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| Glass temple outside Lukang. |
Spent two weekends in a row in Changhua walking around
various districts. Matt found a shopping street that is about three city blocks
long. Every stall has the same cheaply-made shoes, purses, and shirts. I cannot
make myself pay for that kind of thing.
One Saturday, already tired from walking down the clothing
market, Matt and I walked across Changhua to Carrefour, a large supermarket
that carries almost everything. We had a
few major things on the list: ground coffee, a bathmat, contact lens solution,
and hair wax. They didn’t have any hair wax and the contact solution was pretty
expensive. But we did find coffee and a bathmat on offer, as well as chocolate
chip cookies. It was a successful day, until we went to the checkout.
Apparently, the specials were for members only, putting the original price of
our chosen items to nearly forty USD (the coffee alone was nearly $20). I did
the most logical thing any sane person would have done-- I took the cookies and
left the rest behind. At least we weren’t burdened by heavy purchases as we
hiked to the bus stop, paused to look at a gun store, and then waited for the
bus for fifteen minutes.
The next morning, motivated by lack of coffee, we hiked
across Hemei to a grocery store I keep forgetting exists. And wouldn’t you
know, not only did we find a bag of coffee and a bathmat, but apple cider
vinegar for my hair too. Spurred by our success we treated ourselves to
McDonalds. But, since McDonalds is
nearly two miles away from the apartment, and we were carrying groceries, most
of the calories and guilt-induced sickness had passed.
Monday through Wednesday I did my whole teaching thing.
Nothing too major to report, other than I am getting tired of teaching five to
nine year olds for five hours a day. Luckily, when it reaches the point where I
think I am going to lose it and throw my teaching materials up in the air and
stomp out, a student does something ridiculously funny. Such as little Angus insisting that he no longer
be named “Angus,” but “Super Girl Baby.” Or how the students, when learning
short “a” phonics and the word “dam” have already figured out the right
inflection and then you have a sea of innocent faces saying “DAMN.”
Thursday was a national holiday, so no work! We had planned
on going to some festival, but slept in. By the time we made it to Changhua, we
realized we’d miss the last bus back to Changhua from our destination because
of travel time. We hopped on the train and headed to Taichung, discovering new
and exciting parts of the city.
We found ourselves standing in front of “Huge Burger,” we
were lured in by the cardboard cutouts of the Obamas as well as the Americana
lining the outer wall. We ordered a peanut butter beef burger to split. It
would have fed four of us! I was dubious about the peanut butter, but it worked
and tasted a lot better than that processed cheese you normally get on burgers.
We literally waddled out of the restaurant, feeling quite
like the Walrus, until we were distracted by more shiny and exciting objects. We had an hour to wait for the train home, so
we grabbed a beer and sat in this ridiculously large cafeteria at the top of 7
Eleven.
Saturday we met up with Jenny and her cousin, who took us to
Lukang to see the glass temple and glass museum. In reality, both are just showcasing
the work of a neighboring glass factory. It was good to see, but not all the
hype that everything led me to believe. Sunday, I met up with Jenny again to celebrate
her birthday.
