taiwan tiger 台灣的老虎

the (not yet) old man is (not yet) snoring

6/15: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/14: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/13: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/12: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/11: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/10: Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/9:  Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/8:  Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/7:  Intermittent Heavy Rain
6/6:  Intermittent Heavy Rain...or so it seems.  It seems like it's been raining for a few weeks now.  I'm not sure I even remember the last completely sunny day.  Monsoons are here again, which means wet and sometimes thankfully cool weather.  Otherwise known by me as "good sleeping weather."  Soon, with the completion of school, I may be able to capitalize on it.  For now, I must ponder the question: Does staring out the window at the rain count as work?

I was as calm as a vegetable

Last night's earthquakes (continuing through today still) are the recent talk.  Not having television, apparently I missed the interminable coverage of the television station's own aquarium spilling water over the sides as it rocked. 

I happened to be outside near Cheng Ching Lake, far away from any tall buildings, so I was probably in one of the safest areas in Kaohsiung.  Still, we definitely felt a nice roll as the ground bucked under us.

  12/26 8:26 p.m. felt it.  Sounded like a big truck rumbling by at first.

12/26 8:34 p.m. the big one, it registered a 5 in Kaohsiung city because its epicenter was closer to Kaohsiung

12/26 8:40 p.m. totally missed it

12/26 11:41 p.m.  felt it, but not too big

12/27 10:30 a.m.  I am actually not sure if I felt this one.  I was parking my scooter, I think.

[image from Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau website]

As an exercise with my students, since we have been working on descriptive writing, I had them write 3 descriptive sentences about their recent earthquake experiences.  These were some of my favorites:

"The ceiling fan swung around like it was going to attack me."

and

"I was as calm as a vegetable."  I am pretty sure this student was building off of (or somehow mistranslating) "cool as a cucumber," but "calm as a vegetable" is quite endearing in its way.  Yes, indeed, we are just calm as vegetables.

One Hurricane and One Typhoon

After seeing photographs of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and reading about the stampede in Baghdad that killed some 800 people, I am thinking myself quite lucky and blessed to be feeling not too much damage or inconvenience from Typhoon Talim, which is currently lashing Taiwan.  While it seems like things are worse up north, we in Kaohsiung have only had moderately heavy rains and winds.  Knowing how typhoons work, however, we can probably expect a worsening in a few hours.  I can hear things crashing and falling outside my bedroom window, but have no idea what it is. 

Yesterday we had a significant amount of flying debris swirling around on the roads.   In fact, it was one such piece of debris that poked a hole in my scooter tire last night as I was making some last rounds for food to tide me over until the storm passes.   I heard a clunk clunnk clunnk as I drove along.  Definitely dragging something, I pulled over and found a big wire pressed in the rear tire.  Knowing it would be better to break off the thing in the tire rather than pull it out, I started bending the wire to break it, only to accidentally  pull it out.  As the air determinedly hissed out of the tire, I rushed to find an open motorcycle shop to patch it up.  Since work had been canceled for today in the face of the oncoming typhoon, nearly everything was closed, except shops offering food or essential services.  No, motorcycle shops are not really essential services.  I knew that I needed to get it fixed or face going home in a taxi and leaving my motorcycle on the street for two days.  Fortunately, I was near the shop that I usually go to for oil changes and brake tightenings.  Knocking on the door, I hoped that the owner wouldn't mind helping me.  Opening his metal shop gates, he didn't seem to care and was glad to see me, apparently.  It's nice to be a regular.

It's a mess! 亂七八糟

Everything here is luan qi ba zao!  There are trees and signposts strewn across roads and debris everywhere.  I went out for a peek 2 nights ago and saw that a large tree had fallen across JianGuo road (a major road on Kaohsiung) and was blocking 3 of the four lanes.  A block further, another tree had fallen and was blocking 2 lanes.  Trucks are working to clear the damage, but, since Kaohsiung doesn't have all the resources of Taipei, it may be a while before the hundreds of fallen trees get cleared. 

It is still raining hard, though.  Other than the lack of high winds, you wouldn't know that the typhoon has passed by us.  Kaohsiung is bisected by the rail lines, and in order to go north or south of those tracks, you must take either a bridge over them or a tunnel underneath them.  Supposedly, the tunnels are all full of water and closed.  And it still continues to rain, so we will see how much more flooding occurs.

Pythoon Update II

I managed to make it out and see the sights here in typhoony Taiwan.  Most of the damage in Kaohsiung (near my house, anyway) right now is to the trees--there are branches and fallen trees everywhere.  Considering that Kaohsiung really could use about twice the number it already has, this is a minor disaster.  Maybe they will plant a whole bunch more.  The other obvious destruction is to signs--they are also down everywhere, laying in the street.   The picture to the left is a typical scene near my house.

As I was walking around, too, I noticed a number of businesses were still open, the workers having either chosen or been forced to come in to work and stare at the rain in the vain hopes that someone would need to buy CB direct marketing or La New shoes today.  Far more realistic was the hair salon that was open and had a few customers. 

MOVIE ONE (15 secs): Download typhoon1.AVI        MOVIE TWO (7 secs):Download typhoon2.AVI

As I passed a small alleyway that belonged to an English school, I noticed that their entire stock of plastic playground material had blown up to the gate.  Alphabet blocks, blue and green tables, yellow chairs, fake green turf--all clamoring to get out the gate as the rain streamed in behind them.

Coming in from the storm, however, I noticed that the weather had started to worsen significantly.  Stronger rain and winds have hit.

UPDATE: I added one more movie from ZhongZhen Road: Download typhoon3.AVI

Pythoon Update

One of the local cable channels that is reporting on island-wide effects of the the typhoon has added an English subtitle to their big font Chinese disaster title: TYPHOON!  Unfortunately, it is spelled "Pythoon" instead of "Typhoon."  But the associative elements of the misspelling are wonderful.  It works for me.

So far, Taipei, Ilan, Hualien seem like the hardest hit.  Kaohsiung isn't bad at all yet.  The wind is getting stronger and things are breaking and falling from the buildings, but nothing like I have seen in the photos from other areas of Taiwan.  Looking out from my balcony, I can see broken TV antennas dangling limp from the rooftops.  Part of an overhang came crashing down last night, too, but it wasn't until daylight that I could see what had happened.  I may venture out later and bring back some photos for y'all.

Water, Water Everywhere; or, The Monsoons Cometh

This week has been filled with absolutely torrential rain.  Usually, during this time of year, you can count on a heavy rainshower a few afternoons each week, but they are usually short enough to "wait out" someplace dry.  This week has been such, however, that waiting it out may actually turn out to be a bad idea, as it suddenly intensifies.  Last night it was absolutely pouring buckets, so I decided to take off my shoes and socks and scooter home barefoot in the rain, as there was no let up in sight. 

One strange effect of the wet weather as of late is affecting my rice.  Some sort of beige mold or fungus thing has spawned from my rice, which is kept in an airtight container.  The little beige colored spores tend to collect in piles, too.  The strangest thing is that they have a strong lemon or other citrus odor when touched.  Anyone know this thing?  What is it?

Last Saturday was the dragon boat festival, when groups of about 20 people race down the Love River to be the first to capture the flag.  I went last year, so I didn't really feel it was necessary to go this, especially as it was pouring rain.  Intead, I went to my girlfriend's house, where her mother showed us how to prepare and fold the traditional food during the dragon boat festival: ZongZi, the delicious pyramid-shaped rice cakes wrapped in a bamboo leaf.  If the pictures turned out well, maybe I will post a step-by-step guide.  They were delicious!

hao jiu bu jian

Long time no see. Well, I suck for not writing this week. Here's what happened. School ended for the term, I slept a lot, went out with friends to catch up, said goodbye to one of my best friends here who is returning to Korea, called my family in the US and talked for 2 hours, bought a digital camera, went to a cultural performance here in Kaohsiung by the harbor. Oh yeah, did I mention I bought a digital camera? I decided that it really made sense to get one sooner rather than later, as there are many things here that are worthy of a photograph. Spent time learning how to use said camera. Monday I am supposed to go back and pick up the English manual so I can verify that what I learned is actually correct.

So one thing that was, well, special for me is that I bargained for the camera all by myself. OK, this may seem like nothing, but when you enter into the complex world of bargaining in Taiwan, there is a lot of punching of calculator keys and hand gestures and shifting of optional items. So it went well enough, though I of course feel like I probably paid a little too much anyway.

I think my Chinese is improving. That is to say, I have climbed from the last plateau, and am dreading the next one. But still, it is fantastic to finally pick meanings (with contextual hints of course) out of regular speed conversations. Of course, many many things wash over me without registering. Sometimes my brain just can't do it. Too tired, and unable to concentrate. But when it works, it's fun. My new hobby in Taiwan is collecting napkins and scraps of paper. To elaborate--these are the remnants of multiple conversations in my second language on which are written new words and phrases and grammar constructions. Every conversation I have entails scribbling on something and shoving it in my pocket for later.

I think I have to admit now, too, that my second language is no longer French. Someone somewhere has noted that the third language is generally the hardest in that it tends to displace the second. I am finding that when I try to think in French, it comes out Chinese. Someone last week asked me to translate for a Frenchman with limited English. I just couldn't do it. I tried to speak French, by Chinese came out. Basic words, here. It's embarassing. It's okay, though, I prefer Chinese anyway. I never was a fan of the verbal conjugation that French demands.

The weather here has shifted dramatically. Yesterday one of my students invited me to a cultural festival near school. Hip-hop dancers and Western songs on guitar melded seemlessly with old Taiwanese tearjerkers about something fluttering and then blowing away in the wind. There were harmonica player, a chorus, and an orchestra. We didn't make it to the orchestra, though, as it was very windy and chilly, and we were unprepared for the cool weather. After regrouping over coffee, we decided to head to the night market for some food. We went to the Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市) to sample lots of very tasty specialties. First was Spicy Chou Tofu (麻 辣醜豆腐). [correction: 麻 辣臭豆腐] A highly fermented tofu with a failrly nasty smell, simmered in a spicy broth. Despite the unfragrant-ness of the stuff, it is delicious. I prefer it to the dry Chou Dofu, but at any rate, I think it is safe to say that I am becoming a Chou Dofu fan. I could have eaten a couple bowls, but I wanted to save myself for other yummy treats. Next was a fish stew thing. Basically, take big chunks of well-breaded friend white fish, and plop them into a flavorful but thick broth (lots of rice starch, I imagine). After that, my friend picked up a stick with candied fruit on it, while I opted for a spicy black pepper meat bun. At this stand, they have a circular brick oven and they stick the buns to the inside walls of the chamber. 10 minutes later, you have golden brown goodness. After that stand, we meandered--no, not really, it was very crowded--we shuffled over to another stand, where we had another things whose name I forgot. Basically, it's a jelly dessert especially popular in cold weather. Black in color, it also has beans, small jelly pieces, and peanuts. They ladle it into your bowl as a liquid, but as it cools, it begins to gel. Again, this was delicious. I felt particular warmed by the food if not also by the glowing scene around me.