2.5 months: b-day, pay-day and lots of rain...

Another two weeks have passed since my last update and yet I don't really have that much to say.
Things are good still, despite some bad weather, and I've been working enough to cover my day-today costs.

I've started to enjoy teaching a little more, perhaps just getting used to the routine and finding discovering better methods of managing the children and keeping them entertained.  The semester will be over at the end of June and I'm not actually sure what I will be doing for work in July.  Some might expect me to be sappy and say that I will miss my students and the time we spent together but really....I most certainly wont.   I've had some interviews for work in the summer but so far no positive results.

In the past 2 weeks I was finally paid by both of my employers.  Getting paid once a month isn't ideal and I much prefer the bi-monthly pay-days that are the standard back at home. It feels nice to have a bit of spending money and not be constantly draining my account at home.

My 26th birthday was on June 10th, a birthday year that sees me into the "upper mid-twenties," a frightening predicament. I celebrated last birthday in Bangkok and so, appropriately my birthday dinner this year was at an all-you-can-eat Thai food restaurant.  Dinner was delicious although it has stirred up my desire to go back to Thailand.    Even though my birthday fell on a Sunday this year, I was able to find one nightclub at which to celebrate. While most bars in Taipei close early on Sundays, if they open at all, there is one that has an all-u-can-drink bar that stays open into the early morning hours. While getting another year older isn't something I welcomed I can easily say that the 26th year of my life was the happiest year yet and I can only hope that every year to come will be the same. I'm very satisfied with my life right now and as a result getting older isn't so bad.

Oyster omelettes at the Shilin night market 

A Rainy night at the night-market

The rain has really dampened my sightseeing/travel plans as of late. It has rained most days and one day it rained enough that all schools in Taipei were closed as a result of flooding in some areas. This meant I had the day off work but given the heavy rain there wasn't a lot to do. I've been wanting to go to the beach haven't been able to because of the constant rain. The rain and thunder storms are actually pretty impressive. I'd never seen such violent, hard rain come down for so long. Anyways, the rain has not dampened my spirits and I'm still having a wonderful time here in Taipei.

There's a new magazine on the shelves here with my face featured on a couple of pages this time. The dragon boat races are on next weekend and I've got my fingers crossed for good weather, although the forecast tells me a typhoon should be here by this evening....

Two Months in Taipei

I really can't believe it has been two months already.  The time has gone so quickly.

I've kept busy with the same work schedule as before but I have been doing a bit more acting work which should help, come payday.  The first issue of the magazine which I do the acting for is now on he stands and contains a small picture of me and a comes with a DVD of a video clip with me in it.  They gave me a copy for free!  The company publishes about 4 different magazines and next month I will likely be in all 4.  Pretty soon I can start hanging out in bookstores next to the magazine rack waiting for someone to recognize me...

Last weekend I went to a nearby forested area to see fireflies.   It is currently nearing the end of firefly season and firefly viewing is a semi-popular activity here.   I had never seen a firefly before and I was really impressed with how bright they can glow.

Last week was also the draw for the receipt lottery numbers.   Half an hour of flipping through receipts and absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm not sure if I will check my receipts in the next draw.

During some mid-week spare time I went to check out Dihua old street which features both Japanese  colonial and Qing dynasty architecture.  It was a nice activity and the old storefronts were a welcome change from the usual tiled old buildings that line most Taipei streets.

This past Saturday I went to hot-spring area called Beitou.  Beitou was nice an I visited the hot-spring museum which is housed in an turn-of-the-century Japanese bath-house.  The highlight of Beitou was the "Thermal Valley" which is an open hot spring pool that bubbles and steams up making for a pretty cool tourist site.

On Sunday, I took another short trip on the metro  to the northern suburbs of Neihu.  The have a scenic park up in the hills which is famed for it's traditional styled bridge which crosses a narrow point of a beautiful lake. It was quite beautiful, unfortunately, the weather wasn't.

My Chinese language abilities are improving much quicker than I ever would have expected and I've really been enjoying learning another language, especially being in an environment where I can immediately apply what I've learned.

That's all for now.  This weekend is my birthday and I haven't decided how I'll celebrate yet (more than likely in a bar).

 I'll leave you with some more random pictures from around Taipei

Confusing bikelanes.

Mango and Beer (my favourites) together at last!