Japan Ho!

Having survived both Super Typhoon Krosa (which really pounded us) and the last hectic week of the semester (3 tests), I am now ready for my trip to Japan. I'm leaving on Sunday the 14th on a 4:00 p.m. flight, which puts me in Osaka at 7:40 p.m. I have all my visa application documents ready to go, including incredibly bad photos taken at the automatic photo both last week, right after I had my hair cut. Scary, really scary. In the mirror I don't look so old, but in photos? OMG. It sucks when your only choices are 1) be fat and look younger or 2) be thinner and look old. I'm not sure I want to continue to lose weight now!

I spent over six hours on my day off Wednesday preparing for my semester final, and it paid off. I got a 93 on it! And miracle of miracles, the test on Monday, where the teacher reads sentences and we have to write the Chinese correctly - for the first time I got them all right! I used to get 100% on the tests Miss Wang gave, because she didn't use words I hardly ever write, but Miss Cao is always using weird words that we've forgotten how to write. So I was dancing around the classroom after that one, yelling "終於!" That means, "Finally!"

I've been looking over my tests for the semester, and I did well on all but one. Scores are:
89, 89, 95, 97, 92, 89, 80, 92, 95, 89, and 93. Those scores plus the fact that I turned in every bit of the homework, and some extra stuff on top, will hopefully get me a high final score, which I need for the next scholarship application. The teacher wrote me a very nice letter to take to the visa office, telling them how studious and self-motivated I am and what a pleasure it is to have such a great student. :) I felt warm and fluffy all over when I read it. So yeah, visa office, I'm a good girl and study hard, please let me continue!

So there I was Wednesday evening, studying hard, when I got a phone call from Natari. She said my landlady called her (she signed the original contract) and said I have to move, because her family is moving back to this apartment. Now, I've been talking about moving for some time, because those little shits upstairs are still incredibly noisy and annoying, and I've been thinking I should find a cheaper place anyway. But now that I have no choice, I'm a bit sad! I really love this apartment and the location. Hopefully I can find something just as nice in this area, maybe for less. My friends are helping me look around online, so I expect when I get back from Japan I'll start going to check out places. My contract is through March 6, but the landlady said I can move sooner if I want, and she won't keep my deposit. It sounds as if she'd prefer the sooner the better, so I'll try to oblige. Sorry to everyone who didn't have a chance to visit me yet, because I may not have much room in the new place, and visiting me may not be nearly as comfortable as it is now! But hey, ya'll had your chance, so pfffft to you. :)

Autumn is finally here, with lovely cool weather that has the Taiwanese wearing jackets and sweaters and me still working up a sweat after walking for a few minutes. But the breezes are nice and the evenings are lovely. This year perhaps we'll have a proper winter, since we sure didn't last year.

Charlene and I decided we're going to Hualian for the Wu Bai & China Blue concert, trading the two tickets I have and can't sell for two Hualian ones. She found a hostel for $37US a night, and split between us that's cheap. The train fare is $24US, not bad. Charlene will buy one of my tickets, and my total cost to attend this show will be $127. I'd rather pay that than return the tickets for only a 70% refund! I mean, what the hell, I'm here in Taiwan, I might as well attend every concert I can, right? Charlene and I joked that we'll just eat instant noodles for a few weeks, ha. So, wow, four Wu Bai and China Blue concerts coming up, how great!

Hopefully I'll have some fun stuff to write about Japan after I get back, and some photos to share.