326 Peace March

Today was the 326 Peace March protesting the Anti-Succession Law that China passed a week or two ago. I thought I should put up some pictures with my thoughts, just to do that whole blog - news first hand thing.
So I taught Saturday class, went to the gym for BodyPump (Huh! I am strong!) Then a lovely relaxing lunch reading the paper on the Starbucks patio. Then I heard the sound of loud speakers and chants. The march started, and was still going almost 2 hours later. It was a steady river of people. I will be very interested to read how many people were there, it was supposed to be more than a million, and it certainly looked it. I had a sweet old man hand me a flag on the way past, so I got to wave my little 'peace, democracy' white flag. I was half tempted to join in the march and experience the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself, but I really hate crowds. (= I do still support the cause, and the idea that peace and democracy need to be protected. I hope that this rally gets the worldwide publicity to help bring attention to Taiwan's position.

I was interested to read a small sidebar item entitled Tube Woman Hype Continues about what they called "the hyped-up US media frenzy." I find it fascinating to think that it is dominating American news coverage, and yet it seems so insignificant from an international perspective.

Peace March

This was a float in the march / parade. China is China. Taiwan is Taiwan. I'm not sure what the symbolizism is behind the teapot and the cup, but whatever.

New Books

I bought two new books today and it was just the motivation I needed to finally getting around to putting a 'currently reading' box in my sidebar. I gathered up all the books on my headboard and was surprised to see that I am in the middle of 6 different books. I never thought I was one of those people who read more than one book at a time, but I guess I am.

One new one is The Time Travelers Wife, which I bought because of the recommendation on the Amy Loves Books blog (see link in sidebar). I had picked it up before, read the back, and put it down, because the idea of time travel in fiction is never attractive. But it was quite the glowing recommendation, so I bought it.

My other new pick is "Why Social Justice Matters." I was very happy to find it, because the selection of English academic books is slim here (although if you want the Da Vinci Code, you can get 10 different versions! Urgh.) I wanted to start reviving my neglected academic mind. After almost eight months of children's books about bears and songs about itsy-bitsy spiders, my brain reeled at the idea of a preface! I'm excited to finish this book, because it's one of the issues I am passionate about, and I'm excited to read Barry's view as a political philosopher.

Oh dear. I came home today hoping for some quiet time to myself to read and journal about Good Friday, and instead had to manouver around jackhamers and this thing. I have no idea what they are doing, they do occasionally seem to rip up the streets for no reason. But right in front of our house (the apartment door is under the green overhang at the bottom of the picture) on my one afternoon to have a nap. That's harsh.  

Anyone painting?

Well, today was supposed to be 'vacation' - the only thing I had to do was stay at work all morning and spend one hour proctoring. But as much as I enjoy taking tests (it gets my adreniline pumping), proctoring tests must be one of the most boring jobs in the world. You sit, and you stare. By the end I was rocking back and forth and singing "I am going slowly crazy!" to myself. I was more thankful than the students when the bell rang.

I had the afternoon off, but I spent it taking care of all the paperwork and such for getting my passport renewed. The whole 'six months validity left to travel' thing means I need a renewel before I leave this summer. Three forms, seven pages, and over an hour to fill it all out. Sitting and waiting, although I felt somewhat better at the end because the consulate lady complimented me on filling everything out correctly because most people have to go back and fix things. There. A B.A. at least prepared me for filling out ultra-complicated government forms.

After a boring morning of proctoring and a boring afternoon of forms and waiting rooms, I felt like I should find a dentist to get my teeth scraped clean, just to round out the days mundane and midly painful activities. Or maybe I could find someone who is painting and watch the paint dry.

This is two days in a row when I've been almost ready to go to sleep and I have a guilty reminder in the pit of my stomach to blog. Oops. Not that I don't have anything to say, just too much to do! Fortunately, tommorrow I only have to proctor one test, then the afternoon off. Friday is the same. So basically I'm starting my weekend now. Yah! They are happy for me too. 

My Room

This a panorama of my room, with it's new 'pink' scheme. Kathy tells me that no one really cares, but it's my first panorama with my new camera, so I care.

Tonight I was reading blogs and I had so many interesting posts to catch up on. It made me very thoughtful, so at the very last minute I decided to go to the gym so I could think. Spinning class is a surprisingly good forum for processing - you're stuck in a small room with no polite way to leave and nothing to do but move your legs in circles. I spent alot of time thinking about Bobbie's latest post on "Emerging Sideways" (on the links sidebar). I'll put my thoughts on it up tommorrow.

"My darling girl, when are you going to understand that 'normal' isn't a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." -Stockard Channing as Frances Owens in Practical Magic (via Real Simple Magazine).

Twin Picture

Kathleen likes this picture better, and would prefer it to be the 'twin' picture on the site as opposed to the St. Paddy's day one when she looks dazed and confused. 

I have a plan!

Just to keep ya'll in the loop, I've applied to Dalhousie University in Halifax, and hope to do my first three courses this summer. There is a series of intensive courses on International Development and it seems the perfect way to get started on my Master's degree and be able to double check that it's what I want to take and where I want to take it. I seriously can't think of any way I would rather spend my 'summer vacation' than in Halifax, sleeping in, drinking Tim Hortons coffee, going to class every afternoon, and reading everything I can get my hands on. It's a bonus to be in a cool environment by the ocean, and to be able to live on my own. Yippee!

This is a cute representation of the kids' uniforms from one of the teacher's bulletin boards. 

The feeling of Saturday morning.

I wish I could find the right word to describe the feeling in the apartment this morning. The word that keeps coming to mind is delicious. It's beautifully warm, with the sunlight and a cool breeze creeping through the windows. Oldies of the Bing Crosby / Frank Sinantra persusion are playing in the living room and spreading through the apartment. All of us have our doors open and are busy cleaning our spaces. Well, the three of of them are, I was being lazy and sitting in the living room reading my 'Lolita in Tehran' book, drinking my tall decaf Americano. I'm just so thankful that our apartment finally feels like home, and the 'Saturday morning feeling' I had thought was going to be resigned to my college living arrangements, has now come to Lane 78, Taipei!

By the way, I have too many pictures from yesterday to fill up this site. I've made another site, and as soon as it's finished I'll put a link on.

Can you figure out what it is? I took this shot today and I quite like it. I have alot of great photos from today to blog, but I also have a cozy bed waiting in the next room, so I'll leave the photos till tommorrow. This may whet your appetite. (I remember how excited I was when I finally learned how to spell whet. Hmm.) 

Okay, I've decided to take "Photo Friday" as a series of suggestions, instead of being legalistic. So, I know that I missed the friday deadline, but this picture was just waiting for me. It fits last weeks category of "Faces" don't you think? Kathy pointed out this little old man with the poodle in pink bows, and we conviently manouvered around to make it look like I was taking a picture of her in front of the temple, instead of the man sitting on the bench behind her. There we go! The 5x optical zoom I shelled out the cash for comes in handy, although he looks like he somehow knows I'm taking his picture. 

St. Paddy's Day at the Shannon Pub in Taipei. Actually, quite a good knock-off Irish pub, and it was packed full of foreigners celebrating. The Irish Stew was on special, and it was good to have a proverbial meat and potatoes meal, with the enjoyable company of our housemates. It was a lot of fun to go out, while not to late of a night.  

Counting down the minutes till the end...

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but you should be proud of me. I was out celebrating St. Paddy's day instead of curled up at home blogging about it. I'll post a picture or two when I get home tonight.

I'm still at work, and I should be finishing my grading. But I'll tell you, having 9 classes all do the same assignment makes grading really, really boring. I just couldn't look at one more "Island Poster" and brochure. I only have 2 classes left to do, so I'll just take them tommorrow. Yes, it will be Saturday and we're being required to spend 10 hours of it doing unpaid work for "the company." I'm not happy about it, let's leave it at that. So I've decided that although I'm required to physically be there, I will take a variety of things to keep me occupied, so that I will at least be able to spend my mental time on Saturday as I please. Grading will be one diversion, as will reading my current book Reading Lolita in Tehran, a very thoughtful gift from my cousin M.

*****Disclaimer - Any complaints I have about my job are always about "the company" and not "the school." Almost everyday I leave work I think about how thankful I am for such a great school with wonderful co-workers, superiors, and students. Just thought I'd clarify.**********

Anyway, so instead of spending my last hour of the workweek grading, I thought I'd read some blogs, and reading Emerging Sideways linked me to Wes Roberts, who had a very interesting quote from Madeleine L'Engle as part of his post on the death of Stanley Grenz. Later tonight, I'll put in on this blog along with the thoughts it got me thinking. But right now I'm going home, because it's 4:41pm!

This was the highlight of my otherwise uneventful day. I was walking to the Elementary building from the Junior High building, when I was confronted with a little parade of Kindies. These aren't my students, but they were still too cute. The Kindergarten graduation is a big deal at Fu-Hsing, so I guess they take the picture early. Today was the right day, sunny and almost 30 C. Perfect for pictures, but not perfect for me. I'm holding out hope that spring isn't quite over yet. 

DKNY window

Kathleen in front of DKNY, which is right on the corner between our apartment and school. Although it's just one of many fancy clothing stores, it's my favorite because it's the only store where all the clothes look like ones I would like to buy! And this new window display was just so cute and springy. Kathy insists that the apples are real, but I insisted they could not be real. We're going to check whose right in a week.

A great deal!

On the way home from the gym, we stopped to get some fresh-squeezed OJ, from the orange truck guy. One bottle = 30 NT, but you could buy 3 for 100 NT. Some deal, eh? I'm not sure who was falling for it, but not us.

Tonight at the gym we tried something new, Body Pump. I now feel pretty much exactly how you might imagine: tuckered out! I was trying to explain to Kathleen what the class was like, and I was telling her "You use one of those stick-thingys." Carolyn was walking through the living room at the time, and inserted "It's called a barbell!" Perhaps a sign that it was a bit advanced for me. I was fine on the lower body, which is strong from so many spinning classes. But my little wimpy arms never get any attention, and by the end of class, they were shaking even when I was just trying to stretch my arms overhead! Now my arms start shaking when I try to brush my teeth. Ooow.

Check out two new additions to my side bar, a word of the day and the Nichoson clan crest.

Dalhousie University, photo by Bruce J. Brown, 2003. 

Possible Future?

Here it is, my possible future home. Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS seems to be the right school for me to do my Master's. To tell you the truth, I have not done near as much research as I did for my undergrad, because I know for sure that I want to go to school in Canada and study international development, so it severely limits my choices. And I've always wanted to live in Halifax. But if anyone feels I could choose a better school, do speak now or forever hold your peace, eh?

Right now, it looks like a real possibility for me to start working on my Master's this summer. It would mean be a tight squeeze, with only a weekend between finishing classes at Fu-Hsing and starting classes at Dal. But I think a summer all to myself living on campus, and studying sounds more relaxing than anything else I can think of. We'll see, I have a few things to work out yet. (Oh, and I would just go for the summer, then come back to Taiwan for another year of work).

Baby

It's so much fun having Kathy and I both teaching grade 2 classes. All the little squirts think it's hilarious that there are two of us. My kids especially like to follow us and laugh. Today Kathy and I were leaving for lunch when we were surrounded by my gigling grade 2ers. "It's Ms. Carole!" "And Ms. Carole 2!" "No! Ms. Carole Baby!" Kathy had to stop them there, and explain that she was indeed older, and not the baby. Then one boy explained, that she was "Ms. Carole Baby" because she was shorter than me. Isn't that cute!

No news is good news

Nothing new here. Last night I went to a good-bye party for Jill and Amin, which was quite a load of fun. It started off slow. As you know I hate big groups of people at parties, and having to make small-talk with people who I don't really consider friends. But by the end all the seating was reorganized, and we had a good long conversation with lots of laughs just the original four of us teachers, and our fun new addition S., and C.'s boyfried R.

But that's really not news, is it? Hmmm, anything else? Well, I had a great time at Saturday class yesterday. I feel priviledged to get to teach them, they are an eager and intelligent group of grade 7 and 8'ers. Whenever I think about the fact that I teach writing, I feel a bit inadequate, because I have learned from so many great writers. However, I try not to compare myself, and just do the best I can. Yesterday we did "Character Fireworks" (I made that up) and a worksheet called "Character Stretch." We did spend the first part of the class playing "Four on a Couch" (an old High School Huddle game), but it was a cold rainy Saturday morning, and we all needed something fun to start the class off with. Now on to another week, I'm almost excited! Well, that's too strong of a word. Let's just say I'm not dreading Monday morning.

Obsession

My entry for Photo Friday, a little blog thing that gives an assignment each week. This week was "Obsession" and I couldn't think of anything to take a photo of, but I liked this shot I took tonight at the night market. So let's just call it obsession. Maybe next week's topic will be more inspirational for me.

So long, farewell...

Farewell to my friends Jill and Amin, who are leaving Taiwan to return to the high life in Markham, Ontario. They are leaving for 'a number of reasons' and I'll really miss them! Foresight has already hired a replacement to take Jill's classes at Fu-Hsing, but no one can take her place! It's sad, but there's always the chance we'll meet up again.

Putting a Foot in Your Mouth...

For Jill's good-bye meal, all the English teachers (Taiwanese and foreigner) went to the "Parent's Restaurant" for an elegant lunch of dim sum. Well, it was elegant until the chicken feet arrived. Then a new form of barbarianism emerged. Here is Kathleen, digging in. I refrained, for the same reason I avoid chicken wings, so much work to make it through the carnage for very little reward. Kathleen informed me that there is even less 'reward' on chicken feet. I limited my exotic food intake to cow's stomach, quite enough adventure for me. It looked like a honeycomb, and was spongy, as you might imagine.

A Moment's Pause

I've found a few blogs by different alumni of Huntington College, because I was searching for people posting about the firing of John Sanders. (Lots of people cared, and saw it as a blow to academic freedom.)

Anyway, one of the blogs I found was Elizabeth's, my editor at the Huntingtonian newspaper, a floormate for two years, and a fellow STD'er (Sigma Tau Delta). Not like we keep in touch (I never planned on keeping in touch with any college friends except the very closest ones), but I found it interesting to see where life has led her ~ Colorado. Her most recent post mentioned that yesterday was the two year anniversary of a very important event in our college experience.

My third year of university, I was living in a great dorm called Meadows. Our pod had 3 Katies, a Carole, Claire and Colleen. It was quite a funny coincidence. We were all very different sorts of people, only friends because we lived together, ate together and shared our washroom. Well, two years ago yesterday, Claire and I were coming home from an after-class Wal-Mart run, on an unseasonably warm day. I still remember walking up the stairs to our floor and being met by an RA who quickly told us that Katie K. had collapsed at choir practice and had been rushed to the hospital unresponsive. That quick communication of a few sentences began a very long evening, which led to a very dark night. Katie was pronounced dead later that evening. I believe the cause of death was never officially confirmed, some sort of genetic heart defect that just made her heart stop.

It was an incredible time for all of Katie's friends, and all of us who lived with her. In some ways beautiful because her life was a testament to God's grace. Her death was in many ways easier to accept, because there was no one to blame. No murderer, no drunk driver, no suicide. Instead, it was an act of God or a freak accident of nature, depending on your views. It was my first true encounter with the death of a peer, and it brought up many questions about the sovereignty and omnipotence of God. (Questions already running through my mind thanks to the skill of the aforementioned Dr. Sanders). The questions raised and the conclusions I came to were some of the most important lessons learned during university, and although I don't want to go into all of that here, I do want to take on moment to pause, on the anniversary of Katie's death to remember what I've learned. Life is fragile, the future is not guarenteed. Finding the meaning in life can't be postponed to "once I..." it is now. Life is now.

Another Personality Test

I want to go to sleep, but I thought I should post something. Here's a personality test from the BBC website. It's the usual Myers-Briggs, but I found the questions easier and a lot more clear cut. I'm a definite ISFJ, or as this site decided: A Nurturer.

Summary of Nurturers
Care for the important people in their lives
Strive for harmony and avoid confrontation
Think of themselves as gentle, conscientious, and mature
May have trouble making decisions that could hurt others

Or for me, you can just leave it at "may have trouble making decisions."
Try it for yourself: BBC personality test.

A Room with a View

This is my window and my tree. It's the second floor (which is called the 'third floor'), on the left. You can see a bit of my pink curtains. I was walking home, finally enjoying the sunshine when I looked up to see my little room awaiting my return. And I started thinking about all the rooms I've had, and all the trees that I've stared blankly at while pondering life with melancholy. This is certainly not the best view I've had, but I'm so glad to have the only room with a tree!

Daises

Perfect pink gerbera dasies for my lovely vase, a Christmas gift from Claire. They are a very different kind of beauty from the Orchids, they have to each have their own table. (=

A sanity test should be required

On the walk from the apartment back to school this afternoon, Kathy and I passed 4 foreign men. This is unusual because of the sheer number of them in the one block walk to work and also because they were all between 20-30 and seemed relatively normal! Can you imagine? On the day I decided to wait to do my hair and make-up at school. If only.

I'm kidding by the way, I'm really not on the lookout! We've discussed it and there is a 95% chance that if you meet a foreign man in Taiwan, he will be (a) a super-rich businessman workaholic, (b) someone who is running away from problems at home, (c) someone who couldn't make it at home and is trying here, or (d) someone here just to get a gorgeous Taiwanese girlfriend. I'm sure there must be some normal guys out there, who like us girls are just trying to have an adventure overseas while making lots of money and getting practical work experience. Maybe.

This can't be good.

Another monday morning, another 4 classes in a row. They all went well, today's story with the grade 2's was "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carlyle. The point of the story was to keep on-task until you finish, and not be distracted by other fun options. Well, train 'em young!

Last night I had a serious of bad dreams, mostly involving children. Not anything bad happening to them, no, just me having to take care of them. This must be a sign, when teachers have nightmares before Monday morning. If it gets to be a normal occurance, I'll have to check if my sub-concious is telling me something about my current career choice.

Well, it's officially spring, according to me. Today is 22C or 70F and sunny. Quite an improvement over the 10C or 50F and rainy has been. I love spring because it seems so fleeting. Every day could possibly be the last before the weather turns hot and humid till December. That's enough to make anyone seize the day!

Oh the ants go marching one by one...

Yesterday morning I got up for Saturday class, and went through the usual routine. Plugged in the kettle to boil water, and made myself a cup of tea. I never bother to turn on the kitchen light, I just go through the motions. Got to class, drank my tea no problem. But I'll bet you can feel the impending doom.

When I got home, I found the new housemate, S., in the kitchen cleaning away. I asked her what she was up to, "Well, I went to boil water, but when I opened the lid I found a huge nest of ants, thousands of them, swarming around with eggs in their mouth and everything." Ummm. Yah, that's gross. Today's to do list includes: "Buy new kettle" and "convince oneself that ingesting ants is harmless."

This is the colour of orchid I chose, the perfect rose to match my room. As soon as I get my room cleaned up, I'll take a picture! This is also a demo of my new camera's super macro mode. 

The weekend flower market by Da-an park is quite a beautiful Taipei experience. Well, other than the mass of jostling people who have much smaller personal space bubbles than I. About half of the market is orchid sellers, which is by far the most popular flower in Taiwan. Kathleen couldn't believe that the orchids really are hardy, and virtually indestructible. You don't even have to water them, just sit in your room and enjoy for a month! We both bought some, in our favorite colours. Guess how much? About $4 CND a pop! 

What is that?

There is an occasional burst of sunshine from behind the grey clouds today. You couldn't exactly say the sun is shining, but I can definitely report that for the first day in weeks (or is it months?!) there is no rain. If it lasts all day it will be an occasion for rejoicing. I'm not allowing myself to hope.

I didn't post yesterday, there goes my streak. The worst part is my reason: you know those cards I spent hours colouring? Well, I spent all yesterday cutting them up, glueing them to cardstock, cutting up the cardstock, trying to get them all laid out in the laminating film, laminating, and then cutting them, again. They're done, but the whole project took about 8 hours, total. Whenever someone asked me what I was doing, I had to reply honestly: "Being stupid." But I did get it all done, so that all my 'stuff' for Advanced English is ready for the first two units.

This morning I had a great Saturday Class, I cheated a little and spent the last 1/2 hour getting them to play "4 on a Couch" that great game from youth groups of old. It was distantly related to what the class is about, it's a writing class, and we were talking about characters names. That logically leads to playing a game that involves switching names, right?

I was lying in bed, ready to go to sleep beneath my mosquito net (yes, there are still mosquitos), when I realized I hadn't posted today. Part of me said, "just go to sleep, it's not like you'll be able to say anything intelligent at midnight anyway" - the other part said "come on, it will only take 15 minutes, you don't want to ruin your every day record." So I got up, took of picture of what I did all evening for proof, turned the computer on to Blogger Bot this photo to you. Aren't you excited? It's proof that I can spend entirely too long doing mundane tasks. For example, this evening I spent over 4 hours colouring cards like this. It was pretty much unneccesary, I doubt my students would have complained if the cards had been left black and white. Yet, I felt the need to colour in every little picture. Hmm. My addiction to mindless tasks is actually just a coping mechanism for depression, I don't have to think I just do. Don't worry, I'm not THAT depressed, it's just the weather is finally getting to me. Cold winters I can handle. But when it's cold, dark, and rainy for 2 months, it starts to get to even the most dedicated of winter-lovers. I'm almost half-tempted to say the ill-fated words "I wish it was warmer", but with the threat of a tropical Taipei summer, I know better.

Free Ice Cream

So, Yahoo has it's 10th Birthday today. Frankly, that wouldn't have much affect on me, but they are tricky. They have a little "Get Free Ice Cream" link from their front page, and I had to click, just to see if it was true. It was. So, if you live in a country where they have Baskin & Robbins - go get your free ice cream. Well, don't forget to download your coupon first.

Go to the Yahoo Free Ice Cream site, then sign in. Even if you just have played yahoo games (mom) you can still get the free coupon. Or you could always just sign up for a yahoo email and never use it. What lengths would you go to for free ice cream? Well, for Baskin & Robbins, I would go a long way. Loyal former employee speaking (My first 'real' non-babysitting job was at the Promenade Baskin & Robbins when I was 15 - I now know I had a horrible boss which made the job way more stressful than serving ice cream should be, but I have to say, I never got tired of my free scoop every break).

Favorite flavour I wish I could have a free scoop of? It's a very tough call, but right now I would go for Espresso & Cream. Or Chocolate Mousse Royale. Or Winter White Cherry. Or...

Anyone want to name their favorite flavour? Because really I'm probably the only person who asks and then really cares.

Another Rainy Day

On Tuesday afternoons, I have a grade 8 boys class, an hour break, and then my last class of the day, grade 7 boys. Well, between classes I always have a coffee. Then sometimes I have a passionfruit tea. When I have both, it causes problems. Today was the second time that I didn't have to go to the washroom before class, but by the end I was crossing my legs and pacing back and forth. And as last time, it became a dire situation. My mind was racing, as I tried to maintain control, keep teaching, and figure out what to do. My conclusion? Better to leave the class unattended than to 'have an accident.' The first time, I was very embarassed, and didn't tell the boys where I was going. This time I was honest: "Guys, I really gotta go to the washroom. Don't leave the room, kill each other, or jump out the window. I'll be right back." They all laughed at me when I came back, and there were no deaths or injuries from leaving a bunch of 13 year-old boys unattended.

You might be wondering why I don't have a mass of photos to demonstrate my new camera. Well, it's still raining (it has for weeks) and there aren't that many interesting pictures of umbrellas. I'll make a point of it in the next day or two.

Oscar Play by Play

Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with a play by play. Mostly because I don't think anyone will check this during the Oscars, and it's just so tiring afterwards. It's one of those things that is wonderfully enjoyable for the five hours it lasts and then afterwards, it's old news.

I am keeping score for our Gilroy Family Site Poll. There's 7 women in the running, almost all of the "Aunts" and "Cousins". So far, Aunt Carole pulls ahead with two out of two. But we've only just begun. I'll make sure to publically announce the winner at the end!

Right now, I shall turn my full attention to Beyonce trying to sing some French song. Hmmmm.

My brand-spanking new camera!

Decision made. I bought a Pentax Optio SV, and only have a smidge of buyer's remorse. See, I had decided that the Pentax Optio 500 was for me, and when I found a camera with the same specs (5 megapixels, 5x optical zoom) I assumed it was the same camera sold under a different name in asia. Well, I was wrong. So there are some drawbacks to the camera I bought. However, I'm still quite happy with it. On the other hand, I still can't forget about the Canon IXUSi with the pink case. I want them both. Thankfully Kathy is here to give me a skeptical look and tell me it is simply absurd to want to buy two new digital cameras. I'm going to wait a few weeks and see if I still think I need them both.

I had a brief, fleeting, moment where I thought I could be fashionable...Is it working?

Okay, then I had to get a cute camera case, which was on sale. Then, I had to buy the whole matching set, which was also on sale. Cellphone fob, sunglasses case, card case, and of course, camera case!

No, really, I'm not self-centered!

Another picture of me. It's actually quite nice to have someone along to take pictures. This is my little 'forest' walk to school every day. The median in the center of 10 lanes of traffic is surprisingly calm and peaceful. I get to relax and pretend I'm in the country for a bit, before I step out into the busy street at the next light.

Lantern Festival fun and excitement

Yah, so last week was the "Lantern Festival" - not much to write home about because it didn't involve a day off work. The only disernable form of celebration was lots and lots of rice dumplings, which I believe I have already mentioned. Walking along the streets, many of my usual bakeries had dumpling-making stand set up on the street. A little piece of Taipei.

The Excitement of Jelly Beans

You know those "Bertie Botts" jelly beans from Harry Potter? You know that Jelly Belly sells boxes of said Bertie Botts, which include both the good and bad flavors? Well, this morning in my Saturday class, one of my students brought in a box, which someone had sent him from England. They got me to try some. The first one was Cherry, the second...Sardines. It was truly disgusting - it really did taste exactly like sardines. Then, sucker that I am, they talked me into trying another one at break, this one they thought was Earthworms, but actually turned out to just be Dirt. That was a relief.

Aside from disgusting candy, the class was enjoyable. This Saturday Writing Club has been my favorite class to plan for and teach, because it's my favorite age, grade 7 and 8's, and it's a longer class, 2 hours. Because it's Saturday I can also be a bit more relaxed. All the students behave well, because it's their only co-ed class. Ooooh. Most of the students from last semester signed up for this semester, plus a few newbies. I'm glad to have a class that is such a pleasure to teach, the fact that I love writing makes it so much easier.

Oh, I had them all make pen names so they would be less self-concious about their writing. My example pen name is Carole aka "Cat Ellens." (Sorry, H. for stealing your name!).

I'm off to tutoring, in two things I love, writing and diagramming. Then, I plan to buy a camera. Well, maybe. Decisions are not my strong point, and there are just so many pros and cons to all the different cameras. I'm leaning towards great image quality, ultra compact, at the expense of optical zoom. It's called the Canon PowerShot SD10 in N. America, and the Canon IXUSi here. We'll see.

A Well-Developed Sense of Comedic Timing?

For those of you who know me personally (most of you) you know that of the many aspects of my personality, a sense of humour is not the best developed. I have often bemoaned this fact, reading one too many magazine article about how the #1 most important quality people look for is a sense of humour.

However, there is good news. I have found that becoming a teacher and trying to learn the best strategies for managing a classroom and imparting knowledge have taught me comedic timing. I noticed this for the first time this week, when I had every single one of my classes laughing. For my special interest classes, I had a joke to go with each rule, and by the end of the week, I felt like a stand-up comedian, cranking out the same joke to a new audience, knowing how to time it to get the most laughs. My grade 2's were the same, only I had the help of a hilarious story called "Mr. Wolf's Week" - highly recommended if you are in grade 1 or 2!

It feels good to laugh in class, and it feels even better to see them enjoying themselves. They need some time to loosen up and relax, and who knows, maybe I'll leave Fu Hsing with a great sense of humour! I can only hope.

Proof...Genetics Work.

This morning, Kathy and I came out of our respective rooms, dressed almost entirely alike. It's uncanny, because we both only own one mint green top, but we both choose that top to wear, with grey pants, our matching grey sweaters from Mom, and we were both heading for the same pair of black flats. Craziness! It's just like highschool, with one key difference. Instead of fighting about who would have to choose something new to wear for 10 minutes, I just ran back to change my top, sweater and shoes, and we were on our way to work. It just streched my mind, because really what's the probability? And then I start thinking about sharing DNA with someone, and my mind starts to boggle. I never did get the DNA experiment with onions in Chemistry Lab.

Another day in the life

Today is the Lantern Festival, which seems to mean lots of Christmas lights and eating Rice Dumplings. The rice dumplings are not to my taste, they have a very chewy glutenous consistency that made me gag the first time I tried them. Fortunately, I was able to feed my rice dumplings to Kathleen, while making it look like I tried some. Handy.

Today was stressful, making sure Kathleen knew where to go and what to do. It was like trying to keep two people's lives running. Whew. She's a fast learner, though! The fun part of today was walking around together and having all of our cute students STARE and giggle. They thought it was hilarious.

Having Kathleen here is also nice because as she unpacks, she keeps giving me new gifts. One surprise after another, little things from Canada that I can't get here, somethings that I asked for and some surprises. Right now, I'm enjoying wine gums. Yumm.

This is a boring post, I actually feel boring today in general. I'm just hanging in there until the weekend...I think I can, I think I can.

Lost in Translation...or just lost?

I'm functioning on less than 6 hours sleep, which is really quite trying for me. I'll try to make it through the day without bursting into tears (which seems to invariably follow a lack of sleep).

Kathy came last night. It was (and still is) cold and dark and rainy. I was quite glad though, because this kind of weather makes Taipei feel more like Taiwan than Toronto. Most days I feel that Taipei is just Toronto with a higher percentage of Asians. But on dark and rainy nights, with the army of yellow cabs flashing by the lines of glowing neon lights, I get the "Lost in Translation" feeling. When he first arrives in Tokyo, and is staring out the window at all the lights...that feeling. Also, anytime I walk across a white striped crosswalk in the rain, facing a crowd of faceless people with umbrellas, I feel like Scarlett (which a little imagination).

I was thinking about how much I love Lost in Translation, and how if I had never seen that movie I most likely wouldn't be living in Taiwan right now. I saw it at the Rave Movie Theatre at Jefferson Pointe, Ft. Wayne. I think it was just Claire and I, and after we left the theatre neither of us could really talk about it (highly unusual) because we were so moved. I saw it during my semester of pondering "What do I want to do with my life? Ahhh!" and it scared me. The isolation and foreigner status, the loneliness and harshness. Could I really live like that? Could I really move to Asia and risk getting lost? They weren't easy questions, but they came at the right time. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was worth the risk. I was right.