Chipmunk Cheeks

I knew this would be so much harder to do if I ever skipped a day but I made a promise to myself that I would update and there is so much to tell that I must just do it! Okay so last Friday we had a class at 9 Am over Chinese Massage. Out of all of our classes I believe this one will be the most of not the only applicable one when I return home. Much of their massage is much like our own with a few twists :). There are very specified areas on the body designated to specified massage skills such as their interpretation of vibration, pinching, and pulling. All of these skills are ones we hadn't necessarily named or defined in class but seem very beneficial. After we spent about an hour practicing our massage skills we had lunch in the cafeteria. Finally, we were demoted from the VIP section and ate with everyone else in the actual dining hall. My mom would have a hay day with all of this Chinese food myself on the other hand...I'm kind of over it :}. I mean it's nice to try something new every once in awhile, and don't get me wrong I am absolutely in love with green tea & milk tea with bubbles. But I would kill right now for a nice piece of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, a lot of bread, and some vegetables. Or maybe some Mexican....or maybe just some spaghetti!!!! Mmmm one of the big things I cannot wait to return to the states for, real food! ;) After lunch I went to my second clinical which was Tai Kwon Do. For me, I had a much better time at Wu Shu--much much more to watch and marvel at. At TKD there's not much to watch, lots of repetitive kicking and jabbing up and down and up and down the floor. However, it is neat to watch because there is a guy from Nigeria and two women from Iran training for the Olympics with the team here right now. One of the Iranian women is so fast it is crazy! She's like a little machine with her arms and legs moving so quickly. I was most definitely impressed by her precision and force generation! The rest of that night consisted of a variety of dumplings for dinner, Tai Chi (which I am bored out of my mind with!), and then Marta and I went for a run! She and I have become really close over the trip. People cannot believe we didn't know each other before this. She's pretty much amazing :)Saturday was...an entire day of class. No lie, we woke up and ate breakfast and got to class by 9 AM. We sat in class until 12 when we had a break for lunch and then came back to class until 4:30 when we finished and left to get ready for dinner. The entire day was devoted to meridian therapy. The theory of meridian therapy treatment we were learning about focused on simplifying the mapped "trigger" points on the meridians so that it would be much easier to teach and comprehend. Each point on the meridian aids with specified injuries, illnesses, and/or abnormalities. Many people were completely mesmerized by the information which was pretty weird to me. Although I do believe it is a novel idea there seems to be no mystical idea behind why/how pain is lessened from an injured area when applying uncomfortable pressure to another.Nonetheless it was fun to learn, map, and draw all over my body in a feeble attempt to remember. Unfortunately I forgot it would all wash off in the shower! After class we walked back to our dorms and got ready to go out to eat with our host students! We heard we were going to have another sort of cook in front of yourself kind of dinner (aka Shaboo Shaboo) but then found out that before that we would be getting a foot massage!!!

I don't think I've ever had a real foot massage before (except from Jason because he's the best!!) but it was nice. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, definitely thought it would last longer and hurt more, but (like so many other things during this trip) it was relaxing and nice to just sit back and relax. Some people, however, were not as lucky as I.

 One girl said it was the worst pain she'd ever experienced in her entire life. If that's the worst pain then I will have no problem having children!  While we waited for everyone else to finish we played in the sports arcade beside the massage place.

My buddy (LB) and I played ski ball and then played in the batting cages. I wasn't as bad as I thought I'd be when it came to softball, which I was extremely surprised about. I was definitely starving by the time we finally got to dinner (around 8) and it was a good (or maybe bad) thing because Shaboo Shaboo is one intense endeavor. Rather than explain it (because of course I am exhausted) I will leave you several pictures to enjoy! Needless to say I ate enough that night to last the average human being at least 3 days!! 

I took a squid (face and all) and took out its guts and cooked the outside! I know that sounds disgusting but there's no other way to explain it and it was so good! Okay Okay pictures from these two days and a promise that I will continue to update that which I have already done because I haven't even been able to talk about my favorite day thus far yet! 

Goodnight to all who are living the daylight! 

i think we're going taiwanese i really think so :]

all smiles at my foot massage

LB!!!

Shaboo Shaboo, in a nutshell

FOOD...this is what happens on a daily basis