Let the bad luck begin!
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Taoyuan,
Taiwan
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Okay, so perhaps some 2 days after the typhoon...I was laying in bed in the early hours of the morning (early is 10 AM now...since I teach in the afternoon and spend most morning hours unconscious on my sleeping box) when I felt my body swaying. I was like...WTF? I immediately thought of earthquake and looked around my room to see if anything else was shaking or looking like it was going to fly off a shelf. Nothing. My swaying sensation lasted only a few hours and I was left wondering if I had just imagined the whole thing.
As as I was having breakfast...I asked Meghan if her bed had moved earlier in the day and she said that she had felt something weird like that as well. Other people also confirmed their bed-swaying experiences and we all deduced that it was indeed some kind of mini-tremor or very minor earthquake we had just experienced. Weird. I can't express to you how weird it was to just start swaying back and forth on my bed like that out of the blue. I can only imagine what a real earthquake would feel like. Hopefully I won't have to experience any of those during my time here!
Okay, so I am two for two for 'Taiwanese' natural disaster experiences...and all under one week! LOL!
Saturday night we all decided to go back to the 'Woo lounge'...this one place Meghan and I found the night we went out on the town after the typhoon died down. It was Alex's b-day and we all went there for the 'all-you-can-drink' for $15 special. We had tons of fun and just enjoyed being the life of the party (as a foreigner...I often feel like the main attraction at a zoo or something). We stumbled home around 4 AM or so.
The next day...as I was taking inventory of all my possessions...I noticed that my Visa card was M.I.A. I looked high and low and could not find the damn thing. Meghan and I retraced our steps from Saturday night but were unable to find the Visa card. I had missplaced my debit card a few days ago...and now found myself monetarily stranded. Thankfully I knew that I would be getting paid soon...and so I wasn't freaking out as much as I would have been had I 2 more weeks to go before I got paid or something. I thankfully managed to cancel my Visa and my debit card. A new debit card is being sent to my parents in Ottawa and my Visa will just stay cancelled (the bank wanted to mail it to my Brazil address). I just now have to wait for my parents to mail me my new debit card. I plan on opening a Taiwan extention of my HSBC bank account here...I just need to get my legal papers first.
This past Saturday night Meghan and I decided to venture out to downtown Taipei for some clubbin' action. We had heard rants and raves of this one place called 'Room 18' and so that is where we were headed. We get there and the guy asks for I.D. I didn't bring any I.D...so far in Taiwan I have never been asked for I.D. Well, the guy just refused to let us in. We were crushed...here we had come all the way to see this club and found ourselves unable to get inside. We turned the corner and came upon this place called 'Playa'. We went inside (the bouncer here wasn't as picky about I.D...I think he would rather look at my dress than my I.D) and it turned out to be this total Hip/hop and Rap place...except with the highest concentration of Asian people you could imagine. Seriously....I think we were the only white chicks in the entire club. It was fun though and we actually saw quite a nice collection of handsome Taiwanese men. We will definitely be going back there in the future.
At 4 AM the place closed down and so we had to move out. Meghan and I were pretty hungry at this point and so we walked around till we found a 24 hours McDonald's. We went inside and had this amazing breakfast. I had some fantastic pancakes and OJ...which I was missin'. We were exhausted by this point and so decided that since we were in Rome (Taiwan) to do as the Romans (Taiwanese) do...and sleep at McDonald's. I had my purse on the table next to my head and Meghan had her big purse at her feet on the booth. We both put our heads down and just tried to get some rest. At some point I raised my head and realized that my purse was no longer where I had left it. I entered full panic mode. I looked all over...even the bathroom...perhaps someone had just thought it would be funny to play a joke on the western girl. No such luck. I had the lady at the counter call my cell phone...which was off (no surprise there) and then just started searching everywhere. Two girls came forward and said they saw a man leaving with a black purse and this other man said he saw the same thing. The police was called and I ended up talking to some guy from Foreign Affairs. We watched the security camera tapes from McDonald's and the man was identified by the three witnesses. Unfortunately the quality of the tape is poor...so the probability of them being able to make out any defined features on this man was very slim. Inside my purse was my cell phone (which I had only had for some 10 days or so), some $30 and my dorm room key. I had my earrings as well as necklace in there (which I had gotten in Brazil)and some other random feminine stuff. I went to the police station and filled out a report and then got driven to the train station by the police officer. Let me tell you...we got totally stared down as we came out of the police car...two western girls...in night club clothing...waving bye-bye to the police office and saying 'thank you' at 7 AM at the train station. LOL. What could they have POSSIBLY been thinking about us? LOL!!!
Anyway...we made it back in Taoyuan for 9 AM or so...and I passed out on the couch (as I could not get into my room). Later they called a locksmith for me and I was able to get into my room and then take a shower and sleep on my sleeping box bed.
What a string of bad luck, huh?
On the UP side...I have discovered that my kindy classes love to get inked. By this I mean...have a Spongebob Squarepants character stamped on their hand (or any other visible body part not covered by clothing). They squeal with delight as I approach them and then make weird and funny noises while I stamp them. Young children are so easy to entertain!
