And I thought it couldn't get any worse

So, the internet at the apartment computer has gone. Basically, life is over. Kathy was trying to encourage me that survival without the internet is possible, but frankly, between blogging, an online course I paid a fortune for, summer planning and trying to keep in touch with family and friends; I feel entirely cut off without my dear internet (made even better by my new discovery of the wonders of Firefox - highly recommended).

So all that to say - my blogging may continue to be erratic until further developments, hopefully in my favor.

Oh, and I saw Kingdom of Heaven last night, a good 2.5 hour movie, with lots of interesting ideas about religious conflict and peace. I really enjoyed it, and would say more, except that I need to get off to Body Pump.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Love you! Check your email.

Boring Update Post - May Skip.

Quick update. I'm still here, still over my head with work. This weekend I don't have Saturday class, so I may devote all my attention to grading for my Grade 5-8 classes. I'll schedule breaks to come out of my room for air and coffee. Perhaps I'll blog if I find some funny pen pal letters / restaurant reviews, menus, or Endangered Species information. At least I have a bunch of different assignements, unlike the over 400 personal introduction letters I had to grade that one week last fall.

Exclamation Marks

Yesterday was the first day of my James Joyce's Ulysses course. We all had to do a self-introduction on the discussion board. Everyone else was older, semi-retired, from Greece, Austrailia, England and the US. I added my little intro, trying to make myself sound at least semi-smart. I read it aloud to Carolyn and Kathy to make sure it wasn't dumb. Then I posted it. Afterwards, I wondered aloud "I wonder if there were too many exclamation points?" Carolyn looked skeptical, "You mean you put exclamation points in that?!" Kathy said that it made it obvious I was trying to hard. I couldn't change it, so I'll just have to be that young girl in Taipei who is too excited. Reminds me of what Dr. Doughty used to say in Creative Writing, that each person should be allowed one exclamation point for their life. I'm over my limit.

death to multitasking

It's been a long time since I missed a day blogging, but I've been busy since the weekend. I feel somewhat like a juggler, trying to keep all 12 flaming swords in the air, eh? Multitasking is one of my strengths, but at the expense of my mental health. When I get swamped I can't relax and even when I try to just sit I'm mentally checking off my to-do list. Urgh. I suppose we're all the same way, just with different lists.

Anyway, all the things "to do" are getting done. Mainly everything is worked out for this summer. That's a relief. My two pen pal programs are in full swing, and I feel like I run a post office. I start my Ulysses course tommorrow. Work is good, home life is good, and I've been very good at going to the gym. Last night Kathleen and I tried out Body Combat. It was very entertaining, although I feel rather silly spending an hour punching the air.

I haven't had a chance to fix "hello" and put photos up. Part of the problem is sharing the office computer with 5 people and the home computer with 6 people. Ah, the joys of a 'personal' computer. I'll try to get photos up soon. THis post is rambling. Let it speak to my mental state. If I owe you an email, please give me a weeks grace!

The love of money is...

Sorry, this is the continued post about my students' desire to be rich.

So whatdya think? Would you rather be rich or happy? What do you think the students said? Well, almost 100% said they'd rather be rich and some were quite adamant about it. As much as I argued the opposing side, the students said their goal was to be rich, and then they'd have enough money to buy whatever they wanted so they'd be happy, of course. Can you imagine?! It made me think about how much cultural information we are given that influences our views on rich = happy.

I feel like I was raised to believe that the point was to have a life that mattered, to make a difference in the world, build strong relationships, be content. Money was only a means to an end. Part of me wants to keep trying to convince my students of this, although it feels like I'm forcing my cultural viewpoint onto a different paradigm. Taiwan, at least what I've seen of it in this private middle school, is all about being rich. You work excessively hard in school to get into the right high school. Same for high school to college. Then you try to get a high-paying job and the ladder goes on and on until you die.

I find that mindset so demotivating and depressing. I feel like asking the kids how they have the will to live, when their lives seem to be on such a straight track to nowhere. But to them it's a straight track to a life where you can buy whatever you want. Anyway, it's something I've been thinking about. Anyone have an opinion? Is the love of money cultural? Or is it just that I grew up in a family and a community that is an anomaly? Are the Canadian and Taiwanese educational mindsets equally valid? Is it alright for me as a teacher in Taiwan to try to encourage my students to follow the Canadian mindset of 'school shouldn't matter so much, go out and play for a minute'? Hmmm.

New Passport

I just picked up my brand new passport, and my cut-off old one. Sadly, I've now officially joined the ranks of folks with embarrasingly bad passport photos. It's a horribly ugly, just got out of jail type photo. So I won't be posting it here anytime soon. I suppose I should just feel lucky that my first two passport photos were flattering, back in the good old days when we were allowed to smile. Oh, and I was optimistic and got the 48 page one this time (instead of the 24 like my old one). I can't wait to see which visas and stamps will fill the pages. I'm hoping that between now and 2010, I'll be all over the place. Australia? Africa? I'll just have to be careful not to show the photo more than necessary!

I was going to post a picture of my passport, the old good one that is, but Hello isn't working again, and I've got too much to do to waste an hour trying to get it to work.

Oh, and I've been asked to work with some grade 5 students to put together a Mother's Day presentation. Basically just a one or two minute poem or story that would be easy for the kids to recite and easy for everyone to understand. Anyone have any suggestions?

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.