After the dramatic and frivolous travelling of last weekend, the best we could muster this weekend was a mild "staycation" at our charming Taipei abode. No triumphal returns of rock gods announced in fire and light, but rather the quick flush of desert flowers on my school cactus. Not even the exotic japanese fare of the Oasis in Osaka, but rather a couple of sandwiches at the local Taipei Coffee Museum. (One of them was, however, a "fruit sandwich": not sure if that's exotic or just plain weird!)
We really had a "back-to-earth" type of break this weekend after a full working week hot on the heels of the manic action of last weekend's jaunt to Summer Sonic in Osaka. We managed a mild outing on Sunday round to the Wovie cinema complex in Tienmu to catch "Lucy" before lunching at the coffee museum in the afternoon. Apart from that, we just went through the motions of those domestic necessities that need to be attended to regularly and lazing around.
I reprised my role as beer drinker and all round conversationalist with Wal and Rock on Friday night and we had a few guest appearances from old friends and newly hired folk who seemed interesting. We managed to spend quite an amount of time at Ulis before retiring to calmer pastures to watch multiple games of AFL and NRL. It was a good chance to catch up with summer/winter adventures, as I hadn't had much opportunity for a chat up till now.
I have a group of 17 kids in my bowling alley shaped classroom for my pull out language support class this semester, so I've had to re-arrange a few things to accommodate them. You'll notice that I've extended the "grandstand" and got rid of my coffee table as well as bringing in some more chairs. More shunting of non-negotiables like Kevin the Kangaroo (now straddling the lights above the white board) and Circus Jesus (who currently pontificates from the shelf near the windows), has meant I'm just able to squeeze them all in. I'm careful not to get overly dramatic in my lessons though, in fear of taking a few of them out with some extravagant gestures!
"Lucy" wasn't bad but was really just an escapist hour or two, hardly worth a thought afterwards. We're finding that this is the mark of a good movie for us: one that resonates after the viewing for a while, making us ponder some question or other, if not just how they produced some incredible special effect or two! The lunch afterwards consisted of a club sandwich for me and a fruit sandwich for Cass. We had no idea what might arrive as the ingredients on the menu were written in indecipherable characters. Mine was reasonably standard, Cassy's consisted of apple, guava and ? with lettuce on a regular bun....she reported it to be pretty good!
Photos are of my amazing cactus which sits on the ledge outside my classroom window. Just goes to show that total neglect can still produce something of worth: the flowers lasted about a day from their subtle unfurling from the pod before withering and wilting away. I found it all quite fascinating! Cassy eating lunch both in my class and at the coffee museum, a dummy worker in the back of a truck we spied on the walk home from school, ornithologists in our local park getting some shots of new born chicks, and a packed class of busy kids.