Cassy finished her parent conferences on Friday and set a new record – 47 interviews (only one no-show). What was especially demanding was that she saw 32 lots on Thursday – was a bit of a veggie on Friday… All pretty good but the usual sprinkling of complete nuts: the kid is getting an A but they ask, “What can he/she do to improve?” or (her other favourite) a completely brain-dead kid is getting a B by dint of sheer hard slog, and they aren’t happy with that!!!! She felt like saying to them: “Do the words gene and pool mean anything to you????”No grading for Cassy this weekend so she was really looking forward to a relaxing time. Friday evening began with her treat to watch the French channel (tv5): “Questions pour un champion” game show; and later, 2 episodes of “Les Bleus’ (a cop show about a group of rookie cops – very soapie but beautiful French and perfect fodder for a Friday night she reckons.) I went and had a few ales with the usual suspects, Sean dropped in as well but couldn’t stay long as he was hosting Katie’s parents who are here for a new baby visitation.
After a good sleep in on Saturday, we tripped off to the beach. It was great just walking across the road to the car (but that convenience came back to bite us on Sunday) and we headed off on a particularly beautiful morning. As we wound our way up the Yangminshan mountain road, the air was clear, sun shone and a dusting of cloud just drifted across the top of the peaks. Sometimes this indicates foul weather on the other side, but Wuthering Heights scenes quickly cleared up as we dropped down the mountain on the other side. We met up with Dan and family at Jinshan and I had an unreal surf! My new board is still all dinged up and unfixed (slack me!), but the newish fish worked really well on some strong 3-4 foot groundswell. Dan and I each got some real beauties and we managed to wear ourselves out over a couple of hours of quite solid wave action. Cass enjoyed chatting to Nicky on the shoreline and watching their two little kids cavorting around. They have a very relaxed and unusual parenting style which we’ve always found really refreshing: the kids get a few bumps and bruises, but they learn by experience and are very robust now, even though they’re still quite young. After a hearty 7-11 meal of dumplings for me (I think I really am turning a little Chinese) and a salmon “onigiri” for Cass (is she turning Japanese?!) we got back to Tienmu, found a park on the river road and got home. Later on Saturday evening, we had a pleasant meal at the Royal Host (New Zealand steak!) and had a wander down to the Eslite to look for an Italian phrasebook for Cass to study before Christmas. They didn’t have much, so we resolved to head downtown on Sunday.
Another sleep in (that surfing really tires you out!) and then I headed off up the stairs in some stifling heat. It was a massive effort to keep up my pretty sharp pace today and I was totally soaked and dripping with sweat by the time I got back. Showered and ready, we headed off to the car to drive downtown, thinking we’d increase our carbon footprint a touch today and abandon the MRT for the car. The battery was dead flat!! Saturday’s winding mountain road dictates that lights are on, but I’d forgotten to turn them off. The worst part about this is how I’ll jump start the car: plenty of car folk can help, but they’ll block a one way road, and the leads might not reach if we park side –by-side…..have to figure that out tomorrow.
The trip downtown was very successful. The MRT was relatively calm for a Sunday, the crush bearable and Taipei 101 is always exciting. Having just lost its mantle as the world’s tallest building to some gross Dubai monstrosity; it is still very slick and impressive. We had Turkish at Doner Kebab for lunch then scoured Page One bookshop for our Italy stuff. We eventually struggled out weighed down with guides for Rome, Florence and Venice as well as a cute little phrasebook. No excuses now! Home to watch the Aussies and Kiwis in the World Cup via streaming internet beamed onto the TV and audio and we feel we’ve had an exceptionally full (and mildly exhausting!) weekend. Photos: Cass with store window bizarre Christmas reindeer! Strange wine signs, Cassy sneaking in and out of Cartier at 101)!!, books in Page One, me holding a menu at the Royal Host, and Cassy avoiding a photo at same venue!