happy 24th anniversary, mom & dad! i told my class about that when i asked what today was and they were amazed. other news: the sweet potato times, issue 2 is out. i'll post it after this. you can read my spotlight article :) i think it's written kind of poorly but i wrote it in like 2 minutes sooo..
i was just telling maj (my mom.. it's kind of a long story of how we started calling mom and dad maj and faj but i guess if you're reading this, odds are you already know it anyway) about all of the chinese i used today. i was reading a chinese/english book and i remembered a lot of words i had forgotten so i tried to use them today.
how much is it? - duo shao jian?
what is that called? - na shir shenme?
i want one fried rice without meat - wo yao yi ge chao fan bu rou
tai guei - too expensive
those phrases get you pretty far on the street. now i need to know how to say 'you've been charging me over $100 for 3 pieces of fruit and i know that's way too much, i'm not paying more than $50 from now on, jerk.' i didn't go to the fruit lady today but i did get a jasmine tea. i don't have to tell the tea people what i want now. it's kind of cool.
wound update: it's only oozing a little bit of nastiness throughout the day and it's pretty well scabbed over. the parts that had remnants of blister covering them are healing much better than the middle is where it's just raw. anyway the outlook is pretty good.
something odd about taiwan: there are stray dogs roaming the streets. apparently people put poison out sometimes to kill them. but they seem pretty nice in general. i've only ever run into one mean one and that's when josh was trying to be batman in the back alley. it's interesting though because they travel in big packs of like 8 or 10. they're pretty mangy though. patches of fur are missing and they look like they have infestations of all kinds.
something good about taiwan: there's a deep sense of right and wrong. when i accidentally give the kids stickers when they aren't supposed to get any because they haven't done their homework, they say 'teacher, no stickers' and give them back to me. or when an elderly person or a mom with a little kid gets on the bus, like 4 young people hop out of their seats to let them sit down. other than sneaky fruit ladies, everyone i've encountered has been really nice, helpful and honest.
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1 comment:
The sneaky fruit ladies are just there for contrast. You've rightly observed that the majority of people are good. Some folks only see nastiness- which they attract- because they expect it. You don't and your life experience is all the better for it.
Tell Gerry we love the Sweet Potato Times!!!
Thanks for the kind wishes on our anniversary. You three kids are our greatest accomplishment and we are grateful to be your parents.
Love you.
Maj
PS
Folks have asked where the Faj and Maj monikers came from.......maybe you should explain. We've also gotten requests to see photos of the infamous fruit lady.
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