Sunday, February 12, 2006
It's Over
Well, vacations never last and this one's no exception. Friday (Taiwan time) I lifted off from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The two weeks went by so quick, it seemed like a couple days. My wife did a great job of planning everything from tickets to food to places to visit (and I'm not just saying this because she reads this). She even got me home the day before the first major east coast storm that trashed air and ground travel yesterday. Everything really was nice - her family (now my family) and everything else. I'll be adding more of my observations in the next few posts (jet lag is a terrible thing).
But when good times come to an end sometimes they really crash and this was no exception. First I finally picked up Taiwan bug that my immune system couldn't handle and was really sick on Thursday. I couldn't keep much in and had a feeling like a cold. Finally around 6 that night or so, I had a temperature of 101. They had a great going away meal cooked and I had to just to sit and watch them eat. I did manage to eat a small bowl of steamed rice while looking at my favorite home-cooked shrimp, long bean and vegetable dishes sit on the table.
I went to bed around 8:30pm and piled on the blankets and the fever broke about midnight - thank goodness. I found out they don't let you board the plane with a fever over 100 degrees - all those strange and deadly flus that seem to sprout up in Asia. There are temperature scanners all over the airport to find folks coming in or out sick. I can't say I wasn't worried at least a little about being stuck in some Taiwan hospital fighting off the latest version of Asia's prolific and aggressive virus population.
The morning came and while I wasn't feeling great, I wasn't on death's door either. The fever was down and all I had left was a stuffed head - which by the way, isn't the best thing to have when flying. That caused me some problems as we traversed 35,000 feet over the Pacific and North America over the next - sigh - twenty-some flying hours.
A friend picked me up at the massive Saginaw airport (all one gate of it) where I actually arrived on time and even more surprising with my baggage. I still had a stuffed head and it sounded like I was listening from the bottom of a barrel but I was near the house. I couldn't wait to get home turn up the heat, take a long shower and get to bed.
HA! We pulled up to the house and I noticed a power line sitting in the backyard - not good. Power lines are supposed to be in the air. It's buried under the snow, so I know it's been down for awhile. I gingerly make my way into the - guess - COLD house. It's 33F (just a smidgen above 0C) but luckily not quit frozen yet. I turn a couple of taps on to leak some water and make a call to the power company. And that will be another story.
Of course I'm up at 7am this morning - jet lag's a terrible thing - and the Internet seems to be down, so I'm doing this on my text editor (NoteTab Standard - great program) and will post when I can.
