Living a life lost in translation

So apparently today is a big deal in Chinese culture-- the first full moon after the New Year! Traditionally people use this day to carry around Lanterns and see who has the brightest :o) Also, parades with dancing dragons to bring about good luck are common. It's 8:15pm right now and for the past hour people have been lighting off fireworks like it's their reason to live. Which, it might be for all I know. Haha. I would love to see a parade but I don't know if that will happen or no... Hsinchu is a small city so maybe not. I'm sure Taipei is going crazy. If only I had known, maybe I would have made a trip there.

Instead, today, I made a trip to the impound. No joke! I was walking around one of the markets earlier and came back to where my scooter was parked to find instead a bunch on Chinese and a telephone number scrawled on the road. Apparently, I had parked in a no parking zone. Oops. This nice Chinese guy saw me looking distressed-- trying to reach people who might know how to get my scooter back, and offered to give me a ride to the impound. Just another thing that would have NEVER happened back home. Common response in America: "What? Your car got impounded? Sucks for you!" Here in Taiwan: "Oh, silly foreigner! Please, let me help."

Well, I think I am going to go mime to my doorman about whether or not there will be a parade. Before I go, I should say that tomorrow I have an interview! It's only a part-time job but it's with a school that is really hard to get into. I will let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck!