TaiwanChallenges contact telephone number: Taipei (02) 6601 4860 (English and Chinese), or click here to send an email!
My Blog
It's worth saying a few words about why I'm blogging: One reason is
simply so that my friends and family can keep up with what I'm doing.
Another, better reason is that many people visit my site because they
want to know more about who I am - usually for reasons to do with
business or education.
Talking about what's important to me and how I'm
living tells visitors a lot more about me than the usual biographical
stuff, so I'm hoping you'll get to know me a little. (If you know
nothing about me at all, you can get the basics from my profile page , and more detail by clicking on the various links.)
In addition, I blog as part of my PassionQuest project to make sense of the world. You can read all about it in the appropriate section of the site.
I had a really positive experience yesterday, which gives me hope for Taiwan's future.
One of the really annoying things about living in Taiwan is that the government seems to think 'foreigners' are all temporary visitors who come to teach, study, or buy something for a year or two and then 'go home'. Taiwan can never be home. You are prevented from doing a lot of things that ordinary Taiwanese take for granted, such as having normal banking facilities or taking part in governent programs designed to help the economy.
Aiyo! I sat up late on Sunday trying to make a video for the best trip in Taiwan competition . It's amazing how long this stuff takes, but it's getting easier as I learn more about it.
The deal is: a team comprising at least one foreigner must submit a proposal for a 4-day trip in Taiwan. The focus of the trip is adventure, and cost-effectiveness. You have to assign a clear theme, write your proposal, and also submit a one-minute video introducing yourselves. Here's what we came up with....
I woke up hungry this morning and decided to try a restaurant I've heard a lot about - The Diner.
Looking on their website, the food looks great, and we arrrived to find that many other people have reached the same conclusion.
The place was absolutely packed! Bear in mind, this was at 11am on a Monday, not the busiest day of the week nor the busiest time of day, but it was completely full all the same.
We checked with the waitress, and discovered that we *might* be able to get a table in 45 minutes, which was too long for me and we ended up going somewhere else.
But it's worth commenting on the fact that some businesses are doing amazingly well, despite the things that people keep telling me about the economy. There is obviously a market for quality and these guys are doing very well out of it.
I've just had a nightmare couple of weeks following the sudden death of my computer.
Email, contact books, lesson plans, photographs, music, all of it disappeared just as I had an urgent deadline to meet and I spent a week sweating as I tried to finish a 25-page report without access to my archive. Driving down the street, cursing myself for not making a backup, I saw a sign outside a church reminding me that "Jesus Saves" - the smug bastard!
Still, then final result was a fairly hefty upgrade to the useless
machine, and a whole bunch of new capabilities. While i was focused on
my IT I took a little time out to try Goosync, and am pretty impressed
with the result.
Obviously it was just an administrative error that caused Tourism Queensland not to include me in the list of top 50 applicants for The Best Job In The World, but they've been receiving criticism from others over their decision-making process too.
I had a bit of a disaster at a high school class a few days ago when I
arrived to find that the computer had been removed. With no way to show
the video that was the core of the lesson, I had to improvise something
else and decided to get the students to learn a magic trick.
I saw an article recently about how learning magic can improve your people skills,
which is very relevant to language teachers because language is all
about communicating with people. A trick provides a framework for
interaction which puts the student in-charge and boosts confidence. And
by focusing on completing the task, we can relieve the pressure that
usually accompanies other forms of presentation.
This is Clare. She's been shortlisted for the best job in the world and is currently the most popular of the 50 candidates. In fact, she has more votes than all the others combined. It's a great achievement, but I want to encourage everyone to keep on voting so that she gets through to the next round. (Go to this page to vote !)
One of my students wrote to me recently about something that reminded me once again about how much control we really do have over our lives. Most of us believe we are victims. We have to obey others, so we have no power. In fact, this little story shows that we DO have power to make change. (It reminded me of the time I had to become Snow White! )
I was listening to a song this morning, quite by accident, that took me back in time 30 years to a world that was very different from the one I live in today. I know this website is supposed to be all about positive thinking, but I was left with a great sense of loss. In the words of another song "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
I can't help noticing that most of the news at the moment seems to
be bad. Everywhere I look, I see people worrying about the economy.
Here in Taiwan, exports are down by a massive amount and a lot of
people have been laid off or are taking 'voluntary' reductions in
income. It's easy to believe that all hope is lost, the end of the
world is coming, etc
But every cloud has a silver lining, so here are a few alternative points of view:
Still, then final result was a fairly hefty upgrade to the useless
machine, and a whole bunch of new capabilities. While i was focused on
my IT I took a little time out to try Goosync, and am pretty impressed
with the result.
I'm famous! They're using me in their advertising. Apparently this poster is on display in MRT stations already.
