Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day.?
I don't know how many times I have sung this in the last 5 days, but it's a lot. A whole hell of a lot. More than one man can fathom. More than 2 men, but maybe not more than 3 men. Seriously, I have been so bored for the past 5 days. Why? You might ask. Well, let me tell you.
As I mentioned on my weblog a typhoon hit Taiwan on Saturday night/Sunday. A typhoon is exactly the same as a hurricane. I had no idea how bad it would be but I didn't imagine what would happen. The last one that hit was pretty bad. 200 people died and the devastation was immense. Not as many people died this time but the damage to farm crops is about 23 million dollars Canadian. And the gov't has allocated 170 million CDN to help repair damage caused by the typhoon. Only 79 people died this time, which I guess is lucky but the way they died is horrible. The water that flooded the streets and businesses and houses was like creamy coffee the dirt was so thick and people drowned in it. They could see anything and they had no way of getting to safety. It must have been horrible. In fact the typhoon was so bad that it actually kept NYC from enetering my mind for almost 4 days. The fact that we didn't have TV for most of the time helped since I was unable to see news reports about NYC. But we also couldn't find out what was happening in Taiwan and that sucked. The flooding by my apartment wasn't too bad. On Tuesday Adrian and I walked to the 7-11 for food and there was nothing on the shelves. The water in the streets was only up above my ankles in other places. In some it was only as high as the top of my feet. So not bad when you see streets where the water is up to people�s waists in some places.
The streets of Jong-Li are mind-blowing. There is dirt everywhere and garbage. The stench is overpowering in some places. As I walked to work today it was almost unbearable in some places. I have to applaud the people who are cleaning it up. I would not be able to get that close to the smell without vomiting.
The storm was so bad that they closed schools on Monday and Tuesday. Which meant no work for me and Adrian, but because of the flooded roads it also meant that we couldn't really go anywhere. So we were basically house bound. On Wednesday my boss from the kids school called to tell me that my classes were cancelled that day but Adrian�s were still on. Today (Thursday) I went down there to find out when I might be able to go back to work. Monday, hopefully, is what I was told. The school has two class rooms in the basement and therefore they don't have enough classes for everyone so they cancelled both of mine for the week. You can imagine my joy. NOT! (wow I haven't used that expression for years). That means that this week instead of working 23 hours I am working a huge 7. My next paycheck is going to be tiny.
But it's not too bad, this is honestly the first in my life (as far as I can remember anyway) time I have ever been adversely affected by a natural disaster. And since I still have my health, and all of my possessions I can't complain too loudly.
So what did I do all that time? How did I kill hours and hours in an apartment without snapping and killing Adrian? I honestly don't know. I read a lot. I finally started to get into Gravity's Rainbow?which I have tried to do 9 unsuccessful times over the past 4 years, but I have once again given up on it in lieu of Harry Potter 4. My New Year's resolution for 2001 was to finish Gravity's Rainbow?and I still plan to do it, but maybe not for a week or so from now.
I also practiced my house of cards building skills. I almost got one to 4 floors, but it collapsed. One day I will do it, oh yes you just wait on day! MUWAHAHAHAW!
And I played a HUGE amount of Minesweaper. A seriously huge amount! I have never been able to complete the expert level on that game, but by God, yesterday the gods smiled on my sorry ass and I did it. I finally did it. You don't understand how many times I would get it down to 4 or 5 bombs and I would lose. It was painful, seriously painful. No one could ever truly know my pain
But enough about cabin fever! What's Taiwan like? Like Scott pointed out to me (by the way Scott, thank you so much for the letter.) no one will ever truly grasp what the hell I am talking about when I describe life over here, but I am going to anyways.
Life here is really strange. No one ever seems to really do anything. There are always people just walking around. ALWAYS! I know, because I am one of them. I walk around downtown all the time just killing time and the place is always packed all of the time. But it's kinda neat to be in a city that doesn't shut down at 9 o'clock on a Sunday. No matter what time or what day you can always get what you need here.
You should see the roads here. Honestly unless you've been here or India you will never appreciate how organized Calgary truly is. People just drive here. It's a red light, who cares just drive! If you're on a scooter in a traffic back up, who cares just drive around it and through the cars on the other side of the street. So if you are walking down the side of the road you have to be really careful. One friend of Adrian's is really funny she always thinks I walk too close to traffic when I am a good two feet away from the cars. She should see it when I walk home and the big truck misses me by inches and I don't even flinch. The truck and bus drivers here have to some of the best I have ever seen. They take huge, absolutely huge, buses down streets and around corners that shouldn't be physically possible. It's actually really thrilling to ride the bus and watch as the bus driver, with his half closed eyes turns 90 degrees to the right in a very narrow street without hesitation.
The people here are great. They stare at me because I am a foreigner, but it's hilarious to say hello in Chinese and watch their eyes pop. They also find it amazing that I know how to use chopsticks. I haven's used a fork but once since I got here. Everytime we go out to eat with someone new they just look and exclaim: You know how to use chopsticks??It's funny.
So I think that I am over that whole depression stage for now. I am starting to see the good things here and I am beginning to enjoy the lifestyle over here.
I don't know how many times I have sung this in the last 5 days, but it's a lot. A whole hell of a lot. More than one man can fathom. More than 2 men, but maybe not more than 3 men. Seriously, I have been so bored for the past 5 days. Why? You might ask. Well, let me tell you.
As I mentioned on my weblog a typhoon hit Taiwan on Saturday night/Sunday. A typhoon is exactly the same as a hurricane. I had no idea how bad it would be but I didn't imagine what would happen. The last one that hit was pretty bad. 200 people died and the devastation was immense. Not as many people died this time but the damage to farm crops is about 23 million dollars Canadian. And the gov't has allocated 170 million CDN to help repair damage caused by the typhoon. Only 79 people died this time, which I guess is lucky but the way they died is horrible. The water that flooded the streets and businesses and houses was like creamy coffee the dirt was so thick and people drowned in it. They could see anything and they had no way of getting to safety. It must have been horrible. In fact the typhoon was so bad that it actually kept NYC from enetering my mind for almost 4 days. The fact that we didn't have TV for most of the time helped since I was unable to see news reports about NYC. But we also couldn't find out what was happening in Taiwan and that sucked. The flooding by my apartment wasn't too bad. On Tuesday Adrian and I walked to the 7-11 for food and there was nothing on the shelves. The water in the streets was only up above my ankles in other places. In some it was only as high as the top of my feet. So not bad when you see streets where the water is up to people�s waists in some places.
The streets of Jong-Li are mind-blowing. There is dirt everywhere and garbage. The stench is overpowering in some places. As I walked to work today it was almost unbearable in some places. I have to applaud the people who are cleaning it up. I would not be able to get that close to the smell without vomiting.
The storm was so bad that they closed schools on Monday and Tuesday. Which meant no work for me and Adrian, but because of the flooded roads it also meant that we couldn't really go anywhere. So we were basically house bound. On Wednesday my boss from the kids school called to tell me that my classes were cancelled that day but Adrian�s were still on. Today (Thursday) I went down there to find out when I might be able to go back to work. Monday, hopefully, is what I was told. The school has two class rooms in the basement and therefore they don't have enough classes for everyone so they cancelled both of mine for the week. You can imagine my joy. NOT! (wow I haven't used that expression for years). That means that this week instead of working 23 hours I am working a huge 7. My next paycheck is going to be tiny.
But it's not too bad, this is honestly the first in my life (as far as I can remember anyway) time I have ever been adversely affected by a natural disaster. And since I still have my health, and all of my possessions I can't complain too loudly.
So what did I do all that time? How did I kill hours and hours in an apartment without snapping and killing Adrian? I honestly don't know. I read a lot. I finally started to get into Gravity's Rainbow?which I have tried to do 9 unsuccessful times over the past 4 years, but I have once again given up on it in lieu of Harry Potter 4. My New Year's resolution for 2001 was to finish Gravity's Rainbow?and I still plan to do it, but maybe not for a week or so from now.
I also practiced my house of cards building skills. I almost got one to 4 floors, but it collapsed. One day I will do it, oh yes you just wait on day! MUWAHAHAHAW!
And I played a HUGE amount of Minesweaper. A seriously huge amount! I have never been able to complete the expert level on that game, but by God, yesterday the gods smiled on my sorry ass and I did it. I finally did it. You don't understand how many times I would get it down to 4 or 5 bombs and I would lose. It was painful, seriously painful. No one could ever truly know my pain
But enough about cabin fever! What's Taiwan like? Like Scott pointed out to me (by the way Scott, thank you so much for the letter.) no one will ever truly grasp what the hell I am talking about when I describe life over here, but I am going to anyways.
Life here is really strange. No one ever seems to really do anything. There are always people just walking around. ALWAYS! I know, because I am one of them. I walk around downtown all the time just killing time and the place is always packed all of the time. But it's kinda neat to be in a city that doesn't shut down at 9 o'clock on a Sunday. No matter what time or what day you can always get what you need here.
You should see the roads here. Honestly unless you've been here or India you will never appreciate how organized Calgary truly is. People just drive here. It's a red light, who cares just drive! If you're on a scooter in a traffic back up, who cares just drive around it and through the cars on the other side of the street. So if you are walking down the side of the road you have to be really careful. One friend of Adrian's is really funny she always thinks I walk too close to traffic when I am a good two feet away from the cars. She should see it when I walk home and the big truck misses me by inches and I don't even flinch. The truck and bus drivers here have to some of the best I have ever seen. They take huge, absolutely huge, buses down streets and around corners that shouldn't be physically possible. It's actually really thrilling to ride the bus and watch as the bus driver, with his half closed eyes turns 90 degrees to the right in a very narrow street without hesitation.
The people here are great. They stare at me because I am a foreigner, but it's hilarious to say hello in Chinese and watch their eyes pop. They also find it amazing that I know how to use chopsticks. I haven's used a fork but once since I got here. Everytime we go out to eat with someone new they just look and exclaim: You know how to use chopsticks??It's funny.
So I think that I am over that whole depression stage for now. I am starting to see the good things here and I am beginning to enjoy the lifestyle over here.
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