By the way, my Mandarin name is gāo yǐ ān.  Otherwise known as “tall with safe.”  My language partner and her friends tried to console me by saying, “Ohhh yeahhh, I’ve definitely heard that name before… It’s.. very pretty.”  I guess that’s what you get when you receive a Mandarin name that sounds like your English name (Gray, Allison).  My tutor said it could mean that I go through life without getting frustrated, that I’m easy going.  I’ll take it.

My tutor brought me bā lè (guava) at our session today.  I’ve never had a guava before!  It has the texture of an apple, but a different taste—more sweet and less sour.

Thank you for your wisdom and your guava!  Class is getting harder now.  We’re starting to learn symbols.  This is the homework I just finished.

Essentially practicing symbols over and over again.  There’s a certain order that you have to write the strokes in, and it’s not always the obvious one.  My tutor said I’m getting better at my tones!  So that’s encouraging.

This post is about my Monday.  Because this Monday was a lot more fun than a typical Monday.

After trying guava for the first time and going to small group class— in a rare break from the trend— we had a lot of time off.  Some of us decided to try pasta to get something different than what we’ve been eating.  On the English menu my dish was described as “pasta with milk flavor.”  Phil and I decided to take a gamble on it, guessing that it was Alfredo.  Correct!

So I got back to the dorm after lunch, and Phil, Jocelyn, Elliott, and I all decided to get a massage.  (Sorry there are no pictures of the guys; we were separated into different rooms.)  We all got an hour-long, full body massage.  It actually kind of hurt.  But as Jocelyn says, all good massages hurt.  I felt great afterward and went straight to play baseball with a bunch of the TUSA students.

This is my sweet ride, courtesy of Tammy.  I take it to school every day, and to random, sort-of-far-away places, like massages and baseball diamonds.

Then I played baseball for the first time in a really long time.  I seriously missed the feeling of going up to bat.  It was a blast.  Aaron and I played catch while we waited in line.  It was just a really fun time.  Though running to first base felt a little weird with my legs just having been massaged.  Never experienced that sensation before..

Then a group of us went to a nearby restaurant.  Phil and I decided to take another gamble, having picked well the last time.  Fried egg noodles sounded great… until they delivered them.  Turns out it was fried egg noodles in a soup with stinky tofu, fish eyes (which admittedly aren’t actually fish eyes, but they’re still gross and taste like you’re chewing an eyeball), and cabbage, I think.  I can’t really describe how disgusting stinky tofu smells, but its odor just seeps into everything.  We felt bad, not only for ourselves, but also for the people at our table because the smell was just awful.  But I can now say I’ve tried stinky tofu!  And the people at our table were sympathetic.  Kristina, Sara, Eduardo, and Mylan all donated some of their noodles to us in an act of pity.  Xiè xie! (Thanks!)

And we both felt like we actually paid for something when the awesome restaurant owner brought us out six plates of fresh mango for free!  We all devoured the mangos with our chopsticks in an embarrassingly clumsy way, but whatever, fresh mango.  No shame.

Then I played pingpong for a couple hours on the first floor of our building.  Ethan and I always have the closest matches.  We’ve started going down to play at 8 p.m. every night.  Our tradition is catching on.. more and more people stop in, either to play pingpong or just chat.  I never knew pingpong could be so social!  I’ve actually met some of the language partners for the first time through pingpong.  And though I already knew Leslie, I didn’t know how ridiculous at pingpong he is.  Watch out.  He’s good.

Then a group of us went to KTV, a karaoke place.  We were there from 10 p.m. until after 1 a.m.  It was seriously a blast.  Everyone got so into it.  And I got to sing T-Swift for the very first song and showcase my passionate rendition of “Love Story” before everyone realized there were three microphones.

I got a huge round of applause, which felt odd, given that I’ve never been lauded on my singing ability.  It was a very international group at karaoke, including people from France, Taiwan, Egypt, and El Salvador.  We had a great time singing a mix of Mandarin and English songs.  The place was really nice, granted, we were in a VIP room thanks to Ming having a membership.  The room was large, with a couch wrapping around the outside, and a marble table.  We were even served food and drinks.

It was pretty entertaining to see the Taiwanese people get really into some Mandarin rock/pop songs I’ve never heard.  Tony sang some real tear-jerkers.

Aaron was especially funny to watch because he knew (and loved) some of the Mandarin songs and, you could tell, he was really feeling the vibe.

And after a late night out, we went back to the dorm.

Tammy slept over and brought me this adorable recipe that her friend put together so I can make steamed egg at home.  I am totally taking making this in Ohio.

Here’s to more fun Mondays in the future!