Roommate

January 2007

Before i describe that fateful monday when i got my MRI results i thought it would be worth describing my room in the hospital and my close encounter with old taiwanese ladies. You see, i was staying in a two person hospital room. the hospital is very nice as hospitals go and i even had a big window with a view (not common in taipei), plus it was quiet. except for my roommate and her friends. . .

she was an elderly taiwanese woman who was obviously very sick and she had two friends who stayed with her in the hospital room. when i came in i heard her asking her friends all these questions in chinese about me. as a western female i was fascinating to her. i could understand what she was saying, but my survival mechanism kicked in. i wasn't gonna let on that i spoke chinese, then i would have 20 questions day and night, no thanks! so she got a few answers through her friend who could speak a bit of english, but that was it. but i was a constant source of speculation between her and her two friends. it's kinda funny listening to people talk about you when they have no idea you understand them.

anyway, the point of the story is that there were always terrible noises coming from the other side of the curtain. loud slurping and eating. burping, farting, sucking of teeth, snorting of nose. just about every bodily function was being loudly performed on the other side of the curtain. the worst was the snoring. i have never heard such machine gun fire in my life! colin actually recorded it because we couldn't believe that one female personage could emit such powerful sonic booms. maybe i can figure out how to put a sound clip up. you have to hear it to believe it! not to mention their constant chattering. i had to sleep with earplugs in most of the time. so, i tried to be understanding about it, she is a sick old lady so of course she is gonna make some yucky noises. she probably couldn't control it. THEN i found out it was actually her friends who were making all the disgusting noises. the sick old lady was quiet as a mouse.

so, that experience scarred me for life and i don't miss those noisy old women at all!