Batteries of fireworks screamed incessantly overhead again over the weekend, each sharp shriek strident but mercifully brief. Our place is a haven by a small creek most of the time, but its position is handy for pyrotechnics at festival time, as a postage stamp of open space attracts the local "technicians"! Great cauldrons of fire danced with leaping tongues on the main roads, but even back alleys and balconies had their own little steel buckets of fiery paper money smoking and smouldering. The enveloping cloud from the money wafted artificial and acrid: we're not sure what coating is used on this fake cash, but it can't be healthy!
A week after Chinese New Year and the ghosts and spirits, spectres and ghouls obviously need a little more encouragement to depart for good, at least until next year. Perhaps it's just a great excuse to get some cracker commerce happening and give the latent pyromaniacs in the community a legitimate window to "let off some steam"? It's sometimes weird to take stock and remember where we are: oh yes, we're in Taiwan and the deafening drumbeats, wailing warblers, singing cymbals and ricocheting rockets are all part of life on certain days throughout the year....even if we of the diaspora are trying to watch Surfest streaming on the TV in peace, live from Merewether!
The weekend provided some of that absolutely serene, flukey weather that occurs sometimes in the middle of a period that is traditionally cold and damp. The sun peeked out and decided to stay awhile, warmed us up and swiped a smile across the face of Sunday. Of course it remains as beautiful today, taunting us on a Monday working time. As we strolled to school this morning, the Cultural College precipitously perched on a ridge in the Yangminshan hills was fresh and clear, the clouds tiptoeing behind its sparkling facade. It put a little extra pep in our step.
Cass has parent conferences looming, so the latter part of the week for her will be taxing and exhausting. She's getting prepared for it by cooking multiple pots of delicious foods on Sunday, arranging for me to "cook" on Wednesday (the local take-away food restaurants love me!) and fixating on what I think is the strangest of priorities: what shade of nail polish will she have applied when she gets a manicure on Wednesday evening?! I think it helps take her mind from the impending horror!
I've got various meetings through the week including a team meeting today and a parent workshop on Wednesday afternoon. As annoying as some of these can be, especially the mainly gratuitous meetings where one is imprisoned and tortured, having to listen to questionably qualified, self-serving, blinkered blowhards, we do take great solace from recalling our core role: instructing the delightful students who are in our charge. The beauty of our gig is that when we metaphorically close the door to our classroom, we can revel in the personalities, intelligence and attitudes of this wonderful group of kids....they really do continue to make it all worthwhile. Oh, and they pay us money as well!!
Photos: aforementioned kiddies, a park with old houses and statues near our place, a funny busker at the station, Maya pizza's new offerings. Also pictured is a graduate of the school (the daughter of a colleague) who is planning to open a catering service: Gurecki and I get to sample her wares straight from the oven! Then, burning steel baskets and flushing blossom (who needs to go to Japan!). Last photo is a view of the park opposite our house in Merewether (a Facebook steal): while it would be great to be home for all the fun and excitement of Surfest, I'm glad we don't have to look at that every day!
P.S. Some boy met a very pretty girl 33 years ago today!