Okay blogger just deleted this entire post which I had written out. So now I'm really really pissed off. This will be reflected in the post to follow.

Anyway, hello dear followers. Sorry for my long absence but I had a really hellishly busy two weeks. 

This past week was defined by midterms, family, and unhealthiness. So my sister Emily and my mother decided that they wanted to visit Taiwan, using my presence as an excuse. They booked the tickets awhile ago before anyone knew that my midterms fell on the same week. Since tickets are cheapest from Saturday to Saturday, this meant we had to do all our quality time on weekdays. Which was fine except on Sunday my ear began to throb. Being afraid of the Taiwanese hospital, I took some advil and hoped for the best. 

Anyway, despite the stress, having the two of them here was really fun. It gave me an excuse to do my work really quickly and then get out to see parts of the city I hadn't gotten around to seeing yet. Like the zoo. Giant pandas are sweet it turns out. The zoo is only two subway stops from me and really cheap. Win. 

Also the two of them were staying in this sick hotel between school and my apartment which meant I could take advantage of the really really cool rooftop pool which had an incredible view. Double win. 

Anyway, although my ear ache wasn't getting any better, it became the least of my problems when Wednesday lunch I went to a fried noodle place. Walking back to the hotel, my face started to feel funny and when I got to the room, my eyes were swollen nearly shut and I began to rather unpleasantly 瀉肚子。(No translation on that one.) I began to freak out since I have no known food allergies. My mother took pictures and Emily made us cringe with her suggestion that I was probably just "finally becoming Asian." Anyway, the Benedryl eventually fixed things, and I'll just cross my fingers that it was some fluke and that I'll get through the summer without another incident. Anyway at this point I was feeling pretty low, but whatever. We took a trip up to the mountains to have tea which was pleasant. 

On Friday though I finally broke down and went to see the ENT doctor at Wangfang Hospital which is like a 45 second walk from my apartment. After a strugglicious conversation where I tried to register and book an appointment, I received one for about two hours later. The doctor spoke English, took one look in my ear, pronounced that I had an ear infection, gave me pain killers and antibiotics, and sent me on my way. The whole visit cost about $400 NT or like $13. Sweet. I don't even think I'll apply for reimbursement with insurance. 

So yeah, I wrote this post (the first time... grrrr) while lying on my side with ear drops in. I've taken my exams and seen my family off. It was really nice having them around because it gave me the chance to see how comfortable I've become here in Taipei.  Now I'm about to start my third to last week of class. How the time flies!

Oh, Jianada!

Hey all! 5-day a week class really provides a regularity to life that detracts from epic blog post opportunities so this one is more stream-of-consciousness than anything else. Anyway, on Friday David and I continued our Friday swim tradition at the pool which was fun as always. Then we went to the Marimar Mall with a group of Yalies. After dinner in the food court, we took a ride on what is billed as the world's second largest ferris wheel. The trip up was pretty serene until people started shooting off fireworks from the street right below. Looking down on the fireworks I felt a bit disconcerted, as in "please don't aim to your left..." but it was a nice belated 4th of July event. The mall itself was enormous and well lit. It sort of resembled a Vegas casino. Sadly it was closed when we got off the ferris wheel. 

Next, we caught up with some ICLPers at a club called Luxy. Although my U.S. club going experiences are limited... I imagine that Taiwanese clubs aren't all that different. People danced. People drank. The bartenders did a cool fire throwing routine. Yeah. 

Anway, Saturday night I went to Taipei 101 (once the world's tallest building for those who don't know... is it still? I can never keep up) for the view and for dinner. We got there at dark and the city looked really nice all lit up. Although it seems to me that once you've been up a tall building, you've been up them all. I've been to the Sears tower, and this was similar. I'd like to go on a clear day though so I could see further out into the mountains. Illinois has less of that to boast. There was a really weird coral museum slash store at the top of the building. Probably the coolest part was the ride up in the world's fastest elevator which took forty-something seconds to get us all the way to the top. You couldn't even really feel it accelerating which was incredible. So after descending, we had dinner in the food court and then walked around the district. Sei waited in line for about half an hour for Cold Stone. We saw a fake statue of liberty right outside the store. Lady Liberty had apparently partaken a bit too much in the ice cream because she was a lot chubbier than the original. The weather was breezy and cool which was an INCREDIBLY welcome change so we sat around a bit before returning home.

Anyway no more exciting excursions to report so I'll just post some general observations: 

Before arriving, I read in the guidebook that the Taiwanese are incredibly gracious hosts, perhaps because they are so happy that a foreigner has chosen to come to their often unrecognized island. This I've found to be true in a lot of cases. Although, while polite in conversation, people are often horrific when it comes to waiting in line or yielding on a crosswalk. That's okay, I forgive easily.

Anyway, this leads into the somewhat hard to notice but omni-present tenuous political equilibrium Taiwan has reached with the People's Republic. I make the following comments not to offer original or in-depth analysis but rather an on-the-ground. This situation fascinates me because it seems like such an odd position for the two countries to have reached. For instance, Lu Laoshi took me out to lunch this week (he was my level one teacher at Middlebury) and mentioned that one needs a visa to travel to mainland, which I found so counter-intuitive to the ROC's official claim that Taiwan is part of China. But yeah, you make new rules and overlook certain things I guess for the sake of peace.

Sei also pointed out that the airport in Taipei changed its name from Chang Kai Shek airport to Taipei International Airport when it started making flights to the Mainland. Good burn, Taipei. Good burn.

Last week, I was sitting in the computer lab at school and incredibly loud sirens started sounding. I sort of looked around at the other people in the lab to discern what one does in the case of nuclear annihilation but apparently what one does is continue to do homework. Turns out they have these drills a lot and  I missed the memo. I asked my one-on-one teacher about it and she seemed surprised to hear that we didn't have regular bomb drills in the U.S. (not for half a century anyway) but I pointed out that China is quite a bit further away from us than it is from Taiwan. She laughed, but I guess it wasn't really all that funny.

One other curious thing I've noticed: A common question that teachers ask in class just by way of practicing various grammar patterns is which countries you've been to before. I'll start listing "France, Italy, Mexico, Canada..." and at "Canada" the teacher, no matter which one, invariably gives this sort of incredulous look or snort that means to say "Canada? No, no, I said foreign country not 51st state. Silly waiguoren." It is in these times that I like to write a rhetorical letter. It reads: "Dear Taiwan, you are in no position to judge Canada's sovereignty ... Love, Eric." Maybe I'm developing some weird Canadian pride because I've been asked if I were Canadian at least three times. (???) At Carrefour, a free sample lady just pointed and David and me and said "Jia na da?" ("Canada?") I responded "No we're American," in Chinese to which she responded that we spoke very well. Oh, what would I do without the lowered expectations for white guys who speak Chinese.  This can be another example of the extreme politeness of strangers here in Taiwan toward foreigners. (Would we Canadi- sorry - Americans ever compliment an Asian tourist in a supermarket who managed to stumble through the sentence "I'm from Taiwan" on their superb English? Maybe we should start.)

In other news, a little boy got on the subway with his father and loudly announced, "爸爸，後面有一個外國人!" (Dad, there's a foreigner behind you!) The dad slowly turned around and politely smiled. I made no attempts to reveal that I understand Chinese to avoid embarrassing the dad. Anyway, Erica warned us that this would happen but I'd gone a very long time without it and was starting to worry. Too many of us in Taipei to be all that notable I guess. 

Okay, until next time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFyAJhueDJA&feature=related

Pictures of the 4th

Pancakes with banana and oreo. Our forefathers put it all on the line so someday we could make insane dessert-breakfast fusions... while not on American soil.
They also put it on the line so that I could look like a tool. What could be more American than vintage cars, double-stuff oreos, remnants of faux-hawks and completely incomprehensible text? I don't know.

Confessions of a Faux-hawk

Hello dear readership!

Much has tanspired since last we spoke. (Well, I spoke. You listened.) Okay, actually not a lot has happened, but I thought you'd keep reading if I made it sound more exciting. Its what we in the business call a "grabber." (The "business" of course being 7th grade English at Hingham Middle School.)

Week 2 passed much as the week before it. I attend classes, prep in the afternoon, go home, try to do work in the evening, instead watch Ugly Betty, wash, rinse, repeat...

No but actually classes were getting sort of frustrating because Chai Laoshi's class that she didn't allow me to switch out of was just not very engaging. We were moving faster but my classmates couldn't really keep up with the out of class prep, so classtime was spent helping them. In fact, I made it a vengeful mission to extravagantly prepare for this class even if it meant inadequately prepping my other classes. This so that I could have the lesson entirely memorized and recite it with a childishly bored look on my face as if it had taken me three minutes to commit to memory. Its a little game Chai Laoshi and I like to play called "Eric tries to make you rue the day you didn't let him switch out of your class." She'd drop in passive aggressive sentences via "grammar patterns" such as "Some people say this book is too easy, 其实(actually) it isn't too easy." I would then glare at her and repeat, even though I learned that grammar structure in first year Chinese.

Anyway, the point of this is that I won our game. She gave us a new schedule today and noted that we were slowing down significantly. She held me after class and told me she was giving me an extra textbook to prepare on my own and review with my dan ban laoshi. (One-on-one teacher for those who don't read carefully.) Victory! Except the kind of victory that gives you more homework? oops. Chai Laoshi and I have come to terms. (She's actually a very competent teacher, its just the level of the class I have a problem with. Also she talks really loudly.)

Okay, so in other news, Saturday was Meiguo de shengri. (July 4th.) Friday, David, Ethan and I sallied forth to the Carrefour to pick up some America gear. We got Busch Light, sausages, oreos, pancakes... it was a weird mix but their American options are limited. Also carrying the 24 pack of beer back from the subway (probably like two miles) was the most strenuous thing ever. This after David and I had swam laps for like an hour (in our skimpy new bathing suits. Well, David's is pink and skimpy. Mine is conservative by comparison. The pool makes you wear speedos for some reason.) So on the actual day of the 4th, a few Yale students and other cool people journeyed to David's for revelry. We celebrated many things that day. Sarah Palin, Oreo pancakes (very good), freedom, the usual.

But before going to David's I bit the bullet and walked into the hair salon near my apartment. Given the wealth of terrifying haircuts I have seen on the locals here, this was a considerable act of bravery. First of all, they served me green tea (plus one for Taiwan haircuts.) The woman was very nice and we got to talking. probably more than I ever talked to my barber in the U.S. (plus two for Taiwan haircuts.) She told me it was the first white guy's hair she'd cut in three months. (Minus one for Taiwan haircuts.) So they used this weird textured scissor the whole time which was clearly for hair much thinner than mine. Also I couldn't quite figure out why she'd left it so long in the middle until Sei caught a glimpse of me in profile and exclaimed that I'd been given a faux-hawk. (MINUS 100,000 for Taiwan haircuts!!!) I'm not sure if it was my Nantucket red shorts, my polo shirt, or my Sperry topsiders but something seems to have convinced her that I am the type of person who sports this type of coiffe. For those who don't know me (why are you reading this?) I am not.

No photographic evidence of this was obtained, so sorry. But Sei and I ran to the 7-11 and bought scissors. We then cut my faux-hawk off in the middle of the sidewalk. We actually got fewer stares than one might imagine.

Okay so I had a sort of shaggy haircut. Also at Carrefour I found this rack of sleeveless t's with trashy designs on them for like $1.50 each. I bought one that said "Vintage Car" and has a whole lot of random letters below it that do not spell any words in any language with which I'm familiar. I felt it would be appropriate for the 4th of July and indeed it was. (I'm at school now but I'll attach a picture when I get home.)

Otherwise uneventful weekend. I just got back from lunch with Lu Laoshi who was one of my six first year teachers at Middlebury last summer. It was very fun, and we spoke completely in Chinese. Its nice to think back to being a first year under the language pledge and eating lunch with the teachers in the dining hall. Needless to say our range of topics of conversation has widened significantly in a year. That was heartening. Anyway, he's teaching at Williams College next fall so hopefully I can show him a good time in America.

Alright, pictures are forthcoming. Goodnight.