The switch flipped and we are in it. This will be the 9th Taipei summer we have experienced but the first when we'll be here for the whole thing. I know it is coming and also that it is gonna be awful, but knowing the pain is coming doesn't mitigate its affect. I will be mentioning it often in hopes that writing about it will be a form of therapy and the challenge will be to come up with new and funny ways to describe it without repeating old jokes like...You know what they say about the weather in Taiwan in the summer? Wait 5 minutes and shoot yourself in the face. Gold Jerry.
Hard not to complain about the heat...OK, impossible for me...but really shouldn't do so as we are in a place that feels almost completely normal. Coming close to the end of baseball season and we practiced/played Monday through Thursday evenings. Friday night, we had friends over for drinky-poos, went downstairs to the Vietnamese place for dinner and came home for a round of Cards Against Humanity. Had never played and was excited to having heard about it for years. It was funny the first couple of rounds but it wore thin relatively quickly. Saturday we went to a friend's place for a BBQ and we are taking Betty to a steak joint tonight for Mother's Day.
This is not to brag or make you feel sad, but to give you hope that life can get back to normalcy. Every conversation with a person I talk to here says the exact same thing; how lucky we are to be living in the best place on Earth during this time in history. It's been 28 days since there has been a single non-imported case, and while they aren't saying so and remain vigilant, they have beaten it. Have been predicting/hoping that other countries that have done the same can start interacting and that we can beat the heat here with a trip off island, and saw this article where they are talking to Australia and New Zealand about creating a travel bubble with Taiwan so that people can go places without having to quarantine. Please make this happen.
I have to walk through the elementary school to get to the baseball field and saw the latest artwork project displayed on the walls.
Have to assume it was an exercise to draw a masked self portrait and to express your feelings on the mask. This kid apparently likes sushi and his electronics
This mask shit is not enjoyable for anyone, but it is not hard to do.
The Boy turns 21 on Monday and while he won't get to celebrate by having his first drink, will always be able to tell his children the story of 2020. He seems fine and have been impressed that he's been teaching himself how to cook real food with his extra time. He sent us some photos and the stuff looks good, and this week he has started experimenting with baking his favorite treat...Apple Pies.
My poor mom on the other hand seems to be losing it. She got diagnosed last Monday with having a UTI (look it up) and that has caused her mind to cloud in the past. They put her on antibiotics and hoped it would get her back to some clarity, but has been agonizingly slow in doing so. It has been a week of not understanding why she is not at the home she lived in years ago, 'why are you doing this to me' and going through her phone book calling everyone asking those questions. We Skype and she is looking at me and asking where John is. I ask her who I am and she says my son John, then asks in the next breath where her son John is. My sister asked me what it feels like to have a twin, Sexy of course.
I've read and been told how to react to this kind of dementia, but as an impatient person, it is mind bendingly frustrating and know I am not doing a great job of it and that makes me feel awful.. Not being able to see anyone other than the other old bats that walk down the hallway or go out of her place for anything has to be contributing to this confusion. Reading is really not something a 93 year old can do with pleasure, and even navigating Netflix is far beyond her technological aptitude. I know a lot of other folks here who have similarly aged parents in the States and they are all having similar issues to some degree. These people might not die of the virus, but they are another casualty that is hard to quantify. After us expats talk about how fortunate we are to be here, the next sentence is how fucking pissed we are at the States for the way that even the most basic of remedies like wearing a mask is now the frontline of the political divide. I knew that getting the 33% of Americans that ride or die with that guy to come together would be unlikely, but their fervor with doing so is stunning.
Sorry, not a great nor funny entry today. Think I have a bit of what they describe as survivor guilt
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