13th to 26th April

13^th to 26^th April

Once again, the past two weeks have not been too exciting or anything worth mentioning here other than any regular day.  I will say that for the past few days (actually weeks), there have been ‘on and off’ occurrences/issues with one of the Humber students.  This issue is now behind me as the student has recently returned to Canada.  This semester has truly been a very challenging one for me (and other NKUHT personnel) in regards to these exchange student issues.  The calls and text messages in the middle of the night were probably the most troublesome we had to deal with.  This of course resulted in insufficient sleep creating a very challenging day after.

Some more enlightened days during these two weeks happened just recently. 

I went back to the hospital for a 6-month (from time of accident) ‘bone density’ check.  The Doctor wants to see if the fracture has caused any delay or development of mass in the bone.  This will determine whether I could have issues later in life with osteoporosis. 

I had an afternoon appointment so I was there around 13:00h (appointments begin at 13:30h).  I was #1 to get in so that was great.

This is the first time I have had this procedure done so was unsure what it consisted of.  This was very similar to all the x-rays I’ve had taken at the hospital since my injury. 

I laid on a table with an overhead arm that was controlled from inside another room and it moved back and forth over my body.  I was told at least twice ‘please do not move’.  Haha

This procedure took around 20 minutes then that was it.  I will go back in two weeks for an x-ray and at the same time the Doctor appointment.  He will then go over everything with me.

My next appointment is 6^th May for the x-ray.

Sunday 26th

Nicholas asked me a couple days prior if I’d be interested in going to watch car and motorcycle racing.  I said yes as this would be the first time I will have watched something like this here in Taiwan.  So now I’m thinking what type of cars and motorcycles are going to be racing.

We went to Danggeng Bay area, which is about 1 hour drive south of Kaohsiung. This will be the first time I will have been to this area of Taiwan so it will be exciting for sure.  The city is also the departure port for the ferry to ‘Xiao Liu Chiu’, a small Island off the West coast of Taiwan. (Approximately 20 minute ferry ride)

When we arrived the racing had stopped for lunch and would resume at 13:30h.  We grabbed a few things from the food trucks and walked around observing the cars and of course the showgirls….

We saw Ferrari, Lamborghini and other super speed cars.  The motorcycles were I think Honda and Yamaha – 1000cc.

As you can see by the photos, it was quite the afternoon with excitement. 

We stayed around until the expensive cars raced then decided to leave.  There was yet a final race to take place with 32 cars (maximum amount allowed in one race on this track).  These cars were of lower quality and speed so decided this wouldn’t be so interesting.

When we drove back to the city we took highway 17 (a secondary road) but for me more scenic.  We stopped (of course) off at a new café to have a latte.  I had a sesame latte (first time) and it was actually not bad and I’ll probably order one again when and if I return to that place.  I’ve never seen them offered anywhere else but I’m sure somewhere they are.

A new week begins tomorrow.  Week 10 of 18 at School and it won’t be long before it will be final exam week and this means my time here in Kaoshiung will slowly be coming to an end but there are always hopes that I might be able to extend my teaching here and/or return at a later time.