came back to taipei from kaohsiung one day later than planned because the high speed rail was totally booked from kaohsiung to taipei on monday. there were lessons to be learned from that. or not. honestly, i didn't care. obviously, because if i really cared i would have gone earlier to get a ticket, as i've done in the past.
lunar new years was a total frenzy of feeding. i kept my social avoidant behavior in check and did my best to . . . i did my best. it was a necessary test if i plan to move down there for a year before returning stateside.
i had a lot of fun with the kids of various relatives. children and art. the only things we can really leave behind.
i'm still close to audrey's kids, pie and gracie, even though i can't say much about my relationship with audrey herself. we're cordial, even pleasant, but very simply, our closeness in this lifetime is pretty much done. but i'm not knocking cordial and pleasant, sometimes it's the best we can do, and sometimes it's enough.
in addition, there's sunny and bob, my cousin peter's kids, and jill, my cousin sally's daughter, all older than pie and gracie. sally and peter are siblings, and those are their english names, which I don't think anybody uses.
i met sunny three years ago when she was seven and she was delightfully radiant, a beautiful girl. she still is and will be in the future, but she also seems really insecure, and . . . kind of a spaz, which is really funny. she's just getting comfortable with me. she has terrible posture, and this time i found i have enough standing to tell her to straighten her shoulders. i told her i have the same problem and she could point out to me when i'm slouching.
she and bob are learning english, and when i perused photos on their computer of family trips to california, where their aunt, another of my cousins, lives, they wouldn't shut up. a sure sign they're comfortable with me. i'm kidding about the not shutting up part, it was terrific hearing them make such an effort to apply their english.
But enough about the kids. This is my blog, it's about me. So what was this week for me in the grand scheme of things to review that didn't deserve being blogged at the time.
Band: it's OK, not necessarily my cup of tea. The bar where they had weekly Saturday night gigs is closed temporarily so we lost that gig. I'm hoping to at least earn back what I'm putting into rehearsal time before I quit or get fired. I'd prefer the later because I'm just not that proactive about my life.
Friends: I'm slowing making friends through an international meditation group, under the guise of language exchange. Unknown potential.
Language: I'm taking next semester off, too, to focus on my poor listening comprehension. I need to be more self-motivated and diligent. Much more. I think after two years of classroom study, the immersion method doesn't work for me. I'm thinking a saturation method would be better for me, but I need to be more diligent. That was boring.
This is boring. I'm boring myself. I need to stop.
Kaohsiung:
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| SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 12:36 p.m. - From a lower floor in my uncle's building. KMRT construction and Lunar New Year market stalls setting up around it. |
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| 5:49-5:52 p.m. - Unknown location, probably outside Kaohsiung proper. Probably for dinner. Probably a place my aunt knew about and chose. |
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| SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 11:43 a.m. - My cousin Peter's wife and Jill, their direct niece (Sally's daughter). This was a place where families take their kids to build their own rock ovens to cook snacks and have a picnic. It's a supposedly fun activity solely for the kids as adults wouldn't do this otherwise, as the effort required and the quality of the eating would not make it worth it. |
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| 12:04-12:21 p.m. - Fahr! |
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| 4:19 p.m. - Afterwards the ovens are dismantled for another day. Picnic area in the background. |
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| Other recreation in the area. |
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| Jill with Sunny and Bob. |
