It’s very difficult to get motivated to write today and you can tell that this malaise was evident last week as well when I didn’t bother! I have just spent the best part of 24 hours churning through my latest assignments at the Uni of San Diego and thought that at least while my two fingers are on a roll, I could write something.
This time next week we’ll be back for the start of a nine-week break and we’re really looking forward to it. The end of year busy period has just been chaotic here and I still have a heap of things left to do. We went out surfing on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday afternoon and our efforts were ill rewarded, with a tiny wind swell barely big enough to support us on the waves. Similar scenes were evident on the web cam yesterday and this morning so Ross and I elected not to go over the mountain. Carl is heading over today, but doesn’t hold out much hope for a wave. Weather conditions have been stifling here in recent days, the heat heavy with humidity and sapping of strength. We get to school after our 15-minute walk nearly exhausted before the day has begun and collapse back home in the afternoon to cocoon ourselves in the air conditioning. Our TV is still not fixed, so we hope we can get something in train so that this issue can be resolved while we’re away, apparently Grundig does not have a service agent in Taipei and the other repairmen are reluctant to take on the job, knowing that spare parts may have to be ordered from Germany.
Virg’n Mary seem to handle the heat very well, in fact they pretend that it is cold when we turn the air con on, cuddling up together in their “octagon” or seeking some extra warmth on Cassy’s lap! We have been stocking up on their food, litter etc, readying them for the break and our minder Poonam is all set to do her duties.
Cass has already worked out how many dinners she will get on our flights home and the business class fare should be excellent in comparison to our usual. Chris and Val rang yesterday and were keen to come and collect us from the airport so we accepted their offer, even though we often just hire a car to save anyone the bother. It will be nice to be chauffeured home!
We just got back from downtown where we saw “The Day after Tomorrow” which was quite spectacular and we had to line up for ages to get in. Cass decided it would be the fodder for heaps of nightmares, with storms, tornadoes, massive waves, floods and freezing temperatures all vying for the most terrifying. We both agreed it was so much better than the trashy “Troy” which we saw last week; a cross between Gladiator and Lord of the Rings Part2, it wasn’t a patch on either of those movies. In fact, we decided that the scriptwriter should be taken away and shot and the historical consultant and continuity guys should never work again! We flashed down on the scooter and declared that we’d miss our trips zipping around the city (!), and arrived in sapping heat with full sun. Somehow, life imitated art in the intervening few hours, because when we emerged from the pictures a full-scale tropical storm was lashing the downtown area. After we had some lunch, it had calmed enough for Cass to go back on the train and me to get the bike home without getting totally saturated. That achieved we watched a great game of football between the Pennies and the Dogs, still lamenting the Knight’s loss to Melbourne last night.
Just a few hours after we return home, we’ll be at Energy Australia Stadium cheering on the Knights against Parra and we can’t wait. See you next week!
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Monday, May 17, 2004
A couple of Californian laid back dudes, two Aussies and two Kiwis stood around in the beach car park after a great relaxing surf, drinking ice cold VBs and having a few jokes, drinking a few more well into the dark. The six had traded boards and tested out each other’s new boards, from mini mals to fun ‘fish” and got some decent little lefts and rights on a stormy peak. Probably not that unusual a scene, but Friday night on the northern tip of Taiwan had not seen that before, I reckon. Bob had picked up a carton of VB at Jason’s marketplace down at the 101 and had borrowed an esky (NZ:chilly bin, U.S.:cooler), filled with ice and put them in to chill on the way over the mountains.
We followed this up with a few more beers, tall tales and a game or two of pool before Ross and I called it a night around midnight, a couple of the others no doubt tripped the light fantastic on the bar down at trendy nightclub Carnegies till well after that.
We struggled up at 7, a little headsore and saw on the cam that Jinshan was dead flat yet again. I phoned Ross and we agreed to give it a miss and try again on Sunday. Cass was champing at the bit to get downtown to pick up her earrings, so we had a lazy breakfast, read some clippings from the Herald (thanks Mum, of course!) and scootered down in a quite terrible blazing sun. Joe had done a superb job with Cassy’s earrings and the sapphires looked even bigger when teamed with some quite substantial diamonds in a white gold setting, the remainder of the setting in yellow gold. They are really quite spectacular, so Cass was very excited. When we got home, I had a bit of a snooze before we settled down to watch the delayed telecast of the Knights/Broncos game. We’d been in a self-imposed media blackout and we glad we had been. What a game! What incredible ticker displayed by those Knights! We were so impressed and managed a few war dances around the lounge room, especially when Danny scored and Kurt Gidley’s wobbly horror just scraped over the crossbar. After all that excitement we lazed around a bit more before heading off to Kari Curry for tea.
Ross and I headed off to Jinshan bright and early on Sunday morning promising to meet Carl and family out there. In the sweltering conditions we were glad we’d had the air-con fixed a few days before, a story in itself. We had scouted out a tiny mechanics’ workshop, with space for just one car in the back lanes behind Mingde road and were flabbergasted when the guy could speak some English! I mean, how many mechanics, or many others for that point could speak and understand enough Mandarin to be understood back in Australia?! He did a great job giving a tune, changed the plugs, changed oil, re-compressed the air-con and fixed some new wiper blades, all for a very reasonable cost.
When we arrived at the beach, it resembled a glistening lake, complete with lolling surfers content to just soak up some sun and refresh in the water, as waves were certainly not in evidence. We didn’t even get the boards off the car, had a quick body surf and then were stunned to see the “surfers” making a merry dash for shore. No, not a shark, but a large floating infestation of baby jellyfish, which had given everyone a good old stinging.
We contemplated going to the new Tienmu Warner Brothers cinema in the afternoon, but by this time the sun was beating with such intensity, we couldn’t bear the thought and there didn’t seem to be much on offer. I took Cass over to the supermarket on the bike and we loaded up with great bags of kitty litter and other supplies. It’s amazing what changes have occurred just in the few years we have been here. In the local supermarket, which doesn’t cater for foreigners at all, we buy Australian rice (bit like shipping coal to Newcs!), Aussie oatmeal and corn, Golden Roughs and Kit Kats and the latest, wine in a can! Aussie of course, the 250 ml cans give just enough for a glass of wine each at dinner. We sampled one yesterday and declared it to be just the ticket, a pleasant quaffing wine, either Chardonnay or Cabernet Shiraz, all at a very reasonable price.
Enough said about the 3rd grade camp, which I went to on Thursday and Friday and school is heating up for the end-of-year boilover. We both have reports to write soon and I am attending the Learning Community Council all day on Thursday, supposedly to steer the school in the right direction for the upcoming academic year (I’ll have some help!!)
I’m also determined to get my 15 assignments done for my latest study over the next two weeks, so that should be, well, very frustrating and time consuming. Virg’n Mary the double headed furry mother of god continue to entertain with their antics and have quite taken to the GCSU. It will all be over for another year soon!
We followed this up with a few more beers, tall tales and a game or two of pool before Ross and I called it a night around midnight, a couple of the others no doubt tripped the light fantastic on the bar down at trendy nightclub Carnegies till well after that.
We struggled up at 7, a little headsore and saw on the cam that Jinshan was dead flat yet again. I phoned Ross and we agreed to give it a miss and try again on Sunday. Cass was champing at the bit to get downtown to pick up her earrings, so we had a lazy breakfast, read some clippings from the Herald (thanks Mum, of course!) and scootered down in a quite terrible blazing sun. Joe had done a superb job with Cassy’s earrings and the sapphires looked even bigger when teamed with some quite substantial diamonds in a white gold setting, the remainder of the setting in yellow gold. They are really quite spectacular, so Cass was very excited. When we got home, I had a bit of a snooze before we settled down to watch the delayed telecast of the Knights/Broncos game. We’d been in a self-imposed media blackout and we glad we had been. What a game! What incredible ticker displayed by those Knights! We were so impressed and managed a few war dances around the lounge room, especially when Danny scored and Kurt Gidley’s wobbly horror just scraped over the crossbar. After all that excitement we lazed around a bit more before heading off to Kari Curry for tea.
Ross and I headed off to Jinshan bright and early on Sunday morning promising to meet Carl and family out there. In the sweltering conditions we were glad we’d had the air-con fixed a few days before, a story in itself. We had scouted out a tiny mechanics’ workshop, with space for just one car in the back lanes behind Mingde road and were flabbergasted when the guy could speak some English! I mean, how many mechanics, or many others for that point could speak and understand enough Mandarin to be understood back in Australia?! He did a great job giving a tune, changed the plugs, changed oil, re-compressed the air-con and fixed some new wiper blades, all for a very reasonable cost.
When we arrived at the beach, it resembled a glistening lake, complete with lolling surfers content to just soak up some sun and refresh in the water, as waves were certainly not in evidence. We didn’t even get the boards off the car, had a quick body surf and then were stunned to see the “surfers” making a merry dash for shore. No, not a shark, but a large floating infestation of baby jellyfish, which had given everyone a good old stinging.
We contemplated going to the new Tienmu Warner Brothers cinema in the afternoon, but by this time the sun was beating with such intensity, we couldn’t bear the thought and there didn’t seem to be much on offer. I took Cass over to the supermarket on the bike and we loaded up with great bags of kitty litter and other supplies. It’s amazing what changes have occurred just in the few years we have been here. In the local supermarket, which doesn’t cater for foreigners at all, we buy Australian rice (bit like shipping coal to Newcs!), Aussie oatmeal and corn, Golden Roughs and Kit Kats and the latest, wine in a can! Aussie of course, the 250 ml cans give just enough for a glass of wine each at dinner. We sampled one yesterday and declared it to be just the ticket, a pleasant quaffing wine, either Chardonnay or Cabernet Shiraz, all at a very reasonable price.
Enough said about the 3rd grade camp, which I went to on Thursday and Friday and school is heating up for the end-of-year boilover. We both have reports to write soon and I am attending the Learning Community Council all day on Thursday, supposedly to steer the school in the right direction for the upcoming academic year (I’ll have some help!!)
I’m also determined to get my 15 assignments done for my latest study over the next two weeks, so that should be, well, very frustrating and time consuming. Virg’n Mary the double headed furry mother of god continue to entertain with their antics and have quite taken to the GCSU. It will all be over for another year soon!
Monday, May 10, 2004
I tore down the main road of Tienmu on “Blacky” the scooter, wildly grasping at a plastic bag full of bottles in one hand and desperately trying to navigate, accelerate and brake with the other, dodging in and out of traffic, relentlessly gaining on my elusive foe, the recycling truck. What on earth was I doing? Was my life reduced to chasing a garbage truck through the streets of Taipei in the evenings? Did it really matter if those bottles stayed on our back verandah for another few days? The answers to these questions were far from my mind as I determined the truck coming at odd times would not beat me!
A calm opening to the week like this certainly set the tone for what was to come, culminating in our semi destruction of a brand new Mercedes yesterday (slight exaggeration…hook for reader to continue). I went to B&Q on Tuesday to purchase all the requisite materials to build the “Great Cat Shelving/Resting Unit” (hereafter referred to as GCSU) on the weekend. We’d decided to use the cat gym as the first launching pad for an intermediate shelf as a step, then a wide shelf for resting and looking out a new window which I installed in the spot reserved for an air conditioner in the back bedroom’s wall. The cats could then enjoy a high seat with a direct view to outside. The GCSU had been planned for some time, so I was pretty confident I knew what to get, although the Chinese labels and Chinese speaking staff proved a little problematic. Still, with a concrete project easily explained with drawings and figures, I managed to arrive home with the shelves, brackets, screws, mouldings, nails etc necessary. I “borrowed” some cushiony felt from the school’s art department and a staple gun, so Cass and I could cushion and cover the big shelf. We got the pane of glass in and nailed the moulding on the fitted the brackets with the help of Chad’s hammer drill. The GCSU has proved to be a great success, the cats not even coming down to say hello to us sometimes! Cass sewed some elastic rings on each corner of a few towels and we screwed some cup hooks in under for them to attach to. It works very well indeed and even the destructo kitties have been unable to rip the towel off!
Ross and I braved the six-inch surf on Friday afternoon, only to arrive home to the news that our new (2 years old) Grundig multi system TV had “blown up”! Cass just turned it on and there was a puff and a smell and no picture. The salesman at Takashimaya where we bought it said they don’t stock Grundig anymore, but he’ll ring their rep on Monday. We’re really hoping it is not major, but it doesn’t sound good. We lasted about a day and a half without a TV before I went round and borrowed Ross and Ains’ spare that they haven’t been using. The DVD and video isn’t hooked up, but at least we can watch our beloved ABC Asiapacific. We spent most of Saturday building the GCSU, so it worked out fairly well after all.
Sunday’s beach trek started at 7 am and a light offshore breeze was tempting us into wonderful images of glassy swell and plentiful waves for all. It was certainly glassy and the waves were a beautiful shape, but no one had told the god of swell to visit. We got a few small waves early on till the wind picked up, the tide came in a bit and I decided to head in for a drink and a sandwich. Ross persevered for a ½ an hour or so longer and then finally gave up. By this time the local boys were just starting to turn up in numbers, (a curious thing here: unlike other parts of the world, the local boys seem to have a great aversion to going for an early surf when the conditions tend to be at their best. We’re not concerned of course: we generally get at least a couple of hours in before anyone joins us!) and the surf was offering nothing more than the occasional shore dump on the set. Quite violent wind squalls were whipping up by now and we had taken the precaution of bagging our boards and putting them at the back of the car to protect them from the wind. As we sat on the bonnet looking out and discussing the merits of the various surfers, a terrible gust picked up one of our boards and cart wheeled it through the air till it thumped quite resoundingly against the brand new black Merc parked beside us! The girlfriend of the owner (who was in the water) jumped out and preceded to shout, cry and perform assorted histrionics, while pointing to the fairly significant dent the board had made on the otherwise pristine bodywork and duco. She yelled for the guy to come in and by this stage, quite the event was happening. Every guy at the beach came up and offered their opinion to the owner, who was ringing body shops all over Taipei to get quotes. Ross and I were very apologetic, repeating it was an accident, and a couple of guys, including the ubiquitous Johnny Rose, of surf shop fame, came to the rescue with some translating. After we laughed down the first quote of NT$30,000 we eventually settled on NT$5,000 and Ross (luckily he had his wallet and card with him) headed off to Jinshan town to get some money out of the bank. I stayed with the boards as a “security” and although I felt a bit like Typhoid Mary, relations were cordial. I think we covered ourselves and all foreigners in glory by being reasonable and not arguing that we weren’t liable, so I imagine our presence at the beach will be even more welcome in the future. So, some good does come from all that bad luck!
Ross was particularly cautious on the drive home and we promised each other to be careful for the rest of the day after that bit of bad luck! Poor old Carl had to go to Hong Kong for the weekend, and no, I’m not being facetious: he had a nightmare schedule where nearly every minute was accounted for poolside looking after the swimming team.
Finally, how good are those KNIGHTS??????!!!!!!!!!
A calm opening to the week like this certainly set the tone for what was to come, culminating in our semi destruction of a brand new Mercedes yesterday (slight exaggeration…hook for reader to continue). I went to B&Q on Tuesday to purchase all the requisite materials to build the “Great Cat Shelving/Resting Unit” (hereafter referred to as GCSU) on the weekend. We’d decided to use the cat gym as the first launching pad for an intermediate shelf as a step, then a wide shelf for resting and looking out a new window which I installed in the spot reserved for an air conditioner in the back bedroom’s wall. The cats could then enjoy a high seat with a direct view to outside. The GCSU had been planned for some time, so I was pretty confident I knew what to get, although the Chinese labels and Chinese speaking staff proved a little problematic. Still, with a concrete project easily explained with drawings and figures, I managed to arrive home with the shelves, brackets, screws, mouldings, nails etc necessary. I “borrowed” some cushiony felt from the school’s art department and a staple gun, so Cass and I could cushion and cover the big shelf. We got the pane of glass in and nailed the moulding on the fitted the brackets with the help of Chad’s hammer drill. The GCSU has proved to be a great success, the cats not even coming down to say hello to us sometimes! Cass sewed some elastic rings on each corner of a few towels and we screwed some cup hooks in under for them to attach to. It works very well indeed and even the destructo kitties have been unable to rip the towel off!
Ross and I braved the six-inch surf on Friday afternoon, only to arrive home to the news that our new (2 years old) Grundig multi system TV had “blown up”! Cass just turned it on and there was a puff and a smell and no picture. The salesman at Takashimaya where we bought it said they don’t stock Grundig anymore, but he’ll ring their rep on Monday. We’re really hoping it is not major, but it doesn’t sound good. We lasted about a day and a half without a TV before I went round and borrowed Ross and Ains’ spare that they haven’t been using. The DVD and video isn’t hooked up, but at least we can watch our beloved ABC Asiapacific. We spent most of Saturday building the GCSU, so it worked out fairly well after all.
Sunday’s beach trek started at 7 am and a light offshore breeze was tempting us into wonderful images of glassy swell and plentiful waves for all. It was certainly glassy and the waves were a beautiful shape, but no one had told the god of swell to visit. We got a few small waves early on till the wind picked up, the tide came in a bit and I decided to head in for a drink and a sandwich. Ross persevered for a ½ an hour or so longer and then finally gave up. By this time the local boys were just starting to turn up in numbers, (a curious thing here: unlike other parts of the world, the local boys seem to have a great aversion to going for an early surf when the conditions tend to be at their best. We’re not concerned of course: we generally get at least a couple of hours in before anyone joins us!) and the surf was offering nothing more than the occasional shore dump on the set. Quite violent wind squalls were whipping up by now and we had taken the precaution of bagging our boards and putting them at the back of the car to protect them from the wind. As we sat on the bonnet looking out and discussing the merits of the various surfers, a terrible gust picked up one of our boards and cart wheeled it through the air till it thumped quite resoundingly against the brand new black Merc parked beside us! The girlfriend of the owner (who was in the water) jumped out and preceded to shout, cry and perform assorted histrionics, while pointing to the fairly significant dent the board had made on the otherwise pristine bodywork and duco. She yelled for the guy to come in and by this stage, quite the event was happening. Every guy at the beach came up and offered their opinion to the owner, who was ringing body shops all over Taipei to get quotes. Ross and I were very apologetic, repeating it was an accident, and a couple of guys, including the ubiquitous Johnny Rose, of surf shop fame, came to the rescue with some translating. After we laughed down the first quote of NT$30,000 we eventually settled on NT$5,000 and Ross (luckily he had his wallet and card with him) headed off to Jinshan town to get some money out of the bank. I stayed with the boards as a “security” and although I felt a bit like Typhoid Mary, relations were cordial. I think we covered ourselves and all foreigners in glory by being reasonable and not arguing that we weren’t liable, so I imagine our presence at the beach will be even more welcome in the future. So, some good does come from all that bad luck!
Ross was particularly cautious on the drive home and we promised each other to be careful for the rest of the day after that bit of bad luck! Poor old Carl had to go to Hong Kong for the weekend, and no, I’m not being facetious: he had a nightmare schedule where nearly every minute was accounted for poolside looking after the swimming team.
Finally, how good are those KNIGHTS??????!!!!!!!!!
Monday, May 03, 2004
On Tuesday night we scootered off to the Taipei Arts precinct to meet Cassy’s cousin, Ashley for dinner. We met him at his hotel and chaperoned him to the Café Onion for dinner and we enjoyed a tasty dinner and a great chat about family, home, travel and our respective lives in general. Ashley seemed pleased to be able to have a night where he could relax and not worry about everything he said, as he is usually a guest of business contacts during his visits. He certainly has some whirlwind trips: at time of writing, he’s visited another 3 countries with 3 to go! It was great to catch up with him, he’s great company and we enjoyed a little slice of decadence on a “school night”!!
There are few things more frustrating than to dash out of work on a Friday afternoon, ready for a quick surf, fly home and get the boards on, beat a few lights, take any number of short cuts and back roads up to the top of the hill and then get caught behind one of the habitual slow crawling traffic criminals we often encounter on the windy Yangminshan road. We eventually got to the beach of course yet the massive swells battering the coastline (in our dreams) had sadly dissipated while we were stuck behind those slow coaches. We had a refreshing break and caught a few little tiddlers, reminding me of the comp I’ve started at school amongst the small surfing set. Inspired by some nut recently surfing a 60 footer in Hawaii, we are going to try to surf the world’s smallest wave instead! Documentary and pictorial evidence are essential, and early entries suggest that 6” might be a good starting point…..you can see how delirious we’re becoming in this last 5 weeks of school! Carl, Ross and I arranged to meet at the bar across from the Green at 8.30, so I picked Carl up on the scooter and we had a few games of pool and some relaxing "sherbets", before heading home before the witching hour.
Saturday was set aside for Cass to go downtown with her friend to the mysterious jeweler who has a shop in a back lane and only lets you in after you stand on his doorstep setting off an alarm. Apparently this was a great success and he quoted Cass the exact amount of money she had set aside for the setting of her stones, so that seemed to be an omen of sorts (of what, I’m not too sure!). She can pick them up in two weeks so she’s quite excited about the whole deal. I lazed around and did some book reading and cat amusing and then watched the football and listened to the patchy performance of the Knights on the internet. Speaking of which, apparently our seats at the football in the new concourse are ticketiboo after Chris and Val made a call just before they headed off to the game on Saturday evening.
We made a foray into the flash hotel part of downtown on Saturday night to the “G’day Café” situated in a tiny side street. Belying its name, it was not staffed by Aussies or serve “Australian” food, but rather the Filipino waitresses and cooks produced some scrumptious Mexican meals. It was cheap and super delicious and we’ll be heading back there for sure.
Sunday’s surf conditions were tailor made for an attempt at the aforementioned record, but apart from that, would only attract the lake lover. Ross couldn’t stay away, but I let him trundle over the mountain with Ains for company, as I couldn’t see the possibility of catching anything except a sunburn and a case of the grumpies. Cass and I headed back down to the pictures after a late breakfast to see Tarantino’s Kill Bill 2. Whilst not a comic book splatter fest like the first one, we both enjoyed the character development and flashbacks and forwards of this film and the homage paid to 70s martial arts films and others. It was very enjoyable and we had a tasty lunch at the section 2 version of Curry Champ before heading back to watch the Bulldogs beat the Broncos (always sweet to see those Queenslanders go down!)
Mum had brought a cake tin over for Cass during the Spring Break, because the tins here (at only one store mind you) were either too tall, too big, too small, or had some other imperceptible problem not immediately apparent to a cake baker extraordinaire like myself. Anyway, Cass had sought out all the necessary ingredients at about 3 different places and used our little baby benchtop oven to bake the most mouth-watering apple cake! It was indistinguishable from her efforts at home so she was very chuffed with the result. The only slight negative to all this was that 3 pieces needed to be taken to school for her team which I decided was a far too generous gesture.....what? only half a cake for me?!
At work today we heard that the flash new Warner Village cinema complex opened over the weekend just up the road from us (near the Green Bar), so that’ll be something to check out soon.
I have to speak to 80 teachers from local primary schools for an hour on Wednesday afternoon, telling them how we run the ESL program here at Taipei American School. I’ve got the data projector and the laptop booked and the PowerPoint ready to go, so if my crapping on fails, technology will hopefully come to the rescue. Cass is teaching the American Civil War at present, so be sure to quiz her about it when you next see her: she knows it all (!)
I’ll write again in a week….bet you can’t say the same thing!!!!
There are few things more frustrating than to dash out of work on a Friday afternoon, ready for a quick surf, fly home and get the boards on, beat a few lights, take any number of short cuts and back roads up to the top of the hill and then get caught behind one of the habitual slow crawling traffic criminals we often encounter on the windy Yangminshan road. We eventually got to the beach of course yet the massive swells battering the coastline (in our dreams) had sadly dissipated while we were stuck behind those slow coaches. We had a refreshing break and caught a few little tiddlers, reminding me of the comp I’ve started at school amongst the small surfing set. Inspired by some nut recently surfing a 60 footer in Hawaii, we are going to try to surf the world’s smallest wave instead! Documentary and pictorial evidence are essential, and early entries suggest that 6” might be a good starting point…..you can see how delirious we’re becoming in this last 5 weeks of school! Carl, Ross and I arranged to meet at the bar across from the Green at 8.30, so I picked Carl up on the scooter and we had a few games of pool and some relaxing "sherbets", before heading home before the witching hour.
Saturday was set aside for Cass to go downtown with her friend to the mysterious jeweler who has a shop in a back lane and only lets you in after you stand on his doorstep setting off an alarm. Apparently this was a great success and he quoted Cass the exact amount of money she had set aside for the setting of her stones, so that seemed to be an omen of sorts (of what, I’m not too sure!). She can pick them up in two weeks so she’s quite excited about the whole deal. I lazed around and did some book reading and cat amusing and then watched the football and listened to the patchy performance of the Knights on the internet. Speaking of which, apparently our seats at the football in the new concourse are ticketiboo after Chris and Val made a call just before they headed off to the game on Saturday evening.
We made a foray into the flash hotel part of downtown on Saturday night to the “G’day Café” situated in a tiny side street. Belying its name, it was not staffed by Aussies or serve “Australian” food, but rather the Filipino waitresses and cooks produced some scrumptious Mexican meals. It was cheap and super delicious and we’ll be heading back there for sure.
Sunday’s surf conditions were tailor made for an attempt at the aforementioned record, but apart from that, would only attract the lake lover. Ross couldn’t stay away, but I let him trundle over the mountain with Ains for company, as I couldn’t see the possibility of catching anything except a sunburn and a case of the grumpies. Cass and I headed back down to the pictures after a late breakfast to see Tarantino’s Kill Bill 2. Whilst not a comic book splatter fest like the first one, we both enjoyed the character development and flashbacks and forwards of this film and the homage paid to 70s martial arts films and others. It was very enjoyable and we had a tasty lunch at the section 2 version of Curry Champ before heading back to watch the Bulldogs beat the Broncos (always sweet to see those Queenslanders go down!)
Mum had brought a cake tin over for Cass during the Spring Break, because the tins here (at only one store mind you) were either too tall, too big, too small, or had some other imperceptible problem not immediately apparent to a cake baker extraordinaire like myself. Anyway, Cass had sought out all the necessary ingredients at about 3 different places and used our little baby benchtop oven to bake the most mouth-watering apple cake! It was indistinguishable from her efforts at home so she was very chuffed with the result. The only slight negative to all this was that 3 pieces needed to be taken to school for her team which I decided was a far too generous gesture.....what? only half a cake for me?!
At work today we heard that the flash new Warner Village cinema complex opened over the weekend just up the road from us (near the Green Bar), so that’ll be something to check out soon.
I have to speak to 80 teachers from local primary schools for an hour on Wednesday afternoon, telling them how we run the ESL program here at Taipei American School. I’ve got the data projector and the laptop booked and the PowerPoint ready to go, so if my crapping on fails, technology will hopefully come to the rescue. Cass is teaching the American Civil War at present, so be sure to quiz her about it when you next see her: she knows it all (!)
I’ll write again in a week….bet you can’t say the same thing!!!!
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