Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Uh-oh. Not only one, but two ... heading directly towards us! I'm not sure the southern part of Taiwan has fully recovered from the last one. Yikes.

我新的中文名子...

du4 - to shut out; to stop
shu2 - good; pure, virtuous, beautiful, charming, clear
ling2 - tinklings of jade, exquisite, clever and nimble

你覺的怎麼樣？

Tuesday September 22nd, 2009

Test number four happens tomorrow. Am I prepared? Not really. I'm working on writing the characters over and over again at the moment. Sort of.

One could stand to have a bit more time in the day! I went from a busy August to a busy September and it seems that a busy October awaits.

Outside of school and work, I've been climbing walls. A new album is on the right.

Click it.

Friday September 11th, 2009

What a week. I'm absolutely exhausted but it was awesome!

My first test was on Tuesday although I wasn't aware of it upon my arrival that morning. I either wasn't fully listening after class on Monday or I misunderstood. My score, 88%.

If I've not mentioned before, 90% is considered a pass at the school I teach at. Over the past four years, I've been known to be on my students' cases for scoring 88%. Not good enough was my immediate reaction. Learning in an environment which isn't your first language makes it difficult. My teacher speaks quite fast and uses vocabulary I've not learned as of yet. After Tuesday, I've become better at asking for clarification when I've not fully understood her meaning.

Second test was on Friday. I was aware of this one and had time to prepare. My score, 98%! That's more like it.

I decided to kick back and watch a movie tonight in hopes of relaxing. The other day, my friend Lesley wondered when people would start making shorter movies for this generation's decreasing attention span. She makes a great point. I was able to sit through an hour before feeling the need to do something else. That something else led me to writing this post.

I think I am done with this as well. And now, on to something else ....

Please follow carefully ...

It really is 'the' delicious pancake!

Sunday September 6th, 2009

The ninth month of the year ... 2010 is coming up quick. It's been over three years since I've made an appearance in Canada. I've been looking at tickets online. Despite the cold, I am aiming towards the west coast for the holiday season. Christmas will be a work day here in Taiwan and I refuse to jab cold turkey (no gravy) onto the end of a chopstick like last year. It's going to be a quick trip back and, unfortunately, there are no plans of hitting the east coast.

I've completed my first two days of classes at 師大. I have been placed in a reading/writing class. There are eight other students in the class. We all have the ability to communicate but it seems that most of the class can't read or write. The teacher has been focused on writing which has made it easy for me so far. The challenge is trying to fully understand what the teacher is saying. She speaks at a regular speed and is using vocabulary I've not learned as of yet. Word for word, I would say I understand about 75%. It's been quite different to be the one learning rather than teaching. It's going to make for a real nice change at this point in my life.

The weather has been absolutely fantastic in Taiwan. Clear blue skies and weeks of 33°. H1N1 has been a bit of a scare here as of late. All of my students are required to wear masks while in class. It makes it hard to teach a language class when mouths and noses are fully covered.

My goal for the remainder of the day is to be still and watch not only one but two movies. Although the day starts early tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it!