Yesterday we went straight from school to yoga, then out to eat at our favorite Korean restaurant, followed by a stop at a sweet little mango ice shop. We got home more than twelve hours after we'd left for work. Today we had a professional development day so no teaching but a (good) day full of meetings. We went straight from work to the Wakey, followed by dinner with friends at a new western style restaurant. We got home more than twelve hours after we'd left for work. Good thing these weeks finish with a weekend.

One should not go grocery shopping when one is hungry. It leads one to purchase things one would normally be able to walk by. But who doesn't want mochi, peanut butter and chocolate? It seems like a match made in heaven to me.

Aaah, the delights one can find on the grocery shelves. It was every bit as delicious as I expected.

I finally got around to getting my hair cut in Taiwan. I'd really meant to last year. I had recommendations of who to go see back last winter but I liked having my hair long enough to pull back into a ponytail and out of my face. Then I got in the accident and had a gash in my head that needed to heal before I was letting anyone near my scalp with a pair of scissors. Eventually, at the end of the summer I visited my sisters' hair dresser and had it cut short. But, of course, short hair requires regular maintenance and it was driving me crazy having my hair in my eyes so I went to visit Felix yesterday. It's seriously shorter and I love it.

The best part about getting your hair cut in Taiwan? The 20 minute scalp massage, of course.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was hot but the humidity was awful. Today the humidity wasn't so bad but boy was it hot! Instead of killing ourselves on a hike we opted for a walk to breakfast with friends with an extended route home so we could stop at Costco. It seemed as though half of Kaohsiung had chosen that moment to also go to Costco but we found what we wanted and made it out in a reasonable amount of time. We even managed to renew our membership without too much trouble, given the lack of a common language.

This afternoon we biked down to the harbor for mango ice. There are closer places to get mango ice but the store next to the Cijin Island ferry is our favorite. It's where we were first introduced and, believe me, you will always remember your first mango ice. It's worth the hour long bike ride down there and back and you can almost convince yourself that you've burned off all the calories by the time you get home.

Before...

and after.

We had a lovely time at the beach yesterday with some friends. We stripped down to our bathing suits and immediately covered up with towels underneath our umbrellas. In the middle of the day at 22 degrees latitude the sun can burn awfully quickly. The beach sand is black and blistering hot. It felt like my flip flops might melt as we crossed the 20 feet of sand to the water's edge. The water was slightly cooler than the air temperature so not refreshing but nice none the less.

As we ate our lunches we got to talking about upcoming trips we're all planning. One of the reasons we're here in Taiwan is to do some traveling in Asia so we're constantly planning one trip or another. On the docket at the moment is the east coast of Taiwan for a long weekend in October, Taroko Gorge in November, Japan in January and China in April.

We keep going back and forth about what to do for Chinese New Year in February so that was the main focus of our conversation over lunch. The friends we were with are going to Myanmar and have invited us to join them. Myanmar was not on my short list of places to visit but we've been wanting to travel with other folks (traveling with just the two of us is great but can get a little old. Who knew?) and we've come to enjoy their company quite a bit. A couple hours on the beach worked out really well, so why not a week visiting pagodas and hanging out on another beach for awhile? Myanmar, here we come.

We're about to head out on a morning bike ride and then a picnic lunch at the beach - weekends are great, aren't they? But before we do here are some random thoughts from the week.

I had left my bike at school on the day I went to the dentist so the next day I walked to work. When I came out of my building I could see a rainbow hanging over the sky in the direction I was heading. Rainbows are lovely and all but they usually mean it's raining nearby and I had forgotten my umbrella - very un-Taiwanese of me. But since I walk by four 7-11's on my commute I just popped into one and bought myself another umbrella. Now I have a sunshade for my afternoon duty on the playground. Of course it hasn't rained since I bought it.

Here's what mail delivery at school looks like.

Scooters, the Asian workhorse.

The subways in Kaohsiung are such an interesting place. Often there are kids dancing in front of mirrors in the hallways. Some of them have elaborate group dances with a dozen people doing precise, synchronized moves. They're not busking, just practicing, I guess. On Tuesday after the dentist I was on the subway in the middle of a school day and had the opportunity to hear the piped in music since the kids where off at school. Imagine my surprise to hear the wonderful classic, "My Grandfather's Clock." I've had that tune in my head ever since.

Today was back-to-the-dentist day. I went in to school and taught A block then took a taxi downtown. I can tell that living in Taiwan is making me cheap. Seven US dollars for a half-hour cab ride was ridiculous. Who pays that much for a taxi?! Oh yeah, the rest of you.

I'll save you the gory details from the dentist's office. Actually there aren't any gory details. I was in and out of there in less than 45 minutes, with a new filling to replace a silver filling that was probably 40 years old, and one less wisdom tooth. The wisdom tooth took all of about two minutes. For this I paid about US$3. Yes, the taxi ride cost twice as much as the dental visit.

I got home around noon and have spent the rest of the day warping my loom. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday. Lee is making me soup for dinner and I have pain killers for when the Novocaine wears off. Tomorrow is my easier day at school so I should be fine. If all goes well with the healing I'll make an appointment in a month to have the harder tooth pulled.