Drenching

It's finally stopped pouring outside right now--but pour it did, for several hours, beginning, of course when I was just getting ready to drive back from Chinese class.

And I discovered several things about the rain:

1. It's absolutely wonderful. It cools you down, the humidity's not as bad, somehow, and overall it just feels like you're sitting in the middle of a perfect waterfall in the middle of the jungle. And of course, given that this is a subtropical region, that's not too far from the truth.

1. It's absolutely inescapable. Remember that waterfall simile? Yeah...that actually applies to force and drop size, it's not just a stereotype of something wonderful. Leaving San-Min, where we have Chinese classes, I wasn't quite insane enough to think I could make it home unprotected, so my first instinct was simple: drive across the street, where there was a 7-11 which, Fonda informed me, would be selling ponchos. Yeah...in the time it took for me to get to my scooter, put on my helmet, stop at the light and drive across the street, I was drenched. As in my white skirt was clinging to my legs, my shoulders were wet through and my sandals were sponging water. Even after I put on my newly-purchased pale yellow all-body poncho, my shoes were under what felt like a running faucet, my face was being constantly smattered with rain, and the small triangle of my shirt left exposed by the poncho was soaked through by the time we made it back to the apartment.

1. When it rains in Taiwan, ponchos emerge out of nowhere like umbrellas in New York or cicadas in their long-awaited season. Everyone expects torrential rain; everyone prepares for it. Everyone, that is, except foreigners. (Well, not quite only foreigners--I was in good company at 7-11, and they had a stash of raincoats by the check-out.)

And, well you know me and my lists. They have 3 items each (a nice round number which happens to be my favorite and into which my thoughts on a subject almost invariably fall naturally), and are usually a sign that I'm tired and/or have been reading too many Cracked.com articles. In this case, both are true. So I'm signing off for now.