01.06.2007 - Back in the MMI
Happy June everyone! Hope people have been behaving themselves and the UK is just how I left it. June means that its coming up to a year in Taiwan which seems to have gone so fast. I remember celebrating my last birthday in a tiny punk rock bar in a attic somewhere in Shibuya, drinking real Asahi and trying to come to terms with the fact that real life was upon us. Lucky for me I stayed in Asia and the odd adventures seem to have continued.
Although, much like the first year of University (lots of cash, new places to spend it) things are starting to wind down now and get a little more sensible, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It means I have the means to save a little cash, pick up some more Chinese, venture further afoot than my own front door and generally explore this Island with a sense of security. I no longer fear the fact that I understand little of what goes on around me, I have learned to embrace it somewhat. And when you find friends, you can laugh about it together which makes it much easier.
So next year I will be staying at the same school I am at now, moving to a new classroom but teaching the same group of kids and perhaps a few new guys. The system change and having to deal with the closure of my old class took a long while to get over for me. I guess I was more torn up about it than I thought which meant for a long time I didn't commit to making a connection with the new children. But all that is behind me now, our class is actually great and I couldn't be happier as their teacher. They have made huge progress over these few months and I look forward to the next year. Assuming they don't mess us about again.
About the biggest update to add is my purchase of a Wii. I really didn't imagine myself buying a console, I had mulled the idea of buying a PS3 over ever since it hit these shores but they didn't have any games back then and they still don't have any now which strikes me as really stupid. I guess it was Super Paper Mario that sold the thing to me, the game just looked so much fun. Having bought the thing I quickly realised I was going to have to get a wireless adapter and a composite cable for my TV box. I already had a 1G SD card with my camera and that seems to be enough for now. Actually playing the thing is often really intuitive and sometimes really tiring although as a machine to play together with about seven people it has no equal.
Ive been playing guitar a whole bunch recently and I'm thinking of putting a cd together of all the children's songs I have written and recorded over the last year. Based on the fact that I have recorded a song to cd every week for the last eleven months means there is a whole truck load of songs which I would like to collect together in one place. I write poem's for school every week too, just a shed load of resources I have either pooled or created in order to do my job here. So maybe I'll just make a Year 1 DVD of my work.
Besides the playing I do for school, Ive been strumming away at an open mic night on Sundays outside a nearby bar along with a friend of mine. At the moment there are only about three or four people doing it but hopefully it will really get good. It's just great to watch people playing on a Sunday evening a really relaxed atmosphere and if you sing a song you get a free drink! I'm still kicking around a few ideas for this Sunday I'm aiming to add two songs to my rotation every week until I get about ten songs I can do pretty easily. Last week I played "Rock and Roll Suicide", "Where is my mind" and "Creep", It went down pretty well so we will see how it goes.
Well, It's Friday and all my work for this week has been done. The weather was fantastic this morning but I can feel a tropical storm coming. This weekend I have to pay another visit to the dentist who is on a mission to fill every cavity in my teeth. She has already drilled and filled six, yes, six! of my molars and it going for the full set tomorrow afternoon. The last appointment took an hour of drilling to get done but I figure after she has finished with the other to there is no more places to drill! and I'm not the type to be afraid of the dentist but it's just so tiring to go through the pain for such extended periods of time. As part of my Visa renewal process I have to make another visit to the hospital for my medical examination. It's a little drawn out and a little invasive but once it's done, its done for the whole year.
At the moment I am without transport, although I'm working on that as soon as I get paid. I'm also still working on where I'm going to be living after July. All unavoidable crap that has to be done, unfortunately even odd adventures like mine are still dotted with mundane tasks.
Till next time,
This has been MMI
Although, much like the first year of University (lots of cash, new places to spend it) things are starting to wind down now and get a little more sensible, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It means I have the means to save a little cash, pick up some more Chinese, venture further afoot than my own front door and generally explore this Island with a sense of security. I no longer fear the fact that I understand little of what goes on around me, I have learned to embrace it somewhat. And when you find friends, you can laugh about it together which makes it much easier.
So next year I will be staying at the same school I am at now, moving to a new classroom but teaching the same group of kids and perhaps a few new guys. The system change and having to deal with the closure of my old class took a long while to get over for me. I guess I was more torn up about it than I thought which meant for a long time I didn't commit to making a connection with the new children. But all that is behind me now, our class is actually great and I couldn't be happier as their teacher. They have made huge progress over these few months and I look forward to the next year. Assuming they don't mess us about again.
About the biggest update to add is my purchase of a Wii. I really didn't imagine myself buying a console, I had mulled the idea of buying a PS3 over ever since it hit these shores but they didn't have any games back then and they still don't have any now which strikes me as really stupid. I guess it was Super Paper Mario that sold the thing to me, the game just looked so much fun. Having bought the thing I quickly realised I was going to have to get a wireless adapter and a composite cable for my TV box. I already had a 1G SD card with my camera and that seems to be enough for now. Actually playing the thing is often really intuitive and sometimes really tiring although as a machine to play together with about seven people it has no equal.
Ive been playing guitar a whole bunch recently and I'm thinking of putting a cd together of all the children's songs I have written and recorded over the last year. Based on the fact that I have recorded a song to cd every week for the last eleven months means there is a whole truck load of songs which I would like to collect together in one place. I write poem's for school every week too, just a shed load of resources I have either pooled or created in order to do my job here. So maybe I'll just make a Year 1 DVD of my work.
Besides the playing I do for school, Ive been strumming away at an open mic night on Sundays outside a nearby bar along with a friend of mine. At the moment there are only about three or four people doing it but hopefully it will really get good. It's just great to watch people playing on a Sunday evening a really relaxed atmosphere and if you sing a song you get a free drink! I'm still kicking around a few ideas for this Sunday I'm aiming to add two songs to my rotation every week until I get about ten songs I can do pretty easily. Last week I played "Rock and Roll Suicide", "Where is my mind" and "Creep", It went down pretty well so we will see how it goes.
Well, It's Friday and all my work for this week has been done. The weather was fantastic this morning but I can feel a tropical storm coming. This weekend I have to pay another visit to the dentist who is on a mission to fill every cavity in my teeth. She has already drilled and filled six, yes, six! of my molars and it going for the full set tomorrow afternoon. The last appointment took an hour of drilling to get done but I figure after she has finished with the other to there is no more places to drill! and I'm not the type to be afraid of the dentist but it's just so tiring to go through the pain for such extended periods of time. As part of my Visa renewal process I have to make another visit to the hospital for my medical examination. It's a little drawn out and a little invasive but once it's done, its done for the whole year.
At the moment I am without transport, although I'm working on that as soon as I get paid. I'm also still working on where I'm going to be living after July. All unavoidable crap that has to be done, unfortunately even odd adventures like mine are still dotted with mundane tasks.
Till next time,
This has been MMI
posted by Aaron | 10:04 PM
2 Comments:
Hey man. sounds like your having a great time over there, open mic sounds good fun. did you get my email about comming over? i wasn't sure if it sent as my accounts been playing up. Anyway i've got a few too many comitments and too few savings to come over this summer, sorry dude. Hope things continue to go well for you mate, Oh yeh and can you send me your address
Hey dude, Just working my way through your recent flourish of posts (good work man). All sounds good, I'm just glad to hear your still alive over there. The open mic nite sounds groovy dude - thanks to your guitar I've been playing the most I've ever played since you left. Not ready for open mic nites or anything but realised the acoustic suites me down to the ground
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