My life and other things that have happened

Some weeks are good, some are bad and some are both. This week has been both.  At the start of the week I found out that three of my Gambian students would be leaving in a matter of weeks because relations between Gambia and Taiwan have broken down. Gambia no longer recognises Taiwan as an independent country. I've grown very attached to my kids in the time I've been here and I will miss them dreadfully. I don't mean to cast aspersions on Gambia, but I don't know what they will be going back or whether their education will continue when they leave. I hope for their sake it does. A sad time indeed for all of us.  On a happier and funnier note, I helped teach the year 7 girls about puberty today. Now that was a lesson and a half! I thought they would be more shy about these matters but we had some great questions and answers. I discovered that in Chinese/Taiwanese, girls also refer to their periods in euphemisms and that one of them is their 'Auntie'. It...

Google informs me that today is the first day of winter. While I am loathed to disbelieve the giant search engine, the weather outside feels less like winter and more like a balmy autumn. It's a very pleasant 21c outside today, with a soft breeze and dappled sunshine peeking through the fluffy white clouds. Our students are still running about in shorts and short sleeved shirts, with the occasional sweater thrown over top. Yangmingshan is beautiful when it's like this.  Now this is, I hasten to add, not the kind of weather we experience on a daily basis. For the last few days it's been wet and miserable (like England in the winter). I would like there to be more days like this in the coming months but I've been told not to get my hopes up. Winter in Taiwan is supposedly very wet, though thankfully not as cold as the UK. Ah well. I shall enjoy today while it lasts and recall it from memory when the wet weather brings me down.