Shifting

As I noted earlier, I slept until 10am today.

But that was the end of my non-productivity. After that, I was on a roll, still in Thailand adventure mode, but now in Kaohsiung, and so putting that energy towards productive things like unpacking, doing laundry, running errands, backing up my hard drive, uploading photos (but not editing yet--sorry, they'll be up soon!), etc etc. This, of course, contributed to several one new things. And, as it's late now, I'll just throw out a few before I hit the sack.

Thing 7:
I tried a "Mexican cake" at Brunch, across the street. I've been assuming it was a quesadilla for a few months now, but had never gotten around to trying it. Today, when I told the cashier I wanted the cheese one, she said it was "甜的," or sweet, which confused me like crazy (partly because I had gone over a week without using my Chinese; partly because why would a quesadilla be sweet?) and she suggested I do the chicken one instead. The chicken one, as it turned out, was like a quesadilla--chicken, peppers and onions in a folded grilled tortilla--but without the queso. I mean seriously, no cheese in a quesadilla? What is this! Good, actually--just not as good as I'd expected from this fabled Mexican cake.

Thing 8:
I went to the post office! Funny thing, it's literally three blocks from my apartment, jammed in between several places I frequent often (grocery store, favorite Taiwanese restaurant; a block from the fruit stand), but I had never noticed it before. I asked Fonda where the nearest post office was a few weeks back, and even with the street name I looked for it across the street at first and was (obviously) disappointed.

But today I went! And discovered that mail here is so-so on pricing, and that simply saying "美國" (America) and shoving a pile of letters at the postal worker works perfectly well to communicate that you want to send them to America. Also of note is that the post office is actually 2/3 bank, 1/3 post office, and that none of the stamps (or envelopes) here have their own adhesive, so my trip today involved standing at the counter with a glue stick affixing each stamp individually to my already-taped envelopes, as dozens of people sat behind me waiting to deposit money in their savings accounts.

Thing 9:
I went to TGIFridays! I don't think I've actually even been to one in the States before; I noticed it here my first week in Kaohsiung, and earmarked it as somewhere to go when I needed Western food, but had never followed through on the idea. Until today, when Rachel's mom Barbara invited me to join them! We had a delicious meal of shared appetizers (real quesadillas, potato skins, and chicken fingers), salads (chicken Caesar for Rachel; steak for Rachel's mom and I), drinks, and to-go molten chocolate cake for Rachel and I. Delicious, and fantastic when coupled with a great conversation! I'll have to go back sometime.

Well, that's it for tonight. Lots of photos to edit tomorrow, and another retrospective blogpost to write--look for pictures, videos and more blogs on here then, as I keep shifting from Thai adventures to Taiwanese daily life.

Revision(s)

My day consisted of revision. Or, rather, revisions, both of my schedule and within it.

My oh-so-optimistic schedule, as laid out last night, had to do with me making it to the gym today by roughly 11am. That didn't happen. It had me at Brunch and working through my essays the remainder of the day. That did happen, but it also had me finishing these revisions and finalizing my essays before tonight. And that, also, didn't happen.

But I did spend the bulk of my day making revisions, and that was no small feat: when I began, my 1,000 word personal statement was closer to 1,200 words, and didn't have everything in it that it needed; my 500 word essay on choosing the UK was 650 words long and also didn't have everything in; ditto for my 500 word essay on my academic program. So, all told, today I cut roughly 500 words and somehow managed to fit multiple complicated ideas back in. But I'm still not done.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being a writer, or just of the writing process in general, is that it can never truly be done. This is especially true for things like applications, since they are all voluntary writings with high stakes involved--meaning you are highly, highly invested in getting each word and sentence transition down perfectly. If it weren't for institutions' graceful granting of strict deadlines, I'm convinced no application would ever get turned in--or maybe a lack of caring or over-the-top self-confidence would become the new determining factor for who won every competition.

All that to say, I'm still working. John, a former Kaohsiung ETA and current Marshall scholar whom I contacted a while ago, was gracious enough to look over my personal statement and give me a few pointers, which I devoured like a starving man in a desert (sorry for the tired cliche--I've used up my creative juices allowance for the day). Now I'm busy reworking my essay after his suggestions; tomorrow after school, it'll be more of the same. The deadline is technically tomorrow, Sept. 23, but it's due on Seattle time, so I actually have another night with my application if I want it--and, knowing me, I will. Ah, the (occasional) joys of the time difference.

So that was my day. Tonight Fonda and Alex (who's in town for classroom observations) came out to dinner with Karina, Lydia, Emily, Samia and I, and took us to a quite delicious stir fry place on Guanghua, about 3 blocks from here. I've walked past/through (sidewalks are extensions of the inside here, always) it dozens of times, but had never tried it. But we will be back! Absolutely wonderful veggies, fish, chicken and fried rice.

On a final, unrelated note (and because my blog has been sorely missing in photos lately), here's a shot I took yesterday walking towards Guanghua--I think it's adorable. If I submitted it for a photo contest, I'd call it "Training Wheels." Of course, it wouldn't win, but maybe you'll still like it:

Productive Sunday

Wait, productive Sunday? What is this crazyness you speak of?

It's true, though--I got SO much done today that now, as it nears midnight, I can hardly believe it. Typical Sundays here have consisted of lounging about and watching TV, as you may have picked up from my immensely boring typical Sunday posts.

TODAY, however...

• I joined the gym. Rachel and I drove our scooters over to Sanduo, proudly presented our receipts from yesterday's excursion, signed our names a few places, shelled out some more money, and we were in! It was an interesting experience in which I was almost totally silent, since no one working knew English (in stark contrast to last time we went, when at least three of the six people working were essentially fluent), but the woman who signed us up was one of the same people from last time and remembered us, so that was nice. And another major bonus was that, for some reason, the people at the gym took both of our receipts but gave us Rachel's discount--the full discount--even though I spent $500NT under what I was supposed to. Sweet! And now I have full reign of machines, weights, a game room, and weekly Zumba, yoga, and step aerobic classes, amongst others. And, in my ever-growing consciousness about the layout of Kaohsiung, I found out that this branch is RIGHT off my normal route to/from school. Must remember to start packing gym clothes and a shower towel when I go to school...

• I finished drafting my application. (As a side note, I find it ironic that you can tell I'm a writer because I refuse to use the word "write" for this sort of thing--everything is a draft until it's turned in/published, and even then it's not always beyond revisions!) This involved sitting in the Brunch Cafe across the street for several hours and pounding away on my Internet-intentionally-disconnected computer. And, on a related note...

• I ordered at Brunch Cafe--a whole conversation, not just "I want this," but with options and new vocabulary--and the lady understood me, and I understood her! And Brunch Cafe gives numbers for food, which they then call over a 20-year-old-McDonald's reminiscent microphone--in Chinese--and I knew when to go pick up my food! (I think--it wasn't cold when I got there, anyway.) Win!

• I went to church, along with Analicia, her friend Wendy, Karina, and Fonda. Turns out the church is in Zuoying, really close to where Karina lives, actually. Also turns out this will likely NOT be my home church. Analicia warned me that it would be traditional--single hymns interspersed on a printed service order in the bulletin--but in addition to that, I found portions of the sermon iffy, at best. The pastor hit some good points, but for the most part, I think our core theologies differ too much for me to feel like I can learn from him. Here's a (very rough) graphic representation. In this case, deviation from the blue line means I disagree with what's being said:

To clarify my unclear graph, the Scripture part at the beginning refers to the yellow along the blue line.

 So yeah, some things were pretty far off from my own theology, some things were just minor differences or argument holes; and while some parts were right on, I think I'm going to keep looking. I miss the City Church; I was definitely spoiled in Seattle with such a wonderful church and the inspiring and challenging messages of Judah Smith.

• Back at home (and back to my list), I filled out my weekly report, did my Chinese homework, and worked a bit more on my application. It's due this Friday, which is so crazy! It'll be nice to have it in,though.

Now, though, it's past midnight and I have classes at 9:30. So goodnight, world! More productivity to be had tomorrow.