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!