Walking back from the St-Jean Baptiste Fête in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on the 23rd of June 2006, taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P93 5.1 MP camera. I remember that night well, because on that date, I said goodbye to a lot of people. People I think I won’t be seeing again any time soon.
On our way back from tutoring, on Thursday night at around 9:30 PM, we went under the Xida underpass and crossed a police blockade right before Nanda street. The police were out in full force, with assault rifles and everything. I do not know what was going on, but it was somewhat bizarre. It made us think how in Britain, the cops walk around with assault rifles as well.
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The school is getting ready for christmas. Since we are expats, we find it a bit strange to be working on christmas. Actually, the kids all have classes. We get January the 1st off though, at least that’s good. I have been spending some time on The Secret Memoirs. I have about 3000 words written, when it will be appropriate, I will publish them on my blog.
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This weekend, we will be going to see Carrie and John again in Taipei. They live in a town or suburb to the south of Taipei called Shulin. Our time in Taipei will be very interesting since we have a lot of things to do. We are both very thankful to them since they have helped us out a bunch since our arrival here in Taiwan. Carrie has decided to stay in Taiwan for at least another 5 years, though she plans to travel in Asia for 6 months in 2007. We will go to the 2008 Olympics with them, which will take place in Beijing.
I really respect Carrie, the way that she learned Mandarin in a few years, since she was teaching in a small 8 million city in China. They know of all the great deals in Taipei. They have only been in Taiwan for a few more months, but their experience with the Chinese and Taiwanese cultures goes back 4 years. Much as us, she faces challenges with her family. I remember meeting Carrie about 5 or 6 years ago for the 1st time in Ottawa, when I first started going out with the knockout redhead who became my wife later on.
I hope on having more time this week to
- Work on my writing
- Work on my art
- Work on my photography
I don’t know how this will pan out since I have a busy week ahead.
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I went to the dentist on Saturday. I haven’t been to see a dentist for quite some time. I knew I didn’t have any cavities, but my teeth needed a thorough cleaning. I have seen doctors in hospital within minutes of arriving and seen a dentist without an appointment within 15 minutes. I like this of Taiwan. However, I do not remember that cleaning teeth was that painful. Mostly, what I remember is a pleasant sharp feeling to the teeth, after they shined and brushed them after removing the tartre. It didn’t really feel like a torture session, because every time I thought it was too much, the dentist changed spots.
The verdict? Well, I will need some braces on the front of my teeth to correct a tooth, which I have been waiting to do for years. The dentist told me that it would cost about 20000 NTD, which is about 625 USD. Quite cheap considering that it would take about 6 months to correct. Oh well, I guess I’ll start on that sooner than later. My wife and I are both returning to see him this week, we are not looking forward to that, but hey, it was due.
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