August 31, 2012

August 31st, 2012

Was told that the last entry was kinda dark, so will try to lighten it up a bit today. I was a bit tough on the Taiwanese with my perception of their lack of social graces, but in one on one situations, they are as friendly and helpful a culture as I've ever come across. That's what makes the dickish behaviour in the aggregate so puzzling. Have scribbled a bunch of various notes in my book, so will address a few of them today. First and foremost, I did figure out the automated toilet features on Wednesday and am now hooked. If you have one, or have had the opportunity to use these seats before, you are with me in loving them. Enjoying a little warm water spritzy-poo after taking care of business is so refreshing, and we will be installing these in all future abodes. A friend forwarded me this article from MSN where a Taiwanese EPA official is asking local governments to post notices recomending that men pee sitting down, suggesting that the main reason men's bathrooms smell worse than ladies is due to fellas peeing standing up. That one came out of his "no d'uh" file obviously. I've always wanted a urinal installed at home, but now that I have come to appreciate the spray toilet, and following the advice of local government, am totally sitting down to pee at home going forward (will still stand-up at the 7-11 or better yet, find a nice bush outside when not at home). Thankfully, it rains here a lot and water conservation doesn't seem to be a priority cause I've been wasting a lot of water in the bathroom...you can take care of all your emails, brush your teeth, read a book in style, etc., while having your own personal jacuzzi jet work its magic. Keeping along the body exploration line, have noticed that my own personal scent has been changing, and not for the better. It's been well documented that it is miserably hot and that sweating profusly is just gonna happen, but in the last week, have noticed a definite change in the smell off my own funk. We all know our own smells well and being a well documented smelly dude, thought I had my stink options well cataloged. The other day, after getting home from an especially long and hot stroll to the market, I caught a wiff of something gawdawful...I had smelled it around town before at times, like on the subway, and spent a few minutes sniffing around for the source. Looked in the trash for rotten food not placed in the fridge (and stuff goes rotten fast here if not properly stored and sometimes even when it is) and looked at the bottom of all the shoes to see if someone steeped in stray dog duke (will take some snaps of these stray dogs soon. There are a lot of them, scrawny and dirty, but they are so docile and such smart pedestrians that I don't know how I feel about them yet). Anyhoo, as I was pulling the shoes off the high shelf, found that the source of the odor was me. I suppose in retrospect that it shouldn't be a surprise, but it has to be that with the change of diet to more Chinese offerings, that body chemistry would also change as well. The fact that it was a smell that has wafted before our noses in group settings before seems to be the proof. Am glad to report that I am now acclimated to it to the point of enjoying it. Moving from bathroom to bedroom, here are a couple of snaps taken this AM off the balcony. Very pretty...the baseball stadium is right behind the big building (which is a nice Japanese mall/dept. store), and that is a junior high across the street. The view with the hills in the background is forever changing and dynamic, but the problem is that the view faces directly east. Good feng shui of course...morning light being very desireable, but the sun pokes over that ridgeline at precisely 5:58AM. We know this of course as the curtains are not blackout and am blasted by a combination of searing heat and blinding light at that time every morning. Being closer to the equator, the sunrise/sunset times don't vary wildly like they did in the PNW, so think this is gonna be an ongoing struggle. Debating whether to invest in some heavy curtains, or just use it as the alarm clock and remember to go hide in the kids rooms (west facing and very cavelike) on weekends. Speaking of the junior high, yesterday was back to school day (traffic has been especially prickly since), and the custom is for the kids to clean the school on the first day. Such a great idea... Local public school uniform...boys wear blue versions. Was heartened to see the kids slacking off on their tasks though and that the hardworking Chinese students cliche might not be all that. And look at their crappy brooms...they barely push the dirt around. Must be a teaching/torture device of some kind...but a great prop for a Halloween witch costume Our kids don't have a uniform code for bettter or worse...shorts and sandles worn daily so far. Their school (Taipei American School) seems to good to be true...better than expected, and we had high expectations. I received a call yesterday afternoon from Paul's homeroom/history teacher. From past experience, got a little clamy waiting for the "Paul did this or Paul touched that" complaint, but she was calling me to check in on how I thought he was doing. They think about the new kids and how they usually have come from another country and are keeping close tabs on them to ensure they aren't depressed or having other psychological issues. The teacher (Ms. Rowe from Adeladie, Australia) said Paul has been working hard, participating in class, smiling and seems to be getting along well. I'm listening...still waiting for the but...and she goes on to offer her help on any questions we may have and that it was all positive and caring. They are kicking his butt with homework, but he is not seeming to mind it. Carolyn's open house was last night and we caught the same vibe...work hard, make room for fun, and allow the diversity of the teaching staff/student body to flourish. All the teachers are recruited from around the world, and in hearing their biographies, in addition to doing teaching stints in their home countries (UK, Australia, NZ and US mainly),most have also spent years in other countries (Egypt, Japan, Venezuela, etc) and bring such incredible life experience to the classrooms. We had hoped that this move and school would be like this for them, but the opportunity they have cannot yet be quantified. Trying not to slam the kids schools in Seattle, but seeing how great a school can be makes me feel that we'd been cheated by the public school system to this point. And I am super proud and grateful to both the kids for their positive attitudes and open minds so far. Quick cockroach update...Betty said she killed a couple a few weeks ago, but I haven't seen any. There have been a handful of ants in the kitchen, but they seem to be rogues (and fast ones at that). So last night, I wake up at 2-something AM to go potty (sit and spray) and stub my toe on the ghost blocking door threshold (by the way, someone told me that the raised thresholds were originally created at temples so people had to stop and reflect before entering a house of worship and that they hadn't heard of the ghost kneecap thing. That might be partially true, but what god is in the bathroom that they need to raise them for that room?) So after I stub my toe, head to the kitchen to get a swig of cold water, and as I grab the fridge door, I feel/hear a crunch under my barefoot. I open the door and look down, and nothing is there, although in my mind I swear I saw something scurry away. Ugh. So still haven't seen a cucaracha in some time, but am possibly more freaked out by their presence than before. When Betty and I got our first apartment together in Long Beach, we had to supply our own fridge. We didn't have a ton of dough, so found one in the Recycler (no Craigslist in those days...no internet for that matter) for $35. The place we picked it up from was this old storefront that looked more like an oversized unit from Storage Wars that had at least a dozen cats and was in a neighborhood that was soon to be burned down in the '92 LA riots. I know...why did we still buy the damned thing? Cause we had borrowed a truck. So it's in the apartment and is working OK, but a few days later, I notice a cockroach and Betty tells me she's seen a couple too. So we go get some roach spray killer and decide to take care of business. At the first spray near that refrigerator, the thing erupts with cockroaches. Betty takes half the room and I take the other and we are spraying and stomping in absolute horror and disgust. I am not exagerating when I say we crushed two hundered of those things and was probably far more than that. We moved out of that place at the first possible opportunity, but that memory will haunt me till the day I die. I imagine Betty feels the same, but I don't think we have spoken of it since. Finally...the typhoon came and went, passing off of the east coast. Didn't hit us directly, but definately gave us a big wet kiss. Checking in on the storm's path yesterday, the weather bureau's website shows the storms path, both actual in the past and projected. Here is a snapshot of the latest stoms trajectory from the site last night...if Taipei got a big wet kiss, I don't wanna know what it's doing to Korea.