Borromeo

The construction in Taiwan is amazing. During my last trip to Taiwan last December I saw numerous buildings being erected all over the city. Gigantic, overwhelming monstrosities that make the uncapturable sky to look that much smaller. Roads are repaved routinely; black, silk asphalt that is layered and flattened over stretches of road in the midst of the night. Taiwan is a well oiled machine and it’s beautiful.

Outside my house is a road, constructed way before I came along, but never renovated until now. When I came back from my trip to Taiwan in January, construction workers started tearing up this road. Their loud and heavy machinery clawed away at the asphalt, removing large chunks to install new pipers. The local government finally decided our neighborhood needed better infrastructure. It’s June right now and they’re still not done. They’ve torn up edges of the roads to add a sidewalk – removing gardens and lots of grass in the process. The road is much wider now, but it is still in its cement phase. Walking the newly renovated street last week, I noticed a large crack and wondered when they’d cover the road with asphalt.

The process is slow. The beauty has been taken out of the process. We have giant piles of sand, rocks, and uprooted plants lining our streets. I’ve been meaning to document the process but didn’t want to pull out my camera. Now I resort to memory.

There wasn’t really a point in my writing this. I’m sorry if I sound bitter. I’m not that upset with the slow construction. I’m actually quite relieved that the road is new and not just repaired. New pipes, sidewalks, a really wide street, this is more than I could ask for.

It’s late. It’s 2:20AM now and I’m too tired to watch the Cameroon v Denmark game. Good night.