24th February to 1st March

24^th Feb. to 1^st March

Tuesday

Today is the first day back to school.  Universities and all other elementary and secondary schools are in full swing for the next semester.

This first week is basically about introduction of the course, the teacher and any housekeeping items that need to be taken care of.

Since yesterday (Monday) was a holiday, my first class was missed so next week will be the introduction class for that particular course.

I have a great teaching schedule, thanks to Analeigh and her magical acts.  I have one class on Monday, two classes Tuesday and one class Wednesday with Thursday and Friday being non-contact days. 

Today’s class began at 8:10 with the advanced class and final year of the baking and pastry students.  This group is the second half of the entire group of students.  There are total of 96 students, so I had 48 last semester and I will have the other 48 this semester.

My Tuesday schedule is split, which means my second class begins at 3:30pm to 6:30pm and I will be co-teaching this course with Paul.  This will be the first time that both of us have co-taught a course here.  I’m sure this will prove interesting.

This course consists of 64 students combining the culinary (Paul’s program) along with International Tourism Management (Sophie’s program).  The nine Humber students are also taking this course.

I set-up blackboard for everyone, including Paul.

We finished about two hours into the class (longer than I anticipated) so of course it’s now dark outside when I’m riding the scooter back to the apartment.  Not that I don’t like riding in the dark but I will say one needs to be more conscientious and cautious with everything around you.

Since I didn’t get much sleep the night prior due to the incident with the Humber student, I was exhausted and went to bed around 9pm.

Wednesday

Another morning class and this one is the second year baking and pastry students.  My teaching assistant is Ya Jyun who I had as a student two years ago in her second year and last semester in her final semester.  I was happy to know she will be my assistant as she is very meticulous, motivated and a pleasant to work alongside.

We had our introduction and setting up of groups and were out of the class after an hour.

Once I returned to the office Paul asked me if I could join him and the other faculty and support staff to a gathering where the President and his team would give a small talk in welcoming back everyone and especially following Chinese New Year, this is symbolic.  He then presented everyone with a red envelope containing a $200NTD coupon for the campus on-site store.  There was a small reception afterwards with catered bite-size morsels of savory and sweet food.

Paul also asked me to give a short talk to his 1:30 food and beverage class in the importance of learning English and how it will benefit them in the long run.

I arrived home around 2:30, had a quick shower then Lee and I went to the place where I purchased my cane. (near the hospital)  During the holidays I somehow damaged it.  Even though it still functioned properly, it was making a loud noise every time I used it so I knew something wasn’t quite right. 

The young man at the shop was the same one last time.  He moved here from Vancouver to help run the family business.  He welcomed me and immediately took care of the problem.  Well, I should say his father took care of the problem.  What I think happened was that the stopper inside the cane had been pushed down too far and wasn’t keeping the space inside the cane tube tight hence was making a clicking or hollow tapping sound.

It was ready to go in less than five minutes and free of charge. J

Continued to Café Bird for a latte then rode to the ocean side since neither of us had been there for a while.  Was a nice ride but once we arrived it was packed with tourists. (mostly from mainland China). 

We stayed there as long as we could tolerate but then it was time to go so decided Thai food would taste good right about now so that’s where we ended up. 

Enjoy the different styles of tofu dishes they offer.

Another full day so I worked on some school items, watched American Sniper (a little too intense for me) then called it a night.

Tomorrow I will go with Nicholas and his Mom and fifth Aunt to a fruit/vegetable farm in Pingtung. 

Thursday to Sunday

It is now the following week and I’m just realizing I forgot to post.  Now I need to recollect what took place.

Put an immediate stop to writing as I heard a loud ‘bank’ outside.  I went downstairs and outside to see what it could be and followed people as they were scurrying on the street and heading towards the intersection.

As I approached the intersection and turned my head slightly to the right where most of the people were gathering, I saw two vehicles up on the sidewalk.  I walked closer and saw that this was the bang I must have heard.  The front ends of these two vehicles were crashed in quite severely.  The odd thing is that one vehicle was heading in one direction and the other in the opposite direction.  Go figure!

Friday

Today is a holiday (forget why) and I made arrangements with the Humber students and their study buddies to meet up around 11am for all of us to go have lunch at one of my favourite restaurants.  This would be their first taste of true Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup.

I met up with them at the MRT station and then walked to the restaurant from there.  I wanted to point out a close-by Vietnamese eatery for them if they were in the area at a later date in time.

A couple of the study buddies rode their scooters and met us at the eatery.  Once we arrived, everything was ready for us and we even had a reserved table on the second floor.  Eighteen of us in total, (one study buddy was still out of the Country on vacation and the other wasn’t feeling well).

I think everyone had a good time and I know everyone was full by the time they finished.  What the students found hard to believe was the fact I told them the portion size was a small…hahaha

We walked back to where I met them and they continued on their way to Cijin Island and I came back home to finish off some schoolwork.  A nice outing for all of us.

Not too much happened in the latter days of this week however on Sunday, I met up with a past colleague that use to work at the university. 

Her name is Vivian and she now works as a coordinator at the new exhibition centre.  We enjoyed a nice latte and a good catch up.  She gave me a personal tour of the inside of the centre and I didn’t realize how large it truly was and how many meeting rooms there are.  It is truly an amazing piece of architecture.

The reason she was working on a Sunday is that she was the contact for an event taking place that involved a scooter club.  In short, all the attendees at this event are either individuals who have added extras to their personal scooters, or salesmen selling all these fancy and expensive ‘add-ons’ to scooters, or photographers or even young girls dressed in minimal clothing who would pose all around the grounds area for advertising purposes.  An interesting event for sure.

This would bring the week to a close and a new week to begin tomorrow.