Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Posted in Sharing at 11:54 am by Administrator
Finally checked into my hotel in downtown Abu Dhabi. The electrical outlets are not the same so I'm running on battery power until my computer dies. Just wanted to send a quick e-mail.
I went through Kuwait instead of Amsterdam. The flights were all fine. Abu Dhabi is very friendly and relatively unhurried. First thing I noticed was how well organized everything is. The city was definitly well planned. There was not even one single turn in the road from the airport to downtown. It was perfectly lined with palm trees the entire 10 or so miles. It's also completely flat here.
Lots of upscale retail stores and exotic cars. No surprise there. Apparently gold is less expensive here. There is no tax. Food is cheap but otherwise I'm guessing it's pretty expensive to live here overall.
I asked the person who picked me up at the airport what the best part of living here is. He said it was clean safe and quiet. He said sometimes the UAE citizens (only about 20 percent of the population) will carelessly drive their land rovers - expecting you to let them pass. It doesn't happen that much. Wow, what a big difference from Seattle drivers.
Joseph S
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Posted in Sharing at 11:43 am by Administrator
I had a great experience at TESL Express, and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in teaching abroad. The hands-on practice and examples were extremely beneficial, and learning about the theory behind what we're doing was really interesting. I have a ton of ideas to take with me to Japan now, and I feel confident that I'll be able to stand up in front of a class of English learners!
–Michelle G
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Posted in Sharing at 5:14 am by Administrator
Jhong Li has definitely gotten warmer since I was gone. It's beautiful full blown spring. No more 30 minute long, boiling hot showers when I get out of bed in the mornings to warm up. A few of the students took me to a mountain top at a place called Miao Ling. It's an area outside of Taipei. It was covered with blossoming cherry trees. They trees were all flaunting their fragrant puffs of little white flowers. The whole mountain view was sweet smelling. There were areas that were dominated by huge Cyprus trees. Steps went down from the base of the trees to a floor surrounded by the embracing rootballs. These trees were huge… like twisted, outstretching Godzilla's! The Giant Sequoias are in the same family as Cyprus.
These large beautiful trees surrounded another area of blossoming cherry trees with a water fountain. The fountain was bordered by manicured hedges and a water filled moat. The effect was visually pleasing except for the ridiculous purple plastic eggplant characters at the waters edge. Kids and one dude from our group hopped the surrounding moat and had their picture taken with the dopey eyed things.
The entrance to the park had the famous flower clock. You won't guess what the clock face was made up of, never in a million bajillion years. Further up the mountain was an area designated for farming water lilies. First we had lunch at a swell spot at the edge of a flower farm. The rockstar item on the menu was waffles. Funny enough, waffles sounded perfect to all of us. We had butter waffles, chocolate sauce waffles, whipped cream waffles. How could you go wrong with that surrounded by water lilies and fog shrouded mountain peaks?
The water lily tracts were designed for tourist to walk amongst them and pick a bouquet. There was about an 8 inch stone walkway between each row of lilies. They grow in fluffy soft mud. I had a misstep and my leg went down about mid calf into the thick foamy mud. Ah, very embarrassing but at least I was wet and cold for a while. We had somebody take our picture next to the plants and as we stood up I stepped backward to avoid walking on the person kneeling in front of me and I almost went in again! I was ready to go at that point but the bus to take us back down the mountain was delayed. We waited until after the sun went down and it became pretty cold up there. When the bus did arrive and finally loaded up, the driver was trying to make up for lost time. Most of our crew was motion sick because the driver was flying downhill around the turns. We were dropped off right in front of the train station and some of the dizzy students leaned over the ditch railing for a few minutes before we went back home.
I played tennis with two of the students the next day. Also I had some work done on my teeth. The experience was much better, faster and cheaper then the United States. Even without insurance it cost about $40 to have two cavities repaired. With insurance it would have been $6. The visit didn't even require an appointment. The dentist who did the work has been practicing in Jhong Li for 20 years, his English was okay too.
I'm returning to Seattle tomorrow for a short time. Not sure exactly how long, hopefully not too long. Taiwan is good to me and I'll be itching to return ASAP. It partly depends on if I'm granted my work visa or not. Tonight was my last night as the "Free Talk" teacher in Jhong Li, I feel pretty sad. The students have been terrific. It's obvious that they really want to learn and improve their English skills so it's easy to have a blasty blast. They often tell me that our time together is so fun and with the other teachers it's boring because the teacher talks the whole time. That right there has decreased my fear of teaching my own class in the future. I will miss all of the students and staff for sure. To everyone in Sea-town, hit me up on the flipside. Later Baters!
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Saturday, March 15, 2008
Posted in Sharing at 6:25 pm by Administrator
Wow, the Philippines are wonderful. Yesterday I went snorkeling of the coast of Bohol Island to a protected area called Belicasan. We went to a couple of different places around the island looking at the fish and corals. The last place had dark brown coral with iridescent fringes that blazed in the sunlight. there was brain corals, enormous plate corals that expanded out from a narrow base like huge flowers. All the time the fish were gnawing on them – for miles around making a spooky chirping sound like birds and monkeys in the jungle. It was unforgettable.
The first thing i noticed about the Philippines were the jeepneys. They are the most funktacular vehicles in the world. The skeletons of them are world war II era U.S. jeeps that have been modified to be uncomfortable passenger buses. They are painted extremo colors and are often covered in metal artwork. Most have a collection of antennas and as many horns as a tractor trailer. They look exactly like something out of Low Rider magazine, except dirtier. Each one is overwhelmed with a pile of people hanging on for dear life.
The Philippines is a devoted Catholic country, every town has a patron saint who is worshipped accordingly. The cathedrals are old and stunning. It is holy week soon for Easter and sadly I'm going to miss quite a party. It is a 5 day national holiday. The Philippines is poor but people are incredibly friendly and curious. They seem to have enough food to eat and are quick to smile and joke around. At no point did I ever feel unsafe. The poor neighborhoods that I visited were clean and always had a park nearby that was full of youths playing soccer or basketball. American style flag football is also very popular. One of my hosts took me to a tournament game that his friends were playing in. The league was only 1 year old but it had no shortage of players, both male and female teams. They were playing to go to Manila and play for the National Championship. There are a lot of athletic people in the Philippines and even though some are tiny compared to the other players they are natural athletes and have no fear. It was an American who organized the Cebu flag football league but he had left a few months earlier.
I went to famous Boracay beach near the end of my trip. It was much like Alona beach in Bohol but a lot more people. It was not a problem because there is plenty of beach to go around – about 4 miles of powdery white sand. The parties were more wild in Boray but be careful how much you party - Beware the ladyboys! No kidding, they are men who dress to look like women – sometimes with surgery for that. It was obvious to me who the real women were but I often saw a totally drunk tourist talking to one of them. "Hey my friend" I would say, "You know that's man right?" The (real) local women are hard to miss, I had no idea that Filipinas were so beautiful and had such attractive, fiery personalities. I love that.
I was having coffee with a new friend, she pointed to a ladyboy who had a sparkling wig on. She said that he had been caught by the police and was suspected of stealing from a tourist. The police immediately shaved all his hair off and then had to let him go for lack of evidence…You have to watch out for that coconut justice!
The overall weather was fair during my 12 day trip. It was overcast a lot of the time, especially at the beginning and end of the day. At one point I was caught in a downpour that ruined my digital camera. The locals can make more money if it's clear because tourists will go sailing and watch the sunset. It's pleasantly breezy at sunrise and sunset on the coast. Here's a tip that you won't find in the guidebooks; In the case of Boracay, when you go to that island (actually it's the tip of a peninsula but you must take a boat to get there) don't take the regular ferry from the Caticlan city center. Algo is about a 30 minute walk or $0.25 taxi ride further down and where many local workers have their own sailboats to commute to Boracay. They will be honored to take you instead. You can also avoid paying the terminal fees that way. These people have been sailing for a long long time and they have a strong passion for it.
I stayed with two different people that I met on a hospitality website called
couchsurfing.com. The Philippine people are famous for their generosity and warmth. They both provided me with a place to sleep and regroup as well as tips about travel destinations and local neighborhood hangouts. I only stayed a few days at either place. It was incredibly convenient and a pleasure to meet them. The first night, in Cebu city, a guy from Poland was also staying at the house. He had been traveling for about 8 months in Southeast and central Asia and had a lot of stories. I met up with him a day or two later on a different island so we hung out for a few days. He first planed to be in the Philippines for a few days but was already going on 2 months and had no plans to leave anytime soon. It was fun to meet so many cool people.
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Monday, February 18, 2008
Posted in Sharing at 8:38 am by Administrator
I knew it would happen. Sooner or later. Actually it happened the 2nd time just a few hours ago. Car crashes. The one just a few hours ago was nothing special. Just a light fender bender. Only one car per lane guys… c'mon.
The other day there was a BAD accident outside my regular Internet cafe. The doors to the building were wide open and even though I was jamming to my fav Seattle radio station (KEXP positive vibrations), the bang was loud and clear through my headphones - the unmistakeable squeak and crunch. Even though it was terribly loud, the modest people around just became perky for a second then went back to work. I casually made my way outside to see WTF and saw a completely destroyed BMW and a Ford Minivan. A head on collision on an otherwise empty street. I checked to see if anyone was hurt. They were all pretty shook up but they were walking around. I offered the young driver in the BMW a cigarette – it was obviously his fault (I don't smoke but I found a small pack in a taxi earlier). The older driver didn't look very neighborly at the time so I didn't go near him.
They were lucky. Those cars were so destroyed, I can't even describe it. I have pictures that I'll post for you soon.
My bike trip was a bust. No luggage deliveries during that particular week because of Chinese New Year. Instead, I went around the whole Island on the slow train. I stopped in the city of Kinting in the far South of Taiwan. There were biking trails that were just begging my name. I was sad, the terrain was really good. The monotony of the dusty roads were broken by the sight of waves crashing on the rocky beaches. The city itself …a surfing inspired tourist trap! Ha, there I said it. It was definitely fun for a visit. Fruit in the South of Taiwan is widely available and cheap – cheap except for the small city of Kinting. The fruit smoothies are a kick in the pants. The lady thought I was crazy because I wanted her to toss in bananas, papayas, apples, kiwi, guava, pineapple and some other baffling produce into the blender. There was a cart full of ripe coconuts across the street that was looking mighty appetizing for my smoothie. After lots of fried food in Jhong Li and Taipei, the vitamin rush hurt sooo good.
The weather was deliciously warm too. It's not exciting but it was truly enjoyable to doze on the peaceful beach. Occasionally I waded into the water in my sandals to sooth my feet, which had become blistered from walking too much. The beach itself was no paradise, the sharp rocks underfoot were uninviting and the sand had too much litter. There are much better beaches outside of town, National treasures. There are volunteer beach cleanup activities, that would be helpful. I want to be a part of that and possibly help organize it.
The new school in Kaohsiung is almost finished. I found a hostel nearby for temp accommodation. It is a dorm room for about $150 U.S. per month. I met the manager at a Western style pub. He is from Australia. That will work out nicely. I am to begin teaching the first week of March. That should be a smooth transition to the busy summer season for me. I will need to renew my visa at the end of this month by briefly visiting another country. I'm looking forward to telling you all about that soon. Bye bye for now.
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