My Taiwan Adventure

My french toast is sitting on the coffee table the maple syrup a warm puddle of sweet brown pooled in the middle of my square french toast. All bread in Taiwan is square. I don't know the reason behind the perfectly square loaves, but there it is, staring back at me from the bakery shelves everytime I go to pick up a loaf.

Yesterday afternoon I was the lone foreign teacher in the school. The Dr. had the day off because the kids have this exam which forces them to learn a set amount of 'vocabulary' and it seemed best to the school owner to have it taught in Chinese and English. Funny, she told me I'd have herself as a Chinese teacher to translate but she didn't bother showing up to my class. So I taught both classes at once completely in English. SNAFU. As a bonus, the larger class size and one missing student resulted in a better behaved student population. Not great, but better.

In my break between classes I left the concrete bunker that serves as school grounds with my camera in tow. It was a rare 'sunny' day. The wan sunshine competed with the smog which obscured the mountains around my town. I took an idling walk towards the little stream that runs past some apartment buildings where the path dead-ends. There is a series of slender metal bars set into the concrete there where I like to perch and let the babbling of the water wash away some of the frustrations of my life.

On the road I noticed some people hanging laundry beside their cars. Yes, right on the side of the road. I took pictures of that and of the quaint little Taiwanese garden that is currently littered with rotting green onions as compost. The smell is moderately unpleasant, but the greenness of the garden cheers me. Some of the fruit that was in season when I first came to Taiwan is coming into season again. I've almost come full circle.

Reaching midway of the path, I saw three pairs of shoes carefully placed on one of the marble tables that dots the city. I took a picture of them too. I think they were there to dry. Things get moldy really fast here if you don't air them out or keep a de-humidifier running. I remember my first proud purchase of a humidifier in Calgary and I chuckle.

***Pausing for some french toast.****

I stop to take pictures of some flowers and a phonecall from the Dr.. We chat pleasantly and I think we are both smiling in the end. If we weren't it is the way I choose to remember it. I start back to the concrete prison that holds me during the day and I notice an enormous bee. I say outloud "That has got to be the BIGGEST bee..." and then trail off as it darts so quickly to another flower that I lose it's progress.

Now I'm really intrigued. What kind of bee is a little bigger than my thumb and moves like quicksilver? Maybe it's those poisonous bees I keep hearing about in Taiwan. I get closer to the flowering shrub and peer at the bee which darts off through the greenery, again defying me to get a clear glimpse of it. Then I see a second bee in profile dipping into a flower with a long probiscus. They're not bees. They're silent humming birds! Brown and orange humming birds. Maybe they do hum, but it was lost in the background ambience of constant noise that accompanies life in Taiwan.

The flowers are tiny and smell remarkably sweet as I lean closer. I have on the widest grin I've had all day and I start snapping photos hoping that at least one shot in the remarkably bad light captures the speedy winged creatures. A Taiwanese man stops to point helpfully at the birds which I've clearly already spotted. I nod at him and say "Xie Xie," it never hurts to be polite. At least he isn't pointing at me and saying rudely, "Wygoren." My loose understanding is that it means dumb foreigner, or big nose foreign devil why are you mangling my language?

My day was transformed by the Biggest Bee. My last class of the day went remarkably well, even for the best behaved class that I have. I gave myself a 9 out of 10 and was strolling out, arms laden with teaching props. Elva actually said to me, with a big happy smile, "Teacher, good class," and gave me a thumbs up. There's a first time for everything.

So, here I am on a beautiful Saturday morning typing my blog title when it hits me that it's a great title for a kids book. It's probably been used already. I've got the plot in my head even. Who knows I might take a crack at kids books. THE BIGGEST BEE - coming soon to a bookstore near you? *laughing*

Thanks for your best wishes and prayers.
T. Destiny

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