Taiwan Blog Feed

It was a little shocking to see a wake in the courtyard this morning. There is pretty severe flooding all over the city. Up the street from our buxiban, a section of the road collapsed next to a construction project, and at least five cars were destroyed. On the teevee there are pictures of cars floating in the water collected in railway underpasses. School and work was canceled about seven this morning, and I got the call around eight that said my junior high would be following the policy. I've worked in schools before that didn't follow the policy, so it's always nice to be sure. Folks without kids can take the day to see Batman.

The man on the teevee says in Nantou County they've had 1000mm+ of rain. The city hasn't canceled jack today. Taichung has had a mere 504mm and is in a state. The rain has eased off since I got up at seven, but there have been some pretty strong gusts of wind in the last little bit.

It started getting breezy around here two days ago and by yesterday morning the wind whipping by my classroom had taken to howling and interrupting class every few minutes for the students to gawk out the window at the trees across the road as they danced like sea anenomes, tenuously rooted to the ground below, but willing to pick up and go if a better offer could be produced.

I swear kids these days and their short attention spans. All I said was HOLY CHRIST LOOK AT THAT TREE and half the class had bolted to the windows on the west side of our third floor classroom to take a look. I never used to look out the windows at typhoons when I was in eighth grade.

Cruising to job #2 last night Wenshin Rd was littered with scales from palm trees and cars slowed to a crawl so that an inventory could be taken. Every third driver was an accounting major at one point in their life and all that work on the abacus has trained them to count fallen leaves faster than Rain Man.

The rain held off until I got home but the wind pushed me and my bike all over the road. Again, I discovered that the faster I was moving forward the less I was pushed side to side. I don't recommend this and in the end I chalked it up to being rather lucky.

This morning. Rain again. Not a lot of it, but when the wind is blasting at 115mph the sheets of white obscure the shops on the other side of the street. Without the gusts, water is coming down at a 30 degree angle. Maggie says the park behind our place has lost a few trees. On the ride in this morning, I see that a few residences have lost their trashcans and the leaves that tile the streets in dark and light green are joined by translucent pink plastic trashbags and chunks of styrofoam that had come with small appliances.

Saturday afternoon and evening we had Hollywood FX weather coming from all directions. This was the first time that I've ever noticed the rain falling up. As the wind roared up the street and up the side of my building, turned raindrops the size of popcorn inside out and carried them up three or four stories to my level and beyond. Whatever trick of the light there may have been, drops headed in one direction appeared grey, while the ones coming up at me shone white.

Fortunately, none of the illegal structures in my neighborhood were removed entirely from the legal structures to which they are moored in pleasant weather. Some of the plexiglass roofs were, however, torn to shreds and the air was thick at times with pieces of plastic the size of my jazz hands. I remain stunned by the number of scooters one sees on the street on a day such as this.

A bit of rain blew in through the kitchen door and required some mopping up, but this was not overly burdensome as sweeping and mopping is part of the Saturday afternoon routine at our place. I ran downstairs for about three beers while I waited for the courtyard fountain to come back on so I could see what would happen if you photographed it with the wind gusting through the courtyard at a hundred miles an hour.

While doing so I nearly got to see the effect of a 3x6 piece of industrial roofing on...ok, not on me, but on the fish in the pond I was standing next to.

We're receiving a pissing of rain this afternoon from Typhoon Wipha which is just north of the island curving north towards Shanghai and then Korea. Typhoons in the late summer are commonplace and rarely cause much destruction here other than some blown out windows on occasion, and some downed bits and pieces of palm tree a little more often.

I've been noticing the rain a lot more these days, as I'm working further afield and the luxury of a cab ride is more difficult to justify than it was when I was just headed down the road. Still, it's nice to arrive warm and dry for a teaching gig.

The rain on Monday night was just beautiful. A fine mist hung in the air like snow on an old black and white television. Even cruising down Chung Ming South Road at moderate speed on the scooter, the rain just felt like a cool spray as you see above tea shops or in flower markets. Refreshing at the end of a hot summer.

On my scooter rides to and from classes, I have time to think about the rain and its effect on my clothing. The effect is usually quite noticeable as I haven't been able to find a satisfactory raincoat in Taiwan these past eight years. I'm eternally optimistic. The one I wore today was crap, but I have another to try tomorrow. Last week, I just went without, telling myself that if I drove fast enough, the rain drops that hit my body would just be blown dry in the airstream created by my trusty 150cc Symco something-or-other moving rapidly down side streets. It seems to work quite well, crouching behind the faring , until I reach a red light. If I can be bothered to stop for such a thing, I get soaked. Tonight, I looked around and noticed that traffic laws mean less and less the worse the weather is. A cop yelled at me for turning left the other day from his shelter on the opposite corner. "Sorry, sir, can't hear you." He wouldn't have ventured out for moon cakes, that's certain.

The rain coat that let me down today was borrowed a week or two ago from the Early Bird. Kiwi Luke left it behind to go gallivanting in Australia, so it's meant to be an extended loan. Problem is, standing up, it hangs to just below my knees, and when I'm straddling my scooter, it rides up to just as far above them. Of course, if the faring theory held water, this wouldn't be a problem. What happens, though, is that all the water that hits me in the shoulders gathers in a pool on my lap, and what doesn't pour down my leg when I put my foot down at red lights, seeps through the zipper and saturates my crotch. This is far from ideal.

Fortunately, my school was only a short distance out of the way as I moved from the jr high to the bike factory, and there waiting for me was my attire for yoga class. Perfect for stretching, but a little too comfortable for teaching a bunch of engineers about Rhetorical Questions. Did I have another choice? No, I didn't. (Rhetorical questions can be used in writing to make the author sound more intelligent...so says the textbook.) The clothes were there to be changed into, and the car was there to be driven and I did. Raincoat problem sorted.

Until it was time to head home. The fine misty rain that I had wanted to bottle in sonnet form had given way to a boisterous and unapologetic downpour. Great big drops that would leave welts on the face of a lesser man fell at a velocity so great that it is above even my ability to comprehend. I bravely mounted my scooter (goddam, I wish I could just call it a motorcycle like the locals do, instead of sounding like such a twit) and headed off home through sometimes flooded and often half-flooded streets.

My legs and naughty bits received the same treatment as earlier in the day, but, as I had not properly buttoned the top snap, there was additional evidence of moisture running down the front of my gray t-shirt as well as a good quart of water sloshing around in each sleeve held in by the elastic cuffs.

I'm dryish now, even after bathing my son who today learned how to fling water from a plastic cup in such a way that it can reach the ceiling in the opposite corner of the bathroom. I looked at him and delivered the Bushism "Bring it on." He did.

Now, any of you anonymous readers out there that feel like sending me a rain coat from whatever part of the globe you feel understands what 3x is really meant to mean, I thank you for your generosity, but no thank you. I'm going to buy a cheap tent and cut some holes in it.

Update: That nasty typhoon is heading for the East Coast of China now. According to MSNBC, (page has a picture of regionally produced raingear) a million folks are being evacuated. Heckuva job 小咖啡色.