#voice lessons west edmonton

[deannacleemusic]

Website: https://www.deannacleemusic.com

Address: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Deanna Clee Music, led by Deanna Joy Clee, a Canadian music educator and entertainer, specializes in voice and piano lessons. With a rich background in musical theatre, jazz, and pop, Deanna has performed across Western Canada and appeared in children's TV series. She directs choirs and offers musical theatre workshops, catering to a diverse range of students and audiences.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094126715371

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deannaclee

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[jacewilliams1]

Learning from the master

The letter from Richard L. Collins, on engraved FLYING Magazine letterhead, was terse: “Why don’t you call me and we will set up a time to interview.” That was it. But for a recently-graduated English major living in New York City in 1982, that was enough. I first met Dick in the Park Avenue offices of FLYING Magazine, but I got to know Dick – and learned to fly – in Dick’s real office, the cockpit of 40RC, his Cessna P210. During my years at FLYING as a staffer and then as a freelance columnist, I made about 110 flights in over 500 hours in 40RC. They all began with my taking the train from Manhattan to West Windsor, New Jersey. Because Dick and Ann got up early and retired early, I received permission to dip into the special bookshelf at Dick’s home that held every issue of the original Air Facts. I spent hours reading articles by Dick and his father Leighton not to mention others, like Wolfgang Langewiesche who were, or became, historic figures.

Flying with Collins meant flying 40RC – in all kinds of weather.

Our flights from Trenton began early, and we brought lunch, prepared by Ann, which consisted of baloney on white bread, Fritos, and Coke, or later Diet Coke, served from a Stanley thermos. It seemed as though all of the controllers knew 40RC, and it was not at all unusual to receive our initial altimeter setting followed by “Hey Richard.” According to my logbook, we flew cross-country twice and made countless flights from Trenton to Wichita or Kerrville or Vero Beach (I still have a Mojave model given to the press by Piper at the original Malibu/Mojave rollout). Then there were the one-off flights, like the time we took 40RC to Edmonton for a story on commercial flights near the North Pole, or the trip to Oklahoma City to see the Gulfstream single-engine jet prototype called the “Hustler.” And of course, there was the annual flight to Green Bay for the Oshkosh airshow.

Flying left seat with Dick Collins was an experience that some dreaded, but which I came to love. Prior to planting myself in the left seat of 40RC, I had flown nothing more complex than a Cessna 172, and was in the midst of a multi-year effort to obtain my instrument rating. I was a rank beginner and a very marginal pilot, but I had the extraordinary good fortune to have been paired with perhaps the best flight instructor of all time. He was not just my flight instructor, he was the world’s flight instructor, and though I did not realize it at the time, my job was not just to write stories for FLYING, but to provide clinical data for Dick on how marginal neophyte pilots come to mischief. I did at least one of my jobs well, and we carried the formula through two books presenting a Socratic dialogue between student and master.

The cockpit of 40RC was a place where the pilot flew, not the autopilot. I know that the airplane was equipped with a basic wing leveler, but I did not know how to turn it on, and that was fine, since I would never have dared. While I would not trade the Garmin autopilot in my Cirrus today, neither would I trade a moment of those hours droning along in 40RC – striving for perfection – only to hear the drawl beside me: “Patrick, don’t chase that needle, the VOR is 150 miles away.” Or, when about to dip more than 90 feet above or below our assigned altitude, “Patrick, you may want to retrim the elevator.”

On our flights across the country we, of course, encountered weather. In fact, for Richard Collins, weather was what made things interesting. Richard Collins loved flying because of the challenge of understanding and safely outwitting the weather through knowledge and skill. In the days before onboard Nexrad and CIP/FIP plots, I do not recall Dick cancelling a flight, although deviations and route changes were common. Most importantly, Dick understood aviation weather better than most meteorologists, and we students of Richard Collins read each month his caution that, regardless of what the forecast said, you really could never know the weather for sure until you got there. “What you see is what you get.” And he said it over and over: in a head-to-head between a thunderstorm and an airplane, the thunderstorm will win.

Dick’s amazing skills as a pilot and instructor became most apparent when the weather was bad. I remember a story that we did shortly after I earned my instrument rating while at FLYING. We were discussing a spate of accidents caused by pilots busting minimums and Dick had the idea of taking me on a flight in low IMC conditions – I was the guinea pig for a number of his stories – where I would have to encounter an actual missed approach for the first time. We flew the approach, and if it were possible to strangle an airplane with a choke hold on the yoke, 40RC would have died then and there. But in an airplane with Richard Collins present, the cockpit always was a place of calm.

The guinea pig for many of Richard’s flying experiments.

Dick talked me through the procedure, step by step. “Okay, you’re on the localizer, get ready for descent.” “Keep up your scan.” “How much further to minimums?” “100 feet to minimums.” “You’re at minimums.” “You’re AT minimums.” Richard Collins never raised his voice, but he spoke the words with an intensity that caused me to regain focus. I was confused by my ability to see straight down, but there was nothing at all in front of us. Can we descend further? Is this the airport environment? Negative. Power and pitch, flaps and gear and away we went. That was an incredibly valuable lesson to me. One of hundreds that I received in the left seat of 40RC.

In the years that followed our flights in 40RC, Dick and I spoke regularly about aviation and accidents and airplane safety. When I got my first Cirrus, I brought it to Frederick. Maryland, to show him the airplane. I hoped that he would be pleased that those hundreds of hours of lessons were not wasted. Today I use my Cirrus in much the same way he used 40RC – as year-round transportation though all sorts of weather. On that day, his only words were, “Fly safely, Patrick.”

But that was enough, because Dick had said and written so much that I carry with me to this day. And when I am flying a low approach or finding my way through an area of thunderstorms, or when my focus wants to drift at the wrong time, I still hear Dick’s calming words from the right seat. I am proud to be among a generation of pilots who had the honor and opportunity to learn from a true master and a true gentleman.

The post Learning from the master appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2018/05/learning-from-the-master/

[gossipnetwork-blog]

Kevin Hart Extends 'Irresponsible' Tour With Over 100 New Dates

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/kevin-hart-extends-irresponsible-tour-with-over-100-new-dates/

Kevin Hart Extends 'Irresponsible' Tour With Over 100 New Dates

Kevin Hart extended his “Irresponsible” standup jaunt into a massive worldwide tour, adding over 100 new shows throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. 

The first North American leg kicks off March 23rd in Baltimore, Maryland and concludes August 5th in Biloxi, Mississippi; after a run of international dates, a second U.S. leg launches September 13th in Milwaukee and wraps November 29th in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Tickets for the North American shows will be available at noon on Wednesday, January 31st via Live Nation. The Montreal and Honolulu dates go on sale at 9 a.m. local time.

Hart announced the tour with a goofy, profane trailer video in which five sides of his personality – the author, the athlete, the mogul, the actor and the comic – argue with each other on a private jet.

Hart’s previous world tour came in 2015 and 2016 with the record-breaking What Now?, during which he became the first comedian to sell out an NFL stadium. He documented the trek with the 2016 stand-up concert film of the same name.

Hart kept busy with non-comedic projects last year: releasing his best-selling memoir, I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons; voicing the title character in computer-animated film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie; and appearing opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jack Black in the Jumanji reboot. 

Kevin Hart 2018 Tour Dates

March 23 – Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena March 25 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Coliseum March 30 – Hampton, VA @ Hampton Coliseum March 31 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center April 1 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena April 6 – Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC April 7 – Jacksonville, FL @ Veterans Memorial Arena April 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena April 13 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center April 14 – Chicago, IL @ United Center April 20 – London, ON @ Budweiser Gardens April 21 – Hamilton, ON @ FirstOntario Centre April 22 – Manchester, NH @ SNHU Arena April 27 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center April 28 – Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena April 29 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center May 5 – Rochester, NY @ Blue Cross Arena May 6 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center May 11 – Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center May 12 – Bakersfield, CA @ Rabobank Arena May 13 – Ontario, CA @ Citizens Business Bank Arena May 17 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center May 18 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse May 19 – Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena May 25 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center May 26 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall May 27 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center June 1 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre June 2 – Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre June 3 – Regina, SK @ Brandt Centre June 8 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome June 9 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place June 10 – Boise, ID @ Ford Idaho Center June 14 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena June 15 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center June 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena June 21 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre June 22 – Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion June 23 – Irvine, CA @ Five Points Amphitheatre June 29 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center June 30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena July 1 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena July 6 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena July 7 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena July 13 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center July 14 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion July 15 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts July 20 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre July 21 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre July 22 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena July 27 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell Montreal International Just For Laughs Festival July 28 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center July 29 – Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum August 3 – West Palm Beach, FL @ Coral Sky Amphitheatre August 4 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena August 5 – Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum August 15 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Laugardalshöll August 16 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Royal Arena August 17 – Oslo, Norway @ Vallhall Arena August 18 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Ericsson Globe August 19 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Scandinavium August 21 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena August 22 – Paris, France @ Olympia August 24 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome August 25 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis Antwerp August 26 – Berlin, Germany @ Mercedes-Benz Arena August 27 – Cologne, Germany @ Lanxess Arena August 28 – Glasgow, UK @ SEC (SSE Hydro Arena) August 30 – Birmingham, UK @ Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham August 31 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Arena September 2 – London, UK @ London O2 Arena September 13 – Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center September 14 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena September 15 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena September 21 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden September 22 – University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center September 27 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden October 4 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena October 5 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena October 6 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena October 11 – Pensacola, FL @ Pensacola Bay Center October 12 – Tallahassee, FL @ Donald L. Tucker Civic Center at Florida State University October 13 – Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena October 18 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center October 20 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center October 26 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center October 28 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center November 1 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center November 2 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center November 3 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena November 16 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center November 17 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena November 23 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena November 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center November 29 – Honolulu, HI @ Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall December 3 – Perth, Australia @ Perth Arena December 5 – Melbourne, Australia @ Rod Laver Arena December 7 – Sydney, Australia @ Qudos Bank Arena December 9 – Brisbane, Australia @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre December 11 – Auckland, New Zealand @ Spark Arena December 13 – Singapore @ SunTec City

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[curiouskarenscapers2017]

As I promised, my diary I wrote and sent to my friends and family, before the awesomeness of FB and blogging, on my year’s teaching English in Taiwan. I’m not changing anything as this is what I wrote then and want to keep it that way. Enjoy!

  Welcome to the all new Taiwan Times. This publication has a limited release of once a month, so don’t lose out, get your copy now!

1 Aug 2004 – Opening Special – 5Nt$

Puffy and red-eyed I disappeared into the customs queue, only to discover they don’t exchange rands for $ on the departure side, officially I have left SA soil. Anyway, can always change it in Hong Kong or at Taipei airport…..right?

So on the Cathy Pacific plane I got greeted curtly but friendly by red and yellow hostesses and secured myself a cozy corner with, as usual, a vacant seat next to me for my guardian angle. I started reading my JM Auel novel Shelters of Stone until we were circling Jo’burg, up, up and away. The dry brown grass slowly gave way to more green lush vegetation as I flew over Nelspruit and then….weeeeeeeee the big blue Indian ocean! First time out exploring this side!! Behind me the African continent, ahead of me, the big blue unknown. Weird, about an hour or three into the 13hour flight I see land. Stretching out across the horizon. Did we turn around at anytime? I didn’t feel anything! How weird! Then I started going through my geography lessons, Madagascar is just off the coast, but that’s only an island, surely this is not it! We probably flew for over an hour and the land just stretched out forever! I couldn’t believe it, and yes it was Madagascar! It was one of the few times…..I was totally taken by surprise geographically speaking! My word, what a huge country! Mountains, sand, desert looking areas and tropical fringes as we neared it’s east coast. Well, I will have to come visit this place soon!! I thinks it’s bigger than the whole of Taiwan, I’ll check and let you know!

Then …….only the wide blue expanse known as the sea. How small I feel now, like a mozzie hovering over a swimming pool…..an Olympic size swimming pool! Started reading my book, when I discovered everybody busy watching something. Now because of my position in the plane I was situated at an isle that does not have a seat in front of it. No TV screen except for one mounted up on the wall to my right. A safety video was playing as in our new airplanes. When it finished, I watched and waited……hmmmmmm interesting…….the guy next to me had his tray table out, wait, it’s not his tray table, it’s a TV screen. I fiddled and pulled and eventually found it hidden on a aluminum arched arm. Ha!!! Gotcha! Then the manual, yeaaah right, me and a manual……..what does this button do……….so on page 5 of the manual select this button for movies, sports etc. FINE! A few minutes later I had the world at my fingertips. My, how technology livens up a flight these days. I had a choice of Premier movies, Blockbusters, stuff for kids (only watched (The Emperor’s Groove)the lama movie once ….ok!) Games etc,etc. Watched Hildago x2 and Man on Fire once. Couldn’t sleep properly, only dozed as we cruised at 890km/h 37 000ft up. Lovely. In the early morning hours we flew over Phuket, what a sight!!! It looked like an alien life form sprawled out web like on the black velvet. The city lights outlined the whole island, small insects attached by orange byways. Then nothing. The strange Northern sky stars were visible as we passed through clouds and into clear indigo skies.

Breakfast was served at about 1 am SA time, 7am theirs and I looked down to see the South China Sea. I tired hard to spot any pirates but I think we were to high up……I could have sworn I…..no, no not to sure…… Anyway, next moment mainland China loomed and we flew into Hong Kong. Aaaaahhhssoooooooo!

As the clouds cleared a very alien land revealed itself. Mountains of Cape Town’s Somerset West area covered with lush green vegetation of KZN dotted with skyscraper clusters of white buildings. Each cluster had about 3 to 5 skyscrapers bundled together to form little sky scraper honeycombs of apartments. Difficult to see how high they are but any of our buildings look like squatter camps compared. My eyes can’t focus well today as I think I’m still sleepwalking, but roughly 100 floors up, divided by a central horizontal level, others look like they have a base of a shopping center with 5 spikes of apartments on it’s back.

As we flew in we crossed an amazing bridge that looks like thread holding the supporting beams up. Like those forms we used to make at school with threads around the nails in a board. Stunning. Lot’s of boats and freight ships up and down the harbour entrance.

It looked as if we were going to land in the sea when you suddenly see the runway jutting out into the sea…..coool!!!!!

You don’t get the impression that’s it’s over crowded here at all. Lot’s of green. Actually reminds me of Jurassic Park – Ilsorna Island. The temperature when we landed was 27C. The airport is huge, over 80 gates. This is why I say everything happens for a reason, I land at gate 66 and my departing gate is 4. So if it wasn’t I would have to walk from one end of this massive airport to the other!!! To see the shops, take pictures at every flowerpot because they have orchids in them, for pa etc. Definitely walked off the 13hours. This is a shopping paradise! Duty free is to die for! Went to the restrooms to freshen up and found an addition to my other novel I’m compiling – 101 ways to flush a toilet throughout the world – Today we tried the “self flushing” function, or what I like to call the “auto pilot flushing function”. Please check your packaging before purchase to make sure the box reads APFF, if it does nor say APFF it does not have APFF (Intel jingle here). Walk in sit down, stand up and leave – flushing will occur automatically/by itself……..cooooolllll!!! Ok, ok,ok just one more time!

Anyway, sitting waiting for my next flight to my island destination! They have an announcement system…wat skrik vir niks! A lady’s voice with a posh English cum Irish accent is used on the recording (like our voicemail on the cell phones…you have one new message…) It announces passengers still to board, but instead of the lady saying the passenger’s name a Chinese person had recorded the names and repeats it twice. Eg. Lady: Would passenger …….Chinese person: Yin Lung Chaw, Yin Lung Chaw….Lady: delaying flight CX450 to Beijing board at gate 4. Then everything get played again. It sounds something like Dory in Finding Nemo, speaking whale……..

Anyway, updated my report before my memory function shuts down…Don’t know how I’ll look like getting there and still going straight to the parents function —-that story’s for later! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As we approached Taiwan, 1:10min flight, 399miles/h, 803km/h, the south side of the island is beautiful, out of the exotic island books. You can see the continental shelf and islands in clear blue water, as you travel up North toward Taipei, you pass some of the bigger cities. The clouds around each city had a weird haziness to it. Like a brownish glow amongst the white. The next city darker more hazy, less cloud. Until we reached Taipei. I thought we were flying into a storm, or at least raining weather. Then I slowly realized it’s pollution. My word. As the plane descended it was like flying into a dark cloud and you couldn’t see a thing! Once we landed it looked a lot like a Durban sized airport. I arrived, through customs and got my luggage. I was met by a Chinese guy with a placard with my name on. It felt like Jo’burg airport and a bus of Chinese tourists had just been dropped off.

Waited a while, while he collected 3 other people. Then we got into a kombi/Caraval looking VW with tinted windows and little curtains…..hmmmmmmmmm. By this time my bum was numb and here I was sitting in the taxi driving to who knows how far away. And boy did we drive and drive and drive……… Eventually a further 2 hours later, back South down the island, we arrived at Chang Hwa (also spelt Changhua), the town the school is situated in. We stopped outside the Sesame School. Cute. Hot and very humid, 32C and who knows what % humidity, using my built in KZN humidity counter I would have guessed well into the 80 – 90%. I could barely get out of the taxi! He unpacked my bags and they left while I met the staff.

Jane was the girl at the reception. I also met Judy, the owner and two other teachers Nellie and Yvonne. All very friendly but I just wanted to drink water! Got an iced green tea instead….hmm refreshing!!! Then they asked me to take a seat! What!!! I have been sitting half my life…it feels like it ok!…..no thank you! I asked if I could go walking outside while they organize stuff. MacD greeted me in Chinese just across the road. About an hour later a Canadian teacher David dropped me off at the apartment where I met Jake, the security guard at the complex gate.

The area is relatively clean but quite crowded with buildings. Reminded me a lot of Nigeria, just much cleaner and neater. Millions of Taiwanese signs with no English translations greets you merrily as you look down the street, the people here are bombarded with signage and become blind to any new signage! The roads are good and at least they have robots, although a red light means yield up to a point. No stop signs anywhere.

The apartment also reminded me of Nigeria and we arrived at no 2 on the 10th floor. An Interesting ,Chinese art work, metal gate adorned the front door. As I arrived my room mates were expecting me and we all greeted each other cheerfully. Abby is a girl from Edmonton, Alberta Canada and Teri is from Parktown Joburg. I was going to be just fine. They are the coolest!! Got my room, about my townhouse lounge size, green. Sorted my stuff out and crashed on the bed.

They were going to the graduation ceremony which I was invited to, but because I had suddenly had a choice, I declined and asked if I could just lie down for a short while. Woke up some time during the night, around 7. They came back, we had a bottle of wine and started chatting away, telling me everything I wanted to know and more! Then they invited me out to their monthly jol, which I started off declining but ended up accepting….I might miss out on something man!!!

We were sorted. Teri lent me 2000NTS for now and we got a cab from the security guard at the gate. Got into the cab and Teri showed him where we wanted to go from an add in a magazine. Taichung is the town next door. Much Like Pretoria from Midrand or Toti from Durban. Communication is a bit of a hassle here as most don’t speak enough English to communicate! We eventually phoned the club and handed the phone to the driver to ask for directions himself! And we were off!!!

The Pig Pen was out destination. Cool! 200NTS to get in and the party started. NTS is about 1 – 5. So 200 NTS is about R40. I am proud to say, in my state I actually made it and upheld my reputation for leaving last! We left the club at about 5, went outside into full daylight, had a hotdog on the street for about 100NTS without the roll and got a cab home!

Teri disappeared and we got stuck with an Australian guy that was there on contract. We met some cool people at the club! American, Auzzie another Canadian and an Irish guy called Gary, a teacher at our school, and a gay Chinese guy called Twingo who works for M.A.C cosmetics. All sorts!

Danced sokkie at one stage with the American guy who was into the gay Chinese guy, as sweet as can be. He thanked me for the couple of dances later and Teri disappeared again with Clark Kent (no, only a guy that looked like Clark Kent). We supported Smirnoff by drinking Black Ice, very nice, Teri organized a few Sambuca shooters and we had a jol. People only go out very late at night, usually at about 11pm.

We eventually got home and wound up with no keys, Teri had them! So at about 6:30 in the morning Abby and I were looking for the locksmith that usually opens their door for them and we had breakfast when we couldn’t find him. The little side street eating place, was a place I think I would never have found under normal circumstances. We had a chicken pita “effek”. We went back to the apartment and crashed in Gary’s apartment for a few hours until about 11:30 when the locksmith was open, on a Sunday nogal. After about 30min we were home free. I showered, washed my hair, watched TV and slept from about 3pm until Monday morning. The girls had a braai that evening but I was left to recover, it’s the age you know!!!!

All rested and ready for my 1st day at school! Another weird similarity with Nigeria is their bread. Its sweet. There is water available outside in the street at a little pump against the wall. You buy a plastic reusable container that takes about 10litres or so for NTS70 and you can then refill at these pumps for NTS10. It’s like a self service fuel pump. Point the nozzle into the container, put in your NTS10 and suddenly the water flows. Thought it wouldn’t stop before it reached the top but, exactly the right amount fills the container and stops.

Got up had toast and started sorting my room to make it more homely. Got a table and cupboard from the spare room/store room and unpacked all my clothes etc. It is very hot here, the fan goes full blast 24/7. My hands and feet are suffering from water retention and I’m seldom hungry – good will lose weight quickly! I only need and want to drink water constantly!

I only start at the school at 1 o’clock and stay there until 9pm for the week. Can’t wait, saw pics of the school and the kids and know we’ll have a good time.

Teri has been here 1,5 years and Abby 6 months. There is a stunning place called Nanoi out of town that is beautiful, with trees etc. Not much of that around here. We’ll do that soon as I have some money. Things are very cheap here. Food etc. NTS 20 + rent NTS 3000 – NTS 5000 and a cell phone prepaid option NTS 600 with about NTS 400 free airtime. I’ll find out more about that. But laptops and cell phones are relatively cheap, a bicycle NTS 1 000 and scooter from NTS 5 000.

My first day at school – I was cool! I was assigned to Abby to show me the ropes. She showed me how the lesson plans worked etc. IDCS prepared me well for following structure! Then we went to class. About 10 Chinese kids. All Chinese here, don’t really talk about anything Taiwanese…..interesting. Kids are the same the world over! Infact these kids were very similar to many of the people I trained – so grown ups are like kids….eeeeuuureka!!!!

The naughty one, the quiet one, the over achiever, the under achiever etc.etc.etc Great fun. One of the kids, who by the way all have an English name assigned to them when they start here, Stanley was quite a handful, he’s one of those who just looks naughty before he even is! Anyway, he was getting a tad out of hand. Extremely hyperactive……….I wonder if they know about ADDS or have any treatment for that here? Anyway, Abby asked him to go sit next to me to help him relax and quieten down. It worked like a bomb. I scare them already! Staring at me as if I was some kind of a strange alien like being from another planet…….wait…..I was!!! Shame, he did exceptionally well in his little exercise we had to complete. And after him Luke joined me with pretty much the same result. Clearly Fear is not a factor for me!!

My body is doing all kinds of weird things in this hot and humid and polluted atmosphere. I’ve gone a funny swollen white, not wearing jewelry because you can’t get it off. Had puffy eyes on Tuesday morning and felt a bit queasy. The girls say it’s different for each person. They had worse!

Last night I finished at about 9, weird but nice to have a shift from 1 – 9 everyday for 3 months….or rather that’s the idea. Saturday’s from 10 – 4. I walked home all relaxed, popped in to what I hoped was a Supermarket, and it was, and checked out the stuff. Very cheap drinks etc. NT$ 8 for a cool drink about R1.50 and lots of it! Just as well I did the logo quiz that did it’s rounds on the internet a while back – because Lipton written in Chinese doesn’t say Lipton. But the red and yellow logo kind of did. We’ll get there! Very nice shop with tons of stuff. Hair colour is available for NT$ 100 (Loreal +- R20) Should have just bought it here instead of paying R50 – R70 at Dischem – all part of the learning curve!!!

There logo’s with Chinese writing is quite cool if you’re into the Chinese theme. Maybe I can do up one of my rooms back in SA with Hello Kitty lamps and hello kitty toothpaste and hey what about a Hello Kitty bed set and Ko Bo Bear toothbrush etc.etc.etc.etc.etc Shoppers paradise!

I’ve had mixed feelings about this place throughout the last few days. From – oh no it’s like Nigeria to cool food – chowfan, stunning flied lice with veggies and a surprise meat – no not that type, but sometimes it’s chicken and sometimes it’s shrimp etc. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I think I did expect it to look like a typical Japanese rural set up – the romantic version. Greenery, calmness etc etc. But I’m feeling much better about it now that I’ve gotten involved with the living here.

A note on the cars here, 90% of all cars are either some dark colour like black/blue but all have tinted windows right around, windscreen etc. – very cloak and dagger looking. Eventually found out that there is no weird and sinister reason for it, just the extreme heat. Lots of the cars also have curtains in the windows. The major ranges are, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mercedes (they call it Benz), Mazda and Suzuki. Very few BMW’s. I cry a little each time I see one….like mine!!!!!booooohoooooooooooooo

Anyway, so I had my first on the Wednesday (28/7) – a bit nerve wrecking, weird and fun all together. I felt worse than I ever did training grown ups!! The kids are a tough crowd. But it went relatively well and the Thursday double class was great! I had a ball and was on a roll! The kids loved me even the naughty ones. Probably until they know me better.

Anyway, a few new habits I had to learn quickly: 1. I leave your shoes at the door. There are always shoes everywhere and nobody takes anybody else’s….cooollll. Even umbrellas at the shops. They have an umbrella grid outside the some shops, you stick it in there and when you come out, lo and behold it’s still there! 2. Speak like an American……..yeeeaaahh right, no really, oh….ok then! This I thought would be easy, because I love accents! But after a day or so twanging and drawling my mouth felt funny! I could get away with most sounds normally, it’s all the American sounds like a and r that influence their phonics studies. The worst part is the spelling!!!! To after 34 years spell colour –COLOR killed me!!! THIS IS WRONG, did you people know that??? Flavor, Habor…..eeeeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwwwww!!! I have to force the hand to omit the u……shame, that’s why I email and do the Taiwan Times in British Based English! AND ORGANIZE!!!!!! Really!!!

I had a lovely cooler walk home the one evening in the rain. Got a nice yellow raincoat from the girls that fit over my backpack as well, I look like the Michelin man now in yellow!!! At least no car can miss me!!!

No point in wearing closed shoes or anything but slip on or strap on shoes. Totally relaxed. I was way too dressed up for here. T-shirts and short are the order of the day – this is where I start realizing I am getting older!!! Too many corporate positions later…where you have to look professional or at least smart casual. Here it is whatever the weather dictates, the hotter the less or shorter. But no strappy things allowed. I am actually thinking of getting a few dresses……eeeeuuuuuww. I think however I’ll stay with the smart casual look, that’s more me!!

Went to the shop on Wednesday to buy bread. People aren’t into bread here, weird. Couldn’t get a full loaf of bread anywhere and then to ask for brown bread is unheard of. They have a 711 where they usually buy bread from and weird pastries…but divine!!! The only bread they have is like a delicatessen where you get a bag with 6 slices of something at NT$ 37 expensive. The girls said there is a bakery down the road, will check it out sometime.

I have a favourite food!!!! Chow Fan and a lemon type juice they mix at the juice bar borough. Softly lemon tasting with little seeds in it that look like tadpole eggs. They are cool to chew!!!!!!!!! Another unusual thing here is that unlike our ice cream truck with it’s memorable tune, the garbage truck has a tune. I ran outside to get an ice cream and was instead greeted by a “trash worker” not a garbage man – trash worker

Went to McDonalds for lunch. They have a Mc Rib burger/roll meal for NT$109. Stunning – look out for it in SA soon!!! A roll with ribless rib meat on a whole grain bun – jummy!!!!

We had my first teachers meeting the Wednesday night at 8:30. A weekly occurrence. I was formally welcomed. They have a power point presentation with the relevant points to discuss and 15 min later the meeting was over. I need to teach somebody some Power Point techniques.

The kids here are still up and going to these after school classes till 9pm. Even the little ones 5yrs and up. I couldn’t believe the energy they have at this hour!!!HECTIC.

It was a stunning day the Thursday morning, I could see the mountain from my room, clear and hot. Probably because of last nights cleansing session.

The channels here are HBO, AXN, Star Movies and a few other we don’t really watch. Discovery Channel and National Geographic is in Chinese with Chinese subtitles – thanks for that!! But I can at least watch the pictures go by. AXN is like SABC 1,2,3 even changes between programmes are similar. HBO is more movies. Watched XXX for the millionth time, and enjoyed every minute! Will have to get used to it. Not much time for TV though – I’m at the school from about 10am to 9pm soon it will be 9am – 9pm, they have plans. Saturday I went to the opening of their new school. Per scooter again!!!! I’m getting the hang of it now. I need to learn to relax behind the person riding because it’s not me in control! We met with the parent as well as new students, great fun. Outside the school they decorate the entrance with huge round wreaths. It looked like a funeral palour but then I realized it is festivity wreaths. People drop it of at the school to whish them good luck and good fortune. Red and gold are the colours of luck and fortune. Parents bring flower arrangements with a red ribbon/banner with gold writing on. Very interesting. Looks like a huge party. The round wreaths are nearly a meter to 1.5 m in diameter with red, white synthetic flowers and decorations. Probably about 6 – 10 of them outside and in the street along the side walk. After that I saw them around town where ever something was celebrated or good luck was whished upon the shop or house.

Saturday afternoon at about 4:30 I was back at home cleaning up a bit with the Beagle Buddies at my heals.

I met another SA friend of Teri and Abby, Nicolene and they went out partying at about 11:30pm. I watched movies and went to bed, woke up at about 9 and was told we are meeting Judy (the owner) at about 3 for a meeting about the new school and kindergarten. We lazed around a while and took a walk down to the school. Nobody was there and we waited a few minutes before heading back home via a different route. Saw a stunning temple on the way. Will take some pics. Got to the flat and Judy phoned. We met her after 4 at a place called Hola Amigo. They greeted you “Hola Amigo” as you enter. Very jazzy, lounge type look and feel to it but very nice. Décor very Jo’burg!

Monday 2/8 was hectic and confusing. Not too organized as to the new material to use with the new semester. But a few days of improvising eventually lead to the successful end result of knowing what you’re supposed to be doing.

The girls were in a bit of a slump the last few days with all the changes and uncertainty as to what positions they are to be moved into etc. Teri to the new school and Abby taking over the kindergarten with me. Me doing the kindergarten, ESL and Sesame street. Well see what happens.

I was still hunting down banks day after day with no success.

On the Tuesday night as I got home around 9:30. I met another SA teacher. Hennie Malan. We got talking immediately and he wanted to introduce me to the other teachers not of our school – nogal Afrikaans people. An older crowd……my age! I know what you were thinking there…… Watchit!!!!! I’m looking forward to gooi the taal a bit!A new teacher Ryno from SA arrived today and he’s Afrikaans……good opportunity!

It’s weird how you substitute certain Afrikaans words for certain situations when only the Afrikaans word kan explain it. Like today I found myself telling David, the Canadian teacher about something that was VREk ver….oh sorry….very far…naaaaah not the same! What a language we have!!

Abby felt a tremour the other day as we stood in the office. I didn’t even notice although I felt weird and everything felt “thick”..don’t know hot to explain it. The air was tight/thick……weird!!!

Anyway must look at maybe getting a place of my own in a new building, maybe on the 4th floor or 2nd floor, not the 10th! Less further to fall…..just incase you know.

I’m bursting with anticipation to travel. This Hennie guy had just come from a weeks holiday in Thailand. Stayed in 5s tar hotels for 6 nigths and how much did it cost him?…..a meager NTS 5000 not even R1000!!! The deals here are apparently the best. Because of a very small apartment culture 24/7 the people want to splurge on their holidays! Will have to check that out….maybe we can all rather meet there for a week…..pack the bikinis.

One very sad discovery I made here was that people don’t EVER tan!! Can you believe it!!! EVER! Apparently it is their culture to try and be as white and pure as possible. There is even discrimination against the darker coloured Chinese people, these are usually working class, or spend most of their time outside in the fields or rice paddies. Not pure. Interesting, I’m ranking in at the sub worker level without starting!

Well, I am definitely getting a scooter!!!!! What a rush!! Had to ride one yesterday for the first time because of Teri having had a bumper bashing on hers. This is where you start it, this is where you brake, this is the petrol and here’s your helmet!!! Go!! It’s like riding a bike only I never got to the motorbike part, I skipped it for the 4wheel vehicle. But well, let me tell you, ma’s going to love it!! Wind in your hair that sticks out, helmet hair and the occasional bug in your face. Reminds me of the movie Me Myself and Irene but the freedom to get around…faster, is the best!!! And left hand driving as well…on the road…not on the scooter! Man you can’t beat it!! Better than a car here because you can stop anywhere, park anywhere etc. etc. Needless to say I got hopelessly lost and a ride that would normally take 10min or less took me 45 min! I was late for the class and it was getting dark. I said to myself, myself, I have a feeling it’s down this road, I took a right and voila it was there. Probably a block away from where I was busy getting lost. But I did find, after many days of searching the land, the bank I was looking for ICBC! A pitty that I couldn’t do my banking then, because I will have to find it again!!! I suppose that’s the best way to find your way around. The only concern I had while getting lost was that nothing is in English or the people on the street don’t speak enough English to direct you if you asked for directions!! AND no cell phone!!! I’m going to have to organize!

Just got my massive paycheck of R1000 for my 1st weeks work and had a slightly depressing evening. Got home had a glass of red wine and went to sleep. The next day I had to get to the other school again. Every Wednesday from 2 – 4. I was going to cycle there but instead….somebody…lent me there SCOOTER!!!! Wendy a Chinese teacher did! Weeeeeeee, I’m OK now! Did I mention poor Amy had no petrol in her tank left after I returned her scooter? No? well I bought her a chocolate and she refused my money. Wonder where I can go with Wendy’s Yamaha SV today AND get this it has a remote!!! No WAY!!!! Like a car remote but only for a scooter!!! What next!!!??? Ma – I’ll get you one of those! Press the remote on your way to the bike and it starts for you…..over there!! Where it’s parked while you’re over here still walking over there!!!!…teeeeheeeheeee Then you switch it off via the remote. A tweet tweet and it’s off and locked….no no really!!! Troes bob!! I just need a cool helmet!!

Went on an outing Friday 13/8 to the swimming pool. Let me explain. It’s more of a water world under roof. Two buildings. One is more a spa. They have the usual pool with 8 lanes then an extra one with about 3 lanes or so and a small section with little pools all over, with different types of spa’s. Ones a Jacuzzi, one’s salty etc. Steam rooms and saunas very well organized with little seats per person in the spa pools. The outside building has the super tube inside that ends into a big play pool. A normal Virgin Active style pool as well next to it. They have 2 cool water canons mounted next to the play pool – I had to try it out!!! Got em all good and solid!!! Who da woman!!! They begged me to stop! It’s your birthday, it’s your birthday

What a jol. I didn’t swim, we had to watch the kids! Eventually the kids were pulling up my jeans so that I could walk into the pool until knee high! Too cute!!! Let me tell you what else this spa has….but let me just take a few minutes to tell you what karaoke means to these people. The karaoke bars or rather palaces dot the country side like chicken pox. It’s called KTV bars here and they are a religion all on it’s own. Back to the spa, you might ask why Karen did you tell us about the karaoke…well dear reader in the spa upstairs where you get dressed or undressed are two very fancy massage chairs and low and behold 2 bible looking A4 sized leather books with gold writing. As I turned around, there it was. A big screen TV with a coin operated pad to select your song and two huge microphones. I took a picture. Just incase your partner on the massage chair has no music to relax to. Now, I’m not the real gung-ho karaoke singer type and will ONLY participate kicking and screaming in the name of fun. Boetie, this place is for you and your gang and Erica!! I’m sure I can organize an amazing system here for you guys for next to nothing.

This weekend I’m getting a sim card, can’t go on like this! Will let you know as soon as possible.

Well I did it, got a sim card on Saturday 14/8 on the IF network – Far East Tone and set everything up. What a feeling of telecommunication freedom. Got my number 091 740 9954 and checked out the cellular info on their packages. Very cheap and very good because there are so many provider and networks. Competition is fierce!!!

Some Taiwan Cellular info: Got my SIM card on Saturday 14/8 and their airtime expires 6months after your 1st call. 2 Packages available are the Regular and Leisure airtime packages

Peak times are Mon – Fri 08:00 – 23:00 and Sat 8 – 12 at NT$ 0.2/sec. Off peak are Mon – Fri 23:00 – 08:00 and Sat 12:00 – Mon 8:00 & Holidays at NT$ 0.1/sec You pay to retrieve voicemail at NT$ 0.06/sec. But they have a chat room on the network and a multi way chat room where up to 20 people can chat via sms.

We were all getting very excited about our teacher’s weekend away to Kenting. The southern most tip of Taiwan. The days were flying past. Ryno is cool and we all get along very well. Good to be able to have a guy friend to chat to when the girly talk gets too much!!! It’s like having boetie here. Ryno is a year younger than Jacques.

Finally the weekend dawned, I’ve done my 13 hours a day since Monday and I need a break!! We packed on Friday night and were ready for the trip!

Woke up at 6:00 and got ready to leave!! We got to the school and the bus was ready and waiting. We got some supplies from the 711 because Mac Donalds was closed! Anyway got on the bus at about 7:05 and got settled …. at the back of the bus….as usual. Four TV screens in the bus, looking like one of our Indian Tour buses. It was comfortable and the movie that started was “The Chronicles of Riddick”. I nearly died, my kind of movie. 5 min later they stopped it and changed it to Harry Potter The Prisoner of Azkaban. Oh ok then. Cool to see the countryside. Very green with rice paddies and bamboo. We stopped about 2 hours later in Pai Ho – white river! The most stunning flowers/lotus lilies etc. Like a bit of a fleamarket. The most amazing Lotus plantation with large pans of the most beautiful blossoms in different colours ranging from shades of whites, yellow, pink to deep purples. I then also realized that I saw seeds at a few flower shops and shows I didn’t know existed until now. Now I know! The lotus blossom after losing it’s petals, the small seed pod is left behind. They take the seeds out and cook it or use it in dished etc. They also put the seeds into gut, like our boerewors and you eat it cooked. Look a tad doggey but it’s quite nice!

Tastes a bit bland and meelerig but good. The seed pods are then dried. It looks like a filled cup with empty sockets in where the seeds go. The lotus leaves are used in dishes too. We left White River and about 30 min later stopped at a small hall in the middle of nowhere. – called the Blackwood Museum. A stunning root/tree stump adorns the entrance.

As we walked inside it was a hall with about 20 -30 round tables in with about10 chairs per table. We were the only ones there until about 10 min into getting our food. Then the typical Chinese tourist buses filed in and within 20 min the whole hall was packed with people. The food was interesting. I have a new favourite food. A fried crumbed prawn in a lotus leaf with a seafood dressing on. You eat the leaf as well.

Excellent!! The funny little seed worsies were in a good sauce, which probably made them more exciting. When it arrived at the table it was on a hot plate, sizzling away! But initially I had my doubts as to what it was and what part of the little animal it came from!! They make stunning sticky rice with mushrooms in a big brown leaf. We finally arrived at Yoho Beach Resort at about 2:30 – we were ushered into the sports bar and waited.

Being South African and needing a break from the karaoke on the bus…yes that’s right you heard me, the whole little setup with microphone plugs etc all for singing your heart out from the comfort of your chair!!! We regrouped and decided to go explore while they decide who’s key is who’s and what everything means. It was 3 o’clock and we were wasting precious tanning time!!! We got our key went to our room, got dressed in our cozies, and went to the beach! Stunning place, well organized and definitely geared to cater for the masses.

People were everywhere, it thinned out as we headed for the beach. No Chinese on the beach, infact there was nobody on the beach but a few fisher man. We found a little path leading to the beach, past the beach volleyball court and the little security booth. We finally got to the beach and stared in a confusion of mixed feelings. 1stl the sea was a stunning array of blues, lights mixed with dark blues. Beautiful! The next thing was the coral reefs above the water line, little shallow rock pools everywhere…stunning!! The problem was that there was about +-100m of coral reef between the beach and the deep blue sea!!! We couldn’t believe our eyes!!! We couldn’t get anywhere near the water on this little PRIVATE beach!

So we found a huge driftwood tree trunk, unpacked our stuff and lay down, our toes just reaching a small rock pool’s warm water. It’ll do! We sat and watched the sun go down, drinking Heineken Ryno brought after a while. All our opening bottle tricks came out when we realized the beer wasn’t screw tops! Who doesn’t make a screw top bottle in this day and age! Really!!! I remembered the lighter trick and nearly killed Teri’s lighter in the process opening 4 bottles of beer!

Anyway it was all worth it and we watched a stunning sun set and made our way up to the swimming pools at about 6:20. Went down a super tube ride that makes Toti’s one seem like a bath tub!! First you think this is nothing, sliding from side to side about 3 times or so then it just totally throws you into a confusion of turns you think your body would follow but noooooooo, you come out the end spinning like a bullet leaving the barrel…..cool!!! Let’s do that again!! Once I find which way is up! We lay around in the pool until about 7:15 and were down at the BBQ buffet at about 7:45…typical. We ran to the room got semi better dressed and were ready for our braai! We got to the table, said hello to the Chinese teachers already there, eating their rice, noodles and other Chinese food and headed straight for the meat section!! The place wasn’t really and enclosed building, rather a gathering place with sleeper tables like at the Firkin or Keg and Chopstix.

All outside in the open. Well, all I had was about 6 stunningly braaied to perfection, juicy lamb chops! My word, they can braai!! Ryno went for 3rds and 4ths, he said he was savouring the moment and didn’t want to let go!! We were thinking of organizing take aways or a few dozen doggy bags, but I don’t think they would be too happy with that! It cost us about NT$780 per person. It was time for the rugby soon afterwards and we were checking out the local sports bar in the hotel. Can you believe that a sports bar doesn’t have the only channel we wanted. Also the only proper sport channel in Taiwan. Star sport. We moaned and tried to check all the TV’s. Even the concierge tried to help when he saw our desperation! But nothing! Great, outside the hotel we would be able to get other channels as the hotel has a limited amount. No transport but thanks for the thought! So we did the next best thing….get someone to sms us the scores while we sit on the beach, drink Heineken and watch the stars like true SA rugby supporters. Worked out extremely well. The spectators/fans, the beer no TV and a n sms every now and then. Needles to say we celebrated as if were there!! The best!!! Ended our supporters party at about 2am and went to bed at about 3. Woke up at around 9, packed our bags and had to meet everyone in the foyer at about 11:50. The girls went last minute shopping for shoes. Beautiful shoes here! We said goodbye, got on the bus and was on our merry way back to Changhua. Stopped a t the fish market again on our way back, I got some more peanut butter brittle type stuff, we watched Garfield the movie, tried to sleep and then some Chinese cartoon…Doraemon. A kind of Pokemon cat figure the kids love here! Between Spiderman and a combination of Fire Dinosaur and fire dragon Doraemon barely holds his own!! I’ll attach a picture if I can find one!

We got home at about 7:30 and found out that we will receive 2 Canadian girls in our already crowded apartment. Went to sleep as soon as we got home. Thank goodness there was no KTV on our way back. Everybody just wanted a quiet trip home….or rather the Canadians and South Africans did!

So the week began and what a hectic week it was! I was paste every night. The Canadian girls never came to stay and they left the Tuesday to find something else. Something about their agent telling them they would be earning NT$15000 more than they eventually found out they would. Not fair! We haven’t seen them since. But somebody saw them going for their medical at the hospital in Taichung. Everything went back to normal. I’ve been riding the bicycle to school these days after Gary had to go to Thailand because his Visa expired before he could get his ARC. Ryno was or rather is in the same position. He got a 30day visa and his time is closing in. The problem is a change in the system with regards to the processing of ARC’s. Where it used to be in Taichung next door they now have to mail documents to Taipei and they can’t check up either. A bit like throwing a rubber ball against a wall in a dark room and waiting for it to hit you at some point. Teri is nearly on her way home to Jo’burg for her well deserved holiday after a year and a half. So the list grows as I write…bring biltong, marmite, real cheddar cheese etc. Not too bad, prices for Pantene are cheaper here for bigger bottles and some other things are similar in price. Will check at the big Carrefour store. It’s like a Hypermarket or Makro and apparently you can get everything there, like a full loaf of bread! Will take my notebook and write down some prices.

We just went through a double typhoon warning session last week with the one Typhoon Aere being the only one really affecting us here in Central Taiwan to West Taiwan. If you get a chance and are interested have a look at the website http://www.tealit.com they have everything on teaching in Taiwan on their site as well as a map of Taiwan where you can see where Changhua and Taichung are and Kenting where we holiday’d. Also on the weather section you can see the weather for the next 7days and on the Typhoon report section all the movements of typhoons are noted, quite cool!! It is exactly like a cyclone in SA. Lots of rain and the school gets semi closed if it’s official.

Anyway, enough for now. Hope you enjoy the first edition as I need to find a way to post the pictures or send them without too much disruption to your PC!!!

Cheers for eers.

    Taiwan Times Vol 1 As I promised, my diary I wrote and sent to my friends and family, before the awesomeness of FB and blogging, on my year's teaching English in Taiwan.