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Published: June 26th 2008
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Dinner with June, a Chinese Teacher.
That is to say, she's Chinese and she teaches Chinese. Her limited English did not prevent anyone from having a great time. I added a couple of brief clips about the local scenery. Unless someone thinks I have nice feet, I should apologize for showing them at the end of the vids.
Before you even look into the window of a business establishment here—fat lot of good the sign does when I can’t read—you can spot the Internet Cafes a mile away. The giveaway is the disproportionate number of bicycles from kids who should be doing homework instead of “play computer”, and jazzed up scooters from the young pups who should have better things to do than “play computer” as well. Guangfu has one such place, and what a money machine it must be for the proprietor! Across the street from the place is a restaurant I will never forget. My good friend Joe took me there for dinner when I first arrived here two years ago, I took Lao-puo there for her first dinner in her new home, and I used to take my notebook there for coffee when I lived in the school dorm. The lady let me use Internet free, and her little daughter always brought me a slice of cheesecake with a carefully-rehearsed “on the house” to go
Wild Flowers, Palms, and Mountains
These are all very common in my beloved East Rift Valley--even in downtown Guangfu. along with it. We are also ending Guangfu dinings-out when June invited us for dinner last Friday. She has very limited English, but somehow she and I have always managed to communicate. Suzanne did very well with the challenge too.
Last year, my friend in a recruiting company asked to me contact a teacher who was considering a position in Hualien County, but had yet to make up her mind. I thought of the flowers and the mountains and the palm trees around here, and sent Betty an email entitled “The Garden of Eden”. A week or so later, my friend expressed astonishment that Betty hadn’t heard from me, given that I am pretty good at delivering on my promises. As it turned out, Betty did in fact receive my email. However, when she saw “The Garden of Eden” from some guy named “Pagan Dan” she thought it was some porn job and simply deleted it! We’ve been laughing about that ever since. In any case, this chapter includes an attached picture of a field of wild flowers on the outskirts of Guangfu. By the riverbank. Where that rich guy was going to give us land to build our
Market Madness, Slo-Mo Jailbreak
Anything that isn't for sale in a Hualien food market isn't worth buying. house, if I agreed to stay for five years. Sigh.
Someone was selling snails at the food market the other day. The moment her back was turned, the snails made good their escape—painstakingly. It was interesting that snails were not imported or anything—they are just the regular old snails that ooze their way around our neighbourhood.
On the spur of the moment, we decided to drive down to Taitung last Sunday. It takes about two hours, but longer for us because we kept stopping. We drove down through the valley, and back up along the coast. It was sunny, and very hot (34 degrees with full humidity). Remind me to phone the Pope, to recommend for sainthood the guy who invented air conditioning for cars. The trip would not have been enjoyable otherwise. Toby likes air conditioning too—he lay on the floor in front of the vent the whole way there and back. Xiao Bai prefers to stand on the back seat, with her head over the console, panting in our ears and slobbering onto the gearshift. To my way of thinking, the valley is as beautiful as Hawaii, and the coast rivals California. Hualien County and Taitung
Toby Hogged the Car's Aircon Vent
All the way to Taitung and back. Smart fellow! County are under the radar in terms of tourists, but I expect that will change when things simmer down with the Mainlanders.
“Class dismissed”. It’s hard to believe that I’m done. What a song and dance some of my last classes were! The boys tended to be nonchalant about me leaving—barring the odd hug here and there, but some of the girls were something else, let me tell you! There were autographs, wanting my email address, saying they love me, blowing kisses at me, and the whole nine yards. I was struck by the difference between young teen girls as students, and young teen girls as peers. Why didn’t they carry on like that when I was in grade 7 or 8 or 9? I should ask some of the girls—we have our fortieth (can you believe that?) high school reunion in Vancouver in August. On second thought no. They might be too kind to tell me the truth, or I might not want to hear what they have to say.
No more classes to teach. All I have to do now is get my marks put together. My monthly train pass expired June 20th, and there is
Tired Pals
Flaked out after ther big trip down the valley and back up the coast. no use in getting another one. Lao-puo needs the car during the day. Darn! That means I have to take the motorbike to and from school this week and next—100 km per day round trip. Sometimes I just take Highway 9 home—it’s the fastest and most direct—but sometimes I take 193 through the farms and the mountains. There is a sharp hairpin turn at one point with no choice but to slow right down, and a Jaws-on-Paws of a watchdog that comes roaring out at me. Another farmer lets his geese run loose and more often than not his gaggle is blocking the road. Sometimes I take Hwy 11 down the coast—that’s where I got the vids for this chapter.
Next week I only have to come for half days, then the week after that is a break before we get our flight back to Canada.
We got rid of the car and motorbike, under circumstances that permit us to keep both until our last day. Get a load. It has only cost us NTD 8000 (CAD 265) to own and enjoy a car for a year and a motorbike for two years. I did nothing to the
Watching Us Eat Breakfast Can
However, it would be even less fun to have to wait in the car, at 30+ degrees even at breakfast time. bike except oil, two tires, and a speedometer cable. The car needed only a few hundred in repairs to the suspension, brakes, and front end. We also got two new tires. Insurance was CAD 65 per year for the bike, and CAD 130 for the car. Gas has gone up. 92 octane (the lowest grade) is CAD 1.11. I use 95 in the bike, and it only costs CAD 5 to fill the tank. A kid once accidentally put in 98 octane (there is no self-serve here because labour is so cheap), and I thought I had grown an extra cylinder. The car is about CAD 45 to gas up. The only additional cost of driving is radar cameras. I forgot about one this morning, and it was all over in a flash.
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