My First Typhoon
So, it is Wednesday morning August 31st and the time is 7:30a.m. I am busy packing all of my belongings yet again to move to my final destination, Kaoshiung. Now this city second in size to Taipei is located south of Taiwan. This is the place that I will be living and teaching for one year, and I am pumped to leave. Now don't get me wrong, Taiwan was a blast, but I am ready to move on and see what else Taiwan has to offer.
As I step outside I enter a torrential downpour. Luckily, I brought a poncho, however it doesn't appear to be very affective against the rain. Fortunately, a cab drives by within a couple of minutes, and I head toward the main office of Taipei, only to then head to the bus station. Now this bus was very nice, although it was kind of annoying that instead of only picking up people at the bus station, it picked up people along the way. Overall, my roomie from Texas (Johnson) and I spent about 6hrs riding to Kaoshiung. When we arrived the rain was still coming down pretty hard, but it was nothing that I haven't seen before.
So, here comes Thursday, and I find out that school is closed for the day (this is the day the typhoon hits). I am thrilled to find out that I have a day to myself, however I look out the window and I see the wind blowing everything in sight. Kaoshiung did not get the full affect of the typhoon, but regardless its presence was felt. At around 4 or 5p.m. it was safe to venture outside. As my new roomie Aimee (from Maryland) and I walked to Domino's (gotta love Taiwan :-) we saw the remnants of the storm all around us. The park nearby our house was flooded, and it was littered with broken tree branches. People were still driving, by the number of people out was very very low. When we made it to Domino's the cashier at the desk was baffled by my request. Evidently, people around here do not ask for cheese pizza. She kept insisting that I was joking and that I should put at least peas and carrots on my pizza (now I thought that was weird). She also informed me that they were running a special on the shrimp pizza, but I told her that I had to pass on that.
The next day, my roomie Jonathan (from England) and I, with a slew of people from Kojen (my new place of employment) went to this local foreigner hotspot called The Lighthouse. This bar & grill restaurant reminded me of the bars back at home. It was exciting to meet people from all over the world. Met this guy from Manchester, another from Calgary, and a girl from South Africa. The people there were really nice, and I had a good time conversing with them. That's about it for now, next time I will discuss the Honky Tonk bar (pay an entrance fee and receive free drinks all night) and the day of truth....My First Day Teaching (yikes!).
- NEXT TIME: MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING
As I step outside I enter a torrential downpour. Luckily, I brought a poncho, however it doesn't appear to be very affective against the rain. Fortunately, a cab drives by within a couple of minutes, and I head toward the main office of Taipei, only to then head to the bus station. Now this bus was very nice, although it was kind of annoying that instead of only picking up people at the bus station, it picked up people along the way. Overall, my roomie from Texas (Johnson) and I spent about 6hrs riding to Kaoshiung. When we arrived the rain was still coming down pretty hard, but it was nothing that I haven't seen before.
So, here comes Thursday, and I find out that school is closed for the day (this is the day the typhoon hits). I am thrilled to find out that I have a day to myself, however I look out the window and I see the wind blowing everything in sight. Kaoshiung did not get the full affect of the typhoon, but regardless its presence was felt. At around 4 or 5p.m. it was safe to venture outside. As my new roomie Aimee (from Maryland) and I walked to Domino's (gotta love Taiwan :-) we saw the remnants of the storm all around us. The park nearby our house was flooded, and it was littered with broken tree branches. People were still driving, by the number of people out was very very low. When we made it to Domino's the cashier at the desk was baffled by my request. Evidently, people around here do not ask for cheese pizza. She kept insisting that I was joking and that I should put at least peas and carrots on my pizza (now I thought that was weird). She also informed me that they were running a special on the shrimp pizza, but I told her that I had to pass on that.
The next day, my roomie Jonathan (from England) and I, with a slew of people from Kojen (my new place of employment) went to this local foreigner hotspot called The Lighthouse. This bar & grill restaurant reminded me of the bars back at home. It was exciting to meet people from all over the world. Met this guy from Manchester, another from Calgary, and a girl from South Africa. The people there were really nice, and I had a good time conversing with them. That's about it for now, next time I will discuss the Honky Tonk bar (pay an entrance fee and receive free drinks all night) and the day of truth....My First Day Teaching (yikes!).
- NEXT TIME: MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING
posted by Bob | 8:09 AM
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