Pete's Apartment (pt I)

In Japan, I lived in a small apartment building that was built in the 1980's (or maybe earlier). It had low ceilings - I have the bumpy forehead to prove it - and everything was occasionally functional. My apartment in Tainan is brand spanking new. Well, actually it's 3 years old, but you really can't tell. I live on the 7th floor of a 14-floor building in a 6-building complex. I have gated underground parking. It's all very modern. On my next update, I'll show you some pictures of the inside, but today I wanted to talk a little bit about the neighborhood.


Across the street is a "Family Mart", a very convenient convenience store where you can buy drinks, food, newspapers, school supplies, pay bills, send letters, and I'm sure cure cancer. I go there about once or twice a day to pick up some essentials.
The apartment complex is technically on a big thoroughfare, Kaiyuan Rd, but it's actually off in a little alley, which cuts down on noise and traffic - at least around the immediate vicinity of the building. Also in the alley is a dry cleaners and a 24-hour do-it-yourself coin laundromat. About 5 minutes away is a traditional market, where I buy most of my groceries - fish, meat, veggies, fruit - and chat with the vendors. As I approach, some of them will remark, "Hey, that big foreigner is back."
I also live less than 5 minutes walk from my school, which makes commuting quite easy. During my previous stay in Taiwan, I lived in the south part of the city, which is considerably quieter and more laid back. The north part, where I live now, is much more noisy and bustling. That does mean, however, that I don't have to go very far for anything I might need.


Probably the best thing about the apartment is the view. We live on the 7th floor and so we get a nice panoramic of the city. During the day, it's not really that great, and several buildings block any good views of what's going on down on the street. But, at night and especially at dawn, it's wonderful. The apartment is facing the east, so I can see nice sunrises as I'm preparing my breakfast. I snapped this picture of one of the more beautiful sunrises.
It's also nice being up this high, because you can see the weather rolling in and plan accordingly. The other day there was a spirited thunder storm complete with about two dozen lightning strikes. It was fun to watch it from the safety of my deck.


On Wednesday and Saturday evenings, there is a tiny nightmarket in the empty lot below the building. It's not that spectacular when you're down in it, nothing like some of the other, cooler night markets in Tainan, but from above it's a fun thing to watch. Sometimes, however, there can be an unsettling amount of noise from some of the kiddie rides or the karaoke.
Overall, it's a great location to live in.

Wo Ai Tai-Mei

Something that may not have occurred to you before: Halloween sucks in Taiwan. That is to say, it's not really celebrated. One of my top three favorite holidays growing up (only behind Thanksgiving and Christmas), Halloween passed without much notice in Taiwan. Several of my students came to the teachers office and demanded candy, but that was about it.
The previous Saturday, Judy and I went to my friend John's new apartment in Anping for a halloween party. We spent the better part of the day shopping for our costumes. I went as a Taiwanese gangster (very simple: black shirt, pants, and shoes, sunglasses, an unlit cigarette, and styled hair) while Judy went as Tai-Mei. Tai-Mei literally means "Taiwanese Beauty" but is mostly a derogatory term for a Taiwanese girl who wears short skirts, flashy blouses, too much make-up and too many accessories. It's a whole subculture in Taiwan. There is even a Taiwanese rap song about Tai-Mei, appropriately titled, "Wo Ai Tai-Mei" which means "I love Tai-Mei". The song is by MC HotDog (no, seriously, that's his name) and the chorus goes "Wo Ai Tai-Mei, Tai-Mei Ai Wo" - "I love Tai-Mei, Tai-Mei love me" and then goes on to suggest that a Tai-Mei would be preferred to any number of classier models or pop singers. In case you're interested, here's the link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSd1h5hX1i4
(cut and paste to the browser line)


Unfortunately, we were the only ones who dressed up. Apparently, none of John's Taiwanese or Western guests got the memo about "costumes" "Halloween" or even "party".
Well, none the less, it was a fun night, and we did get some good pictures.

It's a Gas

Feel bad about the state of politics in your country? Leaders out of touch with the common people? Elections bought by special interests? Campaigns that seemingly drag on for years? Negative ad after negative ad?
Yes, politics are probably bad where you come from. But they are definitely not as interesting as Taiwan's. A little history first, before I tell you a great story that you may or may not have heard about.
The US has been selling arms to Taiwan for years. For the past two years, they have been trying to sell about a dozen patrol aircraft, eight diesel submarines, and Patriot anti-missile batteries. President Chen Shui Bian and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been touting this deal as a way to make Taiwan more secure. The Kuomintang (KMT, the party that brought Taiwan 50 years of dictatorship) has been flipflopping on its support, mostly just delaying it's passage out of committee. Recently, the KMT came out strongly against the arms procurement and utterly derailed it in committee, guaranteeing that it would never see the light of day. Issue closed, right?
Well, independent legislator (and current candidate for mayor of Taipei, Taiwan's capital) Li Ao wasn't satisfied. He is vehemently opposed to the arms deal and wanted to ensure that it would never be passed. So what did he do?

If you guessed "Stormed into a committee meeting wearing a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask brandishing an electric stun gun and set off a canister of tear gas ... you're absolutely right.

Here's a photo:


Legislators from both parties ran out of the room - most were coughing and crying.
Quoth the old man, "[Let's] see who dares to pass the bill [now]!"
Quoth everyone else in the room, "{Hack}{Hack}{Cough}{Cough}{Sniffle}"

The honorable Mr. Li was then referred to the Disciplinary Committee, because apparently setting off tear gas in a meeting isn't a real crime, and doesn't need the attention of, say, the police.
Say what you want about President Bush (or any US politician for that matter), but I don't really see him employing this tactic to disperse a committee meeting discussing repealing the PATRIOT Act or getting rid of reporters who are asking too many difficult questions. Then again, maybe now with Mr. Li's example of how politics should really be done, he will.