it's been a bloody stupid day

Oh, gosh, wow, I have no idea what's happening with my life now. Everything is kind of screwy because of the typhoon. I was at a secret place doing secret things today, and someone came in and told me I didn't have to stay until 4 because the city government had declared it a typhoon day. But I didn't have to stay until 4 anyway (gee, does this make you curious?)! So I finished what I was doing, braved the storm to walk a block to 7-11, bought some vegetarian Korean noodles, and hopped in a taxi to come home.

I got the most awesome taxi driver ever. Normally when we come back from Taichung proper, the drivers don't know how to get to our school. Luckily I know the street names and a little Chinese and can kind of hold the driver's hand until we get there.

But today was totally different! The driver looked at the car, said some directions in Chinese, I said, "yes, yes" and off we went. Then we chatted! Mostly in Chinese!

Hey, man, most of the drivers don't know our school.
Yes, and I bet they have to make a call to the dispatcher, right?
Yes! But not you! You know!
Where are you from?
America. Near Washington, D.C. Where are you from?
Taoyuan.
Have you ever been to the U.S.?
No, I've only been on a plane once, to Thailand, which is nice because it's warm. I swam there. The U.S. is cold; Canada is colder.
Yes! Canada is freezing. insert "Brrrrr" motions.
Bushy is a bad dude. insert machine gun noises. Hey, do you have friends in Taiwan?
Yes, I have two friends who are from Taiwan and one American friend.
You have friends from Taiwan?
They studied English in America, so I knew them there.
Do you miss America? insert pointing-at-head, looking sad, pointing-away motions
I miss my mom.
Your mom should come to Taiwan.
Yes! My mom will come to Taiwan.
Excellent! Hey, a baseball diamond.
Do you like baseball?
Playing but not watching. Hey, I see you have some noodles from 7-11; don't they feed you at school?
Yes, but the cafeteria is closed while the students are away on break.
You mean there's no 7-11 nearby?
Yes, but it's a long walk; no, I don't have a bike, but I want to buy a scooter.
Yes! A scooter would be good for you!

etc. Somewhere along the way, we got lost because he missed a turn, but I asked him if he'd passed the road and he realized he had. He kept apologizing, but I was able to say "No, no, it's okay; because I got to talk with you, I am happy." Yayayayay!

This was a fun conversation with lots more arm motions than indicated here; it was also really good to review vocabulary I'd forgotten, like "airplane" and "baseball."

At the end, he was nice enough to draw me a tiny map on the school business card I usually show the cab drivers. He marked the cross streets and put a dot where our school would be.

Oh, he also wanted to not charge me, since he got lost, but I only let him get away with knocking off 80 NTD, since we only went a few minutes out of my way. I felt bad being shrewd, but it really seemed like embarrassed for getting lost and wanted to make it up, so I wasn't sure how to be.

Now, will I ever have a chance to use that handy-dandy business card again? insert suspense

I am so bored. We are rained in and I have no TV or movies, and only one book that I kind of want to try to conserve. It's a Shirley Jackson omnibus of sorts -- her first three little-known novels -- and I'm on number two, Hangsaman, which I read a long time ago. I borrowed a bootleg Sopranos Season Five DVD, but the quality is so bad I barely want to watch it. The sound is awful and even worse coming through laptop speakers.

I can't think of any more minutiae just yet.

Off to listen to the wind.