There were a couple of valid reasons for missing a week and the first of those is that I'd succumbed to various minor illnesses like headaches associated with cold sores and a nasty head cold to boot. I'm normally fairly immune to these ailments but do fall prey to them if I experience any high levels of stress. It was this very condition to which I fell prey during the last fortnight as we both wrestled with some fairly large decision making.
To cut a long story short, despite the fact that during our long tenure here I have been a specialist language teacher, next year I'm going to take on the role of classroom teacher for Grade 5. The "powers that be" presented me with their proposal a few weeks back and we've had time to ponder and decide ever since. They lauded my involvement and collegiality, they praised my demeanour and knowledge and lavished me with praise for my curriculum knowledge and good standing among teachers and students alike. Their mantra of "change is good" has been ringing softly through the hallways for some time, so I suppose it was impossible to stay immune from it forever.
We thought long and hard about our needs and wants at this time of our careers. Cass is ensconced and very happy in her current professional role so she had no issues to struggle with. In the end, we decided that neither of us was ready to "pull up stumps" just yet and it didn't fit in with our plans to move on. The irony is that the position offered is only offered to the most outstanding candidates they can find, so I suppose I'll take all that as a pat on the back. I would have preferred to continue in my current role just because it was comfortable and known, but now we've made the choice to sign up again, there is a lot of upside too. I'll be able to really establish some relationships with kids come next year and again, after a long period away, re-establish my expectations for the class I'll be responsible for. So, with all sorts of thoughts swirling in a madding tornado, it wasn't the best time to be commenting on the minutia of our lives via Blogger!
We did manage to have a very relaxing weekend for American Thanksgiving and sampled some fine wine while watching some cricket, ate out, went for some walks and also saw some movies. It was super relaxing, but made the following week (with all its decision making) seem long and arduous.
This weekend we watched an absolutely stunning movie directed by Tom Ford called "Nocturnal Animals". It was lavishly set and the attention to detail was quite mesmerizing. It had a laconic style that variously lulled and wooed then savagely shocked as the story flicked to its parallel thread.
Our walks around the immediate neighborhood and suburb (including over to the cinema described) have been pleasant in what is a very slowly transforming autumn. In fact we wandered over just in shirt sleeves on a sunny, breezy afternoon on the very first day of winter. The days are getting noticeably shorter and a tiny chill can send a shiver in the early evening, but Taipei's damp, bone-chilling cold is still a couple of months away we guess. Our forays into light woolen coverings have been terminated quite quickly, at least at this stage!
Photos: Chris and Val gifted us some superb Henschke's when they visited in April and we were able to crack, sip and enjoy with some cricket....how Aussie! A couple of Friday nights back, I headed down to near the CKS Memorial Hall area to see some ex-pats playing in a rock band. The venue is just round the corner from the MRT station at the Hall so I was able to snap a few night pictures. Cass cosied up to a strange creature at the movies and we spied an ever increasing Christmas decoration presence at the local malls. I hit the steps on Sunday: they never get any easier! Sorry about the absent blog entry last week....