January 9
1. My wife went with our younger daughter to Taipei last Saturday morning, so it was just the cats and I all weekend. My wife and younger daughter are visiting family up north, and also scouting hotels where my daughter might work next summer. I had to work last Saturday so I wasn't able to go.
I watched four movies over the course of Saturday evening and all of Sunday, all of them from the 70s. I watched a couple Russ Meyer movies (Supervixens and Up!), neither of which I liked, Operation Daybreak, a WWII film starring Timothy Bottoms and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, which Gene Wilder wrote, directed and starred in.
Russ Meyer movies are all basically excuses for boobies, but they have a huge cult following and I feel like not seeing them and claiming to know a thing or two about 70s movies is weird. For those who take them seriously, Russ Meyer movies can seem extremely misogynistic, but my chief complaint about them is that they're boring and don't make a lot of sense. In this respect Up! is far worse than Supervixens, but both movies are still bad.
Operation Daybreak is a solid movie. It's a bit slow in the beginning, but after the assassination attempt it gets very interesting. I was surprised at how much I liked the Gene Wilder movie. I've found him very annoying in other things, but Adventures is pretty funny.
Besides watching movies and drinking beer in my living room I rode my bike to Nanwan. Along the way I followed some strange roads up into the hills and also around Longluan Lake. I think I'm starting to get a feel for the geography of this area, how development is taking place, and how to adjust to the weather. The wind was very strong for most of my ride south, but coming back north was relatively easy.
Nanwan was empty by the way. I got there just before noon, and for most of my stay there wasn't a single person in sight aside from myself and the three women working at the Cowboy Bar & Grill. I had a burger and a Coke, and after a short chat with the owner about the weather and the lack of customers I headed home.
And may the good Lord bless the girl at the bar who asked the owner if I was single. She was shot down immediately ("He has a wife and kids.") but it did my heart good to hear it. I turn 48 years old next Saturday, and it's nice to know that someone was interested. I wasn't looking for that kind of attention, but it felt good to be noticed.
I only have two classes today, both in the afternoon. From today every class I have will be the last class of the semester, and that's a great feeling. I still don't know what next week's schedule will be, but if I have any classes they'll be remedial classes and I won't be taking them that seriously. The students with the wherewithal to do so are going on a camping trip in Tainan for three days, and if I'm teaching anyone it'll be the few kids without resources to go camping.
I'll probably be reading this evening. I'm 1/4 through The Best Science & Nature Writing of 2021. COVID, COVID and more COVID. I'm almost through the part that's explicitly about COVID, and hopefully the rest of the book is more interesting.
2. Oh yeah, I had my observation last Friday and it went well. Everyone here seems happy with me so far. As a result of that observation, my wife finding a job in Manzhou, and inquiries regarding going back to work in Taitung, I've decided to stay in Hengchun next year. This decision isn't set in stone or anything, but barring some unforeseeable circumstance I should be in the same place, at the same times, next school year.
January 10
1. Starbucks and McDonald's aren't special for me anymore. Back when I lived in Fangliao the nearest Starbucks and McDonald's were 25 minutes away by car, and even when I lived in Taitung getting to those two places involved some effort. Now? McDonald's and Starbucks are right on my way to school, and as a result I don't enjoy either place as much as I used to.
I had McDonald's for breakfast today. Going to that restaurant before 7 is kind of annoying. You can't order a latte off of the computer before 7, and if you try to do so you get a message that tells you lattes aren't available. It matters not that you're placing an order at 6:59. Not a great difficulty in my life, but definitely irritating.
2. Had three classes at the elementary school this morning. The kids were very hyper, but other than that the classes were fine. We played Jeopardy! online, read out of the textbook and wrote sentences for a bit. Tomorrow's three classes will be my last there this semester. I won't see them again until February.
3. After work I'm going to try to run to Guanshan. In case anyone in Taitung is reading this, there's another Guanshan in Hengchun. The Guanshan in Hengchun is a small town atop a hill. There's an overlook there that many tourists visit on New Year's Eve, and the view up and down the coast from that point is impressive.
January 11
1. Last day of classes at the elementary school this semester. Toward the end of the last class the "co-teacher" and I got to talking about department stores in Kaohsiung. Apparently her favorite is the Hanshen Department Store near the Athletic Stadium MRT stop, though we agreed that it's a terrible place to eat lunch. According to her that department store has the best selection of perfumes.
2. I still have two more classes at the junior high school this afternoon. I'm fairly certain that 703 will be terrible, and that 706 will be much better. The last time I had 703 they locked one of their classmates on the deck just before class, and the classmate trapped on the deck was using a dustpan to try to break the door open.
3. My wife and daughter returned from Taipei last night, and after I went running we drove down to the Kenting night market looking for dinner. The stall selling fish and chips was closed and there wasn't much open. I ended up eating soup dumplings, French fries, fried pork and a "meat ball" (肉球) that made me very sick. On the plus side I found some of the Lithuanian IPA I love at the Hi-Life.
4. Today the powers that be decided that yes, I'm going with the students on the camping trip in Tainan. I am OK with this decision because a) I won't be responsible for anyone's behavior and b) it's better than sitting in an office for three days. Once I get back from the camping trip I'll be driving to Taitung, where I'll spend Chinese New Year in our apartment.
5. I've decided that for my birthday this Saturday I'd like to be in Kaohsiung. I don't have any clear plan as yet, but I'd like to go to a nice restaurant that has a decent beer selection. There are a couple bars/restaurants near Pier 2 that I'm considering, but I don't want to make any decisions until Friday. BeerTalk doesn't have the best food but it's a fun place to sit. There's also a cool Japanese restaurant we recently discovered on the other side of the port, closer to the 85 Skytower.
While we're in Kaohsiung I'd also like to visit the Eslite Bookstore in the FE 21 Department Store. They don't have the best selection of books but I'll take what I can get. If I have time maybe I can also find a used bookstore in the area. If I recall correctly there used to be one near the Kaohsiung Train Station.
January 12
1. I'm spending the morning in the office because the students are taking their third semester test. I am at peace with this development.
2. They're building something BIG behind my junior high school. No idea what it is, but the hole they've dug is huge. I went to the gate used by the workers to access the site but couldn't find that green sign that explains what the construction project is.
This construction project is right next to the Hengchun City Wall, a historical relic dating back to the Qing Dynasty. Looking down at the big hole from the third floor, I couldn't help but wonder how many construction projects in Taiwan have uncovered bones or other archaeological finds that they either didn't recognize or which they quickly covered up. Would there be an incentive to "overlook" such finds? In this particular case I doubt it. -- the Hengchun Municipality Office is in charge of the project, and they seem to value such discoveries. But would a private company be so forthcoming on finding something of historical/archaeological value? I'm not sure.
3. While I was busy doing nothing this morning I called my dad in the States. According to him my cousin has "given up teaching" in exchange for an administrative job in downtown Seattle (?). I get it. Teaching in the States isn't an easy thing now, marked as it is by both a strange lack of leadership and a lack of trust in individual teachers. They ask for so much and give so little back.
4. Last night I watched 1976's At the Earth's Core, a hilariously bad science fiction movie starring Doug McClure and Peter Cushing. It's a combination of Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine and a Japanese monster movie. I loved the moog sound effects and the the flying rubber dinosaurs.
5. I'm really not sure if I'll be able to endure 1+ week of half days in the office. After Chinese New Year I'll have to come back and sit here for a while, a thing I didn't have to do before because previous principals just let me go during the winter and summer vacations. I plan on taking three days off during that time, but even so the prospect of sitting in this room for that long is daunting.
January 13
1. The bureaucratic aspect of my junior high school really irritates me. I have to take three work days (公假) off next week to attend the school camping trip. Why is this necessary? Who is it helping?
2. Walked over to where they're doing the construction this morning. It will be a "folk song hall." Honestly, it's not like the old folk song hall was that popular to begin with. Just building a park would have been better.
3. We're going to see Avatar 2 tomorrow. I'm not that excited about it, but we couldn't think of much else to do before dinner. We'll be spending the night at the mom-in-law's in Qiaotou, and the next day we'll be driving back. For Saturday dinner I've decided on one of the seafood restaurants near The Drafthouse.
4. I'm finding this school very annoying today. I feel like I'm surrounded by people who've been institutionalized, and who are institutionalizing others in turn. "Socialization" some might call it, but even socialization isn't always good (or worthwhile). I often resent the authoritarian way things are done here, and even though they seem to value my expertise my opinions don't always seem to matter.
Or maybe I'm just annoyed because T, one the teachers I find myself avoiding, asked me if I'll be in the office after Chinese New Year. This was annoying for not one but two reasons: the first being the general fact of sitting in this office for so long, and the second being the idea of her seeking me out when I'm trapped here. I REALLY don't want to have any discussions with her about my class next semester. I don't think her input has much value, and she can be extremely overbearing at times.
January 16
Forgot to write here yesterday.
In the morning the school held a running activity. We ran from the gate behind the school to a temple gate at the bottom of a hill about 2 km away. This activity turned out to be the best part of yesterday. I was told I finished in the top 10, which for a guy who just turned 48 isn't bad.
Today I'll be joining the seventh and eighth grade students on their camping trip in Tainan. I've never been to the place they're going, and I'm interested to see what that part of Tainan looks like. I was told the place where we're camping is very famous.
My birthday? After driving to Kaohsiung we went to Good Rolling, a burger place really close to the 85 Skytower. Best burgers I've ever had in Kaohsiung. After that we went to the Eslite Bookstore in the FE 21, where I bought some books. We then saw Avatar: The Way of Water. We ended the day with dinner at a Japanese barbecue place near the Aozidi MRT Station. All in all a good birthday.
We'll see how today goes. Hopefully it won't be miserable. I keep having to remind myself that Chinese New Year is on the other side of the next three days.
January 17
School camping trip in Tainan.
January 18
School camping trip in Tainan.
January 19
School camping trip in Tainan.
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