In Which I Fight With My Shower

I regret to inform you that I am currently involved in a fight to the death with my shower. And the shower is winning. You know that first moment when you get a new place, and you are sizing up the shower, and it is sizing up you? You are trying to figure out what the best temperature is, and how to use it, and it is trying to decide just how tough you really are. I am still in that phase. And I think that it is safe to say that me and my shower are still in that phase, and I am losing. My shower has more power over me than I do of it. It is always either too hot, or too cold. I won't turn the handle at all, and it will fluctuate from being boiling hot, to freezing cold. It has a personality. I just haven't figured it out yet. But never fear. I will dominate the shower. In time. You might think it is weird that I am in a fight with my shower, but I bet that deep down, each and every one of you know exactly what I am talking about. Don't deny it.

Waking up at 4:30 this morning with the realization that I was not going to be going back to sleep was not a happy moment for me. When I opened the blinds and watched the sun come up, I was filled with both exultation, and disgust. Exultation, because watching the sun come up is so beautiful, but the reality is that you need to be up extremely early in order to do so, and that is not happy. It's a work in progress. I wish that I enjoyed being up early in the morning. I have decided that I am going to try to start doing early morning bike rides, to acclimate myself. Good idea? Bad idea? Still to be determined.

Amy told me to call her when I woke up, but I didn't think she realized I would be waking up that early. So, like the dutiful person that I am, I waited until 9 AM (what I judged to be civilized people-are-now-at-work time) until calling her, to let her know the glorious news that we are all conscious and ready to face the day. Actually, I just said hello, and she said she would come get me. I think if I actually said we are all conscious now, lets have breakfast, she would never talk to me again.

My one goal today was to get my bike and my cellphone, and I am happy to report I was successful. Amy gave me one of their bikes, and then rode with me over to the bike mechanic's place so that I could get the seat raised (because lets face it, I am a good deal taller than most people in this country). The bike mechanic looked at me, looked at the bike, and then said "Well, we can raise it as much as is safe." Gee thanks. I'm not that tall. Yeesh.

Amy helped with with my bike, gave me the phone and a new battery, and then gave me some maps, and sent me on my way. I didn't have anything special I wanted to do, and I feel bad for imposing on them as much as I have. I am sure I will be seeing them again soon. I hope. JUST KIDDING. I will definitely be seeing them again.

With the new found freedom that comes with having a bike (a mode of transportation other than walking) I set off into the world. Or rather, set off to find the bank. Which I did, thank you very much. I am fairly confident that I know the campus pretty well now. I barely had any mishaps. After going to the bank, I went back over to our school building for ICLP, in order to ask one of the secretaries to help me find a Taiji class on campus. Any age is fine. She looked a little apprehensive, but said it wouldn't be a problem. We'll see what happens. I wanted to start out small, but I intend to ask her to help me find a pottery class next week. I hope she doesn't start crying.

I met another kid from my program: Spencer. He said he has spent a lot of time in Taipei, so I trusted his judgement on all the places around the university. I'm still so excited to go out and look at them on my own though. We walked over to the gym because he was looking for some sort of club, and I, being the desperate and shut off gym rat that I am, just wanted to see the gym. We walked in, and the first thing we saw were a hundred Chinese high school kids, all dressed in pink and blue (colors respective to gender). And everyone of them turned around to stare at us, and wave at me. It was a little creepy. At the risk of sounding vain, I kind of understand what it feels like to be a celebrity. Needless to say, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I ran up the stairs, meniscus be damned.

I showed Spencer my new favorite Baozi place for lunch. Yum. I love Chinese street food. The sketchier the better. Neither one of us particularly wanted to sit down for lunch, and both of us had things to do. I had to call people back home, and he had to go to work or something.

I'm afraid the story gets a little boring after this. I spent the next couple of hours plugging into the rest of the world, sending emails, sending texts, calling people, before finally deciding to do some Hoffman work, and then take a nap. My nap was cut abruptly short, however, by the massive amounts of explosive thunder and rain that rocked Taipei for about an hour. It sounded like the sky was falling in on us. I normally like rain storms, but let me tell you, I really didn't like this one. And of course, by the time it was over, I was too awake to go back to sleep. So I just watched the rain fall. And jumped every time it thundered (or, as I imagined it, the buildings started playing dominoes with each other again.)

But then the sky cleared, the rain stopped, and it was once again safe to venture out into the moped army that dominates the Taipei traffic system. I wanted to bike around campus and the surrounding areas on my fancy new bike (actually, not so fancy. About half of it is covered in rust. No joke) and get a feel for the campus, and the food places surrounding. It was so beautiful, but also so hot. That is not something I have commented on recently. The weather. It's only about 90 degrees, but the humidity makes me feel like I am swimming to class. I have given up on the concept of ever being dry again.

I failed in finding the supermarket that Amy showed me last night, and I also failed in finding a proper towel, because I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for one. It is starting to look like I may be drying off with dish towels every morning. Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy got it right: always know where your towel is. Best advice I ever got.

And that is about my entire evening. Jet lag is a bitch. It is only 8 PM here, but it is 5 AM in California, and I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So I am just not going to fight it anymore. I biked down to the water front this afternoon, just to see if I could find it, and I found it! Although it is not nearly as pretty as it looks from the distance. The buildings are in need of repair, and the water itself looks as if it might be brewing the next plague. But biking along next to it, I can pretend that I am somewhere beautiful and relatively clean. I am planning on going back there tomorrow morning. The morning air should be nice.

Before I go, I want to leave you with some of the realizations I had today as I was wandering around the city:
1) The only way to really get around Taiwan/China is to act like you are confident. Even if you don't feel it, act like it, and you will be ok.
2) I am never going to be dry ever again. There is no fighting against the sweat. It is inevitable, and I will just tire myself out from always trying to stay cool.
3) If my program makes me take classes in the afternoon, I am going to skip. I am here to have fun and enjoy myself.
4) I honestly don't care what Chinese class I am in, nor do I care how well I do on the assessment tests tomorrow. I am going to enjoy studying Chinese again, for once.
5) I want to ride every where on my old rusted bike, because I feel like a total badass.

My shower was still not cooperating when I took a shower tonight. But it was not as moody as it has been. I think I might be getting the hang of it. It still likes to fluctuate from super cold to super hot without me even touching the handles, but I am getting better at knowing when it is about to change. I might be about to avoid first degree burns now. Fingers crossed. I will be the boss of my shower. Inanimate objects can't control me.

I'm fading fast, so stay tuned. More fun to come tomorrow.