There is quite a phenomenon going on in the online world by the name of Facebook. I joined up about a year ago, but didn’t do much about it and thought it was a glorified email application. I couple of weeks back, some of the guys who have left here to work elsewhere in Asia and beyond started using it for contact instead of texting each other all the time. To cut a long story short, it has been nothing short of a revelation to me and Cassy. We’re now in contact with scores of ex-students, old friends, people from the long forgotten past and of course, our current friends. I must say that I’ve hardly found any of our old friends on here but I’ve also discovered I’m not the oldest person on Facebook, but must be pretty close to it! Anyway, loads of fun…We’ve had one of those mental weeks at work where you wonder how you get the energy to show up the next day. We’re both in the throes of completing assessments, reports and finalizing meetings etc etc before the semester ends on December 20. There’s still a fair way to go, but we’re looking forward to the break as we have plans for a very different holiday. Eschewing the temptations of home and also a planned trip to Rome and Berlin, we have instead decided to travel around the island of Taiwan by car! Now, before you cringe at the choice, I must state that we’ve never done more than a day trip out of the capital and our occasional visitors, Chris and Val, for example, have seen more of the island than we have! I decided to start learning Chinese this academic year, so since September, I have been going to lessons twice a week. My fanciful goal was to prepare specifically for this trip…rather fanciful!! Suffice to say that we hope we have enough communication skills to get a little off the tourist trail and into some spots rarely seen by the casual tourist to Taiwan. We’re armed with various guide books and maps (and of course iPods full of audio language lessons for my evening entertainment!), and hope to not only gain a greater appreciation of our island home outside Taipei city and environs, but also to find some of the fabled, whispered about magic surfing breaks on the rugged and largely unspoiled south east coast. Time will tell, but we’re confident it will be interesting to say the least!
Now, this weekend, while my students past/new Facebook friends were enjoying their newly wed status, or enjoying their growing tribes of kiddies, I went out on a buck’s night! A young man’s domain to be sure, but I had helped a couple of the other guys organize it after my experience with Ross’ big send off. We got a coach and T shirts organized and the night was a huge hit. 35 of us hit about 9 bars in Taipei city and got a little silly. There were “wise” married men to offer words of advice and a special “rule” at each venue and much beer was consumed and various high jinks performed. Our journey to the “combat zone” was pretty funny. A faded string of bars with glittering signs and girls who entice the wandering male in for a drink, some of the new guys were quite taken by the whole scene. In fact, the groom-to-be himself had to be literally dragged from one bar as everyone was on the bus ready to go and we realized that someone was missing! Anyway, it was great fun and the man of the moment had a wonderful night. If you’d like to see more of the night, check this link.
Cassy decided we needed to get out and face another magnificent day on Sunday (it was much like last Sunday) and although we shelved plans to go to the cinema or the flower market, we did mosey on down to Takashimaya shopping mall. Ostensibly to pick up a few groceries from Jason’s (including, I must say, the new prime beef Australian sausages…ahhh!), we also took the opportunity to have lunch in the huge basement eating area. After this we took in the twice daily feeding of the fish in the centre’s aquarium. The tank is so huge that a neon yellow wetsuit clad scuba diver does a performance where he swims around to classical music with a glittering trail of fish in his wake as he passes food out from his bag. It’s always good fun and the little kiddies just love it. Well, that’s about it today: sorry this blog entry is a bit late, but I’ve been typing so many reports and proposals this week that I just couldn’t stomach it until now! Photos: a small “All Vics” buck’s night group, me and the man of the moment, the feeding of the fish, two penguins in the forecourt and Virg’n Mary in their usual weekend pose.