A Bashed Tooth puts a damper on the weekend

Friday we headed down to the National Museum of Fine Arts on the other side of Taichung. The Museum is one exception to Taichung's culture-free living. As you can see, it was a stunning day, and a few clean molecules of air still hovered from the typhoon last week.


Advancing on the Museum

I feared the kids would be bored, but they loved it, especially the electronic arts exhibition that put a premium on interactivity. They liked the abstract art, even the hopeless stuff that looked like someone exploded a firecracker inside a tomato and then smeared the result across a canvas. Art that teaches, engages, tells, or protests I love; art for art's sake I enjoy, but art for other artists is just me listening in on someone else's conversation, intrusive, boring, and ultimately uninspiring.


The electronc arts exhibits. Lots of good stuff for kids.

The electronics art exhibit, in addition to being fun, expanded their definition of what constitutes art. "Was that really art?" asked my daughter. You bet! And best of all, at the moment entrance is free. So hurry on over and bring the kids.


The swim center in Beitou.

I had hoped for a full Sunday, with visits to the pool in Beitou where we like to go, a hike in Ta-Ken, and a visit to new night market near our house, but everything was scotched....

We went down to Beitou to visit the swim facility and hopped in the warm water. My kids went off to play while I pretended to do laps. After a few token laps my wife and hit the spa. We were sitting there chatting away when my daughter comes over, bleeding from the lip. Her tooth had been loosened. While she and my son were playing in the wading pool some idiot had decided to give his daughter a trip down the slide, despite the fact that it was a wading pool for children. He came barreling down the slide at top speed and slammed into my daughter, who had wandered in front of the opening as she and Zeb played. Instead of offering us some kind of compensation and guidance to the nearby hospital, he apologized perfunctorily and then his wife took over, attempting to blame my kids -- shouldn't have been playing in front of the slide -- and the pool -- should have had a sign there indicating children shouldn't play in front of the slide. There's no way you can communicate with people like that, so we just left in disgust. I was livid with rage but the key thing was to get my daughter to a doctor, so I couldn't pick a fight with the idiots. At the time I really admired my wife's cool, but then I found out later he had first told her that his daughter had done it. The sad part was that this couple had kids, so their finer qualities will be transmitted to the next generation.


Dan-dan catches some rays.

Fortunately the damage, while painful, appears to be temporary, Dan-dan got a brace she has to wear for the next two weeks and a painful lesson in adult stupidity. The dentist said there's no evidence of root fracture so the nerve appears to be OK. So in a couple of months her mouth should be back to normal.

So today, we're resting.

[Taiwan]