Chinese Proverb: He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.
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My Taiwan Adventure
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Extended Stay
Greetings All,
I'm officially allowed to stay in Taiwan. For 9 whole more days. The visa extension did not go as smoothly as anticipated and in true beaurocratic style I have to jump through some paperwork hoops. Basically, I went with the papers the agency gave me and had no idea what I was really doing, but blindly stumbled through the process only to be told that I need a different piece of paper. I aske if 9 days was enough for my school to produce the paper and the police assured me that it is. So I imagine I'll be repeating this process all over again next week.
It rained last night in a wonderful storm. It started out lightly enough but then there were buckets of water slamming against the pavement, bouncing high enough that even with an umbrella I was soaked to the knees. I wonder if there is a trick to walking in that kind of rain that I don't know yet? I don't know why I expected there not to be lightnening in Taiwan, but there was also a good light show last night. It was pretty nifty to see the nature in the city. I just flat out enjoy watching that kind of thing. Today is overcast and drizzly but I'm glad it no longer feels like I'm in a hot dryer with still-wet laundry.
I was out in the rain on my journey to the SDA hospital to have some welts/hives checked out by the doctors there. Turns out that I'm having an allergic reaction to something undetermined. They gave me a shot of antihistamines because one of the welts was almost softball size and I promptly fainted at the doctor's desk. I was coming to when they asked if I was okay and I replied "no." They then wheeled me off on a gurney to a recovery room where I napped for a short time before being released with a referral to see the dermatologist at the hospital to help determine what the rash is from.
This is the second time I've broken out like this here in Taiwan so I think it important that I find out what is going on. I'll toddle over to the hospital after work tonight and see if I can get in tonight or maybe Friday. The doctor also gave me a perscription for antihistamines for the rest of the week. The welts are interesting. Some of them flicker colour with my pulse and they also burn and itch unpleasantly if I think about them. The current "guess what the welts are" pool has 2 votes for spider bites and one vote for mites. Please don't worry too much I'm doing what I can to take care of the problem. I suspect this is all part of the risk you take when travelling in an unfamiliar country and staying in a variety of not so good accommodations.
Total cost for emergency room visit, shot, perscription and a gurney to nap on: $860 NT. Which is less than $40 cdn. so I really have nothing to complain about. Yes, I have travel insurance... no, I don't think this is worth making a big deal over, and no, I'm not interested in filling out reams of paperwork for such a small sum.
The antihistamines made me really drowsy and I napped on the MRT on the way back to the hostel. I also had the best nights sleep. Plus my last class yesterday with the challenging boys went really well so I was in a good mood up until I fainted. *chuckles* Well, there I go creating more interesting memories! I'll keep you posted as to my progress. Off to work some more - today is my slow day where I get to do most of my class prep for next week.
Love and Hugs.
T. Destiny
I'm officially allowed to stay in Taiwan. For 9 whole more days. The visa extension did not go as smoothly as anticipated and in true beaurocratic style I have to jump through some paperwork hoops. Basically, I went with the papers the agency gave me and had no idea what I was really doing, but blindly stumbled through the process only to be told that I need a different piece of paper. I aske if 9 days was enough for my school to produce the paper and the police assured me that it is. So I imagine I'll be repeating this process all over again next week.
It rained last night in a wonderful storm. It started out lightly enough but then there were buckets of water slamming against the pavement, bouncing high enough that even with an umbrella I was soaked to the knees. I wonder if there is a trick to walking in that kind of rain that I don't know yet? I don't know why I expected there not to be lightnening in Taiwan, but there was also a good light show last night. It was pretty nifty to see the nature in the city. I just flat out enjoy watching that kind of thing. Today is overcast and drizzly but I'm glad it no longer feels like I'm in a hot dryer with still-wet laundry.
I was out in the rain on my journey to the SDA hospital to have some welts/hives checked out by the doctors there. Turns out that I'm having an allergic reaction to something undetermined. They gave me a shot of antihistamines because one of the welts was almost softball size and I promptly fainted at the doctor's desk. I was coming to when they asked if I was okay and I replied "no." They then wheeled me off on a gurney to a recovery room where I napped for a short time before being released with a referral to see the dermatologist at the hospital to help determine what the rash is from.
This is the second time I've broken out like this here in Taiwan so I think it important that I find out what is going on. I'll toddle over to the hospital after work tonight and see if I can get in tonight or maybe Friday. The doctor also gave me a perscription for antihistamines for the rest of the week. The welts are interesting. Some of them flicker colour with my pulse and they also burn and itch unpleasantly if I think about them. The current "guess what the welts are" pool has 2 votes for spider bites and one vote for mites. Please don't worry too much I'm doing what I can to take care of the problem. I suspect this is all part of the risk you take when travelling in an unfamiliar country and staying in a variety of not so good accommodations.
Total cost for emergency room visit, shot, perscription and a gurney to nap on: $860 NT. Which is less than $40 cdn. so I really have nothing to complain about. Yes, I have travel insurance... no, I don't think this is worth making a big deal over, and no, I'm not interested in filling out reams of paperwork for such a small sum.
The antihistamines made me really drowsy and I napped on the MRT on the way back to the hostel. I also had the best nights sleep. Plus my last class yesterday with the challenging boys went really well so I was in a good mood up until I fainted. *chuckles* Well, there I go creating more interesting memories! I'll keep you posted as to my progress. Off to work some more - today is my slow day where I get to do most of my class prep for next week.
Love and Hugs.
T. Destiny
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 8:58 AM 
