I don’t have a picture of the events below, so here is one of the other intern and me at the top of Taipei 101. If you ever go to Taipei, coming up here to watch the sun dim and the night life begin is a must. Besides, this tower is designed to withstand typhoons, which is both a motif in this post and a clever architectural feat.
Dear O,
Here’s another great example of saving face: Yesterday J and I sat through a 3 hour school opening ceremony, outside, IN THE MIDDLE OF A TYPHOON. We couldn’t leave, because we had seats on the front row, next to the school’s founder, and we had no way of getting home. The school’s founder had declared that the school was going to celebrate Confucius’ birthday, and because he holds all the power (literally–that is what everyone says when they talk about him), the concert continued even when it started pouring. The celebration included a grand piano, dancers, and an orchestra, all playing without shelter in the pouring rain. I’m sure some of the instruments got ruined and I kept waiting for a dancer to slip and break a leg. Or lightning to strike and kill all 5,000 students. How hard would it have been to reschedule? About half way through J and I just lost it and just started laughing and laughing until we cried. Then again, we were so drenched that most people assumed our tears were more rain drops. Of course, as soon as we started laughing, the camera men were all over us. I’m sure a picture of the two of us will be used in some propaganda poster next year “Look at how much fun the two foreigners were having”. Oh well, at least we made it home alive.
P.S. Rereading this makes me thankful to be in Cincinnati and married. It was weeks like this one in Taiwan, and the quiet time after J returned to the States, that convinced me that traveling is only fun when you have someone to travel with.
P.P.S. My chopped up story appears in this post (don’t go there, I just feel like I need to link to it since I gave them the rights to use it).
