Chinese Proverb: He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.
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- 100.48 Weekend wonders
- 98.46 Summer Breeze
- 97.45 The week is flying by
- 96.44 Trip Trap
- 94.42 Mondays
- 93.41 Trade Show
- 92.40 Saturday Sleep
- 91.39 The weekend approaches
- 90.38 Making it work.
- 89.37 It's a mystery
My Taiwan Adventure
Monday, May 02, 2005
101.49 Blog Slave
Interesting. I just discovered I'm a slave to my blog. Life seems incomplete unless I've updated here. Hmmmm. I'm feeling run down today. I have a sore throat again and am very tired and yet here I am typing away. I jokingly say other teachers come to Taiwan because they are slaves to their student loans but I guess I had better reassess my need to blog before I start pointing fingers. Of course I enjoy blogging so that makes it somehow easier to justify. When I see burned out teachers who are drinking the nights away and slogging through the days halfheartedly just to pay for their education it makes me wonder what kind of messed up values we've imposed on youth today.
A view of Taipei 101 from my apartment. The clear blue sky afforded a beautiful view and high temperatures.
Weekend Visitors:
There's nothing like coming to your desk on a Monday morning to discover fresh rat crap in your drawer. Makes me want to cry just a little. Of course, it is my fault. I left food prizes for this week's drama presentations in my desk on the weekend. I assure you that won't ever happen again. I had suspected the critters visiting before and now I have proof. Ick ick ick ick ick. ICK. I've also seen lizards run into the office. The crack between the door and the floor is pretty big. I'm sure we've had roach visitors too but am ever so greatful I haven't seen them yet. I've seen them on the street and I reiterate - yuck, ewwww and ICK! Be glad for the snow at home Calgarians! Ugh - just thinking about it is making me hear things in the office.
Test week has begun anew for me. That means another batch of 200+ exams to grade. And then there is my assessments for all the junior high students. I'm trying to keep up with the grading every day but tomorrow I do so many tests that unless I stay here until midnight there is no way for me to stay ahead of the workload. My plan is to do what I can and not push too hard, especially now that I'm not feeling well.
One of my classes has asked for extra written work and another has asked for an exam exemption because they're scared they won't know enough English to study properly. Did I care about grades this much? *thinks for a moment* Yes. I'll do what I can for the kids but my grading schedule is pretty set. I don't want them to stress out over drama class - after all it IS supposed to be fun. However, I need to find a balance that says take the class seriously too.
A view of downtown Taipei and a portion of the elevated MRT tracks.
Summer Plans:
This is probably the worst week to try making plans for the summer and going home but now I'm hearing stories from other teachers who are going on wait lists to make the flight back to Canada. I guess I'll be making a decision post-haste in that case. I don't want my ticket to go to waste. More decisions in a packed week - ugh. Anybody want a visitor for a couple of days if I come back? I'm poor but cute!
Photos are planned for today's blog. The new header includes the world's tallest building Taipei 101. I've now officially been inside though not to the top yet. Also on the header is a flock of white cranes suspended inside the MRT station against a green roof. The colour is very calming when you're spending time dodging the sun indoors. Finally, see below for a picture of the cast from the play I saw last week. "Book, Bell and Candle"
A view of Taipei 101 from my apartment. The clear blue sky afforded a beautiful view and high temperatures.
Weekend Visitors:
There's nothing like coming to your desk on a Monday morning to discover fresh rat crap in your drawer. Makes me want to cry just a little. Of course, it is my fault. I left food prizes for this week's drama presentations in my desk on the weekend. I assure you that won't ever happen again. I had suspected the critters visiting before and now I have proof. Ick ick ick ick ick. ICK. I've also seen lizards run into the office. The crack between the door and the floor is pretty big. I'm sure we've had roach visitors too but am ever so greatful I haven't seen them yet. I've seen them on the street and I reiterate - yuck, ewwww and ICK! Be glad for the snow at home Calgarians! Ugh - just thinking about it is making me hear things in the office.
Test week has begun anew for me. That means another batch of 200+ exams to grade. And then there is my assessments for all the junior high students. I'm trying to keep up with the grading every day but tomorrow I do so many tests that unless I stay here until midnight there is no way for me to stay ahead of the workload. My plan is to do what I can and not push too hard, especially now that I'm not feeling well.
One of my classes has asked for extra written work and another has asked for an exam exemption because they're scared they won't know enough English to study properly. Did I care about grades this much? *thinks for a moment* Yes. I'll do what I can for the kids but my grading schedule is pretty set. I don't want them to stress out over drama class - after all it IS supposed to be fun. However, I need to find a balance that says take the class seriously too.
A view of downtown Taipei and a portion of the elevated MRT tracks.
Summer Plans:
This is probably the worst week to try making plans for the summer and going home but now I'm hearing stories from other teachers who are going on wait lists to make the flight back to Canada. I guess I'll be making a decision post-haste in that case. I don't want my ticket to go to waste. More decisions in a packed week - ugh. Anybody want a visitor for a couple of days if I come back? I'm poor but cute!
Photos are planned for today's blog. The new header includes the world's tallest building Taipei 101. I've now officially been inside though not to the top yet. Also on the header is a flock of white cranes suspended inside the MRT station against a green roof. The colour is very calming when you're spending time dodging the sun indoors. Finally, see below for a picture of the cast from the play I saw last week. "Book, Bell and Candle"
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 5:32 PM 
