we meet every day at the same cafe

i thought my umbrella disappeared and i was super bummed, but yesterday i found a cute new one that's yellow with polka dots and ruffles. i think the lady kind of ripped me off at $5.50, but $6 for an umbrella is ridiculously cheap so whatever.but then when i went to pack becca's birthday box today, my old umbrella was inside the bag of stuff i bought her! it's green with pink elephants, and it has a really cute coordinating strap thing, also with polka dots. i guess i have a thing for polka dots right now.
fun chinese lesson, while we're on the subject:
dian - period ( . )
dian dian - polka dots
dian dian dian - elipses ( ... )
well today my outside class was canceled. i'm not sure why. this week and next week, wooo! i took advantage of my new free time by mailing becca's long overdue birthday box. her birthday was sept 26.

tonight i went to see the vegetable mrs. chan saved for me before she cut it up. it's like this giant, ear looking thing. HEYYY i think i know what it is. keith had been getting 'jews ear' dumplings and it didn't make any sense until right now.. wikipedia is loading. let's see.
yep. it's about as weird in person as it is in that picture. it's flatter, though. it looked like a giant purple pig's ear. wikipedia says: Auricularia auricula, Hirneola auricula-judae) is commonly known as Judas's ear fungus or Jew's Ear, the name from which it derives the "judae" in its scientific name, or as the jelly ear fungus. This jelly fungus is conspicuously ear shaped, ranging from purple to dark brown or black in color with a rubbery texture, and most often found on dead elder trees but also on elms. It was said that Judas hanged himself on an elder tree, which is the origin of the name.

well, i feel better. mystery solved.
anyway when i went there, mr kuo and 2 other guys were drinking this crazy alcohol they make in taiwan. it's 38 proof and i don't know how to describe it other than 'disgusting'. mr. kuo wasn't drunk but this other man was. he tried to teach me some chinese but he kept pausing for long periods of time. i agreed to having a beer with them some time after class.

in class tonight, i offhandedly mentioned how their class time was switching and they wouldn't have me as a teacher anymore, since i assumed my coteacher had told them, but they all looked at me incredulously and they obviously hadn't been told. after class, one of the girls, rebecca, came up to me and asked why i wasn't going to be their teacher anymore and she hugged me and said she would miss me. that class is kind of fun. usually we just sit and chat for 10 minutes or so, but only a couple of the kids talk. i'll miss the ones i actually got to know.

so tomorrow is 10/10 which is a holiday in taiwan. it's like their independence day, even though they're not technically independent.. but a bunch of us are going to a small island off the coast of china, but controlled by taiwan, called matzu. we picked it because we didn't think any taiwanese people would go there since there's not much to see.. i guess the main function is a military outpost. you can apparently see china on a clear day. we will see. i'm bringing my fancy camera to keep myself entertained.
we'll be there friday until sunday evening. so i'll talk to you again sunday, hopefully with distant pictures of china :)
my cell phone is 0987994511 if anyone feels the urgent need to contact me.