Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night, I remember Halloween

Current music: Hello I Love You by The Doors

Nearing the two month mark now here in Tainan. It's still amazing here, I never want to leave.

It's Monday. Monday is my longest day, because I have a private tutoring session with an 11-year-old named Prince right after my day ends. Apparently Prince is a semi-common English name for kids here...I have no idea why. I think his name has given him a complex though, because the kid has a bit of an attitude. He's convinced that he is always right, and he likes to give me advice on things in Taiwan. He is actually smarter than me, but I don't want him to know that. The kid is a fantastic reader because he has a crazy mother that forces him to constantly do homework. I feel kind of bad for him in this respect. So I go a little easy on him because I think that he sometimes forgets that he is a child.

This weekend there was a super-typhoon that decided to sit in the middle of the South China Sea, and no one knew where it was going to go. Taiwan was in a bit of a panic. So, once it started hardcore raining on Friday morning, Tainan was officially shut down, and my school closed for the afternoon. I was ecstatic and high fiving everyone. The best part was that it only rained for about 45 minutes and the rest of the day was sunshine. Tainan was, for the most part, spared Typhoon Megi, all we got was rain. Although it was horrible to hear that it hit northern Taiwan, causing flooding and landslides. A mountain collapsed near Suao, on the east coast, burying a tour bus. I heard that most people were rescued, but the total death count in Taiwan was 12, with 23 missing. Scary stuff, apparently it was one of the worst storms ever recorded, anywhere. Ever. We were lucky that it stopped when it did.

I finally got an Alien Residency Card today, so I'm no longer an illegal immigrant. I'm going to buy a scooter as soon as I possibly can. Getting a cell phone tomorrow.

Current music: Your Touch by The Black Keys

Halloween is on Sunday. I have to do pumpkin carving on Wednesday, which is scary because I don't want my children anywhere near me whilst I'm wielding a weapon. Chances are they will start climbing on me and things will go awry.

We got raided again last week. This one lasted for at least an hour. They seem to be cracking down on the kindergarten teachers, apparently they have never raided this frequently. It wasn't too bad though, it gave Peet and I a chance to go over the bilingual Christmas pageant. I am already super worried that some of my kids are going to fail horribly at the dialogue.

I went to a restaurant called the Water Frog on Saturday night. It was by far the weirdest dining experience I have ever had. You sit at a table, which has a hot coal BBQ in the middle of it. You take plates up to the buffet area to get your food. That catch is that all the meat and veggies are raw, and you cook them yourself in the middle of the table, using makeshift tin foil plates. I went with my new best friend Jane, who also does not speak Chinese. I have decided that the experience would have been a lot less stressful if there was more people, who knew the characters for different meats, and could help cook. It was a lot of work for two people. Anyways, I nearly lit myself on fire, and then was unable to put out the fire in the middle of the table because I was laughing so much at the situation. Long story short, I didn't burn myself or get salmonella, which was also an issue because all the raw meat was intermingling. On top of all that, they give you all you can drink beer, but I don't think it would be wise for anyone to be intoxicated whilst sitting at a table with open flames on it. In retrospect, it was a very funny dinner. They had ice cream, which made it worthwhile.

Current music: Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold

It's pizza night at Willy's, which happens every Monday. I am super excited. I pretty much live there, I was there for dinner last night, now that I think of it. Whatever, I can't get tired of it. The servers all know us by name now, which is super convenient. It's like Cheers, without the silly situational comedy. There is some situational comedy, but less.

This season of Jersey Shore is over. I am more sad than I care to admit.

Thing I miss of the day: Subway. I hear there's one here, but I have no idea where.

It's pizza time! Wheee!