Inner Something.
After several unsuccessful attempts to rope himself a mare, my dear flatmate Casanova ‘Paul’ has decided to end his stint at the farm. His weekend produced additionally fruitess efforts to find answers to questions, and Monday evening he announced out of the blue that he needed to find his ‘inner soul’ – which evidently resides somewhere near Auckland. (Actually, it sounds as though he’s had a tough go of things lately, coming off a divorce and its rebound relationship.) As quickly as he flooded in the door a week and a half ago, ‘Paul’ blew out of Taiwan last night (Tuesday) on a 14 hour flight home.
In return for a week of patient listening, I’m left with a box of Nestle Fitness cereal, a banana, some fruit juice, a can of Taiwan beer and an overall feeling of, “What the hell?”.
Today (Wednesday) is the official Tombsweeping Day where the locals do a bit of spring cleaning around their little ‘houses for the dead’ where they bury their families. Death is serious business here, as it is only the dead who have proper front lawns and clean balconies on properties with a view. (As with successful artists, it would seem, one is better off in the urn.)
Today I woke up after a handful of snoozes and spent the better part of the morning fighting off an army of kitchen ants and negotiating a small hill of laundry. As I was on my third load (of laundry) on the rooftop, I ran into my English neighbour Dominic who lives in the apartment there. Until today, Dominic and I had made it a habit of whisking past each other with the briefest of acknowledgements. (I must admit I was a bit curious to meet him as ‘Paul’ announced during one of his rants that Dominic hated Canadians.)
The introduction went better than expected, and we found ourselves drinking green tea in his apartment, eating lunch at an Indian restaurant, followed by coffee/drinks in a rather Bohemian, uni student centred cafe. While his dislike is focused on the group of partying, Peter Pan Canadians here who he can’t seem to avoid, Dominic holds a love for all things Italian; Sicily, espresso and designer clothes inclusive. (As for his ‘pret a porter’ collection: between Chinese classes and kindergarten teaching, his nearly-new clothes remain hung neatly in his wardrobe, where he can stroke and admire these ‘pets’ when they require attention.) I thought he was curious and great fun.
Seemingly, and encouragingly, I’m not part of the Never Never Land Canucks and so it looks like laundry may be quite an interesting event in the future.
I suppose there’s a few ‘odd’ eggs in every dozen.
Unusually, Laura.
Tags: Taiwan Living
henney22
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