Long, hard road out of hell

When I bring my mouse's cursor down to the lower-right corner of my monitor, my desktop flies to the background and up pops my dashboard, revealing a myriad of widgets; weather in four cities, time, conversion thingies for currencies and such. The one I have had my eye on most in recent times has been my countdown clock, and today it reads 155 days, 22 hours. That's how much time I have left on this island, and I'm beginning to look forward to the end.

We just came out the other side of the coldest winter Taiwan has experienced in nearly 50 years. For those unacquainted to spending winter in the subtropics, this means temperatures dropping to 8 or 9 degrees celsius for nearly one month, with no central heating at home or work. My feet were ice blocks for a month, and my room was absolutely glacial, I could see my breath! In my room! Seems little to complain about when some of my friends had to endure -50 degrees or below at times in the prairies of Canada.

I definitely feel as though one must feel after waking from a long, deep hibernation. You know, if one were a bear. I feel like the cobwebs are being dusted off and I'm beginning to discard the cold, bitter shell of a personality I had constructed for myself. In that, I'm beginning to read and draw and paint again, and also take pictures. (see below, some random shots, and my current/last kindergarten class pic ever).

The days are warming quickly, and we have gone from three blankets and a space heater to two blankets with no electric heating in the space of only three days. I'm sure we'll see the end of the weekend with only one blanket, and then it won't be long before we're on the heels of summer, when even a sheet is unbearable in the sticky, humid nights.

Our plans are still to head to England this fall, and most likely we'll still be looking to settle in Brighton, right down on the southeast coast. Rob should have his UK Passport in his hands by Monday, which is fantastic news because it was seeming there for awhile like we weren't doing anything to accomplish our goals; having his passport is one major hurdle cleared. Next hurdle: my visa. Now, this should have been a relatively simple and straightforward process as far as applying for indefinite leave to remain is concerned (Indefinite Leave to Remain is the fancy-pants British way of saying 'settlement').

Unfortunately the UK Home Office is unveiling new plans to make the process of immigration not only more expensive (AGAIN!) but also more difficult. There is no clear plan laid out yet, but it looks like I'll have several levels to complete, including studying and taking a history/general UK knowledge testing, difficult enough that in a facebook test only 14% of British citizens were able to pass, as well as English language testing and having to pay into some sort of immigration fund, which is a glorified umbrella term for what is really just a tax. This in addition to the fact that my visa is going to cost me well over
$1000CDN. Ouch. Will keep y'all posted of developments.

THE PICTURES:

1. Carleton International School, where Rob and I currently work.
2. Two of my brightest students, Isabelle and Yusei, adding the finishing touches to their Mickey Mouse lanterns. Children carry lanterns to signify the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. It's the year of the rat, and Mickey Mouse is probably the most famous rodent and thus fits the bill for most commercially viable mascot.
3. This is not a joke, it is indeed the Taiwanese version of a plus-sized-women's clothing store. The model in the window couldn't be more than a six or eight, but I'm no expert.
4. My current class at the kindergarten. Just lost a student named Wendy, but she was the devil personified and we are all the happier for her departure.
5. Teacher Rob and his merry bunch. That's our boss. Kimberly, off to the left, acting as an assistant after Rob's Chinese co-teacher quit suddenly last week.