I just got home from my Chinese class. As I was riding the metro, and it was running above ground north of Taipei, I was thinking about how it gave a good view of the city. You don't see the details, but you get an overview of what things look like here. And for some reason I was thinking about seeing Taipei on TV. My grandmother told me about seeing a travel show about food in Taiwan. And I recently saw a few minutes of, I think it's called the Great Race: the world-wide scavenger hunt-reality show. I hate those shows, but the race was running through Taipei.
Marie and I've seen a few things, but not much, so I wondered if they'd go someplace I knew. They didn't, and the way the show works, they weren't showing much about the city. But it occurred to me that most travel shows are like an overview of an overview. Like taking a picture of a picture.
Mostly I'm thinking about this because my parents are talking about visiting next summer. And I'm thinking about how much different things seem when you're here (or where ever) versus just watching on TV. The immediacy of the place is paramount. The view is no longer surrounded by the rest of your living room. And the sounds and smells (especially the smells) come into play much more forcefully. And I'm thinking this because I would like to be able to play host for a bit and show mom and dad (or anyone else who'd like to visit) another pretty unusual part of the world (they've already seen a bit of Russia and Tanzinia). But I'm also thinking of the immediacy of the freakin' heat!
We thought we were getting into fall here, finally. I've been hearing nothing but how cool or even cold it's getting practically everywhere in the U.S., like the snowstorm on the east coast. It's still getting up to 30 C here and humid. I still sweat through a shirt just walking three blocks to the air-conditioned metro station.
This's our lesson for the day, ladies and gentlebeings. Taiwan, even tho' it's about the same latitude as Florida, clings to summer like a fat kid clings to cake. It's not really miserable, like the first few weeks, when it was five or ten C hotter and even more humid and we just weren't prepared for it, but it's not cooling like I was expecting, hoping, and making Faustian deals for.
So maybe I'm saying, enjoy your cooler weather. I'd kill for 70 F, as proven by the couple of cockroaches and dozens of ants I've doomed.
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Oh, Seattle. It is a very fall-like 56 degrees this morning. A guy would be really comfortable in shorts and a sweatshirt.
Speaking of shorts, I will never forget the morning Marie and I were talking at work and she said "Keith wont wear pants." If you didn't know that it was because you preferred shorts it sounded very problematic!
Hey, if it makes you feel any better, those of us in Phoenix are still dealing with mid-90's. It's supposed to be low 80's maybe even high 70's next week and we're all giddy.
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