Procrastination

Dashing through the snow. . .there is no snow in Taiwan. . .in a one horse open sleigh. . . horses can't breath here because of the pollution. . .over the fields (rice paddy) we go, laughing all the way. . . um, ok. . . bells on bobtails ring. . .I never quite understood that line. . . making spirits bright. . .like a lightbulb. . .oh what fun it is to ride and stuff tonight. . .

Christmas in Taiwan is hilarious -- and much more straightforward/ honest then in the US. Here, there is no pretense of the religious aspects, only the gifts, candy, drunken fat men in red suits, weird green needly trees and egg nogg. Kids love it. Adults aren't nearly as stressed out by it. The suicide rate is much lower. Everybody is happy.

On a sunny Sunday, I set out to complete my X-mas shopping. I wanted to mail some cards and small gifts (and I believe I promised Evan some "postal love" -- whatever that is). Instead, I was distracted by the gorgeous weather and went to the top of Yangmingshan (a big mountainous national park within Taipei city limits).

At the foot of the mountain, in Tien Mou (the "westerner ghetto") we enjoyed some sushi. In Tien Mou, you can find Red Vines so fresh they are still chewy -- fresher then the Red Vines in many Seattle 7-11's. It's flipping amazing.

On top of the Mountain, we wandered some trails, drank tea at a scenic teahouse (after I ran out of memory on my camera) and people watched. Note the wedding pic to the left. I had to push their professional photographer out of the way to get that one, but, I figured, why not, eh?

I got no Christmas shopping done. Later the week ended with a night of card playing with some other teachers. Note the provacative (50 cent word) deck of cards Shireen (the girl in the bunch) brought over to play. . .

There are few westerners in my neighborhood. We try to welcome each other with open arms and then get on with our work. I have found that, in this neighborhood, the New Zealanders drink too much, the Australians want nothing more then to ditch the New Zealanders at all costs, the South Africans are friendliest, the Canadians don't like Americans (or drunk New Zealanders) and Americans are flakey and skip out too quickly (I am the exception to this rule.).

So, on this night, 2 Canadians with 1 syllable names(Don, Cam), 1 South African (Shireen, married to Cam), a Taiwanese (Ranjana) and I, got utterly trashed and played such intellectual card games as "match the panties." (note the picture of the deck of cards above) Seeing how slouched we are in the pictures to the left, you know it was fun. Note: the Kindergarten X-mas party the next day was difficult hungover, but I dragged my 30 year old carcass out to it somehow.

My big news is that I finally made some decisions. I am staying in Taiwan until July, but visiting the US in February. In between February and July, however, I am happy to take in visitors!

December 22, 2002 (My sister's birthday!)

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