Rain, Rain, and More Rain!

Friday, June 8, 2007--Taipei

The rain is back. Terrible, hard, all-day-long rain coming down with a vengeance. It just won't stop. And the forecast for the next 10 days is rain, rain, and more rain! The satellite photos show big dark blobs of rain all around and over us. I can't believe that the drainage system can handle all of this. It's horrible

I didn't go out all day today. Even though there was no REAL food in the apartment. I opened a bag of nuts I had in my suitcase and ate a few of them for lunch. I passed the day on the computer, reading, and watching a DVD. The film was V for Vendetta which I remembered got mostly good reviews. What was interesting about it is that I was watching an Asian pirated copy. I kept hearing coughing and tried to figure out a pattern, thinking it must be related to a particular character in the film. Then I saw images of little people moving across the bottom of the screen and tried to figure out what that meant. Then it dawned on me. This was one of those pirated copies where someone sat in the movie theater with a camcorder recording it off the screen. The coughing was coming from someone seated nearby. The little people I saw on the bottom of the screen were people moving down the aisle to take their seats. That also explained why I really had to listen carefully to hear the dialog clearly. The concept of the film was interesting in that it actually promoted thinking.

I had a surprise in the evening. Ignatius, the medical student I know here, had written earlier in the week that he might come by the apartment tonight. I wrote to tell him the buzzer wouldn't work and that he would have to call me from downstairs on his cell phone for me to know to let him in. Well, I never heard back from him and figured he wasn't available. But the phone rang about 19:30 and he was downstairs. I hadn't cleaned up all day, so while I cleaned up, he went to a nearby restaurant and bought us two kinds dumplings and a dessert that was a sweet syrup with fruit and pudding in it. We ate at the kitchen table. Then we visited for a while about my travel plans, about the budget that he lives on while a student, etc. (He is living away from home and has to be very careful with his money. He eats plain white bread two times a day and a meal once a day with his $3 U.S. per day food budget. Can you imagine anyone in America living like that for 6 years of university studies?) I took some photos. Then he had to leave around 21:30. It was such a nice break on such a horrible day.

I am supposed to travel outside of Taipei tomorrow. Again, I am having reservations because of the rain. It can't be fun traveling with rain like this. If it is raining tomorrow, I will postpone my travels until Sunday. If it is raining Sunday, I guess I will just pay for another week here at the apartment and stay in Taipei. At least I have my books and nearby places for food so that I can survive until I can escape this mess.