no matter how long it takes

yesterday was so fantastic in so many ways.
i subbed a class in the morning that was pretty good. they didn't know they were having a sub, so when i walked in, no one knew what was happening. one kid actually walked into the class, looked at me, started to turn and walk out before his classmates were like 'noo, you're in the right class!' it was hilarious.
keith and i had the same break between classes so he took me to this delicious juice lady and i had a pineapple, banana and orange smoothie that was delicious. then he took me to this stand that sold these pancake things with egg and mine had bacon in it. it was easily the tastiest thing i've eaten in taiwan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallion_pancakes

anyway once i got home, i went straight to this spa beth's been going to that's right on the other side of the park. they import all of their products from italy and the owner, nicky, and her sister, margaret, both speak english very well. http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/merveilles-11/article?mid=208&prev=214&next=201
there are some pictures of it. it's super chic. the room it shows in the second picture is the room i was in. so i got there at 330, they explained the menu to me, which took like 45 minutes. they brought me 2 kinds of tea while i was sitting there. they have you pick a tea and the kind of music you'd like every time. i decided to get a 'leg treatment' which was supposed to be good for teachers who stand all day, and a facial. so they have me shower, put on a robe, and soak my feet in steaming hot rose water while i sit in the room at the bottom of that website, overlooking a park in taoyuan. it was so pretty. nicky brings me 2 different kinds of cake to try, one pineapple in pastry and one white bean with coconut. both delicious. meanwhile, margaret is talking my ear off and painting my nails.

so i go into the room and they start the leg treatment. first they rub my legs with something that burns a lot because i had just shaved my legs, but it was ok. then i was scrubbed, then i was wrapped. basically, they wrap an ace-bandage made out of gauze looking thing around your whole leg from foot to upper thigh, and it's supposed to get really, really cold which is supposed to 'make your legs feel lighter'. they warned me that last week, a woman actually started screaming because it felt so cold on her. it started off feeling really hot for the first 10 minutes or so and then it started feeling really cold like my legs were wrapped in ice. it was weird. they give you a shoulder and neck massage while you're laying there to take your mind off of your numbed legs. so that was that.

then i got a facial and she put at least 12 different creams on my face and it was lovely. margaret re-did my nails because i got them all smudged when i got up to use the restroom.
anyway it was a really fun experience. they have you shower again to get the oil from the massage out of your hair and then you can dry it afterwards at this little counter. apparently margaret wanted to dry mine for me but she had to leave before i was done.
i ended up spending FIVE HOURSSS there. it was good.

in the evening, we all hung out around the dorm chatting until around 1 or so and dena and i stayed up until 5am because i wanted to watch this episode of Bizarre Foods set in Taiwan that was listed in the paper. but then, when we finally got to 5am, it wasn't even on! i was outraged.

so i obviously slept late because i was up late and now im trolling for things to do. i think the new person, steve (as we found out by his new nametag on the door) should be arriving any day now. they didn't even have my name tag up when i arrived.