Day Two

Monday, June 28, 2010


I woke up at five this morning. Everyone else was moving about. I didn’t actually get out of bed until around seven. After showering (we have hot water), seven of us went for a bike ride. Most everyone here rides a scooter. There are some cars, all the same types as in the USA. The streets are narrow.

We met the administrator Gerald Galbraith and a couple of his secretaries, Charlene and Peggy. We were assigned a bike and bike lock. All of them are rusty, but they have a basket on the front. Mine is a light blue bike that clicks when I ride it. They gave each of us an envelope with 10,780 NTD. This is supposed to be compensation for the first two months of food and bus fare from yesterday. Afterwards, Gerald dropped us off at the grocery store with an old student, Mary, to help us. It looked like a normal smaller grocery store with not so normal looking food. I just put random stuff that looked good in my cart. It’s hard to know what a good price is. I’ll need to bring my calculator next time.

We had five minutes to put our groceries away. In our kitchen, we have three refrigerators, so plenty of space. Then we were off to get our pictures taken for I don’t know what. When we got back from that, we had some down time, so we all went for another bike ride. We filled out paperwork, and then Gerald took us on a tour of the city. It’s not very big, but it is a bit crowded. There are miniature temples in the parks and spots where people can burn paper money in aid to their ancestors.
Before heading back home, we went to Carrefour, a supermall. It was like four stories and had basically everything there. In the parking garage, they had car washes set up.
I am so tired. Gerald told us we have to stay up till 9:00 pm, so that our bodies will acclimate to the time change easier.
After dinner, we played games to stay awake. It was ridiculous. Everyone was so tired that we just couldn’t think straight.

 

So hot and sweaty

The waterfall we hiked to

 

Hospital

After we got our blood drawn

Robes for chest x-ray

My first encounter with a squatter.  I still have no idea how to approach this one.

Main room for physical exam

Outside the hospital were some shops.  Check out these shoes.  Supposedly they are for pregnant women.  I am not sure how that works.

The Elementary School

At the Night Market