Taiwan. Day 4. Lumber spine. Everytheeng ok!? said the wide-eyed head waitress at breakfast?

Before I could reply the manager came over. Everytheeng ok? he repeated? The fued ok wit choo? The people here are lovely. They care about you all the time. Everything was fine I assured them both, but they seemed concerned. I had only been eating for 20 minutes whereas the other guests had been here for an hour at least. The spread was the same as last night, hot and cold dishes in plenty, so it would be difficult to tell whether you were arriving for dinner or for breakfast if you didnt know what time of day it was. Must go to work, I beamed. But they seemed unconvinced, other guests also being here for work and managing to have eaten two bowls of soup, one of noodles, tofu, fish, beef-in-mixed vegetables and a platter of fresh fruit more than me. So I patted my stomach, the zip of my XL womens dept. newly acquired sweat top pulled tight over my bulge. Ah! they both smiled, and let me leave. I left for work with the card Reception had given me on arrival. It showed a picture of the hotel and had my name and room number on the back. In case I get lost and like a child, need to be returned to base by a responsible Taiwanese adult.

I thanked Victoria for giving the students a copy of Deep Tissue Massage. She herself was disappointed with the book, too much like a textbook, she said, and was not impressed with the cover. I told her I liked the cherimoya, a fruit for which she herself has no patience. Good for heat if you arr feeleeng cold but too much will give you a block nose. The students were great and worked hard practicing lumber spine assessments and treatments. As usual they rushed off to eat at lunchtime whereas I went to buy socks. Taiwanese women have no need of these foot coverings as its over 80 degrees most of the year and rains a lot. So I had to go to the B1 floor where mens clothes have been allocated a single counter. The rest of the building sells womens clothes, shoes and handbags. The elevator warned me to stay calm and to only rush away form it in the even of an earthquake or if it was on fire.

Taiwanese women have their priorities right. If men need clothes they can go some place far, far away where its more convenient for them to be than to shop here way they may get in womens way. From the only basket of socks in the entire building I picked up a pair and examined them. So all Taiwanese men have size four feet? Oneseeyfeetsall, said the smiling salesgirl seeing my concern, and stretched them gleefully. I looked at her over the top of my glasses. Here are my onesizefitsall socks; here are my size 41 trainers.

All afternoon we practiced treatments for the lumber spine. The students remained energetic and practiced everything, taking turns to swap between couches and keeping up as I mixed theory with practice. Victoria did a fantastic job translating and was kept busy both with translating my explanations, student questions and my replies. She told me that the CEO wants to meet me again, this time to discuss how best we can move forward with sports massage and the development of this type of treatment in the entire Group. She is owner of Orient Retreat, the largest spa group in Taiwan, with Spas in America and Canada. The marketing people are coming too, to interview me for their company magazine. Not being a hair-and-makeup kind of girl this could be just the kind of time to worry about hair and makeup. On the way home I went to the chemist to buy some hair gel figuring that it wouldnt hurt to attempt some styling. I smiled and touched my fringe as the rather stern shop floor manageress stepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her. She pointed and I followed her to the end of an isle of shampoos and gels which she skirted round, halting abruptly in the next isle. There she seemed to say, and tapped her sharp nail on a box of hair dye, pointed back to my fringe, pursed her lips and strode off to sort out another female customer stupid enough to be walking

about at my age with grey hair. I looked at the 8 boxes of hair dye, all showing how to lighten black hair to very dark brown hair, then returned to the other side of the isle, picked up a tub of hair wax and took it back to her. Here, I motioned, twisting the tub in front of her face, this is what I came in for. She raised an eyebrow and marched me straight to the till at the back of the shop where I had to wait in line behind a woman buying seven packets of sanitary towels. This is your punishment for not taking advice from the senior sales assistant. I did however, manage to get two pairs of tracksuit bottoms to fit. Ok, I use the word fit loosely, for that is exactly how they appear on me. They are long enough in the legs but rather wide in the bottom and thigh sections.

For dinner I had tuna fish and passion fruit. They scoop out the fruit, mix it with tuna, and repack it into the shell of the passion fruit. Its strange to western tastes and not a combination I would ever have considered back home. Then I drank some rather strange juice. I thought it might be banana but it pours and tastes like milk of magnesia. Only its green. I hope its juice and not medicine because I bought it at the juice bar mostly because it had a very nice bubblegum pink lid and I havent quite got over

my recycling obsession. Im hoping its soya milk-and-kiwi and not a laxative. If I have to purchase some emergency continence pants, at least I have the trousers under which to wear them.