About Me

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

Monday, April 14, 2008

Wrapping up the Taiwan Chapter

Fri Mar 28th
I officially only have 1 week of work left. I’m so excited. My replacement comes next week, so we’ll see how he works out. I don’t think the kids really get it yet, though. It may start sinking in on Wed when the new guy teaches for the first time.
Not much else has happened this week. I shipped home my big suitcase with a bunch of clothes inside. The post office was crazy strict about the weight restriction. I was 1kg over and they wouldn’t make a deal. I thought maybe I could pay extra, like you do for a flight if your luggage is over, but they said no. So I had to take out seasons 1 and 2 of Buffy and Heroes, which just for the record was exactly 1 kilo.
I never made it to Luxy, cuz T bailed on me. But I called in the favor and got him to carry my package to the post office this afternoon. When everyone else finishes work, we’re going to Forkers for dinner. I haven’t been in a while and I love the desserts there.

Sun Mar 30th
We did have dinner at Forkers Friday. And I did have a fantastic dessert. Yesterday I read a book and had a tennis lesson. After my lesson I came home and watched a few movies. It was pretty boring. Today I read a book and had brunch at the Diner with Michelle, Cullum, and Brent. I was supposed to have another tennis lesson, but (surprise, surprise) it’s raining.
Isn’t my life a roller coaster of excitement?
Mon Mar 31
It’s opening day!!! And so, I’m sitting here at 12:10am waiting for the stupid afternoon game to start. But I’m so excited!! And depending where I go for dinner tomorrow, I might be able to see some of it, cuz they’re playing the Yankees. And right now I’m listening to an interview with Lloyd Moseby.
Oh yeah, and work is fine. The new guy is going to be ok with my kids. He already has a favorite. And she’s mine, too. He also kept saying how cute they are. My fears have been eased. I teach my last class tomorrow, and he’ll take over on Wed while I’m still there to help with prep and stuff.
It’s weird, though. I’m not feeling very social for my last week. I’ve been isolated in my room, reading. The new Mercedes Lackey novel will be available as an e-book tomorrow. So, I’ll be purchasing that one.

Sat Apr 4th
I did buy the new Lackey. It was really cute. I also became more social as the week went on. I hung out with Sam pretty much every night after work. We watched movies; Blue Crush, The Untouchables, some British gangster movie called Number 1 Gangster and The Big Lebowski. Other than watchin’ movies and reading, I didn’t do much.
Wed was Jason’s birthday so we did dinner after they all got off of work. I didn’t stay long, cuz it was kinda late for me. Thursday was Ladies’ night at The Brass Monkey. It was also my leaving party. It was so much fun. Before we went to the club, Emily, Sam and I went to a really nice Indian place for dinner. Then Em and I wandered and did some window shopping. She surprised me by popping back into a store to buy me a necklace that I liked as a going away present. She’s such a sweetheart and I am going to miss her.
The club rocked. It was the weirdest mix of music that I have ever heard outside of a high school dance, but I loved it. The only problem was the cigarette smoke. My throat is still raw from breathing through a cloud of smoke for 5 hours.
Yesterday was a national holiday here and all of my roommates are taking advantage of having a 3 day weekend to go away. They’ll all be back before I leave, though, so I will get a chance to say goodbye. I took advantage of the empty apartment to have a bath this morning.
I think I’m having lunch somewhere with Michelle, later. I’m not sure where, but I don’t really care as long as I get to eat. And then tonight I’m going for sushi. Sam apparently found this amazing restaurant that he’s been talking about all week. So we’re going there tonight for dinner, which is just as well, because I’ve finished off all of the food that I had in the apartment.

Sun Apr 6th
So I had lunch at the Thai place with Michelle. Then we were going to get henna tattoos, but she was getting her hair done and it took 4 hours to do, so I had to leave to meet Sam before she was finished. The sushi was fantastic. I even ate a lot of fish, which wasn’t bad. Turns out I don’t dislike fish, I’m just a snob and dislike bad fish. After dinner we ended up at Forker’s for dessert. It was a really nice, relaxed evening.
Today I plan to pack everything that I don’t need tomorrow. I’m almost finished, even though it doesn’t look it. All surfaces are still cluttered with things, but I’ve gotten everything out from inside of things. And there is some organization... kinda. Then I need to sweep the room.

Mon Apr.7th
I’m in the airport awaiting my flight out. After a layover in Hong Kong, I will be on my way to Oz. Yesterday was a great "last day" (today didn’t count, b/c it was all packing and stuff). I spent the day with Michelle, Diana, Richard, and Brent. Robert showed up too, for dinner.
The food that I ate during my last few days in Taiwan was anything but traditional Taiwanese, with the exception of the strawberries I bought to eat on my way to the airport. They’re served on a stick, but they’re dipped in hot sugar that caramelizes around them. They are delicious.
But back to yesterday, we had lunch at a Mediterranean place. I had hummus and it was really good. After lunch we took a walk to the Jade market, but couldn’t find it, so we ended up at Big Tom’s for ice cream. Then we took a really long walk through Taipei to get to Tandoor, which was the Indian restaurant where we had dinner.
I think we were served by the owner and it was so much fun. He was by far the pushiest waiter I have ever had in my life. He forced us to order Tandoori Chicken and would let me order bread until after everything else had been ordered. And even when I ordered the bread, he told me I was wrong and brought something else. The food was beyond my scale of spicy, but it was delicious.
Today I did the last minute packing and travel prep. It took 5 boxes to ship the of my things home and my luggage is stuffed. I did manage to squeeze in lunch with my (now, ex-)co-workers at Casa Della Pasta. It was a good time. I even managed to rope Sam into helping me carry boxes to the post office.

No comments: