Cupping

I love the idea of alternative medicine. Rob thinks I'm a little wacky. I probably am, but there is just something wonderful about acupuncture being able to numb a person's body for open heart surgery and them being awake the entire time. You can't tell me that is not cool. Anyways, Asia is very popular for practicing alternative medicine and I decided that I would take advantage of that while living in Taiwan. Cupping is very interesting and I don't really know all of the benefits. I know it is a very old practice that reaches to ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Greeks (1550 BC). That was good enough for me to try it. This is what it looks like

They put little suction cups to your back, legs, arms, stomach, neck, and head. It doesn't hurt and it is actually quite relaxing. At least it was for me. I shouldn't say that's how all experiences are. There is also wet cupping(small puncture wounds that bleed when the suction cup is on) and fire cupping (the suction is created by heating the inside of the cup with fire).

I was happy to hear that they said I was very healthy but that I probably wasn't sleeping very well. They were right. The darker the circle is after the cup is removed the worse it is. The ones on my head and neck were darker than the rest. I am sporting some serious hicky marks all the way down my back and I will spare you a picture of that and just show you this one as an example.

EDA World

When I ask my students what should a foreigner do when they come to Taiwan they will always say go to a department store. They love their malls here. The biggest mall in Asia is actually right in Kaohsiung and we have been there a couple of times, but this weekend we decided to visit an outlet mall called EDA World. It is kind of in the middle of the mountains and surrounded by jungle. By the mall however, there is a University, a performing arts theater, and lots of hotels. It's a like a little luxury city built in the middle of the jungle. It reminded us of a mini Las Vegas. Pretty cool. We wandered around for a little bit and we found an ice skating rink. It was a lot of fun to see the kids play hockey.

The Good Samaritan Gets Crushed

While transferring trains at the MRT station the lady in front of me dropped some money from her purse. She was getting on the train that we thought we were supposed to be on so I caught up with her on the train and handed her money back. If you've traveled by train or subway you know there is a little warning sound before the doors close. Right as the sound goes off, Rob realizes we're on the wrong train and jumps off. Well I wasn't going to let us get separated so I had to push someone out of the way and just as the doors were closing I got slammed in them. Those doors are no joke. I think everyone around was panicked because the Taiwanese are a very careful people and they really watch out for foreigners too. I was alright and I was just happy my skirt didn't get caught in the door. That would be embarrassing.