Don't believe the date. It's a liar. Today is Monday, March 20th at 9:16 in the morning. Today is day seven. We have officially been here one week. One week is good... not enough time to really have anything change back home, but enough time to settle in a little bit here. Or so I would like to believe... but what do I know really? We actually have been 'settling'. Ryan and I went and bought some plants (more about that later), groceries for a few days... I've been teaching everyday. We're getting right in there. Home sweet home. That always makes me think Aum sweet aum. Yoga makes me strange.
My dragon fruit this morning had ants in it. I guess I bought a bad one. Yuk. I suppose there is a lesson there... Nicole needs to learn more about picking fruit. Lesson learned. Therefore my great fruit salad of day seven turned into bananas and pineapples... which still was nice. I'm not complaining.
Yesterday was the MOST tired I have been since my first night here. I taught at 9 in the morning and then had the rest of the day to enjoy... but all I could do (mostly) was nap! I was exhausted. I'm not sure if it was the jetlag kicking in... or if teaching yoga in a hot room drains the hell out of me. That would suck... If I was tired like that all the time from teaching. Let's hope it was sweet lovely jetlag.
Ryan and I went to two different attractions of Taipei yesterday. We went to the flower market and to the night market. Markets abound. The flower market was our first adventure of the day (post-teaching and nap)... I felt our apartment required a little life other than the two of us (I also want a goldfish... which I still need to work on...). Following Eric's knowledgeable directions and using the map, we walked 3 blocks to this overpass. On one side of the overpass is nestled the flower market and the other side the Jade market. I thought it was an intelligent use of space. In Toronto, the undercarraige of an overpass is used for nothing! In Taipei, it is a HUGE flower market, cram packed with people. Ryan and I bought three plants for a grand total of 150 NT or $6 Canadian - a rose, an aloe plant and an ORCHID! It's a giant purple orchid... and I mean GIANT. It's beautiful and now named Betty.
Alright... NIGHT MARKET: Ryan and I went to the Shilin Night Market with Eric and Chris (two teachers from the studio). We had to take the MRT... two different lines even. Very fancy business. The night market is where you get EVERYTHING for cheap... and I mean cheap! Clothes for $20 or less... It is a series of alleys with stores on each side and vendors down the centre. Not much room to move and MAD crowded with people. We were on the hunt for yoga clothes for Eric, gifts for Chris' sister, goldfish and underwear for us. I ended up buying some stuff for the apartment (hangers, batteries, etc.) from the 10 NT store (approx. $0.40 CAD). Oh! I also got the most awesome and hilarious 80s jeans EVER! They fit a bit funny... and I take a frick'n XL here. Jerks with their "small bodies". Hilarious! I'm not offended. I have big feet too. :) Ryan and I found the most hilarious store full of pins, hairclips, and other small things. It was hilarious. There were little bronze squishy plastic turds with smiley faces on them... they came in silver too! I laughed like a tired mad woman (Alison, you know what I mean...) and Chris thought I was losing it. Whew it hurt my insides! We found so many keychains, pins, hilarity abound. This is definately where we're going to get little gifts for you guys before we come home. Alison and Amanda, you guys will DIE! Oh and I bought a little comb to fix my dreads that has little skull and crossbones on it. Oh it's wicked.
The big joke with Eric and Chris was trying to understand the writing on the clothes. The translations to english make NO sense at all. Some don't even bother trying to be english, they're just a collection of letters put together in a nonsensical way. I would like to think it's swedish. Eric and Chris' favourite was "All night and copyright reserved" written in small font as the copyright... All night. Shit that's funny. Pssst, Taiwan dudes, it's all rights and copyright reserved... rights not night. Hehe. Oh and Ryan and I found a Candy Stripper tshirt... Yep, not Candy Striper... but Candy Stripper. I'm going to buy it and wear it as soon as I have some money. You better believe Ryan and I are going to spend our free time there! I love it!
Okay. Deep breath.
I was going to write more... about this hilarious movie I watched in Mandarin, how teaching is going and what the students are like... but this blog thing makes me tired. Maybe I will write about teaching tonight. We'll see how it goes. Thanks to some of you guys for the updates and comments. It's nice to hear how things are going there.
Lots of love. -n.
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