germ alert!

Today, in Saturday class, I thought I would use the last few minutes to introduce the student's to one of my favorite games from when I was their age. It was called "Oh Henry" although any chocolate bar works. Basically, the students take turns rolling the dice, then putting on gloves, mittens, scarf, and hat. They must then attempt to pick up a knife, and start slicing off pieces of the chocolate bar. They must do this quickly, before some other student rolls the right numbers and gets to come up and go.

Sounds fun, right? Well, I was amazed when instead of being excited, the students started to worry and complain about germs! They didn't think that the knife was clean enough, because I had set it on the desk. They didn't think using a mittened hand to hold the chocolate bar would be clean enough, and who knows where that plastic bag's been. I scoffed at them, and told them they it was all clean, and they should just get over it. Then they all ended up playing and having fun.

P.S. I'm all registered for my Dalhousie classes. Actually, I got the first and the last one, and am waitlisted for the middle one. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't get it, I'd probably have a more relaxing summer just spending two weeks doing nothing. Maybe I should do that.

Interview Me!

My new favorite conversation activity is called "Interview Me." I'm pretty sure I thought of it all by myself, but I can never be entirely sure.

Anyway, one student comes to the front of the class, sits on the teacher's stool and says "Interview Me" ideally with gusto. Then any student may ask any question ( although I've made it very clear that the interviewee may answer "None of your business.") It took off surprisingly well, with questions like "What countries have you been to?" or "Use an adjective to describe yourself." Every so often I'd throw in a question to keep things moving. One day I randomly asked "Would you rather be rich or happy?" and boy, did it start a dialogue!

To be continued...

This is a picture courtesy of my cousin Michelle. She posted it on our family site, and I'm she'd probably post it on her blog, but she's in the process of figuring out how to get pictures online. (We've all been there!) So I'll borrow it, for your personal edification. 

More exciting than...

I was checking the Canadian news last night, and I read some of the best political news ever. Really, I haven't been this excited about a political story, well, ever. Here: share my joy:

If you're not Canadian, the long story short is that the current Liberal government led by Paul Martin as Prime Minister has been embroiled in a "Sponsorship Scandal" which is just the media's term for shady government grants and gifts with tax-payers money. The Conservative party has been trying to bring a "vote of no-confidence" which would likely end up with the Conservatives in another minority government. It was the proverbial rock and hard place.

But then... a deal! In a strange turn of fate, the Liberals found themselves in need of support from the NDP party. The New Democrats are certainly the party I most agree with, although they are not strong enough to really ever have a chance at government. But because the Liberals need the help of the NDP to maintain their position, they had to make a deal.

The CBC article explains the specifics of the deal better than I could. It's all about the budget, and it adds up to a $4.6 billion dollar boost in social program spending. This goes toward: reducing tuition fees, building more affordable housing, increasing foreign aid and spending more to fight pollution. And, imagine this, it includes scrapping tax-cuts for corporations, while implementing small-business cuts. Aboriginal housing, public transportation, foreign aid to meet the 0.7 % of GDP goal, it's almost like the NDP made their own budget!

So the Liberals keep a weak hold on power, and the NDP make the world a better place. I'm happy and very proud of Canada at the moment.

My first blogger meeting.

So Sunday night was my first 'internet meeting'. Now, meeting people you meet in chat rooms is always a bad idea, there are a lot of weirdos faking it, but I feel blogs are different, because you'd really have to do a lot of work to make a fake identity on a blog. But just to be safe, I gave Jo my phone number and asked her to call me when she got to Taipei. I wasn't going to agree to a meeting time and place until I heard a female British accent on the other end of the line! The precautions were unneccessary, and we had a great time on Sunday.

There was a series of small 'bumps' in the road that meant we didn't actually meet up till after 10! Then we wandered around the Taipei Main Station area, looking for food and chatting. Jo's postgrad degree is in Journalism and she used to work for the BBC, so we had lots to talk about outside of comparing teaching ESL in Taiwan and Japan. And we saw two very odd groups of people: first, in one of the restaurants we tried to eat at, there was a group of Amish people, sitting around a table with multiple bottles of Taiwan Beer! I was shocked, and felt like taking a picture. Later Kathy explained that they were probably Mennonites, some of whom have more lax rules on drinking yet still wear headcoverings. The other odd group was a bunch of Spainish ballroom dancers. They were tanned and beautiful and overdressed. I really had to fight to keep from staring, it was like the cast of "Strictly Ballroom" on a Taipei streetcorner at midnight. I decided I should go to the Taipei Main Station area more often. One sees the oddest things.

It was very nice to come home to a sister. When she first moved here I was worried about losing the independence of being able to come and go whevever I liked without anyone worrying about me. But I came home to a light under the door and got to tell Kathy all about my evening. And she hadn't been worried at all. I told her I had expected her to call to ensure I hadn't been abducted by crazy internet psychos. The thought had never occurred to her. Then I went to fall into bed and found she had gotten my sheets out of the dryer and made the bed, how sweet.

This is me and Jo (from the Jo in Japan blog)! I survived my first blogger meeting, and actually had a great time with Jo. Story to follow. (Oh, and this picture was not flattering of either of us, and a sepia tint with a glow greatly improved it. 

Last night I went to see Circkus Cirkor's "99% Unknown." I really wasn't too sure what it would be like, the descriptions for these things are usually in Chinese. But the performance was at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall near our apartment, so I bought a ticket. It was an incredible performance, like a Swedish Cirque de Soliel. I've realized that one of the few things I remember vividly from my past are live performances and theatre. I think it's because I'm a visual person, and I remember the scenes and such. So I've decided that tickets are a good investment, at least something I'll be able to remember in a year. I couldn't tell you one thing I learned in my first year university introduction to communication class, but I can remember all the details from the "Love's Labour's Lost" production I saw at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre that fall.  

This was my evening's entertainment, can you tell what it is? I'll explain tommorrow, but right now I'm so ready to just go to sleep! 

Home away from home

For those of you who may not know, there are Ikeas all over the world, and they are all the same. I find this comforting, which is odd, because I find the same truth about McDonalds downright scary. I think it is because Ikea is comfortable in it's identity as "seller of all things Swedish" and is only trying to bring the joys of Sweden to the world, instead of trying to take over the local culture, like McDonalds. Just a thought. (This is a picture of me - at the small, urban, underground Taipei Ikea - reading a magazine while waiting for Kathleen to make a decision. A quick Ikea run turned into a two-hour marathon, but I have to be emphathic, because I am equally indecisive.) The two-hour shopping marathon was followed by a two-hour assembly marthon, after which Kathleen had a "Grum" shelf, and I had a "Bardu" white nylon egg thing with shelves.

"Squelch, squerch!"

Goodness, it's Friday. I woke up with a whopper of a sinus cold, and have thus spent the day in my own parallel world. It's a nice place. And it's okay to be a bit spacey, because it's Friday. My day in my world (for those who care):

* I stayed up too late last night finishing my powerpoint introducing the Pen Pal program to the Grade 8 girls. I got up too early to come into work and test it out.
* I did one big song and dance (figuratively) for the Grade 8 girls, and did everything other than cartwheels trying to get them excited about the opportunity. You should have seen it. They were still reserved and kept their 'cool', but they were as engaged as they get, I believe.
* Ran over to the Grade 2 class, got there 5 minutes late. Alas. My co-teacher was on a field trip, so I had them all by myself. 42 pairs of eyes, on me. Fortunately, this week's story is the best one we've ever done. We're Going on A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury will forever be a favorite of mine. I end up looking like a fool while I act out all the parts, and they especially enjoy it when I pretend to get stuck in the mud. This is designated in the book by the words: "Squelch, squerch! Squelch, squerch!" Trying saying that five times fast, while taking slow giant steps across the classroom. Yup.
* And finally, I got my course materials for Ulysses. On a "How thrilled are you?" scale of 1-10, I am a 10. I can hardly wait to start. But I will wait because I am in the middle of some great books. I will update my "currently reading" sidebar item over the weekend.

A flower in the rain

I saw this tiny bud with its shiny center after my grade 6 class. We have been warned that it will rain every afternoon for the next month or so, but I don't mind because it makes the flowers beautiful and the air fresh. This flower is much smaller than it looks in the photo, and it grows on these scary, spikey stems. I'll have to take a picture of the whole plant, it's really something to behold. Oh, and I have to add that I did not alter this photo in any way, this is straight from the camera. Now that I now how easy it is to make any bad picture look good with Picasa, I feel the need to point out when I have a 'real' photo.

The end is near.

I very clearly remember a rather unfortunate G. J. prophecy conference as a teenager. It was all gloom and doom, and Y2K was presented as one scary future. I seriously felt I would be lucky to make it to my eighteenth birthday. The other thing I remember was his warning against cards that could carry money, like ATM cards, etc. He thought it was the first step towards the "Mark of the Beast" talked about in Revelations. I was sure my Canada Trust bank card was the first step.

If only G. J. could see me now. The 'cashless society' he was so afraid of is manifest in my wallet. This is my Starbucks Card, my 7-eleven i-cash card, my MRT easy card, and my California Gym membership card. With only these four pieces of plastic, I could easily live my normal life in Taipei without any cash. Every so often, I just stick another $1000NT ($40CND) on each card and off I go. Well folks, the end must be near.

Another 'Jimmy'

Everytime I find a new Jimmy illustration somewhere, I feel the need to take a picture of it. This one was on a poster in one of the grade 6 classrooms. I believe it was a 'reading is good' type motivational poster. Makes me want to read. In fact, I think I'd rather read than go to work, but sadly that's not an option.

Ulysses...Can you handle it?

I heard about the courses at All Learn back when I was at Oxford. They provide long-distance 'continuing-eduation' type courses by professors from Oxford, Standford and Yale. I've been feeling the need for a challenging project outside of work (kind of like my novel was in November) and all the courses listed on All Learn looked exciting. After much deliberation, I have decided to take Ulysses: Reading and Understanding James Joyce's Epic Adventure as my first course. At first I was a bit put off by the price, but it's a ten week course, and I've always felt that understanding Ulysses was a sort of litmus test of a true English major. Right now, it's all gobbleygook to me, but in ten weeks it will all make perfect sense. I hope so, or else my identity as an English major, shaky at best, may be throughly damaged.

grace

I've enjoyed all of the beautiful flower photos on visual-voice, and I was motivated to take more myself. However, all I have is half-dead orchids, and this one just fell from the stem. I thought it was surprisingly fresh and elegant. A blooming daffodil would be more appropriate for a warm spring day (this particular April day is a balmy 34C in Taipei!)

But, as always, "the fairest things have sweetest end"

Website Additions

Two new additions on the sidebar to draw your attention to: new books I'm reading and my personality profile.

My personality type is #5. You can click on the little icon to be taken to the website and try for yourself. I realized that its probably a good indication that you're a type 5 cerebral, reclusive, introvert when on a Saturday night your friends go out to a busy Salsa club and you choose instead to spend the evening strolling around the bookstore and come home with a "Self-Teaching Guide to Economics" and "Manage your Postgraduate Career." See, a #5 is always researching and predicting - believing that knowing as much as possible will be a protection against future ills. Not wanting to look silly in my first Master's class this summer - I'm going to read up to have a background in economics and a good handle on what to expect in my post-graduate degree. Plan ahead, I say!

Shall I call him Winifred?

The Taipei 101 mall is something to behold. It is supposedly still the tallest building in the world, and there's a really snazzy mall in the basement. There are all sorts of luxury stores: Prada, Escade, Tiffany & Co. (We had to pop in, Kathy wanted to point out some Christmas present possibilities.

A few stores down we saw this bear in a bedding store window. I thought it was really cute, so I checked the price - $19,200 NT or about $800 CND! Now I don't think of myself as especially cheap or provincial - but I found that a shocking price.

Another penpal program!

This was what I drew on the board for my grade 8 girls class on Friday.
The good news that I mentioned a week ago and never told you is that my Grade 8 girls class is one of 10 that has been chosen to be part of a special project.
According to the iEARN news website:

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2005 INTERNATIONAL PEN PAL PROGRAM. World Environment Day
is the flagship environmental event of the United Nations, created in 1972 as a
worldwide event raising awareness about ways we can all protect our global
environment. This year, it will be held from June 1-5 in San Francisco,
California, making this the first time that the event has ever been hosted in
the U.S. The City of San Francisco is sponsoring an International Pen Pal
Program that will link 10 classrooms in San Francisco with 10 classrooms in
other cities around the world, commencing on April 21-22, and culminating on
June 1-5. All classrooms participating in the Pen Pal program will receive free,
full color materials and certificates for students recognizing their
participation in this global event.

Isn't that great?! I was pretty excited when my supervisor presented me with the opportunity, and I know the girls will do a great job and hopefully really enjoy it! (For those of you who don't know, I already have my grade 6 and 7 classes in a pen pal program with students in my friend Claire's classes in Indiana.)

Saturdays are for...working

I'm sitting in my dark office at 1:30pm on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon. I am wondering why. "Just leave!" I yell at myself. But I am a slave of the computer, I tell you. There are just so many parts of my life that involve a computer, and I really miss having one to call my own. (Well, technically I do have that laptop, but no internet access, so it doesn't count).

This morning I sort of taught my Saturday class. See, they were required to go to a memorial ceremony for a previous principal, which ended up going way over time, so I only had them for 45 minutes instead of two hours. They were completely lost, so we just did a worksheet and a game. Bad teacher. But I've been having good conversations with students recently, I think they are comfortable enough that they can start to open up. I love that.

And two items of note. Claire, college roommate and all-around wonderful gal, is coming to visit me in June / July for sure! She bought her tickets, and I have begun to do what I do best, plan travel excursions. We're going to stay in Taiwan, because it's cheaper and easier. I'm just utterly thrilled that she's able to come, I mean, come on! I haven't seen her since her wedding in August, and now we have ten whole days to catch up. YIPPEE!

Other news note: my Dalhousie application hit a slight snare with transcripts, but seems to be quickly repaired. I still am quite sure my summer Halifax plans will work out. They better, or I might just have to cry.

Students who like to chat, anticipating a visit from an old friend, a summer of study and silence, a twin sister waiting to watch the "Amazing Race Finale" with me, and a sunny Saturday afternoon. Life is good. I think I'll leave the office and go live it!

A small foray into deeper thought

I've been thinking through what I want this blog to be about. It's a bit all over the place, eh? Some family update, some photo blog, some personal journal, some cute links, some news, some thoughts. Anyone have opinions on what they like or don't like?

Lately, I've been doing a lot of pictures and personal stories. Which reminds me, one of my new favorite blogs, Visual Voice, had an interesting article on narcissitic bloggers! However, I do have strong views on external issues and politics, I just feel that sharing my sometimes not fully formed opinions in such a public forum makes me vulnerable. No one can argue with the cute story from work, but if I start talking hot topics that I don't fully understand, I might put my foot in my mouth.

But I recently read a troubling article on CNN about the Conservatives 'Day of Truth' in response to the 'Day of Silence'.

Irked by the success of the nationwide Day of Silence, which seeks to combat
anti-gay bias in schools, conservative activists are launching a counter-event
this week called the Day of Truth aimed at mobilizing students who believe
homosexuality is sinful.Participating students are being offered T-shirts with
the slogan "The Truth Cannot be Silenced" and cards to pass out to classmates
Thursday -- the day following the Day of Silence -- declaring their
unwillingness to condone "detrimental personal and social behavior."

The whole article was troubling. I shouldn't get into it here, but I strongly disagree with the whole idea of a 'Day of Truth'. Perhaps if it was followed by a day against hypocrisy. "Just say Materialism is a sin!" Day. Or how about "Rich people don't get to go heaven." Let's remember the log and speck of sand story!

Then, after reading that article, I found an Ignite blog post that was quoted on Johnny Baker's blog. It speaks better than I.

We are the fragrance of God in the world, the hint of God, the poetry and prose
of God, not the propositions of God. We are the questions not the answer, the
aroma not the substance. Let us turn away from the times we have tried to compel
others and turn back to the ancient call by which we live beautiful, Christ-like
lives in the world.

I hope I can be part of the sweet-smelling fragrance of God as described above, instead of someone who tries to preach "the truth."

Urgh

I went home for my lunch break in hopes of catching up on email and finishing my introspective Orchid blog post.

The first email I read was from Dalhousie admissions office, with one very frustrating sentence concluding that I would indeed need to send all my transcripts, even the schools I only attended as a letter of permission student.

Urgh.

I then spend the rest of lunch trying to remember (a.) what schools I took classes at (b.) my student id numbers (can't remember any, did I even get one for abu?) (c.) how on earth to order all those transcripts.

I came to no conclusions, and stalked back to the office with a scowl on my face. When I got to the gates, I realized how deep my frown was and how angry I must have looked, so I caught myself before I scared students.

All that to say, no orchid post until I get over my peevishness.

An Orchid

An Orchid...to be continued.

National Concert Hall

This is the foyer of the National Concert Hall, with me in the center. Kathleen and I went out Sunday night to see the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. It was a wonderful evening, a 200 voice choir, the symphony, and three soloists. The programe was Faure's Reguiem, along with other pieces like the Russian Easter Overture. It was such a different experience, I was shocked by the fact that the audience knew when to clap. Not one person in the audience, not even the many small children and young adults, clapped before the entire piece was over. Wowee!
It was a lovely night, and we plan to go more often. There are so many classical music performances here, there are multiple options each weekend. And it was only about $15 CND a ticket, for great seats.

And on the inside we have

For those of you who feel the need for some closure on the Cherimoya story - here is a picture of the inside. It lived up to my expectations, and it was, as Mark Twain said: "deliciousness itself." Tricky to peel and de-seed, but otherwise enjoyable and worth $5.

The real thing

Now those are really impractical shoes, and the socks are just too white.
Picture from the Art of the Geisha webpage.

My Version

Whatdya think? The newest fashion trend? If I could single handedly start a fad, this would be it. I always thought geishas looked so cool in their kimonos and socks stuck in flip flops, but I wished they would wear ones that weren't so starkly white. But last night at the Japanese store, Muji, I found these socks in all sorts of colours. I look the monochromatic look, because on first glance it looks like regular shoes, but wait! No, it's flip flop socks. Well, at least I think it's cool.

Shhhh

This t-shirt suits me, don't you think? There are only three problems: first, I hate t-shirts. Second, I feel like it's showing my hand to every passerby. Finally, it's stinkin expensive, because it's made by an environmentally conscious company, Howies.co.uk.

Forgive me...

I hope this is not too offensive to my American friends. It's not you, it's me. I'd love to have this t-shirt, if only it didn't cost 20 pounds! It's a British company, Howies, that does such a wonderful job of clarifying the concerns of many Canadian and Brits.

Just wait....

The exquisite joy of waiting.

This is supposed to be one of the most delicious fruits. We have yet to figure out a name for it, but according to Carolyn and Steph, it is a creamy fruit that tastes like a mix of mango and pineapple. Sounds heavenly.

Now, all I have to do is wait for this heavy, giant dome to ripen. Once it's soft I will see if it is a good specimen. None of my housemates have found a good example of this kind of fruit in Taipei, only in the south. I am really hoping, partly because it sounds so wonderful, and partly because I paid $125 NT for it ($5 CND).

Endless Succession

Would you believe I still don't have anything interesting to write about?! Sorry, life "continues on in an endless succession of busy nothings." I feel some pressure, too, because according to my handy blog site meter, I get about 10 times as many new visitors on Saturday than on other days. Ahh! Must be creative and intelligent. Nope, not going to happen. "Surely" you must be thinking to yourself, "Carole will be able to think of some small tidbit of information or story to redeem this meanering and meaningless post!"

Some tidbits:
* My grandmother and aunt's cat, Riley, died today. According to the group email and the obituary on our "Gilroy Family Site", his death appears to be from heart failure, while taking a leisurely stroll down his favorite country road. Therefore, we can all assume he died peacefully from old age and obeseity. R.I.P. Riley.
* My grad school application has been somewhat bogged down by my own stupidity. See, they asked for a list of all the school's I've attended, and I listed all 4. However, three of those I attended as a "Letter of Permission" student and had the classes listed on my Huntington transcript. But because I put them all on the application, Dal wants 4 transcripts, and there seems to be a deathly silence in the admissions office.
* I was tutoring my little tutee this evening, who is quite a little whirlwind. We were doing "wh diagraphs" and when we got to whale, she pointed to me and said "Whale Teacher!" Yup. That's me. Thankfully, I'm past the point of taking my grade 2's comments personally.

Kathleen enjoying our new indulgence, Kindori Ice Cream. Funny story, this cute little ice cream shop is about 10 feet off the alley we walk down multiple times a day to get to school. I've lived here 8 months and never walked down the street! I'm kicking myself now, because this a real find. It's the equivalent of Yogen Fruz, you choose your fruit, and they mix it fresh. About $2CND for a cone. Kathy and I have decided to try all the flavors, we have 28 to go. There are alot more fruits to choose from when you've got the tropical ones added in. Mulberry, red guava, pomegrante! I think it will become a daily detour on the way home, thank goodness it seems relatively healthy! 

Our one excursion on our luxuriously lazy long weekend. We went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, one of the main Taipei attractions. Pretty, eh? 

"Seeing Double"

This is the picture we used on the power point presentation Saturday, for Kathy's part of the poem. It's not exactly a great picture, but oh well. You can see how cute the grade 2's are. Just multiple by 4 or 5 and you have a typical classroom.
Sorry there's been so many pictures over the last few days - I had so many from the weekend, I was trying to spread them out.
Today being the first day back at work after the long 'weekend' I'm still feeling a bit tired and grumpy, so I don't have much more to say. I had an exciting new project given to me at work, I'll explain it tommorrow. Nothing earthshattering, but I'm excited.

Step in Time

These are the Grade Ones doing choreographed aerobics to music. They're pretty cute, and it's funny to watch the military boot camp precision of Fu-Hsing.