Tuesday, Aug. 03, 2004 - 11:36 p.m.

I love Jack Johnson! A man I met in a hostel in Taipei made me listen to him about a month ago, and I got hooked. I am listening to internet radio and videos for entertainment now and remembered his name today. Now I am od-ing on some of his videos. "Taylor" is playing right now, the video with Ben Stiller. What a cutie. If anyone knows really good inernet radio stations, please let me know. I am trying to find some non-visual things to do until the eyes heal more.

Had one of those moments today that defies reason and is almost hilarious, in a "I'm a dumb shmoo" kind of way.

Its about my lemon juice.And its disturbing.

I have mentioned before that the fresh fruit juice stands here are one of my fav things about Taiwan. When I first got here I experimented with diff juices. Papaya milk is REALLY popular here. My local friend told me that its supposed to make your boobs bigger. Um, ok.I didnt/dont want bigger boobs and dont like milk drinks so I tried such juices as strawberry, dragon fruit (juice of the goddesses), watermelon juice, and combination ones.

Sometimes I would carry my cheat sheet of juice names in Chinese, but most of the time I would go to juice stands where I could point to either pics of fruits or the fruit itself.

Thats when I saw the lemons.

At home I always cut lemons and squeeze them into water. I love it. Simple and yummy. I even eat the lemon, much to the amusement and possible annoyance of my friends when they see me do this (yes, I actually eat and like the rind!).

So when I saw a lemon at one of the stands I wondered what magic they would do with it. So I pointed to it and waited. Now, lemons here are green, not yellow. I still have to double take and sniff when possible to make sure they are lemons, and they always are.

And ever since I got the first lemon juice I have been frequenting certain juice stands that have this concoction. Its made of lemon juice, sugar, loads of ice (very munchy nice), and water. Simple and yummy.

I have been trying to learn how to ask for this drink by its Chinese name, and its a bitch. The word lemon is something like lee-mun, but with such tricky tonage that I tend to fuck it up every time. Ive gotten to the point where I just keep saying it over and over many diff ways til the juice person recognizes it. The second word in the lemon juice phrase I cant master at all. ugh!

Then we had class tonight, and one of the few pillars of happiness in my Taiwan life was pulled out from under me. Just like that!

(What the hell is she talking about! hahahahah)

The word our vocab list tonight was
LEMONADE
And it sounded just like what all the juice guys say when I ask for my drink.

Ok. I know what youre thinking. I must have made the connection between the ingredients that I described above and the word lemonade. I MUST have. But I didnt. When I think "lemon juice" I think of this wonderful drink that comes with the perfect amount of tartiness and ice. When I think of "lemonade" I think of sugar and more sugar and a drink mix that has a miniscule amount of actual lemon. Oh my!

This is simply tragic!

So, after work, I did what every self respecting semantics idiot WOULD have done. I ran across the street to a juice stand and ordered the drink. And you know what...

IT TASTED DIFFERENT!

How will I ever go on?