More Teacher Appreciation

And without further ado, it is high time that we introduce our beloved student, Pover. We have not yet taken a photo of him (but I guarantee that we will, as soon as we can), however, you will find an image below of the notebook, gift box and cell phone ornament that he made for me completely by hand as belated birthday gifts (well, he made the notebook and box, but only 'assembled' the cell phone ornament).

Pover is an incredibly keen student who struggles with English but makes every effort to communicate with us as much as he can. He seems to be a very spiritual person who has experienced incredible things in his life -- such as being run over and dragged by a truck. Perhaps as his English improves, we will eventually be able to communicate more effectively with him and get to know and understand him a little better.

The next two pictures that you will see below are of a beautiful creation by Patty, the cellist (who is also a student of ours, as noted in an earlier blog). It is essentially a thank you card (or should I say, poster?) to James and myself, the captains of her Sports-Day team, the Gazelles. (By the way, if you want to see more photos of Sports Day, go to Ling's Sports-Day Photos. Ling, as you know, is yet another one of our students).

I cannot conceive of the energy and time that both Patty and Pover put into our gifts. I can say, however, that teaching can be a highly fulfilling profession when your students communicate their appreciation in such meaningful ways. Thank you, Patty and Pover!




In other news, James and I had a lovely visit with our former Columbia student, Rita, who will be leaving this week to Taipei to begin a university degree. She brought us to the Taiwan Banana New Paradise Restaurant, where we enjoyed a Dim Sum lunch in a Traditional Taiwanese atmosphere. This restaurant is, in fact, also a museum that contains many displays of Taiwanese memorabilia and antiques/artifacts. Below, you will find a couple of links that will bring you to an image of an old-style Taiwanese ticket booth, displaying Japanese movie advertisements, and to a picture of a traditional roadside shop/vendor display -- both of which can be found in the restaurant that we visited. If you want to find out more about this restaurant/mini-museum, you can also visit: www.vernaldew.com.tw


If any of you back at home, in Canada, come to visit us in Taiwan, remind us to bring you to the Taiwan Banana New Paradise Restaurant. It is a truly a historical Taiwanese experience. The restaurant focuses on a time period in Taiwan, when 'white terror' (when the government would take care of you if you were dissident) was rampant and warnings of Chinese/mainland spies were posted everywhere in the city.