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Published: October 17th 2007
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View of the Mountains from the Rooftop
The mountains are as beautiful as they are in Vancouver. Anyone plotting to assassinate me (maybe one or two of my students for all I know) would have an easy time of it. I have become a real creature of habit. I’m up at 0500, out the door at 0520, in 7-11 to buy my orange juice and coffee at 0530, on the train at 0545, and rolling at 0600. I’m at the same breakfast place in Guangfu (at the same table) at 0705, and at school at 0730. My contract requires me to be on the school grounds all day, and I leave at 1630 for my 1711 train home. I arrive at Hualien Station at 1810, and I’m home again at 1830. I have a standing physiotherapy appointment at BTZGH at 1900, and I’m home again at 2030. Life in the fast lane.
By the way, you might wonder how I can afford to have daily physio treatments. Well, the user fee for my physiotherapy appointments is the equivalent of one and one-half Canadian dollars—so I can handle it.
This week will be slack for me, because Thursday and Friday are exam days for my grade seven and eight classes. That’s all I have all day Thursday
Pardy Hardy?
It used to be "party hearty" but at my age it has become "party hardly". and Friday morning, then only two grade nine classes in the afternoon. Mind you, I have grey hair because of one of the grade nine classes. I asked a boy to say something the other day, and his response presented me with a dilemma. His grumbling Chinese comment was “What’s this bullshit?” for the amusement of his pals.
What do I say to that? Maybe I misunderstood, after all. Do I let it go, or pretend not to understand? I raised my voice (which I rarely do) and told him in English not to use that language in my class.
By the way, Chinese people say “dog fart” instead of “bull shit”. It’s interesting that the words are gender-specific in both languages, even though I’m sure that bitches and cows are every bit as capable of deception and nonsense as dogs and bulls are. To my way of thinking it is better to swear in a gender-inclusive way, because misterogyny is no better than misogyny.
There you have it.
I digress, as usual. Neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday is a statutory holiday in Taiwan, but we get Tomb Sweeping Day on April 5th which this
Our Street Looks Quiet...
but between musical garbage trucks, loudspeakers on bakery trucks (I wish the guy would roll buns), Daytona drivers, night markets, gossips, and radios, it is anything but quiet. year is the day before Good Friday. Tomb Sweeping Day is sort of analogous to Easter anyway—everyone returns to the hometown, cleans up the graves of the ancestors and pays respect, and has a family reunion. This year they give us the Friday in addition, even though we have to work the following Saturday to make up for it. We are a day ahead of North America here, so we will be off at the same time as we would have been at home. It’s nicer to be working for a public employer, because at the for-profit English schools in Taipei we were paid per teaching hour, and whenever a holiday came around we just lost out.
I can get away with dinners at all-you-can-eat buffet places, provided they are vegetarian. There is a Buddhist place around the corner from the train station dishing up a really good meal for NTD 150 - about $5 each. Lao-puo met me there after school yesterday, which is noteworthy because she rode her motorbike in the dark and the rain and the rush hour to get there. I followed her part way home before I turned off for BTCGH, and was impressed.
Market Garden, Across the Street
Many of the neighbours live in little half-an-inch from shanty houses, and they have vegetable gardens in their yards. She is getting very skilled, and able to go through the “obstacle course” like a fish through a kelp bed.
For some reason, Chinese people seem reluctant to get involved in the aftermath of an accident. Lao-puo and I took charge of the scene the other day when that guy broke his leg, and then a similar incident happened the other day. There is an underpass on Jung Shan Lu at the train tracks, with one lane going each way for the cars and two little one-way tunnels about six feet wide for the bicycles and motorbikes. Anyway, right in front of me, a woman on a scooter tried to pass a man on a bicycle. She clipped him, and they both went ass-over-teakettle. Neither was hurt, but the guy was shaken up and the woman was very upset. Her scooter was on its side blocking the tunnel, and I was afraid that riders coming behind me wouldn’t see it and cause a pile-up. I parked my bike sideways to make a really visible obstacle, made sure neither participant was hurt, moved the woman’s damaged scooter and the bicycle out of the road, and kicked the broken glass out
Deck and Pool
The pool is only two feet deep, and seems to be closed more than open--even in the heat. of the way. Everyone else just rushed by, and some dimwits were even honking at me. I’ve passed bicycles in the tunnel myself, but I don’t like it.
The big news is---we’re getting out of the Submarine. You wouldn’t believe the great apartment that Lao-puo found for us! We will see (from our new living room window) a market garden and a golf course across the street, and the ocean in the distance. The lobby of the building has a grand piano and 24 hour security. There is an outdoor pool and a gym (damn!). Our place is on the second floor (there’s an elevator), and there’s a deck off the kitchen overlooking the pool with the mountains in the distance. The second-from- rooftop floor is a party room with a little kitchen, and an outdoor deck with a commanding view. We overlook a magnificent harbour and cityscape, and we can see all the way from Ti Ching Beach in one direction to the Far Glory Hotel in the other. Above that is a games room, with a ping-pong table, billiards, and carpet-putting. The apartment is fully furnished (even has bedding), with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There is
even a lovely big ceiling fan in the living room, so we shouldn’t have to use the air conditioning very much even in the stinking hot summer months. The rent is the equivalent (for the benefit of my former colleagues) of unit two shelter variable, and my housing stipend picks up all but a bit of it. We move next weekend. Everything is included except propane, water, Internet, and electricity.
It will take me fifteen minutes on the motorbike to get to the train, but as the weather warms I will succumb more frequently to the temptation to ride to Guangfu in the morning. Lao-puo doesn’t like it when I ride to school, so I phone her when I get there. One of these mornings, I will say “Hi dear—I’m at the hospital. I wanted to see a doctor, because I’m feeling a little run down.”
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