Please go to the kitchen...the government is here

I just finished eating a piece of candy that my doorman Mr. Hur gave me. It tasted sweet but it also tasted like a bullion cube at the same time. It was strange to say the least. So I've been out of the loop the last few weeks. I've acquired some sort of sickness that's been fairly debilitating. I've had it for about 3 weeks now but luckily it feels like it's getting better. When I first arrived, my co-workers told me that everyone gets sick about 3 months into their arrival in Taiwan. It's my 13th week here so that pretty much is right on time. I thought my iron-clad immune system would be able to stave off the infection but I was sorely mistaken. I have a funny story with going to the doctor though. I went last Friday to a clinic to ask about my cold. I was in and out in about 10 minutes after telling them my symptoms. They gave me a medicine that they said should cure my ailment in 3 days. It did not. So I went back to the same clinic on Monday, telling them that my cough had moved into my lungs. The doctor told me, "Well, I'm an OBGYN so I'm not really qualified to recommend a treatment for you..." Wait, wait, an OBGYN? Yup that's right. Why they didn't tell me that's what they were the first time is beyond me. It would explain why there were posters of the female anatomy everywhere and why there were only women in the waiting area. It was one of those "only in Taiwan" moments. They sent me next door to another clinic. This new clinic told me that I have developed some sort of asthma. I don't think asthma is contagious but perhaps I had something else and it developed into asthma. Whatever the reason, I suspect it's from the air here. It's pretty sad that the air is so bad here, especially on such a beautiful island. What's weird is I don't feel asthmatic at all, but I do have congestion in my lungs. My health feels like it's on the upswing since I began taking the medication they gave me so I guess that's a good sign.

Oh well...hmmm other highlights. I'll admit after reading my sister's posts, my life now seems a lot more boring. But I'll scrape what little material I have from the bottom of the barrel and keep typing. On Tuesday, we had the police come and inspect the school. At 9 AM, my boss came into the office and said to the teachers and me "excuse me teachers, please go to the kitchen. The government is here!" This was a classic moment. So we hid out in the kitchen in exile for a good 20 minutes while the police scoured the school for suspicious activity or something like that. Luckily, the reason why I'm still typing this blog in Taiwan is because they did not find the "white people" hiding inside the school.

We had our school fair last Saturday which was a lot of fun. I had the pleasure of being the MC for the occasion. That was pretty cool. The class cheer I performed with my class went really well too. I played the tune to "Louie Louie" while the kids sang about their class. It was cute. Then the kids went and played about 6 different games that the teachers at the school set up for them. One of the highlights was the game that involved sliding beer mugs across a table without going off the edge. They decorated their room with Heineken bottles. That was a classy move, especially at an elementary school. The foreign teachers had a game called "Principal Pitching" which involved throwing balls at pictures of teachers and knocking them over. Our first attempt at making these pictures was thwarted when our boss, Christine, decided to take about a dozen pictures of herself making ridiculous faces which she then printed out and gave to us. We promptly corrected this mistake and updated the pictures with different pictures of all the teachers.

Other than that, no other fascinating news from this side of the world. Hopefully this upcoming weekend will be more eventful than the last and provide more juicy material for the blog. Maybe some good pics too. I'm getting pumped for going to see my sis in Australia...about two weeks away!