Hotel Hell... (5)

The taxi pulled up to a dirty building with no sign. There was nothing to indicate that this was indeed a hotel. But the driver puts his flashers on and gets out of the car. I assumed we had arrived, so I exited and started to help him unload my luggage, for what seemed like the millionth and one time.

The driver went into the building and spoke the "blah blah blah language" to the woman at the desk. She nodded and the driver started to leave. The lady behind the desk didn't speak English, didn't have my name, and I had no Taiwan money. I told her no money and she started to wave me off and out of the "hotel". I hurriedly walked out to get the driver. He could at least call the black box van guys, who could call Wade. After what seemed like an agonizing panic filled hour, Wade was on the line speaking blah blah blah to the lady at the desk, who seemed like she was yelling at Wade. Later I learned that much of the Chinese language sounds a little like they are angry. Finally, at almost 2am, everything was set and I was heading up to my room.

Once through the door the sight of the room put despair into my heart. The room was dingy. The bed had only a flat sheet and a comforter looking thing on it. The shower didn't look usable and the room smelled of cigarettes. There was no phone and no way to call home. I was, for lack of a better word, distraught. I sat down on the hard bed and cried. I was exhausted and crying was all I could manage. I phoned down to the office for a wakeup call that would come in 2 hours. Those hours crept by so slowly. Finally, it was 5. I didn't need the wakeup call because I didn't sleep. Wade was finally there and we were off to the school.

We drove back the three hours in the direction I we came in the night before. I did get to talk to BNBH. Turns out that the school is only a 45 minute drive from Taipei, the place I had flown into the night before. Seriously? That made no flipping sense. Drive three hours in the opposite direction of the school, only to drive back the three hours the next day. Who does the planning and GPS work? Waldo?

 

Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: When things do not make any sense or are simply not correct don’t worry. All one has to say to cover a multitude of errors and sins is “Well, that’s how we do it in Taiwan.”. This phrase covers any misunderstanding, error, or anything else that makes absolutely no sense.