Our neighbours below us came and visited through the week with their new baby and we "oohed" and ahhed" at how cute the bubba was and caught up with happenings. We attended Linda and Jim's wedding a while back and were amazed to find that they're still below us living with Linda's dad: they're so quiet! Linda delivered some mountain fresh baby bananas for Cass. We're always on tenterhooks when they visit thinking they might be asking us to move out, but I suppose they're not prepared to pay the rent we're paying just yet: always a relief!
As usual, the Polish Nation convened on the Friday night and we progressed from Uli's to a nearby beer house/restaurant for further good cheer (see pictured above). We've got a short week this week for the much anticipated and loved American tradition of Thanksgiving: apart from a single day off for Taiwan's national day, we haven't had a break since we got back in early August. The four day weekend starts on Wednesday evening with the school putting on a show for all faculty and their families with all the trappings of Turkey, ham and cooked accompaniments It's a bit of a free-for-all, with hundreds of people descending upon the lines of bain-maries with a gusto not dissimilar to a flock of seagulls on a double lot of fresh hot chips and has to be seen to be believed!
I've been embroiled with an intense round of testing using brand new materials this week, so the repite will be very welcome. Luckily, being the first time with unknown materials, the bosses have allowed us a whole week off classes to get it all done, but it has been necessary. The one-on-one testing then the intricate scoring process have been ardudous, and the multiple numbers and number crunching necessary have tested my rusty Mathematics' skills which were never very good to begin with! Cass has had a similarly hectic regimen and has been writing, wordsmithing and rehearsing her speech which needs to be delivered at the Grade 8 parent reception next week at the American Club in China. It is a formal affair to fete the parents and she is feeling the pressure after being nominated as one of the leaders who will speak at the event by her principal. We'll both welcome the break!
Walking home today, we reminisced a little further on how times have changed here over the last decade or so. When we first arrived, we remember people looking quizzically at us when we mentioned how ugly everything was! The buildings looked (and still do) like sad shells not out of place in a war torn Beirut suburb, but we've come to appreciate that the sulphurous air from the nearby steaming and belching fumaroles play havoc on their originally pristine facades. We tend to look by default now at the mountains of Yangminshan piercing the sky at critical angles, the clouds flowing by their peaks and the beauty of a gentle people going about their work and play at all times of the day and night as we pass by.
Walking to school in the morning, we pass by languid, body-waving Tai Chi practitioners, usually of a very advanced age! Dogs of all shapes and sizes are exercised, all with a similarly docile personality to that of their owners, while teams of neon-vested cleaners use rough straw brooms to sweep up falling buds from the autumn trees and scoop up any fallen scraps of paper or dirt. It's a far cry from years before, when rotting piles of garbage could still be spied on street corners and the fetid waft of putrefying matter would assault the senses every time we walked past an open drain. The parks are now meticulously cared for and are a delight to walk through and past. There are crossing guards at every major intersection and although drivers still ignore a lone pedestrian at a crossing, these capable law abiding human missiles throw themselves in harm's way to protect you as long as you wait for their signal!
I feel as if I've just written this blog (don't tell me all this talk of ten years has seen me run out of puff?!), so I'll end here with another installment due next Monday. Our weekend was spent on a killing spree of sorts, and, before you become too alarmed, we were just watching the mesmerizing second series of "The Killing" that I'd downloaded some time back. The weather was dank and dark and uninviting, so hunkering down with some books and televisual treats seemed very appropriate! With the Thanksgiving weekend approaching, we might have more to report next week.