Rain Rain Go Away!

With a typhoon set to arrive tomorrow you can count on heavy rains and strong winds through Thursday. In fact, even though it has yet to arrive, we already felt the influence of the typhoon on the weather. Seriously, it rained cats and dogs today! But typhoons, or táifēng(颱風) are just an ordinary part of life on the island that you must learn to cope with if you plan to spend any length of time here. I'm just glad I don't live in Keelung anymore! Expats and locals alike are(or should be) stockpiling food, drinks and various other necessities to get them through the next few days, so get on that if you haven't already! Seriously, if you go to an RT Mart, A Mart, Carrefour or Costco at the last minute, you will be stuck with what you can get, which is usually just about nothing! So, to make sure that my readers are well prepared for their coming Typhoon Day(they're practically like national holidays here, hence the capital letters) I have prepared a short list of a few essentials you shouldn't be without when the milk tea hits the fan.

Typhoon Day Survival Kit:

1. As many packages of instant noodles pāomiàn(泡麵) as you can grab
2. A loaf of bread miànbāo(麵包)and some PB&J huāshēngjiànghéguǒdòng(花生醬和果凍)
3. Packages of dried food: cookies, chips, bǐnggān(併港) etc.
4. A few gallons of drinking water, and or any tea or sodas you may want to have on hand
5. A flashlight and extra batteries diànchí(電池) just incase you lose power, and candles wouldn't be a bad idea either
6. A basic first aid kit just in case
7. A stack of DVDs, I'll let you choose which ones(see, aren't I nice)

If you are a hardened veteran, having come out victorious over countless typhoons, then you probably already know it all, but if this will be your first typhoon, make sure you're prepared!
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Chinese phrases of the day:

táifēng(颱風)= typhoon
pāomiàn(泡麵)= instant noodles
miànbāo(麵包)= bread
huāshēngjiàng(花生醬)= peanut butter
hé(和)= and
guǒdòng(果凍)= jelly
bǐnggān(餅乾)= cookies, chips
diànchí(電池)= batteries

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