Ready for a taste of something different?
Hope so. This is one of those days where the mind has been wandering,
and the lines between truth and lies, fiction and reality have become
a bit blurred. Here goes nothing.
I awake moments before the sweet sound of my alarm was to wake
me. My room is cool and pleasant. Remarkably, not even a spec of
dust or dirt has been present in this room for months ... years
likely. The entire building stands as an impenetrable fortress for
insects, dirt and unpleasantry in general. The hostellers are an
especially happy bunch this morning -- our regular communal breakfast
has been prepared this morning and features Maple Syrup, hash browns,
and some ice cold 1% milk. Oh what a treat. After a filling breakfast
I gather my belongings and step outside.
It was a cool clear day in Taipei. The air was fresh, and barely
a sound could be heard. If you listened hard enough you could hear
some birds quietly chirping in the distance. A deep breath had never
felt so good you remarked to yourself. And the scents abound ....
oh so good. Is that fresh bread the bakery is baking? Not sure what
it is, but it sure smells good.
The streets are quiet. Not the usual rush of early morning traffic
today. Nope, just the occasional bicycle along with the regular
fleet of emission free buses. I'm not sure why, but barely anybody
is on the streets. Feels like I've got the whole city to myself.
As I cross the street to the subway station, a taxi pauses and
waits for me to pass. He offers a kind smile and wave and then joyfully
continues on his way. The subway arrives right on cue just as I
reach the platform. No waiting for me today! I find my comfortable
seat right by the door; closest to the escalator in both my departure
and arrival station. The few people who do beat me to the escalator
are so kind today -- they've all stood patiently on the right hand
and allowed me to pass on the left. As I emerge from the underground
heaven known as the MRT, my senses are again battered with pleasantry.
My skin feels the soft gentle breeze ... nose tasting the unusual
and tasty odours ... my eyes see nothing but clear blue skies. Oh
what a day.
Once at school, I am overwhelmed by quiet students. No yelling
or screaming today -- all sitting upright, and transfixed on my
every word. Not a wandering eye or mind to be found. Learning is
hardly a strong enough word to describe the processes going on in
the classroom today. You can see the knowledge pouring out of my
brain into theirs, unimpeded. And so the day continues ....
I can hardly write any more of that crap!! I hope that it is blatantly
obvious to the dead, deaf, blind and humourless that the above message
was filled with 100% Canadian sarcasm ... the days and nights here
are far from what I described.
Don't feel like going too much further with this email, but I will
describe a series of events that I've witnessed in the last few
minutes. I'm at an Internet cafe, and happen to be sitting right
beside a window which faces an alley. Over a period of about 10
minutes, I saw two small (naturally) Hondas "parallel parking"
between a couple of scooters.
I don't want to seem sexist here, but .... the first driver was
a woman. She took close to five minutes to nudge and bump her way
in between the stationary objects. Her attempt took at least 5 forward
to backward transitions -- closer to 10 I'm sure. She hit the scooter
behind her twice (while looking backwards) and the one in front
once. She hit it again, this time hard enough to knock it over.
She nearly took out the two next to it, dominos style. She left
her car parked in such a position that the scooter in the rear was
completely pinched in --- had the owner arrived, they wouldn't have
been able to move it. She casually walked away, smiling, taking
a moment to admire the parking job. A few minutes later she returned
-- she wasn't finished though. Still pressed against the scooter
to the rear, she managed to back up a few more inches, lifting the
scooter off the ground. Then, after a few more front to back transitions,
she drove away. End of story.
Well, not quite. Less than 30 seconds later, another Honda arrived
on the scene. Just to even the story, this was indeed a man driving.
He took fewer transitions to park though let it be noted. AND ...
he only hit the scooter once. Granted he hit the same scooter to
the rear harder than the woman did ... but he hit it only once.
I'm still waiting for him to leave. I've got a feeling this trend
will continue as long as there are scooters and cars sharing the
roads and alleys of Taipei!
Beyond that, not much else to report. I'm not enjoying the stinking
heat and humidity here. I mean stinking both in the literal and
figurative senses ... walking around, sitting, or doing anything
and feeling completely sticky all day long isn't really a good feeling.
I don't think that I'm going to enjoy summer here ... not without
finding some better ways to cope/adapt. |
