小Ry的心情筆記~續集 (The Sequel: 米粒麥卡的小天地)

Farewell 2008, Happy 2009!

☆╭┐┌╮☆°．﹒
╭┘└┘└╮∴°☆°
└┐．．┌┘─╮∴°
╭┴──┤牛轉 ├╮
│ｏ　ｏ│ 乾坤 │●°
╰┬──╯　 　│ ∴°﹒
☆ ˍ|ˍ/ˍˍˍˍ/∴☆
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

究竟是對還是錯

閒言話語還是少聽為妙
有些事不聽不覺得
然而聽了反而不舒服
我該如何呢
當人家在說時 把耳朵摀起來嗎

2008要到尾聲了
一年過的真的好快喔
再過約24小時 我們就正式踏入了2009年
可是 我元旦及二號都要上班 並沒有放連假

Christmas Newsletter 2008~

Below is my annual update for friends and family afar~  

December 2008 

Dear Friends,

Seasons’ Greetings from Taipei! Once again, the past year has flown by so quickly! I’ve now been in Taipei for almost four years. Hard to imagine! I thought I’d write and give an update on my past year.

Most of the past year, I’ve been recovering from a knee injury that happened in November 2007. It’s been a long recovery process, but I must say I’m doing quite well. I walk slower than normal, but limp only when really tired. Most days are good with occasional days of pain which medication or a good massage can send away.

In April/May, I was given the opportunity to travel to Vancouver for a week and then Ottawa for two weeks. While in Vancouver I was able to visit with some friends. I wish I had more time to spend there, but my main destination was Ottawa. That was my first time in Canada, other than in BC. On the weekend, several friends and I also made a bus trip to Montreal to venture for the day. I found Ottawa and Montreal both very beautiful. I hope with time I’ll get to visit more of Canada.

One of the highlights of being in Ottawa was being able to meet up with family friends that I hadn’t seen in person for over 18 years. I was so touched that they made plans to come visit with me from so far. If I remember correctly, the drive took more than 13 hours one way. Last time we had seen each other, we were still in Africa!

In August, I made a one-week trip to Hong Kong and Macau to visit with friends. In Hong Kong, I was able to visit with a friend from church back in BC. In Macau, I visited a high school friend who got married and moved to Macau. It was a nice relaxing trip. I did get to see many sights of Hong Kong and many casinos of Macau.

This summer and fall I’ve also had a few other friends/family visit me from Hong Kong, BC & LA. I’ve never had so many guests in one year.

What else is new in my life? Well, I’ve been boarding a cat since summer and most likely will be for up to a year. I find it very interesting to watch Cha Cha and his tactics. He seems to come up with different ideas of entertainment every so often.

What else have I been up to? Recently, I attended a dear friend’s wedding, and I came home with every possible gift possible, including the bridal bouquet. Refer to my blog entry for details and photos.

For Christmas/New Year, some friends are coming over and we are having ourselves a “hotpot” dinner. We plan to have a small gift exchange for fun. Everyone is required to prepare a small gift item and we will draw names for gifts.

How is everything going for you and your family? I enjoy hearing from you all even though I don’t write as often. Please continue to follow up also on my life in Taiwan on my online journal.  I’d love to hear from you, too! I look forward to getting pictures, notes, emails, etc from you all. How I wish I could be home for Christmas!

Wishing you and your family all the best for the holidays and coming new year!

酒釀湯圓

今天在公司廚房 我們又續了昨天的餐
昨天的羊肉爐外加了一些菜及火鍋料
今天又吃得好豐盛

還有應景的湯圓
有客家湯圓 新竹的 還有tony的酒釀湯圓
最強手的當然就是酒釀湯圓了

Finally, home~

After being away house-sitting for the past week, I’m finally back at my place.  Next up, I need to tidy up my place and prepare for our year-end get-together.  I can’t wait til everyone comes.

Christmas potluck today

Every so often, colleagues at work that usually bring lunches and eat in the “kitchen” will plan a potluck lunch. We usually pre-organize by signing up and listing out the item(s) we plan to bring. Usually it turns out to be quite the feast. This time around, we’ve set the date for today also in time to consider it a Christmas get-together.

These days…

One more day ’til my GEPT session end. I’m tired and sleepy due to late nights marking essays and long commutes to/fro Jenny’s place. But they will be home tomorrow late afternoon, so I can go home.

Then three more days of work and I’ve got 4 days off for Christmas. No far away plans this year. We’re gonna have a get-together on the 28th.

Last week, or was it the week before? my family was in a car accident which ended up totalling the car. But amazingly, in spite being in collision three separate times, Dad is the only one with injuries. I don’t know the full extent of his injuries but that he is on crutches for now. Tia’s blog has a vivid account of what happened.

On the 17th, Kelly, Betty’s friend’s dashchund gave birth to two wee puppies. Two little girl puppies. I still don’t know if I’ll get one or not, but I most likely will unless Jasmine is keeping them both. I’ll keep my hopes high, but not too high so I won’t be too disappointed if I don’t get one.

This morning, before class, I attended my third aunt’s (third uncle’s ex-wife) funeral. She looked so peaceful. Not very many people were there, but I felt that the cousins appreciated our support.

Just now, I had lunch with my eldest aunt and family at the food court of Shin-Guang. It was nice to have lunch with them. Last time I had a meal with them was when Paul, Melanie, & uncle were in town.

After lunch I did a bit of shopping/browsing around and I think I’ve come across a small but nice gift to give W for his upcoming birthday. I haven’t bought it yet, but if I nothing else catches my attention, I think that will be it. And it’s close to where my cram school is, so I can go get it anytime conveniently.

Packed and ready to go house-sitting

So I’m ready to go. Just waiting for Jenny and Kevin to come get me. They fly out to Malaysia first thing in the morning~ I shall expect them back by the end of the weekend.

Forecasting

Upcoming events:
Dec 15~22:
House-sitting/Dog-sitting at Jenny’s starting tomorrow for a week. Therefore, Cha Cha has gone home.
Dec 20:
1. Funeral to attend. My divorced aunt passed away recently. I feel I still should pay my respects.
2. Christmas concert @ Taipei Convention Center. I have tickets, but so far no one’s available to go with me.
Dec 20~21:
More dashchund puppies to be born. I might be getting one from the litter. Chances are high.
Dec 28:
Hotpot Party. Invitations sent. Awaiting response.
Jan 8:
Work Wei-ya. Details to be finalized.
Jan 10:
Ben’s Wedding. Need to R.S.V.P. by Dec 22.
Jan 11:
Angel’s Engagement Party. Details to be confirmed.

Seems like I’ve got myself quite a few events upcoming. And I haven’t included birthdays~

休假一日~ 開心!

忙碌稍微告一個段落  今天我休假
好久以來的第一天不用上班不用上課

今天給他徹底的睡個夠
好久沒機會睡很晚了

今天下午學生模擬考完我又有一批作文要趕在下週末前給他們
然後英檢的可算告一個段落
再來就是二月新的班
 
今天沒計畫 早上睡醒了打電話給媽咪
跟她說生日快樂
人家我沒有忘記 是昨晚太早睡著了 才沒有趕上媽咪早上第一名說生日快樂
我安排了個surprise 不曉得收到了沒

Christmas is approaching~

Christmas is fast approaching. 我該期待嗎? 偶然想起了去年的心情.

I decided for the Christmas season to put up a Christmas look for my blog. I started preparing my Christmas cards and the annual update that I usually write up at the end of each year. I guess it’s sort of the reflection of my past year.  I don’t think I sent out any Christmas cards last year since I couldn’t go anywhere. 

This year, friends will meet up at my place for a year-end hotpot party.  Plans are set for the 28th of December.  We’re doing a belated Christmas dinner with a Chinese twist.  Gift exchange to take place, too. 

Look forward to all the fun!  Also look forward to the four days off that I get for Christmas~

第一次搭公車出事~ Bus accident!

Last night, after work, I met up with Yvette and a schoolmate of hers for dinner.  It’s been a while since we’ve gotten together.  We went to a hotpot place near Zhongxiao Fuxing.  It’s an all-you-can-eat kind of hotpot, but you have to order everything from the servers.  Instead of shared hotpot, each person has their own personal mini hotpot in front of them

Dinner was lovely, but it was a long way home.  On my way home, I got delayed because the bus I was on was involved in an accident.  A van was parked diagonally on the sidewalk corner of the intersection.  The van was partially on the road and the pedestrian crosswalk.  The owner of the van was very rude and yelling/accusing the bus driver, but in fact, it was him that was wrong to begin with. 

在台灣 總是有人愛亂停車 交通明明就很亂了

昨晚快到家時 我搭的公車出事

居然有人把車停在轉角處 而且車尾還在馬路上

最可惡的是車主還一直罵公車司機

Photo taken at the scene of bus accident! Look how the van is illegally parked at an angle on the corner of an intersection. And the van owner had the nerve to accuse the bus driver!

Tired~

This week has been so busy!  With all the extra hours from GEPT plus the extra marking of essays, I feel sleep deprived.  I want to sleep!  Lately, I’ve slept like a log when I do go to bed.  Part of it is ’cause it’s extremely cold; part of it is ’cause I’m so tired.  I want to nap la~  But I have another one-on-one student this afternoon.  Then I will treat myself to a massage and go to bed early tonight.  No socializing tonight!