I Never Quite Realized Just How Tall I Am!

if you know me well and have the imagination to put yourself in my shoes, you'll understand when i say that though Taipei is an easily grasped concept of a chaotic asian metropolis, China is an entirely different planet. granted, i'm not spending any time on this trip in the major (we're talking a country with 1.4 BILLION people here, so major and minor have entirely different meanings, if you catch my drift) cities, but it truly does redefine civilization. take all the concepts about urban life and culture that our western world has ingrained in us and chuck them out the window. the only common element is that this city i'm in is also populated primarily by a bipedal mammalian species akin to homo sapiens. to say i'm loving it is an understatement.
i haven't eaten a single thing i recognize yet, and this is taking into account my adventurous but seldom documented forays into chinatown as well as Cray Ton's father's imperial cooking. i haven't had a guinness or western meal in a week, and i actually feel much much healthier than i have back home. actually, the dietary contrast has really brought to my attention just how terribly we tend to eat, and the utterly unhealthy food that surrounds us on a daily basis. they have no concept of batter or gravy here, and were steam technologies cease to be, they would instantly starve to death.
a couple more items of amusement: the only other round eye that i have seen since departing vancouver was a solitary and skittish black (!) guy in Taipei. apart from that, for the first time in my life, I am the odd looking foreigner who attracts extremely overt and puzzled/curious stares from people on an hourly basis. as i mentioned to Ali (I MISS YOU, BABY), the attention i am gathering is exactly as if i were to dress in FABULOUS birdcage type drag and strut down blvd jean-talon in saint-leonard on a sunday afternoon, minus the homicide-bound angry mob that would be chasing me...
well, business-wise, there are some very attractive things in the future, not the least of which is the sledgehammer i intend to take to my organization in montreal after observing the far more pleasant operation out here. may God help anyone who stands in my way, amen.
oh, and i will have to make a serious go at learning this language. night classes, here i come!
until next time, true believers!
ps: bab5 when i return, though it feels like i'm living in a combination of the Zocolo and down below (brown sector, right baby?) right now...