Last supper with Kat

This is my friend Kat from Philadelphia who I met at one of the pubs in front of my apartment building a couple of weeks after I moved in. She's back in the States now and then she's moving to Hanoi in a month or so to start up a business. She is a wicked seamstress/artist/all around person.





















Then I had an expresso.

2nd goodbye party weekend in a month. Poo.

My friends Kat and Kyle are leaving on Monday to go home to the States for awhile, then move to Hanoi. At the end of June, my friends Kelly and Daniel left to travel around China for a month, then return to the States to begin cool grad school programs. On August 4th, my friend Megan and Nick are moving to Saigon. Then on August 9th, my friend Ryan returns to Alberta. That's 7 friends leaving in less than 2 months. Ugh.

This is one of the main reasons why I feel this will be my last year in Taiwan, my circle of friends has changed at least 3 times since I've been here because it's just the kind of place where people come and go. You feel like you just get to know someone and they shag off. And it's pretty hard to take. Sniff.

Boo-hoo for me! Wah! Sorry, I'm hungover and listening to Keane. Next post will not be so whiney.

Bridget




Here's a pic of Kelly saying goodbye to her students as they swarm around her for a group hug.

Patrick's website

My brother, ze artist, has a really cool website. Wanna see it? Here's the linky dink.

http://www.patrickcanning.ca

Back to the grind.

Back at work, gotta suck it up!

These were my group of "special" grade ones I taught until the end of June. They didn't pass the school's entry tests at a high enough level to be put the rest of the grade ones. Hence the specialness. Not that they weren't smart, it's just all the others went to good kindergartens that taught them how to read and write English properly.

Anyhoo, I think they're eating chilled firm tofu in a syrupy sauce, I can't remember the name of it. Crazy delicious! Indeed......

Had my first staff meeting on Friday and it went well, it didn't go on for hours or end in a teacher's strike. Yesterday I went to a charity concert here in Taiwan, all the proceeds go to orphanages in India. The music was great, I danced my arse off. Now I am at work, arseless and tired. So tired.

I sent out a mass email telling people about the Thailand photos. What's that, like, blog promotion? Anyway, got a few emails back from people I hadn't heard from in ages. Good to hear from you V! Must write them back.

Better go find work to do. Peas out!

Bridget

S'more Thailand pics

Spirit houses on the beach. You see spirit houses all the time in Thailand, that's where the spirits go so they don't live in your own house and cause trouble. People also leave offerings outside them for their relatives.

This was the view from the spa I went to on my last day in Koh Tao. I had a herbal sauna (you sweat in a nice smelling place), a aloe vera body wrap, a facial massage and an oil massage, the whole thing was over 2 1/2 hours. Then I had to get on the boat and bus and go back to Bangkok. The whole time I was like, "wow, this bus ride is so long....wow, I'm so soft!

Inside Wat Mathati. These pictures are not in chronological order and I can't seem to figure out how to fix them....anyway, there was a celebration and all these little old ladies made me dance with them and parade around the temple. Then they all came in and had a sit.


On the beach. Just last week. Now I'm back in Taiwan and there's a typhoon and it's raining very hard. Sigh.

Some Thailand photos......

Here's a shot of Wat Mathati, it's a Buddhist centre in Bangkok.


This was the beach in front where I stayed, the "Tropicana Resort"in Koh Tao.

Lazy cat and shrine.

Little cutie.

Looking up at breakfast time.

Wednesday working

Back at work and going back and forth between admin stuff, teaching and being Ms. Boss Lady. It looks like it will be a while longer on posting my pictures as my internet access is down at home, for some reason. Sigh. It's one of those things about not being able to fluently speak and read the language in the country where you reside, it takes forever to get things straightened out.

I'm almost finished reading "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene and I love it. I read "The Quiet American" a year or so ago and loved that too - it was right before I went to Viet Nam, so it got me in the mood to see Hanoi. I think I'll get into a Graham Greene kick now. Just finished "Oh, Play That Thing" by Roddy Doyle recently too, it's really good. It's the sequel to "A Star Called Henry," Ange sent me a hardcover copy signed by the author. So nice Ange. It's not funny and tragic like the Barrowtown triliogy books like "The Commitments," but it's a really rich read.

Diving done, didn't drown.

I love alliteration.

Got my dive card yesterday so now I can scuba dive pretty much everywhere! You know what's hard? Taking off your mask underwater and putting it back on again. It was one of the exercises you have to know how to do, you take off your mask, put it back on and exhale through your nose to clear the water out of it. My brain took a lot of coaxing to remember not to breathe through my nose.

Anyway, it's 9:30am on Friday here and I'm going to head to a spa in an hour for a massage and a facial and maybe they'll wrap me up in seaweed or something. I will be human sushi. I have to leave for Bangkok at 2:30 and then tomorrow is my last full day in Thailand. Pooh. I'm excited about buying some rum at the duty free though, you can get Havana Club here, it's non-existant in Taiwan.

Taker e z.

Bridget

Thailand va-kay

So here I am in Koh Tao, got here this morning after a night bus and a 2 hour boat ride from Bangkok. Got into Bangkok on Sunday night and crashed, spent Monday putting in an order for clothes to be made - I'm getting a suit, 2 tops and a black silk dress to be made - and wandered around a bit. Went to Wat Mathati which is kind of a centre for buddhist studies in Bangkok and there was a cermony going on. Apparently, every 3 months, there is kind of a party where they parade around the temple singing and dancing. Anyway, so I was watching this parade, there were a bunch of children playing music and about a million older ladies shouting, singing and dancing behind them....anyway, the next thing I know, one of the crazy old ladies grabs me and makes me join them. So I got to be part of a parade yesterday! They were all really nice. Afterwards, I went to a religious amulet market which was really interesting and wandered around little India.

Today I basically napped and watched a video on SCUBA diving, tomorrow I have my first academic and primary/dicking around in shallow water with equipment lesson. They usually like to have groups, but as I need to leave Friday night, it's just me and the instructor tomorrow, then on Thursday I join a group of 9, count 'em, 9 Irish people and go on my first dive. Whee! I'm going to take the night route back to Bangkok on Friday, shop my ass off on Saturday, go out Saturday night with Anne (my friend from work, she's in Bangkok doing a massage course) and then back to Taiwan on Sunday night. And then get ready for a new school year on Monday. Gotta love vacations, they leave you so relaxed and ready to start afresh.

Have taken some pics, will post 'em when I get a chance.....which probably means back in Taiwan! Hope everyone is doing well.

Bridget

diet coke and mentos

Ugh, I'm so neglectful of my blog already. It is the last week of school and so, so busy and I'm so, so tired of being busy and I just want to sit very, very still and do nothing. Ughy mcugh.

However, I did find time to dick around on the internet and find this fabulous short film! Watch it! It will make you smile! It's great and probably was very sticky for the people involved!

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/php/showmovie.php?id=1

Now that I'm home from work, I'm going to sit in front of my air conditioner and drink wine and eat cheese and watch this film again. Mmmm, pepper gouda. It's so good-ah!

I'm so tired.

Bridget

The droll CBC

This was on the CBC website today. Oh, those CBC reporters, what cards.




British army goat demoted after head-butting drummer
Last Updated Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:32:41 EDT
CBC News
A British army goat has been demoted in disgrace after it head-butted a drummer's rear-end during the Queen's birthday parade.

Billy, a six-year-old goat that is the mascot for the Royal Welsh Regiment in western Cyprus, was demoted to fusilier from lance-corporal Saturday after his superior officers ruled that his disruptive behaviour ruined a regimental parade at the British army base in Episkopy.
The parade included several international dignitaries who had been invited to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday.

Billy allegedly darted from side to side, throwing soldiers off their stride. But his worst offence was "trying to head-butt the waist and nether regions of the drummers," said Capt. William Rose.

British army spokesman Capt. Crispian Coates told the Canadian Press: "The goat, which has been the Royal Welsh Regiment's mascot since 2001, was supposed to be leading the march but would not stay in line… He was reported for insubordination, and after consideration the commanding officer decided he had no option but to demote Billy."

The demotion was all the more shocking because Billy comes from a long line of British army blue bloods. His bloodline traces back to 1746 when his ancestor was donated to the Welsh regiment from the royal goat herd.

It wasn't immediately clear what impact the demotion would have.

daily dancer

I saw this on Dale's blog and had to include it here. Check out http://www.dailydancer.com/ he's from Newfoundland and now lives in Vancouver and films himself dancing to various songs. You can request a song for him to dance too. Man, why didn't I think of that? All the good ideas are swept away from me. I need more free time.

Friday stuff

Beautiful weather today. I might walk to work.

Not much going on lately, there's about 2 weeks left in the school year and the students are squirrely.

I don't have cable - I don't see the point as I'd only get about 6 English channels and they're mostly bad movies....anyway, so I rent a lot of movies and stuff and I just finished watching the first season of Desperate Housewives. So sucked in now and annoyed as the first season is the only one available at Blockbuster. Mark and Grant had ranted about it and now I understand.

Going to be busy weekend as I have to be at the Taichung Culture Centre at 8:00am tomorrow for the school's kindergarten graduation ceremony. I'm supposed to be a backstage manager. Have no clear idea what this entails. Probably keeping a huge number of 5 year-olds quiet. Then a few hours later I'm going to see the new Xmen movie and then going dancing Saturday night. Boogie.

I'm getting really excited about going to Thailand on July 2nd, I'm planning on going to Koh Tao and learning to scuba dive. Hope I don't meet anything with big teeth.

ze students

I only have a few weeks left with my classes, so I finally decided to get off my ass and take some pictures of them. These are my grade threes, in my very messy reading corner. Notice how they are all smiling like they're up to someting.

Check out Mimi's(the one in blue, front right) Natalie from "The Facts of Life" hairstyle. Her hair looks like that every single day. Poor child.









These are my grade fives. Johnny (leaning against the wall, trying to avoid cooties) is the only boy. Poor bastard. They'll be starting grade six soon and are already beginning to get a little hormonal. Moodiness and b.o are on the horizon! Ah, it's great to be an adult and mock puberty. Suckers!

Rained out weekend

So far, this has been the most intense rainy season I've experienced in Taiwan. It has been raining for 2 weeks and will probably rain for another week or so. I hate complaining about the weather....but it's nuts, it has been a steady, torrential downpour all day and most of last night. The rain was so loud last night it keep waking me up, it was like being in a boat in the middle of storm (I was dreaming I was in a boat, in the middle of a storm. No George Clooney or Marky Mark around though). Anyway, I was supposed to go to an outdoor music festival up in the mountains, but it's been postponed instead. So I'm about to go out to a Johnny Cash tribute night. I'll try not to get too soaked on my way there.

apartment details part 2 - ze patio!

So big patio. The flower pot thingys were gifts, I have to figure out how to attach them to the sides. Those hoola hoops were there when I moved in. Seriously, they're not mine.

This is what is looks like when you look down (I'm on the 7th floor). There are a couple of restaurants and pubs downstairs. I invited a bunch of coworkers over for my housewarming party and they were flicking lit cigarette butts over the side and on to the unfortunate people below. Dumb-ass coworkers need to discover ashtrays.

Zippy

This is one of my grade threes, Zippy. Yes, Zippy. What an unfortunate choice for a name. Most students take an English name in kindergarten, usually chosen by their parents. I'm still not completely sure why they're so pressured to take an English name, I'm assuming it's to make it easier on the English teacher and for an easier transition if they move to a Western country. Anyway, because of lack of knowledge of English names, you get a lot of titles like Zippy, or Simba (like the lion, one of the kindergarten students) or Diamond (in the same class as Simba) or S-White or Iron.

Of course my name, translated phonetically into Chinese means "clean pure cloth." So it's kind of like being called "Sterilized Towel" or something. I remember Darryl told me his name in Chinese is "da roh." Da means big and roh means meat, so then his name was "Big Meat." Goodness.

Incense addicts and movies

There is this wicked shop down the road where they sell a lot of Buddhist supplies and must have every kind of incense in the world. I bought some really nice stuff, then noticed a statement on the box that says it is "non-habit forming." Since when is incense addictive? I googled it and apparently there's a herb called Kratom that sometimes gets used in incense. In Thailand, some people use Kratom to prolong sexual intercourse. Or to treat diarrhea. I think it needs further investigation. Anyway, I guess I'm glad I won't get hooked. I have enough friggin' vices already without becoming an incense junkie.

I saw "The Squid and the Whale" this weekend, it was really good. I knew nothing about it, just that Laura Linney was in it and I like her. It's hard to browse around at Blockbuster when all the blurbs are written in Chinese. So much fun being illiterate. Anyway, Jeff Bridges is in it too and it's set in the 80s, it's about this family going through a divorce and how it affects the 2 boys, one sides with the mom and the other the dad. I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but it was really well done. People are so nonchalant about divorce these days, it's refreshing to see a movie that shows how nasty breakups can be.

At home and have to teach in 30 minutes, better get back on the scooter.

Bridget

My new view - apartment details part 1

The best thing about my new apartment is my patio. It is huge. I have a picnic table with an umbrella. And deck chairs. At my house warming party, 21 people fit comfortably out here. I'm considering getting one of those inflatable pools.

What's also nice is when there's a good bit of rain and a bit of wind, I have this lovely view of the mountains way off in the distance.

Anyhoo, I realize that you actually can't see my patio that I've been boasting about here, but I assure you, I am standing on it. Will post new pictures of current living arrangements in the next few days.

Had a nice day at the Taichung Botanical Gardens. From right to left, Pay-she (I have no idea how to properly spell her name in English), Kristy (from Alberta) and moi. It's the midst of the rainy season here, hense my frizzed out hair. I wish I was the kind of person who paid more attention to details, because I forgot to get the name of the freaky purple alien plant above. I love my new digital camera. Folliage settings rock.