A purge, a cleansing, a purification or a catharsis....whatever you like. Cass and I began today to do just that in our professional lives, as today was set aside as a packing day for our imminent move from the classrooms we've occupied for 11 and 12 years respectively. Oh, what a mixed feeling! Glad to be free of unwanted goods, but awful wading through the dusty back crannies and crevices in our cupboards, bookshelves and drawers to discover the most ridiculous of "keepsakes". In a professional setting, we've discovered we've both hoarded the silliest things. We pride ourselves on our minimalist living at home, but we wonder what is lurking in those back cupboards and wardrobes!

I've been most conflicted about how to dispose of professional books and materials that have laid idle for up to a decade. I did many courses in rapid succession when we first arrived and the two master's degrees obtained came with a cost of at least one textbook from each course taken, sometimes significantly more. All up, I had more than 50 texts! The education sphere spins on a giddy cycle, and when it comes around again, the material, while not really ground-breaking, has been rebadged and packaged to appeal to the modern teacher's taste for something "new". So, therefore, these lumpy tomes are unwanted and superfluous. Luckily, a "picker" amongst our colleagues noticed the growing piles of said reference books and started some boxes to accommodate them: I filled three to the brim without another's contribution!

Kids' books and materials were a different matter: we are boxing them up to be sent to needier schools in Taiwan or overseas and the stack of boxes continues to mount. Well resourced schools like ours can afford to get the latest and greatest at regular intervals, but we don't have a purge like this very often. Due to the new high school building now being in full operation, the middle and lower schools are "migrating" into some of their old spaces. Cass and I are both sad to leave our current spaces, but we've been lucky to stay put as long as we have, I suppose. I'll be moving to a purpose renovated "half" class, split down the middle which will result in a long narrow room: not the ideal teaching space in my opinion but the powers that be have different ideas. Cass will move down a floor and away to the south. Her space is similar in size, but the orientation has thrown her a bit: it's the opposite to what she had before! The movers will move all the boxes over June/July while we're on our long break and we'll have all the immense joy of unpacking and setting up again when we get back in August!

This weekend was a soggy sock of a thing and although we managed to get out and away to the magnificent Pizzeria Oggi on Saturday, we stayed pretty much inside in the dry. We watched multiple episodes of the critically acclaimed "Top of the Lake" and were excited to spot scenes filmed in Queenstown and Naseby, reminding us of our trip there with Ross and Ains.

Even though the end of the semester is still 4 weeks away, there are signs (apart from our packing) that the school year is starting its inexorable hurtle downhill to the finish line. Cass is moving into the last units of study with her kids and I'm actually involved in one-on-one testing all this week. After that in the next couple of weeks, we'll be tasked with grading and report writing, all the while fulfilling our social obligations with the obligatory whirl of year-end parties and farewells. We'll definitely be ready to get on that plane in early June!

Photos: one of my 5th graders goes Spiderman near the toilets, that "stiletto" is actually made totally from sugar and adorned a colleague's 30th birthday cake! Cass cracked the next to last bottle of precious Peck's. Mary loves her box (specially imported from Germany with my "lost" puffy jacket inside!) while Virg yawns and poses for a facial close-up.

Hsin Yi is a vibrant and slick corner of the city, way down in the south east on a compass opposite to our little hamlet of Tienmu. Originally designed to be the new centre of the city, it is proud and bold, arrogantly thrusting its granite and marble monoliths onto the street and into the sky with purpose and style. The suburb is dominated by the still awe-inspiring sight of Taipei 101 piercing the clouds and inducing neck aches and drop-jawed stares. It is still a shock every time to see this building up close, and actually manages to make me lose my equilibrium at times: I get a little faint with vertigo just taking a glimpse!

We'd threaded our way through back streets in Mingde to our local station, found a seat on the first carriage (always a tactic of ours), then watched as the line descended into the bowels of the city a few stops from home. Trains shriek and scream underground all over Asia and Europe, but these trains seem to be engineered to mimic the general populace's introversion: there's a mild shake and a mew of protest on odd occasions, but basically they just hurtle between assignments with a minimum of fuss. Changing at Taipei Main is always a circus of bodies in motion, but the chaos is so organized it works somehow. Just when you steel yourself for a collision, someone just glides past with a passing whisper touch or sidesteps the inevitable crash. Onwards on the Nangang line to Taipei City Hall station (you can check on the map above!), disgorged and into the pedestrian flow up escalators and stairs to magically emerge from the catacombs in a completely different part of town!

"Longtable" was our destination, a new bar/cafe restaurant with a relaxed ambiance and a fresh outlook over a wide tree-lined walkway and bike path. It was a pleasant stroll from the station and we were delighted to find the restaurant just as advertised. It had such a chilled out vibe and it was even more relaxing to wallow in some perfect English by all the wait staff: sometimes, on the weekend, the extra burden of Chinese speaking just seems all too hard! The chef/owner was some kind of foreigner and he had a basic, but very western menu on offer. Cassy's gnocchi was mouthwatering as was my chicken schnitzel, but we'll be going for the Veal Milanese next time....first time we've seen that on a Taipei menu in many years! After some 3 courses of food and a glass of wine, we were strangely emboldened to do a little window shopping...

The Eslite Building does house a gigantic book shop by the same name, but also has many boutique shopping establishments, most of which are at the upper end of the market. We made our way into one such furniture boutique and looked at all the beautiful things as well as sat in the impossibly comfortable chairs and lounges. It was French and all the items were hand-made to customer requirements. We saw a beautiful dressing/makeup table setup which opened up from what appeared to be a large, leather-sheathed chest. Stools and mirrors and hidden compartments all opened with a whisper and a sigh on a feather touch: it really was a craftsman's work of art and at $23,000 it would want to be! Their giddy outlook down pulsing Songren Road towards the dancing glitter of 101 was quite the view.

We got a hard copy of our oft-mentioned new favourite, "Quiet", by Susan Cain, mainly because despite our recent proclivity to read books electronically, it is still very awkward to flip back quickly to read and reference items. Armed with our one purchase after a restrained session of shopping, we braved the burgeoning Saturday night MRT crowd to travel back home.

Photos: one of my students has kitted-out and customized his desk....I like it! Goats from a temple park in an adjoining suburb have been moved to our ShiDong Park so we can see them grazing each day as we walk to and from school, scooter family, shots of Longtable and the view from the lofty luxury of the Eslite building.

 I'm not too sure about the new header and background on this blog, but I hope it makes it a little jazzier. The old header looked a little tired to my eyes, but this new one gives it almost too much zing! I thought it was appropriate as we are always skipping on and off the subway: I'll sit with it for a while and see how it settles.

I've touched on this topic before on these pages, but I want to return to the internet, and internet speed, as a topic. In Australia, I was intrigued to see the latest plan unveiled by the opposition and how they still want to use the copper network to transport from the fibre on street corners. The savings are enormous, but perhaps a little short-sighted in view of the first picture above. If you want to take a moment to check, go to this site (Speedtest) and press the button marked "Begin Test". After that, come back and compare that speed with the photo I posted above.

I took this speed test in the middle of the day while the school was fully operational and lots of bandwidth was being used, so it is actually sometimes a lot quicker than this. I can upgrade our home speeds to this or above for some extra cost, but the speed we currently have is more than adequate. For example, we can download an episode of American Idol (two hour show), in about 3 minutes and stream live sport in high definition with no buffering or lagging.

To future proof internet use in Australia, I reckon they should be going for the biggest and best right now. The national broadband network in Australia, as proposed by the current government and not earmarked for completion for a decade or more, is already matched by top speeds in Taiwan: what will it and other Asian countries be doing in a decade? It's a frightening thought and there is a real possibility of Australia still bickering and playing political point scoring while the rest of the world leaves them for dust. I don't care what scheme is implemented, but get something quality happening right now!!

Phew! Off my soap box now and on to the usual minutia. We booked tickets for Ironman 3 this weekend and I scootered over early to pick them up. Even the internet booking line was 30 deep! The general populace just loves these 3D special effects action movies: it was pandemonium. When we eventually went back for the movie, the crowd had grown exponentially and when we exited in the mid-afternoon, it was shoulder to shoulder in the lobby and the crowd was being funneled through the airport style barricades like a snake through a maze. The movie wasn't bad: a bit of fluff with lots of special effects, but didn't take itself too seriously, which is refreshing.

Afterwards we travelled over to the twin Mistukoshi building and up via the glass scenic elevator to Thai Town. Once bitten, twice shy in regards to our fried fish, we elected this time to go back to the gorgeous fresh steamed seabass, which arrives gently simmering in lemony juices and sliced just off the bone structure. I find it vaguely disconcerting that the eyes look like all-day-suckers that have been slurped for an hour, have turned white and are just about to be bitten into little crunchy bits, but apart from that, the meal was superb! The spicy eggplant was nearly as mouthwatering...

I'm finding out even more about myself as I continue to read "Quiet" by Susan Cain and I'm going to mention it in a presentation to parents on Wednesday afternoon. I'm going to teach them that it's alright for their kid to be quiet and introverted but they need to learn a few tactics in order to survive in a big, bad, extrovert world such as this American super school! Cass is reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (a sci-fi view of a world based on colour hierarchy, not the "mummy porn"!)
Photos: speedtest, Virgy being cute, the temple round the corner dolled up for an event (a rare sight), Thai Town fish eyes, and a sign of yet another peculiar Taipei habit....bringing pets to do the shopping!!

Cass has written and taught a Shakespearean unit to her Grade 8 kids this year after she was tasked with its implementation after some pressure from the upper to middle schools. She actually, famously, devised most of the broad brushstrokes of the unit while sitting on the back of the Harley as we made our way westwards last June! The solitude, engine's soothing note and inspiring landscape really got her thinking and there were no other distractions: its not like you can hop off anytime you like! The pre-planning, writing and teaching of the unit has been widely acclaimed until now by school administrators, but even noted by the visiting Pat Basset who is the president of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) in America. He speaks on this video, and Cassy's unit is mentioned from time marker 15.30 till about 17.10. It's apparently rare that he speaks at individual schools at all, so this mention is all the more lofty. An idea that had its genesis in Cassy's mind as we rode between Coonamble and Coonabarrabran? It might be mentioned by big Pat at some illustrious bed of learning somewhere in the world next time he drops some pearls of wisdom!

We took a road trip to Taichung! My great mate, Gurecki, is leaving this year and one of his requests was that we try to do a "roadie" with just four of us. Plans were vaguely made and we loaded up the car with Wol, Gurecki , me and Michael G to head to the next nearest big city in Taiwan. Although just over 150 km away, we'd only whizzed through previously on our way further south. This time, we sliced and diced our way through some seething freeway traffic on Saturday afternoon to arrive at our hotel by mid afternoon whereupon we got settled and headed out for a look/see.

Our first impressions were good ones: although also a big Asian city with a population packed into a small footprint, it had a feeling of spaciousness and modernity. The taller buildings, of which there were many, seemed all new and their interesting architectural designs set them apart from their blander Taipei counterparts. They were also nestled back off the street, allowing wide walking boulevards, fountains, public art and plants to soften and/or enliven the cityscape. It had a laid back feel while still pulsing with an undercurrent of big city excitement.

We had huge amounts of fun as we wandered first through afore-mentioned public spaces and parks before settling at the Ble D'Or, where we cradled huge steins of beer and snacked on nachos, tacos and various other decadent, fat-filled "boy's road trip" style foods. After a few lazy hours, we moved on to The Frog, a bar set up by a small stream in the middle of the city. Eventually, as night descended we made it back to the hotel to have a little break before heading out again. Not knowing the city meant we were directed to all sorts of weird places we wouldn't normally choose, but it certainly made for some interesting stories and lots of laughs. One club we were directed to had some strange version of The Chippendales dancing (we declined to enter!), and yet another was so uberslick with a mix of dark marble, subtle neon lighting and hypnotic techno beats, that we had trouble finding each other again if we went to visit the bathroom or the bar! Suffice to say, we had an interesting mix of venues and situations and stayed out far too late!

Lazy morning (although we all tossed and turned on typical rock-hard Taiwanese beds) then we met for brunch before heading off again. It would be remiss of me not to mention that we were also accompanied by a strange wooden statue of Gurecki's that he bought in Venezuela 20 years ago. I named him Circus Jesus (CJ), because of his long extended conical hat and his uncanny resemblance to a benevolent Jesus' face. CJ was not allowed to enter many of the bars we went to, so we spent half the night finding hiding spots for him outside so we could retrieve him later. He's also an extremely awkward shape, necessitating him being cradled by the back seat passengers both ways: glad I was driving! CJ and the rest of us had huge fun on the trips down and back playing loud music, telling tall stories and drinking numerous cans of beer (not the driver of course!!)

Cass had a very quiet weekend and we were pleased to be reunited on Sunday afternoon. I am carrying a sleep debt today, but managed to catch up on some sleep last night. So fun times were had, but tinged with a pang of regret: yet another great friend will be moving on soon. The bright side: looks like a great excuse to visit Nagasaki more frequently!

Photos: Some Taiwan facts, Cass chowing down at lunch in my office, and various trip shots.

One of my latest fads is to study and purchase various pieces of memorabilia, items, autographs etc. I've had an interest in history, especially family history for a while and have dabbled with little pieces, like making a frame for my grandfather's heirloom stopwatch and having a photo he gave me framed up, which features him on a dirt track motorcycle. One of the reasons this little interest is so attractive is my relationship with one of the local framing guys who does a sensationally good job at a rock bottom price.

I recently purchased a Led Zeppelin ticket (unused) from their Knepworth festival in England, dating from 1979, along with signed photographs of AC/DC and INXS. Regardless of purchase cost, these three items were framed to my specifications with mats and frames, a wooden backing is attached to all and a sturdy glass is used. The total for these three paintings plus my old school blazer pocket framed and double matted in a 3D form as well as a German postcard from our recent trip was A$50. Yes, all 5 items for $50. Now you probably realize why I am seeking anything that isn't nailed down to get a frame around it! The only slight problem with this is the sheer volume of framed material now existing in our apartment here: it's vast and rising.....our eventual shipment home will feature a lot of wood and glass!

One of the signature sets that I'd love to acquire is that of The Beatles. I was beaten in a recent auction to a full set of vintage signatures from 1963, intriguingly signed on the back of a cigarette packet during a one-off concert in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I was so confident that my bid of $3,000 would be accepted, that I was already sourcing photographs to have it framed with. Naively, as it turns out. The autographs went for a final bid of $10,700! I also have my eye on The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Ella Fitzgerald and others, so wish me luck as I try to bargain hunt. I am currently following the signature (on three separate boxing gloves) of Hall of Fame boxers, Riddock Bowe, Thomas Hearns and Roy Jones Jnr. I'll need a bit of luck to get them for a reasonable price.

I included the top photo as a little curio of the type of behaviour we have and expect at our school. I designed this poster set about 5 years ago. printed it out and pieced it together before stapling it to the bulletin board outside my office. It is at the top of the stairs between the 3rd and 4th floor and sees 100s of kids pass it by each day. The interesting fact about this is that it is still in the same pristine condition as when I put it up all those years ago: I've even had to dust it a couple of times!! Oh, for this respect for public property in most places in the world, let alone busy school thoroughfares!

My birthday passed in quite incredibly quiet conditions this Sunday, on a dreary, rain splattered day. My darling cooked me a fine dinner and we watched the very entertaining Django Unchained and life was, in fact, pretty sweet! I also did my birthday push-up video.

The final photo is to prove to my parents-in-law that I did in fact obey their explicit instructions and open my card on the day...I resorted to a kidnapping proof style newspaper reference. I bathed in the love of my adoring friends and family on Facebook and had a good chat to Mum on the phone: thank you all for making this a pleasant day!

The lazy, crazy, hazy days of Spring Break have all but dissipated into a warm memory mist, after a hectic day back at the factory. The memory is fading quickly, but what a wonderful time we had. While friends and colleagues traipsed a wide path through Asia and other destinations, we stayed firmly put in our own little Taipei haven.

Virg'n Mary slowly recovered from their anasthetic malaise over the week, till last night when they finally decided to sleep with each other again and cease their spitting and hissing. We had a relaxing round of sleeping late, going to bed late, eating breakfast and lunches out, scrapping around for tea and generally finding every decadent, time wasting or luxurious past time we could possibly conjure up.

We went to movies mid-morning on a work day, ate lunch at 3 p.m., went to the beach in the middle of the day and watched multiple episodes of TV dramas at any time of the day or night. We slopped around in our trakky daks and barely managed to have a shower and get dressed till much later in the day or evening. Books and magazines were read and scanned and every item of interest on the internet, email, newspapers online, Facebook etc were checked and mulled over. We watched the rain leak from the sky in the day and thunder down in shrieks during the night, all the while luxuriating in our sloth.

We did rouse ourselves to have a few little walks along the way, as well as getting downtown via multiple subway cars to celebrate Cassy's birthday at one of her favourite restaurants, Aubergine. We also lunched at Victoria in Jinshan, Sonnentor in Tienmu and breakfasted at Wendels. Shots of all the eating are above as well as a wine selection (all from Australia) at the supermarket....oh, how times have changed! I also included a shot of a white mouth-guarded, Thalidomide baby warning people not to smoke in the toilet of the restaurant.

David is reading the amazing book by Susan Cain on introversion, "Quiet". He has definitely confirmed he is one.....20/20 on the checklist! Cass is onto the evergreen Peter Corris with his latest Cliff Hardy adventure. (She got slightly fewer than 20 on the introversion checklist, but is still firmly in their number: my question is.....how on earth did we become teachers, who must rate amongst the world's greatest self promoters and extroverts?!)

Lots of food references in the photos this week. I've once again fallen into a state of somnolent collapse,  brought about by our current week's holiday for Spring Break and the absolute lack of any urgency to do, say, eat or accomplish anything in particular at all. With that constant thought and with a dilatory mindset, once again the writing of this blog is tardy. Not only late, it will also be brief so I can return to my current life of doing nothing much at all!

Cass had her book club on Friday and it was a resounding success, save for the unusual non-rising of her Pavlova: I was the lucky recipient of a spare piece, so can attest to the fact that it was indeed of her usual delicious standard, just looked like a pin-pricked balloon. All "the preparations" were worth it apparently: anyway, Cassy has ticked that off her list for another year till her turn comes round again.

We dined at the incomparable Din Tai Feng on the weekend once more and revelled in their delicately steamed and arranged xia long bao along with our regular accompaniments. Or, in fact, is it "incomparable"? I was fascinated to be alerted (via facebook) to the existence of this eatery in our hometown...we'll be sure to test its authenticity when we return for our long break in June.

I ate at yet another Chinese restaurant on Friday night en-route to Roxy Rocker: I wonder if anyone can identify the vegetable on the far right, in the middle above the mushrooms, with the little tendrils poking out at weird angles? I don't know what it was, but it tasted good!

At SOGO supermarket, Cassy spotted some tiny Australian potatoes (which we've never spotted in Taipei before). The local version is plentiful, but tastes a little floury in comparison. She bought some at crazy expense to make her potato salad on Friday night have a little extra zing. I've previously taken a shot of the aisles of soy sauce in our local supermarket, but how about the rice? This is just a selection of their selection!
Australian beef and a "Hello Kitty" computer mouse round out the department store/supermarket photos.

Gurecki was off to Nagasaki for the week, but we managed to sneak in a few beers down at Uli's on Friday. How appropriate for the pink shirted man to front the sakura? They are nearing the end of their bloom in southern Japan at the moment.

We've just picked up the "girls" this morning from their bi-annual teeth cleaning. Getting them basketed, into the car and off to the vets is always quite physically and emotionally taxing (for them and us!): this time, like last, we opted to have them stay overnight to sleep off the worst effects of the anesthesia  When we picked them up this morning, they seemed a little less sluggish than usual: maybe the vet has adjusted their dose. Despite the hissing and spitting when they pass one another (some weird by-product of the anesthetic that lasts for days) they seemed very relieved to be back in their own environment.

Cass is devouring Barry Maitland's Chelsea Mansions, while I am attempting to savour Peter Corris's Comeback....we've both been saving these for a special treat!

Check out the "Dinta's" master dumpling artists right here, or above for a limited time.

We're planning to get right back to our dilatory week starting right now!