Snufflupagus

That's how I'm feeling today, because I've caught my first cold in Taiwan. Not bad, nine months without picking up any of the germs from people around me. My throat is scratchy and my nose is drippy, but I don't feel too awful, thank goodness. It's the weekend, so I can stay home and rest, and maybe actually get my Christmas cards handled!

You know what? Taiwan is gosh-darned cold in the winter! I honestly didn't think it would get this chilly, and I didn't bring any heavy jackets with me. Luckily Guoxi had an extra warm coat to loan me, or I'd be freezing my heiny off. That wind is just no fun. The thermometer may read 50 degrees, but the reality of it is more like 40! But, it's still not as cold as northern California winters, so I can't complain!

And Taiwan homes also have no heating system. All this tile is mighty icy on the feet, even when wearing slippers. I bought myself a little portable heater, and it seems to do the trick, keeping me toasty when I'm reading or online or taking a shower. My apartment is better than many, having no chinks to allow the wind to get in. When I'm in bed at night, I'm comfy and warm, and all I'm using is a light quilt from IKEA.

I picked up another new student this week, again one of Guoxi's friends. This one is a song writer for Sony Music, a nice fella with the odd choice of Funck as his English name. He's written songs for Wang Lee Hom, S.H.E., Elva Hsiao, Wang Jie, Power Train, Sly (Shen Xiang Long), B.A.D., Lin You Wei, and Wan Fang (that's the girls who did Express Love Letter with Wu Bai). His "real" job is composing ring tones for cell phones! Who would have thought one could get a job doing that.... His English is very good, but he wants to increase his vocabulary and have more practice listening and talking, so we'll be meeting on Wednesday evenings for an hour. So that's Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays that I'm teaching. Keeps me from being bored!

Guoxi will be going for his big interview on Tuesday, the one that will decide if he gets hired by China Airlines and becomes a pilot. He's been practicing so much, and Wednesday evening we went to the radio station to meet up with two more of his friends, DJs Elsa and Christina. Both of them speak excellent English, so the three of us pretended to be interviewers and cross examined Guoxi in both English and Chinese. We're doing it all again tomorrow evening. I think the poor guy is going to be exhausted. He never slept Wednesday evening, because at 4:00 a.m. that Thursday morning he and Mayday left for Singapore for the concert. I know he probably had to spend hours practicing, as well as some time running around with Lee Ying and Tona, searching out good places to eat. Doubtful he got much sleep last night after the show, and they're flying back today. Knowing Guoxi, he'll spend all day tomorrow practicing for his interview instead of catching up on sleep! (HE GOT THE JOB! I'm so proud of him, he passed the interview with flying colors, and next year he'll be heading off to Australia for training. I'll miss him, but I'm so happy to have been able to help him make his dream come true.)

This morning my dear friend Lisa will be calling me from the US. It's been so long since we chatted - e-mail just isn't the same. I'm looking forward to hearing her voice. Finally gave my dad a call yesterday, too (the man still does not have a computer, can you believe that?). I need to call my US friends more often, but I either have to call between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. California time on weekdays, or after 8:00 p.m. on weekends. That doesn't make it easy!

Next week will be busy with school, teaching, and then on Friday Doris from Hong Kong will be arriving for a short visit with her Taiwan friends. This weekend is also the big Indie Music Festival, with Mojo, Monkey Insane, and XL performing, along with tons of other bands I'm not yet familiar with. We have plans to go for all three evenings, so it should be fun. Xiao Zhu, Wu Bai's bassist, is heavily involved in Taiwan's indie music scene, so he'll probably be floating around, and likely Da Mao will show up, too. Dino? Who knows - maybe!

Anyway, that's all for this week, unless something else pops into my head later.