pretty shuai for a white guy

Today was a good day. I was really tired in the morning, so I ended up having sliced bread (but healthful BROWN bread) for breakfast as I walked to the bus so I could get to school on time. And on time I barely was. Also, for part of the morning quite tired I was... I just put my head down on my desk & tried to sleep for most of the 30-minute 'test time' which is not a class before first class. Ms. Liu (unmarried, been dating the same guy for 15 years but he doesn't have the balls to propose) asked if I was all right and I assured her I am tired--as indeed I am--merely because I am trying to sleep like a Taiwanese person. In fact even more than them. But it's still not quite enough.

Domestic Science with S210 was kind of dumb. I got some studying done, but not very much because I was pretty tired. For part of it they were talking about homosexuality and stuff, or at least the teacher was. The typical Taiwanese guy is even more homophobic than Welly's lowest common denominator, I think. I caught the word "disgusting" a couple times (and my host mother confirmed that's their POV too). Learned there is no special term for homophobia, I managed to guess the right term, w00t. Turns out I *can* circumlocute sometimes... power plant IS 'electricity factory' too... heh.

In Earth Science, I got bored really quickly as most of the guys around me. I don't know if I was studying the new vocabulary or flash cards, but it was a little tiresome. Chinese class was great, I really like this intern-teacher-girl, she is fun... we finished the passage for the chapter~ I am doing grade 3 stuff now... maybe by this time in 2006 I will be ready to study the stuff I'm sitting through in class right now, lol. Tomorrow we are doing a Tang poem, as I want to hold off until Tuesday on another chapter of vocabulary. The new grammar, words and characters are awesome; however, it's a lot to manage and I think I need over the weekend to get it down. Hooray poems.

Lunch I hit the chin-up bar (it's hot outside) and then walked over to the choir room. While I was doing chin-ups, there were these two girls talking about 50 metres away. As I was walking away they simultaneously yelled "bye bye" in a typically cute Taiwanese fashion. It was perfect. Choir practise was good, my voice was good & felt I got some kickass volume on the warmup, for part... still don't have endurance or very much breath support, bwah.

Living Technology is where things got interesting. At the start we were just wasting time and walking around to various rooms. Starting talking to one guy who wanted to study abroad... I suggested Rotary because he doesn't have much money, but he wants to live and work in America & I don't know he can get good enough to like write the SATs in one year. Eventually we ended up in a classroom, some guys started crushing a one NT coin in a vise. I helped out with my bulging forearms (lol, no definition though).

Partway through we started an assignment in groups (my favourite class leader Xie Ren-jie was there) & this sheet was all about "how does technology relate to society?" "what would your life be like without technology?" &c. Part of the 'without technology' question said [trans:], if there wasn't power, you wouldn't have a cellphone, couldn't ride vehicles etc. So I am like "you could soooo ride vehicles, for example a horse, old train, or bicycle." So they called the teacher over and parroted that to him, and we had a random short discussion. I am glad I made there be student-teacher interaction: one rarely sees it, esp. the whole asking questions thing.

I got people to teach me a few words, and we even had discussion & stuff. I got XRJ to teach me "driver's license" (she knows a ridiculous amount of English... I see her reading a collection of Byron's love poetry sometimes), but nowhere to write it, so on my arm it is. Yay. Then there was PE class. The warm-up with jogging and stupid stretches, and a pitiful amount of pushups and situps (20 & 20). Girls only have to do 12 pushups, but most can't even do that many. We played basketball: I was in two games of 3 on 3, and then we did 4 on 4 with some girls--I mean that in the most basketball sense too, no sexual connotation implied.

Then I bought some "Pocali Sweat" (I swear it's 'pecori' but that's what the can says) which is a Japanese drink for replenishing the -- ignorance appears -- stuff... chemicals/minerals/electrolytes you sweat out when you exercise all hardcore in the 22+ heat. I hopped on the MRT and headed off home. At Zhongxiao Fuxing I saw Michael Torres, so I talked to him a while. At Donghu I got more flashcards for all my new vocabulary & some pringles for snacking on, as I write this I just ate a plate of grapes though, mmm...

Dinner was good, I got salmon, white rice and fried lettuce. My host father got a fried egg but I thought that a little much. There was even conversation, fun fun. I am thinking of starting a blog in Chinese, but the URL I want is taken, so it may wait for another day. Thought it'd be a good way to get into and keep in a lot of contact with people I meet. K out

Current Music: [some I listened to from shuffle on the whole list] "Making Plans" (Brad) , "Past & Future Secret" (Blind Guardian) , "Soma" (Brad cover) , "One Way Mule" (Silverchair) , "Thorn" (Blind Guardian) , "Unknown Pop Track" (Unk. Taiwanese Artist) , "Always the First to Die" (D & D song, Unk. Artist) , "Systematic Failure" (Genetic Drift) , "Ode to the Old [Radio Edot]" (Brad & Kevin) , "Super Trouper" (ABBA) , "Ashitaka to San" (Joe Hisiashi) , "Nightfall" (Blind Guardian)