Another Saturday and Sunday completely bereft of any form of exercise for me feeling sluggish and lazy, the surf on the north coast barely lapping the shore, the sun in Tienmu searing the back of our retinas, piercing down from unusually clear blue skies and an enervating blanket of heat weighs heavy over the city. On Friday night we had a few beers at Diamond Tony’s but even eschewed our well loved spot on the outdoor patio looking down the hill for a spot inside in the air-conditioning: it was just too hot.

Saturday, bright and bursting with heat from very early in the morning, saw us with thoughts of staying indoors. After watching the footy replay mid-morning however, we decided to get the car out of the basement car park at school, where it has sat patiently for weeks waiting for the swell to beckon us over the hill. Necessary shopping, not swell, was our motivation and we went and did a big car run to Carrefour where we stocked up on cat litter for the break and Coke Lights for the summer heat (I know it looks pretty weird, but this is what happens when you don’t have a car at beck and call every day!). Now that should keep us going for a while!

While we had the car out and about I went and got it washed at the local automatic car wash, only for the little, wizened up “old” man who runs it to point out a sign that it would be closing soon. In my broken Chinese and both of us gesticulating for meaning, I ascertained that the school had bought his car wash and he was happy with the price and that he could retire at 47 (I think I must have got that bit wrong: the guy’s 60 in the shade!). Anyway after that little bit of theatre, Cass and I headed off to Miramar at Neihu to have a late lunch at TGIFs and go to a movie. The Miramar at Neihu, even though much further away has massive screens, so tends to be more suitable for action spectaculars in particular. We went and saw Nicholas Cage’s new movie “Next” and found it to be quite amazing. The premise seems similar to movies like Memento, Run Lola Run and a recent one with Denzel that I can’t remember the name of, but the acting from Cage and Julianne Moore along with a tight script kept this one humming along. Roll on the sequel!

Before the movie we had a late lunch at Thank God It’s Friday’s (TGI Fridays), an American chain, specializing in Tex-Mex fare. It was really good and Cassy’s double stack quesadillas and my Wicked Chicken were served fairly efficiently and in perfect time to have a nice lazy meal then drift straight over to the pictures. On the way back to the car (which we had parked in a timed spot on the street) we decided to venture in to the weirdest looking building in Neihu, sitting opposite our car park. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera, because it is near impossible to describe, but suffice to say that it is something like the creature from the Alien movies snaking its way over a 4 storey building. Inside, the strange theme continues and aboriginal fishing boats adorn an artificial lake in the middle of one floor. It is inspired by ancient Taiwanese aboriginal design and is a restaurant serving a kind of Taiwanese-Aboriginal-Traditional Chinese fusion…not really our cup of tea!

We’ve been hunkered inside today with the air-conditioner on and curtains drawn. I went out at lunch to get us something to eat and felt physically assaulted by the time I got back! Luckily, we’d used the Auburgino well yesterday and even did our regular Wellcome shopping on the way back from Neihu, so there wasn’t any need to venture out. As you can imagine, prospects of the last week and a half at school in this heat are not terribly attractive!

Photos: forgetful me missed some great shots yesterday, so we photographed the girls when we got home on a mountain of Coke and cat litter. The other photo points out that we certainly still don’t have everything over here just yet: the water dispenser is necessary because we can’t drink the water from the tap and it delivers hot, room temp and cold. The little oven next to it is not a microwave oven but the convection oven itself, from which Cassy produces pavs and cakes indistinguishable from “normal” ones.

There were about 5 million issues to deal with at work this week, so when Friday came around, I was very happy to head up the hill for Josh’s farewell party. Wal and I had helped to organize and we booked a couple of rooms at “The Top”, a restaurant/bar at, of course, the top of Yangminshan. It boasts a commanding view of Taipei City from its spot perched right on the edge of precipitous cliffs just under the imposing Taipei Cultural College, which really is at the top! Each room is like Bedouin tent with lounges and silk cushions…very flash! It was a great night and the fact that it rained non-stop which then led to a blackout for a number of hours added to the adventure…we were drinking beers and chatting away in near darkness, all the while watching a massive storm cell roll over, and eventually envelope, the city. It was very cool. Josh had a great night and Wal was pleased with the organizational side of things, so it worked out well all round.

Virg ‘n Mary have had the wobbly boot on for the majority of the week and have alternated between bizarre pacing, long stints of sleeping and disturbing hissing and growling at one another: where were our little loving sisters who normally wouldn’t let the other out of their sight? We were extremely alarmed as Virgil (the smaller brained one!) seemed to have completely forgotten her sister. I am happy to report that order has been restored and they’re once again the best of mates.

Cass went down to the Jade Market today with Kathy and Kristin and they had a great time wandering around and looking at the wares before Kristin was called away to mind her babies by a husband who forgot another appointment and Kathy needed to venture on to furniture stores Ikea and Piin for some reason. That left Cass to wander by herself, and she methodically sought out a few items that she was hoping to find.

They preceded this journey with a beautiful Thai meal at Chiang Mai and the acid test, the green curry chicken, passed the test with flying colours. It’s a classic yardstick isn’t it when you know that all Thai restaurants will have a few standards like this: it makes it very easy to compare and contrast. The restaurant is down in the Yong Kang restaurant/ shopping district in the south east of the city: we’ve previously explored around that area with great success, so the good run continues!

That kind of tired that sleep just won’t fix is on all of us here at the moment. This place builds and builds to an ultimate crescendo and we’ll need some time when we get home to just collapse, chill out and recover. Only 2 and ½ weeks now!

I’ve included a photo of a very rare English menu I spotted yesterday…I’m sure some of our readers think we’re exaggerating when we talk about local “slop kitchens, but this is one of the first I’ve seen with an English menu. Some of these items, accompanied by the most nauseating of odours, could surely only be attempted by the very brave or very stupid! Other photos are of Cass with a drugged out Mary, the oft written about but rarely seen Miramar Cinema building, a zoomed in and labeled long shot of “The Top” and early days at "The Top" before the rain set in.

The wait staff was dressed in minimalist chic neutrals but each had some kind of feather attached to the short left sleeve of their upper garments. The walls were stark and white and various objets d’art were arranged in subtly lit corners and niches. The food was served on large plates but the servings were tiny, colorful and exquisitely placed and framed in their large white canvas. The lunch attendees were dressed and coiffed for the occasion. The food itself however, although the name hints of French delicacies, was rather well dressed Taiwanese standards! Cassy had an interesting luncheon appointment at “C’est Bon” downtown on Saturday. Each of seven courses had a lengthy spoken explanation accompany it to the table and this was delivered in almost reverential tones: the only trouble being that although the food was beautifully prepared and fresh and of very high quality, there were many seafood elements and a range of aromatic and flavoured teas which Cass is usually not very keen on. The lunch was to farewell Cassy’s good friend at school, Kathy, the school’s middle school librarian. It had been organized by one of the Taiwanese women to the most minute detail, the company was excellent and Cass was able to describe in great detail everything that took place, so I took some vicarious pleasure from the outing.

I’m extremely glad that Cass got out and about this weekend, because I’ve been pretty much a prisoner of the lounge after a couple of days away at the third grade camp in the latter part of the week. We had vague thoughts of going to the pictures today but the times didn’t suit us and we also entertained the thought of a beach trip but the surf was very uninviting, having turned to its summertime standard of blazing heat and tiny waves. So, in the end, the Australian footballers of every code got a fair viewing in the last couple of days!

Camp is a funny experience for me. I’m still pretty much of the opinion that it is not quite developmentally appropriate for these little kiddies, especially the sheltered little mites that we have over here. That said, the new venue for the camps is very impressive and I was also lucky not to have to share accommodations with anyone, another thing I hate. The forest setting by a rather vigorously running river is quite idyllic and peaceful and the camp staff takes charge of many of the activities. This is a far cry from the days when, year after year, we lugged food and games up to Yangminshan then organized that food as well as all the games and activities for the entire grade! This little jaunt is a cakewalk in comparison, but the fact that you end up getting very little sleep leaves me quite flat for a couple of days after: hence, this weekend’s sluggishness.

Anyway, the weekend’s rather languid pace is probably a good thing: the coming week promises to be one held at breakneck speed, starting Monday when I have a meeting with both the middle and upper school principals, have to get my tests marked, work my normal day in terms of classes and grab Cass in the mid morning before her classes start so we can dash home and take Virg’n Mary to the vets to get their teeth cleaned! Mary has been a little off her food and Cass discovered the tell tale signs of tartar buildup and sore red gums. They’ll get a general for that so we’ll pick the groggy little things up that evening. Then Tuesday, then…and…etc. etc.!

Post script: Now Tuesday afternoon and photos of camp and Cassy's lunch provide a vast contrast! Virg 'n Mary arrived home very groggy, but at this stage, they seem to have forgotten who the other cat is, and are hissing and spitting at each other every time they cross paths...let's hope they get over that!

For a truncated weekend, it felt very long and very full. Cass and I had the dubious honour of proctoring, then sorting and grading 100 plus admissions tests on Saturday. Great hordes of middle and high school kids, most accompanied by their parents, invaded the school cafeteria at 8am sharp on Saturday morning. Brigadier Braggett had them marshaled to different exam venues (because of the vast numbers, then Lance Corporal Cassy whipped her troops into shape for 3 hours or so, while I put my raw recruits through some basic training at a venue across the road, a reclaimed bus depot of all places. Space in the school proper is at such a premium, even on weekends, that we were forced to search out other venues.

I don’t know how this army analogy started, but I’ll take it through to its conclusion (quickly!). After said recruits completed the tests, we dismissed them and then retired to our own barracks, complete with huge slabs of test supplies. With military precision, we then began the mammoth, sorting grading and sorting again task, before we hand off the accumulated package on each soldier through to our comrades in the Humanities departments of both divisions. These officers will then give the final say, and the school’s Field Marshall will either invite the raw recruits to join us for many years training and hard work, or discharge them as unfit at this time, with a chance to re-apply for active service next year. Enough!

To cleanse the mind, we ventured out on Saturday evening after our grading marathon for a quiet dinner out. We didn’t really get it, as the place we taxied to was booked up and we decided to try our luck around the night market district, which we were pretty close to. After a few abortive attempts, (my rudimentary Chinese not quite up to a full on menu explanation!), we stumbled upon the quirky and unusual “Orange” café. We’d had a coffee here once before, but not a meal. It was fantastic and cheap as chips…speaking of which, we were served proper wedge style chips (skins on) for the first time here in Taipei. We gave all the meals and accompaniments a big thumbs up then headed into the seething cauldron of the Saturday night Shilin night market.

A great mix of the latest and greatest and most kitsch and bizarre, every stall and shop front holds something to look at. Apart from products, the night market district is home to lots of street vendors of weird and wonderful food, as well as a massive building that houses literally hundreds of food stalls selling shaved ice and oyster omelets ( two of Shilin’s specialties) right through to pig hearts and various other awful offal offerings! It’s certainly an eye opener and we’ve also decided we might have been here a long time as we walked past the pungent odours wafting from the stinky tofu stalls without blinking! We caught the train home and I bought a raincoat (for camp this week: yuk) at the $NT39 store (about $1.50), then walked home in some light rain.

Today, Sunday, we saw Spiderman 3 and found it to be the same exciting mix of effects and action as the other two. As superhero franchises go, this one is by far the best we reckon: it really never misses an opportunity for a self deprecating laugh, which breaks the movie up nicely. We ended up heading back the to Lion’s Foot Sri Lankan restaurant for lunch where, after eating another exquisite meal we told the chefs that it was as good as, if not better than the meals we ate on the beach at Hikkaduwa…they were stoked!

We’re gearing up for yet another busy week: exams and reports loom again and all the attendant hassles. Photos are of our Tienmu Sri Lankan experience today in their lovely outdoor courtyard with tinkling fountains, plants and decorations, me on a wave and one of the two of us at Yingge pottery village a few weeks back.