[Ugh, so hard to resist a "Logjammin" pun....! The Big Lebowski, anyone?]
I just wanted to get a brief journal update "on paper" before it's lost even more deeply in the flurry of eating and jaunting around my life has been for the past few days. (My blog will actually be a weblog, novel idea!)
Wednesday 14 July -- Allison got to Taiwan right at 1900. We ate at Gordon's for a late dinner. Then she crashed at my place for the night.
Thursday 15 July -- We woke up fairly late and tried to get her money exchanged at two banks, both of which told us to go to the ICBC (sp?). We walked around and ate at "Lee"s Steamed Dumpings wellknown Family". It was surprisingly good for steamed dumpings. She enjoyed the junju nai cha (black pearl milk tea). (Or was this Saturday?) Then we took a taxi to pay my DSL bill. Next we went to Janet's house to borrow her scooter. (Did we eat lunch at the Small Good Boy corner diner on this day or Friday? All is a blur.) I had class at 1830, which Allison sat in on. Then we drove around in circles trying to meet up with Marco at Chubby's. No dice. So, much to Allison’s displeasure, we settled for a Mexican restaurant. (Being in Taiwan for the first time, she wanted Taiwanese food, see.) Finally, we went to Mitsukoshi to see Spiderman 2. Good flick. We came back to my place and had a good talk. Erick came and we all chatted for a bit. Then, off to bed at 5 AM or so (?).
Friday 16 July -- The ICBC was no help; they told us to go to Taiwan Bank, which, fortunately, was able to exchange Allison's money. Having slept in so late and hitting a brick wall most of the morning with the banks got us to the National Science Museum at 1630, leaving only 30 minutes or so to check it out. Pissed. So, we drove to the Hollywood gym instead and, even with our rain gear, got fairly drenched in a sudden downpour. After that we schlepped around the Taichung Ichung area and ate many different snacks. Alison hopes to return to buy "weird cute Asian things." We returned Janet's scooter and then
Saturday 17 July – I woke up convinced I’d been abducted by aliens. Don’t ask (and no, not for the rearsons you might be thinking, perv). I shambled over to her place and we ate a small breakfast by the canal outside the OK Mart. It was nice. We finally made it to the Science Museum about noon, or earlier. It was a great deal, although a little empty without much or any English to guide us. By 1500 or so we were hungry, so we ate; and by 1600 or so we were museumed out, so we left. To SOGO 2. We checked out every floor by escalator. I had a deceptively bad piece of cake: looked great, tasted “just eh.” We got back to my place, chilled, prayed and then saw Denise off as she packed up to leave – sort of. She was way behind when we left for dinner at the Five Points Tree Restaurant (where, yes, a rat once fell on my head at the dinner table – another tale, another time) and ultimately missed her midnight flight to catch a standby the next day. I’m glad she made it back home.
Sunday 18 July – Since I slept in until 0750, we were late to Victor for the departure to the Kupala “Russian Festival.” I stupidly expected Allison to have gotten me up, and snapped at her ever so mildly. Ass that I am. But she forgave me. We made the bus and took a whopping twenty-minute drive to the alleged folk festival. What a capitalist rip. It was just a huge amusement park with, in Allison’s rendering, “just Russian paint.” I saw perhaps a half dozen Russians, just as many Russian words, and had not a nibble of Russian folk food. Pissed. But it was fun being led around by one of my sometime Victor students, Kitty, a miniscule 11 year old. Apparently everything in her line of sight was worth “playing” (riding) – but only as long as it was in her line of sight. “Teacher, play this.” Turn head 24 degrees. “Teacher, play that.” Turn head back 24 degrees. “Teacher, we play this.” It was fun, and not as tiring as I might have expected. We took the bust back home, I slept with my neck at a really bad angle, Allison filmed my neck-staining, head-bobbing snooze. drove Erick’s scooter to my apartment (he was in Taipei for some multi-band, multi-day concert), Allison napped a bit, uploaded some pics, and then we ate at a traditional style hot pot restaurant. We returned home and watched Requiem for a Dream. I walked her home and then settled into a good night’s sleep. Too good, actually.
Monday 19 July – Allison called me at 0915 or so, to come over and get the day started with me. I mumbled something about okay, urged myself repeatedly to wake up and unlock the door, but fell back asleep. Meanwhile, Allison walked over and knocked on the door for some minutes, to no avail. She was helped by the doorman, to no avail. She walked back to the ladies’ apartment, called me, listened to me apologize profusely, if a bit groggily, and came over so we could go to the museum rain forest greenhouse. Oops: two minutes or less from the museum, Allison remembered no sandals were allowed in only real shoes. Dah! Pissed. So we turned back to try to catch lunch at the Spice shop, an Indian restaurant I’ve been eyeing for months. We got there at 1400; they close lunch hour at 1400. Pissed again. The lesson for the day was: Elliot’s a big whiny baby that hates being shown how ignorant he is, especially when his knowledge of Taichung was based more on routine than actual experience. We ate at a corner turkey diner. They had no drinks, so I had to walk around looking for a drink. Got a passion fruit green tea: awesome new drink! Got Allison a junju nai cha (black pearl milk tea), but ended up drinking more of hers than my own. (She liked my tea so much she made it her own. Ha!) Then we cruised over to Mitsukoshi to look for Kill Bill 1 and/or 2 DVDs. No dice. Pissed. Instead, I bought Casablanca for $NT99 (about $US3). But the best feature is THIS edition stars Shumphrey Bogart, not that old slouch Humphrey Bogart. Allison and I bought a few books, came back home, read together, chatted with Erick once he got home and got ready to go to dinner with some peeps. E and A napped while I blogged a smidgeon. Then the peeps came over: James, Heidi, Stephanie. We rolled over by taxi to the Spice Shop: delicious! Then we bummed in Caves bookstore a little while and went to Starbucks thereafter. Finally we got home and watched Blade Runner (DC). Most people, predictably enough, thought it was slow and boring (even if they didn’t say as much out loud). They dipped and here I am blogging. Today was a tough but very good day for me: I had to rely a lot on God’s peace and guidance instead of my arrogant impatience and spiritless rushing to and fro in an annoyed huff.
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