How to Get Work

The sun is out and things are finally drying up on the island. To start out, a bit of tropical greenery in the concrete jungle of the maze-like area around Jinjiang St where I'm staying. Potted plants are quite popular around here, particularly "parking plants", which are obnoxiously large and heavy plants that people who own first-floor apartments tend to drag out into the street to reserve "their" parking spots.

If you're ever thinking you aren't getting any work as a freelancer, the fix is obviously to go to another country and pretend you're not going to work for awhile. Worked like a charm for me. Not only do I have a medical article on surgical repairs of pediatric cardiac defects on my virtual desk, there's that other job I can't mention or I'd have to kill whoever reads this, plus more. It's fortunate there's so little (or no) work to be done at this point with my student on her thesis.

I also had the unenviable task of trying to get the Post Office to cough up my money today. First I had to deal with the fact that I didn't seem to have the appropriate passbook. Okay, a few forms later (and inexplicably having the woman waiting on me call other patrons to her window while I was standing there -- another attack of Foreigner Transparency, obviously) I had a shiny new passbook with the correct balance written in it. Then it was time to get a new ATM card. The woman seemed nearly ready to faint with disbelief that anyone could manage to misplace both (apparently she has never lived abroad for a period of years between accesses to her accounts) but did eventually put the application through (pick it up in four days -- with the weekend who knows just what that means?) I thought I'd withdraw some cash, but thought better of it and decided to return in the afternoon on my way home, instead of carrying it around all day. Although Taiwan is a pretty safe place, I have had a friend who put a pair of shorts into the laundry forgetting there was a couple thousand US dollars equivalent in one of the pockets (he'd just gotten paid) -- surprisingly for Taiwan, where most people I've met are very honest, he never saw it again.

I am officially disillusioned to find that the authorities at the National Taiwan Normal University have taken the NT dollars of Big Business and replaced the venerable whatever-its-name-was cafe on the ground floor of the Union Building (home of the old Mandarin Training Center way back when) with a chain-store bakery, put a convenience store in next door to it, and totally kicked out the old Lucky Bookstore. The Lucky did turn up across the street (no more inspiring than ever in its offerings, but it seemed like a shame for it to be gone). I checked out the textbook display only to find (what a surprise) that nothing has changed, for the most part. I doubled back through the Shita night market area (much easier to walk through by day) where I spied the...whatever it is in the photo. Note the huge "bitter melon" parked on top of the machine (in front of the cab, looks kinda like a watermelon only it's about three feet long, although you can't see that). This was in use on a construction site. Either they're going to have a huge improbable lunch or this guy just doesn't know where to put his produce.

I was going to head up to the Big Round Building near the train station (that's how we foreigners give directions here, by geometry and landmarks) where there is a pretty comprehensive art store, in the hopes of getting a sketchbook with some decent watercolor paper in it, but I got sidetracked into McDonald's on Roosevelt Road because of the heat. Remind me -- was I complaining about the rain yesterday? Because now it's hotter than heck. I opted for a giant iced tea and gave Chris a call on the cell. He surprised me by turning up within a couple of minutes -- apparently he was in the area. I was then subjected to a bone-jarring ride on the back of his bicycle (hee hee -- it's a girls' bike! Guess he's confident in his masculinity?) to a pseudo-Thai restaurant off Shita Road. In my defense, there were much shorter routes to take!

After lunch, I headed back home and stopped off to make my withdrawal at the Post Office. Unfortunately, the nice lady who had helped me this morning had departed for parts unknown, leaving me with an unsmiling woman who insisted that the signature was not mine, and suspected roundly and loudly that something was strange because the passbook had been re-issued this morning. After awhile, I managed to extract some cash from them, headed home for a rest, then went to meet Chris for a little translational entertainment at his favorite cafe, Lumiere, near National Taiwan University. Where, by the way, I still sit at the moment (11:30 at night here) with an unfinished medical article on my screen. Which could use some attention about now...

Here's a sketch of an interesting little temple that still clings to existence sandwiched in between increasingly high buildings. It's not really clear what it's dedicated to or who takes care of it; you don't see old men sitting around it like you do many of the other temples, but it's still hanging on despite the encroachment of urban development and the MRT right under its feet. Not to mention an endless procession of trucks parking in front of it.