Gu Ma and JuLing had vaguely mentioned calling me or
coming Saturday, so I stayed in to wait for their call, veg out, and keep
watching those comical old Chinese movies on TV with the English
subtitles. The grammar in the
translation is actually much better than it used to be, it even has a lot of
American slang. Like, once the
actor said in Chinese, “OK OK, let’s not talk about this now,” and the subtitle
translated it, “Cut the crap, let’s go.”
I wandered
out at noon to find some eats, determined not to return to McD’s, though the
Pizza Hut takeout place looked tempting since I have been craving and missing
pizza. But as I waited my turn, I
realized the prices, 350NT for the smallest pie, would be like $9.00 and there
was no way I was spending that when all my meals w/Gary and Co have cost
50NT. Your concept of money starts
to get lower here. While $2.00 is
incredibly cheap for a meal you can get here, you still think, “But I got it
for $1.50 at the other place, grumble.”
So I came across a small place where they were making things behind the
counter and saw them packing to-go orders. I asked him for something with pork, green vegetables and
rice and he said [“Then you want the 3-Bau Fan”] and they gave me a lunch box
(lunch box here is always a plastic takeout dish like a Japanese bento box,
with divisions--largest has rice and meat on top, small ones have veggies,
tofu, etc. Then they put a rubber
band around it and add chopsticks and a tiny drink) for 60NT. As I was waiting, a lot of people
coming in were ordering the 3-Bau Fan so I knew it must be their
specialty. I took it home and had
a nice meal in front of the TV. It
had chicken and pork (not sure what the 3rd “Bau” was) and was
really good. Amazing how such
cheap, common, off the street Chinese food here, at whatever random place you
stop in, is SO much better than at “nice”, sit-down, well-known, not-cheap
Chinese restaurants at home.
Then I
hooked up my computer and spent all night editing my still-unfinished
thesis. Hungry again around 7, I
went down and asked the girl to recommend me a place. She suggested a place where I could pick out what I wanted,
I wandered in the general direction she pointed and noticed a sign in English
and Chinese, “Taiwan Buffet,” and saw inside people along a counter looking at
foods laid out, so I knew that was it.
It was great, I didn’t have to read any characters, and I picked out my
favorite things: a fried egg to go
on top of the rice, a fried chicken leg, some Chinese broccoli, and spicy
tofu. It came out to 75. It was too bad I only discovered the
place my last day in the area. I
went home and devoured it.
Gary
called a few times but I said I was still waiting for my aunt to call, and they
could drop by if they wanted.
Around 10 they came by, exclaimed at how nice my room was and that they
should move here next, commented on the big mirror, and Kate inspected all around it for cameras. They said it’s not uncommon for people
to book a room and plant it with cameras, and after they check out, post the
video of the next guest on the internet.
Yikes! But they said there
was a sign at the front desk that said this hotel has an anti-camera policy,
whatever that means. Gary said
“Don’t worry, it’s not like you’re having sex on the bed.” I said, “Well yeah,
but I’m not always fully dressed when I’m in the room!” He said Well maybe we’ll get an email
from Lawrence or Our Dave saying they saw me on the internet. Great.
I asked them about the club (Vibe) and
Gary said it was good and there again were tons of girls and he liked it better
and it was cheaper than the last club (Room 18) and I asked if they met hot
chicks and got digits. He pointed
at Art who said he gave out digits, but didn’t want to talk about
it. Finally Kate said to let me do
my homework, and she looked tired, so they left. I kept waiting until 12 to call Dave, figuring he’d sleep in
on a Saturday. He answered his
cell, was in Boston with Pete and friends and they’d gone clubbing the night
before for someone’s birthday, and had just gotten up. Pete yelled in the background that he
tried to get Dave to eat his veggies, but they hadn’t ordered that many. They’d had KFC the night before. I was craving some KFC myself. I’ve seen a couple here but they’re not
as common as McD’s. I said, So it
sounds like you’re going out a lot more now, that’s great. He said not really. When I mentioned I went to KTV he said,
“So YOU’VE been clubbing every night,” but I told him it was just KTV. It’s weird, we’re going out more when
we’re not together, and we hardly went out that much when I was there. I guess when you’re together you
usually prefer to be alone at home with that person, than out with other
people. But when the other
person’s not around, you’d rather be out with other people than home all
alone.
Neither Gu
Ma or Juling ever called. So I
knew we were supposed to go to church together tomorrow, but didn’t know when
or where.