About Me

I'm the thing that's not like the others.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Statues, Ghosts and Recuperation

Whilom: from the old English meaning formerly or erstwhile. I learn something new everyday. This one was in one of the books I bought on Sunday.

Fri Aug 24th
I just finished the book. It was really a very good story. And full of words I’ve never seen before. It’s The Dragon and the Unicorn by A.A. Attanasio and is the story leading up to the birth of King Arthor told from many different points of view, including Merlin’s. Well worth the read.
Anyway, now that the book report is over, on to news. Not that I have a lot, due to my recent illness. I had another Chinese lesson last night. This time Diana came with me, and we’re both learning together. It was really interesting the way I heard the sounds versus how she heard them. She’s British. Also, we each picked up quickly on different things. I think it’s only to the good to have a study partner. So we’ll have one official lesson each week, but we are going to practice together between lessons. We even have a study date tonight after her class.
School was fine. The kids were super good today. Mostly. There were moments of silliness, but that’s to be expected. They were good yesterday too, and we fingerpainted. They were so excited. And the only thing that got painted that wasn’t the paper was my skirt. At least it was blue paint on my blue skirt. It’s not so noticeable and the paints are water soluble, so it should come out.

Sun Aug 26th
Not so much with the feeling better. I’m still fighting whatever it is I have. I went sightseeing today and I am exhausted. Thankfully it wasn’t a hike. It was just wandering around a city and literally seeing the sights. There were a couple of giant staircases, but nothing that should have worn me out as much as they did.
K, D, Jackie , Ty and I went into Keelung (pronounced chee-long). First we ate lunch at McDonald’s. Then we climbed a bunch of stairs to see the Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain (Keelung). There was a giant statue of a goddess and the girls rang the huge bell. It was so interesting. And there were anatomically correct elephant statues at the entrance gate; one male and one female. On the way down I saw a cat lying in the sun and stopped to pet it. It’s the first contact I’ve had with a feline since leaving home. From there we took a bus up to the fairy caves, which is literally a temple inside this ancient cave. It was amazing. There were statues of the gods carved out of living rock. You could see the strata in the statues and the walls around them. Unfortunately, there are no pictures because it’s incredibly disrespectful to take pictures inside the temple.
Once we were home, K and I went to dinner at Café Della Pasta. Not being terribly hungry, I ordered spaghetti in garlic and oil. They put hot peppers in it. I almost died. My mouth was on fire. Even K, who likes hot things, said it was too hot for her. Her pesto sauce was good, though, so I may try that next time.
Yesterday I almost caused a scooter accident just by being me. I’m getting used to being stared at, because I am a blond girl in a see of dark haired Asians, but yesterday was worse than normal. This guy on a scooter drove past me and slowed down while he turned in his seat to stare at me. He almost hit a parked scooter and the scooter behind him almost didn’t slow down in time. Then I was trying to walk through the alley (feeling like crap) and I couldn’t get anywhere because people were all slowing down and stopping (and blocking the way) while they stared at me. K said I must have been projecting an extra-blond aura. I don’t know what it was, but it sure was annoying.

Mon Aug 27th
So, it’s ghost month. And according to the Chinese calendar, today is the day when the gates of hell open and all of the ancestors are free to roam the earth. Neat, right? Only to appease the ancestors there are fires burning all over the city (controlled of course) and people are burning bits of paper money. Not actual money. Symbolic money. There are also all of these tables in front of stores and things laid out with fruits and veggies and various other good things for the ancestors. It’s a little crazy, but really interesting.
School was good. I have 3 new girls in my class. One is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and she must’ve been in school before, because she knows a lot of things and even raises her hand. My original kids still can’t grasp that concept. The other girls are doing all right. It’s hard to get a read on their first day. So I now have 11 kids in my class; 4 boys and 7 girls. And I still have more trouble with the boys.
Tonight’s plan is to do some grocery shopping to stock up on cookable foods, so I don’t keep spending all my money going out to eat. Gotta go make a list.
Co-incidentally (or perhaps not so) there is a giant full moon tonight to correspond with the opening of Hell’s gates. It was super pretty. The sky was mostly clear with a few wisps of cloud right around the moon. I stood in the park for 5 minutes just staring at it. Then some locals passed and I’m pretty sure they were laughing at the foreign girl staring at the sky.

Tues Aug 28th
Tuesday is the worst day of the week. I have my theory about why that is, but I keep hoping for an exception. The few good things were balanced out by the difficult ones. I did have lunch with Michelle and Katy at this cheap, delicious Thai place. Good thing too. I needed all of that energy to deal with my kids.
I personally made 4 of my kids cry today. Out of 10. I guess I could count it at 5 because one of my new girls is so terrified of me (being a foreigner and all) that she cries every time I come near her. I wasn’t even being mean. But they were being kids, and they’re really high strung. I did have to punish a couple of them and they did not like that much. The funniest thing is, though, that as soon as the punishment is over, they come directly to me for hugs and reassurance. But when my CT (Chinese Teacher) punishes them, they avoid her. So I guess they do love me.
Tomorrow is a half day. I don’t have any plans as of yet, but I’m looking forward to not having to teach the afternoon.

Wed Aug 29th
Apparently, no one told my kids my theory about Tuesday being the worst day of the week. They were awful today. By the time I left today, 5 girls had cried. One never stopped crying. She just wailed from the moment she walked in the door until I walked out (she’s probably still crying). I find I have patience for almost anything they do except for the crying. I mean, by all means, cry if you get hurt or if someone’s mean. But this ridiculous "I miss my mommy" crying drives me nuts. Their mom’s drop them off in the morning (and hang around looking in my classroom window for at least half an hour, where the kids can see them) and pick them up in the afternoon. They spend at most 7 hours away from them. And yet, continuous crying. I just don’t get it.
Anyway, I escaped at 11:30 and had lunch with K at the Diner. They had this fantastic fruit pancake special. I’m drooling just thinking about it. There was a stack of 3 buttermilk pancakes topped with chopped up strawberries, mango and kiwi. And it wasn’t huge chunks of fruit, like at home. These were actually bite-sized. Mmmmm.
I also bought some new clothes. A fun flowy skirt and a cute t-shirt. They cost me the equivalent of $18 CAD. I have actually spent more on meals here. I’m sure they won’t last, but they’re cute and fun for now.
Might be going for drinks tonight with D and Will and some others. We’ll see what happens, though. If it’s too late, I may just stay home. I’m a loser, but I deal with small children early in the morning. I need my sleep. Especially because tomorrow I want the kids to play with clay I class, and I know I’ll need all of my patience for that one.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Day in Day out

Wed Aug 15th
Went to NY bagel for dinner with Katherine and Robert, then Katherine and I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum. I love Matt Damon. And what I saw of the movie was pretty good. What is it with these directors using handheld cameras for everything? Even K was getting queasy by the end.
School was fine. Half days are my favourite. And my kids are actually starting to show some progress. But I don’t know how much of it is them learning, and how much is my Chinese teacher telling them the answers. Time will tell, I guess.

Thurs Aug 16th
Today started well. The kids were bright and happy and participated. Then one by one they started being replaced by misbehaving pod children. By the end of the day I was ready to throttle them. But I restrained. And tomorrow will be better. It has to.
I had my first Chinese lesson tonight. It was really interesting. We started with theory and we discussed some of the main differences between English and Chinese. For instance, Chinese only has one verb tense. No past or future, only present. Then I learned how to say the numbers 1-10 and Yvonne wrote them in Chinese characters for me. She did say that people mostly use western numerals now, but still, just in case.
Yvonne’s moving to France on my birthday, so lessons will have to stop then. But I figure I can still get 6 weeks of lessons in before she goes and that’ll be a great foundation. And also, my birthday’s in 6 weeks!! That’s so close.

Wed Aug 22
Well. Seems my updates have begun to slacken. I guess that comes with the settling in. Everything isn’t quite as new and exciting as it has been in the past. Also, I’ve been introduced to a website where I can find almost any tv show known to man, so that’s taking up a bunch of time. But here’s a quick rundown of last week:
Fri - Everyone was gearing up for a typhoon to hit. My kids were cranky, but did some cute things. One girl dried another kid’s tears and one boy parallel parked the toy cars. Had dinner with the regulars and watched the Simpson’s Movie.
Sat - Typhoon. Talked to mom in the morning, during the worst of the storm. (It’s actually raining harder right now than it did during the whole typhoon). Around 5, I ventured out with my roommates for dinner. We ate at the 24 hour restaurant around the corner. Read 3 books over the course of the day.
Sun - Brunch with Katy and Michelle at a western style place where they had a fabulous molten chocolate cake. Ended up at a bookstore where 2 books were purchased. Came home and read one of the aforementioned books.
Mon - Nothing of note happened. Regular school day.
Tues - Kids were fussy and I was in no mood to deal. My stuffy nose may not be allergies, because my meds have stopped working. Fell asleep around 5:30pm. Woke up at 6:50am. Eastern Time. But my body felt like I had slept through the night. It was only when I was eating my "breakfast" and couldn’t find the baseball game to listen to that I realized it was still night time here. I watched a couple of episodes of Alias and went to bed, where I tossed and turned for a long while and then woke up at 6am. My time.
Today- Knew I was officially sick when mention of cake failed to stir my appetite. But it’s not in my throat, for which I am thankful. I’m very stuffy and it’s taking me ages to put together a coherent thought. Luckily it’s a half day and the kids were good. Had lunch with Diana and Katy. I am now relaxing, although concentrating for this long has made me a little dizzy. And my nose is raw because I can’t find tissues with lotion here. (I am so spoiled at home!)
Before I get 9 million emails re: my illness; yes I have meds. Yes I am taking them. And yes I am drinking plenty of fluids and getting vitamin C. But when you work with little germ factories, a.k.a. children, you get sick every once in a while. And I’m not missing anything because it’s storming so much that I wouldn’t want to leave my apartment even if I could.
In terms of general interest, my students have started groping me. 2 of them have done it now. At least, only 2 have actually grabbed the boobs. Most of them at one point or another have accidentally hit my bum while we’re playing. It’s sad when the only action I’m getting is from a 3 year old. Apparently it happens to foreigners all the time, because the Asian women don’t have much in the way of breasts, so even my small ones are fascinating.
That’s about all I’ve got for now.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Danshui, Tianmu and Baseball

Fri. Aug. 10th
T.G.I.F. I desperately needed this week to be over. The kids were little terrors today. And they’re so cute while they’re being awful that it’s really hard to be mad at them. I do feel like I’m at the end of my rope, though. The weekend will be a welcome respite.
Last night, after my ice cream bar, Thaddaeus invited me to a picnic with him and Michelle. So I went and we ended up in Michelle’s living room eating all sorts of junk food, including these incredible soft-baked chocolate chocolate chip cookies. We also watched the end of some Jackie Chan movie that I had never heard of before. It was possibly called The Medallion (n.b. imdb informs me that it is indeed called that). We also watched the end of The Bourne Identity. I love Matt Damon.
This evening after work I went up to Danshui with 2 of the Chinese teachers from school, Emily and Candy(Sightseeing). It was fun. There’s a typhoon coming (it didn’t hit earlier in the week) so there was a huge wind, and the waves were coming up on the boardwalk. Sometimes they were right up to the entrances of stores. It was amazing. We just wandered up the boardwalk and looked around in all of the cute little stores. I bought some souvenir-type things for mom and dad.
I also tried some new foods. First it was sweet potato in candied honey. Delicious. Then we had giant ice cream. It was literally a foot high, and I just got the small. It was delicious, though. Then I twirled my own cotton candy, which is harder than it looks. But passion fruit candy floss is something worth trying. Then we left the sweets behind and Emily made me try a black egg. They hard boil them in some sort of sauce. They’re not very tasty, and the texture is like rubber. I didn’t like that one, much. Last, Candy made me try a fried mushroom, even though I told them I don’t like mushrooms. They assured me that they taste just like chicken. They don’t. They taste like greasy, fried mushrooms. But at least I tried it.

Sat. Aug 11th
Mom called this morning, though it was actually Friday night there. So I got the 411 on all the haps at home. Got a chance to talk Harry Potter with mum and the Blue Jays with daddy. I even got to speak to Grandma and Jamie (he had just gotten home for the weekend). It was nice.
Went on a hike with Katherine this morning, as well. We went up Tianmu trail (Sightseeing). It was literally a kilometer of steps (going up, of course) followed by about 800m of flat, dirt path. I am so out of shape, but I’m blaming my difficulties on the heat and being up so high. Because of my frequent breaks, we did get to see some interesting flora and fauna. There were skinks and giant ants and millipedes and some cool birds. Then at the end of the trail there’s a really cute little tea shop where we had lunch. The menu was translated literally from the Chinese, so we ordered things like "submarine fort meat cooked Japanesely" (which was a sub cooked in what looked like teriyaki sauce) and my drink was "banana with cocoa frost is drunk" (which was a chocolate banana smoothie).
The other point of interest on the hike was a Catholic Church(Sightseeing). It was cool. They had the holy water at the entrance and the little kneeling pads. There were also wood carvings of the stations of the cross and statues of Mary and Joseph on either side of the altar. Pretty typical Catholic stuff, but the most interesting things were the murals on the ceiling. One side was the Creation and the other side was the Last Supper. But the characters were all Chinese. In the Creation, God looked like most portrayals of Confucius. There were even chopsticks on the table of the last supper.
After the hike, I came home and had a nice long nap. When I woke up, I stayed up just long enough to go to NY Bagel with Diana, Katherine and Robert for dinner and get home. Then I wrote a quick letter to Mum and Dad, drank some tea and went right to bed.

Sun. Aug 12th
I think I might be coming down with the virus that everyone else has had. I’m actually skipping today’s sight seeing adventure because I feel all ughy. Of course it may just be from the pressure changes that are coming with the typhoon. So my plan for the day is to sit inside, drinking various kinds of tea and possibly reading, or playing on the internet. All in all, I think it’s not such a bad way to spend a rainy Sunday.
Katherine also dropped off a bag of books this morning. She told me before that she had a bunch to get rid of (she’s planning on going home soonish, and doesn’t want to take them all with her), but I wasn’t expecting this many. There are 17 books, none of which I have read. Mostly they’re sci-fi, but there are some of a more literary bent. There are also about 5 Terry Pratchett books. Those promise to be funny. And some of the sci-fi isn’t really tech heavy, so they may be ok.
Aside from dinner with Thaddaeus, I did nothing all day with people. I played internet games, went through the books from Katherine, read a little and watched Buffy. It was a good day.

Mon Aug 13th
Today is a good day to be me. Woke up feeling good and the day just got better. With the exception of some isolated events at school. But even there good things were happening. My crier participated and even lined up on his own. He’s starting to get it! One of my girls got sick right after lunch. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to clean it up. The kids were full of energy today, but still all of my activities worked out.
Between school and dinner I finished off season 3 of Buffy. Prom and Graduation. Loves it!! I’m such a girl, though. No matter how many times I see that stupid prom episode, it still makes me cry every time. It really just doesn’t get any better than season 3.
Dinner was at the vegetarian buffet with Katherine. Diana was supposed to be there too, but she was assigned another class at the time we were going. The restaurant works like the salad bar at Commons. You pick out your food then take it to the guy, he weighs it, and you pay based on weight. And there was not a meat product in sight. It was fantastic. We also went to the grocery store where I was able to procure not only bread, but peanut butter as well. I bought Skippy, because apparently the locally made peanut butter occasionally contains rocks. Seriously. But tomorrow for breakfast I can have peanut butter and honey on toast with a cup of tea. I’m very excited.
When I went to meet Katherine and Diana at the school, I was introduced to another teacher named Blair, who happens to be a baseball fan. He’s a Rockies supporter, which I can respect. (It helps that they’re in a different league). But he’s interested in seeing a Taiwanese game, while he’s here and I’m totally in. The poor guy had been trying to talk Diana and Katherine into going, and they called it a Baseball Match. I mean, seriously! Diana, at least, has an excuse. She’s from England, they play matches of things. But Katherine’s from Toronto and should know better. So now I have tentative plans to go see a game sometime, which is better than nothing.
And, the cherry on top of my sundae of a day involves books. Every single series for which I’m waiting on books (all 4 of them!!), has the new book coming out within a year. One is even an e-book, so I can get it here immediately!! Another is already out in hardcover, I just need the paperback, and one is the very last book in the trilogy!!! I swear, I don’t know what I did to please the gods, but whatever it was please let me keep doing it.

Tues Aug 14th
The problem with a day that starts as well as today did, is that there’s really nowhere to go but down. I woke up this morning just in time to make breakfast and find CJCS online. What this means is that I got to eat peanut butter on toast, with tea, while listening to the Jays game. Of course, once breakfast was over, I did the rest of my getting ready, while still listening to the Jays game. It was heaven. Especially because when I left the Jays were winning.
I came crashing back to earth when I came home at lunch (after a donut with Katherine. Triple chocolate, need I say more?) to check the scores. In the inning after I left for work the Jays made 2 errors which cost them 2 runs. They lost 6-2. Although, if that is the worst of my day, it’s still pretty good.
All of my kids were there today (Random Fun). Most of them on time. The golden prince showed up at his usual time of about 10:30. His family is seriously gonna mess that kid up. He’s sweet enough right now, but I think that’s more his nature than anything to do with conditioning. But my (ex)crier continued to participate, and the girls were fantastic. Maybe it all just seemed good because of my mood. Whatever the cause, school was good today.
It did rain a little on my (2 min) walk home. I’m still counting myself lucky, though because not 10 minutes after I walked through the door the sky opened up. The deluge lasted a solid 20 mins and it’s still coming down. Needless to say, after the tragedy with Abhorsen I am no longer going adventuring in the rain. So it looks like a quiet night in for me. Maybe I’ll reacquaint myself with Empire Records or Dogma.

For your information

I've posted links to my facebook photo albums. If there are photos relating to a topic in one of the blogs, the title of the album will be bolded in parentheses next to it. Just click on the link to see the pics. If you have trouble viewing the photos, please let me know.
Also, now that I have the internet, I am going to try to post about once a week(likely on Wed.) But I will be checking for, and responding to, comments more frequently, so leave some. I want to know what you think.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Week 3.3 Complete

Aug 7th
There ended up being not too many people here last night. Basically it was us 3 housemates, Patrice and Michelle and Callum. Robert stopped by for a bit, too. There also wasn’t any wine, which was fine by me, really. We had a nice little visit and chat. It was all very low key.
It started storming at about 7 this morning and didn’t stop all day. It’s still drizzling outside. My boss said that there may be a typhoon tomorrow and if there is, I don’t have to work. I kinda hope there is one. Not just to get out of work either. I’ve never seen a typhoon before. I should probably stock up on food and bottled water . They say that after a storm here you shouldn’t drink the tap water.
Anyway, because of the rain and whatever, my kids were all really antsy. The one who cried on and off most of yesterday forgot the off today. One of my boys who is usually pretty good was horrible; not listening and being incredibly silly. Even one of my girls cried all day because she wanted to be in her sister’s class. It sucked. But my smarty was really well behaved. He even used full English sentences without prompting today! That’s huge. Seriously, I want to steal that kid.
I tried saki for the first time today. For lunch, I went to a restaurant with Sam. He decided he needed a drink and told me after he’d ordered what he had gotten (he always orders in Chinese). That’s when he told me I was splitting the saki with him. I didn’t like it much, but apparently I would like a better quality saki, because the alcohol flavour is not so strong. I also had my first authentic Chinese sweet and sour sauce. It was really good. Better than what we get at home.

Aug 8th
Half day today. Thank God. In the 2 hours that I taught, 3/5 of my kids cried. And believe it or not, crying boy wasn’t one of them. He actually participated and got some answers right. It was actually one of the bright spots.
The other bright spot was following the Jays game (live) online before work, and seeing part of it in the evening at dinner. Sucks that they lost, but I’ve never been so happy that they’re playing the Yankees. Since there’s a Taiwanese pitcher on the Yankees, that’s the only MLB team that they ever show here. But I got to see my boyfriend, even if only for a minute.
Other than that I had lunch with Sam (really good and cheap chicken curry) and dinner with Katherine and Diana (at NY bagel where they make spectacular scrambled eggs and cheese). And I did laundry in the afternoon. All in all an uneventful, yet enjoyable day.
I did, however realize that I am a gigantic moron. I’ve been worrying about ordering my Nix books here when I’m going to Australia after I’m done here. Nix is from Australia and I know they’re published there. In English, no less. Seriously, could I be any more stupid? (Yes. I could have written stupider, which I did originally.)

Aug 9th
Jays won today!!! Sadly I didn’t get to actually see any of the game. But I did follow what was happening online before work. Of course when I started watching at 8 They were already winning 8-2.
My stupid power adapter just blew. So I am on battery power only until I can pick up a new one. Boo.
School went well. Nobody cried. Everyone was relatively well behaved. I think I keep planning things that are beyond their capabilities. I’m working on toning it down, but it’s hard. It’s not that they’re slow, I’m just trying to explain things in a language they don’t understand. Oh well. Tomorrow’s Friday and then I get a weekend.
Nothing new to report today except that I can get an ice cream bar at 7/11 for the equivalent of 50c Canadian. I was super excited.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Adventures in Taiwan (cont'd)

July 22nd
Last night my roommate Yvonne and I went to Danshui (Taiwan Mach 1), which is like the harbour front area. It was so crowded it was crazy, but I did finally manage to find some postcards. So we went to Fisherman’s Wharf which is less crowded because it’s harder to get to. It was beautiful, though. There’s a big wooden bridge that goes along the water’s edge. At one point there were some guys playing guitar and singing songs out of a book, that the audience could request. As soon as they saw me, they started looking through their book for any English songs. Eventually they came up with "How do I Live" by Leanne Rimes. It was really sweet. Then one of Yvonne’s friends drove us home. Taiwanese driving is SO scary!! Cab drivers in Toronto have nothing on the drivers here.
This morning I met some of the other teachers to go hiking (Hiking). It was like being in a sauna and then climbing a mountain. Literally. The temperature was about 37C and we were actually climbing up and down a mountain. Geniuses that we are, we ended up hiking through the hottest part of the day. Also, I am completely out of shape. It was worth it, though. The vegetation is beautiful. I took a million pictures and we even saw a buffalo.

July 24th
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I finally got to work with some of the kids I’ll be teaching. They are super cute! There are only 6 kids in the class right now, but there will be more once the fall semester actually starts. There’s this one that is so adorable and way too smart for his own good. He’s actually quite a little trouble maker, but I think it’s just because he’s bored. I’m really excited to find new ways to challenge him. Tomorrow I actually get to teach a lesson. I came up with the lesson plan all by myself. Not with the little ones, yet. But with the first group I worked with. It should be interesting to say the least.
So last night marked my first attempt at doing laundry in Asia. It worked out not at all. My roommate, Yvonne, wasn’t home, so I tried to do it myself. It was made much more difficult by the fact that all of the instructions and labels were in Chinese. So tonight, I asked Yvonne to show me how it worked and tried again. Turns out I had all of the settings right, but the machine’s just broken. At least I know it’s not my own incompetence.
Before I hopped on the laundry train tonight, I had a drink after work with one of the other teachers, Sam. I had a really good time. We just sat in a bar and had a drink, and then because I wanted dessert, he took me to a café and had cake with me.
Today was also my first experience with Taiwanese rain. It was kinda cloudy and drizzly all day, but right around 1 we had a HUGE thunderstorm. It was right on top of us. There was thunder and lightning at exactly the same time and giant raindrops. It was fantastic. The rain was warm and the humidity was less severe than normal. I would have stayed out in it for my whole lunch break, except that I had to go back to school for the afternoon and had no change of clothes with me. Of course, by the time school ended the rain had mostly stopped and the humidity was back to normal.
Anyway, on my way home I was distracted and I missed the turn for my alley. On the next corner, I discovered an amazing temple(Taiwan Mach 1). It’s so funny, when you’re looking at it, it’s all you can see and every detail is defined. But if you’re not looking right at it, it just blends into the rest of the scenery. I’ve been here a week and never noticed it before.
One other random thing I realized today; there’s no grass here. I mean, in the city. There are no lawns or boulevards. The only greenery is in parks (Taiwan Mach 1)and the occasional tree leaves. Don’t get me wrong, the parks are beautiful, and super green. And there are way more of them than in most North American cities, but does it make up for the lack of green everywhere else? Just some food for thought.

July 25th
Today I taught my first class! It went really well. The kids even liked the game that I made up for them. Luckily it was Wed. which is a half day, so I only had to teach them in the morning. Unfortunately, right now, the school is turning the current play area into my classroom. So the poor kids didn’t get a chance to have "recess". They had to stay in the classroom and just play with lego and stuff. It was as bad as an indoor recess when I was a kid. Those were the worst.
After school I had lunch with Sam. He introduced me to teppenyaki. It’s a Japanese style, where they prepare your food on the grill right in front of where you sit. I had the chicken and it was good. He also let me try his salmon, and I liked it. Ha! Take that, not liking fish!
The place was in a mall food court close to school. It was right next to the mall’s playworld. So we went in to play. The games were interesting and some were a little weird. We played this one where the balls float up from the middle and you have to catch them and throw them into a pig’s mouth. It was really hard and you look like a moron while you’re playing. Of course there were the old standards, too, like air hockey.
Turns out pool is really big here. After we played in the playworld, Sam showed me a pool hall near school. It’s really nice. We played a few games and I actually won 1 legitimately and 2 on technicalities (he scratched on the 8 ball).

July 26th
I got to teach the little ones today. I taught them a new song and read a story. It’s so great when you can actually see them picking stuff up. It happens so fast with this age group. One minute they’re lookin’ at you like your crazy and the next they’re doing the actions and laughing and having fun. Tomorrow, I’ll re-teach them the exact same thing and hopefully this time they’ll remember and there will be more participation.
I also talked to my boss about the apartment again. She talked to the personnel office, or whatever, and it looks like I can move. So as soon as I pay first and last, I get my key and I can move in. I’ll probably move over the weekend. I can’t wait because once I move, Mom can send me the rest of my things and I can start buying the other stuff that I still need.
After work Katherine took me to 3 different book stores, each with large English language sections. One of them actually has Nix books and Katherine says that they will special order. This makes me very excited. I hope I can get my hands on Across the Wall. I also found The Deathly Hollows and bought it. So far it’s SO good. I finally put it down at 2am because I have to work in the morning.

July 27th
Holy Crap!!!!! I finished Harry Potter today. It was everything I wanted it to be.... except for a certain werewolf attack that never happened. Don’t worry, no spoilers here, because I’m done talking about it. But I did get my Taipei library card today. So many more books are available now. All for free!! Whoever thought up libraries was a genius... Seriously, if I knew their name, I just might name my first born after them.
In other news, I got my key for my new apartment today. I also got to see it for the first time. It’s actually not quite as nice as the one I’m in now, but it’s worth it for the convenience. It’s literally across the street from my school. I will be moving in tomorrow and then I can start buying all of the things I wish I had, but didn’t want to get before I moved, like dishes and towels. Also, I’ve met 2/3 of my new roommates and they seem really laid back and cool. They teach kids, so their schedules are a little more varied than mine, but it shouldn’t be a problem.
My current roommate also offered to meet with me weekly, starting next week, for Chinese lessons. Turns out she went to university to learn specifically how to teach Chinese. So I’ll be getting personal lessons until September, when she leaves for France. I’m so excited about it. I’ll finally be able to order my own food without having to rely on Sam, or whoever else I happen to be with.
At school, I'll be sitting in with Sam's class, which is actually a mix of 2 classes. There’s supposed to be a new teacher covering the Zebra half of Sam’s class (all classes have animal names), but she won’t be starting until Wed. So I have to sub for her and I don’t get to start with my Pandas (the 3 year olds) until after she is trained. Luckily, though, my first day actually teaching the older ones is just a half day, so I don’t have to worry about keeping them occupied for the whole day.
I did get to spend one last morning with my kids before moving to the zebras. We did the colour song again and this time they participated with very little encouragement. They were much more into the storybook, too. They even did all the actions and counted along when they were supposed to. Those kids are just so cute. It’s horrible, really, because no matter how much they misbehave, they just have to look at me and grin and I want to let them off the hook. There’s one in particular that I just want to smuggle home with me.
After work, Katherine took me to this place called "The Diner" that serves western style food. She had a cheeseburger and fries and I had eggs and hashbrown and toast. It was pretty good, but everything was super greasy and apparently here toast means warm bread. I mean, this wasn’t even toasted enough for me and I like my toast anemic. It was well worth it though, for the brownie and ice cream desert. It was warm brownie served with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream on top. Mmmmm...... seriously as good as the one at the Pheonix, which was my favourite back home.
Also, I have a tan! Well, my face, neck and arms are tan. My legs are still pasty white. And it’s not tan, tan; it’s tan for me, tan. To everyone else it probably just looks like I’m a normal skin colour and not a corpse, but it’s actually a tan. I even have a few freckles on my nose.

July 28th
Moving day!!! I spent the whole day moving things into my new apartment. It took me 3 trips. 2 on the MRT and 1 by cab. There was no way I was lugging my 2 big suitcases to the MRT station. All things considered, the move went very smoothly. My new room is a really awkward shape and the bed is smaller but there’s more storage furniture. I will also have the internet as soon as I can figure out which network is ours.
Went to the mall with one of my new roomies, Diana, tonight. Another teacher (but at a different school), Robert, was with us as well. They were both on the hike last week. The mall was actually quite fun. We started with dinner in the food court (I had a fantastic chicken sandwich and fresh kiwi juice). Then we played some games in the playworld and each got a super bouncy ball. I won’t bore you with the shopping details, but lets just say I’m surprised we didn’t get kicked out of the mall for behaving like hooligans with our bouncy balls.
Now I’m just unpacking and arranging things. There are a bunch of new things I need to get from the ‘everything store’ tomorrow. I’m writing a list. But now I need to shower because I’m gross from moving all day.

July 29th
My first day to wake up in my new apartment was wonderful. My room gets lots of light, so my lack of alarm clock is still not going to be a problem. The air conditioner is lovely and it doesn’t blow directly on me. I also have my very own (tiny) balcony. It would be cozy for 2 people standing and there’s not room for even 1 person to sit, but it’s all mine.
This morning Katherine and I went to the presidential gardens (Official Residence), which is now officially called the "Official Residence" I think. It was really pretty. But I think it must be the wrong time of year to go because a lot of the flowers weren’t in bloom. There’s a beautiful rose garden, though and I took pictures of some of the more interesting roses. I also took pictures of their name plaques so I would remember which was which. We also explored the orchid hut, which was amazing. I took tons of pictures of the gardens.
The gardens also had tons of topiaries and statues of pigs. I mean, everywhere you looked there was a cute little pig staring at you. It was weird enough that I actually asked Katherine about it. Turns out it’s the year of the pig in the Chinese calender. But it’s not just any year of the pig. Nope, it’s year of the Golden Pig. Apparently it’s supposed to be a very prosperous year, financially. So the giant pig on one of the banks makes a lot more sense now.
Across the street from my apartment is a fruit market. I can actually see it from my balcony. The guys stand out front yelling at the cars and scooters trying to get them to stop and buy some fruit. It’s pretty cheap, too (as long as the fruit is in season). I think I’m going to become a regular there. I like it.
I made it to the store to pick up some essentials. I didn’t get everything on my list because it’s not all necessary right now. But I got a few things, like a mug, and clothes pegs so I could finally do some laundry. I know, it’s not interesting but I’m really excited that the washing machine actually works. After the fiasco with the last one, I’m really pleased with the nearly new Japanese washer. It works really well, too. It didn’t eat any of my clothes. And they are hanging up to dry right now.

July 30th
My first day going to school from my new apartment. It was sweet. I got out of bed at the time I would’ve been leaving my old place. I’ve also done some more cleaning and put up posters and pictures and stuff. It actually looks like my space, now. The only issue that I continue to have is lack of internet. I thought the router had wireless, but on closer inspection, I don’t think it does.
I also made another trip to the everything store to pick up some cleaning supplies and munchies. Yes it does have both. It is the everything store. Now I just need to find places to put a few last things and I’ll be completely settled.
School was good. Hung out with Sam’s class again. I’m finally starting to learn their names. They’re sweet, mostly, but loud. There were 18 kids yesterday, all 4 and 5 years old. My head was killing me by lunch. Of course the hour and a half that we get for break helps. I went to a place called Casa Della Pasta with Sam for lunch. It was really nice, and not too pricey.
There was a thunderstorm today, too. I walked the block home in the rain :) and then sat on my (sheltered) balcony to watch the storm. It was stupendous. And there was a crash of lightning and thunder at exactly the same time right in front of me. It was a little scary, but really cool. After that the storm abated, and I came inside to clean.

July 31st
School was empty today. All of the students went on a field trip except for my Panda class. So there were 6 students with the run of the school... Except of course that we didn’t let them. It was much more relaxing during playtime, though. We weren’t worried about our kids getting trampled by the older ones. The new teacher arrived today also. Now, even though I haven’t actually taught a class by myself yet, I’m no longer "the new teacher". She seems nice and she just finished a year of teaching English in Japan. I still feel like the newbie, because she’s got some experience, even if it’s not with Kojen.
I have my first official class by myself tomorrow. I’m a little nervous, because it’s not the kids that I know, but I’ll deal. I have a lesson plan ready. And I figure if all else fails I’ll throw a couple of drama games at them. I’m just listening to a CD of kid’s songs to find some extra material. Katherine has been a huge help going offer my lesson plans with me and offering advice.
To get my ARC I need 3000NT$ and to get that I need to exchange my traveler’s cheques. Let me tell you, it’s like pulling teeth. Some banks only exchange American dollars, one will exchange Canadian, but only cash, not traveler’s cheques. I spent my whole lunch hour going from bank to bank, and I was completely unsuccessful. So tomorrow I have to go to some special American Express place, that’s super far away. Good thing it’s a half day.

Aug 2nd
So yesterday was my first day teaching all by myself. It went well in spite of my stupidity. I planned enough activities to get through my time but I also grabbed a book to read, out loud to the class, just in case I lost the kids’ attention. So with about 10 minutes left in class we had finished everything that I had planned. I forgot that I had grabbed the book though. So I made a slight change to the game and let them keep playing til the end. It worked out ok, in the end. We just read the book today.
Last night I went to dinner with 2/3 of my roommates as well as a bunch of other teachers at TGI Friday’s. Compared to restaurants back home, it was fairly inexpensive, but in relation to food places here, it was crazy. We had a good time though. And it gave me a chance to get to know some of the non-preschool teachers better. After dinner we hit the playworld for some air hockey and bouncy-ball winning games. I got another orange one. We were going to see a movie, but one by one people bailed and then it was too late.
Today’s teaching went really well. I’m finding it really easy to work with the Chinese teacher who has this class. She’s got some fantastic ideas and is making my life so much easier. She actually studied ECE at Conestoga in Waterloo so she was asking me about where I’m from and everything. She also told me that I’m a good teacher, which means a lot coming from her. She’s been with the school for years and knows what she’s talking about. But when I mentioned it to Katherine, she said the same thing. Apparently finding people who are good at working with kids is difficult. *shrug* Who knew? I just don’t know how you would behave any other way with them.
One of the kids who was absent yesterday was back today. I swear I thought I was teaching Jamie(Goodbye Canada) 19 years ago. This kid is so smart, but trying to get him to sit still was like pulling teeth. I’m finding it difficult to discipline him, though, because I know that he’s trying, but at the same time, he disrupts the class. Oh well, tomorrow’s my last day teaching these kids anyway. Their real teacher takes over on Monday, and I get my babies back. (who all say hello every time I pass them in the hall, so I know they still remember me).
After work, I went to dinner with Katherine and then we went Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall(Sightseeing). I saw some amazingly massive and beautiful architecture and learned some history. I actually fell in love with the gate out front. I’m not even sure what drew me to it, but I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t even care so much about the museum, except for some cool friezes on the ceiling. I didn’t get pictures of those, though, cuz we couldn’t take pictures inside.
I also figured out that the router in my apartment isn’t wireless. All of my stupid internet problems could have been solved ages ago, if I’d just thought to look. I just need to buy an ethernet cord and I should be good to go. I can’t wait. I don’t mind checking my e-mail at school, but I really do prefer my own computer.

Aug. 4th
Yesterday was Friday and you could tell the kids were ready for it. They weren’t bad, just a little unruly. We also had a birthday party for all the kids who have a birthday in August. Each class prepares and performs a song of some sort. We did a song about making pizza. It was really cute.
After work I went for drinks with Sam and the new teacher, Corrie. We started at a place called Day and Night, then we moved to the less stuffy atmosphere of 0204, which happens to be directly across the street from my apartment(Random Fun). My window actually overlooks it, but I’d never been in. We just sat at the bar, so I didn’t really get a feel for the place.
I’d been home for a couple of hours when Diana invited me to 0204 with her. This time I got to see the rest of the place. The decor is mostly wood, upstairs there’s a pool table and downstairs there’s a foosball table and a stage. It’s not very big, though. A bunch of the teachers from the kids’ classes were there. One, Michelle, I had met before but the others (except for my roommate Thadeus and his gf) were all new. There’s a couple, Paul and Michelle (a different one), from New York and a couple of other guys from Canada. It appears that the teaching population here is highly Canadian. I feel right at home.
This morning I lounged for hours and finished Lireal. Then, in spite of the thunder and lightning that had been going on for hours, I decided it was time to go get me an ethernet cord. We often get thunder storms without rain, so I didn’t think anything of it. When I went out, it was pouring buckets. Usually, it’ll rain hard for about 15 minutes and then slow to a drizzle and eventually stop, so I just went out anyway. It was still pouring when I got home about an hour later, without my ethernet cord. I was soaked through to the skin, literally dripping. Not only did I not get what I wanted, but I’ve also ruined my copy of Abhorsen. I had it in my bag (which is still saturated with water) in case I decided to stop at a café for a drink. The whole experience makes me want to rethink my stand on umbrellas. But there was so much wind today, too, that I don’t know an umbrella would have helped.
I made it home and got dry while watching a couple of Buffy episodes. Then I decided that it was time for food. I was planning just to grab a bite from the alley but when I went out, I ran into Diana, T and Michelle. So Michelle offered to treat me to a hair-gism and I’ll admit, I was intrigued. We went to a salon where they gave us massages (head and shoulders) then washed and styled our hair. All for about $6. It was fantastic. Then we went to dinner with Paul and Michelle and Callum (one of the Canadian boys).
After dinner we went to see 1408. John Cusack is freaking amazing. It was actually pretty scary. I watched a lot of it through my fingers. And the timing is not typical, predictable, horror movie timing, which made it great. Poor Michelle gets scared really easily, so she spent most of the movie watching her own feet. Luckily for me, it’s not one of those disturbing scary movies that stick with me for weeks after. I’m already done being scared. Now I’m just replaying it in my head and thinking about it intellectually, instead of emotionally.

Aug. 6th
Yesterday was a super duper fantastic day. And I did absolutely nothing that was specific to Taiwan. Beach blanket Val is one of my favourite Vals, and we were at the beach most of the day (Random Fun). There were the regulars in my life here, Diana, Robert and my other roommate Thadeus and his girlfried. But there were some new faces as well. It took us 2 ½ hours to get to the beach, because we stopped for food and didn’t know which bus to take. But it was still fun.
At the beach we rented these little tent-type things, which you need because there is no natural shade on a barren stretch of sand. The water was amazingly warm. It was like being in a wavy, salty bath. I loved it! The waves weren’t quite big enough to surf, but they were strong enough to knock you off balance when you tried to get out of the water.
One of the girls, Jackie, bought a huge inflatable whale and we played with it for ages. We each took turns riding it. It’s one of the few things that actually less fun as you get better at it. When you’re good, you get on and just sit there while the water moves you around, but when you’re bad, you splash and kick and fall in the water.
We had all brought a little bit of food, so we just snacked right on the beach. When we were finished (about 5 hours after we had arrived) we went to Will’s place for a barbeque. It was so much fun. We all went to the grocery store and pitched in on things to grill. Some of the others bought alcohol, but I was so dehydrated from the beach, that I passed. Then we all went to a park by Will’s house and had a cookout. It was a tremendously good time, but it ended up being a late night. We didn’t get home until around 1am, having left the house at about 10:30 the previous morning.
Today I had my kids for the very first time. They are super cute. There were only 6 of them, but it felt like so many more. One cried on and off for most of the day, another is 3 years old physically, but in every other respect he is still like a baby. I mean, he’s sweet, but he can barely eat solid food because of how they pamper him at home. 3 of the kids that I’ve worked with before are also in my class. They are already so ahead of the newer students, even though they’ve only been at school for a month. I love working with them, even if it is tiring. This week we’re working on parts of the school (ie. classroom, bathroom, play area) and the numbers 1-5.
Tonight I’m having dinner with Katherine and Diana and then we’re having a little going away party for Thadeus’ girlfriend Patrice. She’s flying back to Atlanta tomorrow. There will be pastries and possibly wine.