Running and Complaining, Complaining and Running

Sometimes I think back fondly on the days when I could make a quick drive to Costco and back without getting blistering sunburns on my shoulders. Not that I ever went to Costco in the U.S., but never mind that. The point is, it’s HOT.

Fortunately, I won’t have to worry much about sunburn over the next month or so, since I will have absolutely no opportunity to go outside in the sun. I will be at work. All the time. Two of my coworkers are quitting without much notice, so there won’t be any time to find replacements for them. This means that those of us who are left will have to take on quite a few extra classes. Although, given their individual circumstances, I can’t blame either of my coworkers for leaving, it puts me in a very frustrating situation. My free time will largely disappear. There is no word yet on how soon we can get new teachers to fill those positions.

Now that I’ve whined and complained for a couple paragraphs, let’s see if I can come up with something positive to discuss….

Remember Taroko Gorge, where I spent last Christmas with Dad and Quinn? (Follow the link and scroll down for Taroko pictures.) Every November there is a Marathon in Taroko. It is, apparently, the “only Marathon run in a gorge”. Whoopty-do. Anyway, I’m planning to go down there and do the half marathon. I’ve never been much of a long distance runner, but I guess this is the year (year and a half?) for trying new things. It should be beautiful. And very hot, and very uphill. Or maybe very rainy and very uphill, depending. Uh oh, I’m coming dangerously close to whining and complaining again so I better stop.

This could be me!

Not That Super

The Supertyphoon failed to live up to its exciting title, at least here in Taipei. It was rainy and windy (no kidding, right?) but nothing spectacular. Oh well, I got two days off work, who am I to complain?

Typhoon’s a comin’

It looks like Taiwan is about to be hit by a typhoon. Not just any typhoon, a “supertyphoon”. They call it Sepat. Apparently the center of it will hit Kaohsiung and Taichung, so I don’t know what that will mean for Taipei. I guess I’ll find out in the next 24 hours!

好久不見！

I know, I know, I’m a terrible blogger. When things are actually happening I don’t have time to write, and when I have a free moment I can’t remember what it is I do besides work.

Early this month my mom was here visiting. We had a trip planned to Penghu, which is a group of small islands off of Taiwan’s coast. “The Pescadores”, I believe we say in English.

Our hotel in Magong, Penghu’s biggest city, had the hardest beds known to man. You think you understand what I mean when I say the beds were hard, but unless you have been to this particular hotel you can’t truly comprehend it. Other than that, the hotel was nice. Penghu may have been nice too if I had been able to see it through the sheet of pouring rain. We got to see the oldest Matsu temple in Taiwan and a few other things, but the weather was so awful that we quickly got our poor aching bodies (I’m not kidding about those beds!) on a plane back to Taipei.

The rainy weather never really let up for the rest of my mom’s visit, so there was a limit on what we could do. We went to some night markets though, and a couple museums.

Speaking of museums, last week I went to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to see an exhibit on theatre design. Naturally, I was eager to see it, since I am always hungry for a little taste of my old life in the thea-tah. The part which was most intriguing to me was the display of designs done by Taiwanese students including their research, sketches, models, etc. Unfortunately, when these students were told to put English on their displays they must have just played “eenie meenie miny moe” with an English dictionary and written down whatever random words they came up with. It was almost all totally incomprehensible. I’m not trying to be critical of their English skills, I just had to think that if I were writing something in a foreign language that thousands of people could see, I might find someone who could proof read it… In any case, it was disappointing not to be able to really understand a lot of the exhibit.

I don’t know what else I have to say about my own life right now, so I’ll leave you with an article that my friend Gretchen sent me. I often enjoy reading Johnny Neihu in the Taipei Times, even when I don’t entirely understand the issue he’s talking about. This one is particularily amusing. I don’t actually have anything against missionaries, but to me this seemed like a funny commentary on Americans’ views of Asia (and most of the rest of the world outside of America and Western Europe) in general.

Guide For Missionaries

In 19 days I’m going to Malaysia!