Soy Sauce? Why Not.

I woke up this morning, at 5:40, extremely confused as to what was going on. There seemed to be a lot more of my bedding than I remembered there being when I went to sleep. My brain was trying to process this when I realized that some of my bedding had somehow taped itself to the wall. I was prepared to be very impressed by the skill of my bedding, until I realized that the mosquito netting that I had taped up the night before had all fallen over on top of me, and that is what I was staring at. It took me another couple of minutes to pull all of it off the wall and throw it on the floor, mostly because my brain was not functioning at all. I tried staring at it for a while before deciding to use my hands. It was not a proud moment.

When I did finally decide that it was finally time to get up, I realized that I didn't have anything for breakfast. But I didn't feel like going downstairs and outside to go find food. It was time to play the waiting game. And talk to people from back home. I am not ashamed to say that I spent a lot of time on Skype talking to people today. First up was one of my friends from Hoffman. You wish I would tell you what we talked about. Go live your own life.

I will also admit that I had a little bit of a meltdown, after going to get breakfast. I almost knocked some Chinese guy off his bike (it was a total accident, I didn't see him until the last minute) and he gave the mother of all please-go-die-a-terrible-death glare. I was already in a very tender mood, and that sent me over the edge. I turned around, and headed straight back home as fast as possible. Once home, I did what any upset girl would do: I called my sister for advice. I was feeling nervous, scared, and yet ever so calm. It was one of the most bizarre feelings I have ever had in my life. But it felt so good to talk to her, and once we were done, I felt like I was back in a good place.

After my sister, it was time to talk to another friend, who I also went to Hoffman with. It was so nice to talk to all these people, I felt so connected, and safe. First time since I left Hoffman. By this point, I was far ready to get out of my room, and go see the real world. It also helped that I was starving beyond belief. That was a very good motivator to get me out of the door. My poor friend Jenn unfortunately came between me and my food. I will have to make it up to her tomorrow.

A friend told me last night that the only way to deal with the heat is to move slowly; as soon as you break a sweat, it is all over. You will never be dry again. And that is so true. I went for a long bike ride, about an hour and a half, going all over the area looking for some food. Apparently every place in Taipei is closed on Saturday morning. How inconvenient is that? Extremely so, when my stomach was leading the way.

I ended up at my favorite baozi place for lunch. Street food is really the best. The lady gave me the food that I asked for, and then asked me if I was here to study, and what 酸辣汤 is. This is not a proud moment for me, but one that I feel should go down in history. I panicked, and I had no idea. If you had asked me how to say hello in Chinese, I couldn't have answered. There was a time where I would have rattled off the answer (vinegar pepper soup/sour spicy soup) in a heart beat, but I panicked, and every single Chinese character flew out of my brain. So there I was, standing, looking like a deer in the headlights, while this nice Chinese woman tried to make innocent conversation with me. So what did I do? I lied my ass off, that's what. I told her it was soy sauce. And then I said it again, once more with feeling. She repeated it after me, as if trying to memorize the answer, and then I left as fast as possible, feeling so ashamed. Soup and soy sauce, they are basically the same thing right? Why not.

I am sensing a pattern coming up in my life. I really didn't do anything all afternoon. Hung around, tried to relax. I really need to make a list of the places that I want to see in Taiwan, and then start moving down the list. I hung around, waiting and waiting and waiting until dinner time, when I went downstairs to theoretically meet up with two other people for dinner. However, after waiting an hour, only one of them had showed, and we had been sitting outside of the 7 Eleven having a couple of beers waiting for the other one to show. After deciding he was not coming, we abandoned the idea of dinner, and instead went to buy hooks that you can stick on your wall so that I could hang my mosquito net properly. And then it was bed time.

I know, you are jealous of my crazy busy and dramatic life. Well, not all of us can have all of the glory. I expect you all to keep your laughing to a minimum when I get back home.