Happy Birthday

I celebrated my 46th birthday this past week. The celebration started with a home-cooked dinner (Shepperd's Pie) and ended with chocolate cake filled with fruit and fresh cream.

All my girls gave me lovely cards and there were a lot of cuddles on the couch; I wouldn't have it any other way.

17th Anniversary

Jackie and I celebrated our 17th anniversary last weekend. She planned a special night out in Macau but kept the details a secret until the day of. She whisked me away Saturday afternoon to the Pousada de Mong-Ha, an old Portuguese army barrack that was turned into a hotel in 1995. The hotel was amazing and the vibe was in sharp contrast to the hotel-casinos that are found throughout Macau. Dinner was at the Wynn hotel & casino at the il Teatro, a lovely Italian restaurant overlooking the water show.

Danielle the Musician

Danielle has been a busy girl the past eight months. She has been diligently taking weekly piano lessons followed up with practice after school twice a week; her hard work has paid off as she has moved onto grade two.
She also auditioned for a part of an upcoming musical production called Annie Jr. She practiced in front of her family in preparation and was rewarded with a singing part; she is playing the character "July".
Lastly, Danielle has started playing the ukelele at school. She practices regularly and she was able to play twinkle twinkle little star the first weekend she had her ukelele at home with her

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Night Market in Kaoshiung

I visited the night market in Kaoshiung with two other teachers in search of the famous stinky tofu. Now there was a lot great food to sample (and we did) but the visit ended with a sampling of the stinky stuff. It wasn't as bad as I thought but I still didn't like it!

SunMoon Lake and Paper Factory

Our second last day saw us visit SunMoon Lake up in the central mountains of Taiwan. The scenery was beautiful and the green water reminded me of lakes in the Rocky Mountains. We had lunch at a traditional aboriginal village before departing to a local paper factory. There students learned about the local paper making process and everyone made their own paper fan.

Earthquake Museum

Just outside of Taichung is an area that was severely effected by the 1999 Taiwan earthquake. A museum was erected on the site of a school that was damaged during the quake. The visit was very informative as many of the damaged buildings and even the ground has remained the same (purposely) in order for visitors to sees the effects.

Cycling in Taichung

Everyone had the opportunity for some exercise and fresh air today as we stopped at an area designed especially for biking. Some of the bike paths were converted from an old railway line and one section of the route took us through an old railway tunnel that was approximately one km long. A few students did not know how to ride do the teachers had to take them on a tandem bike!

Taiwan Day 2

Today was social conscience day as the students visited several social and charitable organizations in Taiwan. Lunch was at a very funky restaurant designed by a local artist. Dinner was at a Mongolian BBQ and hotspot restaurant rolled into one.

Trip to Taiwan

I'm supervising a group of students that are spending six days in Taiwan. We spent the afternoon of our first day at Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world. While students explored the shopping I checked out the observation area on the 89th floor. The ride up took less than 45 seconds; the elevators there are the fastest in the world. It was overcast but the views were still amazing.