Post-Storm Photos

I decided to snap a few pics from my balcony after the recent typhoon. The sky is always at its best after a storm.

Cleaning Up After Typhoon Krosa

Typhoon Krosa was, by far, the most severe storm I have seen in my two+ years here in Taiwan. My apartment suffered some serious damage as a result of the incredible wind (gusts reached 170 mph!) and tons o' rain (over 24 inches in some areas!). At about noon, all hell broke loose. The windows were rattling, the roof was creaking and several spots in my ceiling decided to crack. Yup, I spent about 6 hours today battling, at last count, six nasty little spigots. I managed to get all of my electronics out of harms way before the showers came. I don't believe I lost anything to water damage. The upside to this mess is it forced me to move all of my furniture and clean the spots that otherwise go unseen...lol.

At about 6 o'clock, everything seemed to taper off, thankfully. It's nearing midnight and all is dry...phew!

Jerry, my landlord, has already schedule some roof-repair guys for Monday. With any luck we won't have anymore appreciable rain before then. Today was a day off of work but I think I worked harder than any day I can remember at the school.

Typhoon Krosa Knocking on Our Door

Looks like it's going to be a wet weekend. Krosa is a big boy and it's headed right at Taipei. I have something really fun planned for Sunday with Catherine and I won't be happy if we have to cancel.

Check out the projected path and the size of this sucker: (I will be wearing my water-wings to bed for the next few days!)

Typhoon Wipha

36 feet high waves, 190 miles per hour/300 kmph wind gusts and 17 inches of rain in 24 hours...not fun! Yesterday Taiwan experienced a pretty hefty storm. Not the worst I've seen, but still nasty.

The roof of my apartment building was put to the test and it failed in one respect. A crack in the ceiling in the hallway between apartments emerged and water streamed down the wall. Unfortunately, it was right above the electrical box that houses the adsl hub for the entire floor. At about 8 o'clock last night, the 9th floor lost internet connection. You would think the world came to an end by the reaction of everyone involved...lol. I called Jerry, the landlord, and he promptly braved the elements and came over to take a look. We did everything we could to fix it and failed miserably. Jerry called the adsl folks first thing this morning and they arrived to fix it within an hour or so, excellent response time! Phew! Life without internet is like being stranded on a desert island...lol.

Everything seems to be back to normal and life goes on. Living on the Pacific Rim is never dull when it comes to the climate.

The unscheduled day off work is NEVER a bad thing...lol.

Typhoon Sepat

We are in the midst of a pretty intense storm right now. Typhoon Sepat hit us last night and continues to agitate the island, it's about 1 p.m. now.

I just came in from the balcony and it's pretty spooky outside. My neighbor's satellite dish is in pieces on the balcony along with an antennae from the roof. The wind gusts have been strong. The ceiling in my bathroom has been pulsating, yikes! Some paint chips from the ceiling in my bedroom came to rest on my computer. This is serious stuff. I believe the gusts have exceeded 100 mph.

Some of the local TV stations have been showing pictures from the coast, not where you want to be.

I think the worst of the storm has passed but the winds have not let up.

Dealing with earthquakes and the occasional typhoon is part of like on the pacific rim.

I am fine and will be going to Catherine's apartment later. She is moving into her new apartment this weekend, not good timing...

The House Was A-Rockin

Last Thursday I survived a typhoon with 120 mph winds. Yesterday we had an earthquake! The news said it registered at 6.1 on the Richter Scale. What the heck is going on here??? What's next, a plague of locusts??? I think I've stepped into natural disaster central. The quake was intense. I was sitting at this computer and it felt like I was on a raft in the ocean. As if a wave passed under the floor. It's a really freaky feeling because I'm on the 10th floor of this building.

Aunt Janet recently emailed me with some good questions. Let's see if I can address them.

*The typhoon has passed. I think there were 3 fatalities in all of Taiwan. These folks are well prepared for disasters.
*My job is going great. I work with some excellent people. They are allowing me to ease my way into the job. This past week I've been observing a lot of classes. This week my thing is oral testing. All the teachers are allowing me to take charge on test days. I won't have a set class to teach. In this school the Chinese teacher is the primary teacher. My job is to come into each of the various classes once a week and teach a particular lesson. It's a different approach, and I like it. It should prove to be a challenge.
*Overall life here is good. There are many things that dumbfound me, but that's to be expected. With each day I become more comfortable. I don't anticipate having a problem getting into a good groove.

This Saturday Kelly & I are going to one of the night-markets. Probably "snake alley". They call it that because there are several stands set up where one can drink snake blood and/or eat snake. It's supposed to be a pretty crazy place. I'll let you know.

Typhoon Days Part 1

I survived my first typhoon. Last night was insane. The winds were about 120mph and the rain was coming down sideways. I am living on the top floor of a 10 story building and I thought by this morning there might be only 9 stories...lol. The swirling winds made it feel like it must've felt being adrift on the ocean in the midst of a storm. When I went out to get breakfast this morning I felt like the guy in the movie "28 Days". I survived.

Today was supposed to be my first day on the job. The storm was so bad last night the government shut down all schools today. Oddly, by the time I was scheduled to work the weather had cleared up.

I've managed to find a great place to eat. It's in the shopping mall inside the subway tunnel. A group of ladies bake various types of breads with all kinds of good stuff inside. The breads are like homemade. Little by little the food situation is improving.

Yesterday morning I went out to get some bagels and coffee. While waiting for my order the young lady behind the counter looked at me and said: "you a very handsome man". Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback by this. I proceeded to play along until she told me she was 17 years old...ugh. I can't believe I am more than twice her age. Perhaps she could introduce me to her mother???? lol