EARTHQUAAAAAAAAAKE!

EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

My housemate is going to Korea next month, she'll be staying with a friend who came to visit me in October. I won't be able to go for a couple of reasons, that's OK though. I have a plan brewing, hoping to visit indonesia or malaysia before I go home in June - we'll see how it goes!

other than that, everything is going fine. I really need to start eating better tho. yea yea we could all use a better diet, but mine's pretty damn messed up. I eat crap most of the day and after work (9:00) I'll get a pang of hunger that I can't ignore - and in a frenzy of intense need, I'll grab and eat the nearest…edible…thing, which, when I'm lucky, is not a human. Next thing I know, thirty minutes will have passed and I'll be lying on a pile of 150NT worth of 'food' from McDonald's. It is at these times when I am at my weakest, and I hang my head in shame - knowing that all I need to complete the scene would be a huge pot belly covered with condiments from my spoils.

I've heard eating small meals is the best way to go. and I'm going to work on eating big breakfasts...first tho, I'll work on getting up early enough to eat breakfast in the first place. after that the sky's the limit! I figure I'll be fine if I just keep eating little healthy things before I get too hungry to resist that damn McDonalds.

My friend in Korea is damn hillarious..

From time to time i have some elderly person push me in a shocking way (for no reason) in subways or in busy streets and not say sorry. "Sorry"?? what's that? Especially when people are trying to get off from elevators or trains, the "normal" thing to do would be to step aside and let them off first before you enter, right?!! *beep* wrong!! the way we mostly do it here is, as soon as you see the sliding doors opening, just PUSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH push your way in, baby!! push, kick if you have to, damn it!! Just find yourself in the train or elevator before those suckers from behind you find the good warm seats that these suckers who're getting off the trains or elevators left.

A while back, I got pushed by this old man who was carrying a big load on his back. He pushed me with his hands and i remember going "excuse you, sir!" and quickly glanced at those hands he pushed me with ('cause it kindda hurt). And ya i remember thinking where the hellllll is he going with clenched fists like that? a boxing match. a boxing match with a poor ethiopian who wanders the streets of seoul and mind her own business? :))))) ya sometimes, seriously, seoul subways and crowded areas are just big boxing rings. And darn it, you definitely have to put on your boxing gloves!! Quite frankly, i'm starting to push a little myself. When i'm in a crowded place or i'm in a hurry and don't feel like waiting for people to get off trains or elevators, i pushhhh. i push and i push. when in korea, do as the koreans do, baby!!

hehe, no pushing in Taiwan fortunately :)

the power of the blog

After reading the last post I was like "wait a minute?!" and I got off my ass and did something...

As of this Monday, I started subbing for a kindergarten in Taiping and I started doing more regular private tutoring...I work at kindy from 930 to 1130 so I don't have much free time ANYMORE! that's good and bad. good because I make more money (way more money!), bad because I don't HAVE FREE TIME ANYMORE!! I miss my free time but thankfully I'll get it back after two weeks when the regular teacher comes back..

I tell you this thing is better than therapy...

how exciting?

change is good, no? =)

well everything is still going smoothly here. getting better and better at this thing they call teaching. I'm getting a little restless though...seems like everyday is like the day before. and the day before was like the day before that, and so on and so on.

so to illustrate my litte predicament here's a quick rundown of an average day (which is to say EVERYDAY)

9:00 - Wake up

9:00 to 3:00 - Kill time running errands, shopping, watching tv, picking my nose, staring into space, etc.. if i'm lucky I'll spend a couple of hours tutoring uni students here and there.

3:30 - leave for work

4:00 to 10:00 - At work, preparing, teaching, marking homework

10:30 - come home, eat dinner (and by dinner I mean candy)/watch movie

?? - sleep whenever

THEN I GET TO START ALL OVER AGAIN THE NEXT DAY! EXCITING STUFF OR WHAT?!

yea so the irony of Taiwan is neverending...every day it's something new. The other day I was at a night market with a friend (african american from chicago) and we were approached by a group of hardcore goth teens - head to toe in black and metal studs - they asked if they could take pictures with us....and here i was thinking THEY were the odd ones. If my Ethio friend from Korea was still here she would've shouted something like "nigga please! I should be taking a picture of your ass. Freak!"

I guess it's all about perspective lol!

Chinese class was interesting today, our teacher asked me to say "The teacher wants to take a cup" so I did, or I thought I did. instead I said, "the teacher wants to take the child." Taken literally that shouldn't mean much right?? Haha but noo, lucky for me there's a special meaning to that - abortion. The teacher laughed for a good minute and finally topped long enough to explain why she was laughing. heh, good times! we say some crazy things in that class.

it's pretty cool though to be almost, kinda, semi-functional in a new language. I'm getting better each day and even though I know I'll never master the writing or anything it's still cool to understand words here and there!

zai chien =)

IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! I heard a lot of ish about foreigners in Taiwan and how they can get away with a lot of crap on the road but it's trueeeee, and I found out the hard way...

I got stopped by a police officer couple of nights ago: I was coming home late and I made an illegal left turn - which EVERYONE does, in the beginning i followed the rules but since then I found it easier to follow the crowd (sometimes it's more dangerous to follow traffic rules)
Anyway, he stopped me and I took my helmet...after taking one look he motioned for me to go on. I thought he meant get off the scooter and he was like 'bye bye!" so I got back on and sped off like a bat out of hell!

I was told that's what would happen. it's hard to believe it actually happens tho. shoot i'm so lucky, I had at least three infractions on me (the illegal turn, my scooter doesnt have the emission sticker AND I was wearing my mp3.) that could've been a lot of money in tickets...

sooo obviously I hadn't stuck to my word since it's been well over a week since my last post. that shows what my word is good for - NOTHING, NADDA, ZIP. yep yep. so for future reference, if I make u a promise, take it with a grain of salt ;p

anyway, nothing new to report 'cept that I have a wicked cold. teaching is same ol' same ol'. they say that no two classes are the same, but dammit I beg to differ! damn the Man. what? I don't know why I said that.

moving on...the weather is getting cooler eh. bad news for us scooterists (i love making up new words. it's so supacious) really bad news for the gazillion stray animals out here. poor creatures. hope the elements are kind to them this year, cause I know that they won't get any kindness from 85% of the population here. I was thinking about joining an animal rights volunteer group or something. we'll see how that goes..

oh and a friend passed me her new Justin Timberlake CD and as much as it pains me to say this...I actually like it?? what has Taiwan done to me? my wardrobe is changing too, the other day I was eying a pair of bright coloured wooly leg warmers (eighties style) shoot :

interesting day today. I met up with an American teacher whose been here for a little over a year. and I found a really cool diner (FM Station) which I plan to frequent in the future. it was refreshing to actually, really talk about meaningful things. worthwhile conversations is the one thing that's been severely lacking during my time here. I can count on one hand the number of ppl I've met here who are sincerely interested in what's going on in the world and are in tune with things outside of their own experience.

I have to admit, I love to debate. and fyi that is not the same as arguing. I love looking at an issue and trying to break it down from all possible perspectives. I remember my last year of uni my good friend Roger and I always getting into debates about everything and anything. somehow we were always on the opposite side of the spectrum with all kinds of issues but it was awesome to just talk like openly without worrying about offending anyone. dude I so miss that! it was funny coz we always ended our talks with 'OK, let's just agree to disagree!" heh.

anyway, that's enough bellyaching for one night. eid mubarak!

hello again! wow back so soon eh :)

I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging. once upon a time it was something I did every couple of days. slowly it turned into every couple weeks until I stopped altogther.

but i want to get into it again. for a couple of reasons. i've been out of school for a year now; I've been a lot of places and I've done a lot of things. ideally my blog would've reflected that but nope.

so this is my pledge to you blog: I promise to write in you at least twice a week, every week. if I don't hold up my end of the bargain, I give you permission to shut down and erase the past three years of posts and mindless ranting. THREE YEARS??! has it really been that long? wow.

The other day a kid in one of my younger classes called me 'chocolate teacher'

awww! how stupi- I mean cute :)

ramadan kareem y'all. I hope it's been a blessed one so far.

I'm so excited, I found a mosque last week, it's beautiful - you can see it here. planning to go back today for the Friday prayer!

Oh and a good friend of mine from Toronto came to visit from Korea for a week. good times! weird crap happening left right and centre. guess that's what happens when two crazy black girls are walking around the streets of Taiwan like they own the place. I got a much needed holiday from work. man I still can't believe I'm a teacher, somebody pinch me.

heh my family asked me if I'm getting used to Chinese food.

short answer: NO.

long answer: are you sick, do you know what kind of ungodly, depraved sorry excuse for food I have to put up with here. if you've never smelled 'stinky tofu' count your lucky stars. they don't call it stinky for nothing! If it wasn't for McDonalds' I'd be starving right now. oh and I saw toasted cockroaches the other day. COCKROACHES FOR GOODNESS SAKES.. yeah so to answer your question...no I have'n't gotten used to Chinese food. never want to either. (p.s. no offense to any Chinese ppl reading this, I don't mean no disprespect but for the love of bob what were you thinking??!)

Yeah...soo it's been a while.

So I've been in Taichung for two months. 9 more to go! it's still a little surreal that I'm here. I'd be walking down the street and I'd realize that I don't understand a single word in any of the shops or signs. That's starting to get a bit tiring.

oh and you know what else is starting to get tiring. people doing double takes everytime they see me.

Anyway, to sum Taiwan up so far: the food sucks, the people are nice, it's too hot and humid (that's winding down tho thankfully,) teaching is strangely easy and hard at the same time, and I need to learn some mandarin asap =)

Hello hello, greetings from Taichung, Taiwan!!

All is well here, I came to Taiwan on the 1st of July and spent the first week in Taipei doing training. Training for what you say?? well...I actually decided to become an English teacher for a year...

I'm now in Taichung in my new apartment (hehe) and I've started teaching. Crazy how things turn out sometimes. a month ago I never would've thought that this is what I would be doing to jump start my career.

Anyway, things are going great so far. Taiwan is an interesting place. It's kind of like the best of two worlds - sometimes I feel like I'm in some super developed country (the buses are insane! imagine huge leather recliners with massage capacity, built in speakers in the head rest, own monitor to watch movies or to play video games??) Other times though it feels very much like a developing country.

alright, that's all for now. Luckily the apartment came equipped with internet access so I'll be updating this thing more often.

cheers!

oh and I added some pics of Taiwan - it's on the link section incase you want to have a look =)

I'm going to Taiwan!!!

details are pretty sketchy at this point so more to come later =)

what the?!

I was just browsing job postings on Charityvillage.com when I came upon one that was posted by a Wanda Sykes who supposedly works with sunnybrook hospital. hm I wonder if it's legit and not some sort of practical joke :) but really I find that hard to believe, considering the unusualness of the name in question...

ookaaay, I will stop procrastinating and update this thing!

I got back from Jo'burg about three weeks ago - I wished I stayed there longer but after coming back to here it was like I never left Toronto to begin with.

I loved being in johannesburg. were it not for the ridiculously high crime rate, I could see myself living there on a more long term basis. The country is beautiful - absolutely gorgeous. I had so much fun and met some interesting folks. There were times when I just wanted to get the heck out of there but overall I had an amazing experience that I will cherish for many years.

Maybe I'll go back one day as a tourist and do the things I didn't end up doing - like visiting Victoria Falls in zimbabwe? We'll see!

Anyway, I recently started the harrowing job search process and I gotta say it's tough out there! I did get one interview which was exciting but unfortunately I didn't make it to the end.

I will probably have to broaden my search outside of Toronto or even Canada if I want to get employed before my hair turns grey...it would be cool to get a job in another country!

People are saying that joburg skipped summer this year because it's been unusually cool. I think winter usually starts around May but I guess it's come earlier this year? fine by me! there were only a handful of unbearably hot days...the rest cool and breezy and rainy. that's my ideal weather so I have no complaints weather-wise about joburg.

security-wise though the situation is still a bit unsettling, thankfully I'm not as pananoid as before so I'm enjoying it here again. I used to hate the nights but the fear is not as intense as before. I relapse sometimes and start checking out the windows every few hours to see if there's anything suspicious out there.

I'm being irrational I know, considering that a bathroom light started all of this. I just have to keep reminding myself of that!

anyway, it hailed today - they were the size of skittles. luckily I missed the hail by mere minutes! I got inside just in time. I wonder though what it's like to be caught in hail.

something to add to my existing list of nicknames - Dr. Phil :)

I always thought I gave too much advice, now I know I do...thanks Tebello!

Four jobs I've had:
1. Pizza maker
2. Summer Employment Officer
3. Communications Assistant
4. IT Trainer

Four movies I can watch (and have watched) over and over:
1. A Bronx Tale
2. Matilda
3. George of the Jungle
4. Aladdin

Four places I've lived:
1. Gabiley, Somalia
2. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
3. Ottawa, Canada
4. Johannesburg, South Africa

Four TV Shows I love:
1. Law and Order, SVU
2. Backstage
3. Pilot Guides
4. Passionate Eye

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Veradero, Cuba
2. Niagara Falls, Canada
3. Cardiff, UK
4. Grand Rapids, US

(I don't recommend the last two places as worthwhile 'vacation' spots)

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Yahoo
2. CharityVillage (job hunting)
3. canada.com
4. acdi-cida.gc.ca

man I had a good day. I originally planned to take it easy and run some errands (grocery shopping, laundry etc.) like I do most saturdays but somehow I got suckered into coming into work early to meet the ngo's board of directors during thier meeting.

I didn't stay long so instead of running back home I went downtown into the guts of joburg and walked around for a few hours. it was insane, 'bustling' doesn't even begin to describe the atmosphere! I loved it. It was the first time I went there without a vehicle...

Anyway, I took a detour to Museum Africa and Oriental Plaza which was pretty great. Unfortunatly I didn't bring much money so I couldn't buy any of the neat things I saw. But I'll go back next weekend, oh yes, I'll go back with a shitload of cash and finally get around to buying the gifts I was ordered to buy for friends and family...mostly family though; friends were coy about asking for things but my family outright threatend bodily harm if I didn't get them stuff.

yeah so today was a good day, even the minibus driver yelling at me didn't dampen my spirits. (note for anyone coming to S.A.: don't tap the driver on the shoulder when you want to get off... they're pretty sensitive about that)

hm, less than a month left here. amazing how time flies. I miss Toronto though, I'm keen on going back.

Last Sunday night was no doubt the worst night of my life.

It was about 9 pm and I was in my room reading when I heard a glass shattering. I thought that Liz, my housemate, dropped something so I thought nothing of it. A few seconds later Liz calls my name out sounding really panicked. I opened my door and there she stood looking stressed with two kitchen knives in her hand.

I'm thinking wtf is going on! She gave me a knife and said that she heard a window breaking in the front part of the house...man I was practically shitting in my pants at this point.

Knives in hand, we walked around from room to room inspecting the windows and found that nothing was broken; we concluded that a neighbour's house is being burglarized. Which was strange because this is a relatively safe neighbourhood. Anyhoo, after about ten minutes of insanity I headed back to my room and locked myself in hoping to fall asleep asap and get away from the unpleasantness.

WELL! That's when things got really bad.

I got woken again by Liz but this time it was the sound of her car heading out of the gate! She was going to her boyfriend's house, which she does once or twice a week. I was FLABBERGASTED. I was thinking what the hell is wrong with this girl, leaving me in the house all alone when she knows I'm not used to the crazy shit that goes on around here. ('here' being South Africa, and 'crazy shit' being the routine break-ins and rapes.)

I barely slept the whole night, I was praying all night and reciting over and over all the verses I had memorized from the Quran. I left my room every hour or so to see if there was anybody lurking around outside. I think I slept at about 4 am after shedding a tear or two.

Anyway, long story short, I found out the next day after coming back from work that the loud 'window breaking' noise was actually a light fixture in Liz' bathroom falling and shattering. The really fucked up part - she discovered this fact shortly after I went back to my room and didn't bother to alert me so that I can stop freaking out.

Honestly that was the worst night of my life - all because of an absentminded housemate and her defective bathroom light.

hello again

Time is flying, I can't believe I've been here for two months. I haven't been up to much, just working my little heart out. I'm not as worried as before about trying to travel as much as I can. I came to realize that for me just living in a new place and developing a routine there can be more exciting that doing the whole tourist thing. It's great when a strange place starts to become familiar.

On the other hand though, I would like to do a touristy thing or two before I leave. I'm leaving my internship on the 14th of April but I'll be in Joburg until the 26th. During that break my goal is to visit Durban and maybe (that's a big maybe!) Zimbabwe.

The internship is still going well. I enjoy coming into the office very much. The atmosphere is not tense and oppressive and the people at HURISA are very easygoing and pleasant people. They seem genuinely interested in my development and have been providing a very supportive working and learning environment. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I consider myself very lucky to be here! I feel like I'm getting the most out of the opportunity in learning as much as I can and also passing on what I've learned to others through the training. When the time comes for me to leave, it's going to be hard!

I honestly don't know what I'll do when I get back to Canada. Should I go back to school or get a job? Neither option appeals to me at the moment. I'm applying to jobs while I'm here but nothing fruitful yet.

Moving on. I braided my hair with extensions in late January and I recently took them out. It feels so good to be free from all that mess of hair. I lost a lot of it in the process of taking the extensions out though. So my once thick and unruly hair has been reduced to thin and wiry fluff : I'm just letting you guys know so you won't freak out if I come back to T.O. with half a head of hair :)

What else to say? I'm working on taking pictures and uploading them, I'll let you know when I do!

Greetings :)

Just to update, Johannesburg is great. Unfortunately, because of work I don't have a lot of time to fully enjoy what the city/country has to offer. Forget doing anything on the weekdays, I come home at 6 and have no energy whatsoever. On the odd night I might go for dinner with friends but those times are few and far between. On the weekends though I've been trying to go out and explore as much as possible...I've been to several important landmarks but not as much as I would've liked to by now.

I live in a flat in the Westdene/Melville area. The neighbourhood is very pretty, very lush and green. It took a while to get used to the giant gates, barbed wire and electric fences though. Unfortunately security is a big issue here. I don't know yet if it's warranted or if it's just paranoia but hopefully I don't find out. I actually have to open and lock three doors every time I leave/enter the house which is a huge deal in itself because I didn't even close our doors in Scarborough, let alone lock them.

Moving on...the weather's great! Just my kind of weather, cold, grey and raining! I really enjoy this type of weather. Everyone around here is moaning and groaning about the lack of sunlight but I love every minute of it :)

The internship is amazing, I'm learning so much. For now, I'm mainly working on IT related projects like web-development and computer training but I think I'll try to branch out a little to try and get the most out of my time here. The organization is called the Human Rights Institute of South Africa. It's a very small NGO but they do great work in human rights training.

Anyway, that's all for now, hopefully I'll have the chance to update this thing more often!

Cuba was awesome, I almost killed Natasha and myself on the jet ski but aside from that, a good time was had by both of us. I loved canoeing and biking/walking through town. Strangely though I didn't enjoy the beach that much - too much bare skin for my liking! and the damn sand was just all over me 24/7.

oh and who knew that I (as a 'black' person) could get a sunburn? before we left my face was a little sensitive and the night after coming home my skin started peeling : first time for everything I guess.

hope I get the chance to come back to Cuba! Now on to packing for South Africa, I'm so excited (an a wee bit nervous) but hopefully everything will work out for the best!