We’ve had a fabulous weekend, notwithstanding the various duties we had. Cass was the makeup director for the school play and the performances were on Friday and Saturday night and today for a matinee. Come to think of it maybe she didn’t have such a great weekend! She had to be on duty for many hours and didn’t get home till 10.30 each night. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d go back and change that “royal we” in the first sentence………
I went for a surf with Carl and Ross to the Pillbox on Friday afternoon after giving a talk to 50 trainee teachers of English from Taichung. The presentation went very well and the surf was just the ticket to wash away a bit of stress from the week. I had a bit of a cold on Friday, so even though I made the surf, I demurred from a party later that evening for one of my colleagues. Saturday was just a glorious day, very Australianesque and the blue skies and warm temperatures lured us on to the scooter for a trip into the city. We had an excellent lunch at the creatively named “G’day Café”. Tucked away in a little lane, we were initially quite excited, expecting some kind of Aussie influence. In actual fact, the café serves up quite mouthwatering Mexican cuisine cooked by a scrum of Filipino women! It was the second or third time we’ve been there and we hadn’t been back for a while, so it was quite a treat. Cass wanted to call in on “Joe” the jeweler on the way back to check his wares and she is also doing some internet research on some items as well. She plans to spend her play stipend from last year and this year on something and apparently it’s all very exciting. I’m suitably underwhelmed with the whole experience as you can probably tell, but I’m sure Cass was equally mesmerized as I perused LCD TVs a little later!
Taiwan appears to be on the edge of a precipice when it comes to its relationship with China. The Chinese rhetoric has gone up a notch with the passing of an anti-secession bill, which passes into law their right to attack Taiwan if Taiwan moves toward independence. The outrage has not been palpable here in that peculiar Chinese way, but a sight we saw on the way home Saturday will long stay with me. As we turned onto the main north south road back to Tienmu we saw the midpoint of the biggest peace rally ever in Taiwan. Bandana clad marchers waving green placards for peace were marching to a downtown staging venue. Called the “Million Man March”, I don’t know if it reached this target, but it was very impressive nonetheless. People marched 15 to 20 abreast in a continuous noisy line, loud hailers blaring, whistles shrilly piercing the air. The mood seemed happy, yet somehow very determined. These Taiwanese people resent strongly that China so unilaterally lays claim to their country and live under the spectre of the 700 missiles just across the Taiwan Strait that are all aimed straight at our city. I’ve included some photos here, but the sensory experiences are lacking and hard to describe.
We had our usual breakfast of champions today and enjoyed reading lots of clippings sent from Mum. I rang Mum today and asked her to read me an article that appeared on the front page of the Herald on Friday. I wont go into details here, but many Novocastrians will be aware of its contents. If it comes to the crunch, we’ll fight this tooth and nail and I know my fellow body corporate members will join us. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but a more tenacious and strong willed bunch would be hard to find, so look out Newcastle Council and Ray Robinson!
To end on a lighter note, one might think that with all this study I’m doing, the last thing I’d be reading for pleasure is the book featured in the photo. My colleague, the great Gurecki who is a renowned expert on brain research recommended it for my friend Mark after I asked for his advice. The reviews looked so good, I bought a copy myself. A little play-acting for the camera was not that far from the reality: perhaps not a good choice for light bedtime reading!! We’ll be in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam on Wednesday and be back on Sunday afternoon. I should have lots of material for next week’s blog!
