Thank you, Carrefour, for thy bountiful plenty

It finally opened!  The Fong-Yuan Carrefour (2 minutes from my apt) opened on Tuesday but I didn't go the first couple days because I figured it would be extra-crowded.  And they have all my staples!  I was scared that they wouldn't have the Weird Foreign Food aisle where I stock up on beans, olives, whole wheat noodles, and, on occasion... Salt And Vinegar Potato Chips!

I took the day off (Thurs) because I only teach one class and Friday is a holiday so it means 4-day weekend for me!  The morning was normal- service and Chinese lesson- but after Carrefour I got my first massage in Taiwan.  There are "spas" everywhere- like 3 in walking distance from my apartment- but I never know if they give like weird Japanese fat-flushing treatments or actual massages so I've never tried to go.  Also there are massage parlors and there are "massage parlors" and I'm a little nervous about getting the wrong one. 

One of the NSTs told me about a massage place with blind men but his directions were vague and I wound up parking my scooter and going in a random place.  I really wanted a place where they speak English but the lady could say "body massage?" in English and it wasn't too expensive and, you know, I'd already parked my scooter and I'm lazy.  So I went for it.

They had me take a shower first and it turned out to have a bunch of rooms.  I told the girl my back has the most problems and if there wasn't time to do my whole body she could just concentrate on that, and maybe my legs.  It was okay at first but my back definitely isn't knot-free now.  She also put these weird things on my legs and mid-section that like wrapped and got hooked up to electricity and compressed you.   I said I didn't want that but she said she'd work on my shoulders while they did their thing.

One weird thing- I now have tons of broken blood vessels on my upper back (like shoulder area) and going halfway down my spine.  Chinese people love breaking blood vessels- they think it stimulates healing- but I probably won't be back for another one.