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. 

Coming home from Carrefour today, I was giving the taxi driver directions and on arrival at the flat he gave me a big smile and told me that my Chinese is very good. I can't tell you how chuffed I was. I haven't learnt a lot but I'd like to think that what I have learnt I'm saying correctly. Pronunciation is really hard and very important in a tonal language like Chinese, so I was really please when the taxi driver told me my Chinese is good. James and I haven't been taking lessons sadly but we're picking things up as we go along. Two of James' students are teaching him some words and I'm picking things up when I'm out and about shopping etc.  What have I learnt so far and more importantly what am I confident saying: Hello - Nǐ hǎo Goodbye -  Zàijiàn Thank you - Xièxiè ni Yes, thank you - Shì de, xièxiè nǐ No, thank you - Bù liǎo xièxiè  nǐ Turn right - Yòu zhuǎn Turn left - Zuǒ zhuǎn Zhongshan north road - Zhōngshān běi lù Tianmu Wes...

Those of Canadian heritage should find this quite interesting. I was reading through my Taipei travel guide that my friend Emma gave me and stumbled across this short note at the bottom of a section about Danshui. It refers to a Canadian by the name of George Leslie Mackay who was a Presbyterian missionary on the island. It says: "George Leslie Mackay (1844 - 1901) was born in Ontario, Canada. At the age of 28, he was commissioned as the first foreign missionary of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. He set up his mission station in Danshui, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Besides his evangelistic efforts, he was a dentist and educator and despite being given the moniker "black bearded barbarian" by the locals, he was well respected for his medical work and benevolence. An important figure in Danshui's history, his legacy includes a nursing school, hospital, college, and an ethnography entitled From Far Formosa: The Island, Its People and Missions. ...

I had a fantastic day today with my friends Grace and Daisy at the Yongle Fabric Market. It's a huge building full of all the fabric that you could imagine. We all went looking for different things and I think we all came away happy. I got some cotton fabric to start a new quilt, some stripey linen for some new shorts and some lovely cotton/lycra mix material for a maxi dress. Three yards of the maxi dress material was only £15 which was great. The linen was only £15 and there is enough there that I'll have lots left over. It was really fun hunting through all the stores and feeling all the different fabrics. We have plans to go back :)   On our way to hunt for a taxi in the rain we came across a stage with some Taiwanese opera singers. It was lovely!

I seem to find out something new about Taipei and Taiwan every day. It's a country of many wonders but also some oddities! I think that's what makes it so special. People just don't seem to take themselves too seriously here.  Case in point. The  A380 In-Flight Kitchen, Taipei, Taiwan This Taipei spot replicates the in-flight experience with an interior designed to look like an airplane cabin. Servers dressed like flight attendants wheel around food and beverage carts.  I mean really.... where else in the world eh? You've just got to love it. In a previous blog post I mentioned the Modern Toilet restaurant where diners sit on toilets and are served out of miniature ones. Drinks are served out of urinals. Madness.  On another note, I am constantly astonished by Taiwan's beauty. I was surprised to learn recently that Taiwan has the second highest peak in Asia - Yushan (Jade Mountain) - which rises  3,952 metres (12,966 ft). Hiking is very popu...

Thursday was the Moon Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival which is celebrated by various countries throughout Asia. We received some Moon Cakes from our neighbours which was really nice and enjoyed a lovely day off. This festival is the equivalent of Christmas here in Taiwan and people spend the time at home with their families. Here's the story of the moon festival which I think is really poetic.  http://www.moonfestival.org/legends/chango.htm The Legend of the Moon Festival  by Thomas W. Chinn, Historian Originally named the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Moon Festival is one of the most important holidays celebrated by Chinese communities around the world. Traditionally, it is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month in observance of the bountiful Autumn harvest. Although old rituals are no longer followed, families continue to gather for a day to relax and eat moon cakes. Upon this occasion, the legend of the Moon Goddess, CHANG-O, is often told to...