Explosion of a Stomachache

Friday February 22^nd, 2013

Tip: Those who do not possess a strong stomach, never EVER read a book on a Taiwanese bus. I’m one of those who gets carsick easily from reading a book in a vehicle…in Texas. Now do the same thing on a wobbling, violently braking and accelerating public bus in Taipei? …I’m gonna puke. XD Darn you Peeps for being a book I can’t put down!

Today held an experiment with coffee choice. Considering I only got 4.5 hours of sleep, coffee was definitely a necessary. But I’ve drunk the same “WinCafe” brand at Tatung numerous times. It was time to try another drink. (I really am in ‘trying as many things as possible in my three remaining Taiwanese months’ mode XD) As shown here I chose a mocha bottle beverage. I’ve had this brand before with a blue mountain flavor and remembered liking it therefore I deemed it a probable choice. Truthfully I chose the mocha flavor for the reason that it was a red bottle…can you guess why? It’s because I’m adapting as far into this culture as selecting the color red during Chinese New Years since it means luck and fortune. Adaptive huh? ;D The mocha taste was just fine but sugar overpowered the coffee flavor. I should’ve seen that coming since it’s a convenient store drink. Oh well, happy to try it nonetheless!

PEEPS! My gosh that book was fantastic! Slightly evil ending that tugs at your brain as to what the final outcome is but I see that as a sign of how well the author pulled me in. Good job! His voice was just so outstanding it just grasped your attention! Then it affects you, in the way that your senses of smelling seem to heighten and detect foul odors more than usual. Weird stuff. XD If you haven’t guessed already, I’m a fan of the book. XD

Once Peeps was finished it was onto The Children of Hurin! I’ll admit…the beginning hurt my brain and was like wading in hip-deep caramel. As my memory recalls from beginning the LOTR books, the same thing happened in this one. A bunch of fiction history is plopped onto your plate and you struggle to remember every name, every place, the times of the events, etc. all while adjusting to Tolkien’s more challenging style of writing. The coffee earlier lacked any kick of caffeine and I was found struggling to keep my eyes open through the preface. I like Tolkien but he makes it hard to comprehend this bombardment of information when you’re a tired puppy. XD

A new teacher and a new class accompanied the day, biology to be precise. My chica seat buddy showed me the textbook that correlated, which was about six times smaller than the tank Biology AP class got in America. Also the only information I saw covered was in relation to the human body, nothing else. Yet another difference between biology classes. I call it a tank textbook for a reason. XD

Yet again did I go down to B1 for lunch still craving stinky tofu. I didn’t spot the specific block cube type of tofu I had the previous day but these sufficed…for now. Man, what is it and me craving stinky tofu lately?! Where did this come from?! Also chosen was an egg (as always cuz eggs are DELICIOUS!), sweet potato fries, veggies and scrambled eggs in sauce with more veggies. Yummy stuff! During the lunch period, my chica seat buddy played a memory game with me on her cellphone. It was the type where cards are face down, you flip two at a time and try to find the matching partners. I won both times against her. Memory power! ;)

A classmate told me of a school rule concerning chopsticks, which I now know that I have been breaking several times. There are two options of chopsticks when down at B1, cheap wooden ones and plastic ones. In the beginning I used the plastic ones but lately I’ve grabbed the wooden ones. The difference between the two other than their material is you throw away the wooden ones and place the plastic ones in a special bin downstairs. For convenience sake I’ve been getting the wooden ones to throw away in the trash cans inside the classroom. Well I learned today that you only use the wooden ones if eating off campus therefore students use the plastic ones or bring their own from home. Ohhhhhhh I get it now. They don’t want you using the wooden disposable ones for trash vs. recycling environment reasons. Whoopsies. At least now I can remedy it and do the right thing from now on. I just can’t believe it’s been six months without me knowing. XD

An un-fun part of the day started around 11:30AM when I woke up from a much needed nap. My stomach was hurting again as it has down these past few days usually after taking hunched over naps. It’ll go away in less than an hour though so I assumed it to be a trifle matter of my newly given round belly getting upset from being crunched together. Today was different. When naptime came around I couldn’t bear to rest my head on the desk because my stomach was screaming in pain. I just sat up in the dark, alert from the pain as all my classmates soundly snoozed away. Later I tried walking slowly in attempt to ease out any pain but it just provoked more. I even tried a Chinese pressure point my host mother told be about to relieve stomach pain but to no avail.

When 2:00PM rolled around and the pain was still throbbing, I asked my chica seat buddy whether or not the nurse’s office would have medicine for stomachaches. This created a surprised reaction mixed with worry and she then quickly accompanied me to the nurse’s office. We spoke to a lady who listened to my condition but couldn’t do anything. She said the doctor would be in at 3:00PM and therefore should come back later. In the meantime I tried the remedy used back in America, drinking Sprite. The beverage and time seemed to reduce the pain to the point where I wasn’t desperate for a doctor anymore. But a fellow classmate convinced me to go see him anyway.

I’m glad I did. The same classmate came along to help with translating my conditions (her English is very good). They were described, he asked if I had certain specific symptoms then inquired whether I’ve had a history of stomachaches. Thinking back to American high school and how I always carried Pepto-Bismo for a reason, I confirmed having such a history. From what I understood, the doctor believed me to have a disease/condition of some sort involving gastric acid. He prescribed me medicine and I was soon released.

Here are the tools and tactics to the medical office in Taiwan. See that card? It’s the insurance card used in Taiwan. Being a student of Tatung I can go see the doctor for free. If I were to go outside of Tatung, I would pay around $200NT ($6.7US) according to my classmate. Cool huh? What surprises me though is that they can prescribe medicine for you without seeing your medical history and give it to you right then and there. I think Klein ISD would flip at that idea because I don’t believe school nurses have that kind of power in high school. Heck, we have to go through a whole check-in process with doctor’s note and everything included just to simply take medication at high school. But in Taiwan, the doctor at the school writes down the prescription, you hand it to another person, and they prepare the medicine in a long strand of packets as seen here. From what I was told, the medicine was both pain-killers and ones that relax the stomach. I took it willingly in eagerness to get rid of the pain. So far it’s a-working! Yay! Thanks Doc! :D

Do you remember that little bird keychain of a parakeet I got during winter break from something like a gumball machine but for toys? Did I even mention it? I feel like I did but I’m not sure. Either way, after getting the adorable birdyness I was set on finding a friend for it of hopefully a different style. There’s a bit of luck involved in that pursuit. But when visiting various 7-Elevens (where the toy gumball machines can be found) weeks passed without finding the birdie one. It saddened me but I carried around spare change just in case an opportunity popped up. Thank goodness I did! To my amazement, the 7-Eleven in front of the subway station I take just today stocked a machine with the overflowing cuteness birdies! Thank you Lord!

Placing the correct amount of coins in, I turned the knob and awaited the prize. …None came. Fiddling with the knob some, still nothing came. In the best Chinese I could muster, I explained the situation to a 7-Eleven employee who came out and assisted me. She worked some magic and *pop* a little ball came rolling out. I thanked her and proceeded to see what darling I got.

We now have a family of two! A parakeet and the new family member of a cockatiel! Aren’t they *voice raises an octave* adoooooorable?! They make me so happy! ^_^ They fill the gaping hole in my heart that longs for birdies and bunnies. If I run across that machine again…we might have a third member. ;)

Yet again a work night. I’m just chugging away at Taffys trying to catch up. That’s a good thing but hopefully tonight’s bedtime will be before midnight. XD Until next time, peace out!