And I even had the opportunity to experience the tropical typhoons of East Asia, which so often lurk around the island of Taiwan. This time, it was the Fung-Wong typhoon that forced all offices, businesses, restaurants, markets, and most directly affecting me, schools in Taiwan to close down for the day. The city of Taipei, in a matter of hours, turned from the never-sleeping ever-living metropole into a seemingly dead place.
The evening before the storm, I received several emails from teachers informing me of the advent of this natural catastrophe. I went to bed a the usual hour, waking up at the usual hour. However, the morning did not welcome me with the customary sunshine. Taipei was cold. I left my apartment and encountered nothing but a disoriented black dog. No businessmen following their daily trail to work, empty streets, no local shop about to open, was it nighttime? It was definitely dark. I walked for a while with the hope to find a place to get breakfast. The wind was rather strong and the rain overwhelming. I could hardly hold my umbrella. It was surreal, encountering these Chinese alleys as empty as ever. Luckily, I found a convenient store (apparently the only open business during the advent of a storm). I bought water, bread, Japanese candy and rice buns. I made my way back to the apartment, safely, and then stayed in there for the rest of the day. It was good to be in isolation for a while. Just me, a book, and music, something I rarely had the time for during those busy days.
Tomorrow class will start again. I will also start getting busy writing Chinese again, since my teacher selected me to write the script for a class performance, which is to be acted out some time this week. This should be exciting.
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