Sorry..... again.
In an earlier post I promised more frequent updates and pictures. I have yet to live up to either of these promises. While some of is my own laziness, some of it is beyond my control. I still have not purchased my computer, so all post are done from the internet cafe 5 blocks from my apartment. It does take a bit of effort to get here. also the computers that I am using have Mandarin Chinese operating systems. This means that all error messages and certain button on this web page come up in Chinese on my screen here in Taiwan. My speaking ability is still awful, and my reading ability is nonexistent. I ran into all kinds of problems when I tried to upload some pictures. Before the end of the month I will have a computer of my own and then soon after internet access at home.
A lot has happened since the last time I posted to this blog. We have had 2 more typhoons and an earthquake. While I am usually happy to have a typhoon, the last 2 came on weekends. So I didn't get any days off work and I had to spend my weekends indoors. The earthquake was'nt too exciting either, which is probably good. I was sleeping when I awoke to car alarms and barking dogs. I didn't even know what happened until the next day when I was asked what I thought of it.
I did get a day off this week. We had a national holiday here in Taiwan and maybe in mainland China as well. Monday was 10/10 day. The celebration that honored 94 years after the fall of the emperor. My Chinese history is only slightly better then my ability to speak the language. One thing that makes it difficult is there is much more of it then western history, and I have always had trouble with the names. Anyway the Chinese people overthrew there emperor in the second decade of the last century, ending the dynastic system. I here it is well documented in the movie, "The Last Emperor." I remember seeing it long ago, but I don't believe that I saw it all the way through. Anyway, to celebrate this day I tried to go see a parade down in front of the presidential building. It was a horrible failure. I imagine its similar to trying to see a parade in front of the White House. There were hundreds of police and military personnel keeping those without tickets more then 1.5km from the event. The funny thing is that the secret service people dress just like those in the U.S. They ware suits that are far to hot for the climate and there is very little secret about them.
I have hit a lot of the major attractions. I have seen the Palace Museum and it was amazing. It is being renovated but there is still a lot to see. I saw over 5 thousand years of Chinese art in the course of one very tiring day. The collection is another sore point the Taiwanese have with mainland China. The collection was smuggled out of China when Mao's People's Army started defeating the National forces of Chaing Kai-Sheick. When the National forces retreated to the island of Taiwan they kept the work hidden in a mountain on the south side of the island. Their intention was to bring it back after they retook control of the mainland. As you probably already know,more then 50 years later, China is still communist and Taiwan is its own country. They built the museum to house the works. It will be here for a while more. From what I know Taiwan is not planning any attacks on the mainland. If anything its the other way around. A few weeks ago we had a invasion drill in all of Taiwan. At 2:30 in the afternoon on a Friday I saw an unusual sight from my window at work. Xin Yi, the street outside my school is one of the busiest roads in all of Taipei. In runs right up next to Taipei 101. It is usually a river of cars, busses, and motor scooters. After the air raid sirens blew it quickly began to empty out. There was no one on the streets except a few police officers making sure everyone else was off the streets and complying with the drill. It was crazy to see the empty street that moments earlier had been 6 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic. We sat in the dark and waited for the all clear siren and then began classes again as usual. I will try to catch up with events at a later date. When I get everything set up at home it will be far easier to update the blog. Soon there will be pictures, but don't hold your breath.
Later.... Daniel James
