Facing my fears.
(This post is form last week, I was wanting to upload some pictures with it, but my computer is on the brink of euthanasia, I might just have to do it after.)
Well, my worst fear has finally come true. Luckily, it was nothing like I had imagined.
I had had some work done on my bike on Friday before leaving for the Sunflower Ranch. During the week, I had noticed that one of the front forks on my bike was lactating, some white milky fluid was coming from the seal when I pumped the shocks. So, I replaced my front shocks before we went to Tainan.
Monday, my motorbike had a slight vibration in the handlebars, I was going to take it back to my mechanic later. Tuesday morning, it was worse. Tuesday afternoon, I left for work downtown and after two blocks, it was nutty, I pulled over to examine my bike. I think I know enough about cars and stuff to give it a good look and maybe figure out the problem... thanks Dad. So, I check the shocks, the gaps around my wheel, the bearings, the brakes, the handle bars, I twist every nut and bolt to see if it's loose, nope, everything's just fine...
... it took me a second to notice the big bulge laying on the street, my front tire was quite flat. I rode my bike the two blocks home and jumped onto my scooter, I would have walked it, but I was in a rush and also knew I would have to ride my slower, inferior scooter all the way downtown.
I walked my bike to the shop later in the evening and bought a new innertube.
Riding my bike gives me some time to think and possibly even comprehend various aspects of my life. As I do this, I often wonder what would happen if my front wheel simply just fell off. Would my forks jamb into the pavement and pole vault me straight into the back of the musical garbage truck? Where would I go? Where would my bike go? Which would land on top? Could I actually leap free of my iron horse as the last split second? In a car, it's not really a big deal to lose a wheel, but on a bike, that's an instant unicycle.
I kind of wish my flat tire was more fantastic... then again... mudanity has it's benefits.
Next, my trip to Sunflowers at nowhere.
Well, we drove to Tainan, Candy and I, that is. I can make it to Tainan in about 25 minutes by myself. With Candy, it took an hour and was much less exciting and having cute little arms wrapped around you makes it just a little bit more comfortable...
I had to do things like stop at red lights... and wait for them to turn green, leave more than an inch of clearance between myself and other vehicles, and drive at subsonic speeds. Candy has this thing about breaking the sound barrier on motorbikes... she prefers not to. That's ok, I understand and I can still drive at reasonable speeds. Next trip might be a little slower as I had asked my mechanic to fix my speedometer so that I didn't have to lean forward to read my odometer... now, the way it's angled, I'm sure my speed is quite readable from the back seat. I may just have to break it again if the problem should arise. We had a good trip, but sitting in the same spot for two hours is kind of a pain in the ass.
The hotel thingy was great. It was a guest house in the middle of absolutely nowhere, a rarity in Taiwan. It only had one bedroom, with a fantastic ceiling, comfy bed and all the fixins. The shower was pretty sweet also. Looking out the windows, were fields of sunflowers and on the other side, grass, real grass. It was just a nice place to get away to, and everything was just right, there were fruit bowls around, fresh flowers everywhere and the hosts were very kind. He gave us some coolers and told us how to get to the beach for sunset and asked what time we would return so he could have the BBQ ready. A fantastic meal with him, his wife and their 14 year old daughter. We relaxed out on the patio with some beer and then went to bed. In the morning, we awoke to the smell of eggs, sausages and scones. Yummy, all with a fresh English newspaper and an even fresher glass of orange juice. We kind of just hung out till noon and then went to the sunflower fields to do some photography. Candy wanted to go to Salt mountain and I wanted to go to the oyster farms, but it was a little cloudy, so I decided to just go to the fantastic mountain of salt.
Yep, "Salt Mountain" was just 3 big lumps of salt about the sizes of Uncle Cal's quonsets. On the back, one of the sides was broken and it kind of looked like snow. Some people were trying to have a "snowball fight"... yeah, lets try to throw salt in each other's faces and see how it feels... only in Taiwan. Candy seemed to like it, I thought it was just a lot of dirty salt that someone decided to put up a billboard about... by the way, there's a "salt history museum" about half a kilometer away. Luckily, Candy just wanted to climb the salt mountain and really didn't care about how salt originated. She asked why I wasn't going shuttercrazy with my camera and I simply told her that it looked just like a big dirty lump of salt and really not that beautiful, answer accepted. Now that I think about it, it kind of looked like an old rotting snowbank that has little holes in it and has a thin layer of dirt on it, thickening at the bottom. Yep, just like a dirty snowbank, imagine the splendor of a 50 foot high, dirty snowbank!!!
"Salt Mountain" really didn't strike me with awe, but it did bring me light years closer to completely understanding my father. It was somewhat enjoyable, due to getting off the bike for 20 minutes, drinking some freshly squeezed orange juice, and did I mention that we were only there for 20 minutes!!!
We made a second stop on the way home. I went to a bed and breakfast with my girlfriend, and all I got from it were crabs. I wanted to stop at a fish market on the way home, so we stopped at the harbour (the one Jenn and I visited when we went to Tainan when I bought my motorbike). I wanted to buy some lobster for a BBQ to finish off the weekend with a zing. The lobster was beautiful... and about CAN$80... it was beautiful... but still... CAN$80. I bought two big pink crabs (2.4kg) a kg of huge crab claws and a kg of clams. The crabs crawled out of the bag and off of the scale when the lady was weighing them, then they crawled out of the bag when I was carrying them... I'm scared of crabs, I think. Then they crawled out of my motorcycle bag, even when I had put them in a second bag... I placed them into a third bag and that seemed to work. The clams were still opening and closing, so everything was fresh.
We got everything home and Jaco had come to help move Reg's bed from someones house to Reg's new place. We moved the bed and the lady asked in we needed plants as they had a whole terrace of them that were going in the trash tomorrow as they were moving to the U.S.A. We looted the place and put some stuff outside that wouldn't fit into Jaco's "Jeep." We went home and I started on the crabs and Jaco went to load up his jeep with some more plants to take to his place.
The crabs had escaped onto the kitchen counter, they had escaped from tied triple bags. Whatever, fresh is king. I boiled water and they wouldn't fit into the pots again. To kill crabs, you just drop 'em in boiling water. I asked Reg how he'd kill the crabs and he suggested, "I don't know, but ripping all the legs off, busting open the shell, going at it with the hammer and bioling and BBQing it should work." "You're hired." I said... or, I should have said, but I thought of it now. Anyways, I ripped his front legs off and threw him in the pot to kill him quickly... he tried to bite me with his mouth when I was pulling his arms off... I guess I would, too. Did I mention that I may be afraid of crabs? I don't think I'm afraid of much.
My newfound friends were absolutely delicious. Jaco was nice enough to help move Reg's bed, so I invited him to stay for a "smashing" good time. It involved the BBQ, and three of us sitting on Thai cushions on the livingroom floor with a heavy wooden cutting board, 4.5Kg of seafood, and a hammer. Vegetables, you ask? "Fruites de mere," is all I have to say. We were stuffed on crab, mmm..... P.S. Chopsticks make pretty good crab digger thingies. Due to the barbaric ritual of using a full sized hammer and block of wood to smash the little houses from our dinner, I was vacuuming newly found shell fragments a second time the next morning.
Oh, my computer is in need of some TLC. I need to sort it out, but I don't have enough storage space to make a backup, and burning countless DVDs sucks. I guess it's delete time and I shut down my downloading software for a bit.
Only 19 days till I get my annual family visit. I was feeling a little low about not going home for Christmas this year, but my uncle and cousin are coming to visit me soon!!! I'm pumped.
P.S. Nicole, you should start a blog now. Then people from home can keep updated on your misadventures.
P.P.S. I had written, "Boss to place" to write about, I have no idea what the heck that means. But, I guess things with my boss have been fantastic, he's bought me lunch, he stops by my class every day to talk to me (he doesn't speak English) and he wants me to take pictures of the kids and the school for some marketing... oh, and he joined my English class, the one where I teach all the Chinese staff English.
Well, my worst fear has finally come true. Luckily, it was nothing like I had imagined.
I had had some work done on my bike on Friday before leaving for the Sunflower Ranch. During the week, I had noticed that one of the front forks on my bike was lactating, some white milky fluid was coming from the seal when I pumped the shocks. So, I replaced my front shocks before we went to Tainan.
Monday, my motorbike had a slight vibration in the handlebars, I was going to take it back to my mechanic later. Tuesday morning, it was worse. Tuesday afternoon, I left for work downtown and after two blocks, it was nutty, I pulled over to examine my bike. I think I know enough about cars and stuff to give it a good look and maybe figure out the problem... thanks Dad. So, I check the shocks, the gaps around my wheel, the bearings, the brakes, the handle bars, I twist every nut and bolt to see if it's loose, nope, everything's just fine...
... it took me a second to notice the big bulge laying on the street, my front tire was quite flat. I rode my bike the two blocks home and jumped onto my scooter, I would have walked it, but I was in a rush and also knew I would have to ride my slower, inferior scooter all the way downtown.
I walked my bike to the shop later in the evening and bought a new innertube.
Riding my bike gives me some time to think and possibly even comprehend various aspects of my life. As I do this, I often wonder what would happen if my front wheel simply just fell off. Would my forks jamb into the pavement and pole vault me straight into the back of the musical garbage truck? Where would I go? Where would my bike go? Which would land on top? Could I actually leap free of my iron horse as the last split second? In a car, it's not really a big deal to lose a wheel, but on a bike, that's an instant unicycle.
I kind of wish my flat tire was more fantastic... then again... mudanity has it's benefits.
Next, my trip to Sunflowers at nowhere.
Well, we drove to Tainan, Candy and I, that is. I can make it to Tainan in about 25 minutes by myself. With Candy, it took an hour and was much less exciting and having cute little arms wrapped around you makes it just a little bit more comfortable...
I had to do things like stop at red lights... and wait for them to turn green, leave more than an inch of clearance between myself and other vehicles, and drive at subsonic speeds. Candy has this thing about breaking the sound barrier on motorbikes... she prefers not to. That's ok, I understand and I can still drive at reasonable speeds. Next trip might be a little slower as I had asked my mechanic to fix my speedometer so that I didn't have to lean forward to read my odometer... now, the way it's angled, I'm sure my speed is quite readable from the back seat. I may just have to break it again if the problem should arise. We had a good trip, but sitting in the same spot for two hours is kind of a pain in the ass.
The hotel thingy was great. It was a guest house in the middle of absolutely nowhere, a rarity in Taiwan. It only had one bedroom, with a fantastic ceiling, comfy bed and all the fixins. The shower was pretty sweet also. Looking out the windows, were fields of sunflowers and on the other side, grass, real grass. It was just a nice place to get away to, and everything was just right, there were fruit bowls around, fresh flowers everywhere and the hosts were very kind. He gave us some coolers and told us how to get to the beach for sunset and asked what time we would return so he could have the BBQ ready. A fantastic meal with him, his wife and their 14 year old daughter. We relaxed out on the patio with some beer and then went to bed. In the morning, we awoke to the smell of eggs, sausages and scones. Yummy, all with a fresh English newspaper and an even fresher glass of orange juice. We kind of just hung out till noon and then went to the sunflower fields to do some photography. Candy wanted to go to Salt mountain and I wanted to go to the oyster farms, but it was a little cloudy, so I decided to just go to the fantastic mountain of salt.
Yep, "Salt Mountain" was just 3 big lumps of salt about the sizes of Uncle Cal's quonsets. On the back, one of the sides was broken and it kind of looked like snow. Some people were trying to have a "snowball fight"... yeah, lets try to throw salt in each other's faces and see how it feels... only in Taiwan. Candy seemed to like it, I thought it was just a lot of dirty salt that someone decided to put up a billboard about... by the way, there's a "salt history museum" about half a kilometer away. Luckily, Candy just wanted to climb the salt mountain and really didn't care about how salt originated. She asked why I wasn't going shuttercrazy with my camera and I simply told her that it looked just like a big dirty lump of salt and really not that beautiful, answer accepted. Now that I think about it, it kind of looked like an old rotting snowbank that has little holes in it and has a thin layer of dirt on it, thickening at the bottom. Yep, just like a dirty snowbank, imagine the splendor of a 50 foot high, dirty snowbank!!!
"Salt Mountain" really didn't strike me with awe, but it did bring me light years closer to completely understanding my father. It was somewhat enjoyable, due to getting off the bike for 20 minutes, drinking some freshly squeezed orange juice, and did I mention that we were only there for 20 minutes!!!
We made a second stop on the way home. I went to a bed and breakfast with my girlfriend, and all I got from it were crabs. I wanted to stop at a fish market on the way home, so we stopped at the harbour (the one Jenn and I visited when we went to Tainan when I bought my motorbike). I wanted to buy some lobster for a BBQ to finish off the weekend with a zing. The lobster was beautiful... and about CAN$80... it was beautiful... but still... CAN$80. I bought two big pink crabs (2.4kg) a kg of huge crab claws and a kg of clams. The crabs crawled out of the bag and off of the scale when the lady was weighing them, then they crawled out of the bag when I was carrying them... I'm scared of crabs, I think. Then they crawled out of my motorcycle bag, even when I had put them in a second bag... I placed them into a third bag and that seemed to work. The clams were still opening and closing, so everything was fresh.
We got everything home and Jaco had come to help move Reg's bed from someones house to Reg's new place. We moved the bed and the lady asked in we needed plants as they had a whole terrace of them that were going in the trash tomorrow as they were moving to the U.S.A. We looted the place and put some stuff outside that wouldn't fit into Jaco's "Jeep." We went home and I started on the crabs and Jaco went to load up his jeep with some more plants to take to his place.
The crabs had escaped onto the kitchen counter, they had escaped from tied triple bags. Whatever, fresh is king. I boiled water and they wouldn't fit into the pots again. To kill crabs, you just drop 'em in boiling water. I asked Reg how he'd kill the crabs and he suggested, "I don't know, but ripping all the legs off, busting open the shell, going at it with the hammer and bioling and BBQing it should work." "You're hired." I said... or, I should have said, but I thought of it now. Anyways, I ripped his front legs off and threw him in the pot to kill him quickly... he tried to bite me with his mouth when I was pulling his arms off... I guess I would, too. Did I mention that I may be afraid of crabs? I don't think I'm afraid of much.
My newfound friends were absolutely delicious. Jaco was nice enough to help move Reg's bed, so I invited him to stay for a "smashing" good time. It involved the BBQ, and three of us sitting on Thai cushions on the livingroom floor with a heavy wooden cutting board, 4.5Kg of seafood, and a hammer. Vegetables, you ask? "Fruites de mere," is all I have to say. We were stuffed on crab, mmm..... P.S. Chopsticks make pretty good crab digger thingies. Due to the barbaric ritual of using a full sized hammer and block of wood to smash the little houses from our dinner, I was vacuuming newly found shell fragments a second time the next morning.
Oh, my computer is in need of some TLC. I need to sort it out, but I don't have enough storage space to make a backup, and burning countless DVDs sucks. I guess it's delete time and I shut down my downloading software for a bit.
Only 19 days till I get my annual family visit. I was feeling a little low about not going home for Christmas this year, but my uncle and cousin are coming to visit me soon!!! I'm pumped.
P.S. Nicole, you should start a blog now. Then people from home can keep updated on your misadventures.
P.P.S. I had written, "Boss to place" to write about, I have no idea what the heck that means. But, I guess things with my boss have been fantastic, he's bought me lunch, he stops by my class every day to talk to me (he doesn't speak English) and he wants me to take pictures of the kids and the school for some marketing... oh, and he joined my English class, the one where I teach all the Chinese staff English.
posted by Colin at 1:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home