Occasional musings

Today is Singapore's birthday. It is only after leaving Singapore that I've learn how over the top and unique Singapore is when it comes to National Day, that she has a new birthday song every single year. Growing up, one of my dreams was to be part of the National Day Parade and wave the Singapore flag with pride. That to me was a normal behavior that one should have towards his country... until I left.  While Americans also have a ginormous pride in their country - all the red white and blue stuff that fill all the aisles at Target after the graduation season is over and all the fireworks booths that dots the city throughout June. However, it is a day more for Americans to fire up their backyard grill than to really celebrate the country's birth.  Then I moved to Taiwan, where I've learned that Taiwanese are proud of Taiwan for their ability (freedom) to mock and criticize the government. My incessant pride for Singapore is met with ??? (pikachu face) from my Taiwanes...

Another year,  yet another anti-climatic ending to the school year. With COVID hitting Taiwan for reals this time, we went online for the last 3 weeks of school which is similar to last year (when we went online for the last 2 weeks of school).  Here's a last day of work outdoor morning devo pic and an extremely rare group photo of our HS staff  Some highlights for the fam this school year... Janelle Our oldest is done with elementary school!!! 🤯  she picked up the oboe this year and enjoys it very much she is also in the elementary choir and holds the stage very well just like her mom she reads at an electric pace, finishing books that will take me days to finish in a few hours Asher as for our 2nd child who is special and challenging in his own unique way... he made it through 2nd grade with little drama (compare to 1st and K) this year.  he continue to excel with his artistic talent, and Bip has become a permanent featured character in his art world he conti...

 Last night was one of the rare nights where I woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble falling back to sleep. The reason was lame... I was looking forward to read more comments from my former students on my teacher appreciation related post from earlier today 😖😖😖 I guess what kept me up was the multiple conflicting emotions that is coming at my 3am brain from all directions. There was pride (the bad ego kind) - as the comments start to come and I found myself being a modern teenager being overly concerned about how many more comments I would get. There was concern - as I ponder over how I should respond to each comment from my former student so that they know they are all valued. Last but not least, it was a very full heart, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of joy and satisfaction to hear back from the kiddos from my past almost 13 years of teaching that they have been doing well. I guess this last part answers one of my constant lingering faith questions - ...

 Top 3 of 2021 - because Top 10 lists are too mainstream... actually because it will take too long to document them all 3. AIT passport run (January 14th) - Instead of taking a day off to celebrate the wife's birthday, we had to drive down to Kaohsiung to renew my daughter's passport so she doesn't get deported. Moral of the story - always check and set alarms to passport expiry dates. Highlight of the trip - delicious turkey rice at Chia Yi on the way back.   2. Taichung MRT (April 5th) - Word in town was that the MRT was going to run when we arrive in 2015 but with delays, 2 new mayors, new stations and new routes, a major testing failure... we finally got to ride it in 2021! The line loops 1/2 way around the city from the Northeast to the Southwest where the HSR station is. The train line complete the entire loop for the city and we did exactly that. Riding from a nearby station in the Northeast to the last stop in the Southwest then hopping on the regular train, stopp...

Took a month off blogging because... well... life got overwhelming. Getting to sit down on a Saturday morning to be quiet (sort of) and contemplate is definitely a luxury that has been rare since fatherhood began.  One of the more exciting things in life this school year is teaching the Human Geography class. It is actually really fun to see my class of 7 starting to get excited and nerd out on things like maps and different/unique places and culture. We just finished a fun unit on Culture where we dug into folk/pop cultures, languages, and religions. By far, one of the most underrated language/culture is the Celtics (not the basketball team, the people). I guess the use of bagpipes, harps, fiddle just make everything sounds better. I'll share some amazing music and scenery with y'all below. Have a great weekend!

For the last few days, the wife and I were busy working on our latest (only) home project since we got married. It all started when I decided to make an impulsive purchase on kickstarter .  I mean as a social studies teacher how can I resist! And a few months later, reality sets in! The package arrived from Ukraine and we realized that we actually have to put it on if not hundreds of dollars is just going to sit there in the package forever!  It sat for almost a week as we contemplate on which wall to put it on. We decided to put in on an ugly wall in our living room which has been destroyed by couch marks, kids creativity and other typical ugly/dirty wall stuff that comes with having young kids. In order to have a wall fit for our expensive map, we embarked on an adventure to repaint the wall. Off to B&Q, bought some paint (she picked the color, she insisted that I put this down, but I think everyone who knows us would assumed that anyways) and painting supplies, wat...