The Roof is on Fire!

Well I don't think that our roof has ever caught on fire but we tried once to light it on fire for the Chinese New Year. Because the fourth floor and the roof are the only part of the building which we have access to on the weekends we tend to spend most of our time on one of these floors. Usually the fourth floor wins but ocassionally the roof wins and we have a party up there. I understand that it looks more like a Relief Society get together, but you must understand that half of the male population was downstairs slaving away in the kitchen and the other half was behind the camera. Either way, welcome to our roof.

This past Sunday was just one of those days. It is starting to get hot here in Taiwan and by starting I mean that it is only 80 degrees and we are already starting to die. Yes, I understand that we all are pansies but you must remember that most of us are use to being pampered in America in a nice cool house and sitting around the house lazily instead of chasing kindergartener's around the room telling them to act like an aligator. Anyways, back to the roof. So I was walking over to get a chair on another part of the roof and I peered over the ledge and realized that I hadn't taken any pictures from the top of the roof for a while. Needless to say I got a little distracted and become a little camera happy, kind of like I always am.

But a little good did come out of it. The picture above and the picture below both encompass the view from the top of the roof looking down on the street in front of our house/school. Something always seems to be under construction these days whether it be the school, the street or our lives. This week the street has gotten most of the attention. It might not look bad from these pictures but when you have the truck traveling down the street and you have to weave inbetween them it can get pretty exciting.

From this angle you can see the lovely autobody shop. They are happy to work on your car whenever we want to sleep. Those Saturday mornings, when all we want to do is sleep, are filled with the sound of cars under construction and we can even hear their phone ringing. They must not be hurting for business though, because something is always going on.

So I'm sure you aren't very curious but you can humor me anyways. You might be wondering what is across the street from the school and this is what we look at when gazing out our window. This is a parking lot for some kind of stock brokerage company. I have my doubts though because I don't recall it ever being remotely full. It is one of the largest parking lots I have seen in Taiwan though. Since space is limited you do the most with what you have, so that's the view.

While I have your attention I'll quickly show you the view from the dong, or east, side of the roof. I think it is a bunch of apartment buildings, but it could be a giant drug factory, though I would guess it is the former. So what else do we do on the roof. We have been known to dance on the roof, play spoons and carry weather reports. As a preface to this video you must realize that we discuss the weather every day in kindergarten and the children always tell us that is it sunny and cloudy. Never just cloudy and never just rainy. So while the following was filmed in the rain. . .anyways you get the point.

So you can't really see the rain or the roof because Joseph happens to be in the way. Here is the same shot minus Joseph's wonderful yellow raincoat.

But perhaps the best use of all of the roof is the opportunity to spend quality time with the people of our choice. Sara and I have become the obsessive bloggers and we needed a breath of fresh air so we opted for the roof. I guess you could call this our engagement photo since I never posted one of the two of us. You can tell where this relationship is going based upon the excitement on Sara's face. Absolutely nowhere after we leave Taiwan. I'm hoping we might still be friends but we'll leave that up to fate.

So our roof has been the spot for mulitiple activities and the future possibilities seem endless. Sometimes though it is nice just to sit up there with a friend and listen to "Endless Love" in the dark.