Miscellaneous Life Events

So I don't have a theme this week, just giving you guys an update on my hectic life. Much has happened, like it usually does in crazy Taiwan.

This week I decided to give-up my evening school hours. I might have some more private clients and the school was pretty disorganized. Three nights per week I would show up to teach children who knew very little English (and therefore could not understand me when I said, "please be quiet!!"). On top of that I didn't know any of their names because there were too many classes in rotation (made discipline even harder) and I would have literally 1.5 hours to teach MAYBE four pages of a book. And trust me, there really isn't much to work with on these pages. So basically, we would play games that challenged them to learn the material. It was exhausting. Time to move on!

Other than that I went on a trip to Costco with my French student and bought V8 juice, soup, and Canadian halibut, yum!!! April and I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha and it was fantastic! Definitely did the book justice and I would like to own it on DVD (that says a lot considering that I have almost no DVD's).

It was a beautiful weekend here in Kaohsiung. I felt the need to get out of the city so Yit and I took a drive to the ocean yesterday afternoon. It was truly glorious. We climbed up a little lookout and relaxed for a nice sunbathing session. You guys in Canada probably don't want to hear this but it's 25 degrees outside and blue sky. Gorgeous.

Afterwards, we went to a western style restaurant and ordered Korean kimchi (apparently I'm preparing for my trip in just two weeks). Later on that night, we saw some live music and went out dancing with some folks from the building.

Today was really beatiful too. I headed to Chengching lake and discovered new little paths in the mountains. Believe it or not, I actually craved karaoke and we found the best restaurant at the end of one of these paths. They served beer, simple food, had karaoke and an awesome view of Kaohsiung. Behind the restaurant were winding paths that took us to pinapple and bamboo fields.

After returning to the city, April and I went out for dinner and found the best little spot. For 9 dollars CAD we got a table d'hote that included soup, salad, drink, main course, and dessert. Delicious! All the food was western style, which seems to be key these days. Sometimes I miss Canadian dishes!

Well, I'm heading out for my Mandarin lesson now. Take care and be well,
love Rach