no hay

HEYYYYAYAAAAAAA
so the internet is actually working in san mateo surprise surprise! We kept asking at the association and they kept being like no hay internet because of the rain....and if it was sunny they didnt really have a reason... but we found another place that has it! (apparently a total of 3 places in san mateo have internet) wahooo! wow so a lot has happened.
jon and i graduated celas maya spanish school! woot woot fastest diploma ive ever received...up to that point. so we had a dessert party at the school and went to a chill ¨bar¨ to drink a little with nosotros amigos.

after celas in xela we went to a few cities around the lake which was AMAZING! soooo warm and pretty out and we bargained for various things in the market. although it was really lame that 5 year old kids would pester us to buy something every 2 seconds and almost curse at us if we said no. so at the first town pana they had this nature reserve that had cables extremos!!!! so we signed a waiver hiked up the side of a mountain and zip lined 8 times down to the starting point.... it was awesome! at the end they gave us....wait for it.... a diploma hahahahaha jon and my goal for the next week was to try and find as many activites that handed out diplomas as possible... unfortunately we found no more. we visited a few clinics around the lake (the real reason we went there) and then took a chicken bus back to xela... they dont actually have chickens did i already mention this? they are renevated US school buses. i got so motion sick apparently i had a sheet white face at the end and we rushed to the market to get some gingerale...my saviour.

so took dramemine on the way to san mateo to avoid the nausea again fell asleep half the time it was like an 8 hour trip. got to san mateo and it was 7.30pm and raining and dark. we walked down this slippery mud path to the house we are staying at. jon had to carry my suitcase cuz it was too heavy for me...i felt uber bad. so i was a little shocked when i got to the house. the yard is full of corn stalks, 3 piglets and various chickens and chicks which is kinda cool. but the bathroom is like an outhouse with a shower right next to it and the whole house is freezing and everyone tracks mud everywhere cuz the yard is mud. my room has an old mattress which i think is just the boxspring part cuz its liek wood planks horizontal under a cover. the door to my room doesnt shut all the way which leads me to the next topic....

we have a thief! someone broke in to our house...with keys... one day and took tania´s chocolate and her giant box of condoms that she was planning on leaving for the health center. then last night i heard the door banging and i think opening and noise in the house at like 1am or 2am it was scary! and the whole time i was like my door does not lock...what do i do if they come in here!!!! yikes we still havent figured out what to do but i think we are going to set up traps that will tell us that someone entered in the night to make sure its not a figment of my imagination. also this morning the rest of our loaf of bread was gone... weeeeird.

so the town is interesting a lot of people just stared at us the first few days with looks of death which made me really uncomfortable... now some are being a lot more friendly and we´ve gotten to talk to a lot of the town. pedro´s fried chicken and fries stand is a popular place but im currently boycotting it cuz he added a gringo tax (meaning he charged us foreigners more money for the same food as others got)

water and food are a commodaty here... we use a filter in a bucket to clean our water.. no problems yet knock on wood. and any food that doesnt have a hard shell we have to boil for awhile to make it safe to eat... i have been eating rice, avocados, bread, and my last tiny bits of pb&j that i bought in xela. the only cup of noodles here is the shrimp flavor... now i ask why on earth would you choose the shrimp flavor as your only option...why not go a little safer with chicken?? sigh... jon and i have decided to buy ourselves treats everyday to up our spirits.

its usually cold. its usually raining. but right now there is sun!! which is amazing. i added on a third pair of socks to my feet last night to give you a picture.... hahaha

miss everyone!!! 17 days left...

Our favorite jew

Just FYI, if anyone wants to check out Randy in the natural setting of his homeland, go to http://www.israelfree.com/group_trip.asp?tourid=1272&name=OR-20-123%20NYC

You can click photographs and see him in some, or e-mail him through the website.

Funday

Last night at 11:53 Neil and I "dared" eachother into going to Virginian for Sunday Funday. We quickly changed out of our respective pajamas and he picked me up. We half expected Ehsan, Izzy, Anoop and them to be there--sadly they didn't make an appearance. We were 2 of like 7 people! It was awesome, they practically had drinks waiting for us at the door. For the first time ever Neil actually went drink-for-drink with me, so after many bourbons and gins (and a little beer) we went home pretty happy. I still made it into work "on time", which is what I dictate for myself but I'm proud to say it was 10 am after going to bed at 6:30.
On a side note, Lindsay and Colleen made it to C-ville :) but I didn't get to see them much (Colleen at all) because I was driving with my brother that 18 hours to bring his stuff from Keesler Base. Still nice to catch a glimpse of Linds, but too bad I'll be out of town again when she comes in a couple weeks. Interestingly, if you ever need a way into Lindsay's heart, it's by stealing her own stuff and then gifting it back to her. So we've decided this coming birthday we'll steal her pump a couple days before hand--she'll be SO grateful. Success!

Already finished one jar of Nutella.

It's hard to believe I've already been here twelve days! Here's a rundown of what I've been up to.
- Musee Fabre, the major local art museum. I saw some Monet and Matisse!
- Eating lots of crepes. I even had a ratatouille crepe! Can you get any more French?
- Beachin' it at Palavas. And Angie and Bob, I did see boobies on my last trip. Nothing to get too excited about though.
- Montpellier's version of Fridays after Five called Les Estivales. So much amazing food and wine and fun street performances.
- I ordered my first sandwich on a baguette at a sandwicherie. The people here are much nicer than I expected them to be. If I attempt to speak French to them, they'll either talk back to me really slowly, or just reply in English. Less work for me!
- Exploring France's oldest botanical garden (1593), the Jardin des Plantes.
- Visiting a medieval fortress city, Aigues-Mortes. The foundation apparently dates back to 102 BC! That's crazy. I walked around the top of the entire thing. It took about an hour and a half.

Next up this week, the Tour de France is coming through on Tuesday! I don't think many of you know about my Lance Armstrong obsession, but I haven't been this excited about something in a long time (I mean, since Foxfields). I just hope I get to actually see the time trial instead of getting caught in the gigantic mosh pit of dirty French people that I'm sure it will be. Suzie (our student chaperone here) told us about a White Party that her friend is having on Thursday night at a private beach, so we might get to go to that! I mean, it's probably the closest I will ever get to partying with Diddy and Jay-Z in St. Tropez.

And the biggest news of all, the two other exchange students are here! Beatriz is a 19-year-old medical student from Zaragoza, Spain, and Bulat is a 19-year-old medical student from Kazan, Russia. So, as you can see, I'm hanging out with two teenagers. They always look to me to make plans for the activities of the day/night, so even in France, I'm the social chair.

They've been pretty hilarious so far and done their fair share of dissing the U.S. and A. For example, Beatriz just can't seem to understand why we have four years of college, and Bulat doesn't get why we make such a big deal out of getting our white coats. Bulat has also used the phrase "the republic" a few times (referring to Russia), and I lose it every time. They both get fired up talking about stereotypes of their countries, which has led to me making a lot of Russian jokes in a Borat voice and pretending to be a bull. Bulat carries a backpack with him everywhere, and on his first trip to the grocery store, he bought a can of peas, apple juice, and POTATOES (did you read that, Sunny?!). He's also been sunburnt for three days because he didn't put on any sunscreen when we went to the beach (even though I told him he should), because he's from Russia and has never gone to a beach! We had wine night at my apartment last night, and one glass in, Bulat declared, "I VILL BE VERY DRUNK TONIGHT!" English words I have taught him include cork, tan, and slippery. Ok, I'll stop with the Bulat stories now.

Here are Bulat and Beatriz! In typical Russian style, Bulat doesn't smile in any pictures, even though he has a big, goofy grin on his face AT ALL OTHER TIMES.

Beatriz and me at the Jardin des Plantes. I'm teaching them to do poses besides the standard "stand in front of whatever you're taking a picture of."

Me inside one of the Aigues-Mortes ramparts that looks out onto a canal.


Ok, time for one more chocolate croissant and bed. Bonne nuit!

Taipei partying absurdities

So Wednesday night was the first time we went out to party, and all of Wednesday through Thursday morning was a serious marathon. To preface, I found a job teaching English to a class of kids about 8-12 years old. It's during the week Mon-Thurs from 9:30am to noon. So Wednesday morning I wake up at 6:30am to go workout before I have to teach. I go home and shower real quick and go teach, and then I meet up with Sunny and Laura and go with them and Sunny's family friends to Yangmin Mountain where we eat some delicious food and hike. Then we eat some more delicious food after hiking (eating is almost a constant activity here).

We part ways and I go home and power nap for 30 minutes and shower and then I'm out the door again for our first night clubbing in the city. Clubs here stay open until 4 or 5am! So we go out with one of my cousins and her friends to a club called Room 18 which is cool. We meet some people with names like Angel and Barbie (we didn't go to a strip club I swear, people just adopt really interesting English names here). Anyway, we do the typical club thing with partying, meeting new people, and dancing until about 3:30am. All the while I'm thinking about how I have to teach at 9:30 in the morning and how miserable I'm gonna feel. I end up getting home and to bed at about 4:30am. So to recap, I had a 22 hour day with working out, hiking, teaching, and partying... but even then I didn't get to sleep long...

I sleep for 3.5 hours, wake up with a massive headache and nauseous, throw some clothes on and head to school. The entire time I'm teaching I'm just hoping to god I don't throw up or just fall over and pass out in front of my kids... it was miserable. At least the kids are super cute and awesome (though rowdy at times). That day on my way back to class from the bathroom during their break, all the girls were hiding around a corner and jumped out to scare me. Then they ran back to the classroom ahead of me and jumped out to scare me again there. I'll have to get a picture of my kids to post. FINALLY at noon I head home and pass out for 5 hours.

Last night we went out again under much better circumstances... no teaching in the morning so I could sleep in, and the club we went to was all you can drink for just a $6 cover for the girls, but $18 cover for me (still not too bad considering the amount I drink) Here's some pics :-)

Girl on the right is Laura, Sunny's friend who goes to EVMS. Girl in the middle is my cousin Yo Chi who doesn't drink all that much but I'm kinda worried we're gonna turn her into an alcoholic by the time we leave. That mini keg had 3800 mL in it, about 11 beers and only cost $18. This was before the club when we went to this restaurant and bar that's basically attached to the factory that makes Taiwan Beer.

I crashed with the girls last night since it would've been a $10 taxi at least to get home by myself instead of the $5 taxi split 4 ways to crash at their place. The other girl is Laura's friend from EVMS. We slept 4 in that bed haha

Miss you all!

Wild Africa

So I haven't posted on this thing since I opened it, mostly because I have had so many long stories that I've just been posting on my own blog. But, here are a few highlights that also serve to prove that nothing in my life makes sense anymore.

1. Matt Bishop and I were on the same flight to Madrid, where I had a 15-hour layover, so I hung out with him, his brother, and his brother's friend in Spain. IN SPAIN. What are the chances? I just calculated it: 1 in 18380490314839104835.

2. I've seen (and tasted) pretty much every game animal there is in South Africa. In case you were wondering, zebras and warthogs aren't just cute; they're DELICIOUS. Also, I played with baby lions and baby tigers and they are the most cuddly yet potentially deadly animals I have ever encountered.

3. The babies at the orphanage that my friend Russell works at are ADORABLE. Unfortunately, I'm not permitted to post pictures of them on the internet, because their future parents don't want to see pictures of their children on random websites. I'll just have to show them to you when I get back... or, I could just steal one and bring him or her back to the States with me.

Also, I've noticed that several of you have written posts but only saved them instead of publishing them. That's right; I'm talking to you, Lindsay, Sunny, and Coop. I'm giving you guys the chance to delete them; otherwise, as administrator, I'm going to publish them for all the world to see. Because I wield that kind of power. BWAHAHAHA!

Okay, that's my update. I hope the rest of you have slightly more control over what is happening in your life right now than I do, but from your posts, that doesn't seem to be the case...

Lost in Translation?

Today, I was locked inside of a convenience store for half an hour.

Laura and I went out to get breakfast and wait for Bob by the subway station before we went to Danshui and a fisherman's pier (kind of like a boardwalk...but much tastier than those sorry American excuses for street food!). We got lunch at a 7-11 for $50 and $80 Yuan (~$1.80 and $2.10 USD, respectively...booyah!) We gave into our innate American-ness (ironic, I know I just made fun of America...whatever, it's my right) and sought shelter from the hot hot heat in a Starbucks where we knew there would be air-conditioning.

I have to preface my anger at Starbucks by saying that up til then, we'd been consistently buying delicious tea from street vendors all week for about 85 cents. Starbucks charged me $100 for a tazo tea (which I didn't even really want in the first place). Anyway, so I'm kind of annoyed that I spent more money on a stupid tea than I did on my entire lunch, but we go sit upstairs and wait for Bob's arrival...this is 1:20 pm. Two minutes later, a barista comes upstairs and makes an announcement. I couldn't understand it all (let's be honest, I'm on the same literacy level as my 6-year old niece), so I interpret her speech as she's saying something about a group coming into the Starbucks for 30 minutes, and that we won't be able to leave the upstairs in the meantime. I also hear something about the possibility of lights flashing on and off, but was also told to not be alarmed, that at 2:00 we could exit the building. No one else seemed to be particularly surprised or annoyed, but we decided to leave just in case. So much for air conditioning, what a rip-off. Sorry this isn't making sense, just follow me.

So anyway, we leave by 1:30 so that we wouldn't be trapped inside the Starbucks in case Bob arrived during that time. We're walking up the next block when a policeman starts blowing his whistle at Laura and forces us into the nearest shop (which happens to be a convenience store). They're closing the corrugated metal doors and everything, so I'm kind of panicking, thinking of worst case scenarios (i.e. we're being bombed, there's a shooting somewhere, I don't know what happens in Taiwan?!?!). I kept asking people what exactly was happening, since no one seemed particularly upset, and my rudimentary Chinese got me as far as something that sounded similar to (but was not, in fact) a "performance" of some sort coming through town that you had to be indoors for.

So I thought to myself, this is strange, why would you have to be indoors for a street performance? Maybe there's a famous personality coming through town? Then I thought, does this sh*t happen every day?

I took some pictures of the before and after of the streets during the 'performance' that I'll put up later. Bob called me pretty confused and was unable to exit to the street from the subway either (literally there was no one on the streets). They let us out at 2 pm, as promised, and we met up with Bob, went about our way, still seriously confused. Poor Bob said that he had had the most boring 15 minutes of his life...at least I had hilarious cleansing products and condoms to look at.

We consulted with Laura's cousins tonight after getting back from Danshui, and I have to give myself SOME credit, I was pretty close. We just happened to be in Taipei during the one time of each year that they close down all the street to have military street rehearsals.

What?

Anyway, I guess 'performance' is pseudo-close to 'military rehearsal'. Illiteracy sucks.