28 days to go

As a teacher, I am just as excited to have school canceled due to inclement weather as I was as a student. Today yet another typhoon came through Taiwan. Luckily it was not as lame as last week's, and everything in Taipei was shut down for the day. So my day has included catching up on grading quizzes, laundry and reading. I've had a pretty lazy day.

Now I have just under four weeks to go. I am starting to do all the "business" type things I have to sort out. But most importantly, I got my room rented in just three days. I am so relieved and happy to have that out of the way! I've said goodbye to more friends in the past couple of weeks. I hate goodbyes, but it means my time to leave is coming up fast, so that party I am happy about.

During the past couple of weekends I went to the beach and also back to this awesome national park south of the city called Wulai. I'd been there once back in the fall for hiking. This time we headed far into the park, where there weren't many tourists, and we sat in the river all afternoon. The water was freezing which was a nice relief from the heat. There's such a difference in the air quality out there, too. It's so clean and fresh, unlike in Taipei.

Well, that's it for now. I have some new pictures in my "Out and About in Taipei: The Second Half" album, if you want to take a look.

Yeliou, etc.

This past weekend I went up to Yeliou, a geological park on the Northern coast of Taiwan. The park is on a cape jutting out into the ocean and has rock formations of all kinds which are really strange, but really cool to see. It almost feels like you're walking on another planet because it's just bare rock. It was interesting to see where fish were now swimming in puddles, and sometimes larger and deeper areas of water, which had been formed between the rocks. The day, apart from being pretty toasty temperature-wise, was really beautiful. The water was very, very blue and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, so the spot was really beautiful and a great photo opportunity! It is definitely one of my most favorite places I've visited in Taiwan. Afterwards we cooled off in the water at a nearby beach. Here are the photos.

It turns out that I'm not going to be getting a summer session class. Enrollment is too low and so there just aren't enough kids for a class. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to it. I enjoyed the writing class I taught during the winter session. But I'm continuing with my regular classes. Some are ending though. Since our classes go in three month sessions, some of my classes are getting new teachers since I will only be here for part of the next session.

It is very, very hot here in Taipei. Today was 95 degrees (it's been mostly in the upper 80's lately.) I tell people here it's basically like a D.C. summer, just a bit more humid. They are really surprised at this, I can't understand why. I asked a Taiwanese friend about this recently and she said it's because everyone thinks the U.S. is cold all the time!! What?!

I'm continuing with yoga, volunteering at the orphanage and language exchange. It's hard to believe I have just a month and a half left. In some ways I feel like I've been here a long time, but in most ways I feel like it's been a very short time. Hope everyone had a great 4th! I enjoyed a nice TGIFriday's hamburger with friends which (kind of) reminded me of home.