It's December 22nd. Cristmas is 3 days away and it feels nothing like the holiday season here in Taiwan.

I am in a city called Hua-Lian. It is on the East coast of the island. It's fairly small and doesn't have alot of great sights. But I did get to see the pacific ocean. And the streets her are absolutely empty in some places. I honestly cannot believe it.

Since there is little to do in this city Adrian and I are killing an hour in an internet cafe. And then we have no idea what we are going to do for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we will be going on a 19 km hike from a city that I can't remember and then we will see Toroko gorge (pronounced Toluga). It should be fairly fun.

The hotel we are staying at is probably the cheapest in the city. And because of that, it is also the worst. We have 3 TV channels. Two beds. Two brick-hard pillows each. And a shower that will probably walk before it spits out hot water. This morning had to be one of the worst and coldest showers of my life.

Before going to sleep we didn't check to see if the windows in the room were closed, and of course they weren't. So it was freezing in the morning. I hauled my ass out of bed and turned on teh hot water. After about 5 minutes it felt relatively warm on my hands. But once I got into the shower I was sadly mistaen. So now I have to decide if I REALLY need to shower between now and Monday night. Hmmmmmm, we'll see.

Season�s Greetings

I am sure you are all having a great holiday season. Over here it feels like any other day. Seriously. They play Christmas music in stores and there are decorations set up, but without snow it seems wrong that it is Christmas time. The holiday season finds me relaxed and doing well.

As I mentioned in my previous letter I am no longer employed at Walton�s English School. What happened is this:

The parents of the students in one of my classes are all teachers at the same school. And from day one they have all had various things to say about my teaching style. Each week I was getting different feed back from different parents. One would say that they wanted a focus on writing. So my boss would ask me to focus on writing. But then another parent would just worry about reading. So my boss would tell me to focus on reading. Then another parent would tell my boss that they want me to focus on conversation. As they say you can�t please all of the people all of the time. So at any given time I had at least one parent who was not happy with my teaching. And then there is Lucy�s mother. I honestly believe that she thinks she is god�s gift to teaching. Each time I would assign homework her daughter would do it differently from the way I had assigned. So I would ask Lucy why it was wrong (or not the way I had assigned) and all she would say is: mommy say no. So I would tell her she had to do her homework again so that she did it right. I am sure her mom wasn�t happy with that, but I have to have some semblance of authority in the classroom, right?

And so after a few months of this the parents decided that they no longer wanted me as their childrens� teacher. They told my boss that either I go, or the kids go. So my boss had to let me go. So as of December 14th I was no longer employed there.

The good thing that come of this is that I now have time off to travel and see some of the island. Plus I am technically getting paid as we speak. When I started at Walton�s Jeff (my boss) kept 30 hours of my pay so that I couldn�t quit without giving him notice. The pay he kept works out to being 3 more hours than I would have been paid for this month if I had continued to work there. So like I said I am technically getting paid even though I don�t work there. And then in January a friend of mine is going to work on a movie, so I will be taking over his private classes. About 15 hours a week. And when he gets back it will be Chinese New Year, and hopefully a trip to Thailand. And then after that it will be the start of a new semester and finding a teaching job will be easier than falling off of a chair. So I have no worries about money or jobs right now. I�m just chillin� and relaxin�.

I hope all of you are in favourable moods and conditions as the year comes to a close. So please allow me to wish you all a wonderful non-secular specific time of year and I will be in contact before we see 2002.

Merry Christmas

Happy Chanukah

Good Day

"But wait, it gets weirder!"

So far every haircut has been an adventure to say the least, and this last one is no exception. I had some time to kill before my class one morning so I decided to get a haircut. I went to the same place that I went to last time because the price was relatively cheap and they did a good job. So I take my seat in the chair and prepare for your standard everyday haircut. In the shop was another man lying back in his chair. I thought nothing of it and assumed maybe he was just getting a shave. He was an older Taiwanese gent, but his English was pr�tty good, so he started to ask me some questions. And with joy I answered. It felt like one of those old timer places where the old men go to get their hair cut and shoot the shit. But then everything went SNAFU.

A lady walked out of the back room and began to massage Walter (that�s his name, if you care). He had a blanket over his body so all that I could see of him was his head. The ladies hands were up near the top of his chest (under the blanket.)

I then had to go to get shampooed and that required walking past Walter. By this time the woman�s hand had travelled south to his abdomen. Still just a regular massage, I thought. After I was lathered and rinsed I headed back to the chair and looked to see the lady squeezing a grapefruit in a juicer and then rubbing the juice on her arms.

But wait! It gets weirder!

Walter then bunched the blanket around �you know where� and heaved a deep sigh. The woman then put her hands under the blanket and moved �downtown�. I couldn�t believe it! And the strange thing is Walter was still occasionally asking me questions!

My haircut was then over and so I payed the barber, and said good bye to Walter. But before I left I figured what the hell I�ll ask how much the �massage� costs. Walter just stopped talking and basically told me to go away. Now, if someone talks to you while they get that done to them, don�t you think that it�s perfectly OK to inquire to the price of said service? Oh well, I left the shop and I don�t think I will be heading there anytime soon. If my next hair cut goes freaky then I will never get another one while I am in Taiwan.