15th to 21st December

15^th to 21^st December

Christmas Day is approaching quickly now with only 10 days remaining.  I feel somewhat excited but not totally simply for the reason I will still be teaching a class on that day.  As I’ve been in the food industry for so many years, holidays (including Christmas) is normally a busy day and I’m usually working.  The 25^th is not a recognized holiday here in Taiwan and daily life goes on like any other day, including school.

What I did find out recently is that the 1^st and 2^nd of January are both holidays and coincidentally Saturday and Sunday follow, so a 4 day weekend, which will be nice.

Wednesday

The coldest day of the season so far – 13C.

Non contact day at school today so Lee and I went to the nearby breakfast eatery and enjoyed breakfast and relaxed there for ½ hour or so.  Since the temperature is somewhat chilly this morning, the owner of the breakfast place had large heavy plastic protector curtains keeping the cool air/wind out from where the patrons usually sit. 

I’m still wearing my shorts and t-shirts and to my amazement, another man who came in for breakfast was also wearing shorts.  Guess I’m not the only crazy one around.

I started riding the scooter last Saturday and thought I’d like to do it again since it is rapidly changing my mental state knowing I can get around without having to rely on anyone.  I’m simply an efficient independent person and having had to reply on people in assisting me has taken its toil.  I need my freedom.

We prepared some lunch then drove to the ocean side (near Yen Sat University).  There we sat and just enjoyed the view, cool breeze coming off the water and of course watching all the Chinese Tourists (from mainland China). 

After an hour or so we stopped off at the infamous shaved ice place and ordered some ‘to go’.  We went to Bird Café and enjoyed eating it there along with a nice latte.

I still wasn’t finished in riding the scooter so I said to Lee let’s go to Dream Mall so off we went.  I purchased a few small gifts to give to the cleaning lady and one of the security men here at the apartment.  I want to give it to them next Thursday on Christmas Day.  They are both super individuals and have gone up and beyond to assist me and Lee during our challenging days of immobility.

Thursday

1 week until Christmas Day

13C again this morning…burrrrrrrrr

Saturday

Today I joined Yvonne and the students from the International Tourism Management Bachelor program on a field trip to the ‘Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Culture Park’.

It was a great day but boy I was tired later in the evening due to a lot of walking I didn’t expect with my crutches. 

There were 16 students, mostly from 2^nd year and a couple 1^st year students.  These were chosen students to come on the trip but I don’t know what the criterion was for choosing these particular students since they are not from the program I teach in.  I went along because Yvonne asked me and I obliged.

We left the school around 7:30 and it would be a 1-hour ride to our final destination.

Just on the outskirts of the city we asked the driver to stop at Family Mart for coffee and other drinks the students might have wanted.  I was happy, I had my latte J

The day started off a somewhat overcast and cool (not for me) and students concerned I would be too cold…hahaha Later in the day the tables were turned and students were taking off their outer clothing while I was quite comfortable in my shorts.

We would start off the morning with a video presentation of the aboriginal groups in Taiwan and our park interpreter was a Caucasian and of course all of us had the same question to him as why and how are you doing this work here in Taiwan.

He is a university student studying for his BA in Anthropology and part of his internship is working at the Culture Park.  His background is that of an artist and studying the history of the aboriginal peoples in Taiwan.  He is of Irish decent and one of his parents is Dutch.  He used to work as a firefighter on navy ships and then decided to go back to school after docking in Taichung a couple years ago so now he works (volunteers) at the culture park.  I forget the name of the university he studies at but there are campuses in Kaohsiung and Taipei.

He was our personal guide all day and at lunchtime we invited him to join us for lunch.

You will see from the photos the food we ate at lunchtime and it was like a feast!

Students participated in various activities throughout the day and I was their official photographer, well so I told them..hahaha

Weather cooperated and it was a fun day by all.

We left the park around 4:30 to travel back to the school where Peter was there waiting for me to drive me home.

A fantastic day for everyone. 

ALSO today was a balloon parade festival at Dream Mall.  Since I wasn’t around, Lee went and took some photos.  Not sure the meaning of this but 7-11 was a big sponsor in this event and from viewing the photos, you will see there were a lot of people in attendance.  I just know from driving past the mall area on my way back home, traffic was crawling.  It was packed with vehicles, scooters and people.  The entire block was closed off and even some of the traffic lanes, so of course this created havoc on the streets.

I went to bed around 9pm I was exhausted.

Sunday

Today was a 12km run in Kaohsiung and the ending section was at Dream Mall.  Hundreds if not thousands of participants ranging from young to old took part in this event.  I don’t know the logistics about it at this time of writing but will try to find out so I can publish it here.

At all the intersections where the runners were running, there were volunteer helpers directing/assisting with traffic.

I have already seen a couple of my students who ran in the event and that makes me feel proud for them.  Coincidentally, they are both international students not even here from Taiwan.  One is from Singapore and the other is from Malaysia.

Later in the day Lee and I decided to take the scooter and go somewhere but that somewhere was unknown so I just drove and let the scooter take us to wherever it decided.  Well, it decided to take us to the ferry terminal where many of the shaved ice places are located.  Same girl at the same place where we went and she even knew what we were going to order (according to Lee).  Green tea shaved ice with red beans…oh wow…to die for!!!

It was somewhat busy in the area because the weather was beautiful.  A typical fall day back home but I was chilly after eating the shaved ice.

Afterwards we drove to the ocean side to see what excitement was taking place and I also like to go there simply to relax because the ocean is right there and one can sit and just enjoy the view.  There were a lot of Mainland Chinese tourists there (as usual) and many of them tramping across the grassed areas (clearly written in English and Chinese – DO NOT WALK ON GRASS) but no, they didn’t seem to be able to read I guess.

It was quite windy so the water was rough with high waves crashing up and over the piers.

We stopped off near the Banana Pier where there is a large grassy/park area and favourite place for flying kites.  Now talk about kites – wow!

There were all sorts flying around and of course all sizes.  The majority of the people were simply mesmerized by the kites themselves in the sky.  We stopped for a short time to take a few photos then headed back to the apartment. 

School tomorrow so want to get everything organized and packed ready to go when Peter arrives to take me.

I can’t believe it…4 days until Christmas Day.