Quick Update

It's been great having my fabulous friend and freshman-year roommate Lily in town, and also very busy. But I thought I'd post a quick one before I walk down to Nankan's finest western restaurant to teach my evening adult class (tonight's theme is western dining etiquette). Ah, how I love to get paid and eat lasagna at the same time.

On Monday, Lily's first full day, we took the train to Yilan. We didn't have much of a plan, but after some tromping around and train-hopping we wound up in Jiaosi, which my Taiwan Rough Guide calls "a workingman's hotspring resort town." Whatever that means.

We walked into a hotspring hotel near the train station, and the front desk lady gave us the key to a rent-by-the-hour hotel room with a bathtub. Uhhh.... Once in the room, much cackling and awkward noise-making ensued. Thankfully, the clerk was cool about giving us our money back. And we pressed on to a much cheaper resort with an open bathing space and an assortment of bathing pools, water massage sprayers, and one huge water slide!

Lily's parents are from Taiwan, so she can speak Chinese. "But my vocabulary is really small," she says. At first I thought she was just being modest. But then I knew the words for "beer" and "hotspring" and she didn't. nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyahhhhh... She's been helping me with my tones. And boy, do I need a lot of work...

It's interesting to tour about with a fresh pair of eyes (Lily was last here ten years ago). It illustrates to me how much I've grown accustomed to.

The two of us have to start remembering to take some pictures. Hopefully I'll get some up before too long.