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 ;)