if you want a driver, climb inside

memorable moments.
1. bobo taught us 'ni gan ma?!' today in chinese which is 'what are you doinggg?!' for when jerry isn't paying attention. i think i said it 10 times in class today.

2. after the english lesson at the hospital today, the main woman said 'megan, we want to cordially invite you.. we want to ask you.. we were wondering.. do you want to go somewhere with us on an outing?' and then the woman next to her pulled out this big list of everything they had thought i might like to see. it was really nice. we're going to the national palace museum in taipei which is beauuutiful (see below), and maybe the zoo.
other fun facts about the taiwanes health care system
-patients pay 5% of the copay and the government pays everything else
-the hospital doesn't supply towels or toiletries

3. before class, i went to check in with mrs. chan and mr. kuo at the restaurant in da chu and mrs. chan was just taking the burnt rice at the bottom of the rice cooker out to make a new batch and she gave me a little piece to see if i'd like it. it was reaaally good. it tasted kind of like toasted marshmallows. she gave me a little to go container of it.
3.5 as i was leaving, i decided to ask if i could see this certain vegetable that comes with my carrots and peapods. it's purple and kind of oddly textured. they told me it's like a mushroom, but i've always wanted to see a whole one. so i ask 'can i see one of these before it's cut up?' and i can say 'i want to see this' in chinese, but not 'cut up' so i was using gestures.. and they didn't understand, so i kept trying new ways to say it. meanwhile, the entire restaurant full of people has crowded around me and is trying to figure out what i was saying. literally 15 people were standing around me, screaming chinese back and forth and copying my gestures. i was laughing so hard at one point i could barely get words out.
finally, we did convey the message. tomorrow, mrs. chan is going to save one for me before she cuts it up so i can see it whole.

4. in class, we were learning about different ethnic foods and there were drawings of like.. american, mexican, greek, thai, etc food. so when we got to mexican, there was a burrito, rice and beans. i asked if they knew what it was, they said no, i threw my hands up in a dramatic fit and told them mexican food is my FAVORITEEE and explained all about burritos. then they said 'megan, will you make some for us?' andd how can you say no to 24 kids, so i said yes. i need to find tortillas. i know they're at costco in taipei if all else fails.

quickly, 5. i don't know if i mentioned seeing an old white guy on the bus who i didn'twork up the nerve to talk to yesterday, but he got on the bus again today and i this time said hi and we started chatting. he's been here fourteen years and seemed kind of odd to me. he taught for 5 years and then he's been doing lots of random work since then. anyway yesterday i thought i should have talked to him and i'm glad i got a second chance, if only to find out he's a weirdo.