We are Back TAIPEI version

We are back! But his time it is in Taipei, our second home. There is such a conflict of feelings about travel back and forth but a friend of ours suggested that we think of the states as “ back home” and Taipei as “ home.” That seems okay to us.

Thank you to all who met with us, entertained us, came to visit us, and to those who have told us you are watching the blog. We will try to be faithful in posting info if it matters to you. I think the challenge for the second year is to keep our local eyes and ears open to our surroundings now that they are much more familiar. I started taking my camera with me so I can grab the odd shot of the newly painted temple, or the swirling mess from typhoon Sepat, or whatever comes our way.

TRAVEL:

Do NOT trust Continental Airlines! Without going into detail, Continental had mechanical problems with a flight that used up our cushion between arriving in LA and departing for Taipei. All the service they promised to get us rushed on to the Taipei flight was never delivered and at 1:45 a.m.when asked, a little twerp of a jerk of an ass of a ticket supervisor looks at us and said he was off duty and going home….with three customers standing in front of him. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. I did not drop the F word but oh my I am glad there was a counter between us.

We spent part of the night in a hotel near LAX and then started work with counter agents to get us home. Continental was most committed to NOT having to get us a $20,000. ticket home. Our lovely EVA airlines worked so hard to get our seat upgrade back and was able to deliver. EVA is indeed our favorite airline. We watched great movies including Hula Girls(Japanese) and April (French) both of which we would like to own. Any teacher should get Hula Girls as it is an Asian version of Billy Elliott and Mr Holland’s Opus.

We got home at 5:15 am and began to stock up and visit the haunts immediately so as to moderate the jetlag. After about 5-6 days we feel we are back to normal, able to sleep the whole night long. Our home is so comfortable and despite the odd rat on the walkway THERE ARE NO MICE!. Our amah reported all that had occurred in our apartment with an agitation akin only to a wet hen kept out of the coop. She was kept from completing her deep cleaning so boy was she riled. Got to love her. We did get a new bath tub and a new range hood through her “supplications” (NOT!) to her brother our landlord. We really appreciate our 1 year old bed vs. our 30 year old bed in Door County.

BEING IN TAIPEI

There are so many things about being back that felt really good. Not needing to use a car is about topping the list. We like walking and it helps keep me more fit so driving everywhere was not a good thing in US. Access to really fresh fruits and vegetables is another joy. It is mango season so we have half a fresh one for breakfast and/or dinner along with sweet yellow watermelons and pineapples which are now in season. And I am stocking up on fresh passion fruit pulp and juice against winter of doing without.

My evening cocktails are back to gin and guava and tonic aka. G & G & T. It is veritably health coursing through my veins. Carol has got our friends trained to use up their excess duty free allowance on Jim Beam Black when they come through the airport so she is happy too.

We went to Costco and our local equivalent of Home Depot called B n Q and bought a wonderful three burner gas grill. That and a book case were delivered a day later for the tall sum of $10 USD. The propane guy came on his scooter in the rain the next day and, after taking off his Wellingtons, marched to the porch and made sure I would be safe with the grill. Carol constructed a professionally form-fitting oil cloth cover for is so we are ready to let the good times roll. I still feel the need to become one with the ham so I brought two big bags of wood chips with me in the suitcase.

Tien Mou has a tradition of fast turnover of businesses and this season was no exception. We now have a new Dunking Donuts around the corner and a Cold Stone Creamery in the area. The little croquette shop I tried to support as their first customer is now a health drink stand and our favorite Mom and Pop Chinese hole in the wall restaurant is no more. Sic transit Gloria. KFC is now current to the times by offering French Fries (WOW) and their version of cheese fries: they are coated in cheese sauce and rolled in rice crunchies. As always, there is that special Taiwanese twist to life that makes one look or think twice.

SCHOOL

School is going to be interesting this year. Our new superintendent is very decisive and strong which stands in sharp contrast to the previous head. The new Upper School principal…..the jury is still out but the words “rule by fiat” slides off one’s tongue. More on this later.

I was incredibly pleased to get the IB Music test scores for my students. The world average for music is 4.62 and my kids scored 5.75 out of 7. I had one lad with a perfect score of 7, two students with 6 and one with 4. I am very pleased. This year’s group is dynamite and ready to take on the musical world with performances and theory. That just means this daddy has got to keep running hard.

I am still so much enamored of the kids. They are truly teenagers and children but they are polite, bright and so cute it is hard to be strict. They are so beautiful and fun! When asked were did you go on your summer break, the response range from South Africa, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, all over the US, France, Germany, Prague and all points in between. Some spent weeks in foreign policy summer camps and others just were here working with their tutors. Most all were sleepless with anticipated joy at returning to school. It is SOOOOO hard to take.

Carol is the choreographer and I am the musical director of the Upper School musical, Once Upon a Mattress. We looked at our old videos of our SBHS kids and had a great sentimental journey. The show goes up in October so we will be very busy with that. Carol’s tap classes will be overflowing and her Tai chi “team” is in full battle cry so she is off and running.

TYPHOON SEPAT

As I write, the super typhoon is just passing off island. It hit well to the south of us so although we got a fair bit of rain and wind, we have not had any of the severe consequences of a category 5 hurricane/typhoon. Folks take all the usual precautions of filling the tubs, pulling everything that can be blown off the porches, putting tape in big X s across the window and keeping the metal security doors down. There is minor limb downage and the streets are filled with debris. Most business stayed closed and there is almost no one on the streets. I walked around this afternoon in my stylish seafoam green scooter parka and rescued another batch of passion fruit from a lingering death. South of here the flooding and outages have been much more severe. The worst thing about SEPAT is that it did not arrive on Friday or Monday morning so we could have a three day weekend.

Well folks sorry for bending you eyes so much. I will try to get pictures and decrease the verbiage. Keep the emails coming and let us know about you

Love

Bill and Carol