Well, part of my vacation is over. It was not exactly what I expected, but I can live with what it turned out to be (I think this should be a quote). So nothing happened between me and a certain friend, and I made an ass of myself by thinking that it was even possible, but on a plus side, I learned two things...
1) that I got accepted into the CELTA program in London. and
2) how to ride a scooter...
and I was even riding it at more than 50 kmph on downhill cliff-side turns too! I think I may be ready to ride one in Taipei illegally now since I also learned via Mom that my license has been suspended until 2010 because of the aforementioned accident. Hmm. I bet Ralph Sr and Jr both still have their licenses despite both of their reckless driving habits. And Isalu is driving me crazy. You'd think he'd get over me being gone for a week by now, but no, he keeps crawling into my lap, like he is right now so that I have to type around his big purring behind. I know I will miss these moments years down the road, but damn does he have to be so darn cuddly while I am typing? My goals for week 2 of my Chinese New Year vacation is to get mo-po-bo-fo down pat. I bought a cheap copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales in Chinese with phonetic characters and I am going to create some flashcards to help me practice. If I can remember the order, I finally figured out the order on my keyboard...It goes down starting with "1" to "z" then back up to "2" to "x", etc... Go superstar me. I can't believe how damn cold it is here in Taipei...and to think I wasn't supposed to come back from Kenting until tomorrow. Originally we were going to Kaohsiung for the weekend to meet some tealitters/seguers, then head to Kenting for the week, rent scooters, drive up to Taidong on the weekend and then return the scooters on Monday before heading up to Taidong. We were in Kaohsiung for less than one day before my sinuses went haywire despite wearing an air mask. They cleared up a little, but when I went to get on my scooter, I didn't know how to drive it. So Ty took me up near Jialeshui to make me learn and I fell one time and skinned my knee (my first and hopefully last scooter accident, knock on mental wood). Then he made me drive to Hengchun. Later that night he made me drive back out to Jialeshui in the dark which freaked me out and I pulled off into the parking lot where I learned how to ride (although I had no idea that was how far out we had ridden or that it was where we had ridden to). Then he made took me out to my scooter and took off on his, telling me the directions to Hengchun so I could drive there myself and then go to Kenting from there. I made it and then began riding by myself, first to the National Park entrance, out to Jialeshui where I met two Canadians and a Brit and hung out at the beach before going back to Kenting via Hengchun, then finally out to Jialeshui at dusk that same day and back to Kenting (without going to Hengchun) in the dark. The next morning, after the solo run in the dark (Ty had gone up to Taidong without me since I didn't want to ride up there on scooter and couldn't justify paying for a bus ticket to a town that I hated anyway) I rode out to see the sunset, but shortly after leaving Kenting's city limits (?) I looked at my gas gauge and saw it was past the orange empty line. I kept riding and decided to stop at the high cliff overlooking the beach instead of going on to Jialeshui. I took some pictures (which I will put up soon I hope when I get them developed) and talked to two Canadian guys who offered to follow me to the gas station in case I ran out before I got to one. I made it back to Kenting with few hitches except maybe the scooter requiring more turning of the throttle to keep it above 40 kmph and the guys riding too close and too slow (no offense, guys, if you're reading this, but I get nervous driving any vehicle when there's another one right next to me and I don't like to pass). I headed out for Jialeshui one last time and stayed at the beach for hours taking pictures of the morning sun on the water and drawing things in the sand and on the rocks (look for rocks with ImaniOU on them out there and the infamous Bobfish. Then I took it out to McDonald's for lunch, praying that a cop wouldn't pull me over which they didn't. Went back to get my big backpack, rode the scooter back out to the rental place which was awkward since I wore my backpack and passed more cops, then I turned in the keys and waited for my ride back to Kaohsiung where I was going to pick up some things I forgot there. Got there and thought the building was closed for the weekend, but turns out I spent 20 minutes standing two doors down from the right place panicking. Long story less long, I got my things and got on a luxury cruiser (finally got my vibrating seats) back to Taipei...the problem was that the seats brought on my asthma from the way it was making my back vibrate, and I felt carsick for the latter two hours or so of the trip despite using accupressure. On the plus side, when the movies began to suck there were 64 Nintendo games for me to choose from. I don't know how I let Ty talk me into taking a cheap-o $250 bus with no volume control, no channel choices, no video games, and no vibrating chair. All I can say is never again. Although getting to Kaohsiung in just 4 hours on the chicken bus (just a term for no-frills, fast highway busses like the one we took) was kind of cool if we didn't have to spend the time we gained (4 hours since the trip usually takes 8 hours) hanging out in a dirty internet cafe. I also got some interesting digestive things that happened while in Kenting from some food I ate and a roach was on the blanket I shared with Ty who accused me of snoring and we poked each other when one of us snored (which I never did because if I do make one snore it wakes me up immediately so he's a big fat fibber!). Anyway, that was my trip, and now I have to explain to my students' mom why I told her I was going to Thailand (tai guo) by plane (fei ji) when in reality I went to Kenting (ken ding) by bus (ba shi). I guess I can distort the truth further and cover my tracks. I hope I didn't say anything about Bangkok or catching the plane in Taoyuan. Hmm...
All in all, an interesting trip...it wasn't too bad considering what could have gone wrong. Especially with Ty driving his scooter like a maniac around the sandy, windy roads on the cliffs that overlook the Pacific with me on the back already terrified of scooters after riding one and finding how scary wind can be on one (which I have gotten over my initial fear of wind although I still slow down on corners and can't drive over sand any faster than maybe 5-10 kmph). Nighty night all.
March 2, 2003
Well, I am long overdue to post any updates on my life.
No, just kidding...I am not going to end my blog there. I am moving! Free at last, free at last, God Almighty I'm free at last. I am finally getting the hell out of this place with psycho roommate and her head-nodding puppet. Being told that my cat was not allowed to be out of my room was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am finding that apartments are like relationships (yeah, right, like I'm one to talk about relationships). It starts off great, you go out of your way to decorate it, then it becomes a place that you enjoy coming to. Soon you start spending more and more time at your friends' apartments because your place is becoming too messy to bring friends over. Then suddenly you realize it's time to move on to another place. Anywho, so it's a two-bedroom place for $13,000/mo. As opposed to paying $10,000/mo for one bedroom in a place that I share with two other people. Just putting more pictures up. I wish I could have gone to Amanda's wedding and gotten another triad picture with her and Sara B. And another Amanda and Brandon picture. Oh well. Nostalgia and regret will not get me anywhere. Speaking of... I can't believe my 9th anniversary of 3/14 is coming up already. Next year it will have been a decade since I was diagnosed with cancer. How great is that! Then two years later it will be the decade after I stopped my last session of chemotherapy. Um...it was warm today and snowing in Ohio. I wish Mom could be here instead of in that weather. She sent me more pictures of Tristan M. I can't believe how big she is getting already. I know that by the time I see her again she will be talking. I'll be the absentee auntie. I feel so bad. I wonder what she'll look like at Christmas when she's 14 months old.
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