Here are just a few pictures from the past couple weekends we spent at Fulong Beach, with the last one of my friend Mia who's heading back to Arizona this week and Nick my new coworker. Most of the pictures were taken from on top of the roof of my roommates apartment just off of the beach. I'll post more shortly, our internet connection is just a bit slow so it's pretty time consuming to put anything up here now!
Otherwise I'm doing really well with having just started a new job and having a new apartment. I can't believe the summer went so quickly! I hope things are going well with everyone at home. I'm going to try to respond to your emails soon. Until then.. take care!

1st Birthday in Taiwan

Again, it's been forever since I've last updated my blog. The biggest news to report is that I'm going to be staying another year in Taiwan! This past year flew by as you could probably tell from my lack of posts and long rants about work. The decision was pretty difficult, especially with missing everyone at home so much, but I couldn't justify moving back when I haven't experienced nearly enough. I've already lined up my next job (with loootts less hours and hopefully a more sane workload) and my new apartment, so I've been busy readying myself for a more well-rounded life while working a few English summer camps the past few weeks.

I also just celebrated my 23rd birthday at the end of June. It was strange to be so far away from friends and family, but I had a fantastic day with my friends and completely felt the love from all of them. I've put a link to Julia's blog where she has posted a pretty funny video from the birthday dinner and being serenaded by the resident restaurant singer.

http://juliataiwan.blogspot.com


The rest of the weekend was spent partying with my other friends and Demetra and Mia, who also had their birthdays that same weekend. Since summer began, I've been lucky enough to escape the city on the weekends with the girls to Fulong beach where several of my friends have houses. The things that are the most different about beaches here vs. the Jersey shore include being allowed to set off fireworks on the beach, Taiwanese "swimmers" who are fully clothed and only go in to their knees (ghosts can take over your body if you are swimming in the ocean) , and most importantly, being surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides. Then, last week I headed out of the city again to a mountain area in Taoyuan where I worked a sleepaway English camp for 4 days. We were able to go rock climbing and hiking, as well as try other adventure challenge activities. The best part besides the incredibly sweet students was the fresh peaches that are grown in the area. All in all my head feels a lot clearer now that summer has arrived and I feel really optimistic about the possibilities for next year.

Currently my internet is broken and I'm writing this from a Starbucks, so when I move in a few weeks and have better access to a computer I'll post more of the pictures from my bday and saying goodbye to my lil cuties at school. I know I've been extremely bad at staying in touch with people and replying to emails so hopefully I'll get around to that during my 10 day vacation at the end of the month as well.

I hope everything is going great with you all at home or wherever you may be. Miss you and love you!

I'm embarrassed that it's taken me 2 months to finally get around to updating my blog! Not only that, but I've barely spoken to anyone from home or Montreal except for my immediate family. Here's the thing, when I try to think of really great stories to fill you in on , I find that I can barely remember anything! I suppose that's what happens when you are completely busy and (mostly) productive for the first time in your life. Either that or turning 23 in a month means my memory is shot.

As per usual, my time has been eaten up almost entirely by school. In general, this semester has been less stressful than the first. I am able to reuse some material for 2 of my new classes...but somehow this doesn't amount to much when it means 50 new names to remember, and 25 more 7th grade boys to trryyy to control. I've kept tutoring after school as well which means at least another 2 hours out of the house per evening. If I even attempt to make it to the gym, I'm only home from 10:30pm-- 7:30am when I wake up to do it all again!

Two weekends ago was particularly bad because we had to work a 2 day camp to recruit new students to the school on Saturday and Sunday. 12 days of work in a row is no joke! I made it to day 11 in fairly good spirits, but awoke on day 12 with laryngitis.. just in time to put a damper on some of my "go-out-you-survived-12-days-in-a-row" celebratory plans! This week when I was trying to keep the peace in my classes there was extra anger in my voice... " I can't yell at you! I have laryngitis [you little monsters ruined my weekend]!" which for all they know,means I too, share their love of hello kitty and gigantic beetles.

One semi-entertaining event in the past 2 months was a fashion show that Paul and I were asked to do for a university in Taipei. First, a few months back a friend of a friend of a friend had asked me to help out with his fashion project. I agreed thinking how bad could it be? Well similar to one of those nightmares in which you leave your house and only after realize you are riding the bus to school naked too late...I show up and the clothes are completely see-through!! Luckily, the nude undergarments prevented anything too scandalous from showing, but still, walking down a runway while being photographed in that state is...umm not the way you want your modelling debut to go.

So, although against my better judgement, when the friend of the friend of the friend asked if I would be interested in helping out another designer --but this time with Paul at my side--I agreed knowing it couldn't be any more traumatic than the first time. The designer's collection was supposed to be commentary on the pressure put on young people to marry in Chinese culture. The result of this was wearing black dresses made out of umbrella material and held together by knit scarves and chains. Paul and I were supposed to be a couple that had just met and were being forced into marriage with faces and lips muted with white paint. The show was ok, minus the moment when the wind blew Paul's cape wide open and came whipping into me. We were pretty sure it had scarred everyone enough that we would never be asked back again. Then, a week later I got a call from the designer saying he had made it to the competition finals and would need us again..this time for the reaally big show. Sick to my stomach, I agreed. When we showed up at the fitting, we noticed some changes had been made: this time we'd be walking down a really long runway , Paul would be with a new partner and I'd be wearing a massive wedding dress to finish off the collection. (To make matters worse we'd have to start getting ready at 8am the day after Cinquo de Mayo!! So no tequila pinata for me).

The show went pretty well, I managed not to fall and it even ended up being a lot of fun. I figure, it's something that would never have happened at home! The girls came to support us so I have a few pictures from them and the designer I've posted below. Most are from pretty far away but if you can see the big ball of black it's pretty safe to assume it's me.

Before the final show

I'm the blob in the back

Paul and the girl who replaced me

Me and Gary, the designer

Ohh, another exciting happening-- I found a fantastic restaurant and lounge called People's. When you walk to the entrance all you see is two massive metal doors with no handles. You need to put you hand inside a little rock cave thingy on the side to open them...very secret society-esque. Louise and I spent an evening in May drinking wine and eating cheese..the first time I've done that since I've been here. It made me miss Montreal and our weekly BYOW dinners.

Ok, well I hope things are going well for everyone at home or wherever you may be when you read this! A few personal props: Jer- thanks again for the amazing cds and package in the mail! Meg, hope you are feeling better and don't get too bored while you recover! Trish, congrats on graduating from high school!!!!!!!! I'm so sorry I cannot be there and PS- you looked gorgeous in your prom pictures.

Love you and miss you!

It's Tuesday afternoon and I'm currently sitting in the dark at work as a result of an air raid drill. It reminds you that Taiwan's relations with China are just a tad bit strained. I have to say, even though we were given a heads up a few minutes before it started, the super loud siren blaring across the city was a little scary! I can't imagine the psychological effects of hearing these sorts of drills on a regular basis, or worse, the real thing. We have to sit in our office for the next 30 minutes with the lights off.. good thing Paul's girlfriend just sent us all a package with Easter candy from America!

Field trip!

While growing up, field trips were the highest valued school days of the year(to be followed by "snowstorm early dismissal" days; "half the class is absent so the teacher can't teach real stuff" days, and "magazine drive/ walk-a-thon/get super pumped about raising money for your poor school" days). I've found the same holds true when you are a teacher, especially if the element of children has been removed from the day!

Yesterday all of the junior high teachers ventured out of Taipei city to an area called Wanli. Only about 45 mins- 1 hour from the school, our destination was the school's outdoor education center. All students K-10th grade visit the center about 3 times per semester. I'd heard my students excitedly talk about upcoming trips, but had no idea the camp was so impressive! We were given a brief overview and powerpoint presentation of the center's programs when we first arrived. The whole point of the outdoor education program is something like "courage, challange, cooperation". The activites are supposed to encourage teamwork, thinking outside of the box, and pushing oneself to new physical limits. Some of the insane activities the students participate in include: paintballing, rockclimbing, horticulture studies, forest navigation (where they put the students in the middle of nowhere and give them compasses and gps systems to find their way back), cooking assignments( in which the students are given a small budget and sent to local markets to purchase supplies, plan 4 dishes and cook the entire meal without modern appliances), and new destination challanges (students are given a location in another part of the county and must arrive at a specific destination at a certain time using a budget and planning their own transporation--a la the amazing race). I was completely blown away! This is what girl scouts was supposed to be like before selling cookies became the main event of the year, yes?

The presentation ended with a quote. Something to the effect of "A ship can rest safely in the harbor... but that is not what a ship is built for." Simple, but seeing as I was completely wrapped up in the moment of utopian education and empowerment for all, it stuck in my mind and I thought I'd pass it on to all of you :)

Afterwards, the teachers split up into various activity groups. Seeing as I have only just recovered from my last paintballing experience, the other Kathleen and I chose rockclimbing. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking. We all know I failed miserably at the monkey bars on the playground as a child, and my lack of upperbody strength has haunted me ever since! Truthfully, however, it was a ton of fun and even though I found it difficult, thankfully I reached the top! Today my arms are extremely sore and so are my toes since I decided to go sans shoes in an attempt to become one with the wall...aka I was afraid my big feet in shoes wouldn't grip the rocks.

Before leaving we headed to the vegetable fields and picked white turnips. In a week, 7 smelly rotting turnips will be sitting in our fridge. Send me your favorite turnip recipe that requires no oven (most Asian kitchens lack them) in order to save us from this wasteful and totally innevitable fate.

I WILL send presents home in the next week and half so help me God. They are halfway packed and prepared, which means if anyone has any requests now is the time to voice them. If it's taken me 8 months to send anything more than a postcard back, another trip to the postoffice again anytime soon seems unlikely. So don't be shy in asking for something...nor will I be... my roommates get more letters than I do..hint hint.

ok, love to you!

beautiful afternoon

The last few days we have had gorgeous weather. At last! In the past several weeks there has been pretty much nothing but rain, so a bit of sun (albeit dulled by clouds/ pollution) has been more than welcome!

As I write this I am at school on Saturday. boo! Because of an extra day of vacation that the school is giving us for an upcoming holiday, the entire staff and student body has to come in for classes as usual today. Unfortunately it is a repeated Friday schedule, which is one of my busiest afternoons. Being forced into work on Saturday as if it is business as usual feels completely unjust. Bad news: there are 3 other Saturdays this semester I'll be working, 2 of which will be a part of mandatory weekend English camps. That's a 12 day week, twice, before the end of June! I realize that I should stop complaining when other Taiwanese people I know work 8am-11pm Monday-Friday. Compared with this I think I have it pretty easy!

Just once I would like to start a post with something other than an apology for not having updated in such a long time ...

Two months have passed (ridiculously fast) and the time can basically be separated into three categories : Surviving Christmas, Finishing Semester 1, and Vacation Time! There isn't much worthwhile to say about the first two of these, other than things were even more stressful than usual and that thankfully, they are finished!

This brings us to Vacation Time. We were given about 4 weeks off for the Chinese New Year break! For the first 10 days I laid pretty low, tried to catch up on sleep and recover from 1 of the 10 lingering colds my body had been fighting. Out of the haze of sleep, one day I went with Mia and a group of friends paintballing on some mountain outside of the city. The adventure involved setting out at 9am (equipt with beer for breakfast) and cramming into a tiny, tiny, little bus with standing room only as it teetered verrryy close to the windy road's edge. This was the tamest part of the day... We were given camos with little Taiwan flags on them and played a few rounds before retiring to the picnic area. There we bbqed and drank our way to.. no not a nap, but a sloppy sloppy final round in some jungle area next to a pen of goats and pigs?! It was the kind of day that reminded me of being in college... with the addition of black and blue bruises all over my butt (apparently the only place I was repeatedly shot)!

Several days later Louise and I left for Phuket. After a very rocky start involving major weather delays at Taiwan's airport, we arrived in Phuket, via Hong Kong and Bangkok, only 12 hours later than we had expected! The gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery quickly compensated for the travel hassels. Really most of our time was spent just relaxing by the pool, napping, lying on the beach, napping, shopping, napping, and going out just a bit. I never thought I could handle 12 days of nearly continuous down time... but apparently it agrees with me! We did plan a few more eventful acitvities like horseback riding, elephant trekking, a mini safari, canoeing and snorkeling. The highlights of these were definitely feeding fish (being bit HARD on the leg by one of them!) while snorkeling off the smaller island Khoi Nok, and getting an elephant massage (the elephant puts its foot on your back and pats you) and a sloppy, raspberry kiss from it's trunk during an elephant show. All in all the trip was wonderful, and as cold #11 of the year which I'm currently nursing, indicates, I am not entirely ecstatic to be back in Taipei. I am, however, excited about a few of the new lessons I'll be teaching starting Monday, and to take some music lessons since I bought a guitar! (which was New Years impulsive action #2 - following #1 of getting a PERM on New Years Day.. that's right a perm!) Anyways I'm posting just a few pictures now from the trip but may be able to put more up later. I hope everyone had an excellent New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, President's Day.. and any others that I may have missed. Miss you and love you all!

The view on our walk to Patong Beach

The elephant massage!

Elephant trekkingThe beach at sunset

Speedboat to Khoi Nok

Hotel balcony

Louise and I at the top of the island

The beach where we went canoeing