Taipei city has breached a critical threshold in the past week or so, passing from those days when you still hesitate to pack the heater away and strip the electric blanket off the bed just in case of a "cold snap" re-appearing for the odd day or so. We've finally hit full blown spring/summer and there's absolutely no going back! The cherry blossom trees heralded the spring in spectacular fashion and the street trees are now also flush with a fresh foliage, an almost impossible green. It feels like some invisible hand has dialled up the colour unnaturally, so real it looks fake. It looks new and clean and bursting with life....wish I did!
We had, literally, a quiet weekend. I have had no voice since Saturday morning, took yesterday off work and stupidly came into work today. I say stupidly, as my comical efforts to teach the little kiddies some gold has fallen rather flat. At one stage this morning, my voice a rasping croak, I had them huddled on the mat staring at me with a tablet on my lap tapping out their instructions as the words appeared on the screen beside me, transferred from the data projector! A good use of technology, perhaps? Desperation, more like it!
Cass has duly sanitized everything in sight and is is our usual habit, we've managed not to cross-infect each other, which is great. We snuck out to wander a little in the Saturday sunshine and grab a bite to eat at our favourite, "Eat Burger". Running into some colleagues I had the perfect excuse for not stopping and chatting: maybe this lurgy does have some benefits after all.
Cass went and did her first of about 4 or 5 different little "shops" for her Book Club hosting duties which are coming up this Friday. Even though the meal is usually simple, it's deceptively simple: the charm lies in the appearance of some beautiful things just thrown together, yet the planning has been meticulous (I can assure you!). Certain foods have to be sourced from the local supermarket, while others come from the SOGO. Another trip is planned for Jason's this afternoon, and I suspect Wellman's specialty store will get a guernsey as well at some point. Cassy even coerced her Mum into sending some Sanitarium Granola from Australia to make the "savoury"! It has also needed to have a trial run which necessitated a batch being cooked up while keeping careful note of timings etc. It all seems like way too much trouble from my perspective. Oh, and did I mention the ongoing "house cleansing"?....don't let me start on that!
We received a package of mainly art gallery "doings" from Mum through the week (which are always of great interest) and I had a good chat to her on the phone when I could still communicate on Friday. Cassy's parents were berthed in Hong Kong on Saturday, before resuming their cruise up to China and beyond. We've cancelled our trip to Shanghai this coming week, and will instead stay in Taiwan for Spring Break: we just didn't want to do travel dance again after our monster carbon footprint in January exhausted us a little! Next week should be good: we can't wait!
Photos: 7/11 Hello Kitty chewing gum, some of the "stimulating" work I have been doing in unit planning lately (!), and one of our beautiful fresh street trees.