Before I start this update I want you all to know that I am OK. So please keep that in mind as you read the following. Actually, everyone involved is OK.
Tuesday night I had another first experience in Taiwan. Adrian, Amanda and Clare and I went to Jung Yang University. It was beautiful. If I knew Chinese I would enrol there just because it is such a nice campus. Amanda and Clare don�t have scooters so they rode on the back of Adrian�s and mine. On the way back from the University Clare asked if she could drive my scooter. At first I didn�t want to let her, but she said she had a drivers license and was a good driver. So I figured what�s the worst that could happen? So we headed back to the apartment.
And it turns out that she is a really good driver. She was very confident and drove very well. So I figured I�d let her drive the whole way home. We went through the scooter tunnel and started across a bridge, and that�s when I got a little worried. She was going too fast. I�m not sure how fast, but I knew it was too fast. I wanted to say something, but my mind and mouth weren�t working very well together at that point. About two seconds I knew something was going to happen. We weren�t going to get out of the turn without getting hurt. And then I saw the truck parked beside the road. And so did she. She tried to pull the scooter into a tighter turn, but we were at the threshold of flip or keep turning. So she tried to miss the truck, but we caught the back left corner of it with the front right of the scooter.
I don�t think that I will ever forget the sound. It was a thick thud, combined with a silence; maybe it was just my body shutting down. Just before we hit I went lucid. I didn�t tense up at all. And as the bike hit the truck I just sort of went with the flow and tried not to change anything. My right knee hit the taillight and my thigh slammed into the tailgate. I think Clare went over the handlebars. I say I think, because at first I was going to grab her and try to roll between her and the road, but she was out of my sight before I could move. I started to go over the handlebars as the bike fell, but my legs were held holding the bike and I didn�t slide off of the bike until it hit the ground. As I passed the handlebars my leg bumped the horn three times. Adrian was on his scooter ahead of us, and me accidentally bumping the horn is what made him turn around to see what had happened. I got up right away and turned off the scooter. Then I noticed that my jacket was ripped. My knee was killing me, but that�s all that I could tell was wrong at that time.
Then I looked at Clare. She was curled in a ball with her face in her arms. And she wasn�t moving. I almost freaked as all the worst case scenarios flew through my mind. I limped over and asked if she was Ok. She is Taiwanese and the fact that she was able to her English and respond perfectly in English let me know that she was OK. But she still wasn�t moving. Adrian and Amanda came up and I told them Clare wasn�t moving. So they looked after Clare as I cleaned up the broken pieces of my scooter. She was fine, except for two strawberries (road rash) on her face. Her teeth were a little sore, but other than that, and a few other scrapes, she was fine.
The back end of my bike was trashed. The wheel turned all the way around and my forks were bent. But Clare and I could walk so everything was good. All that mattered to me was that we were OK.
I�ll admit that I was choked about my bike, which I had bought four days before, but it�s only a machine and it can be fixed.
So Amanda and Clare went to the hospital and Adrian and I waited at the scene to see what was going on, or if the truck owner needed anything. And then . . . the police showed up.
Now, you have to know that Adrian and I both don�t have driver�s licenses. And I didn�t have my ARC, Insurance, or scooter registration (my documents were in transit). So I was terrified the police would get mad at me. They talked to Amanda (on Adrian�s cell phone) and the talked the truck owner. After that they asked if I was Ok, and then they asked a strange question. They wanted to know if Clare was my girlfriend. I said nope, and they said that there were no problems and left.
Then Adrian pushed my scooter to the shop were I had bought it (four days earlier). Luckily we crashed very close to the shop. While Adrian was gone, a second truck showed up and five big men got out. And that is when I started to worry. Once again, my brain fed me images of all the worst-case scenarios. The men went and talk to the owner of the truck, and they talked about the accident. They all of them turned to look at me. I was terrified. But all they wanted was to see my injuries and wanted to know if I was OK. Then the two trucks left. So I was safe. Phew!
When Adrian came back he said I should go to the hospital and get checked out. Unfortunately I don�t have my hospital card yet, so I had to pretend to be Adrian. I was x-rayed, and given a tetanus shot. There was no serious damage, just bruises and bumps.
So Amanda, Clare and I hopped into a cab and Adrian drove his scooter home. We all came back to the apartment and stayed up talking. Clare kept apologizing for wrecking my bike, but I kept saying that it didn�t matter. We were both OK, and that�s all that mattered.
I asked Clare if she knew how fast we were going when we hit the truck. She did: 70 km/hr
I honestly couldn�t believe it. If someone told me they drove a motorcycle into the back end of a truck at 70, I would be amazed that they weren�t in traction. But both of us walked away with only small scrapes and bumps. The gods were smiling on my ass that night.
The next morning the scooter shop called to see if I was ok and to ask what happened to my scooter. When I bought it, it looked brand new. And there it was 4 days later sitting broken and banged up in front of his shop. Clare talked to him and explained what had happened. And said that I would like him to fix it if possible. Now I was expecting him to say that it would be ready in about a week, but I picked my bike up that night at 9:30pm. And it�s actually better now than it was before the accident. So in a way it was a good thing that the crash happened. The shop guy was able to work out a few kinks.
So now today it is Thursday. I still ache. And I have a bruise on my thigh that is purple and ugly, but I can move my leg almost to its full rotation and my scooter is fine again, so everything is good.
Please don�t worry for me. I never drive as fast as she went, and I am very careful. Even more so now. It was a bad accident, but I am healthy and Clare is healthy, so there is no need to panic or worry.
I hope all of you are doing well and have not had anything like this happen to you lately. This was my first accident, and man I gotta say I never want to do that again, but I think it would be kind of interesting to go back and witness the crash, just so I can see exactly what happened. I am sure that I don�t have all of the details correct. This is only what I could piece together from my memory and by looking at how we landed on the ground. The truck was about 12-15 feet long. We hit the back of it. Clare was lying on the ground by the cab of the truck. I was halfway between the cab and the back of the truck and the scooter was beside the rear tire of the truck. So we flew fairly far. And when I think of it, I think that we hit it in the best place at a good angle. If we had been anymore to the right, I would be in the hospital still, or worse. Needless to say I feel very lucky to be in the state I am right now.

I have a new girl in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup that's right! So all you girls at home who are hugging your pillows wishing it were me (if there's even one of you) have to get over me and move on.

Last night Adrian and I went to a bar for some spagghetti and a beer. And as we walked in we saw Gloria was there with someone I had never seen in there before. her name was Wendy. We were introduced to Wendy, and that's when I noticed the girls there with her. She was so cute. She had black hair and the nicest eyes. I fell in love almost right away. She has only been in Taiwan for about 8 weeks, same amount time as me. So through the night I spent some time with her and we got along really well. So I thought, hmmm, maybe she likes me too. So I figured what the hell I'll make a move. Because she's new, she doesn't really have a place to live, so Adrian and I talked about it and decided we would let her stay at our place. And that's how I met Alice and fell in love.






Fooled you didn't I? OK, here's how it really happened. Wendy did have a girl there with her. She's an 8 week old puppy that Wendy found near her apartment. So Wendy took her home and then to the vet to get checked out. The dog is clean (there's no rabbies here) and she was given her first set of shots, and today she is getting the rest. Wendy isn't able to take care of Alice so she is looking for a good home for her. Adrian and I both have thought about getting a pet. And since they are expensive in stores this is perfect. So next Wednesday we will pick Alice up and bring her back to our place. And if we realize that, because of our schedules, we won't provide a good home, Wendy will take Alice back and find a different home. I am so excited. She is such a cute dog. She is all black, except for her paws. They are brown. And her eyes are adorable and she has cute little ears. I know I sound lame, but you should see this dog. It's so cute.

So I will have to let you all know how it goes.

For now I have to get running.

Hey Everybody,

So I guess some of you are wondering what I have been up to for the past few weeks. Has anything exciting happened, and have I had any more adventures. Well sit back and let me begin . . .

Alot has happened to me in the month of October. And I have also had alot of dead time. October was a month of stress and sickness. I had to get my Resident Visa before October 30th, I had to work to keep my job, and I had to fight through 2 brutal colds.
I landed in Taiwan on August 30th and had 60 days to get my resident visa. If I didn't get it then it was either back to Canada, or off to Hong Kong for a few days while I applied for another Visitor's Visa. The process should be easy, but it isn't. I had to take my passport, a Chinese translation of my degree, some passport sized photos, and a medical check up.

oooh . . . I had to go to a Taiwanese hospital. That was a hell of an experience. Wew! Luckily I had a chinese person with me when I went. It was a student from one of Adrian's classes. She picked me up in her car and drove me to the hospital so that I could do my physical check-up. She had just done the same thing with her son so she had the routine down. I had to fill out forms, give them my money and then go get poked and prodded. The first stage was the blood sample. We went upstairs to this desk where they took my name and then I sat there and waited my turn. I sat there and watched a lady with rubber gloves stick needles into people's arms. Then after one of the people ahead of me she stopped to scratch her head. That's when I noticed that although she WAS wearing latex gloves, she wasn't changing them between all of the people. After she scratched her head she got up and left the room and then came back and sat down. She didn't once take off her gloves r change them. And then it was my turn. After two horrific experiences trying to donate blood at the U of C, I didn't really feel like having another needle stuck into my elbow. So it took a few tries to finally get the blood out of me. And the bruise lasted for over a week.

After that it was time for the urine sample. "Here's your jar, there's the urinals. Have at 'er." That's what it was. No one watched to make sure I didn't use someone else's urine. I mean how secure is that. They want to make sure I don't use drugs and I am disease free, but they don't check to make sure it's my pee I hand to them. But I don't think anyone in the world would step up to the job of watching strangers pee in a hospital bathroom to make sure they don't cheat the urine test. I know I wouldn't want it.

After that it was off to the radiology van to get my x-rays done. Really, it was a VAN! I walked outside on the loading bay and went into a van with two strange men and had my chest x-ray done. Just a little strange.

Then it was to the waiting room to wait for the doctor to check me. While waiting I looked at the form to see what he would be checking. That's when I spotted the box labelled "External Genitalia." Well, I don't know about you guys, but that freaked me out. But all the doctor did was take my weight and height. He then looked at my eyes for about 2 seconds. Touched my throat and told me I was fine. Wow, so complete and exact.

Then after I gave all of that to the secretaries at work I had to wait and pray that the forms would come in on time. Luckily they did. The secretaries returned my visa and gave me my work permit and a letter from the ministry of education. These had to be taken to Taipei so that I could apply for my Resident Visa. So one Monday I woke up at 6:30 and took the bus to the train station and got on a train to Taipei. In Taipei I did the whole application thing and then headed straight back to Chung Li. The whole trip took just over three hours. The only scary thing was they wouldn't have my visa ready until Nov. 1. So that meant that I would be here illegally for two days. I talked to some people who had gone through the process and they told me that I should be ready to take a small vacation to Hong Kong. But on Nov. 1 I picked up my visa and asked if I was overstayed, and they told me I had 15 days to get my application for my Alien Resident Card ARC into Taoyuan. So on Nov 2 Adrian and I hopped on the bus and I submitted my application. And next Monday I can go and pick it up. WOOOOOHOOOOOO!! I will finally be 100% legal and official in Taiwan.

So what's up with my job? You ask? Well let me tell you.

When I got my job at the young school I was basically given the text book and pushed into a classroom with no training. So I winged it. I did what I thought was the right thing, and it seemed to work. So I stuck with it. Turns out my boss didn't think it was so good. He waited one month and then told me that he wanted me to improve my skills and do it quickly. I had a few problems with this. If the kids were learning and having fun in my class, then I think that my style is fine. If he wanted me to teach a certain way, why didn't he tell me when I first got the job? If I suddenly changed my style then the kids would get confused and that would be worse. And how am I supposed to change my style when there are no teaching tools available in the school? And there are no stores in Chung Li to buy these tools? So I basically stressed out while I tried to figure out how to keep my job. I sat in on a few other teachers classes and talked to the other teachers to get ideas from them about how to teach better. I guess I am doing OK, since Jeff (my boss) hasn't really said anything. And Adrian said I should just say nothing and not bring it up since Jeff will probably just let the issue slide. So I still have my job and am raking in the dough.

How's my health? Well I have contracted what is simply known as the Taiwan cold. It basically starts as a sore throat from all of the pollution here. Then after about three days it heads north to the nose and then it's stuffy nose time for about 4 days. But the throat is still screwed up. So for about a week, you don't have the ability to raise your voice or add inflection to a sentence. My voice cracked every second sentence and I didn't sound like myself at all. People couldn't believe it was my voice. The first time I got the cold it was brutal. But eventually it went away. This second time though, I have had a bad cough for over a week. ARRRRGGHHHH!!! Plus I have had no time to go shopping so I can't get any Orange juice for my cold. So a few more days and then it's off to the grocery store.

One very exciting thing that happened in October was the Robbie Williams concert in Taipei! It was so cool. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am glad I took it. It was only 1.5 hours long, but can he ever put on a good show. Every song was great and it was so cool to hear them live. Ohhh it was good!