Rest Day

I woke up at 3.30 am on this, my jet-lag recovery day, and with legs dangling over the edge of my very big bed ate my complimentary apple and orange, had a cup of green tea then explored all the drawers. I found a large selection of complimentary toiletries, two pot noodles and a selection of maps. I slipped the Taepie tube map in my bag for later. At 6am I still couldn't sleep so got up and sat in the quiet restaurant wondering how I was going to eat sushi for breakfast. There are plates and plates of tiny dishes and they fry the ham and when you order sausage they slice it into 30 thin pieces and fry those too. They serve baked beans cold and put peas in the scrambled egg. Everything else is very spicy and oily and there are dead fish of varying kinds in most of the bowls which the other guests seem to relish. I ate soft sweet bread rolls that were still warm and tried a small frankfurter but it was very chewy like it had a wrapper on it. The melon tastes lovely and the bacon tastes the way bacon used to taste before supermarkets pumped it with water. The lift is very clever. You have to insert your room card into it and then it always knows which floor you are on and takes you there without you having to press any buttons. It's glass, so you can see the dinning room approaching on the second floor. I went to find the gym and 'air garden', a small square of decking surrounded by plants on the roof overlooking all of Taipie. At 8am it was misty and the decking and seats wet but it will be lovely once the weather clears and I can practice my kung fu without being disturbed. I feel dizzy like I am on a boat but it may be because the seats are all very low. Eating and typing I sit hunched like a little gerbil feeding. 


Back in my room the large cup of soy milk had solidified in the night and was today like white blamange. I tried to explain to the maid that I wanted to throw it away but gave up fearing she thought I was in need of a replacement. She returned a few hours later with an additional duvet. So much for my command of Taiwanese then. Kelly arrived at 2.30 and we walked to the subway just a few minutes away. "You need coffee?" she asked. "Do you need coffee?" I replied, and she giggled and shrugged. She and Victoria had been moving massage tables all morning from their old venue to a new venue, the one in which I would be teaching. With a new course starting tomorrow and a teacher from England to look after plus a brand new venue I figured they were both knackered. "Come on," I said, "let me buy you a coffee," and carrying our drinks and all of my teaching aids we entered the subway. You can carry food and beverages "but you cannot open them," warned Kelly. 
"But it is ok just to carry it?" Kelly seemed uncertain. "Here," I said, "you take the coffee" and handing it to her I took one of the teaching bags. I guessed that if it came to it, it might be easier to explain why I was carrying a bag containing a knee joint and pictures of half naked people than it would be to explain sipping a Starbucks in transit. We got on at Daan station and got off two stops later at Nanjing East Road. Later when I suggested to Victoria that I simply walk to the venue she was shocked. "Walk it! Walk it! You cannot walk it!" and she grabbed my arm.
"But its just two stops?" I said meekly, "It looks very close." There were only four main roads to cross and if Taiwanese maps are to the same kind of scale as London maps I felt certain it was walkable.
"No." she said firmly, realizing she was going to have to take me in hand. "It will take you about an hour" and she shook her head determinedly.


The teaching venue is gorgeous. Its on the 11th floor of a department store, just 10 minutes walk from Nanjing East Road station. There is a reception desk which opens into a huge open plan office maybe 10 metres square or more, off of which are various large rooms. Two rooms have been designated as training rooms and are newly painted. Outside in the main room was a massive whiteboard on wheels, like something from the control room of a crime squad. Kelly led me into the room they had set up for me, with couches and the full size skeleton they had ordered at my request. She wanted to know if it was a boy skeleton or a girl skeleton and I said it was a boy skeleton so she named it Adam and carefully attached three labels to it bearing English and Chinese names: scapula, clavicle, humerus, a very small part of the anatomy the students would have to start learning tomorrow. Whilst we waited for Victoria to arrive I made flip charts and Kelly wrote the Chinese names onto the backs of all my English muscle cards, we set out tables with play activities for the 22 students and unpacked all of my laminates and photographs.


When Victoria arrived she kindly added the Chinese names to my flips using a bright purple marker. Her writing was fast and furious as she thrashed out the Chinese symbols for the topics we were to cover the next day. Then she showed me my handouts, all of which had been translated into Chinese and gift wrapped in large A4 floral boxes ready to present to the students. Each student had 7 spiral bound sets of handouts with space to add their own photographs, one set of handouts for each day of this part of their sports injuries and sports massage course.


"What time we start tomorrow?" asked Victoria.
"9am, like in the timetable." Victoria frowned and shook her head. "This is very early for Chinese therapists. They don't start work until 11am". 
"But they know to come tomorrow at 9, right?"
"Yes, yes they know it. But whether they will turn up...Students are always late. Will it be a problem if they are late?"
"It won't be a problem for me," I said honestly, "but they might not like it so much." Victoria shrugged, curious to know how students who were always late were going to cope with a class which started at 9am. "What about food. What if they are hungry?" 
"Well they have a lunch break and two 30 minute tea breaks. There will be plenty of time to eat." She nodded. "You hungry now?" 


Over a very late lunch I got Victoria to translate a few select Chinese phrases whilst I wrote down the phonetic spellings.


Good morning...zow-an
Thank you...shaeshanee
Hello....Neehow
Any questions?....yo..when..teema?
Do oyu understand?....Nee...dongma?
How do you feel?....Nee..kanchuer..looher?
Yes....Doy
Excellent....Tai..bangler
Very good....Feh..chang...how
No....Botue
Try again....zai...chee...eesa
Please....cheeing


Outside in the store soft Chinse music and rows of lit candles lured customers inside. Victoria looked tired."Next time you come you will speak this very good I think."
"Obviously. I can already order a duvet. If the bedding department need any help I'm sorted."

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