hao keng bu!

So I had something really scary happen to me on the MRT the other day. I mean really horrifying. I was on my way home on Friday, finishing up a crossword in the newspaper and getting excited for the weekend to come. I was sitting on the end of a row of three seats and there were two other women next to me. The woman in the middle was carrying a bag full of persimmons and oranges and things. So as I was sitting there, continuing the crossword, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye from the woman with the bag of fruit. I thought it was some bit of hair moving, but when I finally looked over at her sleeve where the movement was coming from I found that it wasn't a chunk of hair at all but a gigantic freaking centipede crawling around! She must have noticed it at the exact same time I did because right when I saw it, she jumped up out of her seat, throwing the entire bag of fruit into the air and furiously started beating at her shirt to get the insect off as quickly as possible. Me and the woman who was on the other side of the fruit lady immediately started searching for the bug, which was now nowhere to be seen. The train started slowing to the next stop, and the woman and I shared this moment like, "Oh man, where is that thing?" As the fruit lady was picking up her oranges which were rolling all over the place, the other woman and I were desperately searching our own clothes and and bags and hair, wanting to know where that horrendous thing was, but definitely not wanting to find it anywhere close. Finally, just as the MRT doors were opening, I saw it right there on the front of the other lady's shirt! Without thinking, I took my newspaper and totally beat this woman with it, causing the centipede to fall right onto the now vacant seat. She immediately was like, "Oh! Xie xie!" and I was breathing this sigh of relief saying, "Oh my god!" and everyone else around us tried to get a good look at it as they exited the train. The centipede was seriously, maybe five inches long and had a million of these long, comb-like legs coming straight out of the sides. I don't know for sure if it had the capability of stinging or biting, but it looked like it could most definitely kill a full-grown human being. For the entirety of my walk home from the MRT station I could feel things crawling on me and had to reassure myself that I indeed did knock it onto the seat and that it indeed did not jump back up in an amazing feat to hide inside my bag. So that was my Friday night story. Hao keng bu!

Exercises

Now that I've been here for a good while (about a year...yikes!) I've found myself starting to wonder what stuff is totally unique to Taiwan, and what stuff occurs in the US as well. The line's becoming fuzzy, and I catch myself thinking, "Wait, do they do this back home too and I just don't remember, or am I witnessing something seriously weird here?"

Example: The Exercises.

There's a big cultural difference in health and fitness here, one of them being these peculiar exercises people do. These are most often seen in a park or other outdoor area; sometimes on a busy sidewalk. I remember people in the US stretching in public or maybe raising their arms a bit to squeeze in as many health benefits as possible into a morning jog or brisk walk. Here though, they go all out. Aside from the Tai Chi seen quite frequently, you also will see people rhythmically slapping themselves on the arm, under the chin, or right on the butt. I've seen people do it standing still or walking. Self-slapping is huge here. They slap their bellies, legs, and back (like they're giving themselves a pat on the back...it's nice). I saw some partner slapping the other day as I was jogging through Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. A woman was standing with her arms out like a T, and a man was standing behind her, patting her on the hips. It reminded me of one of those 1950's fat shaking machines. Oh and probably the best one of all in the slapping category is tree-slapping. It's exactly what it sounds like. Somebody standing there, slapping the trunk of a tree. I don't know if it's supposed to be good for the person or for the tree. Maybe it's mutually beneficial.
In addition to the slapping, there's also a variety of circling and flailings. I've seen some people, while walking very fast, instead of bringing their arms in in a jogging/speed walking position, just throw them out straight in front and behind, as high and flail-y as possible. John told me about a woman he saw on the sidewalk with her arms straight out to the sides, making small flapping movements like a bird. He said he tried it to see what it was like.
I know people like to jog in place at a red light to keep the momentum up, but a couple months back as I was waiting to cross the street, I noticed a woman next to me...I'm not sure how to put it any better...just flailing. Her whole body, flailing. Legs were kicking out in all directions. Arms moving nonsensically in huge motions, every which way. And in case you're wondering, she didn't yo wen ti (have problems) she was just exercising.
There are so many more; I love when people jog backwards. What does that do? I've wanted to get pictures, but I'm always too nervous to do it. When I ask Taiwanese people about these exercises, they either look at me like I'm crazy and the only one seeing them, or they simply say, "for health" like how could I not know that slapping oneself on the shoulder is healthy, duh!

Hope everyone's good at home. Oh yeah, we're going on our contract break vacation this week for two weeks. We're flying into Bangkok first and staying there for a few days, then we're meeting some friends and are going to travel through Cambodia with them for about a week. After that we're heading to Vietnam and will fly out of Ho Chi Minh back to Taipei. We're so excited! Will definitely be posting pics to Flickr right when we return!
Love you all,
Melanie

Here's my TV debut...the Shane Commercial!