miscellaneous rambling

Yesterday I was driving back home during rush hour. To be more precise, I was the next city over from mine, and I was driving through town during their rush hour. I still had a 30 minute drive to get back to Pingtung City.

Suddenly, in the middle of a big intersection, as I was about to turn left, the car shudders, shakes and dies. I try to restart it three times, and the car doesn't respond. The light changes and a wave of scooters, bicycles, and cars are flying by me. The traffic cop is telling me to move- and he eventually helps me push the car to the side of the road.

The car lot, whose store front I'm in now, is yelling at me to move my car. I"m disrupting his business. The cop yells at him, and tells him that my car is dead. I ask to have a tow truck called for me. But to no avail.

At this same time, my cell phone has died. This gadget is the most indipsensible thing I own right at this point in time, and without it all hell breaks loose.

The car salesman tells me there is a Nissan dealer 10 minutes up the road, in which I walk there, leaving my poor Nissan on the side of the road.

I get there, the big glass doors open, and as I walk into the huge, brightly lit showroom, a computerized female voice says " WELCOME TO NISSAN MOTORS"

I'm almost tempted to test drive the new Nissan 350X while I"m there..

Anyways, back to the story. So then I explain to a salesman that I need some help. He's very helpful. Says, that they can check the car out, but they don't have a tow truck. I"d have to pay for a tow just 10 minutes to the dealer.
So then I remember that I have free emergency road side assurance on my credit card.

Actually it's Dallas' card, and I have an additional card. Plus the car is in Dallas' name. This leads to a 25 minute call to the bank. Actually, having to call 3 different numbers. Confirm everything from my birthdate to the last transaction made, to the make of the car. and then finally she asks" What is the license plate number of your vehicle." At this point, that is the one thing I cannot remember.

I ask them to just send the truck, match the information with the actual license plate when he arrives, and you will find that ; yes, it is really me and yes, it is MY CAR.

doesn't work.I hang up on the woman. She's aleady wasting almost 30 minutes of my time.

I've had to run to a payphone, call my secretary to find a substitute for me evening class, or cancel it. So at least that part is covered.

Ok, so then the salesman asks for me key. He manages to move the car down the street. I ask him how. " I put it into first, but it won't shift to 2nd or 3rd, so then I cranked it to 5th, and drove carefully."

I'm astounded. Never knew you could do that.

But, that leaves me car-less. he drives me to the train station, in which I get on a train into Pingtung. I walk another 10 minutes to my school, pick up my scooter, and then drive to the new school.

Ahh.. this is where fate kicks in.

So I walk in. My secretary says no one can cover, and she had to cancel the class. I go upstairs, and start doing damage control. You see, I had to work at the bar tonight. Not only that, I had my wine distrubuter bringing in some samples for me, and I invited my calligraphy teacher and a host of other people too. Because in ADDITION to that, I was having the new waitress training in the kitchen and so there would be free food for people.

Well... without me, they didn't want to come, so I had to call everyone, apologize, explain to my partner ( who was at home since it was his day off ) that everything is under control.. sort of. ( I had someone else in the bar who could work..)

After about an hour of phone calling, loss revenue at the bar, and school. I sit and think what to do next.
Secretary buzzes me.

"umm.. Summer called while you were busy.. she really needs to talk to you"

Summer. My friend, and also colleague at the school. Why would she be phoning? She was one of the people who was called, and couldn't sub tonight's class...

I call.

"Jason....I was hit by a car. .. I"m in the doctor's clinic down the street from you.. can't speak Chinese..umm can you help me?"

So I rush over there. She's ok, but her leg has accupunture needles in it, and she will be hobbling for awhile. But nothing too serious. I translate for her and the doctor, and help her back to our house. to relax a bit.

"It's lucky for you that my car broke down tonight" I said.

I haven't had a day off for almost 4 months. That is, working almost 120 days straight. Day and night..
So we finally took some time off, and went to peng hu. It's only a 30 min. flight away. we went once 4 years ago, and have always wanted to go back. It's developed alot since then, but still very underdeveloped compared to the rest of Taiwan. It was sad to see some 7-11's there and also 2 starbucks. I avoid them as much as i can while over here.

i found out that I can also scuba dive on Penghu, so for my third trip, i will plan some diving!

the trip was much needed. i could feel the tension literally leaving my body slowly. it's like a slight tension/cramp/pain in the body. If i only had a few more days i could have fully gotten rid of it, but alas i must go back to work.

although there seems to always be much that needs to be done, this trip, like the one i took to Bali last year, puts things back into perspective. There are sightseeing trips, adventure trips, shopping trips, but then there are trips such as this one-- do absoulutely nothing but eat and sleep trips. This is definetely the one I needed right now.

me on the right, my partner Andy on the left, and a satisfied customer of the Black Dog, Kaohsiung.

with friends at the black dog. some came down from taipei just to see our new place.

working behind the bar at our opening night on July 23rd 2004

this is one of the signs on my new school. ( there is a horizontal one as well) the Chinese calligraphy was done by my teacher, and the diamond logo was designed on photoshop by a friend of mine. The original idea by Dallas and I. it's a candy house with a stylistic mountain in the background.

this is the most recent photo of us. taken this week. we had a few days off because of kids exams. so we took off to peng hu. ( see the last two photos/posts).

Dallas and a blow fish at the peng hu aquarium both say " hi " to all our friends out there. 

this are the famous basalt pillars on peng hu. They are made from molten lava which cooled and fissured. They can be found only here and I hear in Italy. I have wanted to see these for 8 years now.. 

this is one of the beaches on Peng Hu island. we were the only ones there at the time. 

Yesterday the new shcool was finally inspected by the education board and we passed!!
14 months of work... 10 minute inspection.

paperwork being finalized now.

once it's done, I can put my sign up and will finally get some online photos to everyone.

time for a drink.

So there is still construction going on around me. I'm one of the first people to move into the new houses. The construction people have made a mess in MY balcony, because they were doing work on my next door neighbor's house. Of course they aren't going to clean it up.

so one fine morning, I decided to get it clean. My balcony isn't that big either. As I was cleaning up cigarrette butts, juice cans, semi-dry cement, etc. my ear felt weird. Some bug had flown into my ear, and wouldn't get out.

after trying unsuccessfully, i attempted to use a Q-tip. This was a bad maneuver as the Q-tip broke off in my ear. Yes, the first time ever, and it happens now.

So now I have TWO things stuck in my ear. I'm covered with sweat and concrete dust, and I don't know where the nerest ENT is...

So I lock up the house, rush out, and just look for one. I find a clinic and decided that any doctor can remove this for me.
I wait, and when I see him, he just shakes his head.

"Why come to me? you should see an ENT. ooooh... this looks really red inside. ouch"

"I didn't plan this you know. You were the first doctor I found."

" oh, well there is an ENT up the block. go see him."

I rushed over. waited almost an hour to see him. It seems there are lots of people with bugs caught in their ears, or maybe down their throats.

The doctor probes my ear, and I see a mosquito fly by. bastard.

so i had to use some ear drops for a few days to bring down some swelling. all is well now.

for now.