City Suites Gateway Taoyuan

... house to myself this week, Katie, Emily and Laura are all in Japan for the week and Dawndra moved home on Saturday. I spent the day cleaning and organizing our house. Cornel has owned the house for years so it is never fully moved out of so that stuff just accumulates here. I went through and got rid of a lot of the old stuff that was just laying around. It was nice to get some things organized. <br><br>Well that's all I got for now....Until later.....Love ya and Miss ya<br><br><br>

... hour. It was lots of fun. A lot of students again didn't recognize me and didn't believe it when I told them it was really me. I had to take off the glasses and the wig. On Thursday night...me, Emil, Derek and Dawn went to McDonald's...while wearing our Halloween costumes. Dawn was a red M&M candy (which was my costume from last year), Derek was GI Joe or Street Fighter army dude and Emil was a little princess ...

... go to Taroko Gorge) and then another 4-day long weekend in October. 5 of us will be going to the Philippines. I plan on staying in Taiwan till April-May and then going to India for 4-6 months. Who knows. After India I want to spend some time in Africa and then make my way up to Europe. I might need to pit-stop in Taiwan to rake in some cash before doing so...but I have all the time in the world and nothing holding me back. We shall see what life brings.

... and we both lived on the 4th floor of the dorm and managed to co-exist peacefully there as well. I approached Meghan with the idea of getting an apartment together...and she showed interest. She plans on being here at least another year too...so it seemed like a reasonable proposition. We set aside early March as our apartment-hunting time. We were lucky, we found 'our place' after only a few days of 'hunting'. We started on Thursday night (saw two places), saw two more on ...

... games. Can I have Bright Smile please? LOL. Ha, I crack myself up sometimes...OMG...this beginner class I teach...I have a kid named Wei-Wei. I was like...that's a strange English name. My co-teacher said he never got an English names and so he just used his Chinese one. I tried calling him 'Way-Way' but then he corrected me: 'It's Wee-Wee' teacher! Man...let me tell you...it's pretty damn hard to keep from bursting out laughing during attendance when you have to shout out ...

... them (and to check who has a bigger head, I think it should be me!)... 8. Cuba: Enters my Top 10 for the first time. Though I traveled back to Caribbean again last March, I remain uninspired by most of those islands. Most of them are just too touristy and too Americanized (I didn't come to Aruba for Dunking Donut and Chi-Chi's). Maybe Cuba would be very different from that. "Buena Vista Social Club" also gave me some longing for Cuban music. The tricky ...

... to help. This afternoon, we booked another 3 hour trip with the same minibus company to explore the mountains that surround Taipei and the natural springs located there. The drive there and back was an experience... no seat belts, winding roads, double lines to be ignored and motor scooters to dodge. We had three generations of an Asian/American family for company. First stop was the Yangmingsham National Park in the hills north of Taipei and a ...

Route: Song Luo - No 7 minor road - country roads 46,30,33 - No.7 - Luodong - Wujie Total Distance: 24km Altitude up: 300m Altitude down: 300m Waking up is not easy after this slightly restless night - but at least still alive! I have my breakfast of milk , bananas and bread on my terrace. A wonderful morning and a hot day to be expected. I see Hunter and we say a 'Ni Zao' or ' good morning ' from far. When I leave I say a warm good bye to mother and daughter, and that ...

... soon! The festival came from the old 'lover's day', a day when young people were accompanied into the streets with matchmakers busily trying to pair them all up. The brightest lanterns signified good luck and hope. Solving riddles is popular too. So, there you have it, a quick intro to Chinese New Year. In a nut shell, it's a time to be with your family to welcome good fortune and good luck in the new year. But my favourite part? I get a week off work!

... since got too excited and forgot to drink water), make sure to apply all your sunscreen from your body to your face and your lips, and even though things can get a little hyper try and get some sleep!! We tried to cram too much into 7 days, but we couldn't help it, there are so many things to see in Thailand! My next mission is to go backpacking for 2 or 3 weeks in Thailand ........ Lao jer gun & chok dee!! =)