Just in case you thought I'd fallen off the face of the Earth...

...I haven't.  In fact, despite last weekend's challenges, I'm still alive and thriving.  To name a few exciting things, I have discovered ice in the middle of Taipei (who would've thought), started class, taken a wrong bus, and had a rock-slide that took out the power.  Then to make matters more interesting, I've celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival and will get the chance to experience my first typhoon this weekend.  Just in time to coincide with stuff going on in Houston.  At least last I knew.  Now you can sit back with a hot mug of something (it just seems more appropriate that way, no?) and read whatever my loopy mind decides to share with you.

Well first off, my good intention of updating was destroyed when I was in class last Friday in the middle of presenting.  Right in the middle of an oh-so-interesting story about a man that bought a bad apartment, the lights went out on me and later my class discovered it was thanks to a rock-slide that damaged the power line.  Well, from there I took off for Shida Nightmarket and hung out by myself until I got a call from someone saying the power wouldn't be on until the following day and not to be scared.  Later, after listening to a group singing on the streets, I then received another phone call from a friend wondering what I was up to.

By the time I'd gotten back, I found a group of CIEE kids outside my dorm.  Well, trying to get information from them was challenging because they'd only tell me the dorm smelled bad and asked what I was going to do for the night.  I couldn't help but be puzzled.  Why would I care if it smelled?  Well, lo and behold there was carbon monoxide inside the dorm from the diesel generators, and we'd been advised to stay elsewhere.

Well, the director hooked us up with a suite at the Holiday Inn.  There were about ten of us in a four-person room, but shh!  Don't tell.  This is our secret.  It was pretty sweet and I managed to walk off with a couple of real black instant coffee packets!  I was also given the pleasure of finding out just what I'd missed out on not going and seeing the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  (If you know me well, at age ten the old one from the seventies had me terrified from getting out of my bed because a crazy man would appear and chop me up with a chainsaw despite the fact that it was broad daylight and my bed was really close to the lightswitch.  The fact that I as child also had a superstition that if you slept with dangling limbs or limbs outside the covers, the limb monster would come and chop them off didn't help either.)  Anyways, the movie was terrible, and just ridiculously gory.  I couldn't help but wince at all the blood and torture.

When the power finally did come on, I was more concerned with getting homework done.  You see, I'd planned to have a boring weekend of studying Bopomo and reading up on school assignments and doing research on Taiwanese and Mandarin.  (Yes, it's well established that I'm a nerd, so deal with it.)

As for class, it's wonderful.  I went down a level.  I am now in 321 with a teacher that's a pink (color, not singer) fan.  My vocabulary and my oral proficiency just aren't quite ready for newspaper class.  I would rather read a newspaper on my own time (and when I feel motivated) than struggle through one for a grade.  I won't lie to you by saying my oral proficiency really has a ways to go yet.  Darn my roommates for not all showing up.  Though I try and force my Malaysian one to talk by just telling her really mundane things about myself.  I figure she can't sit there and be awkward with me forever.

I have class everyday from 12:10-15:00, then I attend CIEE core class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So far, core class has been a bit of a letdown.  I suppose the problem is that I'm used to being in class with a bunch of really smart kids and having very meaningful and productive discussions; whereas, here we didn't seem to get further than why Chinese has characters and what their significance was.  I was more interested in what we could've discussed based on Taiwan's sociolinguistic makeup.  I suppose that's for me to study myself then.  Hopefully this satisfied you boring folks who find pleasure in knowing my approximate schedule.  It's nothing too thrilling, and I do my best to avoid routine.  God knows I detest routine, thus my absolute opposition towards watches.

Ah, good news!  I know have a Singaporean 阿姨 that I've never seen or met, but it's still exciting.  妹妹她不会生我的气，对吧？  And my 妹妹 is coming for me in December, not to mention another friend from Singapore and hopefully my very special childhood friend who's presence makes everything less pink.

Yes, I know some of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but then you already think I'm insane enough.  We won't add the complications of all my inside jokes and those pet names.  I like to think of myself as incomprehensible.  I'm happy that way.  So you should be happy too.

What else?  A yes, yesterday was moon cake day!  And I do love moon cakes.  So I ate three of them, despite how terrible they are for you.  In addition I had a little vegetarian cookout.  What fun!  I love vegetarian food here.  Too bad it's not always convenient for me.  So much meat here.  And vegetarian food tends to be a little more on the pricey side.  Though, I have a rice balls man.  He knows me and seems amused.  He always knows I want a vegetarian riceball and fills it with all sorts of delights.  

To top it all off, tonight I get to meet up with my teacher from Middlebury.  I can't begin to express how excited I am.  Plus I hope that this coming typhoon won't mess up my weekend plans.  (Some of you know what I'm referring to.  Though, I'm so nervous.  Ah!)

Much love to all of you.  And do feel free to use my Cbox if you don't have an account and hate clicking the extra buttons to leave a comment.  I do read and treasure each person's comment.  On my Cbox, I've been replying.  I always feel weird to make my own comments on a page you see.