Taiwan, Day 4 Lumber Spine

7/31/2019 Taiwan, Day 4 Lumber Spine

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Taiwan. Day 4. Lumber spine.

Everytheeng ok!? said the wide-eyed head waitress atbreakfast? Before I could reply the manager came over.

Everytheeng ok? he repeated? The fued ok wit choo? Thepeople here are lovely. They care about you all the time.Everything was fine I assured them both, but they seemedconcerned. I had only been eating for 20 minutes whereas theother guests had been here for an hour at least. The spread wasthe same as last night, hot and cold dishes in plenty, so it wouldbe difficult to tell whether you were arriving for dinner or forbreakfast if you didnt know what time of day it was. Must go towork, I beamed. But they seemed unconvinced, other guests alsobeing here for work and managing to have eaten two bowls ofsoup, one of noodles, tofu, fish, beef-in-mixed vegetables and aplatter of fresh fruit more than me. So I patted my stomach, the zipof my XL womens dept. newly acquired sweat top pulled tight overmy bulge. Ah! they both smiled, and let me leave.

I left for work with the card Reception had given me on arrival. Itshowed a picture of the hotel and had my name and room numberon the back. In case I get lost and like a child, need to bereturned to base by a responsible Taiwanese adult.


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I thanked Victoria for giving the students a copy ofDeep TissueMassage. She herself was disappointed with the book, too muchlike a textbook, she said, and was not impressed with the cover. Itold her I liked the cherimoya, a fruit for which she herself has no

patience. Good for heat if you arr feeleeng cold but too much willgive you a block nose.

The students were great and worked hard practicing lumber spineassessments and treatments. As usual they rushed off to eat atlunchtime whereas I went to buy socks. Taiwanese women haveno need of these foot coverings as its over 80 degrees most ofthe year and rains a lot. So I had to go to the B1 floor wheremens clothes have been allocated a single counter. The rest ofthe building sells womens clothes, shoes and handbags. Theelevator warned me to stay calm and to only rush away form it inthe even of an earthquake or if it was on fire.

Taiwanese women have their priorities right. If men need clothesthey can go some place far, far away where its more convenientfor them to be than to shop here way they may get in womensway. From the only basket of socks in the entire building I pickedup a pair and examined them. So all Taiwanese men have sizefour feet?Oneseeyfeetsall, said the smiling salesgirl seeing myconcern, and stretched them gleefully. I looked at her over the topof my glasses.

Here are my onesizefitsall socks; here are my size 41 trainers.


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All afternoon we practiced treatments for the lumber spine. Thestudents remained energetic and practiced everything, taking

turns to swap between couches and keeping up as I mixed theorywith practice. Victoria did a fantastic job translating and was keptbusy both with translating my explanations, student questions andmy replies. She told me that the CEO wants to meet me again,this time to discuss how best we can move forward with sportsmassage and the development of this type of treatment in theentire Group. She is owner of Orient Retreat, the largest spagroup in Taiwan, with Spas in America and Canada. Themarketing people are coming too, to interview me for theircompany magazine. Not being a hair-and-makeup kind of girl thiscould be just the kind of time to worry about hair and makeup.

On the way home I went to the chemist to buy some hair gelfiguring that it wouldnt hurt to attempt some styling. I smiled andtouched my fringe as the rather stern shop floor manageressstepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her. She pointedand I followed her to the end of an isle of shampoos and gelswhich she skirted round, halting abruptly in the next isle. Thereshe seemed to say, and tapped her sharp nail on a box of hair

dye, pointed back to my fringe, pursed her lips and strode off tosort out another female customer stupid enough to be walking


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about at my age with grey hair. I looked at the 8 boxes of hair dye,all showing how to lighten black hair to very dark brown hair, thenreturned to the other side of the isle, picked up a tub of hair waxand took it back to her. Here, I motioned, twisting the tub in front

of her face, this is what I came in for. She raised an eyebrowand marched me straight to the till at the back of the shop where Ihad to wait in line behind a woman buying seven packets ofsanitary towels. This is your punishment for not taking advice fromthe senior sales assistant.

I did however, manage to get two pairs of tracksuit bottoms to fit.Ok, I use the word fit loosely, for that is exactly how they appearon me. They are long enough in the legs but rather wide in thebottom and thigh sections.

For dinner I had tuna fish and passion fruit. They scoop out thefruit, mix it with tuna, and repack it into the shell of the passionfruit. Its strange to western tastes and not a combination I wouldever have considered back home. Then I drank some ratherstrange juice. I thought it might be banana but it pours and tasteslike milk of magnesia. Only its green. I hope its juice and not

medicine because I bought it at the juice bar mostly because ithad a very nice bubblegum pink lid and I havent quite got over


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my recycling obsession. Im hoping its soya milk-and-kiwi and nota laxative. If I have to purchase some emergency continencepants, at least I have the trousers under which to wear them.

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Taiwan, Day 4 Lumber Spine