Taipei 101 is the official name for the world’s tallest building, piercing the sky in the Hsin Yi district in the southeast of the city, often with clouds just dusting the upper sections with a light, awe inspiring touch. This amazing monolith just seems to go up forever when you’re beneath it, each 10 floors flaring out from the ground only to angle in and start again on a relentless quest for vertical limits. To build it in the first place seems ludicrous in such an earthquake prone region, but it is constructed on giant rollers which will actually move with the shake, which sounds fine as long as I’m not up there at the time it happens!
Cass and I have watched the tower’s steady upward movement over the past 2 and a half years, wondering if it would ever stop reaching further skyward, until a 30-metre spike was fastened on top just a few weeks ago. It is taller than the Petronas towers and the Sears tower, but a building in Shanghai is being built now, which will eventually overtake it. It is certainly an engineering marvel, yet if you see it from afar, it occasionally doesn’t seem possible that it is this tall, owing to a lack of perspective around it. The Hsin Yi district is littered with modern glass and steel blocks of architectural curiosity, like an old tablecloth suddenly and incongruously set with the finest china and silverware, placed with meticulous care, not an item out of place. This part of town contrasts markedly with the back streets just a few blocks away, where traders hawk their wares on street corners, setting up impermanent shops for a few hours before moving on to escape the attentions of the police. From one such furtive man, I bought a perfectly serviceable backpack on Sunday, proffering $NT100 ($4 Aust) to complete the transaction, while brand name packs in shops opposite were fetching more than 10 times that.
It is this contrast, which continues to fascinate us about Taipei. We have eaten in one of the world’s finest restaurants just metres from a sleazy red light district, been filled with wonder at the world’s tallest building as a man almost comically attired in rags, pushing a pram of his worldly possessions, rifles through a rubbish bin outside, while beautifully dressed women dressed in the latest haut couture window shop for Tiffany’s diamonds and Chanel suits in nearby malls.
We are readying ourselves to fly to Hong Kong and London before arriving in Prague mid morning on Friday. Our accommodation is a totally refurbished boutique apartment capsuled within a 13th century façade, just 15 metres from Charles Bridge. It is a pedestrian only area, so we’ll have to wait and see how we can get our bags in! An ex-colleague in Prague reports snow and sub zero temperatures, although I saw no evidence of this on a web cam in Old Town square last night. We will play it by ear as to Christmas dinner, but I’m sure we’ll find something. After a week we will fly to Paris for the New Year staying at a small hotel in the cite Bergere in the 9th arrondissement. I can’t wait to visit my favorite gallery, The Marmottan, the home of more than 30 Monets, just perched as stunningly as you like on the walls of a non descript house in the suburbs, which has been converted to a gallery. Cass has lined up just a few things she “must see” after missing them in her last two visits, like the Pompidou Centre and a more in depth penetration of the Left Bank. No doubt we’ll also partake of some wine and food somewhere along the way as well!
Basically, though, we’ll be guided by our noses as usual, a method that hasn’t failed us in the past, the secret I think being to have enough time in each place so as not to be rushed and having a chance to re-visit things which are particularly promising on first viewing.
We’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year and we hope to hear from you on our return.

As Newcastle Grammar had their speech day indicating the end of the school year and we received a couple of emails from colleagues there wishing us a happy Christmas, we had a few pangs of envy. Cass was winding up some units of work for the half year here and I was getting ready to present a workshop on vocabulary for over 200 parents the next day. This time of year is always hard on us here, especially knowing we won't be back home till June, although it's easy to get a "grass is greener" mentality without doing all the work that no doubt has been done over there in the last few weeks.
The workshop was a success from all reports and then I just had to wrap my head around doing some ordering of books and materials for the ESL department for next year as well as write an extensive report on some long-term ESL kids for the school board. Mid year testing went along with this and grading them plus reports are next, all due on Wednesday. They're all paperless now and the whole school has gone electronic. Our on-line classroom software has been trialled and is now ready for the next emergency.
Cass got all dolled up to attend a candlelight dinner at school for the middle school while I went to the lower school principal's house for Christmas drinks on Friday night. It was a fun night and plenty of beer, wine and food ensured a convivial atmosphere even though the trials of the last few weeks certainly ensured some overindulgence. Plenty of reputations were confirmed or sullied, depending on how much alcohol was drunk.
The action continued down at the Green Bar and then to Club 75 where live salsa music provided the catalyst for some ill advised dancing by many attendees, myself included, which proved to be quite hilarious. I think we did better than the majority of the locals however, where the term "dancing on the inside" takes on a whole new meaning. Girls dressed in the current Taipei uniform of checked mini skirts with long boots swayed to the music without actually moving their feet at all, which has to be seen to be believed, seemingly defying all laws of physics. At least they attempt a dance, with guys obviously deciding it is totally uncool even to try, although I might have misread this completely: they might just be shy, and come to think of it, the strange gyrations of a group of inebriated foreigners probably didn't inspire them to jump up and join us!
We scootered down to the Living Mall on Saturday and saw the bleak and brilliant Eastwood directed film, "Mystic River". If Sean Penn doesn't win an Oscar for his performance I'll be very surprised. His heart wrenching grief at the death of his daughter was palpable and the supporting cast was nearly as good. The ending disappointed us a touch, but I'll leave that for now, in case you want to go and see it.
The traffic scene on the way back was one of the most chaotic we've experienced, possibly because of the slightly later hour, or my poor choice of roads. Vehicles stopped without warning in front of us, turned without indicating, swerved into us, beeped, snorted fumes, opened doors, pulled out with no warning, bunny hopped, slowed and generally provided every conceivable possibility for a serious accident. But Taipei being Taipei, no one got upset, everyone let the rude in or patiently waited while they double-parked in a traffic lane until they could get past. Anyone who has been in a car with me driving would not recognize me now. I take all this mayhem in my stride, just zooming around, waiting and joining every other scooter in illegally weaving in and out of buses, cars, trucks, taxis as they play their bizarre game of traffic brinkmanship.
Today, we had a late breakfast and read some Newcastle Herald clippings that Mum regularly sends us (thanks as always Mum!). I have to admit that I went into school for a few hours to do some marking, an action that is anathema to my personal philosophy, but I won't be making a habit of it!
Cass did the shopping.....a story in itself, perhaps for another time, but it does involve walking, lugging recyclable bags of groceries through parks full of twirling ballroom dancers!
We fly out on the 18th of December for Hong Kong, London and Prague to spend a week before catching the city hopper to Paris for another 8 days. Even though we pine for home sometimes, at least we're halfway across the world already, making the rest of it just that little more accessible.

Thanksgiving feasts are something we hadn't experienced before moving to Taipei, but in what is suspiciously approaching a tradition we celebrated our 3RD with Chad and Cathy last Thursday! It doesn't seem like it could be possible sometimes, yet at others the days and weeks seem endless. How incredibly lucky we have been to have such great friends, who really enjoy having us to share this special family holiday with them. Of course, this one was just that little bit different, with Chad, Cathy and new addition Levi in their new apartment and a few extra people to join the festivities this year. We had North Americans of course, some Aussies, New Zealanders, a Pom and a Scotty as well as an Indian and Taiwanese and Chinese.
Our generous hosts went all out to provide a great atmosphere, from the table decorations to the food. The turkey itself had been baked and smoked and was of gargantuan proportions. It was mouth wateringly succulent accompanied by all the trimmings of stuffing, gravy and veges with hot buttered rolls. A guiltily rich pudding with sauce was for sweets baked by our Scotty colleague with the simple adage of "too much butter and sugar are never enough". Great fun was had by all especially when the aptly named "cranium" game was produced for a bit of team play. Have you ever seen a room full of teachers trying to outsmart, out wit and out dramatise their opponents? It wasn't pretty but everyone ended up still being civil to one another so it wasn't too bad!
Raj produced some of his Mum's Middle Eastern delicacies later on; aromatic breads, which seemed impossibly thin with a rich spicy sauce for dipping. Raj is an enigmatic young man, a little mysterious but delightful in manner. He runs a family company, which imports and exports all manner of goods, but it's hard to say exactly what. Recently he has been having all sorts of trouble in airports, due he thinks to his Indian/Middle Eastern appearance; being 'randomly' selected for searches with annoying regularity.
Fired up with more than a few "sherbets" we made our thankyous and farewells about 10.30 (from 2 in the afternoon!) and I enticed Cass up to the karaoke bar where we sang our hearts out for hours! It's the first time we'd been there for ages, so we enjoyed it immensely. Of course I cranked out a few Kiss classics, limiting my choice to my vocal range, which is horrendously restrictive. I did, however, attempt the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen", an interesting choice with such a melodic and insipid music track as offered on karaoke! I discovered that shouting at full volume drowned out the music and I did just that, only to have the owner of the bar jump up and start dancing to the song as if I was singing "Yesterday"! Ah well, another Taiwan quirk. Cass outshone me of course, singing some beautiful songs and ensuring we would be welcome next time!
Cass and I were keen to see either "Mystic River" (starting next week) or "Master and Commander" (session times didn't match ours) on Friday, but we opted for the 3rd installment of "The Matrix". Just a touch esoteric for our mood at the time although the 2nd half did liven up a lot. We caught the bus back to Sogo and then decided to walk for a few more blocks before we linked up with the MRT. We both commented how well we know this city now, at least on the main drags, and so much better than say Sydney, or even, dare I say it, some areas of Newcastle and surrounds. It's so reassuring to know that this or that shop, restaurant or park is just a few MRT stops or a ride on the scooter away and being able to hop from one spot to another with ease.
Ross and Ains had caught a flight to Kenting for the 2 days so on Saturday, Ross was all fired up to get to the beach. We gave Carl a ring and he was keen to go so we headed off to the newly christened "Rockets" (see previous Blog about the rocket ride point) To say the surf conditions were horrendous is a very large understatement of conditions. Carl watched the huge storm swell and competing rips and undertows and wisely decided to leave it to us. After a fair battering we gave up and headed home. Of course, all due to the stimulating and irreverent commentary we provided on the way back the day worked out just great. Some of our least favoured colleague's ears would have burnt right off as Ross nearly lost control of the car, he was laughing so hard!
Never content to cut our losses Ross and I weaved our way back over the mountain at midday on Sunday where we experienced similar conditions. The wonderful comic relief was provide by Clarky and Aaron turning up to try to paddle a double surf ski out the back of the swirling mess we were trying to surf. Clarky is now an Olympic coach for kayaks, his charge having won the world championships and heading to Athens next year. Aaron is the TAS Aquatics director and swim coach. Anyway, we thought they were insane, but they nearly made it out the back in these mountainous waves before being ignominiously smashed back to shore on both attempts. We tried hard not to laugh, but it was a sight to see as they floundered in the big swells, all arms, legs, paddles and boat.
We have less than 3 weeks left before we jet off to Prague and Paris, an exotic carrot to keep us salivating through tests, reports and other end-of-year "delights".

A big concrete slash through high-rise apartment blocks and myriads of little open spaces and parks is the curiously named "Sulphur Creek". Starting as a natural watercourse at the top of Yangminshan National Park, it splashes its way past mountain trails full of weekend hikers, fitted out with all the best gear for such a pursuit, and gurgles its way down past shanties at the foot of the mountain before being tamed into a deep, man-made channel, beside which all manner of people and animals exercise and relax before the day begins in earnest.
Sounds of hands slapping against flesh is not so shocking for us now: men power walk wearing what look like women's tracksuits, sometimes with Walkmans strapped to their waists and bud headphones to drown out the only natural sounds around, striking their bodies in various exotic routines to get the circulation going. Some seem content to clap their hands together at regular intervals while others perform a bizarre dance of fitness studiously avoiding getting in each others way and seemingly oblivious to others gaze. Sometimes at the very last second, when a collision seems unavoidable and the uninitiated brace for contact, they manage to glide past without the slightest touch.
Younger men jog at a leisurely pace, no doubt constricted by their full tracksuits in the 30-degree early morning heat, contorting their faces with the effort, sweating profusely, yet refusing to peel off the layers, the badge of their hobby.
A mixed age group of women, from young office girls to retired grandmothers performs a beautiful, measured and almost hypnotic ballet of Tai Chi to the barely heard strains of Chinese music struggling out of a battered and tinny speakered tape recorder. They don't notice the intrusion of the two foreigners walking by, or pretend not to, although I usually catch one or two stealing a peek at Cassy's clothes or shoes!
Further on, a group of 8 old ladies sit and talk, their assigned positions on two benches never varying, a couple of equally wise dogs relaxing at their feet, as their owners sit and chat, dressed so perfectly, coifed and powdered as if on their way out to dinner.
The "3 wise monkeys", our next landmark, sit on a sculpted wall, sometimes having a beer (!) admiring the sweeping job they have just performed, not just the paths of the park, but the grass as well, which always struggles to grow under the effort of resisting so many feet walking across it each day. Occasionally one of the men will risk a beaming "Good Morning!" to which we always respond in kind, producing a nodding smiling acknowledgement, he so proud to show off his English skills to his mates.
A garishly mosaiced bridge is a pastiche amongst the greenery just further on, with a small amphitheatre facing its multi-coloured arch. A hub of activities for meetings and displays on most weekends, it hosts another band of exercisers in the morning, directed in their minor exertions by a man with thick black rimmed glasses, invariably attired in a form fitting bright yellow tracksuit, almost a parody of Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon. Their exercise routine is very hard to follow: it seems to involve hitting various parts of the body for a number of repetitions, before moving to another part to begin the process again.
Turning away from the river now, we amble along the footpath of the main artery of Tienmu, dodging scooters lining the footpaths and people who practice the afore mentioned "late sidestep" to avoid collision. Past the framing and mirror shop which now cooks breakfast takeaways as well from a suspiciously dirty looking set of pots, the shopkeepers distracting their customers by keeping up a steady stream of banter at a socially unacceptable volume. Nearly there, the Indian and German dads seem at a loss as to how to control their kids waiting for the European school bus, an unusually spindly-legged boy seemingly oblivious to the traffic as he runs and plays on the verge. We dodge around them and start meeting more people going our way. Cass digs in her bag for her gate pass as I display mine from it's hiding spot in my pocket, the neon yellow shock of lanyard announcing we are from TAS. Cass smiles and says hello to the security guard at the car gate, a daily action that seems to thrill the man; perhaps others just ignore him.
With just a few variations on a theme, this all happens at 7 each morning as we walk to school, before the "real" events of the day have even thought of beginning!

Being completely hoarse in front of a class of 3rd or 5th graders is not an ideal situation to be in. “George’s Marvelous Medicine” just doesn’t have the same pizzazz when read by a horse whisperer and insightful comments at faculty meetings lose a little bit of impact if people can’t hear them.
Of course, this is the result of some raucous cheering and lusty singing during and after the shock win by the Wallabies on the weekend. Just to set the scene...I had been ensconced in the American Club all day Friday discussing matters most serious and so terribly important to the future of the school! My input was somewhat less than spectacular, preferring to sit and listen and learn before committing myself to comment. After just an hour back at school, the 3rd graders started tumbling in to the lobby for the beginning of their sleepover. These kids were a ball bearing in a pinball machine; they were careering off walls and each other, going crazy in their excitement. After an especially chaotic sign in we were back on the buses to take this loud, bouncing mass to the local bowling alley. I digress, but this needs mentioning: you know those big yellow American school buses you see in movies trundling around peaceful smooth streets in suburban USA? Well, of course the school has a fleet of these beasts trying to negotiate the unforgiving roads of Taipei city, their long wheel base sending spine jarring bolts into bodies with every bump on the road. Not the ideal transportation to my recovering bad back!
Bowling hardly needs mentioning except for e few pertinent facts.....have you ever tried to find 140 size 5 shoes or 140 size 8 bowling balls in an alley? Do you think that anyone could speak English or that the kids realized you have to wait for the metal gate to come down on the pins after each bowl? Suffice to say that chaos reigned, toes were crushed under balls too heavy and gates bent from balls delivered too early.
Back to school for movie and bed. An amazingly persistent mozzie kept me awake most of the night, either by buzzing in my ear or as a result of me slapping myself in the head in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of it. Leaving at 7.30 to meet with Ross, Ains and Cass to head to the beach, we got some fun little waves at the Point. Back to Tienmu, we were booked for lunch at an Italian restaurant before moving to the Green bar for the big game. I had to sleep for a few hours and Cass went off to fly the flag for us before I joined her later.
Of course the Green Bar led to Club 75 (jazz) before our friend Raj enticed us downtown to a cigar and champagne bar which has just opened. We could have paid one month's rent with the bill and this put a bit of a downer on the incredibly lavish décor and relaxed ambiance of the place.
Sunday saw me impersonating Benny the plant on the lounge before we cheered home the Kangaroos that afternoon. They really miss Joey, those kangaroos! Suffice to say, an exhausting time, interspersed with lots of fun.........we just need to recover in time to lend full voice to overcome the all singing, all knowing Pommy contingent next Saturday down at the Green!

Well, I feel pretty slack not writing earlier this week, but we’ve been horrendously busy. Just in case the dreaded SARS virus forces another school closure, the school has bought some online software at great expense, so the little soldiers in the TAS army are now required to add some training to their schedule. This already includes an extra ½ an hour a day to make up for the lost time before we left for our last holiday. So, even though we were luxuriating in our 12 week break back in Merewether, we’re paying for it in kind right now!
Cass had a pretty rough week last week, laid low by the ubiquitous Taipei throat infection and had to have 4 days off work, feeling pretty sick and sorry for herself. She’s back at work now, but finding the day to day grind (as mentioned above) very enervating. We’re planning on taking it easy this week, and of course, this restricted our continuing adventures last weekend!
On Saturday, Ross was sequestered in a classroom doing his Master’s course (I’ve finished. hurrah!), so Carl and I headed to the beach for a surf. The word “flat” is a gross understatement of conditions; although the sun was shining and the wind was light, Carl decided that bigger waves would be lapping the shores of Salamander bay at the time. Still, I was able to play tourist guide a little for Carl regarding the appeals of the north east coast and show him a few secret surfing spots. We had a swim and talked some rubbish, mainly reminiscing about past adventures in Japan and Australia.
On Sunday, Ross and Ains were champing at the bit to get away, so Cass dragged herself along and we headed to Jinshan point. It absolutely teemed with rain over the mountain and water was seeping in along our tension straps which lock the boards onto the roof. Surging storm surf with fat, menacing waves, rips and gullies and a generally very unfriendly aquatic environment greeted us when we arrived. Coupled with a force 10 onshore gale with driving rain, it was almost impossible to believe that less than 24 hours earlier, our fiercest enemy had been a piercing sun necessitating a liberal and regular application of sun cream.
Anyway, of course, Ross and I went out for a bit of “contact” surfing, and proceeded to be thrown around like rag dolls for the next couple of hours. The conditions were so bad that the girls didn’t even get out of the car! Back home to watch the Aussies beat the Poms in the rugby league replay, before the Kiwis displayed some ominous form to book a berth in a semi to play the Aussies next Saturday. The Kiwi contingent is planning a big day at the Green Bar on Saturday....I’m certain they are trying to lure us there just to witness the massacre and have great fun at our expense when the game is over!
A bit humdrum at the moment.....we’re just keeping our heads above water work wise and we’re a bit too tired to do much on the weekends. Still, as always, I’m sure we’ll have some more interesting adventures to report on soon......maybe we’re just easily amused!

A clear “Australian like” sky of deep blue and not even a zephyr of wind greeted us as we woke early on Saturday to make our way to the beach. The lack of wind in Tienmu certainly augured well for a surf of distinction, if we could make it over the hill before the wind got started. Ross and Ains joined us at 7 am and we headed to Jinshan point which had a disappointing slushy swell on a very low tide. We headed through Jinshan town to our secret spot, but it was hardly breaking. After zooming through the tunnel to Green Bay, we decided that this was the spot. The water was crystal clear and glassy and Ross and I had the beach to ourselves. Taking off on some beautifully formed right handers, the only sound was the crash of the wave and the board scything through the water and the occasional sharp slap as the board readjusted to the wave. We had a window of near perfect surf for about an hour, really incredible. Gradually the tide filled a little, the wind changed a notch in intensity and direction and things changed, but we really had an awesome experience. Cass and Ains both went for a swim as well, which is pretty amazing as it is the last month of autumn here now. Cass also waxed lyrically about the quality of the weather, the spot, the conditions....we really had a great time.
Fairly blissed out from our day, the Australian’s performance against the Irish certainly woke us up on Sat evening! After that little heart starter we watched Pirates of the Caribbean” on DVD, which I had bought in Thailand. I know a lot of people liked this movie, but I must admit I wasn’t one of them. It reminded me of Tony Curtis as the “Scarlet Pimpernel”, just with a few more special effects. Cass and I agreed that if the BBC ever made “Hornblower” into a movie, it should clean up, if this film was such a success!
We planned an adventure for Sunday and decided to explore two parts of Taipei city we’d never been to before. The idea was to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, or vice versa, depending on your point of view. We traveled to the far south west corner of the city, at the end of one of the branches of the MRT lines, which seemed very appropriate as we would be visiting a part of town where the workers brought to Taipei to build these lines now live and work. Leaving Nanshi Chiaou station and walking for about 10 minutes, we were surprised to see mountains wrapping around the backs of the buildings, much like our suburb Tienmu. We realized that we’d finally reached the other end of the great Taipei “bowl”, where the itinerant workers from Myanmar and Thailand and India had set up home. We turned down a street to be greeted by Thai and Burmese writing everywhere...you know that curious succession of half circles and squiggles?
A variety of sights and smells and sounds were vying for our attention at the same time. We seemed to be attracting a fair few looks as well, and we did not see another foreigner the whole time we were there; not on the tourist beat! Skinny sweating men with shirts off were hawking their wares at amazing volume, strange sea creatures were laid bare on tables with a makeshift fan doing all the “purifying” needed to keep them fresh! Slabs of unidentified meat hung on wires whilst across the road, the dim sum and dumpling makers moved their goods from bamboo tray to plate, seemingly unaware that a whole different culture was operating just opposite. It was almost as if the road itself was “no man’s land” .....I think we were the only ones to cross it! Spices and curries from all over Thailand and Myanmar were for sale and we bought some red and green curry pastes to try. Cass bought a denim jacket with a picture of a sequined girl applied to its back for just $12; it doesn’t seem to be different from mine that I bought at DJs back home. As we wandered, the market salespeople were offering but not insistent, fresh veges were being sold everywhere in clumps and packs, that mountain dirt still coating them with authenticity. I have waffled on quite terribly here, so I’ll try to be a bit briefer....we’re only half way through the day!!
We spied a little outdoor eatery and after the owner took us out the back to select our dishes we had a prawn curry and rice with chili and cucumber and fish spice on the side all washed down with a lemon tea. Delicious. Back on the train and after changing twice, we arrived in the quite sterile, or so it seemed, banking sector. We scouted around in the back alleys of the Sherwood hotel to spot up market Thai, Japanese, Chinese and western restaurants along with Indian furnishing stores and quaint little bookshops and home made western style cake shops.....worth another visit!
We boldly walked into the Sherwood as if we owned the place and visited Henry’s Bar with its Chesterfield couches and wood paneling before checking the menu at Toscanna, the Italian restaurant. An interesting item was Dom Perignan “free flow” at quite a cost. Does this mean a bottomless glass? If so, we might put our drinking shoes on to give it a try, but no doubt we’ll come out with a wobbly boot!! After soaking up the rarified atmosphere here for a while we walked to Ikea for Cass to buy some place mats and ended up getting a taxi home to give our weary legs a break. Back home, went to the bank, did the shopping and got home just in time to see NZ get a great scare from the Welsh in the rugby, Gordon Bray serenading us in his inimitable style.
A great weekend all round, although we’re a little flat today back at work.....I think we need another weekend to recover.

Just past the nuclear power plant outlet and in the shadows of the Patriot missile battery, all pointed to China, the two intrepid surfers got a rocket ride out into a good 8-10 foot set. Water was rushing into this little inlet and flowing out up past a man made rock wall, the only trouble was that when the rock wall ended, we were out the back in amongst these monsters.
This was how our long weekend began on Thursday morning and after a fair battering, Ross and I joined Cass and Ains in the car for a journey into unexplored territory on the spectacular north east coast of Taiwan. The road followed impossibly sheer cliffs which just seemed to rise as vertically on one side of the road as it dropped away precipitously to rocky shores far below on the other. We drove through Green Bay and onto Keelung, the coastal town and harbour that has cruise ships leaving for Japan and the rest of the South China Sea, an escape route if ever the unthinkable Chinese attack comes! Tracking the coastal road through town and beyond we spied all sorts of interesting coves and points, ripe for further investigation when the surf conditions are right. We turned around at Fulong, a wide, wind swept beach of huge (by Taiwan standards) proportions.
We drove back to Green Bay where we were booked at the Howard Plaza resort, a curious and megalithic hotel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Modern, clean and spacious, the rooms were a delightful surprise, a Disneyland style castle holding all the amenities, like gym, indoor pool, restaurants etc and an outdoor area with lagoon size pools and private beach no less!
We were originally told the hotel was booked out, but after some persistence, they agreed to let us book two double rooms. We were scoffing at their claims until 16 coach loads of school kids descended on the place about 7pm! The kids were pretty well behaved and they left again at 6.30 in the morning, only a lot of open empty rooms indicating that they weren't just a figment of our imagination.
Ross and I surfed our private beach for a couple of hours before a magnificent buffet breakfast (pre-paid!) and we had a great time except for a back injury I sustained by free falling about 2 metres onto the rail of my board. We packed up late (check out at midday) and headed to the point at Jinshan. Another Aussie, Clarky, had just arrived and even though I wasn't relishing the prospect of a paddle out in a stormy, rising swell, I felt compelled to show that no Byron clubby was better than a Newcastle boy! Gritting teeth and protecting back muscles as best I could I managed to get out the back and get a few big boomers before my leg rope broke, leading to an interesting body surf over rocks to retrieve my board from the shallows where it survived with just a few scratches.
Suffice to say that this ridiculous act of bravado saw me lying on the lounge most of the remainder of the weekend, alternating deep heat cream with ice packs.
We did venture out on Saturday to see "Kill Bill", the new Tarantino spatter fest, which we both thought was excellent. The generous lashings of Japanese dialogue were only subtitled in Chinese of course, so I did my best to keep Cass informed of the jist of things, even though the visual almost comic book style was fairly self-explanatory!
Sunday saw the lounge-lying kick in and we were treated to 3 games of world cup rugby and Cass took the opportunity to read a bit of her new book, Sue Grafton's "Q is for Quarry" (ordered from Amazon at some unspeakable price!)
I walked around at work today like Quasimodo due to the back and took a little early mark to get the ice pack on to it. We're not too far away from finishing our latest roll of film and we're hoping to get quite a few good photos to post on our other site (stay tuned!)
It's a funny place Taiwan....we reach the point sometimes where we can appreciate all that it has to offer whilst yearning for home, friends and family, yet at other times we're just totally exasperated with some strange thing or other. This weekend was the former; seeing the north east coast and all its rugged beauty, it was hard to imagine a better place to be, especially in the company of your soul mate.

Thailand certainly proved to be a land of incredible contrasts for me. Just back from a week in Ban Chang, which is in the south of the country not that far from Cambodia. The course I attended was a tutor-training course and I now have a qualification to teach this course for the next 5 years. It's called ESL in the Mainstream and as the name suggests, allows us to run a course to teach classroom teachers how to differentiate their programs to be more inclusive of ESL learners. I was very impressed with the Aussie lecturers, as it is sourced from South Australia.
I had two colleagues from my school in my group of 12 and it was a bit of a double-edged sword. As they waffled on and asked questions about minutia, I cringed and hoped the Aussies wouldn't tar me with the same brush. On the contrary, they were very sympathetic to my plight as the ESL head having to deal with those two nutters! I did a fair bit of networking and met the ESL coordinators from Bangkok Patana, Int School Manila, Beijing Int School and Int School Hong Kong and did a bit of comparing notes etc. I was a bit jealous as they all get heaps of time off for their roles...as much as 60% admin, %40 face-to-face!
To alleviate the pain of the day, I certainly took advantage of the lagoon size pool and the beach of the Gulf of Thailand, which lapped just 50 metres from our rooms. No surf of course, but beautiful sunsets and crystal clear waters were very soothing. I met up with some guys on the course and we went into Pattaya city on 3 occasions after class, ostensibly to do some shopping but really to have a few cleansing ales and see the amazing sights and sounds of this beach town about 3 hours south of Bangkok. We met up with some Dutch guys and watched the South Africans annihilate someone at the Copenhagen Bar, a sprinkling of Pommies and Aussies and lots of Thais added to the great atmosphere. I bought some DVDs at amazing prices ($4 Aus), and various rip off soccer shirts and t-shirts.
The streets of Pattaya were quite overwhelming; a cacophony of sound and colour and people. I read that this town has the highest ratio of bars per metre of road anywhere in the world and that it all started as an R&R spot for the American soldiers in Vietnam. However it started, it doesn't seem to have missed a beat yet!
Jet skis whiz along the beach just a few feet from shore with cruise boats touting for business to go to Ko Samet and Ko Samui, both gorgeous islands sitting out in the gulf with fine silicone sand and views of other idyllic islets.
As you can imagine the food was just out of this world......green curries, red curries, sweet and sour fish, along with heaps more exotic fare. On at least 3 nights, we sat at a little local restaurant just up from the hotel, with cane chairs and tables right out on the sand, watched sunsets, drank Singa beer and ate a succession of wonderful dishes till we could barely move. Our Thai friends from the course and some of the longer term expat "Thailanders" selected magnificent feasts for us...we ate whole fish steamed in chilies and garlic, incredible fried rices and Tom Yum soups (which nearly blew my head off..I literally couldn't speak for 10 minutes after eating one of the versions!!) And fresh prawns cooked behind our table on the wok with fish sauces curry, chili and veges.
Of course, I missed my darling terribly, especially as we had only seen each other for a couple of days after Cassy's camp. I've tried not to wax too lyrically about the food up to now as it is definitely Cassy's favorite........unless I can convince her not to read this, I've had it now!!

After all the excitement of the grand final last week, this weekend is a little of an anti-climax... unless you're into the rugby! We had a great time watching the "Pennies" win last Sunday and had quite a crowd of boys round to share in the footy fever. The "big screen" worked well and we even managed English commentary with the aid of the sound from ABC Asia's telecast that we had coming simultaneously through the TV.

David left for Thailand on Tuesday afternoon and I've had a couple of emails from him. He's not too impressed with the work required for the course but he's managed to find a buddy or two, so the "shopping" trips to Pattaya are a bit of an escape for him. They watched some of the rugby (the South Africa game as well as the All-Blacks) with some new Dutch mates at the "Copenhagen Bar" so I guess it's not too tedious for him!

I had a very busy week until Friday evening. I collected 48 memoirs from my classes to be edited in a very detailed fashion. This consumed my every waking (and not-so-awake) moment from Wednesday till 11:20am Friday. Then I had to teach, so the timing of Cathy Funk's (MS principal) "TGIF" (Thank God it's Friday) bash was great for me. I had a pretty good time and the food was delicious - tasty Indian triangles with yogurt dip, artichoke dip, leg ham and mustard bread rolls, little tuna sandwiches, a selection of great cheese, Belgian chocolate clusters... and plenty of beer and wine.

I slept for over 12 hours - must still have been tired from camp - and just lazed around and read most of the day on Saturday. My slothfulness ensured that I missed going to the beach with Ross and Ainsley but... there's always next weekend!

Today I've done the shopping, washing, ironing and typed up the minutes from our team meetings last week (my turn). I plan to write some first quarter reports now (due Monday, October 20) so that next weekend I can relax with David.

Hope we eventually get some cricket on ABC Asia; presumably it's the rugby that's pushing it off the schedule at the moment.

Grand final fever has gripped Taipei as the Chinese locals and ex-pats alike eagerly await the big game which will be broadcast live here at 5pm. Parties are being planned the length and breadth of the island as an unprecedented interest has blossomed in the great game of rugby league almost overnight.
Well, in reality, I'm sure there will be a small crowd of people at the Brass Monkey bar downtown, at Tienmu's own Green Bar and at our place for the big game. We've borrowed a data projector from school as well as a local video player to decode the signal and have tested it out. It throws a picture up on our loungeroom wall, which rivals the size of the biggest screen anywhere! There were many problems along the way.....
Firstly, I discovered that our digital set top box, which decodes the ABC, would not transfer its signal to video (about 4 hours). Then I realized that the Chinese video has no audio outlets meaning we would only get sound from the projector. The local cable channels will load on to the video so I looked up the TV times for the Star Sports channel and found that they too were broadcasting the game live. The only problem possible will be if they don't take the Australian audio and decide to commentate over the top. We can overcome that by streaming the 2GB commentary over the internet in the study in the adjoining room. So we can watch the pre-game stuff at 4.30 on the ABC and then hook the data projector to the Video for the game at 5 on the Star sports channel. Fingers crossed it will all work out!
Another slight problem was what to feed the visitors. We thought of good footy fare: pies (no), sausage rolls (no), frankfurts (no), cabanossi etc (no). We've decided to go and get some cheese, biscuits, chips etc and a couple of buckets of KFC! Beer is, thankfully, no problem.
Cass got back from camp on Friday quite exhausted and glad to be back to our clean house and comfortable bed. She declined the invitation to go to the beach yesterday and I wish I had too. Ainsley stayed in the car marking the whole time and Ross and I attempted to get out the back in a howling gale, supremely messy 5-6 foot swell. It was a real storm surf and we couldn't get out and I came back in after about 1/2 an hour without catching one wave. Ross persevered for a while longer before we packed up and came home. We also went on Friday after school and similarly disappointing surf, but not before we retrieved the car from it's parking spot around the corner only to find the driver's side window smashed! We cleaned out the mess and Mr. Lee, our landlord, took me around to a windscreen/window repair place and negotiated a time (8.30 Sat morning) and a price (just $45 Aust.!) for the replacement. I went round in the morning and we were on our way to the beach in about 20 minutes. The incredible level of service here is something we really miss when we get back home. They would have done it on the spot if we'd wanted that as well.
Work has continued to be very busy and I will need to leave work for my substitute when I leave on Tuesday night for a week in Thailand. I'm attending an ESL Tutor training course, which will give me some sort of certification and a license to train classroom teachers to help them work with an ESL teacher and ESL kids in a team teaching environment. It costs a bomb just for the course (an amazing $2,500 U.S. !!) let alone the airfares and accommodation. My predecessor as ESL head had already received full funding for this trip and this transferred to me when I got my new position. I'm not that keen on going especially as Cass has only just got back, but it's part of the job.
Anyway, we're looking forward to a great game today......many people will know that I was an Easts supporter before Newcastle joined the comp but.....they just keep knocking the Knights out of the semi finals! I'll have mixed feelings today so I'll just enjoy watching the game. Cass will get all her black gear on to support the "Penny" panthers, they're black cats so there's really no choice for her!

I'm writing this on Tuesday, in a small window of opportunity at work. We’re suffering from the 3rd great computer breakdown. The poor old thing might be on its last legs, I think. Sunday morning it loaded up perfectly so we could check the tides and wave prediction before heading to the beach. Sunday evening after the football it just refused to start up except in safe mode. One good thing that has come from it is that I’ve discovered through necessity how to access my email remotely, which means we can use our usual email all year round now, instead of switching to hotmail when we aren’t in Taiwan.
Our weekend was pretty standard, with Ross and I scurrying off to the beach on Friday afternoon and surfing till dark (which is getting earlier and earlier as winter approaches) before heading home. The car is still going really well and does about 200 km each weekend, so let’s hope it continues! Carl and I had a couple of beers on Friday night and were met with the curious sight of the “master” at the Wow wow bar doing some (what we thought were) renovations. He’s a very lackadaisical character and we were shocked at this strange change in work ethic. But worse was to come: he informed us in broken English that the bar will close. Carl and I treasure our times there, mainly because it is a little run-down, certainly not trendy and never seems to have anyone much in it. We had a sneaking suspicion that this might happen one day, for the very reasons I just stated. We often wondered how he made any money and now we know. He didn’t!
We had a bit of a sleep in on sat morning before heading to the “Green Bar” for the AFL grand final. There was a crew of Aussies there and we had a great time, yelling abuse at the ref, the players and sometimes each other! The bar put on a great lunch of Indian curries which we ate with great relish, but it put our plans of an Indian tea out the window. The Board party at the American Club was on Saturday night and we thought that while a stack of people were there, we’d take the opportunity to get to the Indian “Spice Shop” without running into a lot of school people. Anyway, best laid plans and all that. We ended up having a delicious dinner of green onion pancakes bought from our little stall in Ker Chiang Rd, dressing them up with a couple of eggs and Tabasco for the princely sum of $3 (had leftovers the next day as well!)
Sunday was beach day and we were once again in a self imposed media ban as both finals of the footy were to be broadcast in the afternoon. We had a pretty good time, the surf wasn’t great, but fun little waves provided a bit of entertainment. Our little beach igloo is still going great guns, Cass declaring that she just couldn’t come to the beach without it! The sun is still intensely hot; I constantly need to re-apply sunscreen while we’re there. The football was good when we got home and I had mixed feelings about Easts. I followed this Sydney team right until Newcastle joined the comp and feel I should support them now, but I just can’t get past the fact that they’ve knocked the Knights out 4 out of the last 5 years! We’re thinking of having a few people round next week for the grand final which is on our ABC box live.
Cass is away at camp this week and I’m a bit lonely already without her. She’ll be back on Friday, but then I’m going to Thailand for a conference next Tuesday for another week!
Well, this is certainly taking longer than I thought. Work is calling and I’m afraid I’ve raved on with some mind numbing minutia, so I’ll sign off now.

Aching shoulders, bruised ribs and sore arms, as well as bites and small lacerations. No, not the result of a fight or a game of football, but surfing! I've taken the day off the trip to the beach today to get a little chance to recover. Because we make the trip over the mountains (a 2 hour round trip) we think that we should make the most of it, subsequently spending far too much time in the water. It certainly has been enjoyable the last couple of weeks, this weekend again seeing some decent swell and waves, although as mentioned, we've been bitten by some kind of jellyfish and suffered a few little cuts courtesy of some barnacled rocks at low tide.
After a surf till dark on Friday afternoon, we came back to town to go to Cathy's 30th birthday party, where both Cass and I had a great time. We've certainly sussed out who we really want to spend time with here and, as Chad and Cathy are fairly like-minded, the invitees were a great bunch of personalities and nationalities. Chad had organized the party to be held at the "Green Bar" and had asked the owner to pay for the food, as he was bringing in about 50 customers. Sensibly the owner agreed and we had home cooked Thai delights as well. It's the first time Cathy had a big party out since Levi was born a few months ago, so she had a ball.
Ross and I headed out early yesterday for more surf, trying out our new ratchet tie downs to secure the boards. We're no engineers, so it took us far longer than it should have to work out a decent system, but we got there in the end! They worked very well and we think we can do without a rack for a bit longer yet. After surfing ourselves to exhaustion, Ross drove us back (he has his licenses as well now) just in time for me to have some lunch before Cass and I headed down to the Living Mall to see "The Italian Job". What a fantastic movie! I was initially worried that I'd fall asleep. But there was no possibility of that as it was action and intrigue aplenty. We tried to go to one of our favorite restaurants a few train stops down, but "Mr. Fish" has gone! We were pretty disappointed as this was the only fish and chip shop in Taipei as far as we know. Anyway, we had a look at few DVDs without purchasing, than came back home and fried eggs on toast! They were yummy.
Today sees us enjoying a nice lazy Sunday morning, reading some clippings from the Newcastle Herald that Mum sends over, eating raison toast and drinking coffees. We're in a self imposed media ban as we will watch the delayed telecast of the Warriors game here at 1.30 followed straight after by Storm and Bulldogs. It's Carl's birthday on Monday, so we've arranged to go out to tea with his family after the football to celebrate that. He's been flat out lately taking his soccer team (he coaches the senior boys) to Thailand and also round the island here. He doesn't know whether he'll do it next year or not. It's a shame, because he's by a long way the best soccer coach they'll ever see.
Hope things are going well for you at home, thanks for the emails!

Tuesday, yet still my shoulders, neck and back are aching! What a great weekend of surf. After our incredible “Big Friday” afternoon, we headed back to the beach on Saturday, with our usual supplies of esky, food, drinks and sun tent. The swell had decreased, but not by much....it was still very difficult to get out as the typhoon which subsequently devastated Korea was pushing some big storm swells in to the Taiwanese northern coastline.
We saw some suicidal jumps off artificial jetties and breakwaters in an effort to get out the back. One poor guy was lucky to be alive after jumping at a very silly moment and being smashed into the rocks by the next set. They’ve obviously seen other people do this: but a typhoon swell is not the time to try it for the first time!
Ross and I both got out and enjoyed the 2nd best surf we’ve had for a long time. There was a crowd on the point, but not many guys were keen to take off on the sets, so we got a lot of waves.
We took our usual hour to get home and watched some footy, before having a fairly early night. Ross and I headed off again at 6 am Sunday, but the swell had dropped and it was back to normal. We had a bit of a muck around, and then headed home to see the Knights bow out of this year’s comp. I was pretty proud of the way they gutsed it out in the last few weeks and they certainly weren’t disgraced, just a little outclassed on the day. Ross was over the moon with the amazing performance of the Warriors, but even he thinks they’ll probably lose next week; they’re so hot and cold.
I was stoked to hear that Wayne had won his soccer and a little about the celebrations and as always, Mum, Xris and Val, Thurza and Sue have kept us going with some great emails, phone calls, videos or newspaper clippings. These things help to sustain us; they are so very important to us.
We have another professional development day on Friday, so we are looking forward to a 4 day kiddie’s week. By the way, those Tesco sausages were not quite as good as Aussie ones, but I have given them the thumbs up!

Just a short entry today, as we're heading to the beach in about 1/2 an hour. I am so excited! Ross and I left school a little earlier yesterday at 2.30 after a day of unit planning and headed to Jinshan beach to try to catch a bit of the typhoon swell at the top of the island. Our hopes were high for some ridable waves after two ultra-flat weekends in a row. We were greeted by near perfect 5-6 foot left handers peeling off a man made breakwater about 100 metres off shore! We couldn't believe our eyes and rushed to get in the water. Unfortunately there was no natural paddle out area and we battled to get out beyond the bank, which was pounding relentlessly. I managed to get out and enjoyed some of the best surf I've had for a year or more, including Australia! I paddled about 10 metres further out and about the same further inside than the Taiwanese boys and still found it a manageable takeoff. The waves were smooth, big and powerful. Some of the Taiwanese guys were putting on a nice show and I was amazed to see one of them really carving up a wave when I was paddling back out. I discovered when I got out that it was an Aussie from Margaret River, who has promised to get me a copy of a DVD that he and his mates have made of some "secret" spots on the west coast.
Well I have an aching back, neck and arms, but can't wait to get out again this morning to see if that swell is still hanging around. Cass and Ains are coming this morning as well, so we'll have a nice lazy day even if the swell has died. By the way, did I tell you I am excited!!

Two more dead flat days at the beach were not the highlight of the weekend. Cass and Ains came out with Ross and me to the beach yesterday and once again, we set up our little igloo, had our esky (NZ 'chilly bin') and Ross and I tried to tame the massive swell rolling in from the South China Sea. We had lots of fun and the best was the performance of the girls on the boards. Going for their maiden surf was great fun and Cass and Ainsley both got a few great little foamies and enjoyed the sensation of catching a few waves. Much to Ross' horror, Ainsley persevered for a while and managed to stand up on one wave. After his story to her about how hard this surfing caper is, he was a little taken aback!
When the surf was flat today, we were so disgusted that we just turned around and came back without even having a swim. At least we can do something else with our day off after leaving for the beach at 6am. A new Tesco store has opened in Taipei and we plan to head down on the scooter to check it out. A British chain, it is rumoured to have cook in curries, a home brand style of marmite (might mean the end of the eternal carting of Vegemite from Oz if it's any good) and, best of all, freshly made British style sausages! Until you live here for a while, you just can't imagine how very exciting this is!
Anyway, we'll reserve judgment until we check it all out and I'm sure we'll run into half the faculty down there today as everyone is pretty excited. There hasn't been much action on the movie front, so we haven't been to the Living Mall for a while, but our trip to the night market last weekend was good, Cass getting some sunnies and we got that congested hot crush of people feeling again (did I say that was good??)
We've had some great newsy emails from Mum, Thurza and Sue as well as Cassy's Mum and Dad.....if you don't see your name on this list, how about dropping us a line and making our day? We've been stoked to see the Knights going so well without Johnsy, but even our red and blue eyes are not seeing us flying back for the grand final this year. Our ABC Asia Pacific channel just gets better and better as ALL the AFL and NRL semis are being shown all the way through to the respective grand finals. (Please take note my wonderful, reliable video taper, Sue....have a holiday till next season!)
It only took about 1/2 an hour to find a park today after coming back from the beach, pretty good really. This brings me to an interesting 'fact', which I heard the other day. Although it may be urban legend, first hand experience makes me think this is true: There are not enough parks in Taipei to accommodate all the cars here, apparently about 5000 short, so the city relies on a massive number actually being on the road at any one time. Anyway, that car will sit there till next Saturday now and the trusty scooter will be called into service this afternoon, our legs through the week!

We've bought a car! Well, actually we've bought 1/2 a car as we've gone in with our friends from NZ, Ross and Ainsley, to purchase it and share the ongoing costs. We're really excited, as it is a '91 Toyota Corona in very good condition. The car was considered necessary for our 'new' surfing lifestyle on the weekends, as the school van was expensive to rent and very dodgy as well as inducing near car sickness on the winding road up the mountain and down the other side to the coast. We went out mid-week to a car parts warehouse to try to get some roof racks, but they said they couldn't fit them on this model car. We bought some ocky straps and just tied them to the roof, with the straps going around inside. This works very well for our hour long trip to the beach and we'll try to scout some racks out before we head off on any bigger adventures.
Our maiden trip yesterday resulted in dead flat surf, but Cass and Ains came along and were most impressed with the vehicle. We had an esky in the boot with sandwiches and drinks, our little Cancer Council beach igloo and of course the boards on top. We had a great day with all our new tricks! One amazing sight in the flat glassy conditions was 30 odd surfers in the water waiting for waves! Some kind of surf school has been set up and these novices were trying to catch the pathetic little 6 inches of slop available. As we said later: we don't think many will come back after that introduction, which will leave all the more waves for us. We were really lamenting our forgetfulness in not bringing a camera; partly to record our first trip, but mainly to save this most amazing sight, which really had to be seen to be believed.
Today, I drove Ross and Carl over for"boys" surf, leaving at 6 am, only to be greeted by the same lake-like conditions of yesterday. Still we had a loll around in the surprisingly clean water and, as always, a great laugh.
We got back late morning, and as I write this we're looking forward to watching the Knights vs. St George game, which will be on ABC Asiapacific in about 30 minutes. After the football we're planning to take the scooter down to the night market to get Cass some cheapy sunnies for the bike and just have a look around, as we haven't been there since we came back.
Our week at school was busy as usual, but mercifully, my ESL Parent Night seemed to very successful, everyone doing their bit very professionally. I was very nervous doing my first one, but my colleagues assured me later that I didn't appear so and did a "good job". At least they're diplomatic!
Cassy's teaching partner seems to be chilling out a bit and they're beginning to form a good relationship, so that's a load off her mind too.
Of course the really "interesting" part of this whole car ownership deal is the eternal search for a park. We won't be using except it on the weekend so after we take it out we have to drive around for up to a 1/2 hour looking for a park. We've put our name down for a park at work, but it will be about 18 months before we secure one. If you've seen the Seinfeld episodes where they won't go out because they have the perfect park, you'll begin to understand the feeling we have when we get a good one......

We were glad to survive the week with all the classes. It's not quite finally over as we have to complete a couple of assignments online by next Sunday but at least we don't have to sit through any more classes. On Friday night the professor let us out a bit early so as to adjourn the lesson to the "Green Bar" for some liquid refreshment. We both felt like "skipping class" but thought it would be poor form. We ended up quite enjoying ourselves, having a couple of cleansing ales chatting with our classmates. As we had our medical the next morning at 8 am (postponed from the end of last year) we remained fairly circumspect and made it home by about 9:30 pm.
The medical was as much fun as usual - height, weight, blood pressure, wee in a cup and pour it into the tiny test tubes yourself (good test of fine motor skills!!), eye test, chest x-ray, reflex tests (!!), organ check (is your liver in the right place?), and blood taken. A great way to start the day!!
Carl, Ross, Sean, Marcus and myself then went to the beach and though the waves were small, we had a good time (probably aided by the load of crap we were all talking!)
While we were out, poor old Cass did some drudgework like the shopping, cleaning the house and doing the ironing for the week (while watching the Storm v Dragons game on TV.)
We had a quiet night at home last night - satay prawns and "Idiot Box"(new DVD bought at home).
Today we went to the movies to see "Gangs of NY". Usually we get movies here at the same time as Oz, if not earlier, but this one was delayed for some reason. It was long and violent, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
We've had some wonderful emails from Cassy's parents, Mum and Sue, including news from Sue about the birth of Matt Gidley's baby just after she arrived home from the delivery! We also received a video from Sue with some "Block" episodes, which we got addicted to back home, Footy show and of course, football. Thanks Bud!
I have to present the ESL Parent Information night on Tuesday and after the inevitable follow up interviews with parents who need clarification I'm hoping my super hectic pace will lessen a little: at least enough to allow me to get to the gym more often. As I write this, I'm listening to the radio (2GB) from home warning of storms, while thunder bursts here and rain buckets down in tropical fashion. Some things are the same everywhere!

This week was up there with the busiest we've ever experienced. My new job has presented many challenges, not the least of which has been my inability to teach one lesson after 5 days of non-stop meetings, both attended and run. Apart from that, letters had to be written, decisions made and books, furniture and even food was ordered. I seem to have quite a sizable budget, which is comforting, but the paperwork to go with it is also rather daunting. The crowning glory was to discover that the class I was supposed to lose to do the job could not be done by anyone else, so I'm doing that as well.
Cass has had her fair share of problems this week as well, as 2 of the 4 people on her team are new, and she has been guiding her most direct partner around the super size of the T.A.S. machine. Cass thinks she will be pretty good to work with, but at the moment is displaying some typical, nervous behaviours of a new teacher. She also seems to be pretty anal, but we're both sure she'll relax a little as the year goes on.
Anyway, to say that we've hit the ground running is an understatement; more like coming from a dead stop to a full sprint in a few days!
Because of our hectic week we took the opportunity not to attend the belated recognition ceremony and the following BBQ and drinks on Friday night.
On Saturday, I had booked the school van and we drove the hour or so over the mountains to Jinshan beach to test out our new boards. Ross, Carl and Shaun (Aussie school psychologist) joined me and we got a nice clean 2-3 foot swell, which gave us plenty of good fun. We had to leave at 12 so we could get home in time for the rugby league (yes!) game featuring the Knights vs. Warriors. When we arrived back in Taiwan we were absolutely delighted to find that ABC Asiapacific had decided to show 2 NRL games each weekend: the Friday night game on Saturday afternoon and the channel 9 Sunday game on Sunday afternoon at 1.30!
Anyway, Ross joined us to watch the Knights beat the Warriors (go Kurt) and then stayed to watch the Australia vs. All Blacks on Chinese cable live. Carl, Hiroko and their boys came round for that as well as Shaun and Marcus (Grade 1 Aussie teacher). We had a great time and Ross felt better as the Kiwis won.
We've had a super lazy Sunday, except for an hour or 2 we spent at school (shock/horror...may have to do this for a while just to get everything done). We watched the NRL game this afternoon and Cass is doing a little more schoolwork before we'll head out in the heat for a little walk down to the local shops.
Cass and I are both getting ready for our Master's course (our last..yeh!) which starts tomorrow........this week looks like being even busier.

Taipei's "wall of heat" was the worst thing about arriving back on Friday evening but Mr. Lee (our downstairs neighbour and landlord) greeting us like long lost children made up for it. The house was in good condition and our earthquake-proofing seemed to have worked, except for one overflowing closet camel, which spilt in Cassy's wardrobe. We've spent the past couple of days shopping, cleaning and preparing for work tomorrow.
What a fantastic holiday we had. 12 weeks of Aussie "winter" was rather spoiling and we're wondering if we can still teach after all that time! We enjoyed walking the "Bather's Way" nearly every day, I surfed and we both watched whales making their way up the coast as we sat and ate breakfast or lunch. Apart from catching up with friends and family, the highlights of our trip came near the end in our bike trip up the coast and down the freezing hinterland and seeing the famous mother and baby whales cavorting close to shore just off Sailor's rock at Merewether beach.
Our bike trip was something of an experience when we got to Tenterfield after crossing the Great Dividing Range from Casino. We were so cold we had to pit stop in a coffee shop for an hour or so. However nothing could prepare us for the town of Glen Innes which that morning had registered their coldest temp of the year at -14 degrees! Anyway, many adventures were had, not the least of which was scraping ice off the bike before we could get going in the mornings.
We've just come back from dinner at our favourite curry restaurant after dropping in at Chad and Cathie's new place (very big, new and impressive) to see their new baby, Levi. He's a very cute boy and settling in well for an 11 week old who has already traveled from Taipei to Colorado then to Minnesota and back to Taipei!
Chad and Cathie presented us with a beautiful rug featuring some of the rock formations in Colorado, which we will eventually hang on a wall here.
Well a great weekend, the Knights flogged the Cowboys and our digital set top box is showing 2 NRL games on ABC Asia pacific each weekend now. In fact we watched the Storm vs. Bulldogs game here at 1.30 (3.30 back in Australia) 1/2 an hour before it screened back home. Things just get better and better!
The only slight spanner in the works is the prospect of attending and running numerous meetings in the next few days and starting my next Master's subject on Friday.....we won't have much time to relax I suspect this week.

Well, things have been pretty interesting here over the past week or so, even if we have been locked up for most of it. We've had Health authorities, delivery people coming to the door in masks; people ringing each day to check that we're well and that we haven't done "the bolt". Spacemen types are being sent to pick up garbage...it's certainly been an eye-opener.
Best news of all is that our colleague does not have SARS after all, which is a huge relief for all concerned. Our schoolboy and his Mum may yet have it.... they are up and down with fever. The most dramatic thing for us is, I suppose, the alarming rate at which the disease seems to be spreading in Taipei city. Taipei now has the very dubious distinction of being on the same "high" transmission rating with WHO as the infamous source city in Guandong province, with cases rising exponentially each day.
We can't wait to get the hell out of here and we've managed to negotiate an early passage home with our bosses. We were supposed to go back to school for two days this Thursday and Friday after an early lifting of quarantine, but we successfully argued that surely we could leave on Thursday evening if all our work was done. Sanity prevailed and we and Carl and a number of other people booked what seems like our 50th flight out in the last few weeks. Our poor long suffering travel agent!
Anyway, we have reports to write, grades to record while we are here at home and cleaning up of rooms to be done when we get back. The best bonus will be not only to escape an increasingly sick city, but also to enjoy 3 more weeks of holiday. 12 weeks back in Merewether might not be too bad!
I won't write here again till early/mid August...I plan to enjoy a semi-literate existence for a while; if it's more taxing than reading a TV or a form guide, I won't be doing it!

We're under a 14-day home quarantine as of Wednesday afternoon. We were corralled at the auditorium at school and had to fill in forms stating our home address, personal particulars etc and are awaiting people from the Bureau of Health to ring and check on us. We're not to leave our place under any circumstances. Our garbage will be collected by the Environmental Protection Agency and we have elected not to receive food from the Health Department as it is sourced from a hospital a few blocks away that has many SARS patients. We wish we were dreaming this time but unfortunately, we're not.
It all started with news of a meeting on Wednesday afternoon and we were to tell the kids that all after school sport etc had been cancelled. This is a massive step for our school, so we knew that something major had happened. We subsequently discovered that one of our teachers was listed as a probable SARS patient and we already had a high school boy listed as well. The boy's father has since died, although the boy himself appears to be recovering. We had a staff meeting on Monday, ironically to discuss the SARS issue, at which the teacher was present, so the city Health Department has put a blanket quarantine on all 250 faculty.
School has been closed for the year (end date was to be June 6) but we'll be required to go in and write reports etc for a few days at the end of the quarantine. Carl was thinking quickly and managed to book the last 3 seats for him and us on a flight leaving on May 22 so we'll be back after that. Hiroko and the boys were already booked to go back yesterday and they arrived safely in Australia this morning.
It seems bizarre that it's become so hard to get a flight with airlines flying 1/2 empty planes, but the reality is that when a place like this closes, with 3000 families trying to get out at the same time, and airlines cutting schedules, it's very hard to find a seat.
Our next task, of course, is to stay sane during the quarantine. I'll do some karate each day so I can sleep at night and no doubt we'll watch plenty of DVDs and some football tapes etc. We're so pleased to have our new digital TV feed of ABC Asia pacific as well. I really think we'll be better placed than many to weather this time, although we'll have to come up with a plan to get some more food, milk etc come the second week.
Wish us luck!

I paddled out the back again after getting a nice little left-hander into the beach. The waves were becoming a little more consistent and I'd spent the best part of 4 hours in the water; nothing like good surf to cleanse the soul. I know many of you will be saying.."WAKE HIM UP, HE'S DREAMING!" and it almost seemed like that at times but I've had a surf in TAIWAN!
The reality of the surf is a little less romantic, when you consider the size (very small), quality (messy) location (just off a power station near a man-made concrete breakwater) and beach and water quality (unlike our bathing beach round the point this beach is NOT regularly cleaned and we just ignored bits of rubbish floating by and all over the beach)
However, all negatives aside, another whole world is opening up here in Taiwan. Locals and more experienced surfers of Taiwanese waves say it does get better and on a good day at other north east coast beaches can be just like home. A mate, Ross, was so excited to have his new board and was really keen to have his first surf. As I was in the unenviable position of "the guy with a driver's license" I had to get the school van booked up for the Saturday. Ross' wife and Cass were all set to join us until we discovered that someone had taken all the seats out to cart stuff around! Anyway, the girls were very understanding and sent us off for our inaugural Taiwanese surf (Ross' first ever!) We were in the water for about 5 hours so we certainly made the most of it.
Sunday saw me up at 7 to get to dragon boat race practice on time. Our whole crew was greeted down at the wharf with a big sign of Chinese characters, which a friendly passer-by translated for us. No more practices and no more race day because of SARS. We were devastated, mainly because we were really enjoying it and were looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves come race days. We had a real swish wood fired pizza lunch out on Sunday then some DVD action in the afternoon. We've kind of been warned off more populated areas of town, so thought we'd stay put. We've got more flights booked home now, but the bummer is that they don't leave till 4 days after we break up and come back 3 days early......we're not impressed in missing a week's holiday back home but seem to have little other choice.
The school is at a Level 2 readiness for SARS cases, the first student may have the disease, but he hasn't been on campus for more than a week. We are getting trained in a new software system that the school has bought so we can teach from home if need be and all 3000 students staff and faculty will be issued a digital thermometer this week so we can take our temperature at the gate before we are allowed in....any elevated temps, turn around, go home, and quarantine yourself for 72 hours.... I'm wondering how I can manipulate those things!

Cassy's cousin, Ashley left us at about 10am this morning. We got Daniel to pick him up in one of his flash Mercs so he didn't feel too plebian being in scummy Taipei!
We had a good time over the past few days and we think we've shown Ashley a little bit of normal living in Taipei life as opposed to hotel/meeting/restaurant/looking at very ugly part of town mentality. We introduced the poor fellow to variously intoxicated Americans, Aussies and Kiwis on Friday night but spared him the baby shower we were supposed to "bring him along" to on Saturday night.
We ventured to the night market after spending an afternoon exploring the MRT and the flash shopping centre in the newer area of town.
We watched "About Schmidt" on DVD at home last night and I just arrived back in time to say goodbye to Ashley after another early morning session of dragon boat race practice this morning. Even though I do say myself, we're actually getting pretty good! I got a turn sitting at the flag catcher's spot today and these boats are pulling some pretty awesome power at times. The surge from a big effort run of strokes is very strong, and it was also interesting to see how hard our coxswain has to work to keep the thing running straight. He's an amazing teacher...very patient and seems to know how to push us to our limit before easing off (he's an Aussie of course!)
The other potentially very exciting bit of news about Dragon boat Festival is when it is on. We race on the weekend of May 31-June 1, but if we continue to win we might be back for the finals on the following Wednesday. The school is sponsoring our entry so we.....have to have the day off! Now there's some extra incentive, although we suspect it might be like a Taiwanese novice rugby league team coming to Newcastle trying to beat the Knights with just a couple of months training!
Anyway, lazy day today, watched some Knights on tape (thanks Sue!), read some Newcastle Herald in clippings (thanks Mum!) and organized some new keys for our place back home after some scumbag tried to break in the other day (thanks Xris and Val!)
I'm going on an overnight camp with the grade 3s on Thursday-Friday and you can imagine how overjoyed I am at the prospect.......
Our latest flight home has been cancelled and we're trying to book tickets via Japan, Thailand and even Auckland. Wish us luck, but even it means a slow boat away from China we're coming home in June!

We have been pleased to hear that Chris and Val arrived back safely from their HK and China adventure and what a trip they had. With the SARS virus scaring away nearly all the tourists they were treated like royalty and had a ball.
Carl and I had a beer with "the Gurecki" on Friday afternoon before we headed down with Carl's family to meet Cass for tea at a new Indian/Japanese curry house just round the corner from our place (Kari Curry!). It was fantastic, could end up being a favorite of ours...it's sure close enough. I had Cassy's newly arrived golf clubs in tow (!) For those who know us, you'll realise that golf is not a sport that either Cass or I indulge in, but we both have a set of clubs now, courtesy of a factory, which had gone bankrupt, closed down and flogged off all its stock. I wont be so indelicate as to reveal their cost (mainly because I'm not lugging any home for people!!), but they have graphite shafts etc and are rated by far better judges than I as excellent sets.
After a top lazy Saturday morn reading Mum's great newspaper clippings and marveling, amongst other things at Newcastle's spiraling real estate prices we headed off to the Shin Shin cinemas. We'd been there before, but were suitably unimpressed with their '70s fit out, sound and comfort. After a total refit we were very impressed. Big roomy new seats, big screens and great sounds plus a discount for TAS faculty all made this worth a visit...we'll be back!
We stopped at the night market for Cass to get a new watch battery and also bought some delicious Indian takeaway, cooked in front of us at a street stall.
Sunday saw me up at 6am to go Dragon boat racing training! We will compete in six weeks time in the Taipei dragon boat festival, a massive festival here as you can imagine and we're trying to beat the Chinese at their own game. Time will tell how successful we'll be, but if aching muscles today are any indication, we'll be putting in a big effort!!
Home at 10 for brekky and then a trip to the beach on Blacky, carting our chicken sangas (yes Val, Cassy did make them), thermos of ice water, boardies, towels and.....our new pop up beach shelter! As it folds into a large disc and has straps, I strap it on my back, Cass has a backpack and off we go. We stayed at the beach for 4 1/2 hours, unheard of in pre-shade times. As it takes an hour to get to the coast, we don't want to waste the trip. It was great; we read our books (True History of the Kelly Gang for me) had heaps of swims and even dazzled the locals with some more body surfing.
Back to work totally relaxed today, I was secretly pleased to see that my 17 fellow crewmembers were in varying states of distress. Oh well, better get over it soon; 5.30am on Wednesday is our next training time!!

I went to Chad's "baby shower" on Friday night and we had a ball. I helped some of the boys move some ice and chairs around before adjourning to a pub down the road for a few pre-party drinks with Carl, our NZ mate Ross and the "amazing Gurecki" who is a New Yorker who seems to dislike his countrymen intensely and has a tendency to go off in a kind of Seinfeld on speed/Tourette's syndrome fit at regular intervals, especially with a few sherbets on board. With such amusing company, we managed to arrive late at the party in full swing. All men, different ages, nationalities, ideas etc all had one thing in common; they were mates of Chad's, so we ended up having a great time. Suffice to say that Saturday morning probably had many of the participants reaching for the painkillers and the fluids!
On Saturday night, a surfie colleague from the U.S. rang with news of a surfboard stand at a trade show downtown. Cass and I investigated this on Sunday morning and after wandering around looking at sporting goods for an hour and a half (Cass was thrilled as you can imagine!) I walked out having bought a board! It's a 7' 3" thruster with fcs fins which means I can remove them for traveling and a hard bag for the plane....Bali reef breaks, Sumatra or even the Maldives look out! (Cass says "Maldives")
Anyway, it was pretty cheap, as the guy didn't want to take all his display stock back to China. We (the T.A.S. boys) actually bought 6 boards from him yesterday, so we might even try to give them some action here on a weekend or wait for some typhoon swell.
This purchase was funded by Chris and Val who left me some serious birthday cash so...thanks!...you can see it didn't take long to spend.
We ate lunch at the American Tex/Mex restaurant Chilis, which although offering beautiful tastes, made us realize why we usually eat locally. We paid $85 for lunch, no wine!!
I was delighted to get some e-cards and messages from family and friends today. My aunty and uncle timed the sending of a card to perfection when I picked it up today at the post office as well. Thanks to all, although these "in your forties" birthdays are pretty forgettable really!
We've booked some alternative flights home, as the school might not allow us to go through Hong Kong unless SARS gets a bit better. We're more worried about not getting our frequent flyer miles! Just thought I'd add a touch more here as i spoke to Mum for about 20 minutes on the phone just now. It was lovely to have a little chat on my birthday........

After our drive on Wednesday we invited the Lochrin family down to our place for drinks which we disposed of very well, after Carl had spent a hot day golfing and we had been around the world. We had a great time having beers on the verandah and Chris and Val were able to catch up with Carl and Hiroko, Steven and Sean. They were able to marvel at how big the boys were getting before we headed off to Ulis for tea. Rainy day Thursday saw us camped in and having a good chat about this and that before Chris and I went out to get the famous Ker Qiang "pizza" This onion patty is flopped and crushed and transferred from bamboo pot to bamboo pot before we bring it home and add egg, cheese and some spicy sauces to the rather bland mix. Delicious(and cheap)! In the afternoon we went on the MRT to Nanking East rd, where Chris and I went to the French electronics and book store FNAC, while Cassy took her Mum to Ikea before we experienced some rush hour MRT (tried to get SARS, but we weren't successful; I've know idea why, because we were sneezed on by about 1000 masked and sniffly people!) Ocean's 11 on DVD for evening.
Rain again on Friday, but a slight break saw us once again up to Yangminshan where we saw the famous flower clock and also saw the very famous Taiwan blue magpie up close!! We walked up to a viewing pavilion as well but the rain and mist spoilt any sweeping vistas on this day. Carl rang and said they were off to Teppanyaki for tea, so we invited ourselves along to that. Chris and Val had enjoyed this style of cooking last time and did so again before the boys (Chris, Carl and I) headed off to the Green Bar for a few cleansing ales. I swung by Chad's place on the way to invite him and Cathy encouraged him to go along (he didn't need much arm twisting) even though she's just a few weeks away from having their first baby.
We had a lot of beers and a lot of laughs, mostly at my expense, especially when all 3 were threatening to go to the fabled and much maligned "Mama's Bar" at 2 in the morning!! Thankfully sanity prevailed and we went home then: Chris was good enough to pretend to his wife and mine that he didn't have a hangover the next day!
On Saturday the 5th Cass had a great birthday and received cards from her Mum and Dad of course, along with my Mum and Sue. Later on in the day, we went to the movies and saw "Chicago", which was very entertaining (even though it's not my favourite type of movie) and then we had dinner in a great Thai restaurant within the Living Mall complex. The whole experience was enlivened, for Chris and Val, by riding on the scooter! Val accompanied me on the way downtown and Chris was my passenger on the way home. Cass went with the other party on each trip on the MRT. Even though it was a relatively quiet weekend, due to "Tombsweeping Day" (!! yes, they really do it!), the ride was quite thrilling for them. (see previous "scooter" entry for an idea!)
We had a wonderful relaxing day in the "Garden of Perfected Benevolence" the next day where we had a picnic lunch and a wander before heading to the crazy excitement of Shilin "night markets". Val bought some good CDs and I managed to buy a "bargain" backpack for $5, only for the zip to fall apart the first time I used it. Sunday night back home reminded me again about the joys of having a car in Taipei. I dropped everyone off before driving around Tienmu for 40 minutes looking for a park. I eventually gave up and parked it illegally at school overnight and walked back home!
Back to school with a partial quarantine on Monday, home for Cass to share a belated birthday drink of champagne with her parents (Moet & Chandon no less!) then out to Fangs Chinese restaurant for a farewell dinner. Chris and Val went off in Daniel's Mercedes limo for the airport at 7 am Monday morning as we headed off to work. It was a great week and we're looking forward to having more good times come June/July.

We've had a great week with Cassy's parents here and have enjoyed our "Spring Break with heaps of fine food, drink, company and adventure!
I won't try to mention everything we did, but rather give a bit of an overview. We gave the "olds" the use of our bedroom and ensuite for their stay, which gave us a chance to check out the famous Ed's Bed, which we bought some time ago...it was pretty good!
We had borrowed a little Laser from some friends here so were able to take Chris and Val a little further afield and really give them a taste of some of the places we've managed to see since we bought our scooter (which will be referred to as "Blackie" from here on!)
Yangminshan was an early target for the car and the steaming fumaroles put on a real volcanic show for the visitors before we went to Buffalo Meadows, enjoying a relaxing walk as well as very close contact with some impressively massive bovines. The camera got a workout and we had a great day. The next day was one of of the finest we've ever experienced in Taiwan, so we headed out towards Baishawan beach and the wonders of the north coast highway. I'd never considered Taiwan as a tourist destination before we came and even before we had our scooter I wasn't really convinced. Blackie has literally expanded our horizons and we were eager to share this feeling with Chris and Val.
The shimendong water formed caves and arch, along with the curious 18 kings temple, where a dog has been deified for trying to save his master from a shipwreck long ago, apparently refusing to budge from the shoreline or eat or drink till his master came back. We went further than ever before along this highway and were thwarted in our efforts to see the beautiful candle island, but we'll try again! Chinshan gave us an excuse to try a back road back over Yangminshan to Tienmu and it was a beautiful drive through lush unspoiled forests, rising over 1000 metres in a very short time. Whew, I've about typed my two fingers out for now....I'm only up to about this time last week, so stay tuned for more!

....fotojenik.....that's the name to remember. Now my sister Sue is fully set up and ready to go, I thought it was about time I mention her new business to you again. She has a nifty little studio set up and will travel, as they say, to look after any photographic requirements you might have. She's an expert at portraiture, especially kids and has just completed her second wedding shoot. The results are spectacular; interesting and different and at a very reasonable price. She's well worth contacting on (02) 4961 3362 if you're in or around the Newcastle area. She'll even look after your framing.
It's hard to believe that it is the end of March already; school has less than a quarter to go before we're home again. At the moment, I'm trying to ride out a severe head cold after worrying at first that I had contracted the deadly SARS disease (being typically over-dramatic). I need to get well for the arrival of Cassy's parents on Monday who will stay for a week before heading over to China for a while. This will be their second visit.... it can't be too bad here after all. We're both looking forward to their visit of course and Carl Hiroko and the boys will also enjoy seeing them, so we'll organise a few get-togethers. Chad is also threatening to have a drink with Chris.....look out!
I was very concerned to read in the online paper that the majority of Australians now support the war.......we're working with a vast majority of Americans here and even though there are a few red neck flag waving good ole boys and gals, people here are as horrified as we are. Probably best let this topic alone....I'll start ranting.
We've borrowed a little Laser from some friends so we can take Chris and Val up into the mountains and maybe out to the coast (Taiwanese families can fit 4 on a scooter, but I think we might be a bit bigger than most!) so that should be fun.
A whole stack of our colleagues, about 90 all up, have gone to Thailand for a conference and some lazing around on beaches. The strange fascination with working in part of your holiday is explained by the fact that the school pays your airfare, conference fees and accommodation for the length of the conference at a 5 star resort! I'm still trying to come to terms with the professional development funds available here......we used to get excited when we got a trip to Sydney!
More are staying here however, for all sorts of reasons: hosting visitors, staying safe and not traveling with what feels like a target on your head, worries about SARS etc
Anyway, we'll be here and..........loving it! Best to all back home, if you haven't written an email get to it you slackers!

We've enjoyed immensely the emails we've received over the past week. Our great correspondents Thurza and our parents were joined by Sue and Ildi, the latter certainly not slowed down by baby Anika.
Cass and I didn't get to bed till about 1 am this morning after a marathon session at the "Brass Monkey". We arrived at 3.30 in the afternoon, in time to secure pretty good seats for the World Cup match, which began at 4. And what a match! The bar was filled with about 2/3 Indians and 1/3 Aussies for the big battle. The Indians were setting up some great chants and adding to the atmosphere with whistles etc. They are a wonderful crowd; we loved being there with them. Some of the more boorish Australians started up some rather strange chants and of course, the ubiquitous "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" which lacks a lot of imagination and Indian flair, but at least gave the boys something to shout! We were mesmerized by the Australian batting performance and quietly congratulated ourselves on our commitment to the game that saw us witness one of the great innings. Suffice to say, we were a little tired when the alarm went off at its usual pre 6am time, but not disappointed.
The precursor to all this action was of course the first Indian vs. The Rest of the World cricket match, right here at Taipei American School on Saturday night. The Indian dads had been pestering (sledging!) us for some time to have a challenge match and finally we got it together on Saturday. Our team of Aussies, NZ, South Africa and even a Canadian all had a bit of a bash and a bowl. We had a ball! The Indians were a little surprised by our ability I think (even though it was more bash than caress!), as they have been playing regularly in a secret location for some time. We had no equipment but borrowed theirs, even down to the white ball, as it was a "day/nighter".
There were some surreal moments. The one which stands out most vividly is standing at first slip and looking around some time during the Indian innings. The field was lit up and we were applauding our bowler's just delivered ball a la the "real" Australians. Apartment buildings surrounded the ground on all sides and behind them the mass of Yangminshan mountain rose. A white bed sheet flapped from the balcony of a nearby high-rise with the words "Play Cricket, Not War" emblazoned on it for all to see. A fellow teacher who lived there was making a point, which we all appreciated and agreed with.
This message struck home with a vengeance the next morning when our Australian colleague woke to be told his cameraman brother had been the victim of a suicide bomber in Iraq.
"Play Cricket, Not War" made even more sense after that.

It was a great night at the cricket downtown and we plan to go again for the semi on Tues and the final next Sun (assuming we make it.... not much doubt)
We've had an amazing weekend as we have taken delivery of a digital set top box for the TV, which adds certain digital channels to our usual 104 channels on cable. We get a number of new ones, but most notably BBC World, TV5 France (in French), DW Germany (in English and German), a Korean channel, a Malaysian channel and a few we already get on cable, but of better quality. The main one is.........ABC (Asia Pacific)!!! It's just unreal; we get news each night at 7, with great local (Aussie) stories and of course, sport for the last 10 minutes. We get old episodes of Water Rats and Blue Heelers (which we never watched back home and are thankful now!) and great current affairs like Focus from SBS, Landline and best of all, Four Corners.
So this weekend we're reveling in our Aussie TV and listening to 2GB footy talk streaming live over the Internet. We're listening to the continuous call team right now, and have just heard the Knights win in a classic come from behind fight. We celebrated by playing and singing the "Playing Hard, Playing Tough" song of the Knights that we've downloaded from the Knight's website... the neighbours must really think we're nuts now, if they didn't before!
Of course, there was a period of about an hour this morning where we were watching the ABC TV with sound muted, listening to 2GB AND reading the latest and greatest clippings that Mum has sent from the Newcastle Herald. In between times I was ringing Carl so we could marvel at the programming on our new TV (he got it too; in fact, found us a much better deal than the original one we had heard about)
So, it's a far cry from days in Japan when I sometimes wondered whether Australia was still actually there. No Internet, email, TV etc..... we're doing pretty well here now in comparison.

Well, mid-week is not a usual time to have fun, but I broke the rules a little last night. We'd received an email at school about the Aussie-NZ cricket game in the super sixes in the World Cup. The oddly named (yet quite apt, considering recent weather) "Brass Monkey" in an unexplored part of town was advertising the game as being on the "big screen". Anyway, after the Aussie innings, about 7.30 our time a bunch of Aussies rang around and 8 of us headed downtown to catch the NZ innings (including one kiwi and two Yanks) What a night. We looked around the bar and commented that we could have been anywhere; everyone was Aussie, Kiwi or Indian. Wickets were cheered or ignored depending on whom you were supporting, beers were drunk and stories shared. The screen was, indeed, BIG and we're looking forward to our semi and hopefully the subsequent final on Sunday week. Brass Monkey, here we come!!
We went up to the fumaroles today with grade 3 on a "field trip" (excursion) and enjoyed some great sights and weather. My darling wife continues to plug away at work and I have promised her she will accompany me next time there is cricket to be watched downtown. She was a touch upset about missing out this time round(!)

This was some sort of psycho cold snap we had this weekend! 10-12 degrees but with some humidity heavy wind as well and that cold just cut through every layer of clothes we had on. I suppose we should be thankful; no doubt this we'll be the last little bit of cold we have as we move steadily into another hot, humid summer.
We've enjoyed reading about Newcastle, family and friends via a great succession of emails from my sister Sue, Cassy's Mum and Dad, my Mum and our friend Thurza. Lois wrote late last week as well and filled us in with some "Grammary" goss. We kicked off the weekend by reading some excellent news clippings that Mum had sent over. It's always a little bit like Christmas to check my mailbox at the school's post office to discover that familiar big white envelope! Mum does a great job picking out some local stuff that we can't get over the internet etc and it helps us feel a bit closer to home. This was especially important for us this week as we officially resigned from our jobs at Newcastle Grammar and felt a bit strange and isolated here. We're comfortable with our decision and incredibly happy with our jobs and life here, but it's certainly the end of an era for us both and it signifies a massive commitment to our plans to work overseas for some time.
We sandwiched "The Hours" last weekend with Shanghai Knights and "Analyze That" this Saturday. I love De Niro and we'd seen the first installment and it was a lot of fun. In fact this one was so much fun, we shocked the local crowd a little by laughing uproariously at regular intervals....they didn't seem to get some of it, I think a lot is probably lost in translation in a comedy.
Anyway, the high brow entertainment out of the way on Saturday, on the way home we bought "The Majestic" and "Panic Room" on video for $5 as a package. Not usually buying videos we couldn't pass by this bargain....something quite mysterious about recent movies so cheap, but they look genuine enough. Well, we came home, watched "The Majestic" and dined on Cassy's delicious "Salmon Supreme" while quaffing a bottle of Rawsons Retreat (not so cheap!!)
Sunday was still bitterly cold and a late breakfast, more clippings, a bit of internet and lazing around saw us ready to eat lunch out! We ate at a German cafe/coffee house near where we live called 'Backerei' and we had a special meal with soup and cake and coffee to accompany Cassy's pesto tagliatelle and my German sausage and sauerkraut.
A slightly less glamorous afternoon followed where we bought a fluoro globe in one store and then caught the MRT a couple of stops to buy a metal blind to replace the (second!) PVC blind that had broken in our bedroom.
Chris and Val are coming to visit us at the end of the month for a week before they make their way over to that really big China across the strait from us........we're really looking forward to seeing them.