Self-Portrait

I have learned the importance of self-portraits when travelling alone - otherwise you have no proof that you've really been there. Here is my little picture set up along the bike path, at the beginning of the day, when I was still gloriously white. (P.S. I do know the dangers of the sun, I hate sunburns, and I would have done anything to prevent this one, but I was in the middle of nowhere - no taxis, no buses, no stores, and the only option was to walk back to town. Just so you know, so I don't need a reminder of the dangerous of skin cancer).

My feet

Following the bike path along the ocean was relatively straightforward, there were lots of signs. Every so often there was a pavillion like this to sit in and relax while enjoying the sound of the ocean. I took this opportunity to sit in the shade, and take of my shoes!

Tarako Gorge

A typical view of the gorge - it is considered the number 1 tourist attraction in Taiwan, and is beautiful indeed. It was an interesting mini-break for me, since a spa getaway is a good deal more my style than trekking, however. I was still blown away by how lovely it was, this picture doesn't really capture it.

Pondering Self-Portrait

pondering self portrait

The View

This is what I was looking at while pondering. I climbed down off the main road to find a big rock to sit on and listen to the river gushing. The rocks were really really big.

My 'toursit' lunch

I gave in and had a 'tourist' lunch at the hotel in the Gorge. It was a much deliberated decision, and I was going to put the whole thought process on here, maybe later. Anyway, it was lovely, a tuna sandwich and Earl Grey Milk Tea.

The tunnel

The scariest part of the trek was this tunnel. There was no going back, so I had to just walk into the darkness and keep walking. I was very much freaked out, and kept expecting someone to jump out and scream at me. I just walked slowly, with my hands shielding my face, and waited for the proverbial light at the end, which did come eventually.

Japanese Trail

this is the trail I took - left over from the Japanese occpation when they used it to transport soliders and canons and stuff. The trail is kind of hard to see, it's just a little railing about half way up the mountain. It made my stomach flip when I looked down. They definitely have different safety standards in Taiwan.

on my way

Well, in an hour I'm off for a mini-break! It's pretty mini, but still I need it.

I'm taking a three hour train ride down the coast to the city of Hualien. When I get there, I call the hostel and they pick me up at the station...nice! The hostel is new and clean, and I am the only person booked in the dorm room, so basically it's my eight bed room with private bathroom! Yeah.

I was going to do lesson plans all weekend, but now that I have such good curriculum, I think what I really need is a weekend away! So I'm taking lots of books, my journals, cameras and cross stich. I plan on spending lots of time sleeping and a lot of time sitting on some rocky beach on the coast, thinking and freezing my butt off.

I might be able to blog, might not. Either way, I have high hope of writing this weekend, stuff that will be a little bit more shall we say creative, to put on this blog.

Well, happy end of semester and mini-break to me, and happy inaguration to Bush, and happy January 20 to the rest of you.

Breakfast time - decisions, decisions. A glimpse of some of the choices at the Japanese bakery, Yamazaki. I chose the coconut raisin bread on the left of the second shelf. 

This was our 'working tea' at a new restaurant we tried called "Sweets Kitchen." The tea was your choice of salad, soup, bread, your choice of dessert and your choice of drink. Quite lovely. This is my fresh fruit hot tea, and the new curriculum I bought today for next semester's special interest classes. Sadly, I seemed to like the most expensive book in the store, and had to pay almost $50 CND for it. But the school may reimburse me, or I do feel it's worth it to save myself re-inventing the wheel. 

This is the product of a 90 minute 'working tea' and three hours in the evening. Well, this and a four page lesson plan. On the right we have the menu for the restaurant "Animeals", on the left is a worksheet where the kids draw the food and write a description. Then finally, we made a Play-doh model of our example dish: "Grass Noodles with Snuffle Eggs and Berries." 

Once again I find myself at the end of the day feeling very sick, very tired, and very boring. I can't think of anything interesting to write about today either. So I'll just post my pictures, and explain my day through them.

Oh, of note, I did finally visit the export store my housemate was raving about, and I got an Eddie Bauer flowered cordory blouse, a light blue cotton American Eagle blouse, a pair of mauve track panks, and Anne Taylor The LOFT dress cords with a great cut, all for about $40 CND. It was quite a find, and I LOVE everything I bought. That made my day.

I also found the perfect curriculum book for next semester. Now I have a really good handle on what I'm going to do for both my Advanced English special interest classes and my writing class. Good curriculum that is fun for the kids and easier for me makes me feel so much more excited about the planning I'm doing this weekend.

Other than shopping, about all I did today was proctor tests, which is mind-numbingly dull. Oh, and Carolyn and I created a 3 hour lesson plan to do with 'Food' for the winter camp, which we are quite proud of. See photos.

How to make a novel (well, I mean after you spent a month writing it): Start by printing out the pages in 'signatures' so that about 20 pages fold together to have the front and back sides in the right order. Then make a pattern with the holes evenly spaced and punch thrown the center crease of each signature. 

Kathy sent me some embroidery floss that I am supposed to coat in beeswax, but in a tight fix, I figure any old candle would do. So now, my floss smells like the Ikea winter candle from rubbing it back and forth across the hardened wax. 

Then, I take one 'signature' of pages at a time and sew from inside to outside, over the ribbon, inside, to outside, etc. Then on the ends, I do a sort of gathering stich to connect each signature to the other. 

The finished project! 

sick and sleepy

My apologies, but I can think of nothing interesting to write. I really think it's because I am sick - a sinus cold is a real creativity-killer. Fortuately, it has not been a very trying day, only one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. Then I sat on my bottom all evening to 'cut and paste' lesson plans and curriculum from online sites onto my disk. See, the plan is to take the train down to the cozy coastal city of Hualien on Thursday. Then I'll have almost three whole days of uninterrupted alone time to do some lesson planning for the new semester and some pleasure reading. But before I can do all my planning, I want to get all the internet information onto my laptop so I can read it over the weekend, without an internet connection. Wow - this is one boring blog entry, I should just stop before I put as all to sleep.

I'll try to perk this site up a bit tommorrow. Sorry, folks!

Post B-Day

Well, my birthday is over, no matter what time zone you are in. It was quite lovely. Starting with the Dinosaur dinner with crickets last week, then with more fun yesterday.

I started the morning by opening my card from my parents, which had a beautiful pair of Silver and Rose Quartz earrings inside. Then I opened the jewellery-box shaped gift to find a lovely set of gold earrings and a pink-gold ring with little diamonds in a leaf design, from Kathy, from Kazakhstan, right? I didn't have time to open any more presents, before setting off to work. I made a point of not telling people it was my birthday, but J. and C. did a very good job of making the fact known, and by the end of the day I had many wishes for a happy birthday. Lunch was at TGIFriday's, although I couldn't taste any of it, because I am coming down with a whopper of a sinus cold. That came in handy later, though, after I finished my classes and an hour of tutoring, and I met up with the gang for dinner. We went to an all you can eat Thai place, where you order as many dishes off the menu as you like ( much nicer than the usual buffet all you can eat places). There was a lot of spicy stuff, which would usually probably reduce me to a teary eyed mess, but had just the right level of zip when I was all stuffed up! We had a great time, with lots of conversation, and a few occasions of laughing till we cried (this happens often when eating with J., it's a combination of a klutzy eater and a youngest child syndrome!) After dinner they surprised me with a chocolate mousse cake and Hagaan Daas Ice Cream back at J. and A.'s.

Then we decided to watch a movie. The girls stayed home, and the boys went out in the cold to fetch a DVD. (It was supposed to be the coldest day all winter, below 10!) I said no killing kinds. What did they come back with? The Village! Can you imagine? I decided to work at the computer typing in grades, because watching a movie like that would give me nightmares for a week! So I did my usual half-watch, half-work, and it was actually a great movie. Yes, very scary, but I just looked at the computer for that part. And the usual M. Night Shamalyan twist was incredible, and made the entire movie worth watching for me.

C. and I went home together, and once again I was reminded by the fact that two people who are scared by scary movies should not walk home together after! We were jumping at every little thing. I got to the door, put the key in the lock, and turned. Nothing. After 15 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to either get the key to turn, or come out, we had to give up, call and wake up a housemate to unlock the door from the inside (which fortunately still works). My key is still stuck in the door, anyone know what to do?

So, we finally got into the apartment, and it was close to 1. Sitting on the coffee table was a card from Aunt Dorie and Grammie. I was so excited, and it came right on my birthday! I loved reading Grammie's letter, it's so sincere and heartfelt, I read it with a big smile on my face. Then I jumped in bed and went to sleep!

Then on Saturday morning, I woke up, went out for coffee and orange juice, blew my nose multiple times, then settled down to open my presents. Here is a picture. Although I think only Kathy cares, and she picked most of them out, so it's rather unimportant to put on this site. In fact this whole post seems better suited to my journal than my website. Alas, can I blame it on the sinus medication?

My birthday gifts, calendar, cross stich, Zoe puppet, stuffed animal (cow or dog? with lady bug), a letter from Grammie, chocolates, earrings from parents, jewellry from Kathy, magnet with my favorite quote, and my new Cashmere gloves from Carolyn. They are beautiful, with delicate stiching, beads, and a little button! She has lovely taste.