Super Typhoon Haitang: Aftermath

Jungle Gym (literally)


















Roots.













Sidewalk.


















The view from where I drink my morning coffee.












Hot. I know.

Typhoon Day

Doesn't quite have the same ring as SNOW DAY!!!! Maybe that's because "Snow Day" brings me back to childhood memories of frolicking in the snow, not being picked up by the wind and slammed into a wall. Sucks to be a Taiwanese kid.

Steph and I are currently in the midst of the worst storm Taiwan has seen since 2001, a storm which killed 200 people. You’d think we would stay inside and keep safe. Nah! Since the storm has intensified I’ve left the house once. Those caffeine headaches are a real bitch. In my defense I left a couple of hours ago and the wind, which knocked me off my scooter TWICE, has successfully managed to convince me to stay inside. Steph, however, has decided to go out in search of some wine. What a trooper (psycho).

I should probably make it known that the storm is hitting a couple of hours North of us. Kaohsiung is not in any real danger. That being said, we have it DAMN easy in Canada. The part of the storm going through Kaohsiung is more intense weather than anything I’ve ever seen, so I can’t even imagine what Taipei looks like right now. On my coffee run this morning I was dodging tree branches close to a foot in circumference. Don’t think any Canadian winds are doing that kind of damage. The gusts are so loud that we can’t hear the tv over them, and every now and then we’ll hear a giant crash which is surely someone’s scooter (or person) being damaged beyond recognition. Shitty.

In general my first typhoon day has been quite the adventure. I’ve learned some valuable lessons:

1. When you hear a warning for a storm whose name is prefaced by the word "super", pay attention. They tell you these things so you don’t wake up in an apartment with 1 piece of bread, 1 bottle of water, 2 people, and a government telling all businesses to shut down. Thankfully, just as we ignored the warnings not to drive, 7-11 ignored instructions to close.

2. Typhoon and hurricane mean the same thing: big storm. Don’t leave your house.

3. A caffeine dependency is stronger than 250km/hour winds

4. A day off work seems like a really cool thing until you realize there’s nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do in the middle of a big typhoon. That and you don’t get paid to watch DVDs.

I hope you’re all having a fantastic sleep while I sit here cooped up in an apartment, mid-hurricane.

It is sorta cool though ;)

I've been in Kaohsiung for a fairly substantial amount of time now. Just when I thought I was getting used to the insanity that can sometimes be this city, I found out I was wrong. The weird part is that I'm usually the only one who reacts to these weird things, foreign or Chinese. I think most people have been here so long that just about anything and everything slides right on by, without so much as a blink. For example, I was having some drinks with a friend in a bar here the other night. He's talking and talking, until I point out that the woman beside him is sharing a poutine with her Paris Hilton-esque dog. And nothing. He just looks over, acknowledges it, and continues conversation like it's common place to share fries, cheese and gravy with your rat-dog.

In more important news, I recently had the pronunciation of my NATIVE language corrected by a woman who speaks a very broken form of something she likes to call English. Yup. Not impressed.

So aside from having my English corrected, and sharing romantic meals with rodent like dogs, I'm finding myself settling quite nicely into my new Taiwanese life. I'm into such a routine these days. I get up fairly early in the morning, and if I'm disciplined enough I'll get to the gym. If not I'll have some breakfast, and then get into social recluse mode and go read* in Starbucks for 3 hours. I head to work an hour before I start teaching, plan my classes, and get on my merry way. I'm finished at 9:10, at which point I grudgingly drag my ass to the gym and vow to start going in the morning. I do this Monday-Friday, and then the weekend follows. This always includes many welcomed surprises.

Re-reading that I realize my life doesn't sound like too much fun - but trust me - it is. Maybe I'll get used to it at some point down the road, but it seems like I still see absolutely ridiculous and hilarious things on a regular basis. I like the job and everyone I've met has been great. The only big pitfall so far is that I feel like I'm constantly fighting a cold. I'm surrounded by germy kids all day, all of whom keep infecting me with their foreign viruses. My Canadian immune system just isn't ready for them.

Teaching is still great aside from the devil reincarnate, but he's on summer holidays from English school. Sweeeeet!

I will end this off by saying the following for what I'm sure is at least the 10th time:

I'M GOING TO BALI IN A WEEK!

*Notice that I said read, and not drink coffee...because what they make cannot be called coffee. It can be called shit. I miss Tim Hortons. Go Canada.

Happy Canada Day!

Nee hao! (Hi)

Being that Canada Day has just passed, I think it’s quite a fitting time to reflect on what I miss about Canada, what I don’t miss, what I love about Kaohsiung, and what I could do without.

First and foremost is anonymity. While there are over 1000 foreigners in Kaohsiung, we disappear quite easily and seem like very few amongst the 2.5 million Chinese. Every time I do something stupid, I feel like I’m going to be recognized as the dumb white girl. For example, tripping up the scooter ramp, subsequently falling over the other way when trying to stand up, and then pulling my scooter on top me for the grand finale. You don’t forget a scene like that, especially if the person doing it is easily recognizable. Even when doing something completely normal, like drinking coffee, I feel like I’m on display. Sitting outside at Starbucks is the worst. It’s at a major intersection, so I have everyone inside looking at me through the glass wall and then an entire traffic jam of scooter drivers gawking at me. I’m not Chinese. I know I’m not Chinese, they know I’m not Chinese, you know I’m not Chinese, everyone can CLEARLY see I’m not Chinese, so I don’t know why it needs to be pointed out so much.

A very close second is clean air. I’m not quite sure what the smell is here, but it sure ain’t good. It’s actually a plethora of smells; sometimes like garbage rot, sometimes like porto-potty, but most of the time it’s of questionable origin and that definitely makes it worse. It’s also quite unsettling to go out wearing a white shirt and come home wearing a brown one.

Quite obviously I miss English speaking adults. Aside from the teachers I work with and the other foreigners I see on nights out, it seems that very few adults here have even a basic understanding of English. This, of course, was expected and is more than understandable. It’s something we never have to think about at home because everyone can speak our language, but it’s now a daily part of my life. It’s beyond frustrating when you really need or want something, but you have absolutely no means of communicating that.

As for the things I love about Kaohsiung, there are plenty. The people are beyond nice. I’ve found that the Chinese are so friendly that they’re almost looking for ways to help you all the time. I was grocery shopping a little while ago, and as could be expected my scooter got boxed in by a couple of cars. Next thing I know these 2 Chinese guys have picked up my scooter and are carrying it out of the parking lot for me. As much as I love Canada, I don’t think anyone would be doing such a thing in downtown Toronto.

Me and Kaohsiung driving have a love-hate relationship. No need to stop for red lights…I love it, but I hate it. It’s great when I’m the one running them, but it generally puts me in a bad mood when I’m stopped a green because the ass holes going the other direction have decided that red lights and laws don’t apply to them. Mostly the driving is really fun. I sort of feel like I’m living in a video game…yah, I’m not gonna lie. Driving here is way too fun.

The nightlife puts us Canadians to shame. The Taiwanese party like rockstars, but I guess it’s easy to do that when the whole concept of liquor laws is completely foreign. It’s quite common to leave the bar and be greeted at the exit with a Kaohsiung sunrise, which is quite different from London where it’s quite common to leave your house for the bar and be greeted by the sunset. I can’t say I’m sad to have the nights of leaving for Jim Bob’s at 8pm behind me.

Last but not least is teaching. It’s proven to be very frustrating at times, but all in all I’m really enjoying it. The kids work so hard and they’re so unbelievably smart, especially the young ones. I was a nervous wreck before starting, but I’ve already fallen into it and I’m having a lot of fun. While I’ve enjoyed all of my jobs in the past few years, this is completely different in that I feel a real attachment to my work…. probably because it’s a lot easier to build a relationship with an 8 year-old than it is with an Excel spreadsheet. And I have responsibility that extends beyond an ability to work the photocopier.

There are many more things I miss from home, like my friends and family, and much more that I love about Kaohsiung, but as you all know I’m a little long winded when it comes time to write….so I’ll just end it here. As I’ve said a million times I miss you all a ton and all of the emails and phone calls have been very, very much appreciated. To end off I’ll post a couple pictures of my kids, because they’re too cute not to.
Hway bao-ch lian-shee de! (keep in touch…but who knows, my kids could be playing tricks on me and it could mean something grossly inappropriate)