Wednesday April 10th, 2013
My entire goal and joy this morning was to read a book I
checked out yesterday titled Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. Now I often
use the expression “mind-blowing” in the contexts of “such and such was good
but it wasn’t mind-blowing.” We don’t usually come across things that are
mind-blowing often because such things are rarer in life, otherwise our minds
would hurt every day from such exposure. This book though I can surely say was
100%, totally, completely MIND-BLOWING! Seriously, the first several chapters I
had trouble accepting because it went against everything we’ve been taught
regarding losing/maintaining weight. I’m still having trouble fully accepting
it because it’s just that mind-blowing!
Truthfully the beginning contents of this book were
depressing because what I thought to be truth regarding my weight loss is wrong.
All that dedication I had to my plan was incorrect? That’s not easy to
automatically accept right off the bat, especially when I haven’t yet reached the
book’s correct way to watch weight section. But woah this book is interesting!
I’m taking notes and everything, looking forward to every chapter! Like I said,
I’m still on the “why we get fat” section and haven’t yet reached the “what to
do about it” part. Let my mind continue to be (truly) blown away! >:D
Seeing the opportune moment during lunch, I consulted my
classmate that knew how to enact Ba Jia Jiang and asked him where I could watch
a performance. His face clearly showed his surprise in my interest but he
didn’t seem to be uneasy by it or anything. Though he didn’t have an answer but
just said he needed to ask a friend of his. Now I’m waiting for when he does so
but at least the first step has been taken, to inquire and put it out there
that I want to see Ba Jia Jiang. Whoo-hoo! ^_^
Today’s 4:30 was unique. Usually I’m riding the subway home
at that time but today I was waiting in front of Yuanshan MRT station. Why was
I waiting you ask? Weeeeeeeell I was waiting for a certain someone. Y’all know
him. At least you should know him by
now. Here’s some hints: We’ve seen each other only once before. That time we
ended up both with red clothing. (Most of y’all know him by now, huh?) We held
a red ribbon. I’ve made jokes and references to that moment numerous times
before. Got it? That’s as vague as I can be without immediately giving it away.
It’s my husband! ;D
We finally scheduled a time when we could meet up again
before the both of us left Taiwan. The location was Yuanshan Park, less than a
ten-minute walk from my high school. Apart from stopping at the “EcoArk”
building built with recycled materials for him to see, we basically sat or
walked around just making chit-chat. Our conversation jumped from here to there
but mostly focused on Chinese or culture in general. The best part, about
80-90% of it was in Chinese! Oh snap that’s the most Chinese I’ve spoken at a
time! I’ll wager that we spent 3-3.5 hours together so that’s definitely a
whole bunch of one-on-one Chinese in such a condensed time. And it was
FANTASTIC! Not only am I practicing but also Joren (my husband) wasn’t afraid
to correct my grammar or pronunciation as well as teach me the Chinese words I
had to use English to express. In my rush to sound semi-fluent I made a whole
bunch of mistakes that I wouldn’t normally make if given time to mull it over.
But Joren of course was forgiving and understanding of this fact considering he
has two more years of Chinese experience than me as well as Chinese being his
college major.
Wandering around the general area around my high school, I
pointed out that Tatung would be on the left. Interested, Joren suggested we
stop by to have a look-see. So I became his Tatung guide and showed him all I
knew about the campus. I couldn’t help but wonder what the high school students
thought of seeing me with another foreigner, a guy foreigner that is. Oh geez I
hope no ridiculous rumors pop up. But then again, I am married to Joren so the
rumors can’t be any more dramatic than marriage. XD
After whatnot walking around, dinner came upon us and Joren
picked out a small shop to eat at. I didn’t know the surrounding area well
(except for Subway) so I possessed no knowledge concerning nearby restaurants.
He translated the menu for me because many items I haven’t yet learned to
recognize its Chinese characters. So I chose something like a
pork-steak-of-some-sort bian dan. It also included a bit of cabbage, tofu,
fish-stick-thingie and definitely rice. Twas quite yummy, I enjoyed it and also
surprisingly ate most of the rice since it had a bit of pork flavor, making it
way more tastier than just plain white rice. But now I can’t help but be on
full red alert to everything I put or not put in my mouth thanks to this morning’s
book. I’m nearly halfway through but I really have to finish it soon, otherwise
my head will detonate from powerless confusion. XD
So really there’s nothing else to my day but I do want to
highlight a couple topics out of the many Joren and I discussed.
Firstly, my Chinese name “文靜” (Wen Jing). “Jing”
directly translates to “quiet.” For all these months Taiwanese told me the name
basically meant I was a quiet person to which I adamantly denied considering
I’ve become dramatically more outgoing in the past several years. I also
thought “jing” partially suggested the sexism of women being quiet, graceful
trophies because there are traces of sexism in Taiwan. But Joren told me that
“jing” could also mean “to not be a troublemaker” considering I’m a hard
working student and follow the rules. Ohhhhhhhh. That is so much nicer than
what I originally thought! If my Chinese name insinuates being a hard working
person with good morals, I’ve gained some affinity towards it. Thank you
husband for pointing that out!
Following dinner on
the way to the subway, Joren offered me something in a never seen before
package. Puzzled, I inquired what this odd thing was. He said it was a
refreshing type of mint from the Netherlands that he enjoyed eating after
dinner. So I tried a small candy sized lozenge, a bit bigger than an
icebreaker. Twas a very peculiar flavor, both semi-sweet and bitter at the same
time. Not bittersweet, just a combo of the two almost like eating that weird
tasting kid’s medicine you had as a child. But there was a sense of freshness
at the end, a nice aftertaste.
I actually found
the package on Google Images and it’s called “LoftHouse’s: Fisherman’s Friend;
Traditional Menthol Eucalyptus Lozenges (Original Extra Strong).” Wikipedia
says it’s originally from England. Interesting. Does America have these? Anyone
big fans of it? Just curious. ;)
Before we parted
ways, I gave Joren one of my special Texas leather key chains that I made completely from scratch. It was as an
act to represent goodwill from Texas to promote peace bonds and all that jazz.
He commented that Europeans have a really bad image of Texans, thinking we’re
all rednecks who are extremely to the right to the point of absolute stupidity.
Therefore I’m glad when he said I was totally different and could clear up
those misconceptions. I’m working my magic as an ambassador! That’s a brilliant
feeling! ^_^
Let’s see what
else? Oh! Compared with our last time together, today’s was such a vast
improvement in Chinese. During our first encounter, I remember struggling to
even begin to convey what I wanted to say in Chinese and had to resource to
English frequently, also making Joren speak English so I could understand.
Though, like I said, today my speaking had many mistakes but more or less
described my intentions, my listening skills were rocking! Except for
higher-level vocabulary, I could understand Joren pretty darn well. BOOM-SHA-KA-LA-KA!!!
>:D Progress marker right there! I enjoyed listening to his Chinese
because I could detect an accent that sounded spot on but clearer than many
Taiwanese locals. Plus he knew a lot more Mainland China’s Chinese, which I
could discuss similarities and differences regarding Taiwan’s Chinese for a lot
of “ohhhhh” moments of cleared up confusion.
In conclusion,
today (particularly tonight) was an overall success. Many good things happened
and an even greater amount of things were learned, both with nutrition and
Chinese. I am very content with the progress! ^_^ So good night everyone! Sweet
Chinese-filled dreams! ;)
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