Okay issue of the day... house training this darn puppy!!! Okay so she is really cute and lots of fun but she is a little dense in the "this is not a bathroom" (the couch, my bed, the kitchen) department. I have done all the things the book says to and she just doesn't get it, I understand that she is small (about 9 weeks today) but my patience is slowing as last night I took her out, for a long walk and then brought her inside where she immediatley peed on the blanket on the couch, needless to say she was rempremanded and sent to her bed... she seems better about the issue ( using the paper provided instead of the couch) this morning but you never know.
Thanks to my mom's brillant suggestion I am growing her an indoor garden of sorts, a grassy patch in my dinning room which is actually outside but has a tile floor and half walls (half way up that is, the rest is bars, yes there will be photos eventually! of the apartemnt that is and the puppy too) Hopefully it will help but until it grows a little I will still have to run down my 6 floors every time she looks like she need to go out!
To top it all off she has developed a lovely rash ( she had it when I got her but it has become much worse) and so now all her hair is falling out and I have to make a trip to the vet tomorrow, she looks a bit like a balding old man... very funny to see but sad as she is really itchy.
On a brighter note I am heading to the beach this afternoon with a new friend... to bad the puppy is so small or she could come too, I am afraid that the heat would be to much for her given her size. Anyway I am rather excited and I am looking very forward to a swim in the ocean, I love swimming in the ocean ( very fond memories from my childhood) and I am hoping that this end of the pacific will not be as bloody cold as it is at home!
On that note I will be off as I need to go by some more seeds and then head back to my house to walk the puppy before I leave her trapped in the house for the afternoon.
J
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Friday, July 30, 2004
Vacation, vacation, vacation
It was a wonderful feeling this morning when I woke up, actually was awoken by a whining puppy... but none the less and I realized that for the next 2 weeks I have no where to be! I have lots of work to do for school to get ready for the year but I don't have to be anywhere and I can stay in my air condtioned apartment all day if I want.
It is hot!!! very hot here. I walked the dog at 7 ish this morning and it was already like 30 and then I went for a bike ride and was dying by the time I got here, the internet cafe. Aside from the heat things are good, I am looking forward to seeing some of the city in my time off. I am getting to know my way around a little bit and hope to take a day trip or two to the country to see other things besides shopping malls and pollution.
I haven't seen or done to much exciting this week and my landlords haven't cleaned my apartment latley. I went out for this fun Japanense dinner last night (staff meal, last day of summer camp), it was a set menu but there were a few choices, most of it was pretty good. I discovered that I don't like Japanese yam... it looks like an apple but is slimy and cruchy at the same time, it was strange. I also had a piece of the rarest steak I have ever eaten, it tasted pretty good even though it was practically mooing.
Okay well that's it, I am still waiting for internet access at home, I have applied but haven't been hooked up yet. I will come to the cafe this week though to check and to write. Hope all is well in the rest of the world.
j
It is hot!!! very hot here. I walked the dog at 7 ish this morning and it was already like 30 and then I went for a bike ride and was dying by the time I got here, the internet cafe. Aside from the heat things are good, I am looking forward to seeing some of the city in my time off. I am getting to know my way around a little bit and hope to take a day trip or two to the country to see other things besides shopping malls and pollution.
I haven't seen or done to much exciting this week and my landlords haven't cleaned my apartment latley. I went out for this fun Japanense dinner last night (staff meal, last day of summer camp), it was a set menu but there were a few choices, most of it was pretty good. I discovered that I don't like Japanese yam... it looks like an apple but is slimy and cruchy at the same time, it was strange. I also had a piece of the rarest steak I have ever eaten, it tasted pretty good even though it was practically mooing.
Okay well that's it, I am still waiting for internet access at home, I have applied but haven't been hooked up yet. I will come to the cafe this week though to check and to write. Hope all is well in the rest of the world.
j
Saturday, July 24, 2004
They did it again!
Man oh man these landlords in Asia.. I went out last night and came home to find that my landlords had been over in my absence and cleaned my house again, and they must think that I am slob and never put anything away. The fact of the matter is that I don't like most of the things that they have left in the place and have slowly been hiding them away, like the orange plastic table cloth that I have left off the table for the last 2 weeks, that they put back on the table. (it has been removed again and replaced with a blue table runner... hopefully they'll get the hint!)
Anyway I have been here for 7 weeks, amazing how time flies! and have one more week of work and then 2 weeks of vacation! Yipee, not that I am going anywhere or doing anything but it is nice to know that I won't have to leave my apartment unless I want to.
Friday was an amusing day, the child who has driven me batty all summer arrived and announced that it was his last day ( I did a happy dance and demanded that his mother be called to confirm as I didn't want to get my hopes up for nothing) Well he was right and it was last day ( a long day at that) and after a very long day withthe little monster I escourted him to his waiting car at the end of the day and his mom said that she hoped I would still be at the school in a year when he came back... I held back my ... not if mylife depends on it will I ever be your sons teacher again.. comments and smiled and nodded, said a polite goodbye and did a happy dance as they drove away. He is off to an elite private school for kindergarten, ours isn't elite enough I guess... that's fine with me. My kindergarten class will have 19 young monkeys in it and 13 of them are boys!!!! it will be a long year I think.
Anyway my time a the cafe is almost up so I must be off, I will have net access at home sometime next week I hope, as soon as the last of my visa stuff is processed.
Hope all is well in the rest of the world! You can write and let me know... the novelty of my being gone has worn off and I haven't from anyone is ages... sad for me but I trust that it is cause you are all so busy.
J
Anyway I have been here for 7 weeks, amazing how time flies! and have one more week of work and then 2 weeks of vacation! Yipee, not that I am going anywhere or doing anything but it is nice to know that I won't have to leave my apartment unless I want to.
Friday was an amusing day, the child who has driven me batty all summer arrived and announced that it was his last day ( I did a happy dance and demanded that his mother be called to confirm as I didn't want to get my hopes up for nothing) Well he was right and it was last day ( a long day at that) and after a very long day withthe little monster I escourted him to his waiting car at the end of the day and his mom said that she hoped I would still be at the school in a year when he came back... I held back my ... not if mylife depends on it will I ever be your sons teacher again.. comments and smiled and nodded, said a polite goodbye and did a happy dance as they drove away. He is off to an elite private school for kindergarten, ours isn't elite enough I guess... that's fine with me. My kindergarten class will have 19 young monkeys in it and 13 of them are boys!!!! it will be a long year I think.
Anyway my time a the cafe is almost up so I must be off, I will have net access at home sometime next week I hope, as soon as the last of my visa stuff is processed.
Hope all is well in the rest of the world! You can write and let me know... the novelty of my being gone has worn off and I haven't from anyone is ages... sad for me but I trust that it is cause you are all so busy.
J
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Feeling rather reflective... and a little sweaty!
Hello world,
Well it's saturday and oddly enough my 27th birthday... Happy birthday to me... and I am happy that I am here, enjoying the adventure.I was thinking as I walked here to the cafe that when I am a little old lasy and I look back on my "youth" I will be happy that I had the guts to travel to the other side of the world and see it. Korea was a tough few months but it got me here, to Taipei and I love it here so I guess Korea was worth it. I am loving my new job ( I know I say that a lot) and I am really looking forward to the start of the school year in August. It's been a long time coming but I am finally feeling settled and like things are moving a long as they should be and it's a great feeling!
Okay enough reflecting! I was fortunate enough to get a present from my parents in the mail (it arrived yesterday, perfect timing) and in it was a Costco card, I am now a very happy teacher. I went to Costco last night and spent way to many of my hard earned pennies on treats for me and a new friend. Yes I have a pet, unfortunatley the tailess gecko has perished, I did my best but I guess it was just not meant to be, However I have rescued someone else of the 4 legged variety and she is pretty damn cute! (photos soon) I have a puppy, a very small puppy that was taken away from it's mommy to soon in life. 2 weekends ago I was riding home and this man had puppies for sale on a street corner (I saw him again today), I looked in the box and among the crew of dogs was 2 golden lab puppies, a big beagle puppy, a full grown shiztu and the littlest puppy (alone that is) I have ever seen lying on the bottom of the cardboard box. I picked her up and she was almost lifeless and had quite a bad cough. I paid the dirty old man the money he wanted and took her home in my fanny pack on my bicycle. I wasn't sure if I could keep her but I knew that if I left her there she would die.
She has since been to the vet, he thinks the was only about 5 weeks old, so now she is 7 or so and her cough is gone, all in all she is doing a lot better. I take her to work with me and she stays in the principals apartment (she lives in the building the school is in) and then she gets let out and played with at lunch time and after school. I am still contemplating her long term living situation but I am quite in love with the little thing ( I named her Tai, after Taipei) and you can bring dogs back to Canada from here with no quarentine (sp?) so we'll what happens. The downfall to the dog is that I live in a roof top apartment and there is no elevator so I must walk her down 6 floors to go outside, it's a long hike but I'll survive.
Funny moment of the day....this morning I am lounging around my apartment, (luckily for me dressed) and my landlords showed up unannounced. They came to fix a leak in the roof which they did but then stayed for hours and cleaned my apartment for me, it was quite wierd. They washed my floors and picked at the plants and told me that they thought they had fixed the leak but we needed to wait for the next rain storm to see for sure. They took my garbage with them and left, it was very strange and I am sure that they are telling there family and friends about the forgeiner who never washes her floors... I have only lived there a week and a bit and they were hardly dirty but it was nice of them none the less.
On that note, those of you have lived with me would be amazed at how clean my kitchen is! It's clean all the time and there aren't any dishes on the counter either, maybe a mug in the sink from morning coffee but that's it. Why? Taipei has a very active insect population and cockroaches here can fly! Since a lot of my apartment is open to the great outdoors I get a variety of 6 legged creatures who like to explore my space and a very clean kitchen gives them less reason to take up residence. Cockroaches do appear evry few days, they fly in and I usually attck them with a shoe or I am feeling like a buddhist trap them and let them go again, they are huge though and have scared me half to death at night as that is when thye tend to flyin the windows, they are about _________________________ big, I am not joking. Ahhhh the wonders of a tropical climate.
Anyway I must be off, I am meeting someone from work for dinner and movie to celebrate my birthday and before I do that I must get home and feed the dog. So I will head back out in to the heat and run home, actually ride home. Hope you are all well and that life in North America (except the odd one of you who is in Korea) is treating you well.
love
J
Well it's saturday and oddly enough my 27th birthday... Happy birthday to me... and I am happy that I am here, enjoying the adventure.I was thinking as I walked here to the cafe that when I am a little old lasy and I look back on my "youth" I will be happy that I had the guts to travel to the other side of the world and see it. Korea was a tough few months but it got me here, to Taipei and I love it here so I guess Korea was worth it. I am loving my new job ( I know I say that a lot) and I am really looking forward to the start of the school year in August. It's been a long time coming but I am finally feeling settled and like things are moving a long as they should be and it's a great feeling!
Okay enough reflecting! I was fortunate enough to get a present from my parents in the mail (it arrived yesterday, perfect timing) and in it was a Costco card, I am now a very happy teacher. I went to Costco last night and spent way to many of my hard earned pennies on treats for me and a new friend. Yes I have a pet, unfortunatley the tailess gecko has perished, I did my best but I guess it was just not meant to be, However I have rescued someone else of the 4 legged variety and she is pretty damn cute! (photos soon) I have a puppy, a very small puppy that was taken away from it's mommy to soon in life. 2 weekends ago I was riding home and this man had puppies for sale on a street corner (I saw him again today), I looked in the box and among the crew of dogs was 2 golden lab puppies, a big beagle puppy, a full grown shiztu and the littlest puppy (alone that is) I have ever seen lying on the bottom of the cardboard box. I picked her up and she was almost lifeless and had quite a bad cough. I paid the dirty old man the money he wanted and took her home in my fanny pack on my bicycle. I wasn't sure if I could keep her but I knew that if I left her there she would die.
She has since been to the vet, he thinks the was only about 5 weeks old, so now she is 7 or so and her cough is gone, all in all she is doing a lot better. I take her to work with me and she stays in the principals apartment (she lives in the building the school is in) and then she gets let out and played with at lunch time and after school. I am still contemplating her long term living situation but I am quite in love with the little thing ( I named her Tai, after Taipei) and you can bring dogs back to Canada from here with no quarentine (sp?) so we'll what happens. The downfall to the dog is that I live in a roof top apartment and there is no elevator so I must walk her down 6 floors to go outside, it's a long hike but I'll survive.
Funny moment of the day....this morning I am lounging around my apartment, (luckily for me dressed) and my landlords showed up unannounced. They came to fix a leak in the roof which they did but then stayed for hours and cleaned my apartment for me, it was quite wierd. They washed my floors and picked at the plants and told me that they thought they had fixed the leak but we needed to wait for the next rain storm to see for sure. They took my garbage with them and left, it was very strange and I am sure that they are telling there family and friends about the forgeiner who never washes her floors... I have only lived there a week and a bit and they were hardly dirty but it was nice of them none the less.
On that note, those of you have lived with me would be amazed at how clean my kitchen is! It's clean all the time and there aren't any dishes on the counter either, maybe a mug in the sink from morning coffee but that's it. Why? Taipei has a very active insect population and cockroaches here can fly! Since a lot of my apartment is open to the great outdoors I get a variety of 6 legged creatures who like to explore my space and a very clean kitchen gives them less reason to take up residence. Cockroaches do appear evry few days, they fly in and I usually attck them with a shoe or I am feeling like a buddhist trap them and let them go again, they are huge though and have scared me half to death at night as that is when thye tend to flyin the windows, they are about _________________________ big, I am not joking. Ahhhh the wonders of a tropical climate.
Anyway I must be off, I am meeting someone from work for dinner and movie to celebrate my birthday and before I do that I must get home and feed the dog. So I will head back out in to the heat and run home, actually ride home. Hope you are all well and that life in North America (except the odd one of you who is in Korea) is treating you well.
love
J
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Good Morning
It's a bright sunny wednesday morning here and I am looking forward to a long fun filled day at the local aquarium. I will be looking at exotic local sea life and I forgot my camera! So sad.
It has been and interesting few days, my class is adorable but there are a few of them who are driving me crazy. I did a happy dance yesterday when one of them stayed home sick. It doesn't matter what the cultural differences are, this kid would be a handfull in any culture!
I am looking forward to the weekend... I have plans to go shopping, my favourite activity on Saturday (cause it's my birthday and I want too!) and hopefully head to the beach on Sunday, it is really hot and the beach would be a nice change. It is kinda far, it takes about an hour from the city. We'll see how much work I get done between now and then.
Wel that is all the exciting news that I have to share today. Must be off as the little people will be arriving soon... with parents in tow.
love
j
It has been and interesting few days, my class is adorable but there are a few of them who are driving me crazy. I did a happy dance yesterday when one of them stayed home sick. It doesn't matter what the cultural differences are, this kid would be a handfull in any culture!
I am looking forward to the weekend... I have plans to go shopping, my favourite activity on Saturday (cause it's my birthday and I want too!) and hopefully head to the beach on Sunday, it is really hot and the beach would be a nice change. It is kinda far, it takes about an hour from the city. We'll see how much work I get done between now and then.
Wel that is all the exciting news that I have to share today. Must be off as the little people will be arriving soon... with parents in tow.
love
j
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Chickens, goat and crickets
Okay so I am riding my bike home from work the other day and low and behold I see a chicken! No I am not lying or making it up there was a chicken outside a shop just wandering around. I am talking about a busy intersection during rush hour, it was amazing. I am sure that she was dinner for someone.
It's Sunday morning and on my way here, to the internet cafe I saw a goat. Someone had a goat standing in a rather large cage on the sidewalk. It was getting a lot of attention, a petting zoo of sorts just randomly created for the benefit of the city folk.
I went to Tianmu ( a very nice part of town with lots of foreigners) last night to pick up some free stuff that was advertised on one of the local message boards and once I finally found the house I discovered that there is a place in taipei where there are houses and no street noise. It was the mopst amazing thing, they had a yard, a pool and a real house! He works for some company that foots the bill, which I imagine must be huge! But it was a beautiful space and I am so jealous. I could here crickets chirping, I am not lying. Taipei is such a cememnt jungle and I live right in the middle of it, I never realised such places existed. Anyway it is way to far from work for it to even be an opition but it was a lovley spot to see.
The weekend is almost over and my hour and at the cafe is almost up and so I must be off... if anyone is bored later this week and trying to find something to do with all their free time they can sit down and write me a long gossipy email... yes, I have resorted to shamless begging on my part... I am homesick/spacesick and would love to hear how life is on the other side of the world.
Miss ya
J.
It's Sunday morning and on my way here, to the internet cafe I saw a goat. Someone had a goat standing in a rather large cage on the sidewalk. It was getting a lot of attention, a petting zoo of sorts just randomly created for the benefit of the city folk.
I went to Tianmu ( a very nice part of town with lots of foreigners) last night to pick up some free stuff that was advertised on one of the local message boards and once I finally found the house I discovered that there is a place in taipei where there are houses and no street noise. It was the mopst amazing thing, they had a yard, a pool and a real house! He works for some company that foots the bill, which I imagine must be huge! But it was a beautiful space and I am so jealous. I could here crickets chirping, I am not lying. Taipei is such a cememnt jungle and I live right in the middle of it, I never realised such places existed. Anyway it is way to far from work for it to even be an opition but it was a lovley spot to see.
The weekend is almost over and my hour and at the cafe is almost up and so I must be off... if anyone is bored later this week and trying to find something to do with all their free time they can sit down and write me a long gossipy email... yes, I have resorted to shamless begging on my part... I am homesick/spacesick and would love to hear how life is on the other side of the world.
Miss ya
J.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Internet cafes are loud
Okay can some one tell me why the boys who come to cafes to play copmputer games have to have the volume turned up loud enough to cause hearing loss! There are always heaps of people in here playing games at this insane volume... I don't understand.
Life here is good, busy but good. I am busy with my camp kids and trying to get ready for my class in the fall... so much to do so little time. It is official that i will be the kindergarten techer, I'll have 19 munchkins in full day kindergatrten and I am looking quite forward to it.
The new apartment is great, I love that i can get up and sit outside in the mornings while I drink my coffee. The street noise is a little loud at times but life goes on, it's just noise and I can't really here it from my room so I can sleep and all.
I haven't had much time for sight seeing or anyhting else to exciting as I have been busy wiht work but I am hoping to make it to the beach next weekend and have a swim... it is really hot here and I am desperate for some water to paly in. Anyway the noise is driving me crazy and so I am will be off.
I should have internet at home soon and then will be around more often again.
J
Life here is good, busy but good. I am busy with my camp kids and trying to get ready for my class in the fall... so much to do so little time. It is official that i will be the kindergarten techer, I'll have 19 munchkins in full day kindergatrten and I am looking quite forward to it.
The new apartment is great, I love that i can get up and sit outside in the mornings while I drink my coffee. The street noise is a little loud at times but life goes on, it's just noise and I can't really here it from my room so I can sleep and all.
I haven't had much time for sight seeing or anyhting else to exciting as I have been busy wiht work but I am hoping to make it to the beach next weekend and have a swim... it is really hot here and I am desperate for some water to paly in. Anyway the noise is driving me crazy and so I am will be off.
I should have internet at home soon and then will be around more often again.
J
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