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I'm back. I'm still getting over jetlag. And I'm on vacation. I will get that last post about my Taiwanese Chinese studies up. But it'll take me some time. I've got a 2500km drive this week.
Last night I ate a lobster and barbequed pizza while I drank beer by the pool. Life is good.
I leave my house around 7 in the morning tomorrow. I've got about 24 hours of flight/airport-waiting time until I get to Canada. I'll be incommunicado for a while. I haven't gotten around to posting that Chinese study wrap-up yet. I'll do so later in the week.
I'm scheduled to fly out Wednesday morning. Taiwan's next typhoon is scheduled to arrive Tuesday night. Where exactly it will make landfall remains to be seen, but it looks like it might head straight through Chiang Kai Shek memorial airport. I hope I don't end up spending the day waiting around the airport for flyable conditions.
It's my last weekend here in Taipei. I'm getting around to doing a few things I've wanted to do. Friday night I went to Shilin night market and had my ears cleaned by the magic ear cleaning candle man. I'd heard about it and seen it before, but before Friday had not gotten around to trying it. Because I'm always one to appreciate clean orifices I decided to give it a go.
It was not unpleasant. Nor was it particularly pleasant. The burning of the candle takes about ten minutes and while it burns it slowly draws stuff out of your ear. I was quite anxious to see what had come out of my ear. I suppose less is actually better when it comes to ear stuff. Nonetheless I was hoping my ears would produce a motherload of ear stuff, as the sight of it would have been distinctly satisfying.
I was pleased with my ear produce. It wasn't HUGE amounts of stuff but it was certainly appreciable. The fellow said if I came back the next day even more would come out. I'm not sure whether to believe him or if he was just using my innate desire to see crap come out of my ears to encourage repeat business. I decided once was good enough and paid the man. The results weren't terribly perceptible. I reckon my ears feel slightly emptier, and I can maybe hear a bit better. It's hard to say because today I managed to fill my ears with water, likely counteracting any benefit derived from having them specially cleaned. Nonetheless I recommend the ear cleaning if you get a chance. Even if it doesn't do anything good, it is still satisfying to see all that crap come out of the side of your head.
On Saturday some friends and I went to a waterfall in Neihu. Getting there was a dodgy affair involving climbing across fallen logs, scaling a cliff with the assistance of some plastic-covered wire rope, and then scaling down the other side using a similar set up. Once there though, it was very nice. Due to the difficulty in reaching the waterfall there were no other people there. The pool was large enough to swim around (maybe 7 by 5 metres at the longest/widest points) and it was plenty deep for jumping and diving off of the surrounding rocks.
I did more than my share of jumping and diving which is how I managed to re-fill my ears with crap. Hopefully it comes out before I fly home as flying with crap filled ears is always a less than enjoyable experience.
If you want to check out a high-res ear crap photo click on the one above. I put some other photos up here: http://picasaweb.google.com/gryanwhalen/07212006
I leave Taiwan in less than a week. I'm looking forward to some poolside barbeque and sangria. But I'll also miss Taiwan. I've been asked innumerable times what I think of the place. Here is my quick rundown:
Taiwan is hot. Taiwanese people are friendly. Taiwan has a lot of cockroaches. Life here is exceptionally convenient. There are some great things to eat in Taiwan. There are some heinously disgusting things to eat in Taiwan. Taipei is smoggy. Taiwan has a lot of funny smells. Some of those smells are good. Others are disturbingly rank. Taiwan has many beautiful spots worthy of visiting. Those spots are likely very hot and humid. Unless it is winter, in which case they are likely cool and rainy. I'd write more but I'm getting hungry. I'm going to go eat some good Taiwanese food.
Sometimes people mistakenly add me to their MSN lists. They confuse my email address with that of one of their friends. A few months ago, a young boy added me thinking I was a team mate from his baseball team. Thinking I was his friend, he started to chat with me. I wasn't sure if I knew him or not so I asked who he was. He said Conor. At first, I thought he was playing some sort of prank. Conor is my little brother's name. The little leaguer even spelled it in the same uncommon 'one n' way. But my brother Conor died in 2003.
Usually I just say goodbye to these mistaken acquaintances and let us each get on with our lives. But this time I wanted to chat. I wanted to hear what this Conor's life was like. I wanted him to tell me about his little league team, his school, his friends. Deep down part of me wanted to pretend for a few moments that I was chatting with my little brother. But he knew better than to talk with strangers. So he left.
My apologies for neglecting my posting duties recently. Like I said I'm trying to focus more on the Canadian-Asian affairs blog, and I'm studying more. That said, I am planning a sort of end of 11 months Chinese studying progress report soon. I just haven't got the time or motivation right now. So instead I'll do what any good Canadian would do and gripe about the weather.
Today it's 29 degrees and humid. This afternoon I actually said "wow it's nice and cool today" because the temperature has been hovering around the '35 degrees with skull-crushing humidity' level. It's simply too hot. Apparently there is also a minor typhoon bearing down on Taipei. That means rain galore over the next day or so. I don't personally mind them, but I feel for the farmers and those who live in flood/landslide prone areas who have to deal with them every year.
I rarely make mention of technology related issues, but this is pretty sweet. Jajah is a new service which allows for free national and international calling (within some countries) to its users. You go to the website. Put in your number, the number you want to dial and press go. Your phone rings. The phone rings on the other end. You both pick up. You talk. It's free. F-R-E-E.
Start registering your numbers now so you can get in on the freeness.
You can relax now. After an incredible number of phone calls, emails, and faxes I believe I have my class registration difficulties sorted. I should be signing up for classes by Monday at the latest. Yay me.
Its that time of year when I plot numbers and course codes on pieces of paper trying to make class schedules and my degree requirements match. I've been planning for quite some time now to return to Halifax and start to finish my degree in September. I even have all of the classes I imagined myself taking sorted out, and written down in nice neat columns on scraps of paper scattered about my room.
As I have been able to log into my school's administrative computer network and I've noticed that my account has no holds, I've been under the impression I would be able to register for classes without any difficulty. Alas, as with so many other beliefs I've held, I have been terribly mistaken.
Today registration opened, so I diligentely logged onto the overworked school website to start signing up for classes. But it was to no avail. I am not allowed to register for classes. Apparently, my year off has shifted me from the 'active' student column to the 'AWOL' student column. Furthermore, even though all of my information is already in the system and all that really needs to be done is for me to inform them I wish to study and for them to flick a metaphorical switch, I still need to completely re-apply for admission. Furthermore this re-application for admission is to be done during the same period of time as regular admissions, which is to say the deadline was last Saturday.
So as of right now I don't know if I'll be able to return to school as planned or not. This is rather distressing for me as I had a nice plan worked out, as to which classes I would take when, leading ultimately to my graduation. I am hopeful that my pleading with the university will be of some assistance. I haven't got much to offer them besides my gratitude but hopefully that will be enough. Incidentally, it was just this weekend that I discoverd the university in question will be using my image and story in their upcoming recruitment campaign materials. It would be ironically unfortunate if I was disallowed to attend the university which is using me in its recruition promotion.