Bad Blogger
Well, kids, I'm a bad blogger. What can I say? I've been lazy in regards to it throughout my time here, and I apologize to any who may have felt slighted as a result.
Today's the last day of school, and as in any last day, it's a bit melancholy saying goodbye to everyone. I've very much enjoyed my students. It was an adjustment to go back to the classroom, but an overall good experience. They've been so sweet to take us to dinners/lunches and bring us all sorts of thoughtful gifts in the last 2 days (cards, Doraemon magnets, scrapbooks with photos from class- my favorite).
I have no regrets about deciding to spend the summer here- it's indeed been one of those good life and travel experiences. However, part of the beauty of travel itself is the returning home-- makes one greatful for the things s/he has, appreciate the oddities of his/her own culture, as well as glad to resume the rhythms of "normal" life.
I've got some Texas travel to do upon my return, then school starts shortly thereafter. I'll be talking to you all soon. Thanks for bearing with my poor blogging and travelling vicariously through me. :)
Fabulous
Friday was not-so-hot. But Saturday was great.
Amy and I decided to get out of town for the day to explore Taiwan's northern coast. It's far enough to be out-of-town, but close enough that we didn't have to spend the night or worry about making it on one of the 2 buses that take you there (our original Plan B, after our snorkeling trip fell through, was to go to this cool national park where 2 buses was the case. Given the unfortunate luck from our last adventure, we decided it might not be the best plan).
As it turned out, Saturday was the day of blessed travel. Anything we asked for, we got, for the most part. Amy was "The Transportation Whisperer." As soon as she'd ask someone which was the correct bus to our next destination, that bus would appear. When she asked, "Where do we get off for _____," the answer was, "Right here." Beautiful.
I became finder of things. Need an umbrella to protect you from the sun? Oh look, here's one that someone left on the bus. Need a delicious seafood restaurant? Oh, here's one here, and they speak English. Need an ice cream treat? Got you covered. Want to get your hands on some cups like those? Here, take these as a gift. Need a restroom? Say no more.
We visited a temple built into the side of a mountain and wandered though tiny claustrophobic
paths inside that opened into hidden cave-chapels. We ventured out to the small town of Yeliou where there are some crazy geological rock formations formed by volcanic eruptions years ago. It looked like the surface of Mars. So crazy, but so cool! We wandered along the sea-wall in a small fishing town and ate some of the best seafood we'd ever had. We saw some interesting sights related to the Ghost Month Festivals in Keeling. All this, and we were back in Taipei in our own board beds by 11:00pm.
Thank you, God, for travel days like this that counteract the others.
One of those days...
So we were going to have a karaoke party today in all 6 classes. We've been working on different songs this week, and I'd told them all yesterday to bring snacks, drinks, etc., and to be prepared to sing some groovy English tunes. All seemed well.
I woke up at a delicious 7:45, geared up to go to school, thinking what a delightfully easy day I had ahead. No last minute plans to be made, no stress, just 6 parties in a row and listening to some quality English singing. That's where the day went wrong.
Byt the time I got to the office (after heading to Yamazaki for my morning iced milk coffee and breakfast), the karaoke DVDs I'd asked Robert about yesterday had already been split up between two other teachers. I thought, no big deal, I'll use Lil' Blanco. Oh, but there's no available sound cord. Oh, and the external speakers are being used. Oh, so there's basically no way for projecting sound. Hmmm, ok, so now there are slightly less than 20 minutes until class begins and I have NO PLAN for the day. Panic mode set in.
I thought I'd just find some MadLibs and we could work on those in groups, perfect. I finally found some on-line that one could print out (as opposed to just filling them in on-line), and then when I went to print... no printing. Lights are flashing, Chinese warnings are everywhere. Great.
Turns out there was just no paper (but I only would have understood if it had said small medium large fish meat). Paper's loaded, 50000000000 copies of mine are printing, I hurriedly make copies so there will be plenty for the groups, and I run to class (already sweaty at 9:02am). Things go ok for the morning.
Then later, when I'm in the office making some more last minute copies, Ms. Lin, the assistant of the International Office, asks if she can come observe my 2nd afternoon class. I show her what we're doing, which is NOTHING special, but she says that's fine, whatever.
In the interim, I go home as soon as we hit lunch break. I eat bread, chocolate, and water because basically nothing is appetizing any more. Anita comes in when there are 20 or so minutes of lunch left and says, "You missed the pizza!" I forgot that it was today when the office was buying pizza for the teachers. Great.
Run to the office, make some copies, grab a slice of pizza (narrowly avoiding the seafood pizza which to me screams heartburn). There are all these accusatory, "Where were you?" questions. I JUST FORGOT, folks!
Second afternoon class time arrives... the bell sounds, Ms. Lin comes into the class where only 8 of my 24 students are. Where are the others? Buying snacks and drinks for our karaoke party, of course. Nevermind that I told them to BRING them, not go buy them during the break. Five-ten minutes into our "class" time, the rest of the class enters. I'm sure Ms. Lin is ever-so-impressed with the whole concept of the lesson anyhow (basically college ESL Friday busy work), nevermind the fact that as the class is slowly streaming in they are brining an abundance of chips, crackers, sodas, teas, and other assorted and sundry goods. So my day.
I did get the Cambodia Doraemon, and now only lack Hong Kong and Mexico to have a complete collection. That's been the pinnacle of the day.
TGIF.
The Attack of the Bird SARS, and other mundane updates
Things going on here...
1) We had an earthquake last Friday during 6th period. It was little (something like 2.1 on the Richter scale) and I wouldn't have known it was an earthquake, other than my students telling me about it. I got really dizzy and nauseous, and that's pretty much the extent of my earthquake experience.
2) We found a Mexican food place Friday night. It wasn't quite like home, but was pretty delicious. They did have salsa and guacamole. The margaritas were more than acceptable, as well.
3) I had a massage on Saturday- the kind like in the movies where the lady WALKED on my back. For real! It was magical.
4) I got sick sometime on Saturday... started coughing really badly. Was calling it my SARS. The SARS got worse, turned into bird flu. By Sunday I chose to just lie in bed. I stayed home from school Monday, only leaving the house twice (once for water, once for food). Otherwise, I rotated between the bath and the bed.
5) By Tuesday the bird SARS had cleared up enough for me to go back to school. Oh joy. As soon as classes were out, I went home and went to sleep. I woke up to eat (surrendering, finally, to the call of McDonald's... funny how one craves familiar things when one's sick), then was back in bed.
6) Today I'm back up at 90%. However, I'm exhausted from singing George Strait and Johnny Cash with my students all day. I've decided that their other classes are reading/writing and listening/speaking; the class I'm teaching is Texas Culture. Next week we're learning about football.
7) More photos will be posted soon. I've really only been looking at the blank-ish walls of my flat for the past few days, so there's not much to see.
8) The Jones Soda bottles featuring Murphy's picture have been released and may be available at a Starbucks near you. If you are in the US or Canada, please go to your friendly local Starbucks and find my sweet boy's face on a bottle of soda. Oh yeah.
9) In Doraemon news, I now only lack 3 magnets from having the complete collection. Oh, and 2 of the "special" magnets, but I don't like them as much as the normal ones.
My New Obsession
Being here in Taiwan, one is constantly bombarded by various novelty items. Classics include T-shirts with messages in English that don't actually make any sense (ie: "Concert Party Go Boys" or "Handmade Natural Rome Low Birth Weight Body Warmen"
[yes, that's real]), signs to put in public restrooms reminding people to flush (nothing gets that point across quite like a talking piece of poo), and of course brand-name items including Love Milk and Blackman Toothpaste.
Of these novelties, I have recently become slightly obsessed with the current promotion run through local 7-11 stores. Every time one makes a purchase over $77 NTD (slightly more than $2 USD), s/he receives a
Doraemon 
Rainbow World Tour magnet. The things are pretty darn precious. Each one has Doraemon (who is the "cat-like robo" pictured at left) dressed in the stereotypical attire of a particular country with some type of country-specific monument in the background. There are 36 different magnets (but only 35 different countries- Taiwan is represented twice), and I presently have 21 of them on my refrigerator. Oh yes.
I told my students about my new found love for the magnets (I'm drawn to every 7-11 I pass, which means that every 100 feet there's a temptation to go buy water, tea, and Coke Light in sufficient quantities to reach $77 NTD), and now I've got an extra 150 people on the lookout for me. So fabulous. In fact, I just received 5 more. Can't wait to get home to put them on the fridge!
Big Fat Boring Update
Hello, all-
Sorry I've not been a very good poster of blogs. The wonder of VOIP has me talking on internet phone during times when I would typically be posting. That and the fact that I'm sort of in a routine here equal the fact that most of what I have to say is similar to what I've said before.
My circadian rhythms are pretty much on track with those of everyone else on this side of the planet. Here's an idea of my daily routine:
7:00-ish am- wake up, get ready for class, check e-mail (time permitting)
8:00-ish am- leave for school and/or to go pick up something for breakfast; go by the international office to make last minute plans for class and any necessary copies for the day
9:00 am- first class begins
11:50 am- morning session ends; go to international office to meet up with my friends for lunch
1:00-ish pm- after lunch, go back and hang out in international office; plan, visit, or just have an after-lunch sweet
1:30 pm- afternoon classes begin
4:20 pm- afternoon classes end
4:25 pm- hang out and decompress in international office; find out everyone's plans (or lack thereof) for the evening
5:00 pm- drop stuff at the flat; maybe go out, maybe go down to Monica, Amy, and Greg's place; more decompression
10:00-ish pm- usually back at the flat by this time; preparations for bed
11:00-ish pm- bedtime
Yeah, pretty boring.
Yesterday was an excellent day... my lesson went really well and my classes were talking a lot, I mentioned during one of my classes that the external hard drive I'd just recently purchased wasn't working correctly and suddenly 4 guys were on that thing like a professional pit crew. By the time classes were over, it was working beautifully and one of my students offered to take it home, partition it so that it is like 3 drives (E: for photos, F: for music, and G: for other), and format it. So delicious.
Afterward, another student offered to take me around to sample some local delicacies (ie: beef noodles and delicious mango ice), which was great fun and delicious. It was nice crusing the town with a local.
Pretty much otherwise, life has a bit of a normal-ish aspect to it. Normal-ish because it's slightly routine, but far far away from home. I promise to post more... well, next time. :-)
The Miss List
So, I've been here in Taipei about 2 weeks now. There are some things that I'm really starting to miss. Here's a brief list of some of those, in no particular order:
- salad
- white meat chicken
- a reliable supply of toilet paper in public restrooms
- not having to get one's toilet paper (if it's available) before using said restroom
- Austin
- free Starbucks coffee... it's way expensive to have to pay for that stuff
- my people
- the freedom to be able call my people whenever from wherever
- Murphy
- multiple pillows and sleeping in a comfy bed
- Diet Dr. Pepper
- Granola bars... oddly enough.
- SALSA
Yeah, so otherwise, things are pretty much cruising along. I teach 6 hours a day, so it's sort of like my former normal life in a new country. My students are good- no real behavior issues or anything, but sometimes, getting them to talk is near impossible. Crazy after all those years in middle school, where it's pretty much the opposite.
Well, I've gotta get rolling. It's a school night after all. But as of tomorrow, I'm 1/3 of the way through.
Rainbow World Tour
