Freshfields Resort & Conference Taichung

... of a justice of the peace ceremony that is performed. They then had their reception on Saturday. It was held at a big reception hall where they have many other receptions going on at the same time. There were 6 receptions at the same time in the building! At the reception they had wedding pictures displayed all over. Their wedding pictures are taken days before the wedding and she had pictures in about 5 different gowns. The pictures were beautiful!! The ...

... We just have to finish in under an hour. The race is the first weekend in October. It should be a fun day! <br><br>This weekend I will be taking some time to just relax. I have been busy for the past couple weekends so I am taking this weekend to just be lazy and relax. It should be nice. Next week is going to be a crazy one! More details to come on everything going on next weekend! <br><br>Until later.....love ya and miss ya! <br>

... that were clearly not written by a 3rd grader. There isn't much we can do about this though because the parents are paying for their child to go to school. <br><br>One more note about school. Tomorrow many of the students have orientations at their Chinese school that are during our normal school day. But instead of them just missing the day of school we have switched our schedules around so that some teachers are teaching in the ...

... with different food vendors and clothing stores lining the streets. There are masses of people walking and then of course scooters trying to squeeze through the crowds! I had a gross sweaty man walk a little too close to me and rub his sweaty arm against mine. This was the first time I wished that I had one of those great masks that the Taiwanese wear around all the time. I don't know how this is something fun that they like to do. This was a Wednesday night....I don't even ...

... eat out of toilets, urinals, and bathtubs. It is really funny yet slightly disgusting. My roommate Dawndra ordered some ice cream and she has a tree nut allergy. There didn't appear to be any nuts in the ice cream dish but there was something that she was allergic to because she had an allergic reaction and needed someone to give her her epi-pen. For student teaching I needed to watch a video on giving it because I had a student allergic to bees ...

... were largely unnoticed by those surrounding the party. I sat down and enjoyed the fireworks in the city street and reflected on the evening while a) holding my sparkler b) finishing a second round of grilled oysters c) washing it down with a cup of Oolong tea d) petting a dog that knows Chinese e) ...which was currently debating to urinate on my wheel of my moped I realized that, ya know what, I may just be adapting to this Chinese culture after all!

... I suddenly came to the conclusion that a) My camera was not in my backpack b) It is probably still in the cab c) The cab has not left the town yet Needless to say, I turned around just in time to see our cab driver turning the car around and revving the engine to go back to Taichung. Without looking, I ran into the street and held out my arm and yelled at the cab driver to stop. He smiled and waved as I quickly ran in front of the car so that he would have to ...

... middle and ending parts deal with the first two letters of my first name. The stamp does serve some importance other than as a cheesy tourist gimmick. It is my official Chinese signature whenever I need to sign important documents... or in some cases, letters to family and friends back home. One funny side note during our trip to the post office is that, while we were sitting and waiting for our turn to talk to the postmaster, I ...

... and found a school in Canada that had a somewhat decent earthquake drill for teachers to practice with their students. Apparently, you are supposed to do the following in the event of an earthquake at school: 1) Instruct all students to calmly get under their desks, crouch down, and put their hands behind their necks. 2) As a class, count to 60 as loud as you can. Counting allows ...

... me, my parents wrote letters, and even Vallary (our dog) wrote me a letter. Some of the gifts I received included my Mom's homemade cookies (which were such a treat considering you can't find cookies anywhere in this country that are not Oreo-ish), some Harley-Davidson stickers for my moped, a Kit-Kat Bar from Grandpa's candy bar tree, and some other items I had requested from home. It was such a great birthday present and really made me miss home ...