Week of September 20th, 2013

A quick correction...have mentioned the Chinese penchant for wearing masks, bathing caps, umbrellas in the sun, etc., and have been corrected that I should refer these traits to the Taiwanese only.  I've not been to China yet, but am told that not only do they not wear masks, but spitting openly everywhere is typical.  In listening to my Chinese counterparts, China is Oscar Madison to Taiwan's Felix Unger. 

Thursday is Moon / Mid-Autumn Festival.  As usual, the date of a holiday here is dependant on the phases of the moon, but it is your typical celebration of the harvest that is common throughout the world.  In modern Taipei, it manifests itself with everyone having a BBQ.  Sorta like July 4th, but having a BBQ here is a big deal in that most people live in apartments and don't typically have the access to a grill.  The stores are crammed with the portable, almost disposable kind and on Thursday night, the streets will be filled with impromptu cookouts.  And on Friday, the news will be filled with stories about impromptu fires being started by novice grill masters.  Pretty mild on the scale of unusual cultural events from around the world.  Have you ever been to Seattle's Summer Solstice Parade where naked bike riders paint their bodies in crazy ways to celebrate the longest day of the year.  On my bucket list is visiting certain places for their nutty rituals including: Thailand for the Songkran Water Festival and Tomato Throwing Festival in Bunoi, Spain.  And I am definitely going with Paul to the Yanshui Fireworks Festival right here in TW before our time is up.

Sunday Night Football starts at 8:30AM on Monday here, and last weeks game was a huge one between the Niners and Seahawks.  As it was one of the best regular season games this year being played at an time when most people are awake, invited some fellas over to watch it.  Perfect storm when the kids were at school and Betty on the road, managed to get three gents to play hooky from work and come watch Seattle bust the loudest stadium record up.  A great game (if you are a Seahawk fan), but was as great to have some traditional male bonding time.  Drinking beers, chili omelets and your basic shit flipping good time was awesome.  If it is wrong to skip work and get drunk in the morning with the boys and watch football, I don't want to be right. 

Whenever you get together with folks here, the crowd is typically very international, and one is always learning things about other cultures.  Something I learned during our beer-fueled game watching on Monday was the Indian Head Bobble.  As a collector of cultural stereo-type information, was pretty amazed this widely known one had passed under my radar.  I know that many cultures are uncomfortable saying the word no...for instance, whenever our Iranian friends answer maybe to anything, we understand that is an unequivocal no.  What I didn't realize was that the Indian aversion to the word no (attributed historically to their unwillingness/fear of saying no to the British Raj), had turned the head bobble into an involuntary reaction of sorts.  In retrospect, whenever I say things in an Indian accent, I feel like my head does the bobble thing.

Speaking of things that have been under my nose all along, need to keep it short this week to get this done by Friday.  Have some things on the list to write about, but any free time (and some not so free) the last few days has been dominated by a Breaking Bad.  Mentioned last week that I was hooked, and am currently on episode 4 of season 5.  Am officially putting it on my Mount Rushmore of TV shows all time (along with I Love Lucy, The Simpsons and Veronica Mars).  Everything about it, writing, casting, directing, is close to perfect.  The subject matter is twisted and definitely not for everyone, and it can be ultra-violent at times, but every episode leaves you breathless and dying to know what comes next.  I think the final episode is being broadcast this Sunday and cannot imagine how much the fans that have been watching it all along and have survived the week long breaks / season hiatuses are going to freak when it is done.  OK...gotta go.  Everyone is still asleep so can get another episode in before they wake up.





.