brainylady

The beach

Continuing along on the Do Something Every Weekend Until I Go program, we went to the beach on Saturday, where there was a wingding in honour of Canada Day. Bill and I took the subway to one stop short of Danshui, and from there we were taken to the beach (Baishawan) in a bus with a few dozen of our countrypeople (did they bring those Mols*n Canadian T-shirts all the way to Taiwan with them?).

As always, it was great to get out of the city, especially now that summer has really and truly begun. The sand on the beach was fine and soft, and the water was warm. I tend to assume that oceans are cold, so I didn't bring our swimsuits. Billy, who is far more daring than I, was down to his tighty-whities in no time and out in the water. A drink or two later, I was heading in too, wearing my shorts and bra (left my Knitting Is Sexy T on the beach), and it was worth being soggy the rest of the day and evening. Unfortunately, the lovely sand did not continue into the water; under the surface were rather unpredictable layers of coral. (Bill and I both have our share of tiny scrapes and cuts from that.) I hit my knee hard at one point, and my first thought was, "Damn! I bashed my knee on the coral!" But my second thought was, "Cool! I bashed my knee on coral!"

We only saw a couple of people we knew -- like The Taipei Kid, who freely admitted he was there because the Canadian parties are more fun than the American ones. This was our first time at one of these organized Foreigner Events. And it was just as goofy as I thought it would be (trivia questions about extreme Canadian temperatures, lots of Tragically Hip songs), but we had a good time.

A question to the organizers: How could you underestimate the supply of veggie burgers for a bunch of Canadians?

I took photos, but I didn't get around to putting them into the computer yesterday. Tonight, for sure, so check back.

On my lunch break today, I have to go to the Foreign Affairs Police station to have my visa extended. I brought some knitting. Is it very wrong to hope that when I arrive and take a number, it's, say, 445, and that the next person to be served has, say, number 201?