Nesat – our first typhoon
Waking up this morning and peeking outside, you’d hardly believe 150km winds were sweeping over us just a handful of hours earlier. Actually going outside, however, was an entirely different story.
The first casualty of Nesat was our papaya tree, which had fallen before dawn yesterday. I say “our” papaya tree, as it’s right outside our kitchen window, but really it’s the community’s — a fact made ever evident by the endless stream of people who walk up and grab some unripe fruit while I’m washing dishes or preparing dinner.
State Mandated Beach Day
I’m not sure if it’s just our perpetually “under construction neighbourhood, or Haikou at large, but I’ve suffered more sudden power outages living here for 6 months than I did in 5 years in Suzhou.
As such, yesterday when the electricity went out shortly after we woke up, it wasn’t a huge surprise. I took the dog out, figuring it would be back on before I returned and I’d jump into the day’s task list. Getting back into the community a half hour later, I could hear a massive generator running from a maintenance building I had always assumed was empty.
A quick call (after a whole lot of busy signals) to the management office revealed that the power would be off for the next 12 hours, we should fill up what we can with water as the generator maintaining water pressure is only going to be running for a few hours — and didn’t we see the notice?
We had not.
Things Done Well: 27bslash6
I was cleaning out one of my inboxes this morning and came across an e-mail my sister forwarded to me a little over a year ago. Titled “Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus have a sword fight” I can only assume that the reason I didn’t pay more attention to it when it arrived was because my son was 48 hours fresh to this world and I was sleeping on a sofa in a Chinese hospital.
Holy Christ is it funny.
For those that don’t know who David Thorne is, and haven’t visited his immensely hilarious site 27b/6, essentially he writes satirical, at least partially fictional, articles that are frequently in the form of e-mail exchanges. Here’s an excerpt from Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus have a sword fight:
Bugs!
I realize I risk a little goblin coming in the night and stealing the essence of my manhood by saying this — but I fucking hate bugs.
I’d have to be more than a bit ignorant to move to a tropical island and not expect to cohabitate with the creepy crawlies, but it doesn’t disturb me any less. For the most part though, Haikou isn’t too bad. I’m sure there is a six-legged sea of ‘sects just waiting for me outside the city, but here among the concrete and tile, it’s relatively calm.
But though we live in a new apartment, and it appears to my untrained eye as well-sealed; drop a piece of food (a 15-month-old does little but), and within seconds a ration line of ants has formed with a tin cup and bowl. Leave some fruit out for more than a few minutes and a squadron of fruit flies gather — their tiny little wings a buzzing cadence that if you listen closely enough sounds like Ride of the Valkyries.
It’s hot, but not — comparing the weather of Haikou with Suzhou
When I mention to people in China that I live on Hainan I almost always get a, “Really? that must be great.” And it is. Everything that sold us on moving down here this past March has held its shine. Similarly, the things we steeled ourselves against are also ever present — one of the largest being the unrelenting heat.
Summer in Haikou is hot. Damn hot! But, and this is a bit surprising, it’s cooler than summer in Suzhou/Shanghai.
Evolution IS a Blind Watchmaker
Here is a fantastic video elegantly removing the legs from the archaic, yet amazingly still used, watchmaker” analogy. Even if you’re well past believing in fairy tales, it’s worth a watch (pun not intended, but embraced) for its excellent job of explaining evolution via mutation and natural selection. One thing I should add is: expect …
What’s in store for Thirty Four?
Today’s my birthday. I’m 34. I think this is the first birthday I’ve ever said it, but I feel older. Not old, but older. Undoubtedly some, if not most, of that feeling of age relates to being a parent now. Nothing forces you to look at the world in more “grown up” terms than when …
Canada Day 2011
It’s easy to flip back through photos of Casey and see how much he’s grown over the last year, but it really hits me when I have a direct date to compare to. Last year I took this photo of Casey with a little Canadian flag I have here. He’s just so much bigger now: …
Hainan’s Red Detachment of Women Ballet
While later today Canada will be celebrating its own anniversary with fireworks, BBQ and a whole lot of drinking; in China it’s all about the Communist Party of China’s 90th anniversary. Not one to shy away from the spirit of things, I figured it was an excellent time to showcase one of Hainan’s most well …
Family Portrait 2011
I recently put together a little photo book keepsake for ourselves and our family highlighting some of the many, many, many photos I’ve taken of Casey over the course of his first year. I realized when putting it together that while I had a lot of photos of Casey and a solid number of photos …
