Goin' Local
I had a crazy amount of energy yesterday and spent the bulk of the day driving around town. I started with some internet and then zipped to Da Li for my language exchange with some women I work with. After that, I stopped by the post office and mailed off some letters. Soon enough, I found my way to a park I'd seen a million times from the bus, but had never made it over there to check it out. Turns out it is this really big, beautifully landscaped park, where I happened to see two cranes flying from a tree to the creek that ran behind some houses. I considered this to be a pretty amazing thing, since there aren't many birds to be found in the city, let alone big, snow white birds settling in the trees.
After I rambled around the park a while, climbing some rocks and seeing some kids in the school gym yard (who, when wearing their blue uniforms, look at lot more like prisoners getting some air than a bunch of high schoolers in gym class, and were distinguished from prisoners only in the fact that they all seemed to have yellow and orange pom-poms...) I decided to high-tail it to a cafe to read a little. I never made it there though, because I came up to Fu-Hsing Rd and I remembered there was a big mall-type complex on the road. I decided I had some time before class and so I made my way to Taichung Central and checked it out. It was eleven floors of fun, fun, fun! There was a Toys R Us there (where I found Taiwan Monopoly (!)), a movie theater on the 6th floor, a bunch of restaurants, a pool hall/bowling alley (on the same floor as World Gym--smokey pool hall and fitness gym together, I love it!), and on the top floor, Mint 27, a live music venue and dicso pub. Fantastic!
Later at work, I started to wind down and thought that I would surely do nothing but go to bed immediately after work, but on my way home, I reconsidered. I ended up at a jazz cafe around the corner from my house, learning how to say ashtray in Chinese and drinking a cold beer while reading a chapter from the Edward Said book I picked up the other day. It was a beautiful end to a well-travelled day. There's so much to do here, it's unbelievable!
On a side note, I haven't gotten a DVD player yet, so I won't be able to check out the Chinese animation flick I picked up entitled "Mr. Pig Hires a Cat" right away, but it looks like a some pretty bizarro business, so I'll let you know as soon as I find somewhere to watch it. All I know is that when you see a movie that has a puppet pig tied to a stick, with a puppet cat holding a fistful of mice, and two puppet animals "wrestling" on the floor on the cover for 39 NT ($1.10 USD), you snatch it up as fast as you can!
Another interesting purchase that makes me feel at home on the roads of Taichung is my mask. Made of cotton and used to cover my face to protect me from exhaust fumes, it's got pink, purple and black polka dots on it, and I love it! It's a trip!
After I rambled around the park a while, climbing some rocks and seeing some kids in the school gym yard (who, when wearing their blue uniforms, look at lot more like prisoners getting some air than a bunch of high schoolers in gym class, and were distinguished from prisoners only in the fact that they all seemed to have yellow and orange pom-poms...) I decided to high-tail it to a cafe to read a little. I never made it there though, because I came up to Fu-Hsing Rd and I remembered there was a big mall-type complex on the road. I decided I had some time before class and so I made my way to Taichung Central and checked it out. It was eleven floors of fun, fun, fun! There was a Toys R Us there (where I found Taiwan Monopoly (!)), a movie theater on the 6th floor, a bunch of restaurants, a pool hall/bowling alley (on the same floor as World Gym--smokey pool hall and fitness gym together, I love it!), and on the top floor, Mint 27, a live music venue and dicso pub. Fantastic!
Later at work, I started to wind down and thought that I would surely do nothing but go to bed immediately after work, but on my way home, I reconsidered. I ended up at a jazz cafe around the corner from my house, learning how to say ashtray in Chinese and drinking a cold beer while reading a chapter from the Edward Said book I picked up the other day. It was a beautiful end to a well-travelled day. There's so much to do here, it's unbelievable!
On a side note, I haven't gotten a DVD player yet, so I won't be able to check out the Chinese animation flick I picked up entitled "Mr. Pig Hires a Cat" right away, but it looks like a some pretty bizarro business, so I'll let you know as soon as I find somewhere to watch it. All I know is that when you see a movie that has a puppet pig tied to a stick, with a puppet cat holding a fistful of mice, and two puppet animals "wrestling" on the floor on the cover for 39 NT ($1.10 USD), you snatch it up as fast as you can!
Another interesting purchase that makes me feel at home on the roads of Taichung is my mask. Made of cotton and used to cover my face to protect me from exhaust fumes, it's got pink, purple and black polka dots on it, and I love it! It's a trip!
posted by CJ at 7:49 AM
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