Snow Patrol

I'd just like to say I absolutely love Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and "Run". I can listen to the songs over and over again and not get tired of them. They're beautiful and the second is a bit bittersweet, a bit sad yet not despairing (To think I might not see those eyes/Makes it so hard not to cry/And as we say our long goodbye/I nearly do). The sound - the music and the vocals - is so beautiful it almost makes me want to cry. Listening to them make me want to lie in a field of wildflowers or a meadow and sing to the sky. Don't judge me :P.

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Your Opinion?

I was having this discussion with my dad about cars. It went something like this:

I told my dad I want a Mini Cooper. His response was "BAH, a Mini Cooper?! That's not a good car!" I said, "But it's so cute and so me! And it is a good car!" He says, "You will be a businesswoman and have to look the part. That car...people will not think you are serious."

So I ask those of you who are reading this, what kind of car says 'young professional who knows when to be serious and knows how to have fun'?

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Karaoke

Karaoke is a popular form of entertainment and is very popular in Asia. I indulged this stereotypically traditional pastime last Saturday. Ya Ting's leaving for Australia (or has left already actually) on a exchange student program and we got together for some fun.

The place we went to had a pretty wide selection of songs, even English tunes. They weren't totally up-to-date but that's asking a bit much anyway. I did sing several English songs and even managed a Taiwanese one with Ling Jun! It was an oldie, so one that I remember from when I was little. Impressive, no? Haha.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby restaurant (above picture) and had dinner and bubble tea.

Here are some pictures from Ling Jun's album.

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Is That Snow??

Yeah, it's snowing in Bellevue right now. Right now. It's only November; snow's not due for at least another 2 months!! What the hell is it doing snowing now?!?!

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Thanksgiving Saturday in Xi Men Ding

Thursday was Thanksgiving. I can't remember what I did last Thanksgiving but I remember the year before's: I roasted turkey breasts - yes, turkey breasts cuz a whole damn turkey was too much for me to do - and made a small feast for Nick P., Yvette and Sophie. They dubbed it 'Wine Night' because they ended up having too much wine and we had a great night of hilarity (keeping in mind that this was only the second time I'd met them). Good times.

This year, Thanksgiving day was uneventful since no one celebrates it here but a bunch of us from the Alumni Association got together for dinner in Xi Men Ding: Amy K. and her bro, Roy, Claudia and Jeff, and me and another Amy. (As a side note: Amy's brother is actually kinda cute and I say 'actually' cuz y'all know I'm never attracted to Asian guys. Meh.)

Anyway, Amy K., Claudia and I scurried off to a shop to look at a jacket I had spied earlier while the boys waited for the other Amy. They thought it looked really cute - and I do have a weakness for jackets and coats (and shoes and pretty, shiny jewelry things...) - and it was quite a good price so I got it. Claudia and I discovered that we're quite alike in our shopping techniques and philosophies; disturbing to find out that there's someone like me when it comes to shopping, reassuring to know that I'm not alone when it comes to what lengths I will go to get a pair of shoes I really want, hilarious are the stories we have to tell and because the lengths we will go is really quite ridiculous, awesome because of all of the above. We're definitely going shopping together sometime...although it could be very risky as we might end up encouraging each other and basically being a bad influence on one another. Oh well :D!

We spent quite a long time at dinner; half of us had pasta (decent!) and half had rice dishes. There was a lot of laughter the entire night. I mean, a lot. We exchanged stories, experiences, memories, and basically got to know each other. It was so much fun and it felt so good speaking English non-stop and freely; I didn't have to worry about slowing down my speech or avoiding complicated words.

On our way home (we all had to get on the MRT), Amy guessed that I'm a Leo. Whoa. She's the second person to have, the first being Katherine at The Studio. I can understand why she'd have thought that - her second guess was Sagittarius haha - because she only saw, and has only seen, the Leo-esque side of the Gemini. Not that we totally believe in astrology but it's fun to read about. The people here, on the other hand, do put a lot of stock in astrology signs; hell, they even ask you that in interviews to determine if your personality is suitable or not! *Shakes head*

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'Sensei'

Okay, it should be 'teacher' but it sounds better in Japanese. That's what they call me at work (which I'm literally translating from Chinese): 'teacher' (like 'sensei') or 'Jessie teacher' (equivalent 'Miss Jessie'). It's weird hearing them call me that but I'll get used to it.

I taught my first classes on Tuesday. I got called in to sub for 4 classes at the last minute; luckily they called early enough to give me just enough time to get my butt down to the school. It was at the Song San branch and quite easily reached by bus or train. It's by Rao He Street Night Market (one of the most famous ones in Taipei) and Wufenpu.

Anyway, the classes went quite well I think. I was really conscious of slowing down my speech as I know I can speak really fast sometimes, but so far so good. I had an Intermediates class, a Beginners, an Advanced and another Intermediates. The classes are very conversational, mostly focused on vocabulary and getting the students to speak as much as possible, which was easy since I'm quite chatty anyway. :) The students seemed to all understand me - I managed to get them all to participate in the discussion at some point - and I only drew a couple of blank looks (they were all from the same student).

After one of the classes, two students - high schoolers - came up to me and asked which school I usually taught at. They were crestfallen to find out that I usually teach at the Keelung branch, which is too far for them to trek out to. They told me that I was their favourite teacher by far - they'd been attending this particular school for about a year - because I actually slowed down my speech and they could actually understand me. Woohoo, check me out! :D

I subbed another class today but no one showed up for class! It was funny; I just sat in the classroom and read Newsweek magazines and newspapers for two hours and got paid for it. I sub another 3 classes at Song San tomorrow.

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Global Village Language Center

So I've been in Taiwan for just over a month now and everything's okay. I'm still adjusting but it's easier to cope with the culture shock now than it was when I first arrived. It's ironic that I get culture shock here and not in England. Ah well, c'est la vie - or just c'est ma vie for that matter. :)

It is getting a bit easier to speak Chinese 24/7 but it takes conscious effort to not automatically reply in English. At least most of my friends (all from elementary school!) know enough English that I can comfortably speak Chinglish with them. And speaking of English, that brings me to my main point: I've got a job! Yes, yes, I finally sorted myself out and landed myself a job. It only took so bloody long because I was initailly set on getting a proper pr/marketing communications job but after a couple of interviews, it became clear that my written chinese just isn't up to scratch. My other option was to get a job teaching English. I spent a lot of time debating with myself whether or not to really stay and stick this out, knowing full well that I should stay because it will be beneficial to me in the end (or so I hope).

Anyway, I have joined the ranks of my teacher friends and am now an official English teacher/tutor at Global Village Language Center - what is the world coming to now that I've become a teacher?!?! I wonder about the same thing myself. It's a one-year commitment and I'm looking to start next week. It's a whole different kind of challenge for me so I shouldn't get bored and plus, the pay's good (almost double that of my peers'), the hours are pretty flexible, my supervisor sounds cool and I'm positive that most of the students are older, so no little kids for me. Phew, I don't want to have to deal with children.

I sat in on a couple of lessons on Monday to get a feel of how the classes are taught and all I have to say is easy peasy! It's so informal (one teacher was wearing shorts and a t-shirt) and very conversational-like. All the students I met were older than me, middle-age or so; whether that's a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. The main thing I gotta remember is to slow down my speech or all I'll get is a roomful of blank stares. The classes are fairly small, too; the ones i saw ranged from 6 or 7 to a dozen or so students. All in all, it's not too shabby and I'm rather looking forward to it.

So am I missing the UK? Is the Pope Catholic? Do you even need to ask?? I'm even missing the States, now that i'm here (I never did when I was in the UK). But aaaaanyway, we shan't discuss that unless someone's got some bright ideas on how to relocate myself back onto british soil (I'm thinking long-term here!)...

I often find myself thinking why couldn't I have been less complicated and just be content with just staying in one place, or picked somewhere that was easier to relocate to. But then again, if I were simpler, I wouldn't be me then would I. Oh well.

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GO HAWKS!!

WOOO! We're first in our division!! GO HAWKS GO!!

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The Covenant

I went and watched The Covenant today with Ya Fang. It was good, as in yummilicious. Okay, it's definitely not Oscar-winning but frankly, I don't care as there was plenty of eye-candy and it was enjoyable. Especially Steven Strait who plays Caleb Danvers...mmmm 'Caleb' - I love that name. Yeah, he's pretty yummy alright.

In the movie, he swims for his school and there were definitely very enjoyable scenes of them at practice. Them arms...the shoulders...the abs...oh, just the whole damn package! Mm mmm!!~ His character's a leader, level-headed and knows what's important and what's right...and good looking! So how come they don't come like that in real life?!?! Oh, woe is me!

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Alumni Reception for Dr. Hartwell

Dr. Hartwell, a professor of genome sciences at the UW and the president and director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, was in Taiwan last week and the Taiwanese branch of the UW Alumni Association held a small reception for him at The Sherwood Taipei. David had just informed me that there was a Taiwan branch of UW alumni and I contacted the group organiser, Amy Kung, just in time to attend the reception.

It was a nice little affair, all in all. The best part was meeting fellow alumni, reminiscing about The Quad and talking about the transition from the US to Taiwan. Even though I don't know any of them, just being fellow alumni almost = instant friends. Cool, eh?

After the reception, we (the younger alumni) took another group picture and we decided to be funny and do the Asian peace sign. Oh geez, if I ever come up with that stupid idea, someone please slap me.

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Rumsfeld Quits!

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Democrats Win Control Of Both Houses Of Congress

Go blue, go!

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Smile!

Don't we have the same smile??
















I was chatting to my sis on MSN when I realised that we have the same smile. Freaky.

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Taichung

This past weekend I went to Taichung to visit Wennie. I don't think I've ever been but if I have, I don't remember it.

Anyway, I went down on Saturday via coach and she came to pick me up. She had brought her neice, Ni Ni, and her friend, Zang Ma. We went to have some lunch and she called up her friend, Yi Zheng, to come out with us. Yi Zheng ended up driving and bringing his dog Mae Mae - a gorgeous dalmation - and we all went to Taichung Harbour. There's a huge fish market there as well as many, many food stalls.

That night Wennie was going to take me out to a famous salsa bar but we went to the Frog Pub instead. The change of plans was her fault because she mentioned that there are always a lot of foreigners in Frog Pub and I was, like, 'Eh? Lots of foreigners you say? We're definitely going there instead!!'

They were all upstairs and we chilled out there for a while, just sitting and chatting and checking the people out. It almost felt like I was in a pub back in England. How I miss it...

The next day, she took me to Puli but we didn't go to Sun Moon Lake or the Aboriginal Culture Village; we went to the brewery museum instead. It was pretty cool reading about how they made alcohol from way back in the day to now.


We walked around the place, checking out all the stalls that sell products made from wine and beer, i.e. skin treatment products made with wine, chicken feet stewed in beer, etc. There was even a small koi fish pond (I love koi fish!) on the far side of the parking lot.


More pictures here.

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Xi Men Ting

Last Sunday saw me at Xi Men Ting with Ling Jun and Ya Fang. It was May Gu's suggestion that I go there with my mates; she said it's a popular place for young people. I remember going to it once or twice when I lived here but that was over a decade ago. It's still a hugely popular shopping area but when we got off the MRT, I realised that 'young people' meant 'teenagers'. I think I'm still really young in May Gu's mind. Oh geez, I felt old.

I tried getting the pictures off Ling Jun's album but it wasn't have any of that; it wouldn't let me right click on anything, grrr. Anyway, the pictures are here.

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You Know You're A __ When...

I love these you-know-you're-a-something-if-the-following-are-true things. They're always fun to read and laugh at, especially the inside jokes. Thanks to Nat for posting it on MySpace. Let's see how much of the following is true for me (ticked).

You know you're a Seattlite when....

[ ] You've eaten at the Space Needle restaurant.
[ ] You live in the 206. (Used to but it was changed to 425. At least I ain't in 253! Hahahaha.)
[ ] You went to Washington/Tops.
[x] You've been to Pike Place. More than once.
[x] You've been to Folk Life and/or Bumbershoot.
[ ] You have a Seattle Monopoly set. (I wanted one though! I also wanted the UW Huskies one...)
[x] You've visited the original Starbucks.
[x] You know the names of at least a few ferries.
[x] You've lived through the Bon Marche - Bon Macy's - Macy's thing.
[x] You know about Rick. (Rick Neuheisel, right?)
[x] REI is a fashion statement to you. (Note: to me, not for me.)
[x] You know what it's like to have 15 days of non-stop rain.
[x] You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Enumclaw and Issaquah.
[x] You know the difference between "showers followed by rain" and "rain followed by showers".
[x] You can drive from your home to a lake, a river or the Puget Sound in 20 minutes or less.
[x] You only visit the Space Needle if you need someplace to take out-of-town guests.
[x] You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
[x] You can point to at least 2 volcanoes even if you can't actually see them through the cloud cover.
[x] You can't make it two blocks without seeing a Starbucks.
[x] You expect snow for Valentine's Day, not Christmas.
[x] You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best and Tully's. (And believe me, there is a difference!)
[x] You know what a Frango is. (Always reminds me of Em...)
[x] You know what 'Sodo Mojo' is.
[x]You can't imagine living through a tornado or hurricane but you secretly think earthquakes are kind of fun.
[ ] You own rain boots. (I would if I'd found a pair of Wellies I liked!)
[ ] You own a North Face. (Actually, I own a Helly Hanson because I couldn't justify the cost of the North Face.)
[ ] You have been the object of fixation of the crazy guy on the Metro. (I've been lucky to have avoided this so far!)
[x] You take the Metro. A LOT. (LOVE the Metro!)
[x] You've been to a Mariners game.
[ ] You know about the Garfield - Franklin rivalry.
[x] You know what a Dick's Deluxe is. (Oh God, gross.)
[x] You know what it means when people say, "The mountain is out today."
[x] You say 'pop' not 'soda'.

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Happy November

It's 2 November and in my eyes, it's officially Autumn. Yay, my favourite season! And the weather is finally agreeing with me. (It's been raining on and off for about 2 weeks now and I'm loving it.)

As I'd spent most of my working life in retail up to now, I'm very in tune with what's going on in the world of consumerism. The holiday season is creeping up and I can feel it in me bones! It's actually not so bad here (in Taiwan) as most stores are going through their anniversary sales, but I know in the States, stores are gearing up for the winter solstice celebrations and busting out their greeting cards, Santa Claus paraphernalia, menorahs, kinaras, etc.

The countdown is on: I officially have 52 days until Christmas.

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