Day 6: Off Day

Tuesday was a day off for us, and we had a pretty productive day. Louie took one group sight-seeing. Several of the rest of us got together to head a different direction. Moira, Jenny, Gabriel (the scorer from Mexico), Dale and Deb, Rafael, Dana, Arnold, Jimmy and I made up the second group. We took taxis to an area that had both little shops and historical buildings. The shopkeepers were very proactive in promoting their wares, demonstrating their use in some situations and quoting a price. I found some interesting things for my family there and may go back before the tournament ends.

There was also a scenic area with a koi pond and a little bridge, an area that had wax figures of people performing different tasks from the history of Taiwan, and a number of rooms preserved to show the furnishings in a Taiwan home (albeit an upper class home). I got several good pictures while browsing through these exhibits.

We were not as lucky with the second spot. It was a mainstream shopping area, but the only thing being sold in any of the shops was women's clothing. It didn't take us long to figure this out. Unfortunately, we had divided up and were meeting back at a certain time to take taxis back to the hotel, so we had to wait a bit. Our sub-group went into a tea shop to get out of the sun and get some refreshments. We made the mistake of depending on Arnold to do our ordering. He seems to have problems wherever he goes when dealing with waitresses. Ours didn't seem to understand what he was trying to order (even though he had circled what we wanted in pen on the menu). When the girl finally came back with our order, he sent it back because it wasn't the size he wanted. I had a glass of cold guava tea that was very delicious. Eventually the others from our group came back and we took taxis back to the hotel.

The only downside to the day was that Jimmy left his camera in the taxi. He discovered this almost immediately, and we set about trying to track down the cab through the front desk. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of the camera at this point.

Rafael and I were to meet Natalia, one of the staffers from the World Cup, at 3:00 PM. He had been put in contact with her through Luis, who represented Mexico in the World Cup. Although they had not met face-to-face, they had talked several times through video and email on the web. Natalia arrived right on time, and brought Victoria, a friend of hers. They suggested we eat at an Italian restaurant, Fatty's. We opted for Pizza, and it was very good. It was great to see Natalia again and Victoria was very nice as well. I wasn't sure how much English she spoke at the beginning, because she didn't say much, but found out soon after that she speaks very well. We had a very nice lunch asking them questions about Taiwan, their jobs, school, etc. After lunch we came back to the hotel and the girls had to leave, as Victoria had a meeting with one of her college professors. We took some pictures together before they left. Natalia very thoughtfully brought me a CD of her favorite music from a group called Sodagreen. I am listening to it right now and it is quite good...they are a pop group with a female lead singer. I was glad we had a chance to get together, and it was nice to meet Victoria. It was quite a drive for the girls down from Taipei and we were appreciative they made the effort.

The evening's planned activity was a traditional dinner for all the umpires and scorers hosted by the Taiwanese umpires. It was quite a drive to the restaurant, but was well worth it once we got there. They had a separate room set aside for us, complete with a karaoke machine. Louie got the evening started with a welcome and some introductions, and then we were off and running. Beer, wine and scotch were provided in abundance, and the servers kept bringing out different kinds of food on a lazy susan so we could try it all. I made another attempt at the chopsticks and did much better than my first attempt a few days ago. I managed to use them for the entire meal this time. I'm still not great with them; perhaps this could be a good weight-loss technique!

Louie got the karaoke started, and drafted Jimmy and I for a number. The didn't have a whole lot of selections in English. Since there were no Carpenters songs on the list, we chose Frank Sinatra's "My Way." Anyone who has ever heard me sing can only imagine how that went. Just when we were thinking that Runch wasn't coming, he showed up to make the evening complete. I tried most of the food. There was a whole fish, rice, pork, something that looked like paella, and some other things. We all had a great time and let loose a little with the alcohol. After starting with beer, I decided scotch would be my drink of choice for the night. Although it wasn't a late night, we all had a great time before heading back to the hotel.

I thought maybe I'd take a couple of the guys to Frog when we got back, but after sitting in the front lounge waiting for all the vans to get back I started to feel the effects of the alcohol and we decided to move that back a night. The smartest thing I did upon my return to my room was to immediately leave a morning call and went to sleep without any delay. All in all, a great day here in Taichung!