Travelling the Universe: One Star at a Time

My Last Blog!!

2007-09-29T05:18:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come for me to say farewell! It has been an extremely long time since I blogged, and will probably be a while until I blog again seeing as how I will not be home for at least a month! But for now, I will leave an outline of my travel itinerary so that you may follow along with my adventure if you so desire! If not, then I will tell you all about it when I get home! *mwah!*

Oct. 7th - fly to Thailand, Bangkok
stay in Bangkok for 3 days, and then go to Chang Mi for a 3-day jungle trek
go to Pia and ride some elephants
Oct. 17th-go to Laos, Luangprabang
after a few days go to Vangvieng for a life-on-water tubing experience
Oct.21st-go to Vietnam, Hanoi
after a few days go to Halong Bay
fly down to Phnom Penh
go on a 3 day boat ride to Cambodia
Oct.28th-go to Cambodia, Ankorwatt
visit the famous temple
Oct.30th-back to Thailand, South Islands
visit Ko Phi Phi
Nov.3rd-Half Moon Party in Ko Phangan
Nov.7th - leave Bangkok and go back to Taiwan for one day before going home!

Sorry it's been so long!

2007-07-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in weeks I'm SORRY! But I try to only blog when I have something crazy to share, and the last couple weeks have actually been pretty low-key. Working every day from 9-9 has left me tired, sadly enough. But that all ends this week!! Tuesday is my last day working at 9am with the kindys! Which means I get to sleep in past 7!! But I really am gonna miss those precious little babies, hugging me every morning! I've posted a few pics of my favourite ones :o)
I now get two weeks kindy-free, and then in the middle of August I begin working at a different one for the rest of my time here.
On a separate note, Saturday night was a boooooz fest!!! I went to a friend's house for a little pre-drinkin and after many-a-vodka I was drunkety drunk drunk! Lee and I went to the bar and hung out with some friends, where I had a couple more... by only 2am I was falling asleep against the wall! So I sent myself home in a taxi and passed out :o) It truly was a really fun night! I hope you all had a great weekend too, and keep me posted on what's new and happenin!

Hot fun in the summer time!

2007-07-07T23:27:00.001-07:00

Saturday night was a booz-fest to say the least! After a loooong week of waking up every morning at 7, and working till 9 at night, I was exhausted beyong belief! After downing a whole lotta vodka, Lee and I took a cab with a friend to a bar where we watched our buddy get a tattoo! Right there in the middle of the bar, he knealed on a chair, sweating and biting his knuckles for an hour as the tattoo artist went to town on his calf! Right before the tattooing began, our friend actually passed out! But in the end it was all good, and he walked away with a gorgeous tattoo of his father's initials in old-school Greek lettering, and it looked amazing! Definitely psyched me up for when I get my own in Thailand in a couple months :o) Unfortunately, not too much later, I found myself running to the washroom and, well, let's just say, the combination of no sleep and oh-so-much alcohol didn't agree with me and I ended up going home a little early! But it was a great night, and I found out this morning that Lee too had a wee bit too much to drink as he suffered from a severe caseof the spinnies! But a few glasses of water cleared it all up and we're both fine today, on our way to see Transformers!! Our friend Daniel is also having a big good-bye dinner tonight as he leaves for Canada tomorrow after 4 years of teaching here, so it should be a memorable evening!

To leave you with an interesting story, on my way home from work last week I was walking back to my house and it was appr. 36 degrees and humid as hell, I was sweating and dying for a cab to come my way, praying for ANYONE to come my way, when all of a sudden a polite Taiwanese gentleman pulls over and offers me a ride! What a nice man, I thought. Actually, I knew it was taking a risk but if you can imagine for a second being that delirious from the heat and actually seeing spots b/c you're just about to faint, then you'd understand my getting in his car! Don't worry mom, it was completely fine and safe! He dropped me off at the end of my street and only reached out to touched my leg as I was already halfway out the door! Funny, yes; a bit sketchy, yes! Be careful what you wish for :o)

The Lockwoods Take Taiwan!

2007-06-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

HELLO!! And welcome to a sneak preview of the past 2 weeks, in which my family came to visit me here in Taiwan! These past 10 months were the longest I've ever gone without seeing my family, and it was so great to finally have them here! But I will keep this short and sweet :o)
Exhausted and jet-lagged, I didn't care! I dragged them all around the city of Taipei, showing them every sight, building, temple and restaurant that I could! My brother arrived the day after my parents; we spent 2 days in Taipei, sight-seeing and shopping and always eating! The weather actually held out nicely for us :o) A great Chinese friend of mine also took us out to the mountains for a day, which was beautiful and a nice change from the busy city.
My parents spent the last 5 days of their trip here down South on the beach, and Dan stayed to party here with Lee and I! We took him shopping and out to the bars and to the Dragon Boat races!
Unfortunately, the time passed all too quickly and before I knew it, my parents were flying home and Dan was on his way to Japan for a week. All in all, it was the best family vacation I've had in a very long time!

2007-06-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

The Pilons Take Taiwan!

2007-05-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

WHAT A WEEK!!!

Never in my life have I ever had so much happen to me in so little time! After a jam-packed week when Lee's family first arrived - filled with working full time and then seeing his family every spare minute we had - with trips to Taipei and other such fun places, we then ventured on a week-long tour of Taiwan! We looped the island, hitting every major spot along the way, both planned and unplanned!

The first day we went to Hualien, the city that holds magnificent Taroko Gorge; giant mountains surrounding an enormous gorge filled with rushing water, monstrous rocks and beautiful forests. It was raining here, but we still managed to have a great time! Our tour guide, Eddie, then raced us to a restaurant he knew in order to make it in time for lunch; this, unfortunately, caused a few car members to feel car sick as we sped along windy, twisty mountain roads at full speed. Regardless, everyone still managed to have a great time and at night we all shopped around at a beautiful jade market and watched aboriginal Taiwanese dancers perform!

On the second day, we went to Green Island, a teeny tiny little island that had some of the best snorkelling spots in the world! We took a ferry boat for about an hour to get there (some had to fight through sea sickness but I thought the ride was a lot of fun) and then spent the day exploring the island via a golf cart!! Obviously not everyone in Lee's family could drive a scooter so we rented a golf cart and one scooter for the 6 of us. Man oh man, the stares we got! 6 white people squashed into a golf cart, slooooowly bopping along our way, it was hilarious! It was even MORE hilarious when we attempted to go uphill and the BATTERY DIED!! Stranded on a mountain top on Green Island, we all got separated in an attempt to go get help... it was an adventure! Green Island also has some interesting wildlide, with deer tied to leeshes on sidewalks and giant bulls standing on the side of the road! At night, we enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot springs and then Lee's family went snorkelling the next morning.

We left that day and stopped at museums and arts 'n crafts shops along the way. We also passed the Tropic of Cancer! We arrived in Kenting that evening, the most beautiful and Southerly point of Taiwan. It was so beautiful, in fact, that we cancelled our next day trip in order to stay there for one more night! The next day there was a high school class trip on the beach and I joined in a ridiculous game of dodgeball involving a beach ball the size of a car! The heat, the sun, the beach, the shopping and night markets and food was all too fabulous to give up! We all got sun burned, but trust me: it was worth it!

On our fourth day we drove North to the middle of the country to see Sun Moon Lake. We stopped along the way at an aquarium which was by fat the most impressive building I'd seen, in both size and content. We walked through tunnels that were in the middle of water; surrounded by fish and rays and coral and sharks and whales and penguins and every colour of the rainbow, it was incredible! Before arriving at the lake, we stopped at a gigantic and lavish Tai monastery, filled with golden statues 4-stories high! At night, we went on a boat ride around the lake and then had a few drinks back on land before dinner!

On our fifth day we went to Taichung, a really cool city that is big and has great shopping but also palm trees and parks, the best of both worlds. We walked and shopped and ate some more! We also saw a GIANT Buddha statue that was 6-stories high and made of gold, quite a sight to see!

On our last day, before making it home, we stopped in two little villages; one specialized in hand-crafted wood carvings and the other in pottery and ceramic figures. A cute touch to end such a wild journey!

Sadly, Lee's parents and aunt left for their long journey home, but at least we got to keep his sister for one more evening of sillyness! She took off today though and left me crying... The family will be greatly missed! Up early every morning, eating and shopping and laughing more than I ever have, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Now I only have 2 weeks until my own family arrives!!

...And We're Off!

2007-05-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

The Pilon Family has arrived, travelled, shopped, and eaten more in the past week than I ever thought humanly possible! That is, of course, until now: we are leaving for our one-week journey around the island! The whole country of Taiwan, 7 hot spots in 7 days, and I am super excited! I will update you as soon as I get back next weekend. I hope you all have a great week and keep me posted on everything I miss! Tzi jien!

An awesome weekend!

2007-04-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ni hau! Happy May to you all, I can only hope this means the end of all bad weather for everyone! My weekend was great, I worked all Saturday and was so tired from never being able to sleep in, when all of a sudden Lee calls me on my lunch break and asks me to step outside: which had me panicking that something awful was about to be said - when there he was! Standing in front of my school with a picnic lunch that he made! He drove us out to this beautiful lake-view beside an enormous temple, it was the sweetest way possible to brighten my day! After an afternoon of teaching, and a private session with our cute little kids, we indulged in a pizza dinner and there was nothing better! Around 10:30 we met a few friends at a bar called Functions that was, get this, GIVING AWAY FREE ALCOHOL!!! Anytime before midnight you could drink as much as possible, and we did! The place was completely packed and orders were being filled for 6 drinks at a time! We stayed there until about 2am, observing part of a Taiwanese bisexual kissing party lol (funniest member seen above), at which point we finished the evening by dancing at a night club until almost 4!
Sunday morning I woke up and cleaned the entire apartment (fun!!), went grocery shopping, and then in the afternoon Lee and I went to Taipei for a day full of shopping. The highlight of it all was a restaurant called Cold Stone Creamery, which was essentially a make-your-own ice cream place; in short, my dream come true!! You pick any flavour you want and any toppings you want, and they had EVERYTHING you could imagine!! Then they put all the treats inside of the ice cream like a stuffed pocket, so the ice cream is a ball with this amazing delicious treat inside! I was in Heaven!!
All in all, it was tons of fun and now I'm just back at work for 2 weeks until Lee's family arrives for a week long tour of Taiwan!

A Penny Saved, A Camera Earned!

2007-04-22T06:22:00.001-07:00

Spring greetings! It is hot and sunny here now, finally, and I'm enjoying every skirt-wearing minute of it! I have been sick with the flu all week and this weekend I finally felt better. All week I was teaching while sick and just going home to sleep after, no bowling, no nights out. After teaching all Saturday and playing with my cute private class' kids, I happily went out for a friends birthday celebration, which was a night at one of the local restaurants/bars from 10 until 4 in the morning! Quite the entertaining night! Everyone left then to go to another bar, but I left with a friend and walked home. Then on Sunday Lee and I went to the next nearby city for an afternoon of shopping, and a successful trip it was! A new shirt, some cute undies, and a pair of green army Converse shoes which I can't decide if I want to keep or not! But the really big news is that I made the official decision on the purchase of my new camera, and with this decision made, it was time to perform the feat that I have been building toward for 6 months: the opening of my piggy banks! Two piggy banks, full of 50's (the equivalent of the Canadian toonie) added up today to more than enough for the entire cost of my new red Casio Exilim digital camera! I am so excited!! Now I start over again; next piggy bank purchase: my Sony Vaio laptop! Giggity!

A Taiwanese Pesach!

2007-04-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

Belated Chag Sameach! Passover came and went, and I didn't even have any matzos! I made Lee and I a candle-lit sedar complete with soup, chicken and latkes! I managed to keep pesach almost entirely, with just one little slip-up; understandably so in my opinion, as I live in the land of rice and noodles! I broke it officially over a Pizza Hut buffet, indulging in pizza and chicken wings and pasta and salads, it was a FEAST! I hope all of your sedars were family-filled, as mine could not be.

Nothing else too new. Last weekend was a holiday here, but it poured for 4 days straight so day trips were minimal; shopping in Taipei, nights out at the bar, a few restaurants, and many rented movies! Now it's back to school and classes are good! I finally have internet in the new apartment after many, many weeks without it! Everything else is great and I'm just enjoying the quiet time until Lee's and my own family arrives in the upcoming months!

Osaka, Japan

2007-03-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

*Konichiwah!* I have just returned from 4 crazy days in Japan! Where to even begin... well, Lee and I left our apartment at 5 in the morning in the rain to find a cab, which was as fun as it sounds! Our flight was overbooked when we arrived, so the amazingness that always happens to other people finally happened to us: we got bumped up to first class!!! It was only a 2 hour flight so we barely had time to enjoy it, but it was sooo awesome to have these big comfy seats, good food and drinks, a personal movie monitor, and we were even in the upstairs seating :o)

We arrived in Japan and it was FREEZING!!! It is 21 in Taiwan now, winter just ending, and was a high of 6 in Osaka! Including the weather, the city really reminded me of Toronto - a lot of landscape and space and parks and trees and sidewalks, friendly people, normal drivers, very clean and nice and everyone spoke at least some English! They drive on the wrong side of the road over there, but there are almost no scooters and everyone is on a bicycle! One of my favourite things: in all public washrooms, the toilet seats are HEATED!!!

So we stayed in a nice budget hotel, with a double bed and fridge and closet and tv, and there was a communal washroom down the hall - and I mean COMMUNAL in the true sense of the word!! It was like living on a nudist colony or something! But no peeeking allowed :o)

Our first day in Osaka we saw a big famous temple, thousands of years old, and the Sky Building which is an incredible piece of architecture! We moved around the whole city on trains, railways,subways and cabs, and it costs about the same as Toronto prices, so, not overly expensive but compared to Taiwan it was! Every night we went out for dinner and drinks and explored the nightlife in town!

Our 2nd day was spent in Kyoto, where we visited the authentic geisha district and watched a world famous sumo match! It was sooo cool! We also went sight seeing into shrines and shopping and stuff. The big rage here is this combination of arcade-slash-slot machines, they are EVERYWHERE!! We went back to Osaka at night.

The next day was spent in all the famous shopping districts, and at night was supposed to be the Chili Peppers concert; IT WAS CANCELLED!!!!!!!!! Yea!!!! Keides, the lead singer, was in hospital for 10 days sick with bronchial pneumonia or something and cancelled the concert at the last minute. Needless to say, Lee and I were devastated. I mean, this was our main reason for going - but there was nothing we could do about it so we made the most of our time there. We got our money back for the show, but obviously I'd rather have the concert... I also caught the flu on our 2nd day in Japan, so I was sick the whole time!!

We had authentic Japanese food on our last day and saw one last shrine on the way back to the airport. It was the fastest 4 days you could imagine, but we did and saw everything we could and had a wonderful time! Hope to hear from you soon!!

Living New!!

2007-03-10T00:45:00.000-08:00

"Long time no blog", and I'm sorry about that! But having no time AND no internet will do that to a person :o) So school is good, still loving almost all of my classes, rockin' the gym, and Lee is great!

All of last week I was consumed by The Move!! Everyday, I would walk or scoot over to the new apartment with little things to unload, a couple bags or boxes, a shelving unit, a bed!! etc. But then last Saturday was a holiday for us as part of Chinese New Year, so the plan was to completely emtpy out the dorm and finish moving - until our high school decided that they needed us! So after teaching from 9-2, we went back to the dorm and packed every single thing that we could before Lee went to work again at 3:30 leaving me alone to move everything single-handedly! AND I DID!! I got every single belonging out of the dorm, into the hallway, the elevator, down to the lobby and out into a cab all by myself! We had too much stuff so only half of it would fit; I had to go to the apartment, unload everything and take it all upstairs, then go back to the dorm and do it all again one more time! I had to move all our furniture back in the dorm to the way that it was when we moved in, have our rooms checked and inspected and okayed, and I did all of this with my own huge muscles in 2 hours!! I met Lee at 6 for one of our privates and then a night out of dinner and a movie: Thai and "Pursuit of Happiness", all good things! We ended the night by celebrating a friend's birthday; it was a busy Saturday!

Sunday was the usual, gym and groceries and laundry and unpacking, and a trip to Taipei that ended with us coming home in a horrendous rain storm...! This whole week was just filled with classes and privates and the gym and going out with friends and setting up the place, not to mention dealing with our still-not-working internet!! But the place looks great, Nate and Lee and I all get along really well as roommates, and I am just so much happier being out of the dorm! This weekend was a lot more fun and a lot less stressful! After teaching a full Saturday, Lee and Nate and I went to toast 2 more birthdays which lasted until 5am!!

And now, the countdown is on: 6 DAYS TILL JAPAN!!!

Back and Black!!

2007-02-25T04:33:00.000-08:00

I have just arrived home from what is literally the most beautiful, breath-taking island in the entire world! Boracay is just over an hour flight away from the main city of Manila in the Philippines, but you can't fly directly there it's so remote: Lee and I flew to Manila, then took another flight to an island called Caticlan, where we then took a tricycle-cart ride to the ferry loading dock and rode on these crazy spider-like boats to Boracay, where you then have to take another tricycle to the main beach - it was quite a (worthwhile) process! The entire island is about 7km long and shaped like a dog bone; long and thin with two large chunks of land at either end, which we walked up and down almost every day. The sand is so soft and so white, the water is perectly clear sky-blue and warm, everyday was sunny and hot and the air is so clean and fresh, it was Paradise! I got a great tan, and a billion red ant bites covering my legs! Lee was an allergy-free man for a whole week :o) I ate more food than I knew was humanly possible, waking up everyday to gourmet breakfasts and fresh fruit, having smoothies and shakes and daiquiris on the beach everyday, going to a different restaurant every night for dinner of Mexican, Greek, Italian, pizza, crepes, Mongolian Grill, stir-fry...! We watched the sunset every night on the beach during Happy Hour and listened to incredible live music at the bars, and danced at the clubs, and partied with a few friends we met up with there! We got massages on the beach; we rented a motorcycle and went to the highest point on the island; Lee went snorkling; we swam and sunned and went shopping and watched the stars at night. Our resort was a bamboo straw hut style cabin, with a sun-light cut into the shower, deep in the heart of the palm trees and right on the beach. We saw wild piggies and monkeys and baby chickens, played with the local beach kids and fought off the locals who harrassed us everyday to buy things; but the people are all so sweet :o) Words can't describe something so divine, you must just go on your own to see it! All I can say is it was perfect.

Banquets, Biopsys and Boracay, oh my!

2007-02-13T02:45:00.000-08:00

Greetings one and all on this fabulously warm, sunny day here in Taiwan, I am so happy to say winter is over! (Sorry I had to rub it in :o)
So this past weekend was tons of fun; Saturday night I went out with the girls from the dorm for dinner and dessert, then to see 'The Holiday' which I totally loved! It was the perfect chick flick, highly recommended for those of you who didn't see it two months ago when it came out at home! Then Sunday night was the Gloria Banquet; my staff work party!! Everyone got all fancied up and went to this Chinese restaurant where ELEVEN courses of "food" were served straight for 2 hours! I use the term food loosely because most of it was quite sketchy; I am actually one of the few people who TRIED everything (everyone is so unadventurous!!) and some of the dishes were okay, like the lobster and stuff, but most of it was quite yucky, unidentifiable and everyone left heading straight for pizza immediately after it was over! Some awards were given out to the teachers and staff - no I did not win anything! :o( After the banquet a large group of us went to this fabulous bar called Le Parc, which was filled with shmancy red sofas and candle-lit, and we all just hung out drinking and chatting until 2am! I had a really great time meeting staff members I don't ever get to work with.
Teaching is still excellent, my privates are fantastic, the gym and Chinese class fill my days until this Sunday when Lee and I leave for our one week vacation to the beautiful island of Boracay in The Philippines!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!
On another note, today I booked an operating room at the hospital for the day after I arrive back from Boracay to have a biopsy done on my leg; no biggie! Just the same blood clot I have had for the past 4 months that refuses to go away, so I am having it diagnosed just to be 100% sure that I have nothing to worry about, and I promise to let you all know the good news as soon as I do!
Wishing you all a very happy Valentine's Day and a healthy Chinese New Year!! The pictures above are from the Banquet: some food, Lee and I with one of our bosses, me holding the most scrumptious little baby in the world, and my friend Brandon completely passed out at the bar; an example of what happens when a work party includes free booz!!

Three Whole Years!

2007-02-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

Feb. 7th was mine and Lee's 3 year anniversary (gasp!) and the day was just too insane not to share it with all of you! So it started off with a little sweet gift exchange and then we quickly left for Taipei, where we had a full day of fun and adventure planned out ahead of us. As usual, it went a little off the beaten path! On the train ride there, we were trying to call a Traditional Chinese Medical Clinic to go and explore the foreign world of acupuncture! This is supposed to be a very succesful treatment towards Lee's allergies (and I was just getting it for fun!) Meanwhile, we had no such luck communicating with this place, but luckily for us a young woman overheard us and offered her help; turns out she personally went to acupuncture on a regular basis and made us an appointment at her clinic, and then she generously gave up her afternoon and escorted us there!! This place does not have any English-speaking employees, nor is it on the train line, so we would have had no way of getting there if it weren't for our new friend (named Power!!). We cabbed there and she stayed while Lee and I got treated: Lee on his face, me for my back. It was an exciting and unusual experience!! It didn't really hurt, just pinched, and we laid in relaxation for 15 minutes with needles stiking out from all parts of us! We both felt weird and tingly after, but not for very long. Power then escorted us to the nearest train station where we treated her to some Starbucks and just chilled for an hour :o)
Next on our list was something that Lee has been CRAVING ever since we left Canada; you guessed it, ice skating! We (eventually) found the one and only ice rink in Taipei and it was the funniest sight I have ever seen!! First of all, when we walked in they informed us of their mandatory glove-wearing law - weird, but okay - and their requirement of us to wear HELMETS!! I knew this was going to be funny... We both refused and had to sign a waever, stating that we understood our 'impeding danger' :o) When we walked into the arena, before my eyes was appr. 300 Chinese people awkwardly skating round wearing knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and helmets! All bumping into each other, falling to the ground, hanging onto one another for dear life and screaming as each one dropped to the ground over and over again! You can only imagine how hilarious this seemed to us, 2 Canadians who grew up ice skating, 1 who was practically born wearing a hockey uniform! The next hour and a half provided a life time's worth of hysterical memories! My only regret is not having taken a camera :o(
Around 6pm we left and walked around the city for a while before going to this highly recommended restaurant, The Cafe Onion, for dinner. Lee and I shared delicious 5-course meals for very cheap; yogurt fruit salad, chowder, garlic bread, salmon, rizotto, I got mushroom chicken and Lee had boneless ribs, with a drink and chocolate mousse cake for dessert - we couldn't walk by the end of it! Everything was delicious and the service was so fancy, I had a great time!
The rest of the evening we walked around the city exploring different areas and shopping before heading home round 11. The whole day was like a puzzle that just fit together for us; each thing we wanted to do was magically timed out perfectly, we barely made both of our train rides, we had random, kind strangers helping us with directions all day, the weather was 20 and sunny and we got to see and do everything we had wanted to! It was an awesome day and a perfect way to celebrate 3 years :o)

the mother of all birthdays!!

2007-01-30T04:50:00.000-08:00

Greetings from your older (and not much wiser) friend!! How are you all!? I hope you are not suffering too much from the weather and that school, work, family and everything else is treating you well!
For my birthday on Saturday I worked all day, 8 hours - but it was great! I awoke to many phone calls from friends and family (thank you, you know who you are!!) And then at school I received birthday cards from my students and co-teachers, the kids sang to me, and then the head staff all signed a card and got me a piece of yummy cake! Then Lee and I went to one of our privates where, at the end of the lesson, they turned out the lights and lit a whole cake and sang to me, and bought me beautiful M.A.C. make-up! I felt so touched that these people opened up their homes to me as a friend, not just a teacher, it really made my night special. Then we went home and I opened a gift from Lee's family: AN MP3 PLAYER!! They bought me the fabulous Samsung player in black, without even knowing how obsessively I've been looking to buy one here! Then I opened a home-made calendar from Lee, commemorating our last 3 years together plus pictures of all my friends, family; he had other people in on it, helping to send him pics and dates and it is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever made for me! After that a bunch of us went to this bar for dinner and drinks, and more friends and co-workers came so it was a really good time, and then at round 11:30 we took it to the club! We had booked a VIP table for 12, which meant we were really livin it up! Bottls and bottles of booz kept flowin as we drank in this lavish curtained-off table with couches, and before I knew it there were more than 30 people all out to wish me a happy bday! One girl even bought me red roses :o) I spent the entire night on the dance floor, it was soooo much fun!!
The next day, Lee and I went downtown and walked around, I treated myself to new blonde hair streaks (and now my hair is straightened), then Lee took me out for a deelish dinner and dessert! It was so much fun, and all in all a truly unforgettable birthday! I was feeling rather anxious and extremely fearful for this birthday, having a quarter-life crisis all week, missing all of you so much - and I do wish that I could have shared it with you, but there is not anything else I could have asked for here to make me feel more at home or loved by the people around me, it was truly one of the best times I've ever had! Even going back to work on Monday was okay, another student bought me an adorable picture frame, and I have another package coming from my family at home soon!! All I can say is that looking in the mirror and saying "I'm twenty-four" is a very surreal experience!

Wild Times!

2007-01-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

How are you all! I'm great, thanks - just decided to share an update with you, as it's been a while. Everything here is great, teaching and Chinese class and even the weather! This Wednesday Lee and I had the day off so we spent it in Taipei, it was awesome! We went shopping, explored the richest mall inside 101, went to this foreign grocery store to get a few things that remind us of home :o), got a couple things at the massive bookstore and then went to Chili's for an incredibly divine dinner! We didn't get back until 10 at night, and then just went right back out to bowling - not my finest hour! Last week I had my top score of 131, so I can only go down from there... but it was still tons of fun! Then around 1 we all moved it to the bar where I proceeded to win the next 7 games of pool in a row; I was unstoppable! We stayed there until after 4 in the morning, and then attempted the ultimate move in Taiwanese travel: 3 on a scooter. This is not even close to the ultimate move, to be honest, which actually involves 2 adults, 2 kids and a dog!! However, we did it the Canadian/Taiwanese way and it was the scariest 10 minutes of my entire life! Lee driving, with our friend Nate on the back and me, crouched down in the very front screaming for my life! It was a sight to see, I'll tell ya that right now! But no worries, we made it home safe and sound and it was actually kind of fun, but I still vowed to never ever do that again. It's not worth the risk. Meanwhile, we have been expecting the most recent arrival to the dorm, a guy named David, and found out this morning that he is not coming! All we know is that he missed his flight, and is no longer to be expected! I can only imagine what happened at the last minute to make him change his mind about coming here...!
All in all it was a long and crazy day followed by an even crazier night! This only leads into my next long and crazy day; my birthday is in 2 days....

Winter Wonderland

2007-01-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

Winter is a very weird time of year, when the days are shorter but seem to last forever at the same time. One moment it is sunny and bright out, the next it is dark, cold and uninviting - the weather has such a huge effect on our moods; I vow to only live in a place that is warm and sunny!
This weekend was loads of fun! After a work-filled Saturday, I joined friends at a bar for a few drinks and then around midnight we took it to the club, dancin our booty's off till 4am! Then on Sunday Lee and I spent the afternoon shopping and followed it up with an evening of baking cookies and a movie; my perfect weekend! Monday was back to work with the kiddies and a week of Chinese class, trips to the gym, bowling and all the usual excitement in Taiwan!
In ten days I will be celebrating the day of my birth, 24 years ago, and for some reason I am having a hard time dealing with this fact. That's an under statement: accepting this truth is like believing that I am a quarter century old, that I have graduated from university, that I am working as a teacher and living with my boyfriend in another country on the other side of the world - and that's just ridiculous.

Trips, trips and more trips!

2007-01-05T06:16:00.000-08:00

This is what it's all about folks: the travel. The journey. The adventures. The trips!! Lee and I are officially booked in our flight and hotel for one week in the world-renound Philippines in February, AAAANNNNDDDD we just set up a 4 day trip in March to JAPAN!!! TO SEE THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!
I can't even believe it, in a matter of minutes the next couple months of my life have completely changed! The resort in the Philippines is like a hotel/cottage, an island hut right in the centre of the main White Beach, featuring the social hotspot bars for Night Life. The night before our trip, Lee and I are spending a traditional Chinese New Year's dinner with one of the families we teach, and then the next morning we fly to the main city on the island for a day, then take an overnight ferry ride to fabulous Boracay! Where we will spend the next 7 days suntanning, snorkeling, swimming, drinking and everything else imaginable under the sun!
Then in March we have officially booked our RHCP concert tickets and flight to Japan for 4 incredible days of sight-seeing through one of the most culturally rich and sound islands in SouthEast Asia, not to mention the world! The process and a half it took to get these tickets, however, was unbelievable! After trying every non-English website, and every non-English phone number, we finally paid a visit to our travel agent: it was not her, however, that got us the tickets, but her Taiwanese friend who had moved to Japan that asked HER husband to go to the stadium and personally buy us the tickets himself!! They are currently being mailed to us as we speak :o) We will be spending 4 days in Japan, 3 in Osaka and 1 trekking out to Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest mountain and dormant volcano. Day 3 of this trip includes my first (and Lee's third!!) time seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers; I CAN'T WAIT!!!
On an unrelated note, my family rang in my New Year with an amazing Chanukah slash birthday package!! It was filled to the rim with sweaters, hoodies, pj's, food, toiletries and more, and simply receiving it was the best present I could have asked for!! To help ease the pain of my inevitable aging process, impossible to avoid and approaching closer with each passing day... oy.

Happy 2007!!

2007-01-01T00:11:00.000-08:00

Hsin Nyen Kwai Lur!! Happy New Year to one and all!! 2006 came and went, taking with it some of the most momentous experiences of my (almost 24-year long!!!) life. Graduating from University in New Zealand and now teaching in Taiwan has all accumulated into some very adventurous and very exciting memories! I hope that you can all look back on the past year with the same pride and enthusiasm :o) Just think what crazy journeys lie ahead...!
Sunday afternoon was spent at the gym and grocery shopping, accompanied by my homemade chocolate peanut butter truffles! As the evening rolled round, Lee and I debated joining our fellow white friends at the club near where we live or not, and as we were getting ready (dressed and sufficiently pre-drunk!) we made a last minute game decision to ring in the new year in Taipei! A few co-teachers had reserved a table at the lavish club Mint in the basement of Taipei 101 and offered us an invitation to join them, which we happily accepted! So Lee, my friend Nate and I took a cab to Taipei and met them there around 11, just enough time to get in and have a few drinks before the festivities began! Having a table is the only way to party at a club here; you buy one for the evening for a set price and it provides luxury couches to chill on and put your stuff safely, while having all of your night's alcohol provided for you! Bottle after bottle of vodka and whiskey and Red Bull, Coke, orange juice, soda and champagne flowed through our hands as we danced the night away! At midnight, the whole club ran outside to join the thousands of other people anticipating the huge fireworks display! Taipei 101 lit up as everyone counted down, and then exploded into a roaring show of fireworks bursting from all sides and the roof of the building! It was incredible! Then everyone hurried back inside to rip up the dance floor; the music was awesome and I had the best time! I left with the girls around 3 but we couldn't get a cab until almost 4, and it was 5 by the time we all got home! It was without a doubt a night to remember! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Love Actually is All Around

2006-12-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays everyone!! I hope you all had a happy Chanukah and a merry Christmas and a wonderful day off work no matter what or how you celebrate this season! The point above all is to laugh with family and friends, and most importantly eat chocolate until you don't think you can eat anymore! I know I did (and am still doing so until New Year's!) :o) Even though I am away from my family and friends at home right now, I have been having one of the best Chanukahs here in Taiwan ever! Lee and I received a menorrah in the mail thanks to his generous family and we lit the candles every single night. All week I had Christmas parties in every class, teaching my students carols and how to decorate a tree and the joy of giving via Secret Santa! We ate pizza and candy and popcorn and on Friday I was Santa Claus! I rocked it! Saturday evening Lee and I went out for a delicious Mexican dinner and then came back to the dorm and exchanged gifts! Everyone in the dorm did Secret Santa as well, and the girls couldn't wait any longer so we exchanged a day early :o) I got a beautiful red purse and some bath products from my Secret Santa, and Lee went all out on a huge box filled with amazing gifts for me! Then Sunday we built a gingerbread house (which didn't exactly turn out right!) and Lee and I joined all our fellow Canadian friends, teachers and fellow bowlers for an indescribable pot luck FEAST!! There were 3 turkeys, 3 kinds of mashed potatoes, potato salads, veggie salads, 2 kinds of stuffing, wine wine and more wine! Not to mention the mouth-watering brownies and other desserts; the evening ended with a guitar session and Lee and I took off early b/c we had to teach early Christmas morning (yea, that's right!). Monday night we went to visit our friend Mychal who was spending her Christmas in the hospital having arm surgery, and then saw the movie Babel which was sooo intense and gripping! I continue to spend my days baking lots of goodies! Chinese class is getting better than ever, the gym has proven to be a fabulous excuse in eating more and more holiday sweets, and teaching is a breeze! The winter weather is still holding out, hopefully until after New Year's so that I can wear a skirt! I wish you all the happiest of holidays this year, I love you and miss you and look forward to sharing more stories in the New Year!

I am Queen of the Latkes!!

2006-12-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

HAPPY CHANUKAH, to one and all!! I know it's been so long since I wrote, but that just makes this entry so much more fulfilling! So to back-track, last week I had tooth surgery and it was a huge success! Pain-free, 2 hours from start to finish, and I now have a new strong tooth to show for it, yay! (I also got the hook-up to teach my ortho's kids English once a week!) In other news, Lee and I officially booked our Chinese New Year's trip to one of the most beautiful islands in the world, Boracay, in the Philippines! Whooo! More recently, this weekend was INSANE - Friday night hosted a new club opening here and it was by far the most lavish club I've ever been to! Huuuuge, on the 7th floor of a building and dress-code enforced; amazing hip-hop; a big bar and tons of private tables with lush couches and a slammin' dance floor! This is obviously where I spent most of the night, except when the hired hoochies took centre stage and shook up a storm in their undies!! This was also the first night of Chanukah here and Lee and I are currently without a menorrah until Monday, so I bought tea lights and we have been lighting them every night! Lee left the club early due to an allergy attack, I stayed until 2am because I had to get up the next morning bright and early to teach at a school half an hour away. I didn't get to bed until after 3, making the next day unbearable. I was so exhausted and grouchy that everything just HAD to go wrong - missing the bus in the rain, spending money on a cab, taking 2 buses home in more rain, only to teach again! But it was the funnest hour and the kids put a huge smile back on my face so it was worth it :o) Then Saturday night a bunch of us went to my friend Neil's restaurant, where he was hosting a wine-n-chocolate party! I KNOW!! Truffles, truffles and more truffles, all to be enjoyed while some co-teachers sang tunes on their guitar all night - it was great! Today was a wonderful RAINLESS day, full of grocery $hopping, baking-goods $hopping and presents $hopping! And I MADE LATKES!!! For the first time ever, and they were PERFECT if I do say so myself! Complete with apple sauce, I'm quite proud :o) We bought a gingerbread kit to make one on Christmas, and I have all the ingredients necessary to start baking up a storm! All this week I have Christmas parties in every class, and on Friday I have to be Santa! They pick the little, Jewish girl to play Santa Claus at school, can you believe it!? What can I say, I love the holidays! I have attached 3 pictures, one from the club, one of a cute little boy who was helping serve beer at Neil's restaurant, and one of Lee and I because a few people wanted to see me with straight hair... enjoy!

I love Wufen Pu!

2006-12-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

Another weekend come and gone in the blink of an eye! I guess that's what happens when you only get Sundays off... But it was definitely a jam-packed day and a half! I worked all Saturday afternoon in 3 great classes, and then came home to a wonderful surprise: Lee had hung blue X-mas lights in our room and it looks so beautiful! On top of that (and this is purely for you all to gush over lol) he had bought me some georgous pink roses :o) Needless to say, I'm one happy girl!
At night we all went to the bar here and had some drinks while rockin out to a live acoustic band, it was super chilled. Sunday I went to Taipei with two girlfriends and Lee to this awesome Chinese homecraft show, a building full of ancient art and decorations and everything you can imagine, from wall hangings to clothes to sculptures, it was so cool! Then we went to this area of the city called Wufen Pu, the ULTIMATE clothing market!! The hugest space that you can imagine, street after street just packed to the rim with super-nice super-cheap clothes! I bought a georgous American Eagle button-up for $12 :o)
Unfortunately, Lee wasn't feeling very well (too much shopping!) so he went home, and the ladies and I made our way to an area of the city called Warner Village, the equivalent of Toronto's Yorkville, as in bling bling!! Every major brand name store lined the streets with bright lights and holiday music, and cutely painted backgrounds on walls (hence the photo op!). After a long day full of shopping, we were starving! Our destination was Chili's restaurant and the hour it finally took us to get in and be seated was worth every minute of the wait! We pampered ourselves with delicious appetizers of quesadilla nachos, over-flowing dinner plates of burgers and salads and fries, and then an outlandish dessert - chocolate molten lava cake with ice cream; my mouth is drooling in memory! I haven't eaten a meal like that in Who Knows How Long, and it felt goooood!! I didn't get home until late at night and then had to shower and get ready for the week - lesson plans, Chinese class practices, and Tuesday I have my tooth surgery - wish me luck!

Good times!!

2006-12-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

Let the good times roll!

Hi to all, how are you!? 'Tis the season for joy and good cheer! Last I wrote you all about my tooth situation was almost two weeks ago, when I first found out about it - a lot has happened since then, mostly bad! I've had approx. 5 dentist appts since then, all involving pain and tears and operations - a long and unhappy process. Trying to spare you gory details, the cavity has been removed and I was told that I need a post and cap: you know, those shiny silver things in the mouths of old people! Aside from being ugly and painful, this is going to be ridiculously expensive and so I have been quite stressed out over the whole thing... until today!!

It's hard for you all to get as excited as I am over a dentist, I know! But with my history and all, attaching a happy story to the word dentist is a miracle! A co-teacher recommended me her dentist as a second opinion in the whole thing, so I went and was given an early Chrismanukah miracle :o) Not only is this man nicer and smarter but his technology is so much more modern and advanced (believe me, that's a big deal when you're in a foreign country!) and CHEAPER! I don't even have to get a cap put on my tooth, just a ceramic filling so my tooth will be white and strong and normal! The whole thing takes an hour and is pain-free :o) If you're really bored then you can check this out: http://www.cerec.net/forum/index.php?act=portal&site=5
So all in all, I'm one happy girl!

My week has been awesome, I've picked up a few more hours of teaching $$ and I did not completely suck at bowling on Wednesday! Chinese class is getting better and better each week, and every weekend this month I am booked for some serious holiday fun! I hope you are all enjoying this time of year as much as I am!
Love always

The best night yet!!

2006-12-03T02:03:00.000-08:00

Happy December everyone! The holidays are upon us and I for one could not be more excited! I have a billion recipes on-hand for baking holiday treats, and everyone in the dorm is doing Secret Santa! If it weren't for the cold, windy, non-stop rain, life would be perfect :o)

This weekend was by far one of the best times I've had here yet. I worked Saturday morning but had the afternoon off to relax, go shopping and just chill out. Then at night we went to a good-bye house party for a fellow teacher who is going back to Canada; every single white person in this city was there! A lot of the teachers and everyone I bowl with, along with a few others all joined together to drink and wish well to one another! There was about 40 people in total and we partied until 3am, then headed over to a bar/club here called Desire - we danced until 5 in the morning! It has been so long since I've had a really fun night out with friends and then went dancing, to REAL music, too! It felt a bit like home...!

In the midst of all the drinking/partying, Lee lost his cell phone :o( I called it but there was no answer, and I called the bar but it wasn't there, so we left a text msg for the finder to please call me back - and she did!! One of the girls from the party found it on the ground outside of the club and saw the Canada flag sticker so proudly placed, and called me Sunday morning! Talk about luck!

Sunday was spent sleeping-in and then a few of us from the dorm went out for brunch, which also reminded me of my weekends at Western after partying with all of my friends :o) I went grocery shopping and then enjoyed the rest of my night - it was the most fun I've had in a while! This week includes many more trips to the dentist, Chinese class, and all the rest - with the familiar sounds of Christmas carols filling the background!

I have posted a few pictures from my day at the Taipei Zoo last week for your amusement :o) Ciao for now!

Root Canal in Taiwan :o(

2006-11-28T05:42:00.000-08:00

I have never gone a year of my life without some form of major tooth or gums problem, and Taiwan brings no exception! Last week my back tooth really started to hurt and so I planned to go to the dentist the first chance I had, which was today. This, apparently, was a bad decision as I found out today that I had a cavity which severely worsened with time and I had to have on-the-spot root canal. I was in so much pain lastnight, crying to all of my dorm-mates and scaring my mom back home with a hysterical phone call. This morning I went to the dentist here, recommended as "English and normal", where I got a 2:30 appointment (ironic shout-out to the joke about the time being "tooth hurty") and an X-ray revealed severe root damage. I started to cry, of course, and Lee held my hand the entire time I was operated on. Multiple injections of anaesthesia later, I was set free, only to return again in 2 days to have the filling completed. 45 minutes later I was back in the classroom, teaching. On the bright side, it barely cost me anything! Except, of course, hours of excruciating pain.

A Wild Weekend!

2006-11-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

Ni hau and hello to all! Just a friendly weekend update - hope that you all had a fun one as well!
Friday night was chilled; I surprised Lee with a really old movie that was one of his favourites as a kid, I hope you ALL know and love "La Bamba!" Saturday I worked until 5 which went well, except that one of my classes was so loud I actually had a headache from them :o( But then at night Lee and I checked out the Night Market here, and it was awesome! We walked around for 2 hours, checking out the shops of shoes, clothes, CDs, animals and had delicious BBQ dinner! Then at night we all came back to the dorm for some serious in-house drinking - my bottle of wine was the LEAST to get drunk! Everyone was off their rockers as we decided to hit up a bar around 1am; where the night took a very different turn...
We ended up at a Taiwanese karaoke bar! 6 of us were immediately greeted by a small yet friendly croud, serving us snacks and rounds of beer as we each took turns embarrassing ourselves on stage! Old 50s love songs had us crooning the night away, until an older man decided to take things a little too far with my friend Mychal. He would not leave her alone, and aggressively tried to get with her even after she pushed him away so hard that he fell down to the ground, twice! I ended up moving him out of the way as we left the bar, while Lee and the others joined us later. Back in the dorm at about 3am, some people passed out while others continued to drink the night, and most of the next day, away.
Sunday was tons of fun! Lee and I scooted our way over to the next little city and spent the afternoon shopping; I got two new beautiful sweaters in preparation for the cold weather coming, and we met up with some people for dinner at TGIFriday's!! It was a lavish and delicious dinner :o) Back home, I am currently missing my brother turn into a VERY OLD MAN of 27 years!!!
On my way to bed now, I look forward to hearing from all of you soon about your weekends too! Here is a picture of me, randomly, with the peel of a pamelo on my head! It is like a bigger and sweeter grapefruit, and this is actually the tradition here! As they say, when in Taiwan...!

guess what!

2006-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

I have a hematoma!!

Over a month ago, Lee and I were involved in a scooter accident - when I made my first and only attempt ever to drive a scooter here, and, well, I hit another scooter... So anyways, ever since then I have had a severe bruise on the bottom of my leg and an aching pain whenever I touched it. I assumed it would go away with time, like any other common injury. But here I am, weeks later and my leg has a hard, soar bump on it and the bruise has not gone away. So I finally went to the hospital today and had it looked at, to be diagnosed with a subcutaneous hematoma: a break in the wall of a blood vessel, aka a blood clot. So I have to put a heating pad on it every day and rub this funky gel over the area in order to get the blood soft and flowing again. If this does not work within one month then I have to go back and have the blood removed with a giant needle :o)

Good times!

a Random act of Awesomeness!

2006-11-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

So Lee and I were teaching at the high school today, and when we came back from our lunch break none of our students were in class. We waited ten minutes but still, no-show. Then two of the kids came to class to let us know that they were involved with a presentation for that period, and did we want to come see? A free period off from teaching! So we agreed to check it out for five minutes, thinking we would then leave and go home early :o) However, when we got there, set up before us was a gourmet-restaurant-looking room, with white table clothes and everyone in the craziest costumes! A farmer theme had all the kids dressed up either as chefs, farmers, or farm animals! These were our students with Cooking as their Major, and they were getting ready to put on a demo for a group of teachers and parents; we just happened to enjoy being a part of it! They proceeded to set before us a refined 3-course meal of mushroom chowder in a bread bowl, duck, and a fruit parfait - it was the most delicious food I have had here so far! We dined and hung out with the kids, and then took some pictures with all of them; so here they are for you to enjoy! It was the most random and delightful hour of teaching yet!

Wo shu Jia Na Da ren!!

2006-11-12T03:09:00.000-08:00

Ni hau everyone! As you can see, the Chinese lessons have begun, and I have entitled this with "I am Canadian!" So how are you all doing, how was your week?
Last weekend was pretty chilled out, working, rented a movie and Sunday night went to a friend's roof-top bbq which was really nice! This week was filled with work - Thursday night was my last time teaching a class before the students switched to a different one, so I threw them a party! We watched X-Men II and ate popcorn, what a great job eh! I have also picked up a few more new classes, making my weeks now that much more filled! In other news, Lee was bit by a street dog :o( Don't worry, he's fine! No bloodshed, but we went to the hospital to give him a tetanus shot just to be safe. The street dogs are rampant and scary and everywhere!
I blew it big time at bowling on Wednesday, but made up for it this weekend! Saturday I substituted in the afternoon and then at night Lee and I got our game on with the crew of Canadian teachers here in an intense bowling tournament! Thanks to the points system, I placed 5th! :o) Then when the tourny was over at about 2am we all went to the local bar here, The River, where we drank and played pool until almost 5am! Good times! Sunday was a perfect day of relaxing, shopping, and watching a movie. I have posted 2 pictures from Thursday afternoon when Lee and I spent the morning on our scooter, coasting through the mountains an hour away; they are so beautiful and peaceful, it is the perfect place to escape from the city once in a while. What can I say, I'm a country girl at heart!

Trick or Treat!

2006-11-01T02:05:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics of my kids dressed up on Hallowe'en, as promised!

Hallowe'en Taiwanese Style!!

2006-10-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

Trick or Treat! Hope you all had a fun Hallowe'en weekend, whether it was eating too much candy or drinking too much booz! This was the first time that I've ever celebrated without all my friends back home, which I'm sorry to have missed out on this year :o( But I had a great time here, and it's not over yet!
Saturday was a luxurious day for me here, because I did NOT HAVE TO WORK!! My only Saturday off this entire year! I enjoyed it by roof-top suntanning and a stroll around downtown, where I found an actual Candy Store! Complete with truffles and gum balls, I was in Heaven! Saturday night included a fabulous bottle of white and a gathering of teachers here all dressed up in their finest trickery! A couple people from the dorm came with Lee and I to our friend's house party and then later on to a bar here called Function. The bar itself was small and had no dance floor, but the music was great and everyone I know was there so it was good times! I was dressed up as Sue, one of the characters from the kids' English Textbook - I have posted a picture of her from the book for you all to see! And I finally saw my first real live fight - a group of Chinese guys beat the crap out of some dood, and I mean BEAT, it was really bad and no one stepped in to break it up, not even the security guards! Craaazy! We got home at 4am and I spent most of Sunday just chillin out and making lesson plans for the week.
Monday and Tuesday classes here continue the Hallowe'en celebration, as I have to wear my costume to school! Classes include trick or treating around the school, games and candy - not a bad job! So check here again in a day or two if you want to see extremely cute pictures of Chinese kids dressed in costume!

the world spins madly on

2006-10-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

So it's been an extremely long time since my last blog, and I apologize! But for the first time since I got here, my life has been relatively normal :o) This past week since I got back from the Gorge, everything has been great - classes all returned to normal since the holidays, and every school is getting ready for Hallowe'en! So all the decorations are up and I have my costume ready (I'm one of the characters from their English textbook, Sue!)
This past weekend I worked Saturday all day with a group of 20 cute little kids, basically playing games and singing songs for 6 hours! Then at night a group of us went to see The Departed - one of the best movies I have seen in the past year! If you haven't seen it yet, go! Then on Sunday Lee and I spent the whole day shopping, getting clothes and our costumes :o) Don't worry, there will be tons of awesome pics up of Hallowe'en! This week includes a night of bowling and a going-away party for my friend Rahul, one of the guys in the dorm who recently returned back to Toronto :o( Other than that, nothing new except that Lee chopped all my hair off! I asked him for a trim, and watched as inches of curls floated in slow motion down to the ground! Now most of you may look at the picture above and respond with typical "it still looks long to me", however most girls will know when they've had hair running halfway down their backs, and can suddenly see their shoulders again, that it is a big deal!
Now, in class today at my high school, an intense number-guessing game was played which resulted in the losing team having to stand up and sing in front of the rest of the class! I have posted the pictures for you to laugh at, but mostly for my students to log on and see :o)
I do have one interesting story, however: today, as Lee and I were walking to class, I got hit by a scooter! I was walking with my bag over my shoulder, and out of nowhere a girl on a scooter came flying by and her handle banged right into my shoulder! She slammed into me hard, and her handle got caught on my bag and it made her swerve and lose control, causing her to spin out and fall down! It was the scariest thing, and it all happened in the flash of a second! So we stopped to help her up, make sure she was ok, and she just got right back up and drove off like la-ti-da! She looked scared of me though, like she knew it was her fault and thought I'd be mad or something! But I was just worried about her; and my shoulder was totally fine! So all in all it wasn't that bad, just really crazy!
Until next time, happy Hallowe'en!

GORGE-OUS!!

2006-10-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Ni hau! How are you all doin? I hope you had a great relaxing weekend and while I'm on the subject, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

This weekend, Lee and I had Saturday off (for once!!) and so we fled the city, taking a train 4 hours East to the beautiful city of Hualien, home of Taroko Gorge - Taiwan's most mountainous range and breathtaking scenery! Man oh man, it lives up to its reputation! We busted out Saturday at 8am and tried unsuccessfully to sleep for the next 4 hours, but enjoyed the view along the way immensely! Finally, we arrive and make our way to the Visitor's Centre to plan the next 2 days! We rented scooters and checked into a (nice and cheap!) hotel, then explored Downtown; the food, the shops, the rain! After hours of walking around and a bit of shopping, it began to rain so we did the only thing we could do: saw a movie! Everything we wanted to see was either not playing or not at a good time, so we took a gamble with "9/11" and it was actually good, very intense. After the movie we watched this awesome dance show put on by a group of young Taiwanese dancers, with tribal drums and throwing-sticks, and some of the moves were amazing! Then we explored the Night Market and enjoyed a night time view of the ocean, accompanied by some fireworks!

The next day was incredible! We had a bite and then rode off for about 45 minutes, until we reached Taroko Gorge: miles and miles of mountains that go on forever in every direction! They were so huge and powerful and no matter how many hours we drove, they never ended! The gorge lies between, filled with rushing water and huge boulders and colourful bridges, and the mountains are dotted with little temples and waterfalls. I was speechless!

We made it back to our dorm just before 9pm Sunday night, with just enough time to unpack and make lesson plans for the upcoming week. Ohhh, I don't want to think about teaching!

Kenting!!

2006-10-12T01:02:00.000-07:00

You just had to be there!

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and enjoyed yourselves - I will now tell you about the mayhem that was my Moon Festival holiday! 6 of us took an over-night bus which was actually 3 buses b/c of transfers, and that in itself was an adventure! Try sleeping on a bus that has no shocks and is driving over bumps like a ride at the Ex! We arrived bleary-eyed in Kenting, the most Southerly point in Taiwan at 7am. It was already 30 and sunny out! We scoured the main strip of town with our backpacks on, looking for breakfast and a place to rent scooters. By about 10:00 we were full of coffee and scooters in towe, ready to check into our hotel! This, however, was not as easy as it sounds. It took hours of getting lost to even find the place! Along the way we accidentally came across the most beautiful look-out, the top of this mountain with a picture-perfect ocean scene in the background, it was breathtaking! But eventually we went into this beautiful, luxurious hotel to ask where we might find the O.K. Hill Hotel, and we were answered by "this is it!" We stayed in the most massive, glorious hotel; ocean-view, breakfast included, chandeliers in the lobby and a swimming pool with water park, and our room was nice and big for all of us! Unfortunately, check-in was not until 3pm so we dropped off our luggage and hit the beach! The soft, white sandy beach with clear skys and blazing sun, tons of shops and restaurants lining the streets pumping music, and nothing but time to soak it all in! So after some serious sun-tanning (I'm nice and dark now, thank you!) and a bite to eat, we hopped on our scooters to check in to our room. Lee and I arrived first with our friend Tamada and waited 20 minutes for the others to show up, before I got so worried that we sent Tamada out to try and look for them and make sure all was okay. It wasn't.

Our friend Mychal had been side-swiped by an SUV and knocked off her scooter on the side of the road. She was taken to the hospital where I met her, with fractured wrist and a serious concussion (the helmet actually saved her life). I continued to spend the next 4 hours by her side, holding her hand through physicals and castings and needles and police interrogations, all the while telling her who she is and where she was. Lee and my friend Cristin were there too, while the others were at the police station making up a report and trying to straighten out the small matter of her payment; the other driver has been placed responsible for covering all of her medical bills, at least. By 8pm we decided to finally check-in, shower and grab some dinner, but little did we know that the huge Holiday Night Market was on and that the streets were blocked off! It took Cristin and I over an hour to cab AND walk back, arriving exhausted and starving :o( But the night was salvaged by a fun paruse through the Night Market, sampling food and checking out all the stores, fighting our way through the INSANELY CROUDED streets!! All in all I bought a little hangy heart for my cell phone, a new blue purse, some red drawstring shorts and cute earrings :o) So that was our first day!

The next 2 days were filled with hours at the beach, swimming in the warrrrrm water, checking out delicious restaurants, shopping and of course visits to the hospital. Lee also went snorkling and cliff-jumping! All in all, an extremely eventful and adventurous vacation!

Another evening spent on a few buses brought us back home Tuesday at midnight, and Lee and I went to Taipei Wednesday after we were done teaching to watch the Asian Soccer finals! Taiwan got its ass kicked by Iran 2-0, it was funny to watch! Friday night is our friend Neil's birthday which will be filled with dinner and many a drink :o) Then on Saturday school is cancelled for all foreign teachers as the kids have Chinese exams, so this is our only weekend off and we are going to Hualien, Taiwan's premier scenic attraction called Taroko Gorge, supposedly the most spectacualr sight here!! So I will have another big update for you after the weekend! Everything else here is great, the weather is still sublime and the kids are great! Mychal is in the hospital here now having surgery done on her wrist, and that's all for now!

I love you all and miss you very much!

Vacation!!

2006-10-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Oh, how sweet it is! How glorious! Words cannot describe how wonderful it felt to walk out of class lastnight, and know that it was my last one for the next 5 days! Most of my dorm-mates and I went to the Canadian Bistro, our home-away-from-home, and celebrated with drinks and yummy food, and I finally had my wine! Then early Friday morning Lee and I got up and booked it to the train station for an almost 3-hour ride to Fulong Beach, a preview of what's to come this holiday! The train ride in itself was an adventure, hopping seats and then eventually standing it out until we arrived in what can only be described as a picturesque Taiwanese setting. Everything I imagined before coming here has been different from actuality, until today. The clear, breezy air and the crashing waves of the ocean on golden-coloured sand was a sight to see, with an emaculate temple towering in the background and green mountains off in the distance! We walked along the water's edge for hours, from one end to the other, over bridges and stopping to watch wave-surfers in action. It wasn't even that sunny out, but the day was perfect. Lee and I barely caught both connecting trains on the way home and then tomorrow we're off! 2 nights and 3 days in sunny, tropical Kenting, the Southern tip of Taiwan where I will lay in the sun and do nothing until someone roles me over :o) Happy Thanksgiving, Shana Tova and Happy Mid-Autums Festival, everyone!

One Whole Month!!

2006-10-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

It has been one month today since I landed in Taiwan and my whole life changed! Ever day feels so long, every week feels like an eternity, but then all of a sudden a month feels like the blink on an eye! Is that normal?
Today Lee and I had the morning off, not working until 5, so we hopped on our scooter at 9am and met our Canadian touching-stone Neil for a day of exploring the mountains! Off to an interesting start, Neil landed a flat tire before we even left the main road, so that set us back only an hour to get fixed! Then we were off for a beautiful scenic drive, through our city out to the country up North, about an hour and a half away until you get to the base of the mountains. Instantly, we could feel and smell the difference in the air! There were trees and lakes and it smelled green instead of like a smoggy city, it was glorious! The whole day was perfect, 28 and sunny, Lee got a bit of a sunburn :o) We stopped along the way to visit temples and explore the little side streets full of shops and food, and we got fresh home-made fried rice and mushroom skewers for lunch, mmmm!! The whole lunch for the 3 of us was $4 Canadian!! And then we continued to drive up the winding roads into the mountains where the view just got bigger and more spectacular, until it got too late and we had to turn around and come back :o( Work was good, I've been giving tests all week which is super easy for me and makes the time fly by! Tonight Lee and I will join everyone else for another night of bowling, and then Thursday is our last day before the holidays! Woo-hoo!!

finding the right words

2006-10-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had so much to say, too much to say, that you are actually speechless? Because there aren't enough words to accurately describe what you want to share? That's how I feel. I am so disconnected from my home life, from the world I am used to that it feels isolating; but then here I am on another level apart from everyone else, that is so exciting and eye-opening all on its own, that no one else can understand!

This week has been very, very long! Everyday in itself is new and brings the unexpected. School is becoming less Work and more Fun, and I no longer dedicate every free moment to lesson plans and talking about school :o) I have a life, outside of the job! Do you know how cool that feels, to move to another country and actually create a new lifestyle there? Where you fill it with new people, people that you care about, and activities that you never even knew existed! Lee and I have been going out almost every night, trying new restaurants or exploring new parts of the city. I have treated myself to a few luxury items: new sandals, and a georgous leopard LeSportsac purse! On Wednesday night, Lee and I joined many of the other Canadian/American teachers here for a night of bowling! It was so much fun to chill with people outside of work, and of course, Lee was the star of the night - bowling a 200 on his first game out!

Next week I give my first tests, and then we have 5 glorious days off! Mid-Autumn Festival replaces Thanksgiving here, and our trip down South to the beaches is booked and highly anticipated! This weekend has been great; Friday night Lee and I went to our hangout (the Canadian Bistro) for dessert; Saturday I worked 6 hours at a special program I'm doing for the next 4 Saturdays, where I basically play songs and games with a large group of 10-year-olds! And then at night we went to a delicious Thai restaurant (finally!! yum!!) and then shopped around the streets where I temporarily lost my helmet :o( I put it down in a store, and didn't realize for about 20 minutes that I had left it there, only to go back and find the store closed!! But lucky for me, Lee and I drove back Sunday morning and retrieved it, and then used our one relaxing day off to go grocery shopping and make a trip to Ikea :o) The internet is down at our dorm right now, and won't be fixed for about 2 weeks (incase some of you are wondering why I haven't been on MSN or E-mailing)!

This Tuesday, before work, Lee and I are joining a friend on a trip to the mountains! I am sooo excited and will tell you all about it afterwards! But for now I'm going to BREAK THE FAST!! Happy Yom Kippur, g'mar hatimah tova (may you be sealed in the book of life) and I will talk to you soon! xox

A New Year, A New Woman!

2006-09-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings, ni hau, and happy new year! How are you all? Just a reminder to please write me back; think of these blogs as e-mails to you, I'm constantly telling you what I'm up to, you need to do the same!! Deal?

Many stories to share! To begin with, I have finally attached pics of the scooter!! She's about 9 years old but definitely still has a lot of spunk in her (we hope!!). It has been about a week and I will now attempt to drive it - on my own - so please send me your happy thoughts!!

On Sunday, Lee and I went downtown to shop for cell phones: MY FIRST CELL PHONE!! Me, the queen of anti-cells! But it is a necessity here, for Lee and I to contact each other let alone allow my friends and family to reach me (I'm now one of those people I hate on buses that text messages!!) It's a beatuful, tiny, red Nokia and I love it! As Jess pointed out to me, with the cell phone and the scooter, I am no longer the same Thornhill girl I once was!

To end with a funky story, while Lee and I were outside setting up our cells, a group of young girls came up to us and said, "You are beautiful! Can we take your picture?" which Lee willingly agreed to while I nodded, confused as to why they wanted my picture!? We took photo after photo, each girl taking a turn posing with us! Then when they left, another group of girls did the same thing!! Straaaange!!

Shana Tova from Taiwan!

2006-09-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

So many things to share, so little time!! Where do I even begin? Well first of all, shana tova to you and yours! I wish you all a happy healthy New Year, and may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.

Being away from home for a whole year means missing every holiday with your family, which is a really big loss. It's hard to accept, and made even harder by the teensy weensy Jewish population here in Taiwan: all 100 of us! In the whole country, with one synagogue! Conveniently located in Taipei, I plan on going next Sunday for Yom Kippur. For those of you who don't know, Rosh Hashanah is the first of the New Year and a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year. Typically, I get together with family for a big dinner celebration, but this is no longer possible! :o( However, Lee and I went out to dinner here to a deelish Italian restaurant for some super cheap and yummy pasta! Afterwards, we scooted to a nearby river and threw bread crumbs in, to symbolize the disposing of our past years' sins. Then we came back to our dorm and dipped apple slices in honey, to symbolize the sweet new year to come! (pictures seen above) Our dorm-mates also joined us :o)

After a rough week, I welcomed the weekend with arms wide open! Laundry, actual meals, playing pool and scooting around the city, talking to people about things OTHER than class is all a really weird and wonderful change! Tomorrow Lee and I might even get cell phones, aaah! Other than that, I welcome you all to the exciting world of the Betel Nut Girls!! Betelnut Girls are the craze here; sexy skanked out chicks standing in glass booths selling disgusting fruit known as betelnut! It is eaten similarly to chewing tobacco, only it spits out a deep dark red so the sidewalks look like they're been spotted with blood! I welcome you all to check out the link above, for a closer look :o)

And last but not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORRIS!! Enjoy being a dirty old man!

WE GOT A SCOOTER!!!

2006-09-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, congrats are in order! Lee and I are now officially the proud owners of a beautiful blue scooter, previously loved by a fellow Canadian! So we know she's in good shape :o) Her name is Neeha, and tomorrow we are going to get new shocks, an oil change, and the breaks tightened. Don't worry: we already bought new helmets too! Pics to come soon, I promise! But in the mean time, here's a shot of one of my students bustin' a move, just to keep you entertained!

What a day in Taipei!

2006-09-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

How can so much happen in just 24 hours!? Lee and I left Saturday at around 6, after our classes were over, for the train ride to Taipei - a 40 minute ride, the equivalent of going from Thornhill to downtown Toronto via public transit. Only we went to another city!! Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, and it's awesome! We got out of the train station downtown which is right in the heart of it all, only to be greeted by an overwhelming rally!! There was a mass public protest going on, of the citizens protesting their corrupt President, and it was madness!! People chanting and marching and throwing petitions in our faces, when all we wanted was directions to our hostel! So I finally decided that good old trusty Starbucks must have some English speaking people, they won't let us down! Low and behold, there was actually a group of 3 WHITE kids sitting and drinking coffee!! Forgetting all manners and common etiquette, I ran up to them yelling "thank G-d!!" and practically kissed them all for existing - don't worry, Lee remembered to introduce us and act normal :o) So these 3 kids were from the States and Hungary, all on high school exchange programs and knew their way around fairly well, so we asked them to join us on our journey to the famous Shihlan Night Market, the biggest in the city! It's impossible to describe if you've never been to one before, but it was so huge that we walked around (in the rain) for 2 hours and didn't even cover half of it! The loudest, dirtiest, smelliest, most crouded place I've ever been in my life, just buzzing with people all trying to sell you something, from clothes to food to electronics to jewellery to complete junk!

After the Night Market we parted ways from our fellow anglophones and set off to find the Happy Family hostel. Ohhh boy!! After managing to get our address translated into Chinese, and find a cab, we spent the next half hour circling around the neighbourhood to find a seemingly non-existent address. Lee and I finally just said thanks and got out, determined to find it on foot (in the rain) but this took another solid 20 minutes only to discover a broken door hidden in a sketchy alley with a hand-written sign reading "Happy Family"!! We went up the broken staircase to wake the manager and ask for a room, where he proceeded to tell us that boys and girls sleep separately here!! So we left to find another Happy Family Two, yet again placed down a dark and creepy alley; hooray! At this point it was almost 1am and we were exhausted, willing to sleep anywhere - this desparation came in handy when we saw the closet-like room with bunk beds and a broken window! So we upped the price and got a semi normal room and the manager was super sweet, so we were happy (even though the washroom was STD-infested and dripped something nasty from the ceiling!) we managed to get a decent night's sleep.

Sunday morning we set off to see Taipei 101, the world's tallest building also containing the world's fastest elevators! It was really cool to see the whole city from the top, but it would have been cooler if the air wasn't thick and grey from al the smog! We then enjoyed exotic lunches in the cafeteria downstairs: Lee had noodles, bbq pork, tea, corn and watermelon while I ventured for noodles and an omelette with muscles! Deelish! We broused around the shopping centre inside, home to Louie Vitton, Coach, Sony, Playboy and other such high-end stores before checking out Longshan Temple. This beautiful building is traditional in its architectire of red brick and beautfiully coloured and detailed dragon rooftops, while inside holds a pretty waterfall and Buddhist statues, rooms of gold pillars and candles everywhere; Lee and I lit incense along with the others and watched as everyone prayed and bowed.

Our next site was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, surrounded by the cultural centre of town - the opera house and concert halls, theatre stadiums, all big and beautiful! We weren't actually allowed to enter any of these places, but we took pictures before going to see the actual Memorial Hall itself: a 60 ft statue of the first Prime Minister, centered in an archway atop the longest case of stairs I've ever had to climb! There are two armed guards standing completely still beside the statue, and they never move a muscle all day long!

This brought a near-end to our trip, as we headed back to the main train station and shopped around the "mall" until our train departed - by mall I mean giant arcade with little shops of random knick-knacks and the occasional store. We FINALLY got to rest our feet on the ride home, where we enjoyed luxury showers, toilets (I hate squatters!!) with toilet paper, sinks with soap and other such commodities we take for granted!

Monday has been fabulous so far, with one class being cancelled thus extending my lunch period to two hours long! I am now off to teach another 4 hours for the evening. This week on schedule: grocery shopping, dinner with Canadian friends, a night of bowling and hopefully buying our scooter!!

Booked my first trip!!

2006-09-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all!! Here's a random photo of one of my substitute classes, the kids are doing the ultimate form of embarrassment: the pee-gu-man dance!! When one team wins a game, let's say a spelling bee, then the losing team gets taunted and then has to stand up and spell the word with their tushys! Needless to say it's hysterical to watch!

So Lee and I booked our first trip!! In October we get our first holiday, 5 days off work for Mid-Autumn Festival, spanning from Friday to Tuesday. The only problem is that Lee and I are teaching with a private school (shhh! Don't tell Gloria!) for that Saturday, so instead of having 5 days free to fly off-island we only have 3 - but this could not have worked out more perfectly! After some looking around it was painfully clear that every flight out of Taiwan during this holiday has been severely jacked up in price, we're talking Canadian thou$and$, so we wouldn't have been able to go away for 5 days anyway. Luckily, we found the VERY LAST HOTEL ROOM available in beautiful sunny Kenting! It's the most Southernly point of Taiwan and it's a tropical beach has been built into a National Park, please check out the website to get the full scoop! So we are making more than enough money on that one Saturday to pay for the whole trip (it's sooo cheap!!) and we're going with a few other friends from our dorm, so it should be a blast!!

In other news, Lee and I are going to Taipei this weekend! Just for one night, Saturday to check out the huge Night Market and Taipei 101 (previous tallest building in the world) and then have the next day to see museums and temples and botanical gardens and the fun crazy streets! I can't wait!

This week has been absurd, pulling three 9am-9pm days and getting no sleep, but it's been so much fun - so many amazing kids in my classes and some bonding time with the dorm-mates :o) Aside from the too-hot-and-rainy weather, it's perfect!

Weekend Recap

2006-09-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

After Saturday night's adventure through the Night Market, Sunday was supposed to be my nice relaxing day to catch up here - grocery shopping, finish unpacking, finish redecorating, and do my lesson plans for my new classes this week. Yea, right!

It's typhoon season!! And the word does not quite describe a tropical cyclone, which is heavy winds, torrential rain and giant floods everywhere!! But I didn't let this put a damper on my afternoon plans - so Lee and I, along with 4 of our other dorm mates all trecked through the storm and outside to hail a couple cabs. So the first cabby did not even know where the store was that we wanted to go to, so we climbed out and by the time we got another one it was so crazy outside that the 6 of us all piled into one cab!! Including the driver there was 7 of us, 5 in the back, soaking wet and laughing our asses off! Once we made it inside the multi-purpose Care4 (like a Costco meets Wal-Mart) we spent the next 3 hours shopping, only to pile all of our stuff outside again and back home, this time in 2 cabs. The crazy part is, one of the guys named Neil (England) bought a bike today, so the only way he could get it home was to ride it back through the storm!! I just would have bought it another day :o)

All in all, a great experience - hopefully great enough to keep me happy for the next 5 days, as my Mondays and Fridays schedules consist of me teaching at 3 different places from 9 to 9! Wish me luck!

Finally Got Some Pics!!

2006-09-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it when I write that I have only been here 4 days: it seems like a lifetime already! So the first 6 pictures are some shots of the dorm; communal washroom (clean!!), kitchen, living room, and then the two rooms that Lee and I share: one bedroom and one "office"!! The sign 'Gloria' is just outside, and without the little sunshine on top I would never find it, ever!! There's a few shots of the street just outside our building, notice the Golden Arches shining in the distance :o) I threw in a night shot of the busy street to be artsy, then there's Lee holding a menu on his birthday where I took him for bday brunch - accompanied by a pic of a fascinating concoction Lee ordered and then hated! Oh yea, and the two little pigglets in a cage just in front of the bus stop, awwww!

I am having the time of my life that is so different from any other place I've ever been: I can't describe how it feels to just walk around the city on my own, with my bag over my shoulder and bargain with the locals when I can't even speak the language! To listen to all of the traffic and Chinese as just background noise; with the smells of a busy city, some streets dirty and unpaved as I weave through markets and buy fresh fruit just like you would picture on TV lol. I already know my way around most of the bus routes, and am a recognized customer at Starbucks :o)

School is going great!! It's hard and exhausting and time consuming and yet so much fun! I have too much to tell about all the kids and the work and the hilarious lectures! But it's the most amazing and exotic experience I have ever had, and there is only too much more to come.

Where to even begin...!

2006-09-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

How can I do more in 3 days here than in months back home!? It has already been a lifetime of changes and I feel like there's too much to tell! But I'll try anyways!
So the apartment here, the Gloria "dorm" is pretty cool - first 3 floors are for the school and then ten of us live on the 4th floor, a mix of nearly-all-Canadian, American, one European and one from Alaska, all our age, everyone's cool! (One girl has 2 loud dogs but they're friendly) Lee and I have completely Ikea-ed our two bedrooms, into one bedroom and one office: sooo pimped out! Pics to come soon I promise!! So far I've been on 3 scooters, one *squatter, eaten some deelish dumplings (with pork inside oh g-d!!) taken 2 cabs with non-English drivers in the rain, gotten lost and taught classes ON MY OWN!! And I'm learning Mandarin!
Lee says hi to all of you - now officially a dirty old man as he just turned 25 today! I've sat in on many Observation Classes which then include my teaching the last 10 minutes, been to one Workshop (we have to attend so many) and tonight was officially my first night as a solo teacher! My kids range from kindergarten all the way up to high school! NOT AT ALL how I expected them to be: the stereotype of Asian children being very attentive and quiet and proper is laughable; they're even louder and more hyper than kids back home! Some are super cute and then the high school ones are really chilled, so it's a great mix - and yes Jules, I have been asked many times "do you have boyfriend" lol!! The high school is a trip - it's a real private high school, I have my own desk in an office and everything!! I feel like I'm role playing :o)
Every day is jam-packed from 9am-2 at night, with classes and prep work and shopping and exploring and restaurants and meeting new people and getting together everything we need - Lee and I will be getting cell phones and a scooter very shortly!
So all is well! It's hot and humid and smelly and loud and I am loving every minute of it! Miss you all, xox

Only to me!!

2006-09-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

So there has been a flight delay. Ready?

My family and I get to the airport in due time, only to be greeted by "you know that your 1:30 flight is now scheduled to depart at 5:30?" Excuuuuse me? This little time difference results in my arriving in Tokyo too late, missing my connecting flight to Taiwan and I now get to spend the night in a hotel, and all of the next day, only to leave the following night and, oh yea, Lee is waiting there for me on the other end without a clue!!

So there was a mild freak out. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both, and then we got passed along from one department to another, to another, as nobody wanted to answer any of our questions or find an alternative. After speaking with the Departures Manager it has been decided that there are no alternatives, piss off, and so we turned and came back home to wait 4 hours before going back.

When I got home there was a message from AirCanada informing me of my flight delay :o) AND there was another message, saying that there is an alternative route leaving from Vancouver and would I like to call and re-schedule? Thanks AirCanada for letting me know when I was there! So after calling and waiting on hold for 35 minutes to reach a human being, my new route is to leave Toronto Sunday night, to Vancouver, then leave there at 1:30 am and get to Taipei 5:10am Tuesday morning, instead of the previous 8:30 at night arrival time. No hotels, no baggage claims, and 12 hours of my life back! Thank you very much!! So I called Lee's mom (on her birthday!!) and gave her the details, incase Lee calls... and e-mailed Lee and our boss Penny in Taiwan to notify them of the changes.

This has all been very exhausting and frustrating, and now all I can do is hope for the best! So please wish me luck, and I will let you know how this all turns out on the other end... A great start, dontcha think!?

Welcome to my new and fabulous blog!!

2006-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my new blog, you know how much I appreciate it! As of Sunday Sept. 3rd, 2006, Lee and I will be on our way to the mystical land of Taiwan where we will be living and teaching English to children for a year. However, we will not actually be returning home right after one year, as it obviously necessary that we stay and travel and see as much of South East Asia as we possibly can! Therefore, I bid adieu to you now for quite a long time... But I will be making constant updates on here, full of stories and pictures for you all to enjoy and stay in contact with me through!
Before I leave I am spending as much time with my friends and family as possible, so I do not expect to make any more entries until this wild journey actually begins! But do expect to hear from me soon, and do expect to be personally reemed out on this site if you do not make an effort to keep in touch! I will be on the other side of the world for a very long time and I need you all to remain an active part of my life; you know how important you are to me, and how much I will be missing each and every one of you.

Thank you.