Hey, how good is this middle school English teaching gig?! Now that all the exams are graded, the reports are done and dusted, the recommendations slung away and the farewell assemblies, dinners and get-togethers are (almost) over, we've got a couple of moments to breathe before we wing it away to Paris for two weeks. It doesn't get much better than that!

I'm slightly euphoric (can you tell?!), as Cass and I have had a quite horrific two weeks which has finally ended. She is still putting the finishing touches on a couple of grades and recommendations, but as I wait, I've decided to tap out a short entry. I felt neglectful not doing it properly the last couple of weeks!

We've endured a perfect paper storm: at this time of the year a swag of kids seek recommendations from their core teachers for possible entry to boarding schools in the States for next year. We've copped a lot of them and they need to be done in triplicate, get approved and edited, then sent away. Along with this we've had final narrative and grade reports after issuing all the kids with a final grade update. The narrative reports had to include references to the "affective domain" to keep in line with new guidelines and this made them a little trickier than usual to complete. We were just done with writing, revising and editing these when, without chance to draw breath, exams were upon us!

The 210 strong cohort of eighth graders filled the upper gym on Monday morning and we've been furiously grading their output ever since. Just to complicate matters further, they needed us to proctor and invigilate in other exam rooms during the following days, interrupting our marking flow. We have to reset and re-calibrate every time we get back from such a duty and strict protocols mean that we can't let a pencil feather a paper while we're on duty!

The trouble with giving highly motivated, talented and dedicated 14 year old academics an hour to write an essay is that they write a lot! To say we have been goggle eyed is an understatement especially considering the varying quality of handwriting samples. Some delightful charmers write in an impossibly pretty, highly legible font that grader's dreams are made of, while other less popular members of the gang dance hieroglyphics across the page, scratch meaningless graphite etchings or write in such impossibly minuscule letters that it is impossible to decipher with the naked eye. It's all part of the frustration and joys that we experience each day!

Coupled with grading fever has been an emotional roller-coaster of sorts with our great mate Shaun leaving tomorrow. We'll miss him professionally as our divisional principal, but more importantly personally. Wal and I were delighted that Shaun carved out some time from his busy going-away schedule to join us for a beer on Friday night. We had a great time: it was just like the good old days with plenty of laughs and lots of reminiscing. It's been good to be feverishly busy actually: we haven't been able to dwell on the inevitable.

We'll be ensconced on the Left bank in a few short days and have already mapped out a few must "re-visits". I'm keen to explore the new area as well as get back to some old stomping grounds to drink in some artistic perfume at de l' Orangerie, d'Orsay, Marmottan, Picasso, Pompidou and many more. We've got some premium seats to La Traviata at Opera Bastille as well...should be quite amazing: it's the hottest ticket in town!

Apart from bathing in fine arts we'll be consuming more than our share of wine and food from as wide a variety or restaurants and cafes that we can find! Happy Christmas and New Year to any readers....I'll have another short break while we're in gay Paris and be back with tales of our adventures after that!

Photos: Jacks design studio (we bought two more stunning Moller 71 Danish 1950s dining chairs to complete our set), kids in the gym, proctoring a Mandarin exam, and the spoils of a Grade 8 English teacher: top quality champagne and chocolate!

This week's blog is late and maybe this short: hopefully I'll re-visit it in a day or so. Very rare shots of Mary who is extremely camera shy. The reason this blog is like this is down to four very important words that are occupying all my time: ninety two narrative reports!

Hopefully back later....

We celebrated signing our contracts this week by getting out in the great outdoors via Youbike! The days were crisp and dry, the sun tapping a steady rythm on skin and the breeze just a zephyr to fan the sheen of sweat we produced: ideal bike riding conditions! We are often neglectful of the many incredible resources and services available to us as residents of this great city, so wanted to get out and experience the combed lawns, riverside gardens and smoothly paved networks of bikeways all in close proximity to our apartment.

It's a crazy hectic year. Cass is doing an enormous job running our curriculum on Grade 8 English and I am trying desperately to wrap my head around the day-to-day demands. I did teach the course last year, but to a boutique class of only 5 kids: now I have 92 kids spread across five classes! The teaching is quite Utopian in that the default kid is hard-working, respectful, delightful and eager to take part in everything we present. The difficult part is the grading and now, coming up, the report writing...should be interesting!

We've been busy to such an extent that we've flopped exhausted into the bosom of the weekend in the many past weeks and not given a further thought to anything resembling planning or scheduling. For that reason we haven't organized any holiday for the Christmas break as yet. Normally at this time of year, we've planned, scheduled, paid for and almost started to enjoy the feel of our chosen destination. We're hoping that our agent can work some magic and squeeze out a flight to Paris for us: it's been a long stint since my last visit and Cass goes there like it's a weekend away....we know it almost as well as Taipei! Anyway, hopefully a couple of weeks in our second favourite city (if we can arrange it at late notice) will get us revved up for action in second semester.

Mary is slowly coming to terms with the loss of her life-long partner and sister. She still flares up at night sometimes and wails for her, disturbing our sleep, but the incidents seem to be waning. She seems more relaxed in her waking moments and is slightly more attentive, even though still wary, even after 15 years! We brush her constantly and pet her if she seems distressed and she's slowly responding. If it wasn't a little tragic it would be funny: we've caught her snuggling with a tiny teddy bear that Cass put near her basket...so she definitely yearns for her companion.

Photos: One of my kids has a sense of humour with their copy of F451!. Interesting signs and doorways on our way to the supermarket. The idyllic waterside bikeways and our favourite little coffee shop, Ruelle (complete with Aussie "flat whites"!).

The cacophonous din of an entire Grade 8 mob descending on a suburban bowling alley has to be heard to be believed: our ears are still ringing. The rolling thunder of 40 heavy rocks being jettisoned down polished wooden runways, the hysterical screaming of 210 kids let out of a restricted environment into one of heady delight, and the ringing of bells, scraping of electronic sweepers and microphone instructions all made for an aural cocktail of head-zinging proportions.

The "Wellness" celebration day was in full swing late last week and the bus trip down was literally the calm before the storm. Mercifully, no-one broke into song on the bus down or back, so it was slightly better than the camp transportation! Cass sensibly cocooned herself in grading for much of the time, although how she was able to concentrate is anyone's guess. I wandered the lanes dispensing tips and scoring the odd strike. If I bowled one, I just walked away from that lane: quitting on top! The rest of the day back at school was mildly tedious doing a succession of "wellness" activities, but a sweet relief compared to the bowled out morning.

We always praise the good old U S of A on this long weekend....what a great holiday Thanksgiving is! We've been swamped with grading and hard days at work recently, so much so that we haven't even planned a holiday for Christmas, just a few short weeks away....maybe we'll get to that this weekend. We didn't get around to it this short break as we had a few local experiences that occupied our time.

We took the car over for an early check-in at the new Taipei Marriott in the Dazhi area of town in the gleaming new metropolis near Neihu. We'd booked to stay the night in this flash hotel with a claim to have Taipei's greatest night view from their bar and grill on the 20th floor. Our room was on the 16th floor and very, very slick and beautifully appointed. We tried to take advantage of the bar to have a sunset drink but we were disappointed to discover it had been fully booked for a private party. Undeterred, we repaired to the luxurious lobby lounge and consumed some delicious champagnes and gin and tonics before getting ready for our dinner date at the nearby Ruth's Chris.

We passed on the gastronomic highlights of the area which include some pretty impressive restaurants. We'd already been to 168 Prime which is a steak restaurant and Michelin starred. We hoped to go again, but it was booked out. The attractions of Raw and Tairroir (similarly star crossed by Michelin) are obvious, but we've found ourselves a little overwhelmed in the past by these mega fine dining experiences: there is only so much fusion and foam and full blown blending of ingredients that one can take! Ruth's Chris is upmarket, predictable and of a high quality with delightful wait staff, crisp linen (Mum!), fine crockery and silver service. We always walk away too full as we can't resist the desserts either.

We had a late checkout of 12 o'clock so decadently breakfasted late in the cavernous and luxuriously appointed garden lounge. In true high-end hotel style the buffet banquet was extensive, fresh and delicious. A visit to the 19th floor gym and pool and a stroll around the mall of shops and restaurants beneath finished our visit in style before we motored home in the silver bullet to our needy animal and more mundane living!

Over the long weekend we also enjoyed some pretty cool access to Australian sports shows as well. I'm paranoid that word might get out about my shady maneuvers, so I won't name the app. Suffice to say that through a combination of using a VPN, an Australian credit card and address, as well as a lightning fast father-in-law relaying a phone code from Australia (thanks Chris!), I've managed to gain us access to an incredible range of Australian sports products including all the cricket....seventh heaven! I'm reading Dark Sacred Night, Connelly's brand new one and Cass is reading NW by Zadie Smith. Photos of bowling and our short stay, with more photos here (link to Taipei Marriot stay)

Cass has some lovely, caring friends here in Taiwan. Her great friend Kristin gave her this beautiful orchid on her return to school last week to buoy her spirits after losing Virgy. People are just so kind in the midst of their own very busy lives, it's sometimes difficult to believe.

The Book Club met on Friday night down at Mia Cuccina after a very hectic week in which we had PD experts come in to do what will be two of a four day session, to be completed in January. More about that later. As usual, the girls were captivated by the various delicious offerings at the restaurant and many of them decided to go the 5 course menu. This sounds so ambitious, but I can assure the reader that the courses are barely sufficient for a normal person (i.e. me!), so it's hardly a medieval feast. That said, I've never heard a bad review of this place except from me, so the common factor in disapproval seems to be ...only me! Oh well, lucky other people like to take Cass there is all I can add.

The latest fad sweeping the educational world seems to be the elusively themed "Responsive Classroom" concept. Neatly packaged and marketed by professionals in the United States, it's difficult to describe. We've been showered with resource books and reference materials, blinded by innumerable PowerPoint slides, and made giddy by dazzling repackages of what seems to be basic common sense and teaching practice. It's easy to be cynical when what is presented constitutes basic pedagogy and teacher language to any properly trained educator, and frustrating to sit through days of "training" presented by earnest consultants of profit making companies. If you actually don't know this stuff, you've managed to become a teacher without listening to, or comprehending, anything you heard in your training.

Trev joined the action again down at Uli's on Friday night and, as it was his last night and they hadn't caught up, so did Dan. Wal and I made up the quorum and we "discussed" all manner of things from the intricacies of spear-fishing in the NZ Barrier Islands to raising young kids successfully in a multi-language environment! That, and all sorts in between as well, kept the beer flowing and the tall tales continuing.

We wandered across to the Carrefour market across the bridge on Sunday and were confronted with a beautifully landscaped and revitalized park along with a kaleidoscopic array of political banners. The local government electioneering is revving up to a crescendo this coming weekend when they are held. Trucks with huge electronic hoardings on all sides provide a disturbingly dystopian image as the candidates warp into life as the trucks meander through neighbourhoods and down main roads. Even scooters are employed with flags, banners and loudhailers to spruik the wondrous capabilities of the various candidates. Mercifully, the visual and aural pollution will be extinguished after next Saturday.

We've got a short week this week and as I always say during this week of the year, God Bless America! Their Thanksgiving holiday gives us a four day weekend which we're looking forward to immensely.

With more farewells than Dame Nellie Melba, Shaun and Katie were yet again the stars of the show at a private function for close friends down at Wooloomooloo in the XinYi district in the south eastern districts.

Taipei is a glittering showpiece on a Saturday night and the sparkle and verve were on full display in the upstairs floor at Wooloomooloo. There was Aussie style finger food, Aussie beers, margueritas and wine and lots of interesting people all with a friendship with the guests of honour and all keen to send them out with a farewell to remember. Unfortunately, Cass couldn't make it due to her lingering blocked sinuses and flu-like symptoms, so I hitched a lift with Annie and Wal and we made it down there in good time.

The night before I'd arranged to catch up with the mercurial Trevor on another one of his flying visits to Taipei. It was hard to believe it had been almost a year since his last visit, but he'd been counting the days. He has a genuine love for all things Taiwanese and loves to travel the backroads and backlanes of the city to spot all manner of interesting activities and cultural quirks. It's always great to catch up. The surprise for both of us was the huge presence of Uli at his eponymous restaurant, large as life, sitting at the outside table puffing on a cigar!

Uli keeps an interest in Uli's Deli restaurant here in Taipei as well as managing the day-to-day activities of his bigger operation in Seattle. He materializes at random times and always is keen to share some reminisces of the good old days in Taipei, which I can't relate to as most of them were before our time. It was fortuitous that Trev was there as the two "old-timers" kept themselves amused with one anecdote after another.

On Sunday, Cass felt sufficiently recovered to try a mild outing so we scootered across to the Miramar at Shinkong Mitsukoshi and booked into our favourite seats in Cinema 6, H4 and H5. We'd hoped to get to see Bohemian Rhapsody the weekend before, but were determined to see it before it disappeared, as can happen suddenly here in Taipei. Cass was a particularly intense fan of Queen in the 70s and 80s, and although I was too, she was the number one ticket holder! Unfortunately we never got to see Freddie in full flight, but we did travel to Osaka a couple of years ago to see Queen perform with Adam Lambert and a duet he did with a "virtual" Freddie was the highlight of the festival. The film's magic re-enactment of the Live Aid concert was authentic and palpable, and the rest of the story was highly watchable if not a little hokey/kitsch in parts. Congrats to Rami Malek for bringing the rock god back to life!

On a wildly divergent thread, Taiwan is apparently tightening up its scooter licensing rules in response to a rise in traffic fatalities, now numbering more than 8 per day. My only comments would consist of these: if all the questions in the licensing test are as obvious as the ones above, toughen it up! Also, this shot of motor-scooters in a feed road to a main bridge is not atypical: when riding in crowds like this, accidents are going to happen!

I've penned a little tribute to our cat, Virgil, or at least outlined her last days, in a separate post below...

 

Virgil, the more zany and quirky half of VirgnMary, was put down one evening this week. Amazingly, (to us she still felt like a little kitten) she was just shy of 15 years old. She'd been progressing in a slow downward spiral for some time, with shot kidneys and arthritic joints, but seemed to be coping reasonably well with her ailments. She'd even rallied and started eating again after a scare about 8 months ago when she stopped for no reason. After coaxing her and tempting her with various wet, fresh and hard foods, we found a combination that she'd accept, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

That all changed about two weeks ago when she again refused to do more than lick a few moistened morsels that Cass put down for her. She was losing weight every day and got down to a Belsen-like 2.4 kilos in the end. The last few days seemed to be a bit hazy for her as well, as she had a glazed look in her eyes and wouldn't leave Cassy's lap. When she stopped drinking, we knew we couldn't prolong her life anymore so we made arrangements with the vets and took her over in her basket.

It was very sad, but it has been compounded by Mary searching high and low for her little mate ever since. She's slowly getting the idea we think, but it's heart-breaking hearing her wail for Virgil and continue to search in every possible spot where her sister might be "hiding". Vale little Virgy.

 

What a thrill it is every year to anticipate, prepare for, then watch and listen to the first ball of the Australian summer come thundering down the pitch! I love this moment as it signals the end to the football hiatus and the beginning of many games of cricket in three formats for the upcoming season. Never mind that it was an Australian team in questionable form and under siege from without and within: despite a painful first outing for the Aussies, it's great to have them back on the paddock.

My Cricket Live app doesn't appear to need renewing and my worst fears of the takeover of cricket from Channel Nine to Foxtel and Channel Seven meaning a block on viewing have, so far at least, no foundation. It seems as long as I remember to put the VPN on and mask our country signature, we'll be able to watch at our leisure all summer. The commentators are finding their feet as are the directors: it's really weird not being on Nine and all the familiar commentators, but I suppose that's the way the world works....highest bidder and all that.

Another small thrill was to learn that the basement premises of the now defunct local Wellcome supermarket have finally been taken over by a new tenant. That tenant, to our delight, is a branch of Carrefour, the huge French food retailer. We'd relented eventually and started going to the main store nearby,(despite our misgivings) as no local boutique store had sprung up. The main store has pretty much everything you could possibly want, but everything in there is on a huge scale, including carts and the amount of people. This new store is a Carrefour Market, with a smaller range of food, but a smaller footprint, smaller trolleys and smaller hassles. We're happy with the change.

Through the week we had a Grade 8 community services day which was an amalgam of endless inspiring videos and documentaries and subsequent discussion points, all in our homerooms. The kids were uplifted beyond the usual, and I think were even happier than us when the day ended! The morning task was more hands on, however, and visits to various local parks to pick up trash and generally tidy up was a huge success, especially the location that I went to. Cassy's group got relatively slim pickings, but mine scurried uphill and down dale and into jungles and waterway edges to retrieve all sorts of rubbish, evidenced by the bulging bags of detritus we left for the local council to cart away.

Poor little Virgy probably won't be with us at the time I write the next blog entry. She's become increasingly listless over the weekend and apart from a tiny rally when she licked down a small plate of her favourite wet food, mackerel, she's pretty much given up eating as well. Previously, she'd been lapping up endless serves of water as her kidneys cried out for liquid, but this even seems to have stalled. I'm going to the vet this afternoon to ask about next steps, but we're pretty sure we'll need to take her in to be injected as we don't want her to suffer. She even seemed to have a faintly glazed look in her eyes this morning as she curled up on her cushion, so...