eyeballs

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3)

<-- jhubei city in the rain. this is what you see when you walk out of my house! dont know why its dated like that...at least my camera doesn't think its 2025 anymore because that was just creepy.

today was sooo rainy, which cooled things down from yesterday's stifling 39 (yes you read that right) degrees. however, rain = moisture which = humidity which = DEATH. dont go outside. you'll melt. im serious. hsinchu was actually on the news in hong kong because its SO HOT here.

tonight after work, my coworker tammy and i went to eat chinese buffet. (only 100nt and i literally ate until i was sick!) i was eating my favourite vegetable (i have no idea its english name) and i picked up a little white sliver-y thing with my chopsticks (yes i can do that now!) and said 'whats this'? all this time i had been thinking it was garlic or some kind of vegetable, and i thought it was very clever to mix that with vegetable, so i kept shovelling them in. she said 'its a baby fish.' i held it up very close to my face to get a better look and sure enough there were its eyes and tail and everything! and i had been eating this! ahhhh! i tried not to look as disgusted as i was...so i smiled and said 'cool.' she then proceeded to inform me that they were illegal to eat in most countries and i wasn't about to ask why. i just moved on to the rice and tried not to think about their eyeballs.

one thing i have to keep reminding myself of: im not in chinatown, im in asia! there is one thing that i find extremely funny. in asia, girls go to great lengths to make their skin as white as possible. these lengths include bleach, whitening creams, and carrying umbrellas EVERYWHERE. for a westerner, this idea of beauty is hard to comprehend. i myself have the worlds palest skin and was picked on so much for it growing up (and still!) and in america, girls willingly give themselves cancer to get as tan as humanly possible. anyway, when its sunny outside, i see girls with jackets on in 35 degree weather (how can they stand it) and carrying umbrellas in order to keep the sun off of themselves. tonight, it was pouring down rain and...guess what. no one was carrying an umbrella! in sunlight, you have to be careful where youre walking or someone will put your eye out. but if its raining...not an umbrella in sight.

today was the first day of my new classes. i taught the elementary school today! i really miss the phonetics class though...i would be a phonetics teacher forever! (im such a nerrrrrrd) anyway, today we worked on really basic stuff "hello, how are you?" and "my name is..." i got quite a few new students as well! this class is going to be brilliant! i found myself waking up today thinking, "i can't wait to go to work!" thats a good feeling =) on the way to work (after ordering my lunch completely in chinese, thank you very much!) i saw a very confused american man and i heard someone shout in english. i turned around and he asked me for directions to somewhere (must have mistaken me for a local...=) hes from cali and has been living in maoli (the next city) for 10 years. he told me that he never has any intention of going back to america. i smiled. (one of my friends actually told me that he was talking to some people and they have decided that i wont leave taiwan unless im forced... if you know me well you will know my response to that statement ;)

my dad was asking me a couple days ago what food i really wanted to eat (he meant american food) and my first thought was 'man, i could go for some mi fen!' which is taiwanese food...right after i thought that i was really suprised at myself. before i left there were so many people who thought that i would never like the food, but i love it. outside of the baby fish and their eyeballs staring at me, i have started eating things that i used to not like, such as tofu, mochi, and other assorted things that i would have previously said 'tasted like eyeball.' so take that everyone, i like taiwanese food.

some more photos of the metropolis that is jhubei city :)

and here are my little feet in the TAIWAN STRAIT! and some of the hsinchu coast