Cassy headed off to the Tienmu restaurant, “Saffron” on Friday night with her book club members and they had a very enjoyable night. For some reason, we hadn’t sampled the charms of this slightly more upmarket (in décor and service) and fancier (food) Indian restaurant, just a hop, skip and jump away from where we live. In fact it is just a minute’s stroll from the cinema we regularly attend. Cass was most impressed with the little touches, from the arrangement of the food on the quality crockery, to the linen serviettes and tablecloths and interesting décor and lighting. The girls had a good night, but Cassy’s delicious mango lassie contrasted with my Carlsberg beer, although both drinks were definitely just right to slake a Friday afternoon thirst brought on by a long hard work week combined with a continuing, unrelenting pall of heat.

After a few beers at Diamond Tony’s with Gurecki and Wal on Friday, I headed out about lunchtime on Saturday to again attack the 1000 steps. Only 1200 metres in length it is the absence of breaks and the gradient of the steps that provide the challenge. The monkey trail at the end is very peaceful, although I did encounter said monkeys in the shock of my life on Tuesday afternoon! I have been trying to do the steps every other day (so far successful…) and intersperse these sessions with some weight work in the gym on the off days. I was running a little late on Tuesday and managed to get to the top of the steps in daylight, but unwisely headed along the trail even though it was getting late. The hours around dawn and dusk tend to find the Formosan macaque come out for food, foraging and lively. I was walking along and happened to catch some movement in the corner of my eye. It was a little baby monkey with an older sibling playing with a branch. Just as I realized what I saw, I looked straight into the eyes of Mum, not more than an arm’s length away, sitting on a fencepost right beside me, all brazen power and grey menace! After nearly calling for the brown corduroy trousers, I hurried on only to get an extra fright as the monkey made a rather threatening grunting sound behind me…suffice to say, I took the long way back down to avoid a repeat episode! Anyway, the steps are proving to be an interesting new venture in more ways than one!

Still attending my Chinese lessons on Monday and Thursday evening (even though I’m really struggling for some intrinsic motivation), I’m having some very busy days at the moment. Luckily Cassy continues to do all the stuff I seem to be incapable of doing on a regular basis, so I can afford to be so decadent with my time. I did, however, have the run of the kitchen this week as my expert advisor gave handy hints from the safety of the lounge room next door: I made an apple cake! I needed to supply a cake for a team mate’s birthday, and was spoilt by a homemade one by the same person last year, so I thought, “How hard can this be?” Famous last words but suffice to say that after all the drama, it ended up being a pretty good one, but I don’t think I’ll be making a habit of it!

We went downtown on Saturday night and endured an enervating throng of commuters in a search for the new Breeze centre at Taipei Main Station. After a fruitless search, through every underground mall and alley in and around the station we gave up (we discovered on the internet when we got home that it was just a few steps away from where we had been; next time), we then decided to brave the madding throng once more and travel further south to the Taipower building station. Here we found the KGB (Kiwi Gourmet Burger), a tiny little restaurant hidden away down and alley. It had magnificent burgers, 100% lean NZ mince for the patties and everything fresh as fresh. We each had the “Kiwi mate” which included egg onion and beetroot (!) and declared it to be as good as the hamburger shop round the corner in Merewether! Mind you, we had to travel an hour to get to it…Still, it is just another thing we can get here now, and did I mention streaming the Bangladesh v Australia cricket game from Darwin on Saturday morning?

Beach today, and the long drive over (and back) was incredibly frustrating with ridiculously cautious drivers hogging the mountain roads and passes (20 km/p/h) which is absolutely infuriating. It is an awful flat spell for us, But Cass and I both enjoyed the swim, even though it wasn’t ultra refreshing: the idea of a large warm bath springs to mind. On the way home we got all sorts of gear at a “buy one, get two free” sale at a clothing store, then spent all those savings on buying some premium Aussie mince at Jason’s! This Taipei Life continues to intrigue…
Photos: Cass and TVs, decorations looking up in central Taipei, band in Taipei station, KGB shots and the beach in full radiant heat.

Asia World was our destination on Saturday. A large shopping mall on Dunhua South Rd in the south eastern district of the city is about a half hour scooter ride, but thunder rumbled and groaned, and inky green storm cells were moving around the sky as we prepared to depart. We changed our minds and opted for an MRT trip, which was a bit of a pain on three different lines and lots of changing and “in-station” commuting. In a way, it was quite nostalgic for us as we’ve rarely visited this neck of the woods for about 5 years, as before that we were frequent visitors. Since we frequented the place, all sorts of big furniture stores have moved in, occupying whole floors. The Swedish styled “Piin” was one, Working House another, and I always get coerced into entering the seemingly never ending labyrinth called IKEA!

Cass was keen to get her mother a present for her birthday which was the purpose, ostensibly, for the trip. It was another stinking hot day as well and even though the storms threatened, the heat remained, and we were keen to get out of the house where we were bunkered in. Cass spent some hours (!) looking for stuff, but I decided that I’d spent far too much in the IKEA mice maze to enter a second time after she’d forgotten something, so amused myself looking at all the hi-tech toys in FNAC.

We wandered over the road to check out the Taipei Arena, a megalithic multi-purpose performance space that can host concerts as well as ice skating events. It is currently doing a very popular run of the Lion King and a performance was about to start, the uniformed ushers in military formation at every entrance preparing for the onslaught. We also checked out the incongruous ice skating rink attached to the arena: an antidote to the massive heat outside, it was very strange to see people rugged up skating on a full size rink in this city in high summer: what energy must be used to support this venture? Anyway, we must admit we filed it away for a possible future adventure…

After all this excitement, it was off to an early dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. We have eaten at the Hysin Yi branch, but this is the original branch that has been opened for a couple of years. We each got a beautifully cooked thick fillet and enjoyed being asked if we wanted “chips” with our meal: yes, please no fries! The Aussieness of the place is cute, although tempered by the fact that it is in fact and American chain: oh well, can’t have everything.

Today, Cass has been out a couple of times to get a few supplies, but I chose to stay in and watch the last gasps of the Olympic coverage before the bog closing ceremony tonight. I must admit that between the obvious interest the local stations had with the Beijing Olympics, streaming some content over the internet and downloading some torrents of Aussie stuff we missed, we got a pretty fair coverage this year, unlike Athens, where the technology was such that we hardly saw a thing. Wal gave me a ring a few hours back just as I sat to do this blog and encouraged me to join him on the 1000 steps, so I did it for a third time after a go on Wednesday afternoon. I think I can feel myself going up there at a slightly zippier pace, or perhaps I’m kidding myself! We certainly got back to the car park drenched in sweat today and it felt good to clear a few cobwebs away.

Friday night was the Board party at the Grand Hotel and although we’d originally decided not to attend, I was persuaded by a late phone cal from a few of the boys to go down for a while. It was quite spectacular with the huge, Chinese inspired hotel in the background and the big 50 metre pool below the terrace we were on. We met up at the Chung Shan Woo So bar before hand and pictured is Wal, Sean, Ivo and John with our little German mascot. Other photos are of the Taipei Arena and its huge screen, Cass in front of Asia World with purchases, shopping inside, me in front of the Roots store logos, ice rink and very strange T shirt logos in Taipei main station!

It’s been an extremely difficult week as the weather has continued in an energy sapping vein, making the walk from home to school and back an enervating test of resolve. We’ve eschewed the temptation of the scooter to get back in our walking routine, but it hasn’t been easy! Days tend to be spent inside at school or at home in the air-conditioning, and of course the evenings are also spent with our air conditioner going non-stop. Guilty thoughts of carbon footprints are not quite strong enough to overcome this dripping cloying heat, although we have peeled away at the shoulders of the season till only the very oppressive weeks see us using the air conditioning. A far cry from when we first arrived: I think we spent a third of the year escaping the heat!

School revved right up towards the end of the week as the 3 day merry-go-round of meetings and preparations made way for the entry of wide eyed kiddies to enjoy another year at the font of learning (!). Cass had her hands full disseminating information about her subject as well as running a house meeting, one of the little pleasures of her role as team leader. Her classes were typically subdued as they always are these first couple of days: it takes just a little longer before the true colours of some students are hoisted high for all to see. She is delighted to have slotted back into her familiar team and luxuriating in the fact that no one is different this year, a rarity that needs to be enjoyed. Kristin, her teaching partner seems mildly relieved to be back at work after a rather trying holiday with little kids in unfamiliar or unsuitable spaces…I’ll leave you to figure that one out yourselves.

I’ve been very busy initiating my three new teachers into the ways of everything ESL at school. We didn’t have people leave, we just constantly seem to need more teachers these days with a growing second language population, and finally the board and admin are backing us up with more staff. They’re all working out well, but I suspect that my rather casual approach to matters is of some slight concern to a couple of them: the words, “structured” and “anal” do leap to mind! Anyway, it will make for interesting times, and one of my jobs will be to weave some rather opposing personalities into a harmonious unit for the year, it should be a challenge, hopefully not too great.

The heat has basically kept us in this weekend, although Cass did brave the elements to go out to do some shopping yesterday and also to take some garbage, while I couldn’t tear myself away from the air conditioner! We did go out for a late lunch of Alleycats pizza then checked out a few trendy furniture shops in Shilin, such as Piin, before scampering back to our cool apartment.

As you know, the Beijing Olympics are in full swing, but the Taiwanese penchant for badminton, volleyball and especially baseball (yawn) has seen me desperately searching for alternative ways to view some other sports. The internet has been largely unsuccessful as the IOC seems to have a ruthless and rather skillful team of cyber police who shut down every dodgy feed almost as soon as I can find them! Luckily, the Chinese have had lots of representation in the pool, and we have seen some swimming, even the finals today, albeit with Chinese commentary and the local director’s strange cutting to ads mid-race! We’ve certainly seen more than Athens already and it is only half way through so that’s a bonus.

We were stoked to get a set of newspaper clippings from Mum through the week, which enabled us to slip straight back into our usual weekend zone, thanks Mum! After some viewing of the swimming finals (a couple of hours earlier here), I decided to seek out the famous 1000 steps for a walk. Shocking heat and all, I scootered up to the top of section 7 and began the ascent of these very steep, occasionally uneven steps. They say there are a 1000, but I don’t really know. One thing I do know is that the steep incline goes for 1.2 km without a break! By the time I got to the top I was a lather of sweat and my heart was pumping hard. I used the pleasant stroll to the next set of steps to recuperate then launched into the next section. The forest walk was very pleasant, the signs of the wild monkeys amusing, yet the free range chooks milling around the path at one point seemed blissfully unaware of their fate just metres away: their photo even features on the menu of the little café! At the top, I was way behind the cultural college, so headed back down and took some slight solace in seeing many others struggling far worse than I had on the mean hill. Photos are all of the 1000 step walk.

We have had a unique, interesting and rather relaxing week. Previously, we have always breezed in on the very last night after 18 hours door to door travel, scrambled into bed and been dazzled by beaming energetic people fresh from travels all over the world at 8am the next day! No wonder that first week seems to be one big blur!

Initiated by work commitments, we came back a full week earlier this year and feel much more able to withstand an onslaught of shiny happy people tomorrow! Our entire test grading and proctoring went well, I was only called upon a few times for “consultations”, which were generally very smooth and pain free, and the bonus was we got to meet and greet a fair slab of our colleagues before the big day tomorrow.

During the week we’ve had lots of decadent lunches out, starting with a great Thai meal in the basement up near Tienmu west. We followed that up with meals at Chili’s and a long big breakfast at Wendel’s as well as Panini from the deli on the corner near school. We even had an ice-cream lunch at Haagen Daaz on the weekend! This has all made for a very enjoyable “ease in” to school for the new semester. We also had a delightful night on Wednesday when Sean and Katie invited us around for a meal and served us some delicious gnocchi with banana cake for dessert. Their house is just around the corner and it was lovely to see them interacting with their daughter Bella, soon to be joined by a sister so baby rooms were being prepared and things arranged. On Friday, I met up with a group of lads who decided we needed a refreshing ale at the Qiyan Wooso. I’d also had a couple of beers at the Red Hut on Thursday night with Lewy and lots of his book club crew, so the social whirl at the start of the year has started with a bang.

Gurecki brought us back some funny glasses that enabled you to see dollar signs around any light and they provided loads of entertainment after a couple of beers. We finally got to see the new batman movie and we were most impressed with our viewing of “The Dark Knight” here in our usual cinema in Tienmu after several attempts to buy tickets at the massive Imax theatre in Neihu…they were sold out every session!

I fixed a minor bit of damage on my new board this morning with some solar cure resin that I had brought back, and the swallow tail at the end is now fixed and ready for swell. The MR spitfire is raring to get into these Taiwanese waves, but we need more than the swell we discovered today when we drove out to the coast to give the car a much needed run. The board stayed in its cover and we did a big round trip: over the mountains to get there and back along the expressway through Wanli home. It was strange: we were taking short cuts that the locals didn’t even seem to know about…scary!

We’re starting to watch “Dexter” after I downloaded series one and two when we got back…it’s freaky and very good, so I think we’ll get back to it. Photos today are the holographic glasses amusing mildly inebriated folk, Virgil in need of a diet after eating non-stop all winter and little Bella posing on the mat.

As I often report at this time of year, we are filled with mixed emotions. While the travel is arduous, the main problem of our country shift is dealing with leaving our family, friends, unit and country behind to once again face the challenges of living in our very familiar, yet still very foreign adopted home. This is always tempered by the fact the “girls”, Virg ‘n Mary are so happy to see us, and we get the chance to meet up with all our friends over here again.

We had the opportunity to meet up with lots of family and friends on our trip back to Newcastle this year. One week, we managed to eat out every day, even twice, and separately, one day! We were also sad not to meet one of our friends, another sobering reminder to us to continue to live life along the way, just as we have been doing. We’ve managed to blimp out a little bit on all that great Aussie tucker and wine, despite the fact that, weather permitting, we regularly went off on our 6 km walk most days at an elegant clip. We marvel every day on the walk at the great vistas displayed for us and find we can while away great chunks of the day just sitting at our dining room table gazing out at the constantly changing views of ocean and people. Breakfast tended to be late and drawn out, accompanied of course by the “Krups” coffee (from which we’re in a sudden withdrawal!) and invariably a spotting of cavorting whales and dolphins. The business of the day was then conducted, whether it be surfing, walking, eating, visiting, or a combination of the above and then another hour to watch the reverse sunset over the ocean pinking up the clouds with a cup of tea at the end of the day.

Our bike trip was superb this year and we took in huge tracts of country NSW and Victoria, Cassy working out an itinerary where we travelled on roads we’d never been on before. When we plan our trips nowadays, it’s almost always going back to places, so this was no mean feat. The bike purred along as usual: how lucky we are to have this little luxury waiting for us each year. This trip gives us a chance to reconnect with Australia quite deeply each time and never ceases to amaze us.

Ross came over for a week and we were relieved to be able to show him a little better weather than last year’s “Pasha storm”! Our little surfari up the coast produced one of the biggest stormiest swells of the year, so we struck out on the waves, but we managed to have lots of laughs over a few beers at night, or trying to operate the satellite navigation in Chris’s car during the day!

We’re here a week early to mark some tests and do some pre-testing so the week shouldn’t be too taxing. Photos are just a sample of the break, photos of some family and friends we met, but we couldn’t fit nearly all in, nor did we take enough photos. Other photos of interest include Cass with her beloved cyclamen, the Mundine fight night which was great fun, and the girls sniffing out the bags when we got back.