Well here's a post for you all...

...and postcards for some. These past days have been pretty good since the Tea Tour, though early in the week there was the fantastically hot "Autumn Tiger" weather instead of the biting cold I've been so far expecting in vain.

Quote of the Day: "Yes I'm starting to appreciate logic more; I used to be somewhat disdainful of it...then I met Drew."--Amay

In the news: Yasser Arafat est mort. I am moving host families on Saturday at 5:00 PM. I mailed two postcards today, to Connie & Barbara, and more are in the works. Also, it's Rememberance Day.

Monday

This Monday, I was surprised by the number of pushups we did in military training because I have been used to PE's 15 instead of 25... then we all stood at attention for a REALLY long time (though it doesn't top Amay's cadet experiences) while our instructor inspected our posture and uniforms.

At 11:00 we had a meeting with Sandy to discuss our speeches for the following morning. Kenta lost his and Ivan didn't really have one (Alex had a Rotary one) so we got random office staff/teachers who knew English to help write them. After lunch we watched more of "The Pianist" in Music class, then had a good Chinese class. Subsequently I hacked for a while, then did my singing test in choir. Unfortunately I was in with the Grade 10s, who are not so good and very quiet, so the one me could be heard much better than, say, 2 Sopranos, 2 Altos & 2 Basses.

Tuesday

In the morning, all the excange students at Wanfang had to give a short speech at the morning assembly. Ivan's was surprisingly well done, drawing applause from the crowd line after line. Alex didn't have too good a time of it, though he sounded more coherent to me. Kenta's class lauded him even before he got up on stage & he was greeted by a roaring (sitting) ovation after performing on his Japanese traditional instrument (it doesn't have a name except in Japanese... it's like 'some city 3 string') -- what we call it in Chinese.

My speech wasn't bad. I kind of wung it for half and looked at my paper a bit. I got some cheers for (as I always do) not using the stairs to get on stage, and also for my crowd control requesting a louder "hao!" to my "dajia hao?" Unfortunately, I failed to notice that that morning they didn't sing the Taiwan National Anthem at the beginning... it's weak when they do, like they're really quiet, but they do sometimes. So I had written the Canadian anthem into mine and I sang it, according to plan, as I had been approved by Sandy.

But afterwards, it was weird, because the next guy to talk said some random things to the kids, I think it was a lecture about patriotism using me as an example, because he said "guo'ai" (國愛 lit. 'nation love') and actually said in English, "You must love your country." But they didn't sing it at all that day. So I was confused and felt I'd made a faux pas, because according to anthem protocol, the national antem should be first or last at an event in that country.

In P.E. boy was it hot. I just covered my neck and tried to protect my ears to avoid a sunburn, and I think I was successful. We did 15 really fast pushups, a good run, and then played basketball a lot. It was really hot, and thirsty work, and I was quite glad for a cool drink at the end of the class. In hindsight I must have got some good exercise.

Did some light studying in various classes... in conversation class, Kenta didn't show up so it was just me, Ivan & Alex with our Canadian teacher. She talked to them about clubbing and clubs & a lot about different movies. I am wondering why Kenta didn't come (Ivan said he was practising his instrument again) because his English is the worst of all of ours, and he therefore warrants the most instruction/practise. Very strange.

In Scout we did the dance again & I did a lot of hacking... somewhere in there I made my classmate teach me the word "strawberry" and then gave him strawberry-flavoured candy. School-cleaning time was fun as usual. In art we continued the silly thing we had been working on before; there wasn't much remarkable about it. 'Twas cute (可愛 ke'ai)though.

In the evening I blogged the Tea Tour over the course of a few hours... I hope you've all read & enjoyed it, though I'll admit none of the pictures were terrific, some of the style was good as I was in a good mood on Monday & Tuesday despite the longish days. Also, got a letter from my grandparents, which means they're probably next on the postcard list, along with upcoming birthday girl Brianna.

Wednesday

Culture class involved Gong Fu again, but this time it was a different style with a different guy. He wasn't so skilled, especially at teaching a series of movements; however, it was--as always--enjoyable in the combat/application section. We practised a variety of lock & throw-based takedowns which were fun and interesting, but, of course, highly impractical.

We all headed to Pizza Hut for lunch... it's an all-you-can eat one on the corner across from an exit of the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall MRT Station. I walked with Anna & Claire (American) though most of the people took the bus. We all arrived simultaneously. The food was good, though randomly American Alex asked for seperate bills for the different tables, and the server apparently understood but didn't do anything (this is analogous to the time they lied about Scott's eggy steak twice in a row even with my mother talking to them). I, and others, found it expensive though: the pizza, food & drinks cost us NT $232 each. That's about $9.00 CDN and a LOT more than I ordinarily spend on lunch.

Language class was again good. This random lady from NTUT (師大 shida) came to watch our class. Our teacher said two teachers would be teaching us and studying us on Friday because we're Western foreigners and they want to see how we learn Chinese. I pointed out to him that Wanfang had no school on Friday. So the woman that was there said we could come to Shida (National Taiwan Normal University, but that's a mouthful) on Friday. So we will. Went home with Kaylee, & showed her NTU (台大 taida) at Gongguan MRT Station.

Walked instead of taking the bus both to and from Guting MRT for choir. On the subway, and at the times where I wasn't singing, I wrote Barbara's postcard. But then I finished it. So I had very little to do for a while. Stayed up late reading a technical commentary on the Death Stars.

Today

It's not over yet, but in the morning, I met Alice at the MRT station to go to a party & then the Rotary meeting (yay no school for me). We took a taxi to the Taipei WTC where a Rotary club was having a party. We did some networking and I loaded up on sugar-smack (and by that I mean sweet food, not heroin or cocaine). We then got a ride to the big hotel where the meetings are held. This time there were two clubs meeting together so I didn't have to speak, just eat and get money.

I enjoyed it on the whole, & Scott will be interested to know I saw a pretty girl of the type we agree is 'pretty.' The main presentation was on Taiwanese language poetry, so everything had bopomofo by it; however, some of it was specifically Taiwanese sound-symbols I haven't learned. It was pretty fun though. I met this really nice Rotary guy and when I asked him where I could get a Rotary tie clip like he & his club-mates had, he gave me his. So w00ty w00t w00t to that, in the most classic "whoa!, loot" sense of the phrase.

I mailed postcards to Barbara & Connie at about 5:55, this time the whole operation took less than 5 minutes & I got out before the door even started coming down. So those are heading over by airmail and ought arrive in the next few days. Tomorrow, of course, I've got Chinese class then I'm going to a performance with my mom, and then PACKING A LOT and by a lot I mean everything.

REMINDER: To those of you who so nicely volunteered to do Tiffany's survey & to whom I sent it, please remember it should be emailed to her on or before the 15th of this month. Thank you all very much.