Coli-wan Kenobi- The life of a Jedi.

Not so long ago, in a country far, far away. There lives a pop culture icon, oblivious to the Asian populous. A Jedi hero was sent from this cinematicaly diverse and loyal culture into the rings of Asia. And, the saga begins...

This Jedi hero, Coli-wan Kenobi, was in full Jedi garb as he strode into the staff room at a small English cram school. He was greeted with ceremonialism from those of his home culture, all Western eyes were in awe. He strode to the front where the Taiwanese secretary gazed upon Coli-wan's garb and light saber and said, "Wow! Soo cool! I love Lord of the Rings!." She was immediately executed. This was repeated with the students, "Wow, teacher! So cool! What are you?" A perfect gem, only to be seen as a dirty stone.

I thought it was a pretty cool costume but Star Wars is not part of the Asian culture. Sure, they might have seen the movies, but only in the last few years, it was not something to grow up with. Some of my students knew what I was but they think Star Wars is a good movie rather than a cultural thing.

Trying to find a costume in this place is next to impossible. Costumes are for kids, Halloween is for Western culture and I am still 30% bigger than most Taiwanese adults. In Taiwan, Halloween is only celebrated in English schools, there is no trick or treating. This makes costume hunting sparse so I decided to make my own. Luckily, Toys R Us had a light saber in with the toys and for the cloak, I went to a fabric shop, bought fabric, printed some pictures and dropped them off at a tailor. We had class parties, so Thursday and Friday were spent trying to entertain kids, I'd rather teach. Saturday was the Halloween party day at the bars and they were all full. I went to Overtime and had a blast but I didn't win the costume contest, I missed it completely.

Anyways, I'm a little stressed out at work because my boss subbed my classes for 2 weeks while my parents were here and he's worried about my students phonics, a rightfully so. Just something I need to fix and I'm not looking forward to it but at least I know about it. I just wish I had it right, from the start. To be honest, I'm not really that excited to teach on Monday, don't really know why. Looking forward to going home for Christmas.

Lateral teaching, more than just thought.

Well, I got back to school today, not by choice but it had to be done or they will not pay me. So, I guess I will have to work for my money. I like my job, but 2 weeks with my parents felt really nice and don't want it to end... yes, I'm in denial about my denial.

I showed up at work and checked with the girls about my feedback form my student reports, everything was good. I walked into the staffroom and everyone welcomed me and wanted to know about my holiday, it was nice.

So, Andy talked to me and told me that Keith was going to teach my 5:00 class today and my other 5:00 class tomorrow. Ummm.... what? I guess my phonics teaching is a little off so it's just easier for him to show me how it's done. So I got to observe him teaching one of my classes today and one tomorrow. I still get paid and he said how great my classes were except for a few things. He wasn't annoyed or pissed or anything. My students could all do what they were supposed to but not the way they were supposed to. Whatever, I learned some cool things that I will try for my other classes. If you let a teacher teach for 16 months without observing him, he's bound to digress from the mold. Whatever, I got my vacation.

Visitors from another continent.

Well, my blogs have lagged due to a visit form my parents, I am sad that my sister couldn't make it. They havee been here since the 6th of October.
I had negotiated the two weeks off work and this hit some bumps but, with some effort, balance was restored and a major catastrophy was averted.

My parents wanted a rexaling vacation and they insisted that they came to Taiwan to see me and not Taiwan, so we have done alot of "hanging out" at my place. It's been really nice, we've been playing cards and watching movies. We have also done some of the sightseeing.

We went to Meinong and Maolin to the unbrella factory of traditional handicrafts, we also went to my favorite place in Taiwan, a waterfall close to Maolin. This waterfall is 4 stories high and maybe 50 feet wide on three tiers high with a pool on each tier. Anyways... it's gone. Last month, the excessive rain from the typhoon caused a huge rockslide and the whole side of the mountain came down. The rocks covered 80% of the waterfall, took out most of the vegetation around, burried the stairs and all of the pools are gone. So, now it's a 45 degree angle climb upon shifty rocks and debree only to reach a small waterfall, falling into the rubble never to be seen again. It stinks form the mould forming on the fallen, wet mouldy trees that lie within the rubble. So, I am now seeking a new adventurer to help me discover a new and fantastic waterfall. Jennifer rode all through the Taiwan mountainsides getting lost for hours and chased by dogs while driving over mudslides in the rain to help me find this magical place, now it's gone.

We also went to Green Island off the east coast of Taiwan. We took a train to the east coast and then a high speed ferry to the island. The island is 16.2 square kms. It felt very small but it was a coral/volcanic island and had a very old prison on it that we toured. They used to house political prisoners as well as those who were too dangerous for the mainland. The cool think about Taiwan's touristy places is that they prettymuch just unlock the doors and let people do whatever they want. So, we had full access to the cells, guard posts, and anything else and never saw anyone except at the main gate at the front. It was cool. We couldn't go snorkelling the first day because we were warned about jellyfish that infest the water, hurt alot and tend not to come off. So, we decided to go out the next morning and rent some wetsuits for protection ($4CAN each). We went diving and it was fantastic but we looked everywhere and after 2 hours, we still hadn't found one single jellyfish. We got some cool underwater pictures though and saw tons of tropical fish.

We didn't go to Hualien where Toroko Gorge is located because we would be spending 95% of our time on walking trails that are on the side of a cliff and going from one side of the gorge to the other, along swaying suspension bridges. Somehow, this is not a very enjoyable trip for someone who doesn't admire heights.

We went to some places around Kaohsiung. We went to Monkey mountain and ate lunch among "wild" monkeys, dogs and chickens. They are wild, but they also know that humans sometimes have food, so we humans also carried a big stick. We went down to ChiJiu island to do some shopping for my sister and we went to Chengching lake for the day. Wow, true colors came out there... It's pretty much a park around a lake, nothing spectacular but fresh air and trees. My mom was taking pictures of EVERYTHING and my dad prettymuch waited on the scooter with his head resting on the handlebars, I was kind of in the middle of the two.

We have also eaten at a different restaraunt every meal except for an encore of the "Red Door" because it was soo good the first time. The name isn't actually the red door, but the front doors are big red doors... as foreigners usually can't read the Chinese name, some other name usually gets tagged on.

Today, my dad and I went to check on a Thai restaraunt to see what the buffet was going to be for tonight and they were closed. They close between 2:00PM and 5:30PM for rest time. This could not happen in Canada because no one would want a job with a 3.5 hour break every day, that's not really time to go home or do anything. Well, I looked in the window and saw about 10 workers passed out on the dining room chairs having a sleep and the lights were off. Kind of a different cultural thing. Also, I can walk into a small family run store at 8:00AM and see the owner sleeping behind the till, I can go back anytime before he closes at 11PM and see the SAME guy sleeping behind the till. They just work eternal hours and have break time all day unless it is busy. My old bike mechanic has a kitchen and living room in his shop at the back so I always see his family cooking, wastching TV or playing in the back while he is fixing motorbikes. If no one's bike is broken, then he is having quality family time until my bike decides to break.

Anyways, they leave Saturday, I will spend Saturday night and all day Sunday on the beach with my cousin and her friend and then I will be forced back to work on Monday, back to the kids I love to tease.

I'll write more after they are gone.

Weekend cancelled due to "Big Dick"

Typhoon "Big Dick" has ruined my weekend of sitting on the beach in Kenting... actually the typhoon's name is actually "Long Wang," who comes up with these names? It's actually Chinese for "Dragon King" but Long Wang kind of cracks me up. Whatever, that's one name the English department should have vetoed.

The good news, I think my apartment is on the virge of cleanliness, next to godlyness? Must have been a mother who came up with that. I finished doing my 60+ reportcards, never thought I'd EVER write one reportcard let alone 60 of them!

My parents are coming on Friday or something and I want to go home... back to my time warp theory. Playtime used to be over before it began and work took forever. My mom explained the 4th dimension of Physics, "Fun." "Time flies when you're having fun," she'd say. When I was little I used to try to have alot of fun and watch my watch and then try to instantly do something not fun, or boring and watch my watch to see if it slowed down. My conclusion was that I needed a better watch and that I should stop wasting my fun time on science experiments.
Well, I've been in Taiwan for a year and a half, it was only supposed to be for a year. Before I came here, I was wondering what to do with my life. After I came here, I was enjoying where my life was going and my experiences. Now, I realise that even though, many people have made this life their life plan, it's not a place I want to be forever.

I used to FEEL like time stood still and that I just got older. Unfortunately, while I'm getting older, so are other people and car accidents still happen. That was realised when I lost my grandfather, my hero. When I went home at Christmas, everyone was older, even my parents, it was really weird to see but they actually looked older and my grandmother seemed a little different.

My life back in Canada seems to be wilting and blossoming, I am not there to see it unfold. Instead, I am here watching Taiwanese lives bloom and wilt. Some people at home are not doing as well as they once were and some people, like my sister are doing amazing things at university and I can't be there to see it. My best friend just got engaged and my "baby" cousins are all growing up.

I miss being able to have a free conversation with anyone I meet and I miss going to the farm and not having to converse with anyone.

Saskatchewan is so far from everything, especially Japanese car parts that took over a month to come and shopping that sucked. I never thought I would miss being so isolated, the thing I hated most is the thing I miss the most. So, after seeing the places I want to see (India, Russia and China (again) and Vietnam), I think I will go home, get my masters degree and do Psychological research.

I really love Taiwan and I love my kids, I love what I do and what I can do here, I just wish it wasn't so far away. But I am so glad I came here and I can't wait to finish what I set out to do which was to see the world, and I'm doing it.