dire straits
Last night as I was getting ready for bed, there were two very loud booms off in the distance. Which, in Taiwan, is normally nothing at all to even think twice about; these people are shooting off huge fireworks all the time. Store openings, funerals, whatever. But immediately afterwards, six Mirage fighter-bombers took off from the airbase just to the north of me, in rapid succession, on full afterburner, headed for the Strait.
And while I didn't seriously think that there was any imminent threat of violence or a nuclear sunburn, there was that brief pause, for just a moment, that reminded me that this isn't Kansas, and there are parts of this country that not too long ago were shelled by artillery on even numbered days, and that one day the situation between Taiwan and China is going to be settled once and for all, whatever that means.
13 days, 14 hours, and 41 minutes until I leave this island.