So I effectively dropped off the face of the blogging planet for the past few weeks or so. Apologies to any of you who have been checking here for updates. I've got a job now, which has been taking up a lot of my time, and add homework to that, and there's not a lot of time left for zoning out and doing other stuff. To be honest, it's good to be busy, it forces me to manage my time better, and I find I'm more productive when I'm on some sort of a schedule.
The holidays went pretty well here. Christmas was a very low-key affair. I did get to go to church with Jessie, and the service was up on Yang Ming Mountain, which was really peaceful and nice and a wonderful way to get out of the city a little and really feel the true sentiments of Christmas. I have to admit I got a little choked up during some of the carols because they reminded me so much of Lynnhurst, my old church back in Minnesota.
New Year's Eve was a pretty big deal here. I went over to Taipei 101 (after much transportation hassle and irritation at the unbelievable number of people out in the streets) and watched the fireworks, which were well worth the hassle and frustration, even though the show only lasted about 4 minutes. They literally shoot fireworks off the building, and it's sort of like a cascade effect, with all these colorful sparks just kind of flowing off the building. I shot a video of the show. It's here if you want to watch.
Chinese New Years is coming up next, in late January. I'm looking forward to it, although I've actually heard that Taipei is kind of quiet, since a lot of people leave to go south and visit relatives. We'll see though. I'm sure a lot of people stay around here too, and I've seen the long strings of firecrackers hanging up in doorways around the city, so I'm sure I'll be in for some noise come the last week of January.
Funny story. Was walking back from work a few nights ago along this side street between the main street in front of campus and the bridge that takes me home. I looked down, and running along the curb next to me is a rat. Good sized one too, just trundling along, minding his own business. No one else seemed to notice him. Frankly, rats don't freak me out that much. The thing is, a few nights before that, I was out with my roommate and some friends visiting from Japan. We were walking along that same road, and all of a sudden we hear a big commotion break out on the other side of the road. We look over and see people jumping off the sidewalk and squealing and carrying on, and then, from behind the row of motorbikes, a big rat comes scampering out. He didn't look too fussed, and I think he was probably enjoying the fact that he was able to clear the whole sidewalk for himself just by showing his face.
Has gotten a bit chilly here in Taipei. The worst part is that it's wet and rainy, which means you get chilled really easily if you sit still for too long. I find I'm comfortable if I'm up and around, but if I sit still for too long, I get really, really cold and uncomfortable.
In football news, I watched Liverpool demolish Newcastle United last weekend, and it was an awesome match to see. I think it was the clinching evidence that everyone's been looking for to show that Liverpool can really put in a title challenge this year. Won't say much more, don't want to jinx it, but Liverpool are playing some brilliant football right now, and I believe they have a great shot to bring home the title this year.
And in completely unrelated events, I just finished reading The Kite Runner. What a fantastic, heartbreaking book. I couldn't stop reading it. Once I started it, I read it straight through in about two and a half days. I was even reading on the metro to and from work. If you haven't read it, read it. It's thoroughly amazing.
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