Typhoon Jangmi

There's another typhoon on our doorstep here in Taipei, and this one really is going to hit Taipei almost head on. Called Jangmi, this storm was considered a super-typhoon earlier in the day, but it's now been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, around a Level 15-16, I think, according to the system used here in Taiwan. In any event, the news stations are all advising us to prepare supplies for the next few days, and though no one's really sure when the storm will hit or where, exactly, it looks like late tomorrow/early Monday is when the full brunt of the typhoon is expected to arrive. If that's the case, I think there's a very good chance we won't have class on Monday, which is kind of a gift for me since I'm supposed to have a speaking exam on Monday, and I don't feel very prepared for it yet. Of course, I'll be stuck inside all of tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to practice then, but it's one of those things I'll gladly put off a day, if given the opportunity.

Lauren and I were talking just recently about how typhoons, while still massively destructive and even deadly, don't seem to generate as much of a fuss as hurricanes do in the United States. It's almost like people here are more accepting of what nature is going to throw at them, and the country as a whole seems to take stuff like this a bit more in stride. I know it seems extremely stereotypical, but I have to wonder if it's something to do with the psyche of people here in Asia. History has taken this entire region on a massive rollercoaster ride over the centuries, and it's as if endurance is embedded into the innate consciousness of society. Sometimes I think people here are just tougher, more apt to just get on with their lives in the face of hardship, rather than protest, or complain, or try to change it.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just operating on Western stereotypes of the hard-working, silently-suffering good peasant people of Asia. Obviously I'm making a huge generalization. But I remember my Chinese politics professor back at Oxy, Professor Chi, explaining that, when the United States threatens twenty-year sanctions on the mainland for human rights abuses, the Chinese barely blink an eye, because to them, twenty years is a proverbial drop in the bucket, nothing compared to enduring centuries of dynasties rising and falling. Endurance, he explained, has an entirely different meaning to them than it does to those of us used to a new president every four years.

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A quick endnote: I watched Liverpool play Everton tonight in the Merseyside derby, and I was really happy with what I saw. A Torres double even though he wasn't really in the game much, some amazing distribution from Steven Gerrard, and a really good partnership between him and Xabi Alonso. Plus some really good defense, Arbeloa and Skrtel both very solid. Arbeloa even showed a bit of temper for getting into it with one of the Everton players. If Liverpool could play like this week in and week out, they would have a real shot at the title. The problem is, they have yet to show that they can kill off games that they should win easily, like last weekend against Stoke. If they only win big games, like Everton and Man U, it won't matter in the end, except maybe for bragging rights.

Typhoon Sinlaku

The typhoon has officially arrived. As I write this, the rain is pounding down on the roof of the balcony and it's so loud I can barely hear my music from my computer. The wind hasn't been too bad yet, but I'll hold off on saying we've escaped the worst of it until tomorrow afternoon.

Lauren arrived here just ahead of the major rain. It was pouring when she arrived, but it let up for awhile around 5 and we ducked out to the convenience store for some food and drinks. I think hers must have been one of the last flights to arrive in Taipei, because when I was watching the news just before she arrived, they were saying (I think) that all international flights had been canceled.

So far, no major mishaps, no power outages or anything. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Liverpool play Manchester United at Anfield in just over half an hour. Torres and Gerrard are supposedly fit. I don't know what to expect. As much as I'd love to see the Redmen come out and demolish United, I just don't think it's going to happen. I would be very happy a) to see Liverpool play some quality football and b) for Liverpool to escape with a tie.

Tai feng lai le!

Translation: "A typhoon's coming!"

The first I heard about this typhoon was about four days ago, when the landlord's sister came over to check on a bill that came to the apartment. She said something about a typhoon coming and I was like, "Wait wait, say again please?" Later, I looked on this handy-dandy website that tells you all the active storm systems in the world, and lo and behold, there it was, Tropical Storm Sinlaku.

Over the past few days, I then watched said storm menace its way slowly but surely towards our little island, growing all the time until reaching its current size, a Category 4 typhoon. At the moment, the storm could completely miss us and veer off to go bang on Japan's doorstep instead, but if it keeps on its present course, it's projected to give Taipei a good soaking on Saturday. It doesn't look like we're going to get the full brunt of the storm, just part of it, but with this big of a storm, I would assume there'll be a lot of rain and a lot of wind. Tomorrow I'm going to go by the grocery store and buy some water and food, just on the off chance that things get really sticky. I don't think they will, but just in case.

And Lauren is supposed to fly in Saturday. Unless things really change drastically, I think she may have to wait a couple of days. We'll see though. And for all my friends in southern Japan, you guys are going to catch the tail end of this storm, but it's going to be a smaller storm by then, so hopefully nothing to worry about.