Taiwan tea and street kids

Had a manic weekend. I think my life is getting back to normal after broken foot.

It started on Friday. I was having a nice quiet evening - oh no, it started on Thur. On Thur I went out for Taiwan tea with my friend Bill. I managed to pay for him which is an achievement coz he usually wants to pay. That was nice, because that day I had met lots of street kids and it was on my mind.

The street kids are professional beggars of a sort - I’m still trying to get to the bottom of it. The most shocking thing to me is not that they exist but that no one considers them people. We were in my friend’s car on Jinsha Road when I saw a couple and said hello, one ran over to show me something but he was adamant you shouldn’t open the window. I did anyway coz he wasn’t going to ask for money - it set off a convo that lasted a long time. My friend said there are kids trained to hypnotise so you’ll give them your stuff. I dunno. They’re still kids. What is interesting is when you ask anyone here what you should do to help people, they all say: Get rich and then you can set up a foundation like Bill Gates. It is really a fantastic idea that only the rich can help other people who they don’t personally know. Maybe it is the stage of development - people still struggle to make themselves secure. But I don’t know. Brazil has lots of people who aren’t rich, doing good things.

Taiwan tea - it’s milky and flavoured and it’s got little black jelly-like balls in the bottom, it’s nice.  You get it at most of the tea houses I think.