The best random encounter EVER

I was going to write something last night about what I've been up to, but I didn't get around to it (thank a water heater problem getting in the way of me taking a shower). Anyways, something that happened today pretty much trumped whatever I could have wrote about yesterday.

So I just got done with class and I was walking down Shida Road to grab some lunch. While walking down the sidewalk, I see Cheng Laoshi, my Chinese professor from Madison. I stop and say hi and we chat a bit. He asks me what I'm up to. He's off to get some lunch, so I join him.

We go to a vegetarian buffet place. He points out some traditionally Taiwanese foods to me and has little stories about all the vegetables around there. He pays (he insisted, since I'm a student and "don't have any money") and we sit outside. Apparently they invited him to Shida to teach a seminar in International Sinology. They liked the way he taught Classical Chinese in the US (and how much quicker students picked it up), so he's showing grad students here how it's done. He's here by himself living in a university apartment. His wife is back in the US in New Jersey with their son and his grandson. After lunch we exchanged phone numbers (he said, "now if I have a computer problem I don't have to call my niece"), so I'll probably see him again.

That's really awesome.

Other than that, life's going swimmingly. Class is going pretty well, I think I'm messing up less and less (although my teacher said that I should be beaten for writing so many characters incorrectly haha).

My roommates bought a fish tank. It's pretty big; I think it's 90 liters. When the folks came to install it (a guy, his wife and his son who spoke some English), I had to help translate some stuff for everyone. They don't have any fish yet, but they'll be able to get some by Sunday. As long as they don't ask me to chip in on it (it's a pretty large investment but they didn't talk it over with me beforehand), I won't mind.

I'm still liking kickboxing quite a bit. We recently switched to two different classes: beginners (people who just recently started coming) and intermediate (people who have previous experience or who have been coming for a while). I'm in the second group. The workouts have been a bit harder; I'm getting quite sore after workouts again (I was at the start, but after a while it wasn't as bad). This weekend we're having a party, which I'm hosting. (Typing that reminded me to refill the ice tray.) It says it's going to rain tomorrow, but only in the early afternoon. Hopefully it doesn't rain at all so we can go to the balcony on the roof. I'll be preparing some snacks as well. I hope a good time will be had by all.

Finally, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I had to take:



(a la Marty McFly) Nobody calls Ted Glomski yellow.



The older man in the center of the picture is wearing a Colorado Rockies hat. How do you say "bandwagon" in Chinese?

Anyways, I'll talk to you later, hopefully with some party pics!