Birthday PARTY, Hair DISASTER & MOLD

Wow, this posting is long overdue! I had to gather pictures from everyone from the party last Friday (I wasn’t going to take any on my party night) which took a bit of time. But here they are:


Claudia and I in the room before heading out. I was still a bit sick and Claudia a bit tired. We laughed about skipping out on my own party, but pushed ourselves out the door in the end and had no regrets about it afterward.

I was responsible for leading the group to the restaurant because Tammy was going to be a bit late. She actually had to take a few of the boys (Loe, Felix, Mo, and Jeffrey) to a practice session for the cultural night that they volunteered to participate in the following Sunday. Going off track a bit, they were paid a small amount of money to wear Volkswagen shirts and carry some special Chinese God through the streets of Taiwan. I really don't know too much more about it but the event was broadcast on T.V.Sunday night and now the four of them are local stars. It's actually pretty funny - just copy and paste the following link into a new web window and you can watch the brief news cast (and the boys' Taiwan T.V. debut):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU_0jZeyUag

Back on track - since Tammy was off with them I had to lead the group. I didn't really know where I was going but with the help of some of the girls we managed to run into it while walking down a very quiet side street deep in the heart of downtown.


This is a view from the outside - very "zen-like" and tranquil.

They already had all the tables set up when we arrived. Like the noisy obnoxious foreigners that we feel like here, we insisted on moving the tables so that we could all sit in one big row together. About five minutes later we were all seated and ready to eat!


Table view #1.


Table view #2. Jan, Jan, and Lukas were nice enough to buy Pim and I some lovely Whisky and Coke which we shared as we waited for the food.


Enjoying my drink.


And then the food started rolling in. Tammy did such a great job of ordering. We had: steamed garlic spinach, sweet and sour pork, crab cakes, tempura shrimp, grilled chicken, some sort of spicy tomato pork salad and soup. It was sooooo good!


This is the spinach (bottom right), sweet and sour pork (top right) and the tempura shrimp on the plate. Inside those triangle seaweed balls are the best grilled chicken pieces I've ever tasted.


Sorry Micheal - We snapped this one before he could swallow. Charming...

The others arrived as we were eating. We found out that we had been eating for the entire group of 24. The servers had brought out all the plates that Tammy ordered before everyone arrived (oops), so the group that was late sat in another area and ordered more.


Felix, Mo, Loe, Sanjay.


Fabrice, Casper, Tammy, Diego.

We stayed at the restaurant from 7:30 to about 9:30 when we took off for the all-you-can drink lounge bar. It was very convenient, located just a five minute walk away.


This is the view inside the bar.


It had a very interesting atmosphere - weird mismatched furniture, old run down walls, gaudy chandeliers and awkward paintings...It was totally cool.


Thanks to Joe (another native Taiwanese - like Tammy - who is always a great time), we had our own section right near the bar.


It was just so nice to all be able to hang out with each other in a comfy area with couches. As I mentioned in previous blogs, there are no mixed dorms and absolutely no boys in girls dorms and vice versa so we are always forced to sit and socialize outside on hard benches or concrete slabs. It was a nice change..


Micheal, Emily, Fabrice.

It was so nice - At this point in the night Kaja pulled out two hand-made cards (made by Leslie) that everyone had signed for Pim and I. It's a great memory of the night and the exchange that I'll keep forever.

At around midnight we all took off to Luxy - another short five minute walk away. The rest of the group met us there and it was one of the best nights out I've had since I've been here. No one got many pictures from the bar, but I found these two pretty funny.


Felix after saying the wrong thing to the wrong woman. Haha.


Pim's face with our complimentry birthday cake all over it. I'm glad I didn't get the same treatment.

Saturday morning was a recovery day for me and Sunday I spent the day doing some studying. Sunday night Leslie Kaja and I went to see a movie in Ximen - Date Night with Tina Fey and the guy from 40 year old virgin. I didn't have high expectations but it it actually made me howl with laughter at some points. It was pretty cheap - about $10 CDN for the ticket, popcorn and a drink - much better than the $20 you'd usually pay in Canada for a measely pack of M&M's.

Monday I started my internship at Trend Lighting. Our first project was to research other Lighting companies and write a report about what we found attractive and/or useful about their websites. The information we provide is going to help them reconnstruct theirs.

I also had Chinese class on Monday and Wednesday. This is the home stretch now. We only have two more weeks of Chinese class before the exam and there is A LOT of material to cover. If I manage to perfect everything I've learned, I will be able to get by fairly well speaking to the natives - actually understanding them and having a lengthy conversation is another story.

Thursday morning most of the gang left for Malaysia (I have class on Sunday so I could not join, but I will be going there in June so it's O.K.). I was supposed to go to Wu Lei with the other girls who stayed behind, but I woke up Thursday morning with the worst throat pain I have had in years. It just does not seem to want to leave my system. I figured it was finally time to see a serious doctor so, instead of joining the trip I spent the afternoon at the hospital.

I checked in, got a number, and waited for about 30 minutes in the waiting room before one sweet Taiwanese girl came up to me and informed me that I had to go give the nurse my number to let her know that I was in line. After that I got in fairly quickly. I sat with the doctor for about two minutes. He asked the usual questions - do you have a cough, a runny nose, any muscle pains? Then he felt my throat for pain and I flinched when he rubbed my tonsils. He asked me to open up and blurted out a surprised, "WOW, you have the 'tonsilities.'" I saw him write on his computer, "patient has severe tonsil swelling with pus covering..." great. Thank goodness he took me seriously and perscribed some anti-inflammatory and disinfectant pills. I was in and out in under an hour and the second I hit the street I started popping the pills right down my throat.

It was a rainy day (as usual) and with my throat feeling the way it did I wanted to do something to make myself feel better, so I went to the hair salon. A lot of the girls have been going to get their hair permanently strightened and since it is something I've always wanted (not to have too worry about blow drying my hair and strightening it EVERY morning) I decided to make it the day to get it done.

I went into the salon (the same one that I got my hair cut at a few week back) and they all welcomed me in. I told them what I wanted and the manager understood, "you want your hair straight forever?" I said yes and then he took me in. He held up my hair (which was curly at the time) and asked if it was natural. From what I understood, he wanted to know if my hair was naturally curly and I said yes. What he actually meant to ask, which I found out later (very unfortunate), was if my blonde hair colour was natural...

So I sat in the seat and they started the process - wash, steam, very toxic rub, wash...I was sitting in the chair enjoying a magazine and before I knew it there were three hairdressers surrounding my chair talking very quickly in Chinese. Every time I looked up they would pause and give me a smile, and then go back to what seemed like a very intense conversation. The manager started to sweat a bit. At this point I was getting a bit worried so I asked if everything was alright. That is when the manager asked if my hair was bleached and I replied that, "yes I have it streaked." Then I got a blank look and a quiet "uh-oh." UH-OH? Then I started to sweat! The manager proceeded to tell me that the hair straightening process is VERY damaging for bleached hair (oh boy). He said - not joke - "You have a beautiful face...but you do not have beautiful hair." I'm lucky I'm not too crazy about my hair because at this point I can see a lot of people going nuts. I realized it was a miscommunication from the beginning and I think he appreciated that I kept so calm. He told me not to worry and that he would take care of me. Next thing I know he was back at work blow drying my hair, inspecting each strand as he went along. As it dried I could see the blonde dying (literally death) before my eyes. It was frayed and hard and crisp. I could see the other stylists glancing over at me from the corners of their eyes, a bit nervous for me, but more for the manager. As I watched all this go on all I could do was laugh, and then everyone started to laugh. The manager told me not to worry. He told me that he wasn't worried so I shouldn't be either. It really wasn't comforting at all but I figured it had gone this far so I may as well just let him do his thing. He had his assistant put some 10 minute diffuser in my hair and then they washed it for the upteenth time.

When all was said and done it wasn't all that bad. I don't know what he did but it turned out pretty straight and not so dead looking. At the end of the ordeal he gave me a speech (actually, there was a Taiwanese girl who spoke a bit of English that somehow, throughout the 3 hours turned into our translator). He (she) lectured me about colouring my hair saying that it is "too bright" and that in Taiwan bright blonde is not pretty. He told me that people would die for my natural colour and that I should really consider going back to it if I care about my hair at all. On a nicer note, he offered to take care of me free of charge if I noticed it getting too out of hand during the rest of my time here. When I was up and ready to go he reminded me that because of the treatment I should not shower or get my hair wet for the next three days. Ok, fine. I really just wanted to get home and grab something to eat because I was so hungry after the three hour stay.

When I walked out of the salon it was pouring rain. Obviously. I stood there for a bit, my mind completely blank. When I finally came back to I decided to go to 7-11 to buy an umbrella for my 2 minute walk back to the dorm.

When I got back I told the whole story to Claudia who tried to make me feel better by telling me that I didn't miss anything at Wu Lei. Cute. Then we moved back to the discussion about my sickness.

She was glad that I had been to the doctor. The pills had already started to work. She figured it was a result of rain and my insistence on wearing flip flops in all weather. Then we remembered the mold situation. I don't know how much I've said about this little "issue" but since it is so moist in the room, we have noticed that some of our things have started to grow other...things. Every morning when Claudia gets up she has got into the habit of turning her matress upside down to let it air out. The last time I checked the bottom of mine it was fine, but I decided to check again, and this is what we found:



Yeah...I know. I threw my mattress out in the hall to be picked up by the musical garbage man the next day. Hopefully, not sleeping centimetres away from toxic green growth will help me stay healthy until the end of the semester.

Now that I've sucessfully grossed everyone out, I am going to go to bed (Claudia is completely embarassed by the way that I am actually sharing our "mold situation" with everyone back home - she says she wouldn't dare mention it on her blog - but, what the heck). Anyways, I love you all back home. Have a great night and don't forget to check under your matress before you go to sleep - oh, and before you think about going to the salon next time, remember my story and give your natural hair another chance.

Bye for now.