Always an Adventure...

So, today I turn 25! I've been pretty excited about this seemingly respectable age. The age that many people say is the "prime" of your life. Personally I hope every year is the prime of my life, and so far it seems like every year I've lived has been better than the last. By God's grace I'll have more birthdays to celebrate in the future. This is my third birthday in Taiwan by the way! So far we have 3 in Taiwan, one in Brazil and the other 21 in Canada. Not bad, not bad. Anyways, my original plan was not really anything because well, I have class all day. And I didn't really make plans to celebrate with anyone. But my dear friends here in Taiwan made sure that didn't happen! On Tuesday, Juliana surprised me by bringing a cake over before our regular dinner date. Then on Wednesday night in my class, my students brought me a cake which we ate in the middle of class. Coincidentally, that class had the highest student turn-out of the semester though mos

This Saturday the girls' high school I teach at had a little fair. Each class set up a stall where they were selling food, drinks, and handmade items. I went with my friend Juliana and we wandered around for a couple of hours. I saw students from this year, last year, and even from the other schools! It was a really hot sunny day, and we both ended up a little sunburnt by the time we left. But it was fun to see the costumes and ideas my students came up with, as well as sampling blue sprite and deep fried ice cream. There's another fair at the boys' high school this saturday, which I've been invited to, though I don't teach as many classes there. I'll probably stop by for a bit. Right now Yilan is hosting its annual Green Expo, which includes a film festival. They started showing films on Saturday, and on Sunday, I went to two in one day! The first one was An Inconvenient Truth, featuring Al Gore. It was really impacting and definitely a wake-up call. Visit htt

Mangoes are one great reason to stay in Taiwan. Finally they are in season, sweet, juicy, delightful, and only about one Canadian dollar each! Soon I'll be eating mango bing (shaved ice) to cool off a summer day. Interestingly enough the lady who sold my mango to me today asked if I was "allowed" to eat them yet. As you may recall from the banana incident , certain foods are forbidden in Chinese tradition when you have an injury. She hesitated and asked me if I still felt any pain, if so, I couldn't eat it. I told her I was fine and quickly grabbed my mango before she changed her mind about letting me have it!

Your Birth Month is April You are trustworthy and highly ethical in all facets of life. Helpful and steady, you are able to solve any problem. Your soul reflects: Bliss, playfulness, and curiosity Your gemstone: Diamond Your flower: Sweet Pea Your colors: Yellow and red What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Here she is, my lovely new computer! I'm quite enjoying using her, though I kinda got freaked out the other night because the tv was off, and there was NO noise at all in my apartment. My other computer has a noisy drone you can hear as soon as you walk in the door. Anyways, I had to turn the TV on because it was too quiet! It also has lots of cool little toys like a built in card reader, that I can just stick my memory card from my camera (or phone or whatnot) into and it automatically uploads the files. No more searching for the cable or not being able to do anything because I forgot to bring it. So quiet and fast and light and convenient and darn cute too. ANYWAYS, I gave my two classes a test today, and I have a space on their test paper that says Class: ____________ for them to write their class NUMBER in case the papers get mixed up. On one student's paper Class: Ms. Oke's Class ummm

Well my dad went and got a tattoo for his 4x rd birthday. Actually it was a surprise gift from my mom and sister. And I think it's really COOL! Also cool is the Chinese connection, he got a dragon, since he was born in the year of the dragon, and even got the Chinese character for dragon, 龍 long written on there. As great as I think it is, I am not getting a tattoo anytime ever. You know how I feel about needles, and if you don't, well you probably don't know me very well. Although Hope did suggest once that we get team tattoos after our first year in Yuli, I think we ended up getting necklaces instead. It's been a busy week for me, I've been on the go since I got back from Taidong on Sunday. Fortunately I didn't have to stand on the train for too long. Otherwise I've been enjoying my new bike and computer! More this weekend!

I'm off this weekend to (hopefully) sunny Taidong! I'm going to visit Faith , who I haven't seen since November 2005! Yay for 4 day weekends, although it means I'll have to stand part of the way on the train b/c there are no available seats! At least I don't live in China.... the trip will only be a couple hours, not a couple days! Back Monday....

The rumors are true, seeing is believing, STARBUCKS is indeed coming to Yilan!!! I recently walked by the building site, conveniently located next to Barista, another big coffee shop, and felt joy deep inside my heart. The only thing that could be better is a Tim Horton's coming to Yilan. I can keep dreaming, can't I? I boldly let my students use their computers and go on the internet today, a little worried that they'd all just surf whatever they wanted instead of doing the task assigned, but I'm happy to say I had 100% cooperation! From the back of the room I can easily see every student's screen. We were talking about toys and surfing the FAO Schwartz website. It's a lot of fun! Take a look if you get a chance. I bought a bike yesterday!! Pictures to come soon. It's nice, but I was REALLY nervous riding though, and getting on and off is still really awkward....i need to work on that still.

I had a pretty fun weekend, filled with lots of going out. It was one of the first weekends in a long time that I've done so much. I feel free, I don't need crutches, wheelchair, or umbrella to go out. Though I have to rest if I walk to much and I still feel some discomfort. I finally feel like I can sort of get back to normal life! This will be further compounded tomorrow when I go to buy a bike!! I've been itching for more freedom of mobility, and not having to rely on taxis or else be limited to where I can go by how far I can walk. On Thursday, my doctor said there's just a little bit of bone that still needs to grow back and that I can ride a bike, as long as I go slow, and in his favorite phrase (he says it every time I go) "Just don't fall down." Last night I went out for dinner with one of my adult students Pauline, who is just a couple of years older than me. After dinner she asked if I wanted to go to a market "just on the other side of the