Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Friday, October 05, 2007
"Snow" day...
Hi everyone (or anyone, it’s been so long!),
I can’t believe we’ve already been in school over two months. Therein lies the tardiness of this blog….we started “Once Upon a Mattress”, the Upper School Musical, the week we returned and today is our first 2-day weekend since! However, it’s not because we’re through, but the Taiwan version of the “musical snowstorm curse”! We are currently in the midst of super-typhoon Kronsa, missing the full Act 1 and 2 put-together, which we really need. There’s no help for it, around here, when the government says “Typhoon State” NOTHING goes on! It is really quite amazing. You cannot go on a beach, drive, are told where to move your vehicles onto bridges and other high-ground locations prior to the onslaught, and generally shut the place down. We are talking 40-foot waves already. We are battened in, Bill is glued to Weather Underground, and I’m doing what I always do – bake, until the power goes out. Having friends in our building is very nice, though, as we’ll all get together tonight without having to brave the elements. Some single teachers go to friends before it gets really going, just for company. It’s our third one this year already, and is quite late in the season. It seems like the weather is weird everywhere, my mom and sister have been having 90 degree temps in Connecticut this week, while they’re getting ready for the church Apple Festival!
Any way, the show is coming along, there is only a week and a half left before we open, as the National 10/10 holiday is next weekend and everyone leaves for the 4-day break. We are rehearsing one of the days, but will get a little break before the final opening. A young woman who just moved in this fall is actually doing the costumes with the help of a professional seamstress and a couple of moms, and she is doing a wonderful job. What a stroke of luck, she really knows what she is doing, and the show should look like a box of Godiva chocolates when she is through. Perfect for Mattress!
Our return to Taipei and Taiwan has been happy, I really had missed my Tai Chi and Chinese classes. Two of my friends and I have moved on to the Taipei Language Institute for our classes as we felt we wanted a more rigorous and individual course. One day a week I work with a young couple from Tai Chi who coach me in pronunciation and vocabulary with help from their 4 and 7 year old sons’ books! In return, I try to help them with English, which is to say, I get the better part of the bargain since they are already quite accomplished. Like most young couples, they have purchased a house (condo) but live with his parents, and will for probably many more years. They say, “That is just the culture!” When they move, his parents will move in with them, and they will care for them. In the meantime, there is constant child care, stability, and shared responsibility for the home. In the best of circumstances, it is not an unreasonable arrangement. Somehow I can’t imagine Rudi and Miche spooning Kitty Munchies to us in our old age! We really miss them, but they are legend in Taipei, since we whip out the pix at any opportunity and brag. Our Hu, the porch boy, has become an affection junkie and demands full-body massage in the morning before he will deign to eat his breakfast…what a con. Like any cool young guy, when we encounter him in the park, he pretends not to know us in front of his buds.
Speaking of tai chi, I am really excited to be starting sword forms. Yes, they are real, although we will start with a practice sword the same weight, just not as expensive. It is stunningly beautiful, and naturally, Ivy was the National Sword Champion. To watch her do it is pure poetry, I expect we’ll look more like Ogden Nash for a while! She was talking about a group of 85-90 year old men whom she does a class for every morning at 5:30 AM. She says they complain vociferously if she is one minute late (she is doing this as a volunteer!) but she loves it as what she learns from them is much greater, she says, than what she can give them. This from an internationally recognized Master! I can honestly say, though, that I have never been so free from pain in my entire life, and watching the other elderly folks in my own classes is an inspiration. Everytime I get to thinking how calming it is, she says something like, “Keep the edge of your hand parallel with your elbow and your fingertip no higher than your eyes, you’re blocking a blow to break your nose!”
On a less combative note, or maybe not, I am including some photos from the Camp Taiwan with the sixth graders 3 weeks ago. It was beautiful in Kenting, but chasing after 200 11 year-olds for a week is not for the faint of heart (or slow of foot!). The art project came off well, though, and as you can see from the results, some of the kids really enjoyed it. I am actually trying to purchase a couple of woodblock prints from the freshman art class exhibit, there are some very talented visual art kids here.
Well, before the power goes off completely, I’ll close with love and best wishes to all, we think so much of the sweetness of a Midwestern fall and dream of crisp apples, beautiful leaves, cool nights and woodsmoke…enjoy it for us!
I can’t believe we’ve already been in school over two months. Therein lies the tardiness of this blog….we started “Once Upon a Mattress”, the Upper School Musical, the week we returned and today is our first 2-day weekend since! However, it’s not because we’re through, but the Taiwan version of the “musical snowstorm curse”! We are currently in the midst of super-typhoon Kronsa, missing the full Act 1 and 2 put-together, which we really need. There’s no help for it, around here, when the government says “Typhoon State” NOTHING goes on! It is really quite amazing. You cannot go on a beach, drive, are told where to move your vehicles onto bridges and other high-ground locations prior to the onslaught, and generally shut the place down. We are talking 40-foot waves already. We are battened in, Bill is glued to Weather Underground, and I’m doing what I always do – bake, until the power goes out. Having friends in our building is very nice, though, as we’ll all get together tonight without having to brave the elements. Some single teachers go to friends before it gets really going, just for company. It’s our third one this year already, and is quite late in the season. It seems like the weather is weird everywhere, my mom and sister have been having 90 degree temps in Connecticut this week, while they’re getting ready for the church Apple Festival!
Any way, the show is coming along, there is only a week and a half left before we open, as the National 10/10 holiday is next weekend and everyone leaves for the 4-day break. We are rehearsing one of the days, but will get a little break before the final opening. A young woman who just moved in this fall is actually doing the costumes with the help of a professional seamstress and a couple of moms, and she is doing a wonderful job. What a stroke of luck, she really knows what she is doing, and the show should look like a box of Godiva chocolates when she is through. Perfect for Mattress!
Our return to Taipei and Taiwan has been happy, I really had missed my Tai Chi and Chinese classes. Two of my friends and I have moved on to the Taipei Language Institute for our classes as we felt we wanted a more rigorous and individual course. One day a week I work with a young couple from Tai Chi who coach me in pronunciation and vocabulary with help from their 4 and 7 year old sons’ books! In return, I try to help them with English, which is to say, I get the better part of the bargain since they are already quite accomplished. Like most young couples, they have purchased a house (condo) but live with his parents, and will for probably many more years. They say, “That is just the culture!” When they move, his parents will move in with them, and they will care for them. In the meantime, there is constant child care, stability, and shared responsibility for the home. In the best of circumstances, it is not an unreasonable arrangement. Somehow I can’t imagine Rudi and Miche spooning Kitty Munchies to us in our old age! We really miss them, but they are legend in Taipei, since we whip out the pix at any opportunity and brag. Our Hu, the porch boy, has become an affection junkie and demands full-body massage in the morning before he will deign to eat his breakfast…what a con. Like any cool young guy, when we encounter him in the park, he pretends not to know us in front of his buds.
Speaking of tai chi, I am really excited to be starting sword forms. Yes, they are real, although we will start with a practice sword the same weight, just not as expensive. It is stunningly beautiful, and naturally, Ivy was the National Sword Champion. To watch her do it is pure poetry, I expect we’ll look more like Ogden Nash for a while! She was talking about a group of 85-90 year old men whom she does a class for every morning at 5:30 AM. She says they complain vociferously if she is one minute late (she is doing this as a volunteer!) but she loves it as what she learns from them is much greater, she says, than what she can give them. This from an internationally recognized Master! I can honestly say, though, that I have never been so free from pain in my entire life, and watching the other elderly folks in my own classes is an inspiration. Everytime I get to thinking how calming it is, she says something like, “Keep the edge of your hand parallel with your elbow and your fingertip no higher than your eyes, you’re blocking a blow to break your nose!”
On a less combative note, or maybe not, I am including some photos from the Camp Taiwan with the sixth graders 3 weeks ago. It was beautiful in Kenting, but chasing after 200 11 year-olds for a week is not for the faint of heart (or slow of foot!). The art project came off well, though, and as you can see from the results, some of the kids really enjoyed it. I am actually trying to purchase a couple of woodblock prints from the freshman art class exhibit, there are some very talented visual art kids here.
Well, before the power goes off completely, I’ll close with love and best wishes to all, we think so much of the sweetness of a Midwestern fall and dream of crisp apples, beautiful leaves, cool nights and woodsmoke…enjoy it for us!
Words words words
I love teaching...it provides so much humor.
In upper school concert choir we are learning a selection entitled, Musicks' Empire with poetry by Thomas Campion. Part of the text about a chant like section is "Consecrate, Consecrate." Because English vocabulary is always an issue, I asked if anyone knew what consecrate meant. Blank stares....until one very vivacious and alert (I might add innocent) young freshman girl finally responded with, "I think it has something to do with having sex." OK now what. After a moment, I suggested...."Do you mean consumate?" "Yeah, that." she replied.
In upper school concert choir we are learning a selection entitled, Musicks' Empire with poetry by Thomas Campion. Part of the text about a chant like section is "Consecrate, Consecrate." Because English vocabulary is always an issue, I asked if anyone knew what consecrate meant. Blank stares....until one very vivacious and alert (I might add innocent) young freshman girl finally responded with, "I think it has something to do with having sex." OK now what. After a moment, I suggested...."Do you mean consumate?" "Yeah, that." she replied.
Super Typhoon Kronsa
Our first two days in a row without working since we got back from USA are courtesy of Super Typhoon (Class 5) Kronsa. And what a storm it is. It is 11 am on Saturday here so 11 pm back in most of the states and the storm still has yet to make landfall around 5-6 tonight. The wind is supposed to be sustained around 150 mph with gusts to 185 mph AND (this is the really unreal part) 50" of rain or as they say 1300mm. We have got the bathtubs filled with water, food and gin laid in and the steel doors shut and locked over the windows. When the wind blows, we have to pop our ears for the change in pressure and the sound of the howling is impressive. Waves at the coast are supposed to be around 39'. Luckily we are on the 2nd level so unless the back wall and steel fence give way we should be ok. We look forward to an interesting and relaxing adventure. I will not be going out as decapitation from sheet metal has been mentioned.
In the picture, note how BIG the storm is and how little Taiwan to the left is.
Ah well a snow by anyother name is a sweet.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Just some local information
Here are some internet URLs that you might like to investigate and a little real Taiwan humor. Please let me know if these connections work and if they are of interest to those of you who are reading this
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw click ENGLISH
http://www.forumosa.com A huge site that has lots of forums on it. Take a look at TAIWANEASE a local expat magazine
Just a little local humor?????
Area Man Made to Wait 45 Minutes for Beating by Gang of Friday's
"I was just walking though an alleyway just off Zhonggang Road when I was surrounded by about seven or eight of them, all wearing stupid caps no self-respecting gangster would be caught dead in," he continued. "It was then I first suspected that these were just Friday's waiters gone bad."
According to Lai, the group pinned him to a dumpster within a reasonable amount of time, but then took forever to get on with the actual beating. "The robbery took forever. I mean, I should have been on my way in 15 minutes, tops. This is so typical." The Taichung Police department said that it "would not be shown up by a bunch of waiter punks" and declared that Lai "would see some real procrastination now."
Youtube.com stuff
This is for those of you who have a little time to load YouTube. It is free and safe to use.
Click on the address and it should take you to Youtube. If not, Just cut and paste the URL address listed below and wait a bit. ENJOY!
Taipei 101 building Fireworks on New Years Eve this is long but WOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt38GUtYEvw
This guy is on a scooter going up Zhong Shan Rd which is our main road past the school Basically this is our neighborhood This is a little long and he is not the sharpest knife but ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNNQjUhuZoQ
Information for Visitors and those who want to know more
about where we live.
http://www.forumosa.com A huge site that has lots of forums on it. Take a look at TAIWANEASE a local expat magazine
Just a little local humor?????
Area Man Made to Wait 45 Minutes for Beating by Gang of Friday's
Workers
TAICHUNG
Lai Yuan-qing, 27, was forced to take an extra 45 minutes out of his busy schedule so that a gang of rogue waiters working for the international restaurant chain T.G.I. Friday's could finally get around to beating him within an inch of his life. "I could tell they were Friday's waiters, not just because of all of those buttons and crap that they have pinned to their red-and-white striped shirts, but because they just sat around and chatted for, like, half and hour before deciding it was time to beat me into a pulp," said Lai.
"I was just walking though an alleyway just off Zhonggang Road when I was surrounded by about seven or eight of them, all wearing stupid caps no self-respecting gangster would be caught dead in," he continued. "It was then I first suspected that these were just Friday's waiters gone bad."
According to Lai, the group pinned him to a dumpster within a reasonable amount of time, but then took forever to get on with the actual beating. "The robbery took forever. I mean, I should have been on my way in 15 minutes, tops. This is so typical." The Taichung Police department said that it "would not be shown up by a bunch of waiter punks" and declared that Lai "would see some real procrastination now."
Youtube.com stuff
This is for those of you who have a little time to load YouTube. It is free and safe to use.
Click on the address and it should take you to Youtube. If not, Just cut and paste the URL address listed below and wait a bit. ENJOY!
Taipei 101 building Fireworks on New Years Eve this is long but WOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt38GUtYEvw
This guy is on a scooter going up Zhong Shan Rd which is our main road past the school Basically this is our neighborhood This is a little long and he is not the sharpest knife but ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNNQjUhuZoQ
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
again...this ain't kansas
The Middle school principal of 27 years is retiring. Here is the announcement of our first candidate. I can not wait to see who he is. Kind of makes you proud to be hired here if this is the level of administrator they feel must be a leader.
And pictures are coming soon...after all it is ghost month!
Dear Colleagues,
As Dr. Hennessy reported in her day one address to faculty, the Middle School Principal Search is well underway. She has been working closely with Carney Sandoe & Associates to narrow the pool of applicants. We are now at the point where the Advisory Working Group can step in to conduct reference checks and plan itineraries for the finalists (and their family members) invited to visit the school.
All MS faculty will have the opportunity to meet finalists when they visit TAS, as well as provide feedback. Candidates will meet with various small groups of Middle School students, faculty and parents during their stay, and all MS teachers will be invited to attend a presentation and Q&A session with the candidate one afternoon after school. (This process will be familiar to you if you recall last year’s superintendent visits.) Your feedback will be collated by the Advisory Working Group and presented to Dr. Hennessy, who will make the final decision.
We are pleased to announce that Mark Tashjian, a candidate for Middle School Principal at TAS, will be visiting our campus in mid October. (Firm dates are not yet available.)
Mr. Tashjian has served as Head of Middle School at Collegiate School (a K-12 boys’ school in New York City) since 2002. Prior to this appointment, he served as Head of School for Harlem’s Children’s Storefront School. After graduating from Yale in 1984 with a degree in political science and international relations, and later earning an MBA from the Wharton School, Mr. Tashjian’s first career in the corporate world included an executive position in a billion dollar chemical company. He gave this up to teach 5th and 6th grade math and science, earning an MEd in Educational Leadership from Columbia’s Teachers College as part of the Klingenstein Center.
Mr. Tashjian was born and raised in Philadelphia and has a young family. He has studied intensive Spanish in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador while living with local families; he has mountaineered in Nepal, Kenya, Ecuador, France, and the United States; and he has bicycle toured throughout Europe, Japan, and Canada.
The Advisory Working Group members are excited to engage with candidates of this calibre, facilitate their visits, and assist Dr. Hennessy in the processing of your feedback. We look forward to the MS faculty joining us in the task of assessing how well the finalists “fit” our Middle School and, of course, in promoting our school so that Dr. Hennessy may appoint the best of the best to lead our Middle School into the future.
Thank you, in advance, for your support during this process
And pictures are coming soon...after all it is ghost month!
Dear Colleagues,
As Dr. Hennessy reported in her day one address to faculty, the Middle School Principal Search is well underway. She has been working closely with Carney Sandoe & Associates to narrow the pool of applicants. We are now at the point where the Advisory Working Group can step in to conduct reference checks and plan itineraries for the finalists (and their family members) invited to visit the school.
All MS faculty will have the opportunity to meet finalists when they visit TAS, as well as provide feedback. Candidates will meet with various small groups of Middle School students, faculty and parents during their stay, and all MS teachers will be invited to attend a presentation and Q&A session with the candidate one afternoon after school. (This process will be familiar to you if you recall last year’s superintendent visits.) Your feedback will be collated by the Advisory Working Group and presented to Dr. Hennessy, who will make the final decision.
We are pleased to announce that Mark Tashjian, a candidate for Middle School Principal at TAS, will be visiting our campus in mid October. (Firm dates are not yet available.)
Mr. Tashjian has served as Head of Middle School at Collegiate School (a K-12 boys’ school in New York City) since 2002. Prior to this appointment, he served as Head of School for Harlem’s Children’s Storefront School. After graduating from Yale in 1984 with a degree in political science and international relations, and later earning an MBA from the Wharton School, Mr. Tashjian’s first career in the corporate world included an executive position in a billion dollar chemical company. He gave this up to teach 5th and 6th grade math and science, earning an MEd in Educational Leadership from Columbia’s Teachers College as part of the Klingenstein Center.
Mr. Tashjian was born and raised in Philadelphia and has a young family. He has studied intensive Spanish in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador while living with local families; he has mountaineered in Nepal, Kenya, Ecuador, France, and the United States; and he has bicycle toured throughout Europe, Japan, and Canada.
The Advisory Working Group members are excited to engage with candidates of this calibre, facilitate their visits, and assist Dr. Hennessy in the processing of your feedback. We look forward to the MS faculty joining us in the task of assessing how well the finalists “fit” our Middle School and, of course, in promoting our school so that Dr. Hennessy may appoint the best of the best to lead our Middle School into the future.
Thank you, in advance, for your support during this process
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Poem about teachers' first days
I have been teaching a very long time. I know what I know and I know that I can teach very well. And yet, every year when school starts I have anxiety attacks out of fear that I have "lost it" as a teacher. Our MS principal addressed this in a really fine poem that could only come out of the thoughts of an excellent teacher. I am posting this and hope that all of your in the trenches might take comfort and hope from this. Teaching is the one of the best professions if the public supports you and the parents with work with you. Otherwise................... Best wishes to my fellow teachers.
The First Day of School
Richard A. Lawson
and what are the important questions anyway?
oh this first day of school after a night of no sleep wondering even fearing how this day will go and all the rest hoping it unfolds neatly as lesson plans promise probably not and in that thought works a hint of unreadiness and a quiet panic that hovers through the black coffee yet later when we gather in first morning expectancy we do manage to breathe though not deeply
my years are useless I am as new here
when the bell rings as all of those now looking at me
but what is this day and all the rest about not of course rules and study habits or even a bag full of knowledge somehow packed in all those books tidy on each desk rather an urge to know that pushes us into wondering about clouds becoming raindrops from another side of the world or why the flower outside the window blooms at this precise moment where the songs in my heart come from and where are they going all those questions not in my curriculum guide but that I now see in a new girl who can’t stay in her seat and dances an interruption around the room negotiates attention in mid sentence and at the end of my wits tells me a story during lunch that is dazzling and profound and in one brief moment I see her soul in love with imagination that must move and wave and try to fly and this is what I must realm on this first day
that in our remembered self is an urge to create I can look for it or not but my choice had better be made with love and reverence for what we all want to express our unique genius no matter what because that is who we are and after all the only question worth considering anyway no wonder the night is full of sleeplessness
this is a question of life nothing else comes close I remember now why I’m here and frightened and so in awe of this moment and these children
The First Day of School
Richard A. Lawson
and what are the important questions anyway?
oh this first day of school after a night of no sleep wondering even fearing how this day will go and all the rest hoping it unfolds neatly as lesson plans promise probably not and in that thought works a hint of unreadiness and a quiet panic that hovers through the black coffee yet later when we gather in first morning expectancy we do manage to breathe though not deeply
my years are useless I am as new here
when the bell rings as all of those now looking at me
but what is this day and all the rest about not of course rules and study habits or even a bag full of knowledge somehow packed in all those books tidy on each desk rather an urge to know that pushes us into wondering about clouds becoming raindrops from another side of the world or why the flower outside the window blooms at this precise moment where the songs in my heart come from and where are they going all those questions not in my curriculum guide but that I now see in a new girl who can’t stay in her seat and dances an interruption around the room negotiates attention in mid sentence and at the end of my wits tells me a story during lunch that is dazzling and profound and in one brief moment I see her soul in love with imagination that must move and wave and try to fly and this is what I must realm on this first day
that in our remembered self is an urge to create I can look for it or not but my choice had better be made with love and reverence for what we all want to express our unique genius no matter what because that is who we are and after all the only question worth considering anyway no wonder the night is full of sleeplessness
this is a question of life nothing else comes close I remember now why I’m here and frightened and so in awe of this moment and these children
Saturday, August 18, 2007
We are Back TAIPEI version
We are back! But his time it is in Taipei, our second home. There is such a conflict of feelings about travel back and forth but a friend of ours suggested that we think of the states as “ back home” and Taipei as “ home.” That seems okay to us.
Thank you to all who met with us, entertained us, came to visit us, and to those who have told us you are watching the blog. We will try to be faithful in posting info if it matters to you. I think the challenge for the second year is to keep our local eyes and ears open to our surroundings now that they are much more familiar. I started taking my camera with me so I can grab the odd shot of the newly painted temple, or the swirling mess from typhoon Sepat, or whatever comes our way.
TRAVEL:
Do NOT trust Continental Airlines! Without going into detail, Continental had mechanical problems with a flight that used up our cushion between arriving in LA and departing for Taipei. All the service they promised to get us rushed on to the Taipei flight was never delivered and at 1:45 a.m.when asked, a little twerp of a jerk of an ass of a ticket supervisor looks at us and said he was off duty and going home….with three customers standing in front of him. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. I did not drop the F word but oh my I am glad there was a counter between us.
We spent part of the night in a hotel near LAX and then started work with counter agents to get us home. Continental was most committed to NOT having to get us a $20,000. ticket home. Our lovely EVA airlines worked so hard to get our seat upgrade back and was able to deliver. EVA is indeed our favorite airline. We watched great movies including Hula Girls(Japanese) and April (French) both of which we would like to own. Any teacher should get Hula Girls as it is an Asian version of Billy Elliott and Mr Holland’s Opus.
We got home at 5:15 am and began to stock up and visit the haunts immediately so as to moderate the jetlag. After about 5-6 days we feel we are back to normal, able to sleep the whole night long. Our home is so comfortable and despite the odd rat on the walkway THERE ARE NO MICE!. Our amah reported all that had occurred in our apartment with an agitation akin only to a wet hen kept out of the coop. She was kept from completing her deep cleaning so boy was she riled. Got to love her. We did get a new bath tub and a new range hood through her “supplications” (NOT!) to her brother our landlord. We really appreciate our 1 year old bed vs. our 30 year old bed in Door County.
BEING IN TAIPEI
There are so many things about being back that felt really good. Not needing to use a car is about topping the list. We like walking and it helps keep me more fit so driving everywhere was not a good thing in US. Access to really fresh fruits and vegetables is another joy. It is mango season so we have half a fresh one for breakfast and/or dinner along with sweet yellow watermelons and pineapples which are now in season. And I am stocking up on fresh passion fruit pulp and juice against winter of doing without.
My evening cocktails are back to gin and guava and tonic aka. G & G & T. It is veritably health coursing through my veins. Carol has got our friends trained to use up their excess duty free allowance on Jim Beam Black when they come through the airport so she is happy too.
We went to Costco and our local equivalent of Home Depot called B n Q and bought a wonderful three burner gas grill. That and a book case were delivered a day later for the tall sum of $10 USD. The propane guy came on his scooter in the rain the next day and, after taking off his Wellingtons, marched to the porch and made sure I would be safe with the grill. Carol constructed a professionally form-fitting oil cloth cover for is so we are ready to let the good times roll. I still feel the need to become one with the ham so I brought two big bags of wood chips with me in the suitcase.
Tien Mou has a tradition of fast turnover of businesses and this season was no exception. We now have a new Dunking Donuts around the corner and a Cold Stone Creamery in the area. The little croquette shop I tried to support as their first customer is now a health drink stand and our favorite Mom and Pop Chinese hole in the wall restaurant is no more. Sic transit Gloria. KFC is now current to the times by offering French Fries (WOW) and their version of cheese fries: they are coated in cheese sauce and rolled in rice crunchies. As always, there is that special Taiwanese twist to life that makes one look or think twice.
SCHOOL
School is going to be interesting this year. Our new superintendent is very decisive and strong which stands in sharp contrast to the previous head. The new Upper School principal…..the jury is still out but the words “rule by fiat” slides off one’s tongue. More on this later.
I was incredibly pleased to get the IB Music test scores for my students. The world average for music is 4.62 and my kids scored 5.75 out of 7. I had one lad with a perfect score of 7, two students with 6 and one with 4. I am very pleased. This year’s group is dynamite and ready to take on the musical world with performances and theory. That just means this daddy has got to keep running hard.
I am still so much enamored of the kids. They are truly teenagers and children but they are polite, bright and so cute it is hard to be strict. They are so beautiful and fun! When asked were did you go on your summer break, the response range from South Africa, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, all over the US, France, Germany, Prague and all points in between. Some spent weeks in foreign policy summer camps and others just were here working with their tutors. Most all were sleepless with anticipated joy at returning to school. It is SOOOOO hard to take.
Carol is the choreographer and I am the musical director of the Upper School musical, Once Upon a Mattress. We looked at our old videos of our SBHS kids and had a great sentimental journey. The show goes up in October so we will be very busy with that. Carol’s tap classes will be overflowing and her Tai chi “team” is in full battle cry so she is off and running.
TYPHOON SEPAT
As I write, the super typhoon is just passing off island. It hit well to the south of us so although we got a fair bit of rain and wind, we have not had any of the severe consequences of a category 5 hurricane/typhoon. Folks take all the usual precautions of filling the tubs, pulling everything that can be blown off the porches, putting tape in big X s across the window and keeping the metal security doors down. There is minor limb downage and the streets are filled with debris. Most business stayed closed and there is almost no one on the streets. I walked around this afternoon in my stylish seafoam green scooter parka and rescued another batch of passion fruit from a lingering death. South of here the flooding and outages have been much more severe. The worst thing about SEPAT is that it did not arrive on Friday or Monday morning so we could have a three day weekend.
Well folks sorry for bending you eyes so much. I will try to get pictures and decrease the verbiage. Keep the emails coming and let us know about you
Love
Bill and Carol
Thank you to all who met with us, entertained us, came to visit us, and to those who have told us you are watching the blog. We will try to be faithful in posting info if it matters to you. I think the challenge for the second year is to keep our local eyes and ears open to our surroundings now that they are much more familiar. I started taking my camera with me so I can grab the odd shot of the newly painted temple, or the swirling mess from typhoon Sepat, or whatever comes our way.
TRAVEL:
Do NOT trust Continental Airlines! Without going into detail, Continental had mechanical problems with a flight that used up our cushion between arriving in LA and departing for Taipei. All the service they promised to get us rushed on to the Taipei flight was never delivered and at 1:45 a.m.when asked, a little twerp of a jerk of an ass of a ticket supervisor looks at us and said he was off duty and going home….with three customers standing in front of him. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. I did not drop the F word but oh my I am glad there was a counter between us.
We spent part of the night in a hotel near LAX and then started work with counter agents to get us home. Continental was most committed to NOT having to get us a $20,000. ticket home. Our lovely EVA airlines worked so hard to get our seat upgrade back and was able to deliver. EVA is indeed our favorite airline. We watched great movies including Hula Girls(Japanese) and April (French) both of which we would like to own. Any teacher should get Hula Girls as it is an Asian version of Billy Elliott and Mr Holland’s Opus.
We got home at 5:15 am and began to stock up and visit the haunts immediately so as to moderate the jetlag. After about 5-6 days we feel we are back to normal, able to sleep the whole night long. Our home is so comfortable and despite the odd rat on the walkway THERE ARE NO MICE!. Our amah reported all that had occurred in our apartment with an agitation akin only to a wet hen kept out of the coop. She was kept from completing her deep cleaning so boy was she riled. Got to love her. We did get a new bath tub and a new range hood through her “supplications” (NOT!) to her brother our landlord. We really appreciate our 1 year old bed vs. our 30 year old bed in Door County.
BEING IN TAIPEI
There are so many things about being back that felt really good. Not needing to use a car is about topping the list. We like walking and it helps keep me more fit so driving everywhere was not a good thing in US. Access to really fresh fruits and vegetables is another joy. It is mango season so we have half a fresh one for breakfast and/or dinner along with sweet yellow watermelons and pineapples which are now in season. And I am stocking up on fresh passion fruit pulp and juice against winter of doing without.
My evening cocktails are back to gin and guava and tonic aka. G & G & T. It is veritably health coursing through my veins. Carol has got our friends trained to use up their excess duty free allowance on Jim Beam Black when they come through the airport so she is happy too.
We went to Costco and our local equivalent of Home Depot called B n Q and bought a wonderful three burner gas grill. That and a book case were delivered a day later for the tall sum of $10 USD. The propane guy came on his scooter in the rain the next day and, after taking off his Wellingtons, marched to the porch and made sure I would be safe with the grill. Carol constructed a professionally form-fitting oil cloth cover for is so we are ready to let the good times roll. I still feel the need to become one with the ham so I brought two big bags of wood chips with me in the suitcase.
Tien Mou has a tradition of fast turnover of businesses and this season was no exception. We now have a new Dunking Donuts around the corner and a Cold Stone Creamery in the area. The little croquette shop I tried to support as their first customer is now a health drink stand and our favorite Mom and Pop Chinese hole in the wall restaurant is no more. Sic transit Gloria. KFC is now current to the times by offering French Fries (WOW) and their version of cheese fries: they are coated in cheese sauce and rolled in rice crunchies. As always, there is that special Taiwanese twist to life that makes one look or think twice.
SCHOOL
School is going to be interesting this year. Our new superintendent is very decisive and strong which stands in sharp contrast to the previous head. The new Upper School principal…..the jury is still out but the words “rule by fiat” slides off one’s tongue. More on this later.
I was incredibly pleased to get the IB Music test scores for my students. The world average for music is 4.62 and my kids scored 5.75 out of 7. I had one lad with a perfect score of 7, two students with 6 and one with 4. I am very pleased. This year’s group is dynamite and ready to take on the musical world with performances and theory. That just means this daddy has got to keep running hard.
I am still so much enamored of the kids. They are truly teenagers and children but they are polite, bright and so cute it is hard to be strict. They are so beautiful and fun! When asked were did you go on your summer break, the response range from South Africa, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, all over the US, France, Germany, Prague and all points in between. Some spent weeks in foreign policy summer camps and others just were here working with their tutors. Most all were sleepless with anticipated joy at returning to school. It is SOOOOO hard to take.
Carol is the choreographer and I am the musical director of the Upper School musical, Once Upon a Mattress. We looked at our old videos of our SBHS kids and had a great sentimental journey. The show goes up in October so we will be very busy with that. Carol’s tap classes will be overflowing and her Tai chi “team” is in full battle cry so she is off and running.
TYPHOON SEPAT
As I write, the super typhoon is just passing off island. It hit well to the south of us so although we got a fair bit of rain and wind, we have not had any of the severe consequences of a category 5 hurricane/typhoon. Folks take all the usual precautions of filling the tubs, pulling everything that can be blown off the porches, putting tape in big X s across the window and keeping the metal security doors down. There is minor limb downage and the streets are filled with debris. Most business stayed closed and there is almost no one on the streets. I walked around this afternoon in my stylish seafoam green scooter parka and rescued another batch of passion fruit from a lingering death. South of here the flooding and outages have been much more severe. The worst thing about SEPAT is that it did not arrive on Friday or Monday morning so we could have a three day weekend.
Well folks sorry for bending you eyes so much. I will try to get pictures and decrease the verbiage. Keep the emails coming and let us know about you
Love
Bill and Carol
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Almost the last post of the year.....
Well folks we have completed one year of our two years in Taipei. It has been an exhilarating ride that seems like it is just beginning. If the gods of administration smile and I get offered another contract for the third year, I would take it in a heart beat. Even though the school is tough and I think about to get even tougher, the work is rewarding and the travel is beyond belief. Our tour schedule for next is already partially booked and even more to be planned. Asia and the people are very polite, lovely, and intriguing. To be able to hop a 747 to exotica is just too tempting. We will write a bit more as we gather our thoughts in Door County. We need to give a sort of summation of many thoughts we have about Taipei.
For now, we can be reached at a new telephone # which can be obtained by calling information. We look forward to seeing all our US friends and talking with about your year.
Peace always
Bill and Carol
For now, we can be reached at a new telephone # which can be obtained by calling information. We look forward to seeing all our US friends and talking with about your year.
Peace always
Bill and Carol
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Just a glamour shot
These are rice wine fermenting jars with a front display of rice and cinnamon sticks. The jars are about 2 i/2 tall by 18" wide and are glazed clay decorated with chops, patterns of open weave material and other designs. They are almost gone as a purchasable item BUT one of our TAS teachers collects them and sells them. We bought 5..the record for a single purchase..and they are now serving as the base for a coffee table, another glass top side table for drinks and the TV remotes, and we have another for tall floral arrangements. They are very unique and we are overjoyed to have them.
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