I'm on week five of summer camp with three more to go ... it's amazing how it's begun to consume my life. The last week of August is a holiday and I'm very much looking forward to it. Our year end semester tests are in two weeks and I'm fairly confident that my kids will pass ... a pass being 90%.
I'm back to having two roommates instead of three. Kerry moved in temporarily and he left a few days ago as he is making the move to San Francisco. He was never around much, so things still remain kinda quiet ... now there's just more space to be quiet in. Levi and Datsun haven't left the room he was staying in ... that door was shut for 5 months so I suppose they feel like they have to make up for lost time.
I've rearranged my apartment and will try to post a video of it soon. I'm thinking about painting on my holidays. I won't be leaving Taiwan but I may do a bit of traveling within depending on the weather.
It's hard to believe tomorrow is August. The year has been flying by ... three more months until my trip to Vietnam. It'll come up quick. I've already made arrangements for my flight ... it's pretty exciting!
The cats are running around like crazy ... the temple on the mountain is celebrating its birthday ... fireworks are going off ... the mountain dogs are barking ... and I am out ...
Tuesday July 24th, 2007
Saturday afternoon, the Brass Monkey hosted the first ever Girls Touch Rugby tournament in Taiwan. The day was a record high for Taiwan ... the weather reading highs of 38 and people telling me later in the evening that it actually got up to 42+. I believe it ... the day was hot. The tournament started with a battle of paper, scissor, stone which was won by us. Off to a great start as we got to sit out of the heat and see what the other teams had up their sleeves. Five games were played in total ... three were ours, leaving us the winners! Way to go, Panthers!
Tuesday July 17th, 2007
Garbage time in Taiwan has always struck me as an odd thing. I understand why it's being done but I find it funny that one needs to add this to its daily routine.
Living in the city with three others ... were we ever able to meet the trucks? Nope. We all worked until 9pm which happened to be the same time the trucks were scheduled to pick up down the alley.
I can't name the tune that the trucks play but there is bound to be a comment from Brother J ... help me out here.
I've thought it would be great to go down and film garbage time because it is a very interesting thing to watch ... people gathering on the corners with their divided bags of recycling, compost and garbage.
There are schedules as to what nights you can take plastics or papers and so on. I think I recall my bro coming back with the recycling one night as it was the wrong night.
The garbage truck has flashing lights and loud music playing to let everyone know they have about 5 minutes to get down there if they want to have their garbage taken away. People line up to throw their bags into the back of a smelly dirty truck.
Once that is done, everyone walks back home and continues on with whatever it was doing before the music presented itself. Living in the county mountains, in a tall building complex, one doesn't need to worry about meeting trucks. Another added bonus to the luxury of Lotus Hill.
A lot of people are leaving Taiwan this year and it makes me wonder what life outside of Taiwan would be like. It is so easy to become use to what surrounds you.
Life has been busy and I'm glad tomorrow is the hump day. I'm going to make a mental note to decline summer camp next year and say yes to spending my mornings at the pool. Sometimes money just can't buy the preciousness of time off.
Living in the city with three others ... were we ever able to meet the trucks? Nope. We all worked until 9pm which happened to be the same time the trucks were scheduled to pick up down the alley.
I can't name the tune that the trucks play but there is bound to be a comment from Brother J ... help me out here.
I've thought it would be great to go down and film garbage time because it is a very interesting thing to watch ... people gathering on the corners with their divided bags of recycling, compost and garbage.
There are schedules as to what nights you can take plastics or papers and so on. I think I recall my bro coming back with the recycling one night as it was the wrong night.
The garbage truck has flashing lights and loud music playing to let everyone know they have about 5 minutes to get down there if they want to have their garbage taken away. People line up to throw their bags into the back of a smelly dirty truck.
Once that is done, everyone walks back home and continues on with whatever it was doing before the music presented itself. Living in the county mountains, in a tall building complex, one doesn't need to worry about meeting trucks. Another added bonus to the luxury of Lotus Hill.
A lot of people are leaving Taiwan this year and it makes me wonder what life outside of Taiwan would be like. It is so easy to become use to what surrounds you.
Life has been busy and I'm glad tomorrow is the hump day. I'm going to make a mental note to decline summer camp next year and say yes to spending my mornings at the pool. Sometimes money just can't buy the preciousness of time off.
Lucky Girl ...
It's going to be difficult to not make these the main staple of my diet. A big box ... from Costco in Canada ... what more could one ask for? Another box, perhaps. This one isn't sure to last long.
Saturday July 14th, 2007
Typhoon season begins with 萬宜 (wan yi). Although it's not going over Taiwan, we are sure to feel the effects. It's been overly windy the past two days and the rain is sure to come soon.
Week two of summer is camp is over ... six more to go. We had cooking fun yesterday so I took my oven to school to make brownies. They were to go on the bottom of our ice creams sundaes. I was the star of the school with the good scents and having enough to go around for everyone!
I told K1 that when I was a little girl I remember the best part about mom baking was that we'd get to lick the bowl clean. I, of course, couldn't resist sticking my finger in the bowl, filling it with chocolate and then licking it. The kids looked at me with open mouths and wide eyes.
A bit hesitant at first, it actually didn't take them long to get those bowls clean.
We made some play-doh after the brownies which turned out great. I'm glad it's the weekend, although I find myself quite sick today. I thought it was allergies, but it's, perhaps, that I'm overworked. I'm not used to these 35 hour work weeks ... as I said earlier ... six more to go ... ugh.
Saturday July 7th, 2007
It was a hot day ... the weather said highs of 38. It was hard to drag myself off the couch and away from the fan this afternoon ... so I didn't.
Summer Camp 2007 - K1
Following you will find a few of the faces that will be in my life on a daily basis, almost. This is Barry. He's the boy I met at the kindergarten last week. I recall thinking he was rather small. He's one of the biggest kids in the class. This is my first class where I'll be teaching more girls than boys ... I'm pretty excited. Boys have ruled the two classes I've been teaching the past two years. Girls are much more disciplined in the classroom ... sorry to the boys out there!
I found myself teaching 'Seasons of Love' from the musical RENT. There will be a show for the parents at the end of our eight week program. One of the teachers has written a musical ... it's a West Side Story/Romeo and Juliet theme. I'll be sure to get it on video and see if I can't post it up.
Today was busy ... my Chinese teacher kept me until almost 10 tonight ... I was feeling a bit delirious by the 9:30 hour. It was a good class. I felt as though I really can speak some Chinese ... and it felt good.
I'm at school before 8:30 tomorrow as we are going swimming. Is it Friday yet?
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