So I am stuck at my Dad’s house; babysitting his dog, cat and step-son (who is older than me yet incapable of operating a washing machine without breaking it). My Dad and his partner were meant to be home on Monday, but are stranded in the UK. And he’s not very good at answering emails. Gah.
Though I have to admit, “sorry, I’m stuck in Europe because of a giant ash cloud from a volcano” is a pretty good excuse. I wish we had active volcanoes in Australia. When I lived in Taipei, we lived on the uncool side of Yangmingshan, which is a dormant volcano – dormant meaning that it hasn’t erupted in a very, very long time and is unlikely to erupt again soon, but it might. The ‘might’ part was a bit scary; towards the end of our time living there, the road near our house started cracking and lifting in places. There was a huge sulfur smell, and warm water with yellow sediment started spewing out of these little ‘vents’ on the side of the road. Creepy, considering that the volcano wasn’t ‘extinct’ and we lived right on it.
I really, really want to go back and live in Taipei one day. When I was little, the community radio station ICRT in Taiwan was one of my major obsessions. It was such a unique thing – being the only English radio station for music (as opposed to, say, BBC radio or something boring), they had to cater to literally all tastes. So apart from the dedicated jazz or world music shows, we got this mash-up of Asian pop music, trans-Atlantic pop/rock, a few oldies and the rest of the time was dedicated to the absolute dorkiest of dorky music. Think Celine Dion, Air Supply, Bryan Adams, etc. I loved it so much; I even interviewed my favourite DJ for the school newspaper. There really isn’t anything similar here and it has sort of been a bit of a dream to one day go back to Taipei and work at ICRT. And eat dumplings all day, dress like a Harajuku princess, pay ridiculous prices for breakfast cereal but get expensive fabric for practically nothing, and go out for karaoke every single night.
xx Bunny Florentine
Ophelia in Space 