After the rain

We finally had a thunderstorm this afternoon. It did not last long and it did not carry too much rain, but it is the first storm that I can remember recently. From my window, I could see the dark sky towards the South and the lightning criss-crossing between the clouds. It is very strange how dry is the weather on these last few weeks. The best thing was the sky after the rain.

Back to study

People are too nice here when I manage to say any word in mandarin. The answers range from the utter surprise at me being able to say or to read anything, to the ones that very kindly appreciate that I might know some more complicated word and praise me for doing so. If you ask me, I think I should know much more after staying one year in Taiwan. Of course, I only started studying a little by myself in the summer and I sure noticed I was getting better; but I had not done too much after Christmas. Progress is then very slow.

One good thing of this linguistic immersion that I am experiencing is that I continuously reinforce through different channels what I learn and, little by little, I get better. Besides, I am very used to listening to mandarin and I am sure that that helps, even if I only understand a fraction of it. In fact, since several months ago, I can make out parts of sentences and, sometimes, full ones. Maybe I am too critical with myself, but I must spend more time studying mandarin if I want to break through, because it is too different from the languages I know and it does not seep through so easily.

So, a couple of week-ends ago, I started again with the lessons I was taking. It is not the first try I make, and it is not going so well lately, but I intend to get farther than the last time, because now I should be able to practice more. The goal is to get into the habit and then it will be easy to keep. Until I reach the rudimentary level that I can manage to get, of course.

Covers

I am sure that somewhere somebody is maintaining a blog on manhole covers or the covers of service tunnels, electrical wiring, etc. Or maybe not, but after years of walking up and down streets, and of seeing all kinds of designs and decorations, I am beginning to think that it would be a good idea to collect all the variety of tastes and ideas out there. As a sample, the manhole covers of the water company in Taipei.

Fish below, trees above. Or this picture I took of another one in the Old Street in Sansia; one of the many different types that were along the street.

Maybe I have found a goal in life. I hope not.

Plants

We have new lifeforms in my office since yesterday. It is one of those things that it could be said are a consequence of the so-called feminine touch: three plants to improve the decoration and to cheer up the place.




Yesterday afternoon, we made a short visit to the plant and flower market that is placed midway between my apartment and work. The choice was quite fast, even with all the variety of interior or exterior plants, and many flowers; some very beautiful. It was funny to see some plants or flowers that are almost an institution in my family. Well, I am not sure if some were exactly the same, but they sure looked like it.

Summer

It has not yet arrived astronomically, and I know that it will only increase, but after two or three similar days, I declare, according to the parameters I am used to, that Summer has already started. We had another sunny day today —from the little I have seen, because I woke up very late—, hot and, as it felt to me, not so humid as we are used to. It was one of those days of mid-to-late summer in Catalonia, when the first thing you want to do is go to the beach.

The funny thing is that the rainy season is supposed to start now. I think we have some big storms waiting for us, to compensate for this nice weather.

Rescheduling

Maybe it is because I am living alone; maybe I am not able to follow a strict discipline; maybe I have been doing this for years. For whatever reason, I am breaking again today the normal (recommended?) sleep rhythm. I have observations with the SMT again tonight, until 3am more or less. So, tomorrow will begin for me around midday. Fortunately, the start of the observations has been as smooth as possible today and I guess I will be able to do most of what I wanted to do.

These sudden changes in my schedule are not too problematic to me, and I usually can sleep fairly well the following night. I think that my body is used to it, except for the feeling of disorder that chases me whenever I wake up late on a working day, but it is also true that since I landed in Taiwan, my usual daily life is very different from the one I led in Barcelona, to a point that I wonder how was that. It seems very ironic to me to compare the life of a nightclub musician and that of some astronomers. A bad life.

Lease renewal

These days, it is always one year ago for something. So, I renewed the lease of my apartment yesterday. Some people have asked me why I was not looking for another apartment, that it could be a way of exploring Taipei. It is true, but despite my apartment's shortcomings, it is good enough, with ample space for possible visitors, and close to work. And the landlady is very kind, too. As an example, she gave me a pot of oolong tea, typical from Taiwan, yesterday. Additionally, I feel too lazy to start the search for a place all over again. So, I will stay here for another year, unless there are any surprises. And if I am still staying in Taiwan after that, I will decide then what to do about it.

In any case, I still miss my apartment in Columbus, so I do not care too much anymore.

Little pleasures

Memory always ends up fooling me, but I do not remember that we had so many sunny days last year at the beginning of May. I am not complaining, today and yesterday have been fantastic days, with blue skies, maybe occasionally crossed by a white cloud, and a Sun resembling the early summer sun from back home. It is warm, but still comfortable.

Yesterday at midday, I had lunch by myself —by stupid chance— and after eating I sat in a bench of the garden in front of my building at campus. Sitting under the shade of the palm trees, which were gently rocked by a cool breeze that maintained a perfect temperature and listening to the birds singing, while my eyes wandered over the green grass and the trees, I spent 20 minutes savouring pieces of watermelon and soaking in the quiet around me. And dozing off little by little too.

Little, and ephemeral, but very pleasant moments of an otherwise ordinary day, that I do not usually enjoy as much as I should.

Herbal tea

Lately, Tuesdays are becoming a difficult, and not very productive, day, maybe because I spend most ot the time at the ASIAA and I go from meeting to meeting. When I am back in my Shida office, in the evening, I have a hard time trying to go back to where I was. Fortunately, yesterday, a little of a herbal tea I was very kindly offered helped me a little bit

Chrysanthemum's tea (jú huā, in mandarin). Curious taste, but it was good.

Competitions

A few weeks ago, I began to see, around the Shida campus where I am, flags hanging on lampposts announcing a intercollegiate sport competition that would start yesterday and finish on May 6 —I also saw them later in the main Shida campus and in Taida. Weeks, or even months before, there had been works to renew and improve the athletic track and the nearby sport facilities, or to repair the sidewalks and roads of campus.

I could see the last details being taken care of this week and, from Thursday, rehearsals of an orchestra, of the people that will have to guide visitors, cordoning off the parking places, etc. In fact, it was even scary to see the groups of boys, dressed in dark suits, and girls, in purple dresses, marching up and down, forming small groups, rehearsing whatever thing they probably had to do.

Oh, I must not forget the official mascot of the competition.

A turtle with a watermelon as its body. I was told that they chose it because it plays with a similar pronunciation in Taiwanese of the words for turtle and watermelon, and in a month they will celebrate the Watermelon Day, a day were watermelons are given as as a token of friendship or love. A reason as good as any.

Shopping

It is difficult to believe, I have been one year in Taipei and I did not go shopping for clothes until yesterday. Yes, I have bought foods, things for my apartment, some gifts, books and similar things too before, but I never did that thing of going to one shop, and then another to see if I found anything to wear. Yesterday, a night walk around the Gongguan night market, even if I was there more for my nice company than for me, but I saw some interesting things. I must go back soon. For once, I did not just walk by all the little shops in those streets. A new dimension.

Hockey

I was free last Saturday, so I went again to the Taipei Arena. Well, not the main hall, but to one on the side, to see a game of the semifinals of the CIHL (Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League). Yes, ice hockey, in Taiwan. There is an amateur league since 2004, with 9 teams currently, 4 from Taipei and 5 from the rest of the island, and they are playing the play-off games at the Taipei Arena these last few weekends. The game I attended to was the second one of the Hsinchu Raptors vs Taichung Lions series.

Surprising, isn't it?, well, not so much if you think that Chien Chou, the student that was in my office when I arrived here a year ago, and who helped me so much, also played ice hockey. The thing is that there are around 30000 Canadians (or so I was told) in Taiwan, and you probably know that ice hockey is something like a religion in Canada. Most of the players in these teams are probably Canadians, but they are beginning to have many Taiwanese players too.

Through the years, I have watched ice hockey games on TV, when I could, because it is not so easy, and I know the rules more or less, but this was the first time I could see it live. The level was not the same as in the NHL or in an international competition, of course, but I liked it quite a lot. I always found that it is a beautiful sport, when the players race at full speed towards the opposing goal with the puck at the tip of their stick or when they start connecting passes. Despite the cold, naturally, it was very nice.

The funniest part was the audience. Many kids that did not stop shouting and singing songs. Many were probably students of one of the Raptors players, who was received as a real star when the game was over.

That's popularity and the rest does not mean a thing.