Belissimo!

Marco, an Italian schoolmate & friend, invited MimiT & I over to make pizza from scratch. It was SOOOOOOooooooo fun...and so yummy too!! :)

Quitting never felt so good

Oh yeah...and I finally quit one of my tutoring jobs. Guess which one! :) If you can't guess, then you really haven't been reading! But yeah, I'm SOOOOO happy that I will no longer have to deal with "the brat". Someone said recently that the best cure from wanting kids is being around some. Hee hee! I see the merit of such a statement now. I used to have such a rosy picture of cute little kids...like the ones that I read to at the elementary school. Friendly, talkative, pretty well-behaved. I even considered being an elementary school teacher, cuz at least then the kids are less snooty...they're more likely to listen and respect the teacher. (in my dreams at least) So yup. i think the one thing i've learned from this trip is that i'm DEFINITLEY not cut out to be a teacher. Wish i could discover things that i CAN do rather than continuously finding out what i CAN'T do!

I also have a lot more free time on my hands cuz she was the most stable job i had. One of my students is taking a break while she studies for finals. And the other is just two hours, once a week. Any suggestions on what I should do?

He's so Dreamy...

For the first (and probably last) time in my life i went to an autograph promotional thing here in taipei (this was like two Sundays ago...). His name is 霍建華 (Wallace is his English name...very geeky sounding...and he even has a super cheesy hand sign thing for the W of his name...). Anyhow, I first noticed him in a soap opera I was watching and then he came out with a CD and had a few 簽唱會 to promote it. When they promote their CDs here, it's really quite cool. It's not just lining up to get his autograph. It was like a mini concert! He sang some of his songs, talked a bit about himself, had some interaction with his fans. Very cool. He's not that great a singer, but i got his CD anyway just so I could see him in person (SOooooo cute!). Seriously, he looks just as good in person as on TV. Plus, he's got a great speaking voice. Sorta makes your insides melt. hee hee He is a bit skinny, but that's ok. so dreamy.....too bad my camera ran out of batteries (i'm so stupid! i didn't check before i left home) and i didn't get any pics. i asked a girl next to me to take some for me and she seemed quite nice & willing to help, but she still hasn't sent them and it's been a week! ah well. I seriously wasn't at all ga-ga over him before I went to get his autograph...I just thought he was cute and I might as well check out what it's like to get an autograph since it's so easy to do here (living in a big city, etc)...not many chances to do anything like this back home, right? But after seeing him, i can't help but get all starry-eyed whever i see his pic or think of him! :) But here are some pics of him to feast your eyes on so you know what i mean. :)



1/19 ADDITION: Alright...so he's a little feminine. He's also VERY cute! :) Here's another hunk to feast your eyes on. He's more masculine (in my opinion), and EXTREMELY popular here. He's half Japanese, half Taiwanese...Takeshi Kaneshiro. I saw him in House of Flying Daggers (http://www.sonyclassics.com/houseofflyingdaggers/poster.html). He also does ads for VAIO in taiwan (http://www.ecat.sony.com.tw/vaio/enjoyvaio/images/wallpaper/TK_4_800.jpg).

Hrm..

Hrm...I guess I should update my blog, but I really don't have anything to say. Things are going as normal. Class, work and TV (for the sake of learning Chinese of course)...

My dad's in Taiwan now (he was in Kunming for the past couple months) and he and my mom will probably come up to Taipei for a little bit next week. There's a special night market that's only around for Chinese New Year's that sells all the special foods for the holiday. So I can't wait to try some of that stuff. :) and then Justin told me that I HAVE to have the seafood at DanShui's Fisherman's Wharf (all the stores there were closed last time i went with mimi)...so i might do that. I still haven't been to YangMingShan or Keelung...so i'll probably drag my parents to those places too. But probably not all this week.

Chinese New Year's is coming up and I can't WAIT! I'll have 2 lovely weeks of vacation. Even though you probably all think I have nothing to complain about (i really do have a rather 輕鬆 life here...), but i'm tired of studying (yes, even if it's just 2 hrs of class a day...). I really need a break. :) Plus, it'd be nice to go down to KaoHsiung and visit my cousins there (i've never met them before!)...so that's what my plans are. Nothing fancy anymore (like Thailand, HK or Australia/NZ)...I decided to save that $ for a possible miami trip and all the upcoming weddings.

Have a nice weekend everyone. The weather's supposed to get really cold again over here, but hopefully not as bad as it was for New Year's!

Who said Taiwan doesn't have a winter??

omg!!! It was SOOoooooo F-f-f-frreeeeeeezing this weekend. Seriously. I've never felt so cold in my life! I doubt the temperature was much lower than it gets in CA...but I've come to the conclusion that the combination of humidity, no heaters, tile floors, little/no isolation, and big winds are LETHAL! Much deadlier than CA winters, even if the thermostat reads the same. For instance, I was wearing 3 pairs of pants on Saturday. Yup. Three...I felt like a penguin. And even with 2 pairs of socks, my feet were like blocks of ice! And I'm thinking I should probably invest in some gloves....but the feeling of being at absolute zero only lastest 2 days (two days too many!)...and from what i hear, this kind of cold front only ever lasts for a couple of days before it's back to 65-70 degree weather...but those couple of days is pure torture...who wants to even shower?? seriously, you have to freeze to death while you're taking off your clothes, then whatever part that's getting sprayed by the water is warm for a while (but my hot water's fickle...it's i'm either burning or getting a nice dose of lukewarm/cold water)...but the minute the water is turned off...wet body meets cold air...FREEZE.
Of course, I'm sure new englanders wouldn't feel much pity for me (but no heaters! really... maybe i deserve a little, right?)... i'm sure living in CA and then getting used to Taiwan's summer has weakened any possible defense I had against the cold. :)

Happy New Year's everyone!