It had been comfortably breezy all day. The air conditioner wasn't turned on at all and the windows with screens were left open all day. Then, late on 24 November, it started raining. It was a steady mist, very pleasant, and the screened windows stayed open all night.
I headed out Sunday morning to do the grocery shopping. I didn't need my umbrella to get into the taxi, but I did need it when I got out of the taxi and headed into the shopping mall. I got my shopping done, went to the underground taxi stand and joined the unusually long line to wait for a taxi. My wait wasn't as long as I anticipated. I was somewhat surprised at the downpour the taxi pulled. The driver maneuvered through the traffic and the occasional large puddle. Once it turned onto the road I live on, the puddles became large ponds and the water level approached the door of the cab.
I believe in perpetuating the stereotype that Americans are good tippers, so this taxi driver was the recipient of my intent. He cheerily helped carry my bags of groceries through the torrential rain to a covered part of the apartment building.
This was the typhoon that had been predicted on Friday. It was the equivalent of a blizzard of rain. We lack some basic infrastructure here - things like storm drains, holding ponds, well, really, a basic drainage system. At unusually high tides, many roads are flooded, so during this typhoon, the same systems were taxed. By early Sunday evening, the Ministry of Education cancelled public school due to the amount of water on the roads (I suspect knowledge about high tides played a part in the decision as well). By 9:00 that night I'd received notification that my school was cancelled the next day. The glorious "snow day" was now a "typhoon day".
The next day, the sun came out and like in "The Eency, Weency Spider" ... dried up all the rain. Well, most of it. Over 11 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours. There are still some places that have large bodies of water that were not there before the typhoon. I am baffled by the men fishing in them. Perhaps they don't realize that it is not a body of water that is connected to a source of fish - or maybe at high tide it is.
We went to a Christmas concert at St. Paul's Convent last weekend. It was a lovely cathedral that looked just like it was transported from France. The bizarre part was the uncomfortable heat, despite the enormous fans, while listening to Christmas Carols. I also felt like it was a new look at parenthood. There were a number of families present. Children were plugged into devices, playing games and eating Pringle's potato chips while the remarkable orchestra and the stunning voices performed.
I was grocery shopping yesterday. The shopping basket isn't nearly as full as it was when I was doing the weekly shopping for a family of 4. While living in Europe, I was the odd one out with my incredibly loaded shopping cart. It is much more common for Europeans to shop every day (the fridge just isn't that big). Consequently, at the check-out lines I frequently received stares and glares of "how-dare-you-buy-so-much-and-take-up-so-much-of-my-time-waiting-for-you-to-get-through-the-checkout-lane".
Not-so-here - but I also don't find a need to make sure I'm in the shortest line. I enjoy just watching. I joined a line where the woman ahead of me had two completely full shopping carts. It took quite a while to get her items scanned and packed. I was able to get my items on the conveyor belt without having to wait for the belt to move at all. I was surprised when the woman ahead of me picked up two items that I had, said something to the cashier, who took the items from her, called for another employee to come, and they had a discussion about something. I was able to figure out the woman wanted some of these items as well. I stepped in to explain where I got each item, and off someone went to get some of these for the woman in front of me. I felt somewhat smug thinking that my careful shopping had helped out this woman AND the store. Certainly a shopping experience I'd never had before.
Photos:
This is a pillow on a motorbike. The child would rest his/her head on the pink pillow, perhaps to sleep, definitely to cushion the head from the bouncing while riding.
I headed out Sunday morning to do the grocery shopping. I didn't need my umbrella to get into the taxi, but I did need it when I got out of the taxi and headed into the shopping mall. I got my shopping done, went to the underground taxi stand and joined the unusually long line to wait for a taxi. My wait wasn't as long as I anticipated. I was somewhat surprised at the downpour the taxi pulled. The driver maneuvered through the traffic and the occasional large puddle. Once it turned onto the road I live on, the puddles became large ponds and the water level approached the door of the cab.
I believe in perpetuating the stereotype that Americans are good tippers, so this taxi driver was the recipient of my intent. He cheerily helped carry my bags of groceries through the torrential rain to a covered part of the apartment building.
This was the typhoon that had been predicted on Friday. It was the equivalent of a blizzard of rain. We lack some basic infrastructure here - things like storm drains, holding ponds, well, really, a basic drainage system. At unusually high tides, many roads are flooded, so during this typhoon, the same systems were taxed. By early Sunday evening, the Ministry of Education cancelled public school due to the amount of water on the roads (I suspect knowledge about high tides played a part in the decision as well). By 9:00 that night I'd received notification that my school was cancelled the next day. The glorious "snow day" was now a "typhoon day".
The next day, the sun came out and like in "The Eency, Weency Spider" ... dried up all the rain. Well, most of it. Over 11 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours. There are still some places that have large bodies of water that were not there before the typhoon. I am baffled by the men fishing in them. Perhaps they don't realize that it is not a body of water that is connected to a source of fish - or maybe at high tide it is.
We went to a Christmas concert at St. Paul's Convent last weekend. It was a lovely cathedral that looked just like it was transported from France. The bizarre part was the uncomfortable heat, despite the enormous fans, while listening to Christmas Carols. I also felt like it was a new look at parenthood. There were a number of families present. Children were plugged into devices, playing games and eating Pringle's potato chips while the remarkable orchestra and the stunning voices performed.
I was grocery shopping yesterday. The shopping basket isn't nearly as full as it was when I was doing the weekly shopping for a family of 4. While living in Europe, I was the odd one out with my incredibly loaded shopping cart. It is much more common for Europeans to shop every day (the fridge just isn't that big). Consequently, at the check-out lines I frequently received stares and glares of "how-dare-you-buy-so-much-and-take-up-so-much-of-my-time-waiting-for-you-to-get-through-the-checkout-lane".
Not-so-here - but I also don't find a need to make sure I'm in the shortest line. I enjoy just watching. I joined a line where the woman ahead of me had two completely full shopping carts. It took quite a while to get her items scanned and packed. I was able to get my items on the conveyor belt without having to wait for the belt to move at all. I was surprised when the woman ahead of me picked up two items that I had, said something to the cashier, who took the items from her, called for another employee to come, and they had a discussion about something. I was able to figure out the woman wanted some of these items as well. I stepped in to explain where I got each item, and off someone went to get some of these for the woman in front of me. I felt somewhat smug thinking that my careful shopping had helped out this woman AND the store. Certainly a shopping experience I'd never had before.
Photos:
But First Coffee
