So what has the new year brought?

Like a summer blockbuster the new year is once again all hype and no boom.

Actually it hasn't been that bad. I have had a tonne of time off, but I also worked pretty much all the time for three weeks. So it has been nice and balanced. The work was good. It was at a couple of kindergartens and a couple of private classes. All of them went fairly smoothly once I figured out what I was supposed to be doing in the class. Basically it was act like a fool and make the kids smile and it was ll good. I actually managed to teach a group of kids who mumble their way through I'm fine thank you, to say Open the door. It blew me away when they said it. I actaully didn't believe I heard them properly, but they kept saying it everytime I opened the door they would yell "OPEN THE DOOR!" It was really cool to see.

Other than working and sleeping I went through a fight with homesickness. I still don't get the culture here and this month opened my eyes in a huge way. I thought that culture shock would pass after the first few months, but it still comes back every once in a while. Jenny told me to just dive into the culture here. But I don't know if I can find any point of reference to even begin. But hey I will try my hardest to figure something out.

The other big news is my trip to Thailand. I leave tomorrow night. And I will be spending 13 days away from Taiwan. I think it will be nice to get away from the culture here. Who knows maybe I will go away from it and see what there is on the island for me. The other great thing about the trip is that I will finally be warm again. ahhhhhh.

Now I know you are all sitting there with -33 degree temperatures outside, but believe me I would trade in a minute. In Canada I have a furnace, I have a car that warms up. I have oodles and oodles of warm clothes. Here in Taiwan I have no heater in my apartment. Which means that everymorning afternoon and night I can see my breath. I wear my shoes because there is no carpet. My scooter is freezing to drive because of the wind chill factor. So the only time I warm up is when I am shopping or teaching, but then it's back home to the ice castle.

But I guess I shouldn't complain too much, "it could be worse . . . It could be raining."

Not much else happened in January. Just me living life over here. But February will prove to be the best since I will be in Thailand for half of it.

Alright, I am signing off for the next 15 days. Take it easy and I will write all about it when I get back.

Well, 2002 is now upon us. The end of 2001 was like the end of any other year. Nothing special happene and New Year's Eve was a let down. I could have done something but I was just too tired and didn't really care anyways.

The rest of the Hua Lien trip was pretty good. I ended up walking about 40 kilometers in 3 days, so my feet were dead by the end of the trip. And I had to retire the shoes that were on my feet those 3 days. They were 4 years old and only cost 20.00US from a Payless in Montana. They actually lasted alot longer and did better than I had expected. I shouldn't have been wearing them, but since I packed them and forgot my good pair of hikers I had to make do. Since then they have now been replced by a nice pair of Teva hiking boots. (Mom and Dad, that's your Christmas present to me.)

So yeah, the hike was fantastic. It had great scenery and cool rocks. The gorge is a marble deposit so there were some nice sights along the way. The neat thing about the hike had to be the endangerment factor. The bus from Hua Lien to Tienshiang (our starting point) seemed to be in a bit of a rush as it careened up the mountain road. I always hate sitting on a bus and looking out of the windows and seeing nothing but a 50ft drop. So I white knuckled it up to the top. And then we had to hike down the road we just drove up. And that's when I realized there is no foot path, because only a crazy foriegner would want to take the hike. The lack of a path of any sort was not a big issue to me. But at one point there was a bus that wasn't too happy with me on the road. The driver was kind enough to wait until he was right beside me before he voiced his displeasure with his horn. The sound almost scared the shit out of me as I jumped two feet up and to the left to avoid whatever was making that sound. Luckily I was walking on the side of the road with the mountain on it. Otherwise I would have jumped two feet to the right and 50ft down.

So after 20km we made it to Toroko Visiter center. And that's when we tried to find a bus back to Hua Lien. We were told that there would be a bus. So we waited, and waited, and waited . . . and waited. Finally we saw a bus that looked like the one we had taken up. So we walked over and that's when I realized all I could say to ask for a ride was "Hua Lien Ma?" Basically in my pidgen Chinese I was trying to ask if the bus I would be indicating with my finger was heading back to Hua Lien and if Adrian and I could take said bus. But all I was saying was Hua Lien? That's how fun it is not knowing Chinese in Taiwan. Luckily there was a man on the bus, who as it happened was also the tour director, who could speak English. He told us that he would take us back to Hua Lien. We were ecstatic. After a few seconds he then said that he would get us a cab. Alright. Then he said there were no cabs but a bus would be coming. So we were once again stuck without a ride, waiting for a bus that we later found out would never come.

It turns out that buses do not go from Toroko to Hua Lien. This was quite surprising news to the people at the information desk in the visitor center. Luckily there was a nice couple from Taipei that spoke English and they offered to drive us to the bus station in the town nearby. Turns out there is no bus station in the town nearby. So they were kind enough to drive us straight back to our hotel in Hua Lien. Lucky for us.

Tune in soon to hear about the temple, the buddhist bathroom and holiday merriment?