One Hysterical Week
I’ve lost too much nerve and brain cells recently I cannot truly recall many incidences that happened last week. The following week will seem as insane to you as it is to me, but though much of me is degenerated over the past week, they still leave imprints inside my hollow shell.
9/26 (Wednesday) - it was the first schooling day after mid-autumn festival, which I spent happily and relaxingly in my friend’s place at Kaoshiung. The day was fine with typical Hualien weather and lessons were boring as usual. Humid, stifling air filled the classrooms as my German teacher pronounced ‘r’ which sounds like spitting from the deepest area of your throat. I had dinner and went back to the dorm praying for a peaceful night of Biochemistry and maybe a report or two to be completed. I was too good-natured. I went to meet my Italian exchange student at 10.30pm, and the first thing he told me after the holiday was that his passport, along with his backpack, was lost.
I pretended to stay calm even though my insides were screaming ‘WHAT THE HECK YOU STUPID BABOON! LOSING YOUR PASSPORT IS AS WELL AS LOSING YOUR LIFE ESPECIALLY IN A NON-UN COUNTRY LIKE TAIWAN!’ The human mind is a strange creature. When it accepts truth far beyond its acceptance limits it will deny it, and slowly you yourself thinks it’s a lie. So, being a responsible exchange officer I said I’ll report this matter to the Office of International Affairs (OIA) and bid goodnight, escaping before he can say ‘but-’
The next day I slowly came to realize that he will be in grave danger should he got involve in any littlest trouble - littering, or paying 2 dollars less for his Coke. Grudgingly I went to the hospital and played Inspector for 30 minutes. Then I red-alerted the officers in the OIA.
After several adrenalin-filled moments they reported his passport is found, along with is backpack at the Tzu Chi Monestary. I thanked every God in the world and sang prayers in languages ranging from Italian to Afrikaans. If the passport is really lost he’ll be deported back as a refugee, and Tzu Chi will be marked as a center of passport thieving.
9/28 (Friday) - after the emotional episode of the lost passport, my Italian exchange student thought it will be a good idea to challenge Jun Yi’s cardiovascular abilities by telling him that his Italian girlfriend is pregnant and he is required to fly home as soon as possible. (take deep breath) You see, when you go on an exchange you sign a Rule Form which binds you to certain rules, namely, possibly no early return. And as you can see, the Exchange Officer is extremely busy these few days looking for your passport as well as drafting the business turnaround plan for the school choir. If you think it’s great to add on to the workload you’re extremely welcome to request an early return and I will have to empty an entire afternoon to complete the early-return procedures for Mr. Dad-to-be (exhale deep breath).
Nevertheless, being Mr. Nice Guy of course I said ‘congratulations! that’s wonderful!’ After hopping over several casual topics I firmly said I will not be able to process his early return stuff till (maybe) end of this week. Amen.
9/30 (Sunday) - I woke up at 8.30, drank some tea, and spent my idle Sunday morning munching toast and flipping Biochemistry. This illusion is soon over when my phone rang, displaying a caller ID with weird number sequences. ‘Hi, it’s Marc!’ Another exchange student. I went to the train station at 10.30, settled him in his dorm at 11.30, and went back munching my toast till 12.30. At 2.00, after having lunch with Marc and some of my classmates, I did a catch-up of local news at the school library. We started our Biochemistry group discussion at 3.30, ending a little after 4.30. My chorus welcoming party preceded from 5.30 to 8.30 soon, and at 9 I was discussing about the exchange conditions for future outgoing students with my partner on SCOPE. At 10 we were briefed by our seniors about the IFMSA stuff before realizing we have another load of paperwork to be completed. I frequented between my computer, the study table and the bathroom over the next 3 hours, finally collapsing at 1am. This is the last living day of Sim Jun Yi.
October 4th, 2007 at 4:17 am
Hey
How are you?
It’s a shame that I haven’t read your blog in quite a while. But its great to know that its as interesting and educational as its always been, not forgetting that tinted humour you’ve glazed it with. Keep up those 1 per week posts:)