Thursday 9/26/02 Taipei
Eye and Shooters Happy Hour
My PC at
home is really about to blow any day and is just screwy, so have fallen behind.
Today I
had to go to FSE during lunch to get the tickets to the traditional performing arts
show for me and Mom, whom they allowed me to bring. Again I took bus 18 there, thinking I’d figure it out this
time, but it just does NOT go there, they must have told me wrong. Got out as soon as I saw an MRT and
took it one stop to CKS Memorial and had to walk more. As I waited for Amy, I noticed my name
cards along with my name chop on a desk, the ones they’d already printed before
saw the draft she faxed. The
section number of my address was wrong and in the end I told them I didn’t want
my home address or home number on them, despite Amy’s protests:
“ALL the
Fulbright scholars put their home address and home number on the card, because
you don’t have office.”
“Well, I
don’t really feel comfortable or safe putting my home address on it because I
might give the cards to people I don’t know that well. And actually, I DO have an office, at
TaiDa Hospital.”
“But
everyone else does home address, you must put home address.”
Repeat the
above exchange three times. Then
abruptly: “OK, you just want your
cellphone number and no home address?
I tell them that then.” You
now have heard one of my typical conversations with Amy S.
So when I
saw the wrong ones lying there, I asked her if they were just throwing them
away, because if so I’d just take them anyway. She was confused and thought these were the 2nd
drafts and they hadn’t corrected the mistake again, and told me I should’ve
come in person, like “all the others” to approve the design, and since I never
come in, I hadn’t corrected the mistake in time. I kept repeating that she’d sent me the fax of the
correction and that fax I’d approved as right. But because of her gift of selective hearing, the woman just
didn’t comprehend.
I only worked until 3:45 and was meeting
mom at 4:15 at Taipei Main Station, paranoid she’d be late so I’d added in some
buffer time. ChiYuan and
HsiangGiun had meticulously drawn me maps and detailed directions on how to
take the bus from there to the Taiwan Cement Building where the performance
was. Mom was already there waiting
when I arrived at TMS to my surprise.
We found the bus right away and got to the TCB with 25 minutes to
kill. There were beautiful
fragrant flowers, huge arrangements everywhere, and a huge spread waiting on
the banquet tables. Upstairs we
got good seats in the auditorium and people filtered in. I waved when I saw Shawna who sat with us, and there
was apparently some famous man in front because lots of cameramen were snapping
wildly. Shawna shrugged when I
asked who it was, and said she just shared the elevator with him.
Tonight
marked the first Taipei Eye performance in this new facility, so there was
first a ribbon-cutting and some speeches.
The audience looked like it was mostly comprised of
international/foreign businessmen who had gotten invited like us. Just as they snipped the ribbon,
balloons and long glittery ribbons and confetti fell from the ceiling and
people (including Mom and me) scrambled to grab ribbons and stuff them in our
bags. Hey, we were helping them
clean up, right?
Performances
included an aboriginal dance, a PiPa (string instrument shaped like a long pear
of a violin, held upright in one’s lap) and the best was a very famous puppet
group with an elaborate puppet set and routine, and a narrator speaking the
most twangy drawly Taiwanese I’ve ever heard--I couldn’t comprehend a thing and
kept asking Mom if it was really Taiwanese or some other dialect, but she
insisted yes. The puppets did Kung
Fu, jumped and twirled (he’d flip the puppet in the air and catch it back on
his hand), used nunchucks and even spun plates on chopsticks. Mom said it’s the most famous puppet
troupe in the country and that was her favorite act. She’s such a kid.
When it
was over we headed for the buffet downstairs—cakes, pastries, fruit, juices,
dumplings, rolls—fantastic! I
introduced Mom to some Fulbrighters but she seemed much more into the food.
Was pretty
stuffed but headed to the Oriented Happy Hour at Shooters. Gary had told me he knew some “pretty
cool people” have gone to these things, and Ginger had heard about it from a
friend and was curious too. Mom
went home and I met Ginger at ChungHsiao DunHwa and we wandered into the alleys
looking for the address to Shooters.
On the way we ran into a white dude, Brad who heard us talking and asked
if we were looking for the Happy Hour too, so the three of us found it. We had to make nametags at the
door. It was a pretty nice, small
bar with tables and a lounge in the middle, and no pool table despite the
name. Most of the free food was
gone and what was left was pretty limp and cold, but we just got drinks. We ran into the ultra bubbly California
girl I met at the 9/11 vigil but otherwise didn’t know anyone. They all seemed a bit older,
professional, and knew each other already. We sat at a table for a bit sipping and soon decided to
leave. She took a couple pictures
with her digital camera and an Asian guy with surfer-dude longish hair noticed
and asked if she was taking pictures for the Oriented website. She said No, but he asked if she could
take his picture with his friend, plus Brad, and they took our picture
too. We were ready to go so we
made introductions quickly and I gave him (Bill) and Brad my name card which I
explained was new and I was very excited to be giving out (decided that having
the incorrect section number in my address actually DOES make it safe to give
out), and we left.