嫦娥妳好～

part one: power

so today was the first day that i really didn't have anything i was obligated to do. so since it was sunday, i took my sweet time getting up. i was going to do reading for class but then my gym buddy was free so we hit that and stayed until closing again (heard the "we're closing" song again hahaha) – though for the weekend, closing is earlier. for the record, i have plenty of time for reading because we have tuesday off for moon fest. anyway, i led some pilates-based stuff for core that we do every time and then we did dumbbell rows, tricep extensions and rows, some lower back, forearm work etc. we tried to do dead hangs (and with lifts) which i definitely could've done but the bar was not fricking padded so i had basically no grip. we're trying to find chalk or something for next time. i also don't have calluses yet. anyway, this wasn't on the schedule but because the machine we needed was in use, we did pull-ups and chin-ups for funsies. not that i can do my full weight but damn the machine for assisted is so nice. for some reason, these made me feel so powerful. could be just that upperbody/arm stuff has always been something i wanted to work on and like yeah, i was assisted (a fair amount) but idk, these are things i've not done before. gym mirrors also just make you look good haha.

part two: 中秋節

today we learned our lesson to get your mooncakes EARLY. we had planned to go ChiaTe for mooncakes in the morning, thinking we could still get them without a long line. the joy of no line to the disappointment of no mooncakes was some type of whiplash. at least they still had their signature pineapple cakes. then as we were walking around, we stumbled into a bakery and thought we'd check there. they had some!! the yolk in some kinds represents the full moon. the taiwanese kind are not necessarily what you think of (the squarish) cakes, but more of a pastry ball. we enjoyed a pastry and recharged at a seven before i suggested dihua street and my second favorite wharf, daodecheng wharf and park since we were already in the city and it was still early.

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we take a bus over and walk a bit. i swear i've been through everything with this one specific umbrella. i had it out for the sun, but the wind caught it and i literally had to run after it. it was like it was running away from me. 😭

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_ff408537c2c34468ba579f7e06fd9458/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

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and since we left campus so dang early, i hit 10,000 steps before noon. also, when we got into the city (like 9:00), it felt kind of dead.

see, like not a single person walking around

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then as the sun set, i made my way to the roof of my building (the laundry is there fyi – it's allowed) to find the moon and damn it was beautiful. i mean i love full moons anyway but it's moon festival! basically, the story goes that once, ten suns rose over the world and an archer named hou yi shot down nine. in return, he receives the elixir of life which would make him immortal. somehow, his wife cháng é takes the elixir and floats to the moon where she lives (so she's still near hou yi) with the jade rabbit with his mortar and pestle. the stories disagree whether there was an burglar and she was forced to take it or if he just wanted to take the elixar with cháng é so they'd be together.

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i certainly hope to get better at astrophotography but in the meantime, look at these few from just my phone 🙃

part three: connection

today in true college fashion, i jolted out of bed and was out of the door in like 10 mins because i may have slept past my my alarms. you know how? because i did in fact wake up, turned them all off and then accidentally put my head down again (oops). very thankful for the sun coming through the window whose light is helpful but the heat even more so ahaha. i grab an egg tart that i had bought yesterday and then a latte downstairs. i had to be ready – two classes today. the first one was very standard lecture with a few questions and discussion points. we discussed what is "communication" and what is "a theory". despite a it being a large class, not a lot of participation. it seems odd being so vocal in class. i guess it shows i've learned and grown ☺️. somebody had asked if art is communication and i jumped in so quickly. honestly i may or may not have cut off the prof... anyway, he tried his best to let us out early so we could beat the lunch rush but nope. he actually had to cut his lecture short a little. and we felt the lunch rush for real.

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someone different picked the spot this week. i think it might be a thing where our little IMICS group will take turns picking lunch. but wow the main street running along the uni's front is jam-packed, people, scooters (just people and food delivery people), buses, you name it. the initial pick has hainanese chicken rice but unfortunately the queue was so long and like not spots to sit, so we peeked over to next door and split across two tables had lunch! there was nine of us today so i'm thinking number vs space is our biggest issue, not so much the rush.

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then it was time to go to my second class. i share the class with two IMICS friends so that's cool. this one is all about news and media and today was about defining different types of "opinion" like "mass", "public", "activated public", "latent public" and "perceived public", so i had plenty to say. i swear i yapped so much today and at one point, i literally said, "sorry, i'm talking so much, but...". this class also was going to go long, but i guess taiwanese people are very attuned to time. i knew they are very punctual, but the other way around too – respect for people's time and yeah maybe we have somewhere to be (like me!) unfortunately, it started raining. in chinese we say "big rain" hahah. the thing is, it makes the tiles and metal grates everywhere slippery af.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_c58d795540e34e9eb022845722dfc804/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

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i had connected with another chinese adoptee (from norway) prior to coming here though leading chinese language tables this past summer and she's here at taida to study chinese for a year! she actually was an exchange student at my uni a few years ago so she met me near school to reminisce and chat. weirdly enough, i think this is was the first proper conversation in chinese since i've gotten here (i'm not counting admin stuff like doc or school stuff). we just got dinner and chatted about life. then because it was STILL raining, we took refuge in a little weird room right off the library and chatted some more.

part four: i'm confused and so is my professor

disclaimer: i drank black tea boba way too late yesterday that i couldn't sleep, oops. lesson learned

ok again, maybe that's a dramatic title, but honestly this thursday class is so convoluted. it took this man like the first hour to even start talking about content. he easily goes on tangents and even the class presentation schedule is confusing. the professor actually has to redo it for whatever reason. the only thing that "works" in that class right now is when the professor has his powerpoint and is lecturing. i'm guessing that he's not used to or completely comfortable with teaching in english. which is totally fine. it's more the tangents and miscellaneous information that bugs me. like with that extra hour or so this morning, i could've slept in! anyway, in class we were asked kind on the spot to pick a company, media platform and UN sustainability goal that interests us and talk about it in front of the class. i sort of panicked because that is not what he said to prep! in the end, i picked boeing, instagram and telegram or signal sort of platforms and climate action as well as wellbeing. boeing of course has high emissions and as for wellbeing, certainly not so concerned with that, given they seemingly prioritize market competition with airbus over safety, and inherently as a weapons manufacturer. but at the same time, in terms of the sustainability goals, innovation, clean tech, employee wellbeing and diversity are all mentioned on their website. the reason for the media platforms was just that they were/are instrumental to protest and boycott organization. after the prof going off for about two hours, that left us one to get through 25-30 students' explanations. we even went overtime a bit. in short, class felt so extremely long that my friend and i were just exhausted by the end and headed back to have lunch on the "hillside" because again, the lunch rush is no joke.

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then i just did housekeeping in my planner, trying to make sure i at least have all the big dates down. communicated with the TA from the aforementioned class because the chart shared was not complete. waited and waited for an email (that didn't come) from the immigration office about the required ID card i paid for. updated my phone and now my SIM is unlocked? i don't know but i am definitely investigating tomorrow. a taiwanese phone number is required if i was to make a bank account and is beneficial in other official matters. this is the beginning of my "first proper school weekend" in that i actually have to do readings and prep questions on the standard timeframe. last week, i got a pass for the holiday :)

part five: the one where literally four hours of being out makes me so confused, frustrated and annoyed that i fall asleep on the bus and almost miss my stop

yeah that's the vibe today....at least i was productive this morning doing laundry. but i did already lose a sock.

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so here's the deal. i applied for my ARC (alien resident certificate) first week of september. only a few days ago, did i get the email to pay for it. i waited about two weeks for just that one step. so i'm anxious to pick it up. based on discussions with friends, pick up is like the day or two after you pay. i still don't have the email and i'm freaking out because i don't want to be an illegal immigrant. so i go out like an hour away to the immigration office to just check. they tell me it's just digital. "no physical" they kept saying. which is not how it's supposed to be. they also asked after a document, which i had on me. but since i applied online i guess they wouldn't just take it there. anyway, i just say ok, get out of line and take a hot second to process at no other than seven. i decide fine, i'll go for another goal and figure this out with school admin later. i walk about ten minutes to chunghwa telecom for a sim. (for context, when i updated my phone just last night, sim seemingly has become unlocked). their service is really good, but i can only get visitor sim number for like ten days because i entered taiwan at the start of the month. only after i get my arc, can i get the longer 180 day sims. so i say no, i'll come back after i figure out the arc stuff. ten days seems silly. but yay curveball, i went back to immigration to clarify and basically i have a digital arc and i need to apply to have it switched to a physical. functionally it's six months right now, and i'm applying for the full year. on said application, i have to have a taiwanese number so hurray, my two tasks are annoyingly interconnected. so i have to suck it up and pay for a number that i'll literally have for nine days. obviously if i had known updating my phone would unlock my sim, i would've done it years ago. i don't know how much of that makes sense. but yeah lesson is, even if you've done something before and are prepped all that you think is necessary, things can get messy. at least i saw this pretty building among all the governmental "scary" formal buildings.

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i am just kinda defeated and find the most direct way home. it's a hour-ish bus ride and i actually fell asleep – like not terribly deeply. i never dare to so it's a testament to the events of the day (more like four hours). fortunately, i did in fact make my stop, but i was just done with the day – grabbed dumplings, hot and sour soup, and boba down in town to take up to my dorm. figures crossed on getting the phone number tomorrow 🤞

part six: rip my umbrella

welcome to weeks of rain. after gym this morning, i went out and one of my poor umbrella's "arm?" (idk if that's the word) is broken 😭 yes, it is an umbrella but it was THE umbrella. it always found it's way back to me. i left it at a shop once in 2022 here and they had it for me when i went back for it the next day. i accidentally took it to an outdoor festival that didn't allow umbrellas, but as we left, the confiscated umbrellas were strewn about and i found it! literally the other day, the wind threatened to take it from me (see part two). anyway, shout out to kirsty for the umbrella from singapore.

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even though my workout leggings mark me as non-local, i just decided to go to the phone carrier after working out because i was already down the cursed mountain. also my gym buddy had a question so i said i'd help him with the chinese and all. it's down-pouring so we take the bus over to muzha market and thank god it wasn't busy because between the two of us, it took a minute. i am here on a visa still, so they kept saying there's a time issue. as in they can only give me a visitor number since i don't have my arc yet. they're laughing a bit about how i'd only have the number for seven days. (yeah their plans aren't any number of days you need and nine wasn't an option 😭). i kept saying yes, i know it's a short time, but i need it to change my digital arc to a physical arc. i even showed them my digital arc in hopes to get the number for longer, but nope. anyway, after getting over the silliness of buying a number for just a week, i finally get my phone number.

then it's my friend's turn. he basically wants to buy a phone period. not a taiwan burner but the phone that would replace the one he has. so i'm acting interpreter and woah is it a weird place to be. i did, you know, summarize what the agent was saying and all, but sometimes what the agent said was a question and i asked my friend at first in chinese (even though i know he hardly knows any) and then i'd catch myself and translate. my chinese brain hadn't turned off yet haha. i guess i don't have a lot of experience jumping between my chinese and english brains yet. at least i was comprehending enough and summarizing at a decent speed. what i mean is i didn't have to dwell on grammar, just some industry vocabulary. turns out the one he wants isn't in stock, but we discussed plans and such anyway because both of us are going to need a number for two years. the agent was very nice and if i'm being honest, i feel kinda proud to be able to do that. not totally perfect to be sure, but the errand was competed. my friend complimented my chinese saying "what do you mean you're not fluent?" what i mean is that my vocab is a limited and my listening could do with some work, especially with accents and when there's loud environment sounds. that aside, i really need to figure out a way to not let this all go to my head heh.

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errand complete and where are we? muzha market so where do we go? beef noodle soup of course! perfect for the rainy day too (it did not let up all day). so i suppose you could say i've found my first favorite nearby restaurant – wish it was more nearby though. then bus and a walk home. i blocked the afternoon for digital housekeeping (emails, applying for the stupid arc, etc.) and i got my ballot! i am so grateful to be a resident of a state that has such an accessible voting system. i got an email that my ballot was avaliable in the voter portal and i could fill it out digitally. then all i do is email the signature and ballot to the county. please everyone, VOTE!

also, class readings. that i did...for a bit, until i fell asleep. hey, it was actually not that bad for me, like 45mins. i kind of jolted awake and then i had to go find sustenance before everything closed. bless the hi-life convenience store up the mountain by the dorms.

cheers to little wins

part seven: school (a.k.a. the reason i came here)

today was just a homework day. so read a bunch of articles boring! no, it's fine. i'm just getting used to the school vibe again. besides it was pouring rain all day so very good use of my time haha. later in the day, i had a call with group mates to discuss the readings to come up with one question to submit to the online portal. it was kinda fun bouncing ideas around because first, we all had different ideas coming into it out of the readings. then like a puzzle, we meshed the parts together. then it was just a matter of making it sound good. what we ended up with for the week titled "agenda-setting and priming" was:

How are platforms shifting to short-form content, with the aid of algorithms, to make consumers less likely to seek out more details on the topic discussed, thus priming the consumers in the process?

not going to lie, it seems i'm sort of the wordsmith of the group, but that makes sense because i'm the only one who is a native english speaker. the chat about the assignment was quite a bit of time, and then since we're all friends, we also just talked for a couple hours. like we called as 21:00 and it's now about 23:45. my phone got so hot running the call for so long. it also drained my charge, but this question assignment is every week so i don't know, maybe this can be some socializing i can look forward to.

thanks for reading this far! let me know if you prefer the longer text form or prefer it broken up a bit more. once school is in full swing, i bet i won't be writing in so much detail.

♡蘇晨