29th December – 4th
January
A new year
will be upon us soon and here in Taiwan as in other Asian Countries, it will be
the year of the horse. Set-up around the
city have already taken shape in preparation for the observation of 31st
December.
Monday
My
practical baking class for Paul’s students and I had already planned in
demonstrating pizza to them but what they didn’t know was that I was gong to
prepare 2 LARGE bake pans of pizza for their lunch. There were no complaints from the
students.
After
school Lee and I rode the scooter to the ocean area again for lunch then we
ventured up the small mountainside (where Yan Set University is located) and
see if we would encounter any monkeys.
Take a look at the photos and you will see what we encountered.
Tuesday
I will teach
my last class of 2014 today. The first
year students, Paul and I will be going to the Thomas Chien restaurant for
dinner this evening so I will begin my class 2 hours earlier in order for the
students to get to the restaurant by 6:30.
Just
returned from dinner with the students and what an amazing meal we had. There’s not a lot I can talk about here
regarding the dinner as I think the photos will speak for themselves.
We all met
around 6:30 at the restaurant and Paul and I took the wine. Paul brought red and I brought white and a
bottle of Late Harvest for the students to try.
Many
restaurants here, you are allowed to bring your own wine and then there is a
small corkage fee. Paul decided to do
this as it allowed for the students to have a higher end choice of meal if they
didn’t have to pay for wine.
The
Chef/owner came out before and after the meal and he’s a good friend of
Paul.
The
restaurant has a French style/menu and the presentation and quality is
absolutely fantastic.
After
dinner, the Chef invited us into his kitchen for a tour. The kitchen is not very large but well
maintained in functionality, cleanliness and organization.
The
restaurant not only has the fine dining but also attached is the coffee shop of
the restaurant where the breakfast, lunch and light dinner meals are not as
exquisite and priced somewhat lower but the food is great!
When I was
here two years ago, Nicholas (past student) and I went there for their brunch
and it was served just like a high tea service at the Empress Hotel in Victoria
BC.
After the
tour, we all couldn’t wait for the photo opportunities.
A great
evening was enjoyed by all, and then we departed our own ways.
Wednesday – New Years Eve
Tonight’s
the night for winding down 2014.
I don’t
have classes on Wednesday so I’m actually beginning my 5 day weekend, since
tomorrow and Friday are both holidays.
I spent the
day walking outside, going to 7-11 for my latte and working on a presentation I
will give in a couple weeks at one of the professor’s classes.
Around
8:30pm Lee and I ventured out on the scooter headed for Dream Mall where all
the festivities would take place.
Yesterday the city had the streets blocked off near and around where the
concert was going to be held so already traffic was becoming chaotic.
We had
plans to park the scooter at the gas station, which was approximately ¼ km from
Dream Mall. Little did we know that the
street leading towards the mall had been closed off well before the gas
station. This was now maybe a km walk
minimum we would need to endure and I say endure because if you’ve had to move
around on crutches, you would understand.
We wound up
parking down a side street and our distance now was probably 1 km from the Mall
that we would have to walk. Great, if it
weren’t for the crutches BUT I still walked the distance.
You might
be able to see by viewing the photos how may people were milling about and this
was only around 8:45pm.
The
experience, ambience was fantastic. It
was like a gigantic night market, from all types of street food, to games,
clothing and even a goose with a red ribbon around it’s neck wobbling
around…hahaha
A gigantic
stage and light show was set up and singers/performers doing their thing. At one point the sound of an opera singer
came alive. I had to stop and watch the
large screen and listen. She was amazing
and then her co-singer (male) came in to sing ‘Phantom of the Opera’ along with
her. Wow, the music was mesmerizing! She
was dressed in a long white gown and he had a tux suit and half white mask on
his face to portray the part of the phantom.
There was even an orchestra on stage performing the music.
What a
great evening but unfortunately we were both getting tired (it’s 10:30 now) and
walking around on crutches for the distance and time was draining me and I just
wanted to sit down but it wasn’t going to be on the ground.
Made our
way back to the scooter and at this time, there were plenty more scooters
parked everywhere you could imagine and the drones of people moving their way
towards the mall area.
Missed the
fireworks but definitely felt the spirit of New Years Eve and the excitement
that came along with it.
Happy New Year!!!
Thursday – New Years Day 2015
Lee is back
to work now so he left at 6:20am and I walked up to the breakfast eatery. Felt somewhat eerie walking at this time since
there was virtually no traffic (including scooters) nor pedestrians. When I arrived at the eatery the owner and
others all wished me Happy New Year (I’m there often) and there was one other
person there eating.
I had
already glanced at a copy of the
breakfast order sheet and memorized the location and item for what I would
check off. I had a Taiwanese version of
a clubhouse sandwich. I had already a
latte in the fridge that I got last night so I was all set.
Enjoyed a peaceful
breakfast and just relaxing enjoying the cooler temperatures (12C this morning).
It’s only
8:45am and I feel like I’ve accomplished already so much..haha
Laundry
already in the machine, had my breakfast, made a morning run to 7-11 for back
up lattes and finishing this component of my blog for the week. Wow!!
Will once
again work on my presentation for the professor and simply relax today. My leg is actually giving me some pain this morning. Could be from the excessive moving around
yesterday. I need to remember it has
only been 3 months since the accident and the Doctor did say that it would be
minimum 3 months before healing even begins.
I guess I look forward to this pain for a few months still.
Happy New
Year 2015
