Intensive Class; Gym

The first week of class is almost over and damn has it been challenging. I think this is the most I've been challenged in such a short amount of time. I'm really glad I chose this program. I nearly dropped to an easier class but now I'm glad I stayed bc the teacher is great and my classmates are chill.

So after class today I finally went to the language lab and I have to say I am so relieved bc the tape says the dialogue and all the practice grammar exercises so that means I can find out the pinyin! (Remember I never learned traditional so it was a huge pain trying to look up radicals to decipher a character and sometimes my dictionary doesn't even have the correct traditional character...also the no. of strokes in my dictionary is according to the simplified NOT traditional...I might invest in one of those electronic dictionaries that all of my Japanese classmates use..Maru says he paid 5600 NTD for one here in Taipei...I thought that was steep but Masao say it's zhide. He uses a big Canon one that has both simplified and traditional characters.

Well after the language lab (yu yan shi yan shi) I went to the gym and damn it was crowded! The gym today was blaring K-pop (I recognized Chae Yeon, Hyori, Se7en...and the rest I don't know..I heard a lot of saranghae's though haha--I have Hyori's "Anyclub" stuck in my head now; i posted the video & Chae Yeon's "two of us" MVs below this paragraph) and then American pop later (i.e., bringing sexy back, Ciara, Fergie, etc.). My classmate, Chung Yong Am, said he came and then left bc it was so fucking crowded (he's coming tomorrow morning. They also added about 10 new machines but removed a bunch of others that I wanted to use...

Going to the gym (ti yu guan) got K-pop stuck in my head...

Hyori



Chae Yeon


Anyways, I don't know how to ask for ppl to spot me so I just used the rack that balances it for you and worked on chest today. I've noticed that most Taiwanese guys lift really light...but they are pretty built and have 6 packs (they kept lifting their shirts and flexing in the mirror...). It's pretty disheartening bc I can lift basically 4 or 5 x what they do but they are more cut. I guess I need to stop pigging out every single meal. Speaking of meals, for lunch we went to this shitty ass place (the first bad place i've been to since I came to Taiwan) on Shida Lu. It was dirt cheap though 65 NTD. The Japanese ppl, Yong Am (Korean), and Jimmy (American) liked it though....Nico said it's probably bc I'm taken to all the best places in Taipei by my relatives while they've been eating random stuff every meal (can't argue with that).

Coming back I got caught in the rain w/o an umbrella and even though I ran back I was completely soaked down to my boxers and socks.

Okay I have a ton of homework to do in my workbook and then I have to study for my first major test tomorrow. It's going to be a long night. I think I'm going to grab a quick dinner at the Korean restaurant right around the corner and then head off to the library if it's still not pouring. Otherwise I'm gonna huddle in my room and try and focus.
_______
Afterthought: Damn...it's been about a week since I've had a drop of alcohol and I wanted to take advantage of foreigner's night at Wax Club (all you can drink w/ a minimal cover charge)...especially since it's w/in walking distance...but alas I have a test tomorrow!

I thought I was immune to this in Taiwan since...I am basically Taiwanese by ethnicity but once again ppl think I'm Korean here...well it's mostly the Koreans girls that think so. It happened in China and it happened today too. A group of Korean girls (one of them was cute) tried speaking to me in Korean. The first day of class, the Korean guy asked if I was Japanese, but I think that's reasonable since most ppl in the program seem to be Japanese.

Also, unlike in China...being thought of as Korean is a bad thing here. I've talked to two Taiwanese ppl and they both reassurred me that I don't look Korean bc my eyes are not squinty. Apparently Taiwanese ppl think anyone with a single eyelid and small eyes are Korean, but my cousin added that a lot of Koreans now have surgery so it's not as bad anymore...oh well.