"Taxi!!"
I already for sure and mos def have too many pics on this blogsite. So today is a pic-free-day! Rebel!! - Taxi?
The last time i took a taxi in Taipei was Saturday night, home from a surprisingly fun house party. It was quite a non event in the whole scheme of things.. i mean in relation to most of the rides which are worthy of noting. I went through a good chunk of months here taking taxis early in the morning to get to work, with Jacki, my (british) boss. She speaks chinese fluently and frequently gets into conversations with the drivers. They want to know where she's from and why her chinese is so good.. you may be able to imagine.
But we've had some strange blokes too. The one who still comes up in convo's even when i'm not around, is a driver two months ago who had some very interesting comments.. Along these lines *just a footnote: it's often easier to say i come from Australia because no one knows where PNG is* geographically challenged lot..
(after quizzing Jacki)
Driver: Where is your friend (me) from?
Jacki: She's Australian.
Driver: Oh!? They have black people in Australia?
Jacki: Well- Yeah - there are black people in every country!
Driver: Oh, yeah, I guess Taiwan has black people too. *aborigines*
Jacki: That's right.
Driver: (after a pause) So, are black people in Australia savages?
Jacki: NO!! No, they're not savages!
The reason this comes up today is that Jacki came to work in a taxi this morning- sans moi, and was fortunate enough to get that same driver. AND he asked about me...but surprisingly not by referring to me as the savage.
I guess we english teachers- foreigners- are here to educate in every way we can, even when we're not in the classroom.
On a brighter beat, I had time enough, organisation skills enough and finally marvellously sunny weather enough to justify a trip to the beach between classes today. Yep. I have a 10 hour break in my day on Tuesday and Thursday. *nods thoughtfully* My friend Bradley has just returned from a month back home in the States and will be starting a new job on Saturday, so he was free all day, and volunteered his motorbike as mode of transport. So with him as driver and me trying not to fall off the back, we putted over Yangming Mtn and coasted down the other side to Jinshan (beach town). It was a stunning ride through the national park, and though I would never step onto the beach let alone swim at it, if it was in PNG or Australia *think-rubbish dump*, it had a good surf and made me laugh to think of everyone else at work in Taipei, while i bobbed between waves.
Hmmm.. Not a bad day.
The last time i took a taxi in Taipei was Saturday night, home from a surprisingly fun house party. It was quite a non event in the whole scheme of things.. i mean in relation to most of the rides which are worthy of noting. I went through a good chunk of months here taking taxis early in the morning to get to work, with Jacki, my (british) boss. She speaks chinese fluently and frequently gets into conversations with the drivers. They want to know where she's from and why her chinese is so good.. you may be able to imagine.
But we've had some strange blokes too. The one who still comes up in convo's even when i'm not around, is a driver two months ago who had some very interesting comments.. Along these lines *just a footnote: it's often easier to say i come from Australia because no one knows where PNG is* geographically challenged lot..
(after quizzing Jacki)
Driver: Where is your friend (me) from?
Jacki: She's Australian.
Driver: Oh!? They have black people in Australia?
Jacki: Well- Yeah - there are black people in every country!
Driver: Oh, yeah, I guess Taiwan has black people too. *aborigines*
Jacki: That's right.
Driver: (after a pause) So, are black people in Australia savages?
Jacki: NO!! No, they're not savages!
The reason this comes up today is that Jacki came to work in a taxi this morning- sans moi, and was fortunate enough to get that same driver. AND he asked about me...but surprisingly not by referring to me as the savage.
I guess we english teachers- foreigners- are here to educate in every way we can, even when we're not in the classroom.
On a brighter beat, I had time enough, organisation skills enough and finally marvellously sunny weather enough to justify a trip to the beach between classes today. Yep. I have a 10 hour break in my day on Tuesday and Thursday. *nods thoughtfully* My friend Bradley has just returned from a month back home in the States and will be starting a new job on Saturday, so he was free all day, and volunteered his motorbike as mode of transport. So with him as driver and me trying not to fall off the back, we putted over Yangming Mtn and coasted down the other side to Jinshan (beach town). It was a stunning ride through the national park, and though I would never step onto the beach let alone swim at it, if it was in PNG or Australia *think-rubbish dump*, it had a good surf and made me laugh to think of everyone else at work in Taipei, while i bobbed between waves.
Hmmm.. Not a bad day.
posted by Amanda | 11:59 PM
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