We have been busy recently, so we haven't had much time to travel. My husband has been on a business trip for the past month, and we have been working on a project for an immigration office, filming for a TV show about migrants in Taiwan, and preparing for a speech at a local Tainan high school.
The weather hasn't been the best lately, with rain and cold fronts coinciding with my husband's return from his business trips. He has to work in Hsinchu every week, returning on Wednesday or Thursday and leaving again on Saturday. In recent days, there have been an increasing number of COVID-19 cases (over 100 local cases and 200 from abroad), so he prefers to drive his car. It's actually a little over 200 km away. Now, it's a long weekend because Tuesday (4/5) is Tomb Sweeping Day, so there might be a spike in cases again (and more strict rules to follow). I have never been able to participate in Tomb Sweeping Day, even though I have been living in Taiwan for 5 years already. This year, my husband has to work again, so maybe next year?
Recently, there was a COVID-19 case at the Sheraton Hotel in Hsinchu, the exact hotel where my husband has been staying since his business trip started in early March. He still has to stay in Hsinchu for at least 2 more months, so there is a chance of coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19. Maybe it's not a big deal, but if that happens, the government will ask us to quarantine, which I hope we won't have to do. Staying at home with our child for an unknown number of days would be like a nightmare. Everyone at his workplace has to get tested for COVID-19 now, but currently, everything seems fine.
After a month, I have gotten used to being alone (not exactly alone, but with our child). The first week felt lonely and boring, but after that, it got better. There was only one day (or rather night) when I wished my husband was at home. At 1:40 AM on March 23rd, we experienced a big earthquake. First, a loud alarm on my phone woke me up, and as I reached for my phone to turn it off, everything started shaking. I felt scared and couldn't move. All I could do was lie on the bed with tears in my eyes. There were three strong earthquakes in a row that I felt. My son called me, but I was still afraid to stand up until an hour later when I went to put him back to sleep. When I finally calmed down and tried to go back to sleep, there was another shaking at around 4 AM. That night, there were so many earthquakes that I could barely get back to sleep.
In the past few weeks, I have started watching more Korean dramas whenever I have some free time, usually at night or early in the morning. Our son doesn't attend kindergarten yet, so I still have to take care of him or bake cakes during the day. But when I want to rest, I let him watch cartoons, and I enjoy watching my dramas. Sometimes I feel like a bad parent because I used to think I didn't want him to watch screens at a young age (he's 4), but he has actually learned a lot from them. He speaks Polish much better since he started watching some cartoons. Otherwise, he can only learn Polish from me, but... oops, I have gotten used to speaking English to him more.
It has been over a month since the war between Ukraine and Russia started. In the beginning, I followed the news all the time, but now I don't pay as much attention to it anymore. Life in Taiwan feels pretty normal, but at the beginning of March, everyone was talking about China potentially attacking Taiwan soon. Since then, Taiwan (along with many other countries) has been more concerned about protecting their territories and conducting more military training. Reservists in Taiwan now have to undergo extra training, and my husband received a letter from the military camp a week after the war in Ukraine started. My first thought was that China would attack Taiwan soon, so people are preparing now. He has to attend training from 4/16 to 4/22. It's relatively short for him because I heard it's usually two weeks long. Bringing a phone to the military camp is forbidden, but if there is something interesting to share after he finishes, I'll update it in the future.
Lately, we have been buying some things online, but sometimes the experience is not that good. If you happen to live in Taiwan and want to buy something, it's better to avoid the shopping website "生活市集" (Shenghuo Shiji). We bought two items from there, and both had issues. First, we bought an oven in early March, and we needed a receipt for the purchase. My husband contacted the customer service twice, but it took a month to finally get it. The other item was an IH stove, but after unpacking it, it looked like the item had been used and was not new. After contacting the seller, they promised to exchange the item within a few days. Shopping on other platforms like Shopee or Momo is much better. Even though there was one time when we bought a mixer from Momo and there was a missing part, they sent it to us immediately after we reported it. There are also no issues with receipts. It wouldn't be much of an issue if it was for ourselves, but because the purchase was for the immigration project, we need to collect the receipts as proof.
There are many nice people in Taiwan, but from time to time, you still come across some who are not so pleasant. Recently, there were two situations that bothered me:
I took Adrian to the playground, and besides me, there was only one woman with her son. She was standing there with her phone, pretending to take pictures of her son. She stood in front of Adrian and took a picture of him. Not only that, but standing behind her, I noticed that she even sent it to someone else. It's not the first time someone has taken pictures of my son or even me without asking, and it's really annoying. I have anxiety when talking to people, so I didn't say anything to her.
We rented a parking space from our neighbor, but it's next to the road and not blocked with anything. Recently, I noticed a few times that someone parked there during noon time, but later, the car was always gone. One day, while waiting downstairs for my husband to arrive, I noticed the car was parked there again. I hadn't seen anyone around, but the only possibility was that people parked there and went to eat beef noodles, as that's the only shop in the area. My husband arrived at the same time as they came to drive their car away. He told them not to park there as it's a paid spot. One of the guys said, "We have parked here many times but never met that guy"...
Lately, while talking with my friend in Poland, I have noticed that she seems a little naive and desperate to find a guy. She was talking to a guy she met online (only for a couple of days). He claimed to be Korean and even sent her some pictures (unfortunately, she also sent him pictures). But then suddenly, he refused to have a video call and deleted his Instagram profile. So she asked me for advice. When she shared the pictures with me, he looked very familiar, so I decided to do some research. It turns out that the pictures were of a Taiwanese model, which is why he looked so attractive.
I would be envious if the guy was real, but it was really hard for me to believe that someone who looks like a model would be interested in her (sorry...). I don't understand why she didn't consider the possibility that the person could be fake. I know that looks are not the most important thing, but honestly, my friend is 35 years old, not conventionally attractive, and a little overweight. She doesn't fit the typical appearance that Asian guys are often attracted to. The person in the pictures she received was a handsome, tall young guy who looked about 20 years old.
She is a nice girl, but sometimes it feels like she's too desperate and willing to believe anything. Not only did this guy send her fake pictures, but he also mentioned wanting to marry her after just a few days of chatting. I don't understand why she didn't block him right away. After I gathered evidence that the pictures were copied from an Instagram account of a model, I immediately talked to her about it. However, she didn't block him and still wanted to talk to him to hear his explanation. She was upset that he didn't respond quickly. But after a few hours, he finally replied, and she confronted him about the lies. It turns out he's from Nigeria and even sent her (real??) pictures. They continued to chat, and she got to know more about him.
This isn't the first time she has talked to guys online, and I'm a little worried because in the past, she has been heartbroken and even mentioned thoughts of suicide. We have actually never met in person. She messaged me on Facebook about 2-3 years ago, and since then, we have chatted occasionally.
There is still one more guy that she is talking to (actually, more than one, but the others don't seem as suspicious). He claims to be a Japanese pilot. He also mentioned that he is a single father with a 12-year-old daughter (he is 39). However, she mentioned that the daughter lives in the USA for studying. This already seems strange to me. He said that if he wants to take a day off, he would need to pay for it (I don't understand why). He also mentioned that he would want my friend to pay the money (which amounts to a couple of thousand PLN). They have only been talking for a couple of days, and he is already trying to push her to give him money. I already told her earlier that this is likely a scam, but she doesn't always listen and still keeps in touch with him.
0 komentarze:
Post a Comment