We've bought a car! Well, actually we've bought 1/2 a car as we've gone in with our friends from NZ, Ross and Ainsley, to purchase it and share the ongoing costs. We're really excited, as it is a '91 Toyota Corona in very good condition. The car was considered necessary for our 'new' surfing lifestyle on the weekends, as the school van was expensive to rent and very dodgy as well as inducing near car sickness on the winding road up the mountain and down the other side to the coast. We went out mid-week to a car parts warehouse to try to get some roof racks, but they said they couldn't fit them on this model car. We bought some ocky straps and just tied them to the roof, with the straps going around inside. This works very well for our hour long trip to the beach and we'll try to scout some racks out before we head off on any bigger adventures.
Our maiden trip yesterday resulted in dead flat surf, but Cass and Ains came along and were most impressed with the vehicle. We had an esky in the boot with sandwiches and drinks, our little Cancer Council beach igloo and of course the boards on top. We had a great day with all our new tricks! One amazing sight in the flat glassy conditions was 30 odd surfers in the water waiting for waves! Some kind of surf school has been set up and these novices were trying to catch the pathetic little 6 inches of slop available. As we said later: we don't think many will come back after that introduction, which will leave all the more waves for us. We were really lamenting our forgetfulness in not bringing a camera; partly to record our first trip, but mainly to save this most amazing sight, which really had to be seen to be believed.
Today, I drove Ross and Carl over for"boys" surf, leaving at 6 am, only to be greeted by the same lake-like conditions of yesterday. Still we had a loll around in the surprisingly clean water and, as always, a great laugh.
We got back late morning, and as I write this we're looking forward to watching the Knights vs. St George game, which will be on ABC Asiapacific in about 30 minutes. After the football we're planning to take the scooter down to the night market to get Cass some cheapy sunnies for the bike and just have a look around, as we haven't been there since we came back.
Our week at school was busy as usual, but mercifully, my ESL Parent Night seemed to very successful, everyone doing their bit very professionally. I was very nervous doing my first one, but my colleagues assured me later that I didn't appear so and did a "good job". At least they're diplomatic!
Cassy's teaching partner seems to be chilling out a bit and they're beginning to form a good relationship, so that's a load off her mind too.
Of course the really "interesting" part of this whole car ownership deal is the eternal search for a park. We won't be using except it on the weekend so after we take it out we have to drive around for up to a 1/2 hour looking for a park. We've put our name down for a park at work, but it will be about 18 months before we secure one. If you've seen the Seinfeld episodes where they won't go out because they have the perfect park, you'll begin to understand the feeling we have when we get a good one......

We were glad to survive the week with all the classes. It's not quite finally over as we have to complete a couple of assignments online by next Sunday but at least we don't have to sit through any more classes. On Friday night the professor let us out a bit early so as to adjourn the lesson to the "Green Bar" for some liquid refreshment. We both felt like "skipping class" but thought it would be poor form. We ended up quite enjoying ourselves, having a couple of cleansing ales chatting with our classmates. As we had our medical the next morning at 8 am (postponed from the end of last year) we remained fairly circumspect and made it home by about 9:30 pm.
The medical was as much fun as usual - height, weight, blood pressure, wee in a cup and pour it into the tiny test tubes yourself (good test of fine motor skills!!), eye test, chest x-ray, reflex tests (!!), organ check (is your liver in the right place?), and blood taken. A great way to start the day!!
Carl, Ross, Sean, Marcus and myself then went to the beach and though the waves were small, we had a good time (probably aided by the load of crap we were all talking!)
While we were out, poor old Cass did some drudgework like the shopping, cleaning the house and doing the ironing for the week (while watching the Storm v Dragons game on TV.)
We had a quiet night at home last night - satay prawns and "Idiot Box"(new DVD bought at home).
Today we went to the movies to see "Gangs of NY". Usually we get movies here at the same time as Oz, if not earlier, but this one was delayed for some reason. It was long and violent, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
We've had some wonderful emails from Cassy's parents, Mum and Sue, including news from Sue about the birth of Matt Gidley's baby just after she arrived home from the delivery! We also received a video from Sue with some "Block" episodes, which we got addicted to back home, Footy show and of course, football. Thanks Bud!
I have to present the ESL Parent Information night on Tuesday and after the inevitable follow up interviews with parents who need clarification I'm hoping my super hectic pace will lessen a little: at least enough to allow me to get to the gym more often. As I write this, I'm listening to the radio (2GB) from home warning of storms, while thunder bursts here and rain buckets down in tropical fashion. Some things are the same everywhere!

This week was up there with the busiest we've ever experienced. My new job has presented many challenges, not the least of which has been my inability to teach one lesson after 5 days of non-stop meetings, both attended and run. Apart from that, letters had to be written, decisions made and books, furniture and even food was ordered. I seem to have quite a sizable budget, which is comforting, but the paperwork to go with it is also rather daunting. The crowning glory was to discover that the class I was supposed to lose to do the job could not be done by anyone else, so I'm doing that as well.
Cass has had her fair share of problems this week as well, as 2 of the 4 people on her team are new, and she has been guiding her most direct partner around the super size of the T.A.S. machine. Cass thinks she will be pretty good to work with, but at the moment is displaying some typical, nervous behaviours of a new teacher. She also seems to be pretty anal, but we're both sure she'll relax a little as the year goes on.
Anyway, to say that we've hit the ground running is an understatement; more like coming from a dead stop to a full sprint in a few days!
Because of our hectic week we took the opportunity not to attend the belated recognition ceremony and the following BBQ and drinks on Friday night.
On Saturday, I had booked the school van and we drove the hour or so over the mountains to Jinshan beach to test out our new boards. Ross, Carl and Shaun (Aussie school psychologist) joined me and we got a nice clean 2-3 foot swell, which gave us plenty of good fun. We had to leave at 12 so we could get home in time for the rugby league (yes!) game featuring the Knights vs. Warriors. When we arrived back in Taiwan we were absolutely delighted to find that ABC Asiapacific had decided to show 2 NRL games each weekend: the Friday night game on Saturday afternoon and the channel 9 Sunday game on Sunday afternoon at 1.30!
Anyway, Ross joined us to watch the Knights beat the Warriors (go Kurt) and then stayed to watch the Australia vs. All Blacks on Chinese cable live. Carl, Hiroko and their boys came round for that as well as Shaun and Marcus (Grade 1 Aussie teacher). We had a great time and Ross felt better as the Kiwis won.
We've had a super lazy Sunday, except for an hour or 2 we spent at school (shock/horror...may have to do this for a while just to get everything done). We watched the NRL game this afternoon and Cass is doing a little more schoolwork before we'll head out in the heat for a little walk down to the local shops.
Cass and I are both getting ready for our Master's course (our last..yeh!) which starts tomorrow........this week looks like being even busier.

Taipei's "wall of heat" was the worst thing about arriving back on Friday evening but Mr. Lee (our downstairs neighbour and landlord) greeting us like long lost children made up for it. The house was in good condition and our earthquake-proofing seemed to have worked, except for one overflowing closet camel, which spilt in Cassy's wardrobe. We've spent the past couple of days shopping, cleaning and preparing for work tomorrow.
What a fantastic holiday we had. 12 weeks of Aussie "winter" was rather spoiling and we're wondering if we can still teach after all that time! We enjoyed walking the "Bather's Way" nearly every day, I surfed and we both watched whales making their way up the coast as we sat and ate breakfast or lunch. Apart from catching up with friends and family, the highlights of our trip came near the end in our bike trip up the coast and down the freezing hinterland and seeing the famous mother and baby whales cavorting close to shore just off Sailor's rock at Merewether beach.
Our bike trip was something of an experience when we got to Tenterfield after crossing the Great Dividing Range from Casino. We were so cold we had to pit stop in a coffee shop for an hour or so. However nothing could prepare us for the town of Glen Innes which that morning had registered their coldest temp of the year at -14 degrees! Anyway, many adventures were had, not the least of which was scraping ice off the bike before we could get going in the mornings.
We've just come back from dinner at our favourite curry restaurant after dropping in at Chad and Cathie's new place (very big, new and impressive) to see their new baby, Levi. He's a very cute boy and settling in well for an 11 week old who has already traveled from Taipei to Colorado then to Minnesota and back to Taipei!
Chad and Cathie presented us with a beautiful rug featuring some of the rock formations in Colorado, which we will eventually hang on a wall here.
Well a great weekend, the Knights flogged the Cowboys and our digital set top box is showing 2 NRL games on ABC Asia pacific each weekend now. In fact we watched the Storm vs. Bulldogs game here at 1.30 (3.30 back in Australia) 1/2 an hour before it screened back home. Things just get better and better!
The only slight spanner in the works is the prospect of attending and running numerous meetings in the next few days and starting my next Master's subject on Friday.....we won't have much time to relax I suspect this week.

Well, things have been pretty interesting here over the past week or so, even if we have been locked up for most of it. We've had Health authorities, delivery people coming to the door in masks; people ringing each day to check that we're well and that we haven't done "the bolt". Spacemen types are being sent to pick up garbage...it's certainly been an eye-opener.
Best news of all is that our colleague does not have SARS after all, which is a huge relief for all concerned. Our schoolboy and his Mum may yet have it.... they are up and down with fever. The most dramatic thing for us is, I suppose, the alarming rate at which the disease seems to be spreading in Taipei city. Taipei now has the very dubious distinction of being on the same "high" transmission rating with WHO as the infamous source city in Guandong province, with cases rising exponentially each day.
We can't wait to get the hell out of here and we've managed to negotiate an early passage home with our bosses. We were supposed to go back to school for two days this Thursday and Friday after an early lifting of quarantine, but we successfully argued that surely we could leave on Thursday evening if all our work was done. Sanity prevailed and we and Carl and a number of other people booked what seems like our 50th flight out in the last few weeks. Our poor long suffering travel agent!
Anyway, we have reports to write, grades to record while we are here at home and cleaning up of rooms to be done when we get back. The best bonus will be not only to escape an increasingly sick city, but also to enjoy 3 more weeks of holiday. 12 weeks back in Merewether might not be too bad!
I won't write here again till early/mid August...I plan to enjoy a semi-literate existence for a while; if it's more taxing than reading a TV or a form guide, I won't be doing it!

We're under a 14-day home quarantine as of Wednesday afternoon. We were corralled at the auditorium at school and had to fill in forms stating our home address, personal particulars etc and are awaiting people from the Bureau of Health to ring and check on us. We're not to leave our place under any circumstances. Our garbage will be collected by the Environmental Protection Agency and we have elected not to receive food from the Health Department as it is sourced from a hospital a few blocks away that has many SARS patients. We wish we were dreaming this time but unfortunately, we're not.
It all started with news of a meeting on Wednesday afternoon and we were to tell the kids that all after school sport etc had been cancelled. This is a massive step for our school, so we knew that something major had happened. We subsequently discovered that one of our teachers was listed as a probable SARS patient and we already had a high school boy listed as well. The boy's father has since died, although the boy himself appears to be recovering. We had a staff meeting on Monday, ironically to discuss the SARS issue, at which the teacher was present, so the city Health Department has put a blanket quarantine on all 250 faculty.
School has been closed for the year (end date was to be June 6) but we'll be required to go in and write reports etc for a few days at the end of the quarantine. Carl was thinking quickly and managed to book the last 3 seats for him and us on a flight leaving on May 22 so we'll be back after that. Hiroko and the boys were already booked to go back yesterday and they arrived safely in Australia this morning.
It seems bizarre that it's become so hard to get a flight with airlines flying 1/2 empty planes, but the reality is that when a place like this closes, with 3000 families trying to get out at the same time, and airlines cutting schedules, it's very hard to find a seat.
Our next task, of course, is to stay sane during the quarantine. I'll do some karate each day so I can sleep at night and no doubt we'll watch plenty of DVDs and some football tapes etc. We're so pleased to have our new digital TV feed of ABC Asia pacific as well. I really think we'll be better placed than many to weather this time, although we'll have to come up with a plan to get some more food, milk etc come the second week.
Wish us luck!

I paddled out the back again after getting a nice little left-hander into the beach. The waves were becoming a little more consistent and I'd spent the best part of 4 hours in the water; nothing like good surf to cleanse the soul. I know many of you will be saying.."WAKE HIM UP, HE'S DREAMING!" and it almost seemed like that at times but I've had a surf in TAIWAN!
The reality of the surf is a little less romantic, when you consider the size (very small), quality (messy) location (just off a power station near a man-made concrete breakwater) and beach and water quality (unlike our bathing beach round the point this beach is NOT regularly cleaned and we just ignored bits of rubbish floating by and all over the beach)
However, all negatives aside, another whole world is opening up here in Taiwan. Locals and more experienced surfers of Taiwanese waves say it does get better and on a good day at other north east coast beaches can be just like home. A mate, Ross, was so excited to have his new board and was really keen to have his first surf. As I was in the unenviable position of "the guy with a driver's license" I had to get the school van booked up for the Saturday. Ross' wife and Cass were all set to join us until we discovered that someone had taken all the seats out to cart stuff around! Anyway, the girls were very understanding and sent us off for our inaugural Taiwanese surf (Ross' first ever!) We were in the water for about 5 hours so we certainly made the most of it.
Sunday saw me up at 7 to get to dragon boat race practice on time. Our whole crew was greeted down at the wharf with a big sign of Chinese characters, which a friendly passer-by translated for us. No more practices and no more race day because of SARS. We were devastated, mainly because we were really enjoying it and were looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves come race days. We had a real swish wood fired pizza lunch out on Sunday then some DVD action in the afternoon. We've kind of been warned off more populated areas of town, so thought we'd stay put. We've got more flights booked home now, but the bummer is that they don't leave till 4 days after we break up and come back 3 days early......we're not impressed in missing a week's holiday back home but seem to have little other choice.
The school is at a Level 2 readiness for SARS cases, the first student may have the disease, but he hasn't been on campus for more than a week. We are getting trained in a new software system that the school has bought so we can teach from home if need be and all 3000 students staff and faculty will be issued a digital thermometer this week so we can take our temperature at the gate before we are allowed in....any elevated temps, turn around, go home, and quarantine yourself for 72 hours.... I'm wondering how I can manipulate those things!

Cassy's cousin, Ashley left us at about 10am this morning. We got Daniel to pick him up in one of his flash Mercs so he didn't feel too plebian being in scummy Taipei!
We had a good time over the past few days and we think we've shown Ashley a little bit of normal living in Taipei life as opposed to hotel/meeting/restaurant/looking at very ugly part of town mentality. We introduced the poor fellow to variously intoxicated Americans, Aussies and Kiwis on Friday night but spared him the baby shower we were supposed to "bring him along" to on Saturday night.
We ventured to the night market after spending an afternoon exploring the MRT and the flash shopping centre in the newer area of town.
We watched "About Schmidt" on DVD at home last night and I just arrived back in time to say goodbye to Ashley after another early morning session of dragon boat race practice this morning. Even though I do say myself, we're actually getting pretty good! I got a turn sitting at the flag catcher's spot today and these boats are pulling some pretty awesome power at times. The surge from a big effort run of strokes is very strong, and it was also interesting to see how hard our coxswain has to work to keep the thing running straight. He's an amazing teacher...very patient and seems to know how to push us to our limit before easing off (he's an Aussie of course!)
The other potentially very exciting bit of news about Dragon boat Festival is when it is on. We race on the weekend of May 31-June 1, but if we continue to win we might be back for the finals on the following Wednesday. The school is sponsoring our entry so we.....have to have the day off! Now there's some extra incentive, although we suspect it might be like a Taiwanese novice rugby league team coming to Newcastle trying to beat the Knights with just a couple of months training!
Anyway, lazy day today, watched some Knights on tape (thanks Sue!), read some Newcastle Herald in clippings (thanks Mum!) and organized some new keys for our place back home after some scumbag tried to break in the other day (thanks Xris and Val!)
I'm going on an overnight camp with the grade 3s on Thursday-Friday and you can imagine how overjoyed I am at the prospect.......
Our latest flight home has been cancelled and we're trying to book tickets via Japan, Thailand and even Auckland. Wish us luck, but even it means a slow boat away from China we're coming home in June!

We have been pleased to hear that Chris and Val arrived back safely from their HK and China adventure and what a trip they had. With the SARS virus scaring away nearly all the tourists they were treated like royalty and had a ball.
Carl and I had a beer with "the Gurecki" on Friday afternoon before we headed down with Carl's family to meet Cass for tea at a new Indian/Japanese curry house just round the corner from our place (Kari Curry!). It was fantastic, could end up being a favorite of ours...it's sure close enough. I had Cassy's newly arrived golf clubs in tow (!) For those who know us, you'll realise that golf is not a sport that either Cass or I indulge in, but we both have a set of clubs now, courtesy of a factory, which had gone bankrupt, closed down and flogged off all its stock. I wont be so indelicate as to reveal their cost (mainly because I'm not lugging any home for people!!), but they have graphite shafts etc and are rated by far better judges than I as excellent sets.
After a top lazy Saturday morn reading Mum's great newspaper clippings and marveling, amongst other things at Newcastle's spiraling real estate prices we headed off to the Shin Shin cinemas. We'd been there before, but were suitably unimpressed with their '70s fit out, sound and comfort. After a total refit we were very impressed. Big roomy new seats, big screens and great sounds plus a discount for TAS faculty all made this worth a visit...we'll be back!
We stopped at the night market for Cass to get a new watch battery and also bought some delicious Indian takeaway, cooked in front of us at a street stall.
Sunday saw me up at 6am to go Dragon boat racing training! We will compete in six weeks time in the Taipei dragon boat festival, a massive festival here as you can imagine and we're trying to beat the Chinese at their own game. Time will tell how successful we'll be, but if aching muscles today are any indication, we'll be putting in a big effort!!
Home at 10 for brekky and then a trip to the beach on Blacky, carting our chicken sangas (yes Val, Cassy did make them), thermos of ice water, boardies, towels and.....our new pop up beach shelter! As it folds into a large disc and has straps, I strap it on my back, Cass has a backpack and off we go. We stayed at the beach for 4 1/2 hours, unheard of in pre-shade times. As it takes an hour to get to the coast, we don't want to waste the trip. It was great; we read our books (True History of the Kelly Gang for me) had heaps of swims and even dazzled the locals with some more body surfing.
Back to work totally relaxed today, I was secretly pleased to see that my 17 fellow crewmembers were in varying states of distress. Oh well, better get over it soon; 5.30am on Wednesday is our next training time!!

I went to Chad's "baby shower" on Friday night and we had a ball. I helped some of the boys move some ice and chairs around before adjourning to a pub down the road for a few pre-party drinks with Carl, our NZ mate Ross and the "amazing Gurecki" who is a New Yorker who seems to dislike his countrymen intensely and has a tendency to go off in a kind of Seinfeld on speed/Tourette's syndrome fit at regular intervals, especially with a few sherbets on board. With such amusing company, we managed to arrive late at the party in full swing. All men, different ages, nationalities, ideas etc all had one thing in common; they were mates of Chad's, so we ended up having a great time. Suffice to say that Saturday morning probably had many of the participants reaching for the painkillers and the fluids!
On Saturday night, a surfie colleague from the U.S. rang with news of a surfboard stand at a trade show downtown. Cass and I investigated this on Sunday morning and after wandering around looking at sporting goods for an hour and a half (Cass was thrilled as you can imagine!) I walked out having bought a board! It's a 7' 3" thruster with fcs fins which means I can remove them for traveling and a hard bag for the plane....Bali reef breaks, Sumatra or even the Maldives look out! (Cass says "Maldives")
Anyway, it was pretty cheap, as the guy didn't want to take all his display stock back to China. We (the T.A.S. boys) actually bought 6 boards from him yesterday, so we might even try to give them some action here on a weekend or wait for some typhoon swell.
This purchase was funded by Chris and Val who left me some serious birthday cash so...thanks!...you can see it didn't take long to spend.
We ate lunch at the American Tex/Mex restaurant Chilis, which although offering beautiful tastes, made us realize why we usually eat locally. We paid $85 for lunch, no wine!!
I was delighted to get some e-cards and messages from family and friends today. My aunty and uncle timed the sending of a card to perfection when I picked it up today at the post office as well. Thanks to all, although these "in your forties" birthdays are pretty forgettable really!
We've booked some alternative flights home, as the school might not allow us to go through Hong Kong unless SARS gets a bit better. We're more worried about not getting our frequent flyer miles! Just thought I'd add a touch more here as i spoke to Mum for about 20 minutes on the phone just now. It was lovely to have a little chat on my birthday........

After our drive on Wednesday we invited the Lochrin family down to our place for drinks which we disposed of very well, after Carl had spent a hot day golfing and we had been around the world. We had a great time having beers on the verandah and Chris and Val were able to catch up with Carl and Hiroko, Steven and Sean. They were able to marvel at how big the boys were getting before we headed off to Ulis for tea. Rainy day Thursday saw us camped in and having a good chat about this and that before Chris and I went out to get the famous Ker Qiang "pizza" This onion patty is flopped and crushed and transferred from bamboo pot to bamboo pot before we bring it home and add egg, cheese and some spicy sauces to the rather bland mix. Delicious(and cheap)! In the afternoon we went on the MRT to Nanking East rd, where Chris and I went to the French electronics and book store FNAC, while Cassy took her Mum to Ikea before we experienced some rush hour MRT (tried to get SARS, but we weren't successful; I've know idea why, because we were sneezed on by about 1000 masked and sniffly people!) Ocean's 11 on DVD for evening.
Rain again on Friday, but a slight break saw us once again up to Yangminshan where we saw the famous flower clock and also saw the very famous Taiwan blue magpie up close!! We walked up to a viewing pavilion as well but the rain and mist spoilt any sweeping vistas on this day. Carl rang and said they were off to Teppanyaki for tea, so we invited ourselves along to that. Chris and Val had enjoyed this style of cooking last time and did so again before the boys (Chris, Carl and I) headed off to the Green Bar for a few cleansing ales. I swung by Chad's place on the way to invite him and Cathy encouraged him to go along (he didn't need much arm twisting) even though she's just a few weeks away from having their first baby.
We had a lot of beers and a lot of laughs, mostly at my expense, especially when all 3 were threatening to go to the fabled and much maligned "Mama's Bar" at 2 in the morning!! Thankfully sanity prevailed and we went home then: Chris was good enough to pretend to his wife and mine that he didn't have a hangover the next day!
On Saturday the 5th Cass had a great birthday and received cards from her Mum and Dad of course, along with my Mum and Sue. Later on in the day, we went to the movies and saw "Chicago", which was very entertaining (even though it's not my favourite type of movie) and then we had dinner in a great Thai restaurant within the Living Mall complex. The whole experience was enlivened, for Chris and Val, by riding on the scooter! Val accompanied me on the way downtown and Chris was my passenger on the way home. Cass went with the other party on each trip on the MRT. Even though it was a relatively quiet weekend, due to "Tombsweeping Day" (!! yes, they really do it!), the ride was quite thrilling for them. (see previous "scooter" entry for an idea!)
We had a wonderful relaxing day in the "Garden of Perfected Benevolence" the next day where we had a picnic lunch and a wander before heading to the crazy excitement of Shilin "night markets". Val bought some good CDs and I managed to buy a "bargain" backpack for $5, only for the zip to fall apart the first time I used it. Sunday night back home reminded me again about the joys of having a car in Taipei. I dropped everyone off before driving around Tienmu for 40 minutes looking for a park. I eventually gave up and parked it illegally at school overnight and walked back home!
Back to school with a partial quarantine on Monday, home for Cass to share a belated birthday drink of champagne with her parents (Moet & Chandon no less!) then out to Fangs Chinese restaurant for a farewell dinner. Chris and Val went off in Daniel's Mercedes limo for the airport at 7 am Monday morning as we headed off to work. It was a great week and we're looking forward to having more good times come June/July.

We've had a great week with Cassy's parents here and have enjoyed our "Spring Break with heaps of fine food, drink, company and adventure!
I won't try to mention everything we did, but rather give a bit of an overview. We gave the "olds" the use of our bedroom and ensuite for their stay, which gave us a chance to check out the famous Ed's Bed, which we bought some time ago...it was pretty good!
We had borrowed a little Laser from some friends here so were able to take Chris and Val a little further afield and really give them a taste of some of the places we've managed to see since we bought our scooter (which will be referred to as "Blackie" from here on!)
Yangminshan was an early target for the car and the steaming fumaroles put on a real volcanic show for the visitors before we went to Buffalo Meadows, enjoying a relaxing walk as well as very close contact with some impressively massive bovines. The camera got a workout and we had a great day. The next day was one of of the finest we've ever experienced in Taiwan, so we headed out towards Baishawan beach and the wonders of the north coast highway. I'd never considered Taiwan as a tourist destination before we came and even before we had our scooter I wasn't really convinced. Blackie has literally expanded our horizons and we were eager to share this feeling with Chris and Val.
The shimendong water formed caves and arch, along with the curious 18 kings temple, where a dog has been deified for trying to save his master from a shipwreck long ago, apparently refusing to budge from the shoreline or eat or drink till his master came back. We went further than ever before along this highway and were thwarted in our efforts to see the beautiful candle island, but we'll try again! Chinshan gave us an excuse to try a back road back over Yangminshan to Tienmu and it was a beautiful drive through lush unspoiled forests, rising over 1000 metres in a very short time. Whew, I've about typed my two fingers out for now....I'm only up to about this time last week, so stay tuned for more!

....fotojenik.....that's the name to remember. Now my sister Sue is fully set up and ready to go, I thought it was about time I mention her new business to you again. She has a nifty little studio set up and will travel, as they say, to look after any photographic requirements you might have. She's an expert at portraiture, especially kids and has just completed her second wedding shoot. The results are spectacular; interesting and different and at a very reasonable price. She's well worth contacting on (02) 4961 3362 if you're in or around the Newcastle area. She'll even look after your framing.
It's hard to believe that it is the end of March already; school has less than a quarter to go before we're home again. At the moment, I'm trying to ride out a severe head cold after worrying at first that I had contracted the deadly SARS disease (being typically over-dramatic). I need to get well for the arrival of Cassy's parents on Monday who will stay for a week before heading over to China for a while. This will be their second visit.... it can't be too bad here after all. We're both looking forward to their visit of course and Carl Hiroko and the boys will also enjoy seeing them, so we'll organise a few get-togethers. Chad is also threatening to have a drink with Chris.....look out!
I was very concerned to read in the online paper that the majority of Australians now support the war.......we're working with a vast majority of Americans here and even though there are a few red neck flag waving good ole boys and gals, people here are as horrified as we are. Probably best let this topic alone....I'll start ranting.
We've borrowed a little Laser from some friends so we can take Chris and Val up into the mountains and maybe out to the coast (Taiwanese families can fit 4 on a scooter, but I think we might be a bit bigger than most!) so that should be fun.
A whole stack of our colleagues, about 90 all up, have gone to Thailand for a conference and some lazing around on beaches. The strange fascination with working in part of your holiday is explained by the fact that the school pays your airfare, conference fees and accommodation for the length of the conference at a 5 star resort! I'm still trying to come to terms with the professional development funds available here......we used to get excited when we got a trip to Sydney!
More are staying here however, for all sorts of reasons: hosting visitors, staying safe and not traveling with what feels like a target on your head, worries about SARS etc
Anyway, we'll be here and..........loving it! Best to all back home, if you haven't written an email get to it you slackers!

We've enjoyed immensely the emails we've received over the past week. Our great correspondents Thurza and our parents were joined by Sue and Ildi, the latter certainly not slowed down by baby Anika.
Cass and I didn't get to bed till about 1 am this morning after a marathon session at the "Brass Monkey". We arrived at 3.30 in the afternoon, in time to secure pretty good seats for the World Cup match, which began at 4. And what a match! The bar was filled with about 2/3 Indians and 1/3 Aussies for the big battle. The Indians were setting up some great chants and adding to the atmosphere with whistles etc. They are a wonderful crowd; we loved being there with them. Some of the more boorish Australians started up some rather strange chants and of course, the ubiquitous "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" which lacks a lot of imagination and Indian flair, but at least gave the boys something to shout! We were mesmerized by the Australian batting performance and quietly congratulated ourselves on our commitment to the game that saw us witness one of the great innings. Suffice to say, we were a little tired when the alarm went off at its usual pre 6am time, but not disappointed.
The precursor to all this action was of course the first Indian vs. The Rest of the World cricket match, right here at Taipei American School on Saturday night. The Indian dads had been pestering (sledging!) us for some time to have a challenge match and finally we got it together on Saturday. Our team of Aussies, NZ, South Africa and even a Canadian all had a bit of a bash and a bowl. We had a ball! The Indians were a little surprised by our ability I think (even though it was more bash than caress!), as they have been playing regularly in a secret location for some time. We had no equipment but borrowed theirs, even down to the white ball, as it was a "day/nighter".
There were some surreal moments. The one which stands out most vividly is standing at first slip and looking around some time during the Indian innings. The field was lit up and we were applauding our bowler's just delivered ball a la the "real" Australians. Apartment buildings surrounded the ground on all sides and behind them the mass of Yangminshan mountain rose. A white bed sheet flapped from the balcony of a nearby high-rise with the words "Play Cricket, Not War" emblazoned on it for all to see. A fellow teacher who lived there was making a point, which we all appreciated and agreed with.
This message struck home with a vengeance the next morning when our Australian colleague woke to be told his cameraman brother had been the victim of a suicide bomber in Iraq.
"Play Cricket, Not War" made even more sense after that.

It was a great night at the cricket downtown and we plan to go again for the semi on Tues and the final next Sun (assuming we make it.... not much doubt)
We've had an amazing weekend as we have taken delivery of a digital set top box for the TV, which adds certain digital channels to our usual 104 channels on cable. We get a number of new ones, but most notably BBC World, TV5 France (in French), DW Germany (in English and German), a Korean channel, a Malaysian channel and a few we already get on cable, but of better quality. The main one is.........ABC (Asia Pacific)!!! It's just unreal; we get news each night at 7, with great local (Aussie) stories and of course, sport for the last 10 minutes. We get old episodes of Water Rats and Blue Heelers (which we never watched back home and are thankful now!) and great current affairs like Focus from SBS, Landline and best of all, Four Corners.
So this weekend we're reveling in our Aussie TV and listening to 2GB footy talk streaming live over the Internet. We're listening to the continuous call team right now, and have just heard the Knights win in a classic come from behind fight. We celebrated by playing and singing the "Playing Hard, Playing Tough" song of the Knights that we've downloaded from the Knight's website... the neighbours must really think we're nuts now, if they didn't before!
Of course, there was a period of about an hour this morning where we were watching the ABC TV with sound muted, listening to 2GB AND reading the latest and greatest clippings that Mum has sent from the Newcastle Herald. In between times I was ringing Carl so we could marvel at the programming on our new TV (he got it too; in fact, found us a much better deal than the original one we had heard about)
So, it's a far cry from days in Japan when I sometimes wondered whether Australia was still actually there. No Internet, email, TV etc..... we're doing pretty well here now in comparison.

Well, mid-week is not a usual time to have fun, but I broke the rules a little last night. We'd received an email at school about the Aussie-NZ cricket game in the super sixes in the World Cup. The oddly named (yet quite apt, considering recent weather) "Brass Monkey" in an unexplored part of town was advertising the game as being on the "big screen". Anyway, after the Aussie innings, about 7.30 our time a bunch of Aussies rang around and 8 of us headed downtown to catch the NZ innings (including one kiwi and two Yanks) What a night. We looked around the bar and commented that we could have been anywhere; everyone was Aussie, Kiwi or Indian. Wickets were cheered or ignored depending on whom you were supporting, beers were drunk and stories shared. The screen was, indeed, BIG and we're looking forward to our semi and hopefully the subsequent final on Sunday week. Brass Monkey, here we come!!
We went up to the fumaroles today with grade 3 on a "field trip" (excursion) and enjoyed some great sights and weather. My darling wife continues to plug away at work and I have promised her she will accompany me next time there is cricket to be watched downtown. She was a touch upset about missing out this time round(!)

This was some sort of psycho cold snap we had this weekend! 10-12 degrees but with some humidity heavy wind as well and that cold just cut through every layer of clothes we had on. I suppose we should be thankful; no doubt this we'll be the last little bit of cold we have as we move steadily into another hot, humid summer.
We've enjoyed reading about Newcastle, family and friends via a great succession of emails from my sister Sue, Cassy's Mum and Dad, my Mum and our friend Thurza. Lois wrote late last week as well and filled us in with some "Grammary" goss. We kicked off the weekend by reading some excellent news clippings that Mum had sent over. It's always a little bit like Christmas to check my mailbox at the school's post office to discover that familiar big white envelope! Mum does a great job picking out some local stuff that we can't get over the internet etc and it helps us feel a bit closer to home. This was especially important for us this week as we officially resigned from our jobs at Newcastle Grammar and felt a bit strange and isolated here. We're comfortable with our decision and incredibly happy with our jobs and life here, but it's certainly the end of an era for us both and it signifies a massive commitment to our plans to work overseas for some time.
We sandwiched "The Hours" last weekend with Shanghai Knights and "Analyze That" this Saturday. I love De Niro and we'd seen the first installment and it was a lot of fun. In fact this one was so much fun, we shocked the local crowd a little by laughing uproariously at regular intervals....they didn't seem to get some of it, I think a lot is probably lost in translation in a comedy.
Anyway, the high brow entertainment out of the way on Saturday, on the way home we bought "The Majestic" and "Panic Room" on video for $5 as a package. Not usually buying videos we couldn't pass by this bargain....something quite mysterious about recent movies so cheap, but they look genuine enough. Well, we came home, watched "The Majestic" and dined on Cassy's delicious "Salmon Supreme" while quaffing a bottle of Rawsons Retreat (not so cheap!!)
Sunday was still bitterly cold and a late breakfast, more clippings, a bit of internet and lazing around saw us ready to eat lunch out! We ate at a German cafe/coffee house near where we live called 'Backerei' and we had a special meal with soup and cake and coffee to accompany Cassy's pesto tagliatelle and my German sausage and sauerkraut.
A slightly less glamorous afternoon followed where we bought a fluoro globe in one store and then caught the MRT a couple of stops to buy a metal blind to replace the (second!) PVC blind that had broken in our bedroom.
Chris and Val are coming to visit us at the end of the month for a week before they make their way over to that really big China across the strait from us........we're really looking forward to seeing them.

Framingham masters subject finished on Friday night with an exam. This went OK I think, so to celebrate a little we went up to Section 7 and went to a nice restaurant and ate gourmet pizzas! They were delicious and we wandered back down the road doing a bit of window-shopping along the way. Saturday saw us having a magnificent leisurely brekky of raison toast and coffee while reading all sorts of interesting stuff about Newcastle as Mum had prepared and sent another package of clippings. We read some more this morning but saved a bit for next weekend.
Back to Saturday.....We hopped on the bike and made record time down to the Living Mall to see "The Hours". We both thought it was a fantastic film, but I have to say I'm a little perplexed why Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep have only been nominated as "best supporting". I thought Julianne Moore, in particular, stole the show; her performance was mesmerizing and while "our" Nicole did a very good job, I despair a little that all it takes to be nominated for a "best" award these days seems to be the portrayal of a mentally deficient person. Anyway, enough of that.....Thai restaurant "Bird" sang for our patronage, but we zoomed off across town to a little back alley where "Mr. Fish" lives! 2 pieces of battered fish, chips, vinegar, salt and tartare is a little touch of heaven here in Taipei. After dining we explored some wacky back street life in the south eastern corner of the city, interesting, but a story in itself, so I'll leave that to another time.
We were determined to leave early on Sunday morning to view the cherry blossoms in Yang Min Shan national park. We left to go up the mountain at 10, but it was still early enough to beat most people up there. As we drove around we saw many beautiful cherry blossom trees and I was reminded very much of Japan, even though the trees here were much younger and not as big. We embarked on a walk up a mountain trail and although at the time it seemed rather steep, we persevered for ages, as the track got increasingly steep and dangerous with moss and water making our footholds precarious. We eventually gave up and turned back down, mainly as we were sweating a lot and not really enjoying it. On the way down we thrilled to the close sighting of a Taiwanese squirrel scooting along branches doing his thing. We stopped and watched for 5 minutes and felt our walk was worthwhile.
Cass had made some chicken sandwiches (!) for lunch and we ate them looking at more blossoms. After a quick tour of the visitor's centre we did another little walk to a viewing pagoda where not only could we see all the way down into Taipei city on one side, but we got a true idea of the mountain we were trying to climb on the other. A Monster of sheer (not quite!) walls and endless inclines of frightening proportion. At least we felt a little bit better about wimping out of the whole climb. Home via the "back gate" to escape the by now teeming hordes who had found their way up the mountain (for example, the coach car park which holds 150, was full, many of them double deckers!) The Aussies seem to be kicking some major pommy butt in the cricket right now, which makes us a little sorry we didn't venture to "The Tavern" (The big English hangout downtown) which is showing the game live. We'll go and cheer them on when they're in the "super sixes". That's all for now..thankyou kind folk who have emailed us with a personal message.

Our past week has been very quiet, Cass again a Framingham "widow" while today another course enters its second week. Our lecturer is insisting on a constant return of work, very hard to cope with when you work all day as well. As he says "If you want to study this way (at night) then you have to put up with the workload" Anyway, it will all be over soon, till next time!
We saw some brain dead entertainment on the weekend, about all we could cope with was Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. Chan contorted himself in some amazing choreographed martial arts/ dance routines, and it was light and bright and funny. We were glad in a way that "The Hours" doesn't start till today...we'll save that treat till next weekend. Who am I fooling......I loved "Shanghai Knights"!!
Aussie dramas "Dead Letter Office" with 'our' Miranda and "The Interview" were DVD finds on the way back from the cinema. I washed the scooter after talking all about scooters in the last entry, so now it's eminently 'stealable' again! If you're reading this, how about sending us an email?....we can count on the fingers of a three-fingered man our regular correspondents! Duty calls......bye for now.

We don't know how we got around before we had our scooter (well actually we do: we caught the train or walked or caught a cab) but it's been a great help to us in finding our way around the city and to places further afield, like the beach and the national parks. But some of the sights we see should be noted, as we've become a little blasé about them. For example, on our way into town today (to see some Matisse paintings......we didn't, but that's another story!) we saw some "normal" scooter sights here in Taipei.
Scooters have a special spot at the front of every intersection and it's not uncommon to have scooters 20 abreast and at least 15 deep at major intersections. When the lights change we all just give our bikes full throttle and sort out our places as we go along. It's very frightening at first......sometimes it still is, when you're in the middle of this pack on a scooter going 70 km which feels like 120! It is usual to see whole families on a scooter: Mum, Dad and a couple of kids, one of the kids usually crouched on the "floor" area between rider and handlebars. We once saw a tiny baby wedged in between kid 2 and Mum and dad making 5 in total!
Today, we saw a girl doing her homework on the back of a scooter, leaning her papers on her boyfriends back as he rode along; dogs riding along are very common, calm as you like in the traffic and noise and general mayhem. The dogs sometimes stand on their hind legs to get a better view! Another terrible distraction is the habit of many girls to wear mini skirts with long boots, but Cass doesn't seem to notice them(!) Of course, even if our bike is going flat out there are always a few boy racers who'll whiz past us in the blink of an eye on an illegally modified bike.
We duck and weave through traffic, inside and outside buses and cabs. We fly along the narrow corridors between the inside lane and parked cars, always wary of drivers opening doors, or taxis that will cut straight across in front of a scooter if they spy a fare.
Anyway, we did arrive home safely again after another trip to town on the scooter. The Matisse, I hear you ask? The line was sooooo long we couldn't bear the thought of the wait, so maybe next time.