Adventures..in...Tired...

Oh man! This medicine the doctor-man gave me is making me really tired! Either the medicine or the fact that since I do not have a scooter yet, I am riding a bike everywhere I want to go and I've probably gotten more excercise this week than I have all five years I lived in Alaska. Speaking of biking, what a hairy adventure THAT is! Trying really hard to stick to the farest rightest side of the road as possible but such efforts being thwarted by all the Obstacles that like to park themselves, mostly illegally, in the quite wide scooter/bike section of the road forcing the scooter/bikes to veer out into the Real Road where there is Real Traffic...*whew*. Delivery trucks, cars of all shapes and sizes, carts, busses, and who knows what else all block the side of the road. So far I haven't had anything truly scary happen to me on the road, only something a little embarrassing, such as the time I pulled up to the corner where there was a cop standing there for some Unknown Reason, waved hello to the cop, and then proceeded to pull out when the light turned green and turn left onto my road from the wrong side of the road I had been on. Ok, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense in words, but I made a couple of cars kind of mad because they too were trying to turn left and had to wait for Slow Foreigner Girl with Funny Helmet on Bike to get out of their way. I kept waiting for the cop to blow his whistle, but thankfully I learned later, that cops don't pull over bikes and especially not foreigners on bikes because they expect us to be just that dumb. (that's my own theory actually...).
So anyway, it's an adventure to be sure, but not really very scary although it sounds like it. (don't worry, mom, it's really not as bad as I made it sound. :) To me, biking here is more of a pain (literally, my legs are screaming for mercy), and by the time I get to the school I'm so hot and sweating and feel like I've lost 10 pounds. I can't wait to get a scooter.
On a brighter note, I found Honey Roasted Macademia Nuts at the Costco today. TOTALLY awesome disovery!!
I've completed a week of training at JacksonFive and am now more nervous about teaching than I was..like, ever. It takes me foreeevvveerr to write a lesson plan, and I have to write them a lot and all the time along with bunches of other paperwork and creativity and rules to remember, and all kinds of little tips and tricks and teaching Stuff to remember. Ack! My brain is so tired.
So I don't have any new pictures from this week because mostly I've been training and riding my bike around which takes too much focus on the road to take any pictures on the way.
I will be "helping" lead worship at the English Service at Banner this Sunday..I write it that way, "helping" because I'm playing second keyboard which is not really a needed instrument for the worship team, but more an opportunity to get me used to being on stage and playing with the team. Mostly I have to plunk out some chords at the right time. Kinda cool!
New Things from Taiwan:
1.) Seaweed flavored Pringles. And also Sushi flavor. I haven't tried them...they scare me. But I probably should try them. Where else am I going to get the chance to eat Seaweed flavor Pringles?
2.) Air raid sirens. They did a test the other day, big ol' loud siren. Supposedly this is what they will do if we ever experience an air raid from China. And then all the people are supposed to go inside when they hear the horn. And then the guard at our apartment will keep us updated through this loudspeaker that is installed in ours (and every other) apartment. So I'm thinking, suppose we ever have a Real Air Raid? so we all go inside and sit? It's kind of silly to me, but hey, who am I?
3.) Betel nut juice. This is so gross. They sell these gross Nuts called Betel Nuts at these stands with scantily clad girls (anyone who does any research at all on Taiwan will read about these) and (mostly guys) but some old women chew these nuts and spit on the sidewalk. Supposedly they have a kind of drugging effect. But the spit leaves read splotches all over the roads and sidewalks. I didn't really notice those until I started riding my bike. Ew.
4.) Swim caps. These are required at all the swimming pools, to prevent Clogging of Drains. Next week all the summer kiddos at Jackson5 are going on a swimming field trip, of which I am a supposed to participate so I purchased a groovy black swim cap. I don't think I have ever worn a nerdlier piece of headgear. And I ask the question overheard by my roomate Katie at her university one day on the subject of swim caps: "Do you have to wear them if you're bald?" not relevant for me, but still curious.
5.) Tea - really not as bad as I once thought it was!
6.) Eating a chicken drumstick with chopsticks is tricky business yet somehow all the Taiwanese do it so easily!
7.) Taiwanese friendliness - a parent of one of the students at Jackson 5 treated Jackson and I to free lunch at her sandwich shop because I was the new teacher. :) A girl at the Giant bicycle shop practiced her English with me and gave me all extra tune-ups with a big smile. Etc. People here are so nice.
8.) And the kid at Jackson5 who, when I was chasing him on the kiddie jungle gym thing says, "Oh! this one new teacher so fun!" Things like that make my day. (and I did not correct his sentence. :)

Yah, so that's my week in a nutshell. Hopefully once I am used to biking and am off this medicine and can drink caffeine again I'll be more awake. Thanks again for all your continued prayers, and if you could remember safety on roads too, since as Jackson put it the other day: "Every foreigner I know has at one point or another hit an opening car door on their bike as they passed a parked car, so watch the parked cars in the bike lane." WHA! There are SO MANY parked cars in the bike lane! Yeah, so pray for safety. I do wear my helmet even though no Taiwanese bike riders do and I look even nerdlier than the usual "foreigner nerdy" in it. Better safe than sorry.

Hopefully by my next post I will have some new pictures for you guys. Sorry. :)