i have turned into a slack-blogger lately, so here is a futile attempt to catch everyone (mostly myself) up...
let's see...last wknd was moon festival. i'm not sure what the occasion is other than that the moon is at its brightest during the festival, and we got a day off work. :) friday night, i went to a traditional barbeque with some taiwanese friends. it was very interesting! it was in an old salon, and you could also go into the street from where we were. we stayed outside all night, barbequing squid and pig blood (i swear) and looking at the moon, playing taiwanese party games. it was a brilliant night, and i saw the first sunrise i've seen since coming to taiwan. (it was beautiful, i might add). after watching spongebob (or hy-me-in-bao-bao in chinese) in chinese, i headed home, slept for a half hour, and then caught the early train for keelung!
i met mary and kristen at the station. we met this hilarious taiwanese lady who kept asking us where we were from, and telling us that she had a son in la who was going to be married next month. (she also said that she was taiwanese...she said that people can't be happy in a marraige unless the person comes from the same culture as they do and can understand the way they think and their philosophy about life--i've been wondering all week if that is actually true and hoping that it isn't.) anyway, she took us on a little trip to find a hotel to stay in. 'we are EXPLORERRRRRR!' she shouted and was practically running through the streets while we were struggling to keep up. most hilarious person i've met in taiwan thus far. anyway, we spent the day hiking up 203482034823049820348 stairs, but it was so worth it! we saw so many cool things, and luckily, the typhoon was kind and let us have at least one torrential-downpour-free day in keelung. not so on sunday. we ended up having to go back to taipei to the cinema (saw 'the proposal -just now out in tw. was amazing! i loved it, and i really hate chick flicks.) we ate some interesting japanese food for dinner, and then headed home! great weekend! i love taiwan weekends.
so then, the typhoon came. along with it came fall! it is FINALLY a liveable temperature here (which means that all the locals are pretty much wearing parkas because its 'cold'.) i can walk outside and breathe, and not sweat through my clothes on the way to work, and the night isn't so humid that i feel like suffocating. it is, at times (dare i say it)...cool. i hope it lasts.......
meanwhile, i have the best job ever. i am constantly entertained by those kids! they are so funny! yesterday, one of them called me over to his desk to show me a picture he had drawn. it was me and the caption was 'katie is pitty.' i laughed and corrected the spelling to 'pretty.' then he shouted, 'you have BIG GREEN EYYYYYYYYYYES!' and i was laughing so hard that i almost had to leave the classroom. sometimes, i even find myself just so happy! a kid will ask another kid 'can i borrow your eraser' in english, and i will get so proud that i nearly explode. or i will have a class full of 9 8-year olds chanting 'the ball is ABOVE the box' and its just the cutest thing. today, they were all about to knock me down to show me their 100s on their spelling tests. you can't can't can't can't beat that feeling. there's nothing better! even though i hear 'katie teacher, I'M FINISHEDDDDDDDDDD!!!!" in my sleep and hear those stupid metal pencil cases crashing to the ground in my nightmares, i truly love love love this job. can't imagine doing anything else.
its funny too, because i guess some people thought that i was coming here just for a trip or something, and always ask 'so when are you coming home?' i really have no idea the answer to that question. someday, i guess, but its so funny that i now find myself comfortable in taiwan. i can quasi-function in chinese, i am learning about the culture, i even find myself taking off my shoes when i go in a room...whoa. the thought of going home isn't as exciting as it used to be. i prefer taiwan's mtv to america's, i order octopus on purpose in restuarants, i can use chopsticks as well as a fork now, i am used to the heat, etc etc.
tomorrow is a loooooooooooooooooong day...but I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND! :) yayayaya.
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