well, here I am.

So, today is one of those annoying sorts of days. You know the ones! A day when everything irritates you and there's nothing really to blame your annoyedness on. A day that starts with waking early to study for a big Chinese character midterm exam, which is already annoying, and then feeling annoyed when you run out of time to study for said midterm exam, then forgetting how to write characters you just studied an hour ago (super annoying), then having to go to the bathroom 561 times in a day (almost not even exaggerating) because you drink so much water, then thinking about your delicious soup in the fridge all morning only to find it's been taken to work by a roomate on accident, then trying to take a nap while the cleaning lady vaccummes the entire apartment (not possible, by the way), finding that the house fund box is somehow short a sizable chunk of money for no apparent reason, discovering as well that the house fund box has no change for the cleaning lady so having to run to 7-11 to make change, then seeing the cat flip dry food all over my newly swept floor, then getting an email from an unknown other English teacher we're giving a ride to Kenting next weekend saying "by the way, I work until 9:00 so we need to leave late", after we'd all arranged subs so we could leave earlier, and so on and forth. Actually, some of this stuff happens regularly (like the flipped over cat food), but today it just FEELS more annoying. Am I allowed to be a grinch for one day?
   Lately I've been trying to eat more heathily, which isn't much fun actually, but surely more helpful. More healthily consists of lots of beans and vegetables, and some fruits, and no sugar or caffeine. Yes, you read correctly; I'm cutting myself off from caffeine. oh! is that a gasp I heard from my coffee-loving readers? I feel sad and I muchly miss my afternoon latte that I used to drink daily while I studied, but.... I wanted to try feeling awake and alive naturally for a change. So far, I still really miss the coffee. Well, it's only been four days, so we'll see. Perhaps this lack of caffeine is contributing to my said annoyedness.
  In earlier reference, I spoke of a trip to Kenting next weekend. It's another English teacher's weekend retreat, which I greatly look forward to. These take place at a large facility, the meetings are always over different topics. The last one was how to re-tell Bible stories for students, and I'm not sure what this one is about. These retreats happen a couple times a year, sponsored in part my OMF, but this is the last one ever! So I'm grateful I'm able to go. The other JacksonFive teachers (the full time ones) have PTA's that weekend, but little part time me is free! So poor Aaron will be talking to multitudes of parents whilst I am happily frolicing in the warm waters of White Sands beach in Kenting. Amy, Beth, and I were just going to borrow a car and happily drive down on our own, but OMF agreed to loan us their large van to drive down for the weekend if we can give a few other teachers a ride, so they don't have to take the train. Thus my reference to the email about one teacher who can't leave until late. It's not actually a big deal and the other times we went to these retreats, we usually leave after nine. I guess I was annoyed because I'd specially arranged Aaron to sub for me when I really don't like to have a sub, just so we could leave earlier. Even though now we have to leave later, I still need him to sub because this guy we're picking up is in a different town so we need to leave in time to get him. *sigh*
   Anyway, in other news, my days are back to "normal" now, as Karen has taken both her classes back. For which I'm grateful, because with weekly (very large) chapter exams and a humongolous midterm exam (which is now, thankfully, at my back), I've deperately needed my afternoons for studying.
  I've realized now that July is just a couple months away! Oh boy. Perhaps I've already mentioned it here, I don't remember much these days, but in July Aaron and I will go to visit his mom and friends in Cape Cod. It's a large expense, but I'm still excited because I've always wanted to see the Cape, and I get to meet all his friends and his mom who are so important to him. Also it's nice to get a break from Taiwan for a while. We've both resigned our contracts for next school year starting in August. I will continue to teach my one evening class on Tuesday and Friday nights, and take on a new year 1 afternoon class again. I'm actually happy to be getting a new year 1. I really enjoyed the Dolphins last year. The Dolphins continue to be the best class at that school (and not that I'm biased or anything...) Aaron has been a super fabulous teacher for them! They've all grown up both in character and in their English, and become so much more confident in themselves. I can't imagine having a better teacher come to take my place this year. :) In more ways than one. Aaron will continue to teach the Dolphins as they go into year 3 and his one evening class, the Dragonflies next year, as well as a new evening class, so he will be teaching four nights a week.
   I think I will hire a tutor to continue my Chinese studies. My conversational skills have grown far better, but I don't get much practice outside of class. I think a tutor will be worth the expense and be able to fit my schedule nicely. We'll see.
  I have to go make soup for dinner now. I hope no more annoyings happen. I've had my fill for the day.
Thanks for reading! :)
  
  

I'm Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy...

You've no idea what I have to dooo....

-Veggie Tales

I am ever so tempted to leave my blog at that. However, being the kind-hearted soul that I am, I will explain a bit.
My co-worker Karen is back in recovery, having had a kidney removed in a 7-hour long surgery three weeks ago. She's doing remarkably well, all things considered, and is recovering at home. I've been teaching both her afternoon classes, a very full load, on top of my own evening class and tutoring. My Chinese classes at the university began this week in the mornings, and so my lazy, peaceful, and quiet days at home suddenly shifted into non-stop activity.
Wheee....
I'm thankful that I'm able to help Karen out so she can recover in peace, and also thankful for the extra income and some time with the cute students. But I'm kind of exhausted and a little worried my Chinese studies are going to suffer for a few weeks while I'm yet subbing for an indeterminate amount of time. Thus, I haven't blogged in a long time and probably won't again for a long time.
There.
Ooh, in another more interesting report, prior to all the busyness, I stuck very well to a new budget plan which included cooking at home all the time, and I made some pretty tasty cococtions if I do say so myself. I, being very Taiwanified at this point, took photos of all of the foods for future blogging fun-ness. They will be uploaded at some undetermined point in the future.
I'm all the done with the up dating now. Bye bye!

Eleven months until Christmas!

Oh boy! It's February already! Let's see, what've I been up to..
Answer: not much! Last week was our Chinese New Year vacation, and due to my lateness in trying to get train tickets, we couldn't figure out all our transporation to take a trip to Hualien like a few of us had planned, so we scrapped that idea and hung out around here instead. For me, it was pretty much the same as I always do, since I don't work very much, but I did get to see my roommates and my Aaron a little more than usual since they didn't have to work.
We went to Taipei for the day last Tuesday, on the bus, in the rain, and spend the afternoon at the National Palace Museum. I'd been there last year, but it was nice to go again and see all the Old Special Things From China. One of the very most popular Old Special Things From China on a Very Special Display at the museum that day, was a Very Large and Special Cabbage made from pure Jade. Yes, that's right folks. Many many many Taiwanese people stood in a long line to see (not even take a photo of because you can't take photos inside the museum), of a Large Jade Cabbage. *snicker*
Anyway, the rest of the week flew by, and this week it's back to "work" (for me) and work (for everybody else) as usual. My roomate Amy's mom has been here visiting for a coupla weeks, so that's been nice.
Um... what else. OH! I am pursuing a new interest! And hoping it turns out to not just be a phase. I bought this book on my Kindle called "No More Dirty Looks", something about the truth about cosmetics and beauty products. These two authors wrote all about their research into the cosmetic and beauty industry, lack of FDA approval or laws for these thousands of common products we use every day, awful chemicals that throw our bodies into self-destructive cycles and potentially cause large amounts of damage to our bodies later down the road, and what we can do to make changes about it in our own lives.
It was very interesting, full of lots of facts, history, and data, and I followed up the book with some further internet research. And I was thoroughly frustrated about all the products I was using every day with questionable chemical ingredients, and some that were very proven to cause unhappy problems. So, I made some changes and continue to research and look for natural products to replace all the stuff I use.
For example, I replaced all my moisturizers (body lotions, creams, face moisturizer, shaving gel, etc.) with extra virgin olive oil.
That sounds like it would be rather... oily. But actually, evoo absorbs amazingly well and I've been slathering it (moderately..)all over my self for a coupla weeks now and my skin feels better than it ever has with no adverse effects. Hah! and from all I read, it's full of great skin stuff. Since skin absorbs stuff that's put on it so it ends up inside me, I feel a ton better about slathering on something that I know is healthy and edible than something that is completely unedible and full of synthetic chemicals.
I've also used it a few times as a deep hair conditioner before I shampoo, and after I do that my hair feels.. great! Really soft and not greasy. I also use a (very small amount) to control my frizzy hair when it's dry and it also does a great job of that. So I've basically replaced my body lotion, shaving gel (oh ya, you can shave with olive oil and it's actually amazing, but be prepared to rinse your razer frequently!), face moisturizer, hair gel/cream/defrizzing silicon smoothing stuff, and deep conditioner with basic extra virgin olive oil.
If you're up for it, I highly recommend you give it a try.
I've also been hunting around to see just what kind of natural or organic products are available here, and so far, I've come up with (very few) places that sell (very few) all natural products. I found this stuff called Dr. Wood's Pure Tea Tree Castile Soap (also there were Lavender scent too), that had a very short ingredient list with only stuff I knew what it was, could pronounce, and was all natural. Stuff like olive and coconut oils (Castile soap is vegetable oil based, usually olive, coconut, almond, etc. or a mixture of oils as a base, as opposed to most other soaps that are animal fat or tallow based and full of awful chemicals that strip skin of it's natural moisture), and I've been using that as a face and body wash. The bottle says you can use it for anything, shampoo, house cleaner (floors etc), shaving lotion, etc. I don't like it as shampoo because of the smell, but I love the way it makes my skin feel. So I replaced my Clean & Clear and my regular soap with that stuff and I feel so much better.
Etc. Etc. I switched to a local brand of organic shampoo and conditioner that I found as well, with a lovely short list of clean ingredients and a strong Rose smell from essential oils. So while I'm definitely not 100% crunchy and green yet, I've cut down perhaps 80% of the synthetic chemically questionableness that I've been pouring into my body through my skin every day.

If you get a chance and your interest is at all piqued, I recommend you get your hands on that book, No More Dirty Looks, or do some internet research on the safety of the ingredients in your products. This website: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ is a database of thousands of common products and their ingredients, and gives a very thorough breakdown of every ingredient and it's potential risk by category. I find it very useful and informative.
I know it's impossible, or nearly so, or rather a major undertaking, to completely rid one's life of all the chemically questionablness that bombards our daily life. I would have to completely overhaul the foods and the way I eat, the cleaning products I use for my house and clothes, the dishes I use, etc, so on, so forth, and I'm not into all that quite yet. But small changes are better than no changes, right? :)
So that's my latest and greates pursuit. I'll keep you updated on my progress. Perhaps one day in the far future, I'll be one of those crunchy green fanatics who grows all my own food and dyes my own clothes. Hehehe. :D HEHEHE.

a few photos!

Happy 2012! Last weekend friends of mine had their wedding in Kenting, at the southernmost tip of Taiwan. They were kind enough to loan us a car to get ourselves down there, so early Saturday morning, my three roommates and my Aaron all piled into a tiny Tercel for the five hour trip to the south.

On the way we stopped at the rest area, and as you can see, we did more than simply rest.

The following are some photos I snapped while walking around the main street in Kenting, the touristy shop area. It was a beautiful day, and happily lacking in the abundance of tourists usually found in Kenting.

View from the balcony off our hotel room.

Shells are sold at lots of the shops.

Lots o'shells...

See! Happily lacking of tourists!

It's easy to rent a scooter to zip around Kenting, if you have a local scooter license or an international license. I have both, and both are expired. Oops.

Ooh, here's a tourist. Oh wait. That's my roommate Beth. She wanted some flip flops.

This small chain convienience store, along with 7-11, Hi-Life, and OK Mart, are found on nearly every single corner in Taiwan. You never have an excuse to be without coffee.

Look hard, and you'll find what results when people drink too much of what they're advertising, and then attempt to hang a sign for what they're advertising.

That's it for now!

In with the new, out with the old!

Well, it's official! The year is at it's end! Whereas I was previously accustomed for 17 years to waking on this day by the sound of distant booms and bombels (fireworks), and strings of popping crackers in the streets of Suriname, here I instead woke to the sound of... Samson loudly chewing on his bowl of Whiskas, and more distantly the sound of eery Asian music blaring from the temple up the road.
In fact, I believe I haven't heard a single bombel yet on this fine New Year's Eve day. What a shame! Traditionally, in Suriname, at noon on today (which, as of the time of this writing, today is actually yesterday over there, but whatever), most of the businesses in town would hang a pagara (a long string of firecrackers) through the streets of the downtown business districts, and there would be full on street parties, music, drinking, etc. Crowds of people would flock to watch the firecrackers crackle and pop their way through the streets to wave goodbye to the old year. I remember most distinctly the feeling of pushing through the crowds to avoid the nasty smoke that resulted, while trying to keep up with my Dad, who devotedly filmed every single pagara in town. When the smoke died down and the crowds thinned out and there was nothing left for Dad to film, we would go around the piles of red paper and burned out pagaras on the sidewalks and look for firecrackers that survived (hadn't exploded yet) and collected them for our own fireworks collection to display later that evening.
Then on New Year's Eve, the sky would be full of colorful fireworks displays in all shapes and sizes, while we piddled around in our driveway with whatever our own small collection of fireworks happened to be for the year. It was always a most looked forward to event, and one I haven't participated in for several years. I always remember the feeling of anticipation leading up to New Year's Eve as a child, and I haven't felt that in a long time!
Here in Taiwan, businesses will usually do some small fireworks displays shortly leading up to midnight, with bigger ones right at midnight. The last couple of years, we had parties at our house and then we all went up to the roof of our building (13 stories up) to watch at midnight. This year, we're going to TGI Fridays for dinner, then driving our scooters out to a local mountain with a view to overlook the city and wait for the fireworks. Law generally prohibits the locals from doing their own fireworks, although small ones are sold at local stores and rarely shot off in front of houses. It's strange to me, that, since most of the fireworks in Suriname were imported from China and sold by Chinese businessemen. Prior to moving to Taiwan, I thought the New Year's Eve fireworks craze would be rather similar to Suriname, given the Chinese fascination with the bombs. I guess I was wrong.
Well, Christmas has come and gone, and it was a very nice one here for us. We had a small gathering of close friends on Chrismas Eve and exchanged gifts for each other after a nice dinner and a reading of the Christmas Story by candlelight followed by prayers of thanks. My wonderful and very observant boyfriend gave me a Kindle 3G touch, which I'd been mentioned here and there for months I wanted, and happened to be the gift on top of my high pile of gifts for the night, therefore the first one I opened and set a very great tone for the gift giving! It was completely unexpected and a very happy surprise. I was actually going to order one for myself with several Amazon gift cards I had received, which can now be used for books! Most of the gifts I gave were homemade pieces of art, since I took the semester off and am waiting to go back to school, I had lots of free time and I do enjoy arts and crafts and the like. But I think everything was well received. I'm actually rather proud of a few of them that I think were particularly well done.
On Christmas Day, our church small group had a breakfast/caroling/gift exchange in the morning, and in the evening we hosted a larger dinner for our more extended missionary friends and family. I also got to Skype with mom and dad for the first time, and even though they could see me and I couldn't see them, it was still great to call home for Christmas. Yay for technology!
So then, there goes another year! Why do they seem to go so fast? This year started off not great for me, but I learned a few very important lessons, then things picked up when I unexpectedly got to visit my family and be at David's wedding in July.
And for next year? So far my plan is to return to Chinese study in March, full time for one more semester, then part time as I hope to re-sign a contract for more hours with Jackson for the following school year. Aaron and I plan to visit his mother on Cape Cod in July during our break. And that's as far as I've got planned at this point! I've always thought 2012 would be a great year, simply because my birthday will fall on 12/12/12 and that's just awesome. So we'll see if I was right.
Um.... ok. I can't think of anything more that would be of interest to blog about. I've been flying through books since I got my Kindle, and this afternoon presents a fine opportunity to finish another book.
So, happy 2012! And I hope you all get to see some fireworks this evening. :D

Real Birth Days

Baby, it's cold outside! And speaking of babies, I got to see a brand new one this morning. Brand new, like minutes old. So congratulations again to my friends Mandy and Jacob Moore, and their new little guy, Abraham. (sounds so old and wise, right?)
That's a Real Birth Day.
Today is also my birthday. Not as real, not as special. The older I get, the less great birthdays are. Over the last couple of years, they've actually been kind of sad days. I'm not sure why. And today, while it should be great because there's a new baby around and stuff, I'm sitting here at home alone for the afternoon, kind of have plans to go out for ice cream later tonight with friends, just like we always do, feeling kind of like I want it to be a special day but it's just not. I'm grateful for the birthday wishes from my friends who know it's my birthday, but I kind of wish it was over. I just want to not be in this weird state of "it's supposed to be a special day, I guess? I don't feel special? I should be excited? Why am I not?"
What are you supposed to feel like on your birthday? When I was a kid, I always got really excited because the people in my life made a big deal about it being my birthday. I think I found out pretty quickly that after you leave home, your birthday isn't such a big deal anymore. Really, it's only parents who think your birthday is a big deal. So slowly it set in, that birthdays aren't that exciting after all.
Only the Real Ones. Like the Being Born Day Ones. Those really are special. All sadness aside, I'm proud to share a birthday with my little newborn friend, Abe.

stuff

Today, I accomplished... absolutely... nothing. Nothing! I woke up with a headache, ate some food, watched a tv show, and went back to sleep in an effort to rid myself of said headache. It didn't work, and now I am ten minutes into waiting for my excedrin to work whilst I complain to my blogging world about my headache.
Isn't life great?
Ok, on brighter notes.
Last Saturday a group of friends from my church went to a.. thanksgiving? ... christmas?.. something holiday-ish program thing at a home for the elderly that a guy from somebody's cell group works at. A group of about six of us had been practicing this song/dance routine thing for like two months, and we finally performed it for the old folks. I think probably half of them could actually see us, and of those, maybe five of them liked it. I just watched the video on Facebook, and we definitely were better than I thought we were! Later when my friend Jacob gave a message and invitation to know Jesus, maybe eight or nine old folks wanted to be prayed for. So all in all, it was a very long, somewhat awkward afternoon, but with grand results for those seven or eight old folk.
Also, it's finally December! I have decided to make most of my Christmas presents myself this year, in an effort to save monies. I think they will all turn out rather well, however, making myself get to work to finish them before christmas eve will be a tricky thing. Today, for example, I had planned to finish two projects that are in the works. Did I lift a finger to finish anything? Nope.
Also, my birthday is a week from today. This means... well, not much! I actually haven't got a plan of any sort for my Real birth day, the 12th, except to probably finish some christmas projects. One of my roommates, Beth, also shares the 12th with me as her birthday, and our other mutual friend Mandy is having her c-section on the morning of the 12th as well to have her baby boy. So I think Beth is planning something or other for her birthday, but I have not a plan for me. I think a few days after my birthday some friends and I will go to a steakhouse for dinner instead.
Every year, I find, birthdays are less and less exciting, especially when so much else is going on and other people share the same birthday and are more excited to celebrate theirs. I think birthdays are something more special for kids than grown ups. I'm happy just to go eat some steak.
So far in the works this next coupla months are: a birthday/bridal shower for a friend this weekend; JacksonFive christmas program on Sunday (which I get to watch this year and not be involved in! yay!); Beth/Me/Baby Moore birthday stuff maybe; strawberry picking next weekend in Mioli; Christmas programs at the church; Christmas eve/Day; roomate Amy's birthday; New Years; friend's wedding in Kenting in the beginning of January; Chinese New Year trip planned back to Hualien and Taroko Gorge.
I'll keep you posted.
Bye!