindsight, that was weird because no one does surveys about politics), but being from overseas, I had no idea what he was talking about. so I said I probably couldn't be of any help and walked away. then things got interesting.

he grabbed me from behind, and I said, "What are you doing" and he let go and said "sorry. I really do like to give hugs."

Creep Alert goes off right there. I walk away again, he grabs me again but this time he gropes me. (mind you, this was in a side street where there weren't AS many people, but still a few people around--and if you turn the corner, there's crowds. he isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch.)

OH HELLLLLL NO. poor guy (not really) didn't know who he was messing with. a grab from behind is one of the most basic self-defenses we were taught in Taekwondo. you headbutt, drop down, strike to the groin, sweep his legs out. he ended up on the floor holding his privates.

I asked him what he was doing and he said he didn't mean it. 

then I turned on my TEACHER VOICE, the one I used when I my students wouldn't listen (and that's how you know sh*t's about to go down)

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T MEAN IT? YOU MEANT IT. WHAT THE H*LL ARE YOU DOING TOUCHING ME THERE? HUH? DO YOU HAVE A MENTAL DISEASE (that's a really bad translation haha)? 

(*note, by this time people are totally noticing me shouting and man rolling on ground in pain. so much for blending in and not looking like a tourist)

"BOY YOU BETTER RUN AWAY BEFORE I HIT YOU HARDER." (that's a bad translation too :P )

he ran. 

"EVERYBODY, WATCH OUT FOR THAT MAN IN THE BLUE SHIRT. HE JUST GROPED ME!" (I did as much as possible to humiliate him, you see.)

well that was an adrenaline rush. and it turns out Taekwondo self-defense really is useful in the real world! :D so I am fine and all, I just hate to think of how many people he has taken advantage of who can't kick ass butt :(

and then I got hungry, bought watermelon juice, and donated money to a Buddhist monk on the side of the road. average day.

pics

tourist spot in Hualien. mini temple

beholdddd the sweaty selfie

this was freaking delicious.

condom shaped chocolates.

pad shaped marshmallows.

i bought the pad shaped marshmallows.

Road Trip

AID Meeting day 2

today, woke up at 6 to go to Taipei Main Station to take the train to Hualien, where my aunt is a Buddhist nun :) been there before, so I didn't take many pictures of the temple, and I can't put pictures up of her. so here's a few of the scenery and places we went to see around the city~ 

just kidding my internet is slow so tomorrow.

the train ride there (and back :P ) was by the coast. SO PRETTY. and I found out that Carly Simon's song Boys in the Trees is perfect for scenic road trips. 

having AID Summer withdrawals. it's been 3 days. it feels like it's been months already. and I can't believe that only a month ago, I was just meeting all these people; that feels like at least four months ago.