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P manages to send me off with his nastyass cold, which intensifies on the airplane, and raises some panic in me that perhaps they will quarantine me a the airport. There are 2 severe looking uniformed people that do nothing but stand at the airport watching each incoming person walk across a sensor screen that instantly reads your body temperature. Too fevered, and maybe you have SARS…
I make it past the health and customs screening and wander into a time warp at 5 am on Saturday morn. (Left SFO at 1 am on Fri. morn AKA Thur. late night. Did not leave my accursed office until 7:30 Thurs.).
2 days in a row now I have been awakened at 6 am not by jet lag but by a poofy,beautiful, snowy white, bipolar cat named Yuanyuan who has an American moniker as well "Bunny". She loves to eat fresh fruit, has mood swings in a rapid cycler sort of way, but is strangely affectionate at that ungodly hour, rubbing her skull against mine and then wrapping herself across my head so her purring is felt in my head more than heard.
Meanwhile, my Dad is affectionately making me bonkers.
Let’s see now. ..
I have worked and continue to work in some of the homicide capitals of the world…New Orleans, Richmond, Oakland. I have taken metros in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Tokyo (not THAT was mind-boggling), Thailand, and Paris.
Yet in my time here in Taipei, he has thus far escorted me on every MRT metro ride, and has warned me about: being kidnapped by Taxi drivers, being run over by scooters,being dragged to death by said vehicles, getting poisoned by cheap chopsticks, getting pushed onto the MRT rails, eating too much pesticides or artificial flavorings, buying counterfeit stuff, getting conned by various riffraff, hitting people with a car door, tripping and falling on the remarkably crappy streets, getting mugged, running into imposter religious leaders,the apartment getting broken into, getting lost, and inadverdently letting the cats out. Have I missed anything!?
I would go postal if all weren’t so damned funny/ridiculous. And besides, at my age I should be glad someone is fussing like so over me. I know my years of experiencing that in this world are not many.
I have learned that one of the consequences of being a generally competent person is that it means often I need to stand strong and stand alone even when I am sad/depressed/tired/afraid/otherwise impaired.
Embarrassingly, I have passed this cold onto Jolyn, who is now suffering in relay with me. The otalaryngologist appointment for an uninsured Yankee like me came to a whopping $15 U.S., including meds. That even beats my $30 Costa Rica MD visit in 1996! One can’t help but wonder what in hell is wrong with the U.S. medical system…
What else…well, I can’t seem to prevent myself from e-mailing the office, I am havin fun with the silliness of the "gift with purchase" fad which Taiwanese take to a whole new level (so far I have Hello Kitty pins, commemorative jelly cups, a free serving of pudding, 90% off my purchase, kleenex, & air freshener), and I am doctoral level functional illiterate who is thus far a pretty sucky student of proper Chinese.
Being ill has prevented me from hitting the gym and going to yoga which was on the original game plan. But I am getting a lot of reading done,& drinking all sorts of quality teas from my Dad’s collection. Although his Spanish and French red wines and imported coffees are probably doing more damage than good in regards to my health.
Time for bath and bed-alas, my homework will have to wait!
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