Lukang/ Finish Him!

I haven't written a blog post in almost 2 weeks now so here is one to keep you updated on how I am doing.
I've been working a lot (almost like having a full time job!). I teach a 1 on 1 class from 3pm to 4:30pm, then I have to run to a different school here in Taichung and make my lesson plans from 5 until 7pm, and then I teach from 7pm until 9:40pm daily. And I work Saturday morning from 10:30am until 12:00pm . It's nice to be busy and have something to do, and it's nice to have money, but it will take awhile for me to get used to this work schedule.
Carolyn and I finally got around to getting a Blockbuster card so we've been watching a lot of movies and television shows. Last weekend we went to the final day of the Taichung film festival to see a Taiwanese film on domestic violence. It was most certainly a downer, but it was interesting nonetheless. After the film was over the theater had a question and answer forum with the Director, which was conducted entirely in Mandarin Chinese, so I felt pretty awkward just sitting there staring at everybody talk without being able to understand what they were saying. But I couldn't just get up and leave because I didn't want to be rude.
Last Thursday we went to pub quiz night at a place called The Londoner. For the most part it was fun, and the questions were interesting. It turns out I'm not too bad at anagrams, but I am very bad at music. The prices at the Londoner aren't too bad either and the guy who runs it is pretty nice.
On Sunday we decided to go on a day-trip to an old port city called Lukang (Lugang). We took a cab to the bus station (shack) where we were told to sit and wait for the bus. The bus appeared and the guy motioned for us to get on it, so we were on our way! The bus ride was a bit confusing because we didn't know where to get off, but as it turns out Lukang is the last stop on the route so we made it to exactly where we wanted to go on our first try (Not speaking Mandarin Chinese and having almost no signage in English makes our travels a lot harder than it should).
Lukang itself for the most part is an ordinary ugly, run-down Taiwanese city. However, the old part of town is quite nice. The old part of town felt like I was in Beijing, not Taiwan where they usually bulldoze historical buildings and put up corrugated aluminum tenements. We walked down this nice street called 9 Turn Alley, which housed many neat shops selling all sorts of random items. There were also a lot of people selling food in stalls along the way. And there is also a nice old temple sitting along the alley. This experience made up for the rest of the city, and while Lukang is not worth visiting unless you are living in Taiwan, we certainly had a nice time. One other interesting side-note, we ran into a small bus stop in Lukang with a minibus sitting outside of it and the words "Sogo Taichung" painted on the side. We ended up taking this bus home because it runs direct with almost no additional stops, and Sogo is the department store right next to our apartment building, so it was really really convenient.
Also, the weather is finally starting to cool off a bit. So instead of a humid 90 degrees it's been somewhere between the mid 80's and low 70's depending on the day. I can't argue with those temperatures! But I do miss snow, and I hear a lot of the Great Lakes States are receiving lake effect snow :( I will have to wait for next year, or perhaps if I make it out to Mongolia to visit Garrett there will still be some left.