Goodbye Jinjiang et al.

Well, I thought I would blog for one last time from the bowels of my dungeon-like room, with its echoey blank walls and naked-empty shelves. Amanda started packing yesterday afternoon, and all that's left to do is the clothes which can just be shoved into backpacks and suitcases.

I'm only moving a hop-skip-and-a-jump away, so tomorrow i'll be able to just wheel my bags out and balance my boxes down the street. Let's hope it doesn't rain. I think the occasion calls for a poem, so just off the top of my head:
My imminent removal from this room has left feelings torn
I will miss this hovel and those good memories born
From many a heated topic, and challenging discussion
But more space and more light will be good for my disposition

Not bad huh? Really, i'm going to regret that by tomorrow...

So I've been working my finger-tips to itchiness... no joke, the other day i thought i would have to go to a dermotologist. My work day now starts at 7am, and ends at 10pm. I have breaks scattered throughout the day but they're filled with finding food, going to the pool and prepping for my never-ending-story of classes. I average 42 hrs a week. WOAH. It's Saturday night and i'm afraid to go out, i'm happy to be in with a book and my music and my pillow. I can sleep whenever i feel like it because it's the weekend! ^-^ conducive to saving too!

Plus Amanda has a busy day ahead of her tomorrow. I have to buy a bed, along with some other miscenlaneous items, relocate and then tomorrow night Lisa Loeb is playing in Taipei! How random is that? This city is crazy.

And in literary news *splutter* a student lent me the latest Harry Potter- number six that woman's up to already- The Half-Blood Prince. I'm about halfway through and it's started to get exciting (finally). Does anyone else feel like the author is relying completely on the loyalty of the reader to be enticed by the story? Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the adventures but to me it feels like she's riding on the wave of the first 5 books and this is just something she sneezed out for the money. And does anyone else prefer Malfoy's wits and nerves to Harry's? Harry's so passive, dependent and naive. That doesn't potentially make me a Death Eater does it? Hmm..

Here's a winner from Queen Elizabeth I

The doubt of future foes

The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy
And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy
For falsehood now doth flow, and subjects' faith doth ebb
Which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web
But clouds of joys untried do cloak aspiring minds
Which turn to rains of late repent by changed course of winds
The top of hope supposed the root upreared shall be
And fruitless all their grafted guile, as shortly ye shall see
The dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds
Shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds
The daughter of debate that dischord aye doth sow
Shall reap no gain where former rule still peace hath taught to know
No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port
This realm brooks not seditious sects, let them elsewhere resort
My rusty sword through rest shall first his edge employ
To poll their tops that seek such change or gape for future joy

wow, what a weekend. hong kong is an amazing place. it felt to me like a big big brisbane. it had the same feel, probably because it was so hot, but it had a lot of trees, and the city felt the same, perhaps because brisbane really makes use of the river i guess, as does hong kong its harbour. the ferry rides are cool, to cross from kowloon to hong kong island where the rich people live and the business centre is. wait, have you been there??

so i arrived on saturday at noon, and after finding a "cheap" place to dump my bag and fork over way to much money, i ventured out to explore kowloon..well, i was looking for an indian restaurant someone had recommended. it started pouring rain very suddenly. this kind of rain!! i've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. i was walking down a flash street with flash shops and huge shopping centres all around me, and the wind picked up. i looked up at the sky and it was really dark, then suddenly, up ahead i see a wave of rain approaching me. it was surreal, sort of slow motion, and i had time to duck for cover in front of a flash store..i wish i could remember the brand..

i was stuck there for about 10 mins, watching the rain sweep past, like a hollywood movie special-effect, then i made my way back to a cinema that was housing all the umbrella-less refugees of kowloon. it eased up a bit, and i got a little wet before finding a cheap place to get a brolly, then found my bearings, found the restaurant (Brantos) and had a yummy vegie curry as i watched bollywood MTV on flatscreen.

I didn't feel bloated like i usually do after indian, and a lot of the clientelle were indian. always a good sign. i was planning to go back there everyday for food, but after getting back to my room and sorting out my finaces, i realised that i could only afford one meal a day. my bank card in taiwan seized up on friday night, but i didn't think anything of it. i thought the teller machine i was at was broken or empty..but on saturday morning, at 5:45 am when i tried again on the way to the airport it didn't work again.

there's this very unfortunate system here where you have a passbook that you can print up statements on, and if you carry out 60 transactions without doing so, the card stops and you have to take your passbook in to a bank for an update. so. guess when this 60th transaction was? yep. the day i take out money for my trip to HK. only, i forgot about rent and had to pay that before i left, and thought i could just get more money out.. but no.

fortunately my friend lives quite close, and i woke her up and took all her money, which really wasn't enough but better than nothing..(she has a credit card).. anyway, so i had enough for my visa, and one meal per day if i wanted to actually make it back to the airport on monday too.
you! have! no! idea! oh my goodness. the "cheap" room i was suppsed to get turned out to be twice as much as i expected, meals were four times the price of taiwan..

but, amazingly, i managed to still go out and sight see. just not as much as i'd hoped coz i had to conserve my energy and not be tempted to spend - or put myself in a position to get mugged. i had cable in my room so i watched news, mtv, movies, cartoons. was actually a lot of fun until my stomach started grmmmmbling. on sunday i took the star ferry across the harbour, found my way to the peak tram (the streets are very well signed, in english too!! wow what a relief after taipei) then took the tram up victoria peak which has amazing views of the city. i found a "wellcome" up there, a chain supermarket in asia, and bought some focaccia bread and cheese and yoghurt and juice and even a slice of banana cake, and that was what i ate on sunday. the peak has lots of walkways but it's so crowded. i went up pretty early and missed most of the crowds until about noon, so decided to go back down. the tram is sloped about 27 degrees! very steep, and you have to go down sitting backwards, and i had a stupid little kid (tourist family from england perhaps) standing up on the seat next to me, putting his dirty feet on my pants! little poo.

anyway, after getting off the tram, i headed west to find soho, as i wanted to ride on the "escalator" aparently it's the biggest outdoor escalator in the world. that was fun, but it was hot, and sticky, and i saw all these amazing restaurants that i couldn't afford to go to. i wondered around a bit then took the ferry back to kowloon and went back to hbo.

on monday morning, everything went smoothly with the visa. i had to get new id photos despite having two sets to choose from. one was too small, the other too blurry. anyway, THEN!!! get this, the visa wasn't as much as i thought it would be! i miscalculated/wasn't listening properly when jacki explained the costs coz i was on the phone to the travel agent. (chaos it was)
so i had ALL this money!! man. i could've died. then i was telling this business man (ralph) from canada that i met in the visa office about it, just because that was all that was on my mind and he gave me some money coz he felt sorry for me. sooo grateful. i told him i'd pay him back, coz he's here in taipei until friday. SO then i ended up coming home with money!!! am still shaking my head!!

anyway, the visa wasn't going to be ready to pick up till 4pm, and now that i had this money, i wondered around stress free. i went to a museum (free), but most of the exhibits were shut then i took a bus (yes, could afford bus) and went back to soho and ate at an amazing greek restaurant with a nepalese waiter, who had a friend in HK from PNG!! he said she worked at another restaurant down the hill, but wouldn't be there that day. anyway!!! it was a crazy kind of feeling, how much the stress was off as soon as i had money in my pocket.

i went back to collect my visa a little before 4 and it was ready, and i met ralph again, and he still felt sorry for me so said he'd be catching a cab to the airport and i was welcome to take it with him. i ended up being really early for my flight, but now i have an invitation to montreal!! he's married, has a cocker-spanial, his kids are grown and moved out, so he says he has plently of space in a big house. will have to mention it to my aussie-friend(we're planning a trip next year, around the world!) he had to get a visa because his passport expires in december and you can't enter taiwan with a passport that's only valid for under 6 months. so he said he was kicking himself because he forgot to get a new passport, but i said i was lucky he didn't! hahah
anyway, so will definately go back to HK . i wish my bankcard had worked, it would have made such a difference. i guess it was all just a series of unfortunate events.

my stomaches growling, am gonna get brekky, then go get my arc before i forget again. i have no classes today, they all start tomorrow!! so day off to relax, renourish my body...

Is this code for deportation?

I turned off my phone to recharge by battery yesterday morning after getting home from my early class. I took a nap. When i woke up the battery was charged so i connected it back up to my phone and turned it on. There was a text message waiting for me from my boss.
Amanda.
URGENT!
Please call me!

My first reaction was that i had a new class and would have to rush in to prep it and teach. But no, that would have been nice, but no. My ARC (Alien residency Card) had expired, and i had not been to the police station to renew it. It was three weeks over. -That's interesting that it took three weeks to notice that my ARC had expired but that i had not yet left the country.

I had all the papers i needed, i'd been to the police station three times in May, and they told me to come back in June. So what as i doing in June that prevented me from renewing...even remembering to renew my ARC? absolutely nothing. June went by in a flash and now i'm one of those people that didn't get their papers in on time.

So, i'm of to Hong Kong tomorrow. I have to leave the country and have my visa processed on foreign land. It's going to put a dent in my savings account somewhat, but maybe there's a reason behind all this... or maybe it's just a lesson. I guess even teachers need lessons. booo.

My first reaction was OK, blow this, i'm going home, but it's really another experience in my tour of Asia. (but why do i keep going to places i never planned to go to??) Maybe i should start NOT planning to go to Peru and Egypt.. and NOT looking into returning to Germany..

Anyway, hopefully everything goes smoothly, they let me back into Taipei, and i can get back to work on Tuesday. Wish me luck! If i don't make it back, it was nice knowing you...
Flutter

Feelin hot hot hot...

I have two fans circulating hot air around my hot room in this hot house on this hot alley off this hot road in this hot country. I grew up in a hot tropical country, but this hot tropical city of Taipei just does! not! compare!!

At least we had escapes on those hot days back in Moresby. Swimming pools, beaches, bathtubs. There's no escape here. This city life only has over-air-conditioned-insides, which in effect makes it feel hotter-than-nightmares-outside, and a sense of what it's like in hell in my un-a/c'd apartment. On top of that it's not as easy for adults to play it cool when it's hot. When you're a kid you're so innocent to the harshnessities of life. Everyday is just another beach excursion, and dad drives and mum packs your towel and thinks of the sunscreen and what to put in the picnic basket. It's no fun carrying a bulging-bilum on the subway in the city, with the beach towel showing through and the banana getting squished. I'm already being scrutinised every time I enter public in Taipei. There's no blending in anywhere. So it's easier to just stay at home and complain. Conserve the energy it takes to deflect stares and avoid inquiring eyes.

But now the weekend is over, and it's back to work tomorrow, and the countdown to next weekend is on.

I'm hoping life will soon become more than just countdowns to weekends. It certainly is a sorry state, especially when it doesn't mean any more than a chance to sleep in.

Phased.