Too much of a good thing...

is a good thing, right? I would be contradicting obvious evidence that has been presented in the last few days if I argued differently. What I am asking is, "Can you ever eat too many whole fish coated in batter that openly display their pregnancies when you bite into them? How many deep-fried fish guts are too many?"

Well, after a pleasant 14-plus hour plane ride a few days ago, I arrived in Taiwan. Humorously enough, not one solitary person out of the 9 of us coming to teach at Berhan Language Institute had the remotest sense of what we were supposed to do once we disembarked. People passing definitely wondered, as did we, "What are these people doing?" It must have looked at least somewhat odd to have 9 gringos with 3 bags each standing obtrusively near the airport exit. We stood in stunned silence for a measure of time until Arwyn (female teacher) piped up mentioning some obscure email about directions about our journey from airport to home. The bus we rode in was delightful! There's no better way to bring in the new year than by watching Mrs. Doubtfire with Chinese subtitles, while riding in a luxurious, green-curtained bus----not to mention the awesome fireworks we were able to see out the windows.

As I was trying to explain to my new roommates (Derrick and Joseph) last night, the newness of everything makes each moment noteworthy, so how am I supposed to decipher what is actually worthy of writing and what is not?

These are just some of the things that are interestingly new that I cannot perceive will possible become old: 1. The Taiwanese secretaries giggling at every mention of the word 'single'. B. Hearing the garbage truck, which sounds eerily exactly like an ice cream truck. (We were in the middle of a get-to-know-you session with the secretaries yesterday when I heard it for the first time and at once the whole flock of secretaries went running outside, completely abandoning what we were doing. YES! Ice cream! I was salivating, only to be disappointed by being assigned to carry large pieces of soggy cardboard...so much for ice cream. I still like the excitement the sound creates, though). 4. Riding a purple girl's bike through the city where our trainer, who's lived here for 8 years, says, "They pay no attention to the red lights oftentimes." Its like a real-life frogger every time I saddle up. D. Smiling, giving the thumbs up and peace signs in an attempt to make my limited Chinese more understandable. Language barriers have always intrigued me. Now, about those fish guts....