miscellaneous rambling

Life has been busy again. There was the wild conference weekend in Taipei two weeks ago. Can't believe it was already two weeks past! Was up for 42 hours at one point during the whole weekend. It was a bit of a blur, but a good one at that. We managed to learn something, bring new materials to the school, and to see friends, and eat good food, drink good wine. what else can you expect?

The grand opening of the school finally happened. ( see previous pic)

My friend Summer is leaving Taiwan soon ( again, see previous posts pictures)

The end of a chapter, the beginning of new ones. These periods always make me reflect at the impermanence of things.

The end of the year is almost upon us again too. A BIG year for us.. and I'm sure big changes soon-- again-- I can feel it.

I know that this type of reflection seems to be coming early. Usually it happens while one is celebrating the holidays sometime between Christmas and New Year. It comes earlier for me this year since Summer is leaving.

Someone once said to me: "We're destined to meet certain people in our lives. But sometimes, it is just briefly. Our paths just cross for a short time before they diverge again."

Then recently talking to an old friend on the phone he said; " yeah, sometimes it's hard to keep in touch with people. and you almost wonder over the years, like, ' man, does that person even want to see me again? do they think of me? whatever happened to them? But I just figured that when I next see them, I will see them-- and we'll just pick up where we left off."

Having been living an Expat life for many years now, I have experienced many.. sometimes I feel.. too many good-byes. I guess I have grown numb to it in some ways.

but then every now and then there is a good-bye that hurts.

Usually don't write such personal stuff on the blog. Maybe it is a bit much. Have to admit it feels odd... my thoughts out there on the web. it's a first..

just thought that -- as I meditate on life out here-- I'd mention my thoughts at the present time. and that I hope that everyone is doing well out there.

Me and Debbie at the S Party. She is dressed as the sky. note the puffs of clouds which she has attached to her shirt.

Summer and Ben. Ben is from Canada, and is obviously dressed as Satan. Lucky for him I serve Satan Beer at my bar. ( two flavors too) and I have Satan glasses. Top service for the prince of evil

This is a picture of me and Summer during her going away party at our bar last weekend. It was a theme party. "The S party". you had to dress up as something that began with the letter S. As you can see, I'm a star ( or superstar.. as I like to put it. ) Summer is dressed as Storm from X-men.

here is an action photo of me tyring to handle a group of elementry kids during one of our grand opening activities. Some kids were coloring, some people were playing bingo. the opening went fairly well. we had about 50 kids come.

Congee is a Chinese style rice porridge. The equivalent of oatmeal I guess. but in my opinion.. way tastier.
It's a Cantonese specialty. It takes hours to make properly, and the depressing thing is, I can't get really good congee here in Taiwan. I have given up looking for it in fact.

Most people throw some overcooked rice into a watery mixture ( or sometimes JUST water ) and add some stuff, and call it congee.

sad sad sad. I guess I"m just missing some comfort food from home. strange.. missing Chinese food, while in Asia.

it's a lazy day.....

This weekend I’m going to an English teaching conference in Taipei. This is an annual event in which one gets to see the scope of the EFL market in this country. It’s huge, and there will be speakers from many foreign companies. If I was single, I’d probably be even more excited to go, as it’s usually the local “Chinese teachers” that attend this event, and they tend to be 95% female. Anyways, I digress.

The main thing about this is that it’s the the only official outlet for people in our position to meet and to exchange ideas, and to party in the evenings.

We’re not doctors, or dentists. We don’t get luxury conferences on cruise ships heading into the Carribean.( honest, not making it up ) so we make due with what we have.

Dallas is heading up with me this year. It will be interesting. Since we’ve expanded the business recently, we are looking forward to gathering as much information about new materials and market trends in the business.