Le Touriste

Hi Guys,

So the meeting with the president was utterly casual.

The first thing he told us was if we had questions for him.

Well, since no one was told to prepare anything, no one had anything to say.

I asked him what was happening with the school in Shanghai.

His answer was very disappointing. Yes, there will be something in Shanghai in 2008, but

it will not be what I anticipated. I am not sure if it will be possible for me to move there

permanently. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Cheers,

LeTouriste 

Hey Guys,

Long time, no see...

Yeah, I've been quite busy and things are not cooling down.

Tomorrow, I will have lunch with the president of the company.

I am a little nervous because I have no idea why he wants to do this.

Is it to have a brainstorming of ideas?

Is it to congratulate us on a great year?

Is it to get ideas for expansion?

I guess I'll see tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

 

Hey Guys,

We took the kids out to the zoo today. It was pretty cool. The day started out badly because a kid was sick on the bus. Fortunately, we were close to the school so we just dumped him there and took off again. The Taipei Zoo is pretty nice with lots of animals crowded into a small area, so the kids don't have to walk too much. There were flamingos, giraffes, elephants, horses, zebras, antelops, emus, ostriches, beavers, otters, koalas, monkeys, kangaroos and many more that we did not see. The kids loved the otter because it was swimming and it came over to the window where they were standing. They loved the monkeys because they of them were in an aerial acrobatic competition. They were swinging madly in loops around their play area. Finally, they also loved the koalas because they looked so cute while they were hugging trees.

 

Kids could describe all these animals and could spell certain of them. I feel that I did a pretty good job on this unit! Yeah for me!

 

 

Today, I felt really exhausted. I had a nightmare last night. I can't remember what it was about, but there were a lot of girls. I said nightmare... I don't describe my fantacies online! Anyhow, when I got on the bus to go to the gym, I fell asleep. I woke up just in time for the MRT stop. Then I slept on the MRT. This time, I did not wake up until I was in Taipei Main Station, hence 9 stops past the gym! Jumped on the next subway North. Got on the next bus and managed to be 15 minutes late for my gym session. The session was productive nonetheless, but my coach laughed at me a bit. She always says that I should eat more and sleep more. I do eat more now and my body is responding very well. I like the bumps that are growing on me. Soon, I'll post my new physique. After today's mishap, I guess she is right about sleeping too, but I don't have the time for that now. After Saturday's Xmas show, Speech competition and a friend's bday, then I'll have time to sleep.

 

I booked my tickets for Japan. I'll go there for Chinese New Year from Feb 6 to 10!

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Hey guys,

You may recall that I will host the Christmas party on December 22 for kindy.

They asked me to dress up as a Taiwanese boy... so here is my new look.

Given the reactions from both teachers and students, it is successful!

What do you think?

Please feel free to tell me!

LeTouriste

Hey Guys,

 

Yesterday marked my 2nd anniversary of landing in Taipei.

I didn't do anything special because I have so much work right now.

I did share this info with my kids. The kindy ones found it funny, the older ones

clapped in delight for some reason.

How many more years will I be here?

I don't have plans to return home anytime soon.

Cheers,

LeTouriste 

Hi guys,

 

Today was our Thanksgiving brunch and party. It was held at the restaurant of the fancy San Want hotel in Taipei. Everything was vry cozy. The Chinese staff from all the schools had dressed up and some girls looked... hum... gorgeous! I noticed that some teachers were married and some had kids. This is shocking because no one at our school has a boyf! There were a few games, I didn't win any prizes

 

After lunch it was time for bowling. One game only because the other teachers wanted to go sing at KTV. I nonetheless finished 1st and 2nd against 5 players! In the schools, though I finished 2nd (overall). KTV was OK, but I much rather go there with 1 or 2 friends because this way I get to sing more.

 

I heard the funniest thing today from a girl teacher. She pulled her earings out. That's when I noticed that she did not have pierced ears. She said that she would like to be a boy in her next life. If you have marks on your ears, you can't be a boy in your next life. I had never heard of such a superstition. I don't know if it is wide spread in Taiwan, but her family seems to believe in it.

 

LeTouriste

Hey Guys,

Let me update you on a few movies that I saw.

Good Luck Chuck -- hilarious, but needlessly crude comedy that was shot in Vancouver. You could not imagine how much I missed Vancouver while I was watching that movie. The shots of the city going down 4th Ave or Burrard Island and the North Shore. I was ready to pack my bags and leave. The next day, I rented The Cleaner, another comedy shot in Vancouver. This one starred Lucy Liu (my fav Asian actress because of her utterly sexy and dominating role in Ally MacBeal). Last weekend was really a Vancouver-memory missathon! I got myself back together and now I'm OK.

 

I attended a head foreign teachers' meeting. I heard a most interesting news. My school is expanding into mainland China officially!!! Hurrah! The first thing I did was to run to the director and said: I'm In!

 

This weekend I watched Beowulf in 3D, it was alright, not much more.

Today since it rained all day, I did not go to Maokang, instead I watched Hairspray. Great movie, great themes. But not really my style of movie. Of maybe it is the size of the characters. Yes, I am vain and hollow, but size 60 isn't for me.

 

Cheers,

LeTouriste

Hey Guys,

Our boss finally approved our pay raises. Two teachers have been retroactively paid since June. Imagine the joy these teachers will get because they get almost a Canadian dollar per hour for almost 400 hours.

Hi Guys,

Ouf! I had a terrible scare during the past week. As I said, I developed a certain skin rash. I check on the internet and found pictures

that looked somewhat similar to what I have. The only problem is that the pictures came from patients with severe and nasty diseases.

I was at a lose about how I could have gotten any of those. I saw a first doctor on Sunday. He just said that I had an infection, but did not

explain more. Today, I went to see a specialist with over 40 years of experience. He gave me tons of pills (as they always do in Taiwan)

and sent me my way. He said that I would be fine and that I did not have anything related to those diseases. What a relief! I feel the sunshine

coming out again for me.

 

On a sad note however, a friend of mine has a sister who was diagnosed with heart whispering. I don't know what that means in the long term, but

it does not sound good. Also another friend of mine is in mourning for her dear friend. Life has it's mysteries which we can't understand. I can imagine your

pain, but nothing that happened is your fault. She must have enjoyed her time spent with you. Live with no regrets.

 

Bye,

LeTouriste