Woke up an hour before the alarm, so I got up and got ready for work.

Shortly after getting into the shower, I heard weird thumps.

Little did I know, but a thunderstorm had just begun.

It was not a little rain, it was a typhoon-style amount of rain. I was drenched from head to toes while running

the 2 minutes that separate home from work! My shoes and socks were soke all day, while my pants were blow dried

with two hair dryers simultaneously. All this was done to finish the props for the Moon Festival Play.

The three teachers improvised and it worked out pretty well.

The kids enjoyed the activities we had planned afterwards: decorating yo-dze, pasting ChungEr on the moon, and yo-dze 2X2 relays.

A yo-dze is called a pomelo in English. It's an egg-shape grapefruit.

 

Then in bushiban, the kids were horribly naughty... you know the storm before the sunshine or before the holiday kind of thing.

My trip to the middle of Taiwan is still going. I'll ride the bullet train 3 times in the space of three days. Hooray!

 

Talk to you on Tuesday or Wednesday,

LeTouriste 

First things first, nothing wrong happened to me during the typhoon. I missed another day of school. This time, I missed all 7 paid hours .

Nonetheless, a friend came over. We watched movies and even ordered McDonald's! Yes, they deliver in Taiwan! I had spicy chicken. Yummy!

 

I met my physical trainer today at the gym. She is a young girl whose name is Jenny. She is somewhat cute, but she seems exhausted because she has black bags under her eyes bigger than mine and I sleep 5h/ night! The first thing she noticed is how arched my back is. Hence, my first task is to correct my posture by strengthening my back muscles. Trust me, it isn't easy to get that back muscle to work. When it does, however, it is quite painful. We spent most of the hour working on 3 machines for my back. Then we did some bench presses with my legs. She had me push the bench plus 90 lbs, so over 50kgs combined. Going quickly is easy, but she asked me to stop and slow down to work my butt and hamstrings. That was bloody painful. I will go again tomorrow and meet her next Wednesday.

 

My holidays are approaching. I go to Taichung and Hsinchu this weekend. I will participate in a Chinese poetry contest on Tueday night! Yes, you heard me right. I will read poetry in Chinese! Then on Saturday, I leave for China for a week. Itinerary: Taipei-HK-Guilin-Shanghai-MT Huangshan-Shanghai-HK-Taipei. I will try almost every means of transportation.

 

Got to get back to work,

LeTouriste

My 3rd visit to the gym was done late Saturday night when almost no one was present. Hence, I had free choice on all the machines. No beefed-up guys for intimidation, no cute girls for distraction. I did my thing, but quickly realized that I was not going to do much. I did well on any machine that did not involve pushing with my arms. I could pull down on weights, but pushing the weights was just not happening today. It was not painful, I was just tired.

 

Tomorrow, I pick up another award. Then I'll hit the mountains with my bike and the gym.

Then I'll prep for my week.

 

Next weekend is a long weekend because of Moon Festival. A friend and I are going to Taichung and Hsinchu by bullet train.

On Thursday, I expect to get my Chinese Visa and Friday I'll open a bank account so that I can get my tax refund.

Next next Saturday, I'll be heading out to China for my third trip. I am so eager.

 

After China, it will be Japan's turn.

 

Cheers, LeTouriste 

Ghost month is almost over, but now I hear the stories.

Two Taiwanese teachers claim to have seen or felt the presence of ghosts in the school.

One saw "It" twice in my classroom, while the other was awoken by a tap on the shoulder.

Yet, no one was awake in the classroom at that time...

Spooky! Also the exercise CD jumped on every track the Monday following a teacher's surprising

injury. I don't believe in ghosts, but these teachers are so passionate, that one is compelled to believe.

All that I say is that I respect them as long as they keep quiet.

 

We went to the fire station this morning. It was hilarious because the firemen took the biggest kid and dressed him up with all their gear.

That includes the oxygen tank, mask and helmet. The poor kid was sweating and being crushed by the weight. His face showed the

expression of a kid who is about to cry. It was funny to see nonetheless. I am eager to see his pictures.

 

I finished painting my classroom. White and blue. Now I need to eat my stinky tofu and prepare tons of posters to embellish the room, so that our pictures will match the standard of the bigger schools.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Hey guys,

You remember that I joined California Fitness last Saturday. I went there on Sunday and trained for 2 hours.

I went there again today for just under 2 hours. I had a great 30 min cardio workout before hitting the weights.

Again today, there was a machine that puzzled me. I had no idea how to use it.

Do I see a change in my body. No, not yet. Give me some time please. I wish I could see my abs. I notice that the arms are slightly bigger,

but that can't entirely be attributed to the gym.

 

Tomorrow, I have to work in bushiban because the teacher that was injured is still not ready to make a come back. After work, I'll have to finish painting my classroom and decorating it to take pictures to send to Main Office.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

First, I taught a class in bushiban on Saturday morning. I have never seen an upper level class with so many kids participating. It was really cool to see that happening.

Next, I hooked up with a teacher at the MRT station to drop off his salary. It really felt like in a thriller or spy movie when the spy is dropping his sensitive information. Then it was off to California Fitness where I had an appointment to visit the gym. The gym looks really nice and the staff there speaks good English. They are however sales people so they put the package to get me to sign up. The first sales rep buttered me and tried to hook me up with other staff members. Then a fat-tester told me that I was too fat 16% (WOW! 2.5 years ago, I was at 7%!!!) and slightly over-weight 74kg versus 73 kg (average 28 years old male). Not to mention that the percentage of muscle was low too! So she buttered me by saying that she believed that I could succeed easily to lose weight from fat and increase my muscle mass. She was staring at me and giggling... two things that turn men into wild animals. Then once I agreed to the plan for one year with monthly payments. I was proposed a better deal as long as I paid upfront. I was asked if I'd stay for 2 years, I said that I didn't know, so they offered me a 2 years membership. Hence, I will save a ton if I stay in Taiwan until August 2009. Finally, I met another babe who read a contract to me (she on the other hand was much more interesting for me ;-)

So I paid a little more than the price of my bicycle for 2 years of gym with 10 sessions with a personal trainer. I tried it out today. It was fun once the warm up period was done.

Then I rushed away to meet a teacher who wanted to go to COSTCO. I waited 30 minutes, but he didn't show up. Sadly, he doesn't have a phone yet so there was no way to reach him. At this point, I was more pi*sed than scared that he could be lost. Getting lost is the best way to learn the place... I talk by experience.

After Costco, it was back home to change to go bowling. My friends and I had a great time. I clowned around, throwing balls backwards and between my legs. I managed several strikes by shooting between my legs! I won the first game ,   but lost the other two .  

 

Sunday afternoon, I was back at the movie theatre watching TAXI 4. They just get goofier with time! I loved it and so did the Taiwanese crowd because they were laughing the whole time. I took advantage of being at the Mitsukoshi to buy two new watches. The first one will be used when I go out. It is cool, but I can't set the digital clock at the same time as the analog one! The other one is a cheap plastic watch to be used at the gym or on the bike. My current watch will be used for teaching.

 

In total, this weekend was the most expensive non-holiday weekend. I burnt half my salary in two days. Not to mention that I made plans to travel the bullet train in two weekends. I did not pay for that yet, so it was not tallied today. I still need to get a VISA for China. I am starting to get anxious.

 

See ya,

LeTouriste

 

 I saw the new teacher teach this morning. Ouf! It was painful. He was teaching 2 years old with a vocab that certain 10 years old may not follow. He was teaching songs with actions that were beyond the kids imagination. What is more obvious to a kid: the sheep's curly hair or the shape of its head while patting it? I think its the hair, he thinks its the patting motion. He doesn't sit nicely in the Indian posture. He adopts a yoga form that I can't bend into because of my lack of flexibility. I observed him for 15 minutes which were very long for everyone. I started thinking about myself. Was I like this? Did I start our so rottenly as him? I probably did. I definitely did except that I did not do the yoga thing or talk in a complicated way. I wish him the best of luck.

 

On a sad note, the great Luciano Pavarotti has sung his last song. I loved the man. He really made opera music accessible to the masses. His voice was great and his interpretation of Nessun Dorma is still my favorite, although O' sole mio is high up there too. Luciano, go and entertain the angels in Heaven.

 

LeTouriste

What a day!

I am not totally exhausted but I am getting there.

I thought shaoban in the morning, then two daban classes merged for a total of 30-some kids.

That was rough because some kids were participating a lot, while others were not doing anything.

Then it was back to bushiban for a new class with hyper kids, I need to rethink the format of my class.

This will enable me to use their high energy to maximize their work.

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you that when I taught the double daban, one kid was sick. He pucked so much that the other kids ran out of the class

more quickly than if it had been a fire drill!

 

I am tired because I can't remember what I actually wanted to say in this blog.

Oh well, maybe next time.

 

LeTouriste 

So, I got the foreigners out of Taipei and brought them to their new apartment.

Then it was shopping time! They blew almost all of the remainder of their loan in a single shot.

I could not believe it!

Today, they came to observe our classes. They looked so tired! They will get used to this tiring routine, but they seemed

comfortable nonetheless. They will probably end up being good or even great teachers because they have much more personal

skills then I do.

After this week, it's relax time for me.

 

On another tone, a Chinese teacher approached me and inquired about my personal status. Single, Engaged, Confused or what?

She went on to tell me that some of her friends are into foreigners and might be interested in me .

I felt really happy when I was asked that question because it is not everyday that you get  such a compliment. Think about it.

If a co-worker wants to hook you up with their friends it must be because you are a cool guy (nice personality and good looks)!

Man, I am still on a high right now.

 

Happy happy day,

LeTouriste