It's not Pottery Barn

Sat Oct 6th
Yesterday was fantastic, in spite of exhaustion and a massive sinus headache. At school we had birthday party. So all of the classes performed the songs that we had prepared. My kids were the cutest doing Skinamarink-y-dinky-dink. They even blew the kiss at the end. All the kids were great, though. My kids even behaved pretty well, but I was a harpy because I was so tired.
After school I had plans with Katy to play some pool and we convinced Sam to come along. We tried to get Corrie too, but she had to teach. So K and Sam and I played a few games. I lost every game I played. At one point I was down to just the 8 ball and Sam still had 4 balls on the table. I scratched 4 times (technically losing the game each time) but Sam wouldn't let me quit and finally he caught up and won. It was ridiculous.
Pool evolved into dinner at 0204. I tried Calamari and liked it. It helped that it was deep fried and served with sweet and sour sauce. I was surprised that it didn’t taste like an old tire. By this point in the evening we were all a little tipsy and Sam and Katherine were having some deep discussions. They both like to hear themselves talk (more so if they’ve been drinking) so it can be quite entertaining. Of course, after a while it can also be quite boring.
Sam had to go home to meet a friend for dinner, so we split up. K and I went to the grocery store to stock up for the typhoon. Then we went for a donutty snack and back to the school to meet the others as they finished teaching. Then, with Richard and Jason in tow, we went back to 0204 for another round of drinks. I was so exhausted by this point (memo: benadryl + alcohol = comatose Val) that I just had a Sprite. I played one game of pool (which I managed to win) and then came home to bed.
The typhoon hit this morning. It’s a big one. Not a whole lot of wind, but tons of rain. And enough wind to make the rain unpleasant. I have been in my room all day watching things on my computer. I saw the first episode and a half of Heroes (Season 2). If possible I might love it even more than season 1. But it’s early yet. Plus I watched the newest episodes of Grey’s and Bones. I also just finished re-watching Empire Records for the millionth time. I do love that movie.
If the weather settles down, I might go into Taipei tonight. Probably not to a club, but we’re running out of things to do in Banqiao. I’m super bored right now. I’ve only seen one other person all day. That was Di and she was venturing out into the storm to go to Costco. I’m kinda wishing now that I’d gone with her, in spite of the weather.
I’ve been trying to read "The Dubliners" by James Joyce. It’s really stupid and boring. None of the stories have any point. And just when you think one might get good, it ends. I really don’t understand why everyone thinks this guy is so great.

Sun Oct 7th
So I did eventually get out last night. We went for dinner in taipei and then met up with Corrie and some of her friends for drinks. The first bar we went to was called Saints and Sinners and it was really fun. We played darts and pool and foosball. Di and I had a really good time. We’re the only ones that stayed that long. Pretty much everyone else went home after dinner.
Today was pretty productive. I did laundry. Then we went to see 3:10 to Yuma. Mmmm Christian Bale. And Ben Foster. Also, Wash from Firefly was in it. And AJ from Empire Records. And Russell Crowe was really good. It was actually a good movie, too. And there was minimal Indian killing. After the movie I picked up some groceries and then took my last load of laundry to the laundromat to dry. At the laundromat I finished most of my evaluations for this last unit at school. My biggest problem with them is how to say "Your kid is dumb as a post. Stop wasting my time and your money," in a nice way.
Now I’m just unwinding before bed. We have a holiday on Wed. Apparently there’s something special about 10:10 so we get Wed. off. It’s pretty sweet. We get a whole day off and only lose 2 hours of pay cuz Wed is the half day.

Thurs Oct 11th
Hmm... Been a while since I wrote. Well, Monday was fine. I finished all my evals for preschool. Nothing spectacular or horrible happened at school. We’ve started a new unit on the Zoo. So I get to teach my kids about all the animals. Although mostly they’re just learning the
names and "big" or "small". After work I prepped my adult class lessons for this week and he went home.
My adult class was fine on Tues and tonight. Again, nothing of note to discuss. After class on Tues we went to the night market, which I find pretty boring. I mean there’s tons of stuff to look at, but if you don’t want to buy, and you don’t eat meat (or grease if I can help it) there’s not much to do there.
Anyway, I was bored and with Wed off I convinced Katy to come to 0204 with me for a couple of drinks. So we order and we’re chatting, and we’re onto our second drink when this Taiwanese guy comes up to us and asks if we like basketball. We said no and he went back to his table. Then he comes back and asks if he can buy us drinks, because he wants to practice his English. I’ve never had that happen before so I look at K (keeping in mind that I’d been lamenting my lack of a male for the last hour or so) and I’m like, what do we do? She shrugs, so I say "thanks, that’d be great." And he buys us each a drink. Then apparently, while I was in the washroom, he asked K if we wanted to accompany them to KTV, which we didn’t. So they left, and we played some pool. K beat me twice in a row. And then the bar closed, so we came home to bed.
Wed morning, I met Emily at the train station and we went into Yingge, a pottery town. They’re having a ceramics festival there right now. It was such a great day. I really like hanging out with Emily and we didn't talk about school at all. We went to a gallery and the ceramics museum (Ceramics Fun). We ate local food on the street, but we missed the cool old fashioned ice cream thingy. I even got to throw my own pottery. On the wheel and everything. It was so much fun! I also got a great head start on my Christmas shopping. And I bought a bracelet for myself. It was about $1.50 CAD and it’s really pretty. It’s made of this multi-coloured thread that’s supposed to bring good luck and protect you from the evil spirits. And it’s pretty.
Back at school today. The kids were really high spirited, which makes it hard to teach. They weren’t doing anything naughty, but they were all really boisterous and loud.. So Katy, Di, Corrie and I went for tea at lunch, because Diana was subbing for Sam. When we got to the 24 hour place we ran into Jason and joined him. He came back to school with us to observe, because he’s subbing Sam’s class tomorrow.

Fri Oct 12th
This afternoon I get to take my kids to the park for the first time. It should be fun, but I’m not sure about the bus ride there. For my kids or for me. I haven’t been sleeping well, so I’ve been dizzy spelling for no reason lately. I guess I’ll take a gravol and wakefulness be damned.
I survived the bus ride, thanks to the gravol. And my kids loved the park. It was so much fun to see them get the chance to run around and play. It did make me realize how absolutely out of shape I’ve gotten. There’s a set of bars and I couldn’t even get my feet up. Ugh! So, tomorrow I plan to do something physical. Maybe the beach, or the track for a run, or something.
After work I went to dinner with Corrie and Katy. We tried 3 places before we finally found one that was open. They do a thing here where the restaurants will be open from,say, 12-3 for lunch and then re-open at 6 for dinner. Which sucks when you’re looking for food at 4:30 and Corrie has to teach at 7. From dinner Katy and I went into Taipei and wandered Ximen before having some dessert.
I got home about the time everyone else finished teaching. Jason and Di started watching Heroes last night and continued tonight. So after a really horrible 80s movie (called Teen Witch) I watched episode 4 with them. I just never get sick of that show.