Nothing New

I realize I haven't written in a while, so I thought I'd give an update. I've kind of fallen into a routine and just living the same ole' same ole'. There's nothing wrong with that...just no exciting news to share with you all.
Spent last weekend in my town and just hung out with some friends. Very low key. Ate Mongolian BBQ at the night market, which was delicious! I'm actually craving a big American hamburger right about now! Did you ever think you would hear those words from Kate Strein? ha.
I have a few plans for the holidays.
Thanksgiving Thursday is my busiest day of the week. After school, I have cheer practice, then dance class at night. After I find something to eat, I try to get to sleep. Not much time to think about what I'm missing back home. That's ok.
For Christmas, I have taken the day off to stay home and try and contact my friends and family via Skype or Yahoo! Please let me know if/when you're available to talk!!!!!!!!!! Christmas is on Thursday...so my Christmas morning will be your Christmas EVe night. Remember...I'm 13 hours ahead now because of daylight savings.
Since I'll be home all day, I might as well make myself useful...so I'm cooking a "traditional" Christmas dinner for my family. I've never roasted an animal before, so this will be quite the experience. I'm making a chicken instead of a turkey. hopefully I can find everything for stuffing, mashed taters, and GRAVY! ooooh my mouth is watering just thinking about it! The holidays are a great time at the Strein household (both in Pennsylvania and Michigan) because we've got some awesome cooks! Aunt Laura's turkey is always moist and delicious, and I LOVE her snacks and fruit salsa! JC makes a wicked awesome sweet potato casserole (my dad LOVES casseroles...lol) and some great meatballs and such to snack on all week! Oh man...can't wait till I can have these delicious, make-me-so-fat treats!
Meanwhile....I will stick to eating bok choy and over-garlicked mystery meat with rice every.single.day.of.the.week.
Being in a routine, I'm getting a little sick of how I'm running my classes. I have one chapter for two weeks...or four class periods. I typically introduce the material the first day, review it the second along with a game, add some more the third day, and review EVERYTHING the fourth. In there are also a lot of hangman games and competitions. The kids seem to enjoy the class, but they are finding the routine to get a little old, too. Perhaps this 3 day orientation in January will give me a kick start to use some different techniques and materials. I have plenty ideas to make classes interesting and hands-on, but I lack materials...and any days that are seen as "too much fun" or "too student led" are criticized by the Taiwanese teachers. I like to do projects and give worksheets to reinforce my lessons, but that is not something done in this culture, so they have many questions regarding the purpose. I'm trying to give each grade some kind of "free day" project around the holidays. Today, my 5th grade classes made paper snowflakes to decorate my room. To incorporate something educational....they had to write snowman, snowflake, cold, and snowy ll 5 times before starting the project. We recited the words many times beforehand, also! So, hopefully they learned SOMETHING!
For my 3rd graders, I've printed off easy coloring sheets and made them into cards...I will write on the board a few phrases for a Christmas card and everyone will make a card for a family member and then decorate it.
Not sure what I'll do with the 6th graders yet...They are pretty creative! One of the 6th grade classes made a Halloween story in October, so maybe I'll have them all right a Christmas story and give them some pictures to cut and color for illustrations. Oh the ideas you come up with while blabbing on your blog! ha!
Well I guess this is it for now....probably the most boring blog I've written...but I wanted to give an update so everyone knows I didn't get kidnapped or become part of a tribal gang or something! :-)
Love and Miss you
happy Holidays!!!!!!

Surprising Taiwan Observations (frequently updated)

Here's a list with some pictures of surprising observations in Taiwan

1. A scooter is a family vehicle (mom, dad, baby, groceries, and dog)
2. If a stray dog walks into a restaurant or a store, no one cares
3. The saying "no shirt, no shoes, no service" does not apply here
4. Weddings can be held on anyday of the week (isn't Tuesday so romantic!)
5. The principal of a school is rarely seen at school
6. Funerals are held in a tent next to the street
7. It gets dark at 5pm
8. there are separate lanes for bicycles and scooters to share...but cars can still pass in this lane if they want
9. Garbage is picked up everyday (at 6 for us!)
10. Most people get dinner outside their home rather than cooking
11. Most mattresses are about an inch thick and hard as wood (luckily I have a western mattress)
12. Women don't paint their nails or toenails
13. Everyone says Bye Bye
14. Drinks are served AFTER the meal
15. F is pronounced "ef-oo", l is pronounced "ello", n is pronounced "UN" And my favorite...thank you is pronounced "shank you"
16. Most people live with their parents until they are married
17. Toilet paper doesn't come in rolls, instead it is in sheets.
18. You don't flush TP, you put it in the waste basket
19. There are no laws against open alcoholic containers.
20. In a hotel, the key has to be placed in a little box on the wall to turn on the electricity. They don't want anything to stay on while you aren't in the room
21. Taiwanese are the most energy efficient people I've ever met. They often unplug things when they're not in use. They'd rather sweat to death than use energy on an AC unless it's absolutely necessary.
22. 70 degree weather means bring out the winter jacket
23. When you are sick you cannot drink cold water...they freak out when you do
24. If you are eating something hot, you should not drink anything cold because it will make your digestive system angry
25. Everything has it's own god. A rock has a god, a car has a god, a book has a god, an electrical outlet has a god.
26. guys fix their hair more than girls...they seem to be more interested with their looks than women.
27. I see a LOT of teased hair, crimped hair, and mullets.
28. People carry cash most of the time instead of using credit cards
29. Taiwanese strive to be whiter and whiter...they have lotions that have bleach in them and whiting makeup everywhere.
30. There are hard boiled "tea" eggs in every convenient store
31. There is a 7-11 on just about every corner
32. Women don't shave
33. Fireworks go off everyday at any time of day - it has something to do with the temple
34. When you eat dinner, you typically just get a small soup bowl that holds about a cup and a half of rice...then you put one or two bites on top of the rice, eat it, and take more. filling your plate up and eating what you took it not done here.

My "First" haircut

Friday I had my first haircut in Taiwan. It was an experience. I asked Derek to show me a place to get my haircut and he took me to a small convenient store to buy scissors or hairties. He definetely misunderstood me. So I was showing him the action of cutting hair, when a random lady asked me if I wanted to get my haircut or just washed. I said cut. So she told Derek (in Chinese) where to take me. We took a few side streets and came to two salons, one across the street from the other. Derek said to take my pick. Of course, I chose the most classy looking. I told him he didn't have to wait for me, and he left while I walked in. Immediately, everyone turned to look at the white girl walking in. I smiled and asked if they spoke English. I got not reply, so I guess that was my answer. I once again showed the action of getting a haircut and I said "yi dien dien" meaning, just a little. I just wanted a trim. So, I am led to a chair where a beastly Taiwan girl that looked like she wanted to kill me, started to rub icy hot on my neck. She started going at it like she was beating a rug. I had to tell her to chill out a little. It felt good in a way, but it was too hard. After the massage, she brought over some shampoo and a small squirt bottle. She shampooed my hair right there without a sink or anything. It took about ten minutes to work it all in and give me a scalp massage. Felt so good with her man hands. Lol. Then she led me to the sink where I sat in a massage chair while she rinsed me hair, then shamppoed it a second time (lather rinse repeat) and then put conditioner it in. It's always relaxing to have someone else wash your hair. From there, she led me back to my chair where I would wait about ten minutes for the expert cutter to start her work. She had two apprentices that she was helping cut other ladies' hair. There aren't salon schools like Douglas J here, you just learn by doing. When it was finally my turn, she came over and began her work. There were about 3 occasions when she had to stop and help the apprentices with the other women. I just sat there patiently and watched. When they were done, then asked if I wanted it scrunched or straight...since they were the experts, I felt like having it straightened. So, back to the sink where they would get my hair wet once again...and then for the next 45 minutes I had up to 3 women at the same time fondling my locks with blow driers and straighteners and creams. It was something else! The salon was supposed to close at 9pm, but at 10:30 they were just finishing. I was so greatful that they stayed so long to work on my hair. It definetely was their pleasure. While they were straightening, the owners little girl came over with her 1st grade English book and showed me what she knew. I talked to her a little and told her that her teacher's name is "Bette" then I told her my name. We went through the book, page by page, what she already knew. She was so proud to show me...so adorable! I felt that I should help her out a little since I was keeping her mom after work for so long. So, my hair was straight, felt like silk, and it was time to go. She asked only 600 NT for the entire thing...which is about 18 US dollars. WOW! This would've ATLEAST cost 60 bucks in America...at a cheap place! The cut was no Jill Taylor cut (cheap plus for Jill Taylor, stylist at Bella Salon in Owosso...the best) but it was still cute. A very close second to Jill.
I definetely want to get my haircut everyday now after being pampered and fussed over for two hours and only spending 18 bucks! They have a service here, though, that they will wash your hair for like 9 dollars or something....I think they style and massage, too. NICE!
Gotta love Taiwan!

Cheer Pictures

Here's some pics and videos of the cheer team I help coach. They had a little performance on Saturday during a festival in my town...but I was on vacation with the fam. They are awesome...I love em!
http://www.wretch.cc/album/album.php?id=gounicorn&book=20&page=1

Bad Day - Need to vent

Everytime we have an English department meeting, it means I'm going to have a bad day. The English meetings are mostly in Chinese, and I feel like we have to beg to get some information in English. Doesn't make sense does it? It doesn't help that the head of our department is extremely unorganized, horrible at relaying information on to others, and speaks the worst English out of the three Taiwanese teachers. It just doesn't make sense that she is the leader. Natalie would make a much better leader. She is very considerate, actually wants us foreign teachers here, and is very good at relaying information on to others. That's just the beginning of my frustration.
Yesterday I found out that the brand new computer that I bought a few weeks ago is NOTHING like what I asked for. I didn't know how to find the specs on a computer, so I just figured I got what I asked for. Well, first of all, I was given a computer with Windows XP from 2002! 6 years old! I should have Vista. Also, all the memory is in the d: drive which is hard to access when the programs run on c: drive. I found all this out when I started getting messages that my computer was running out of memory. There is no way a 3 week old computer can run out of memory already. I don't download that much! Someone is going to get an earful once I can find someone to translate my frustrations. I don't think Mr. Huang will be able to...he might not understand everything I'm saying.
Finally...I was extremely frustrated that my bank card would not work at the atm. I was just taken to the bank in Puzih (40 minute drive) to get it squared away. I had to take the card to the bank to get it activated first...which I was never before told. Frustrating.
So I guess three months before having a bad day isn't all that bad. It's not the end of the world...tomorrow will be better!
There are some other issues that I have with friends or family...but I don't want to publish that because I'm not ready to discuss them with the people and wouldn't want to hurt them by putting that knowledge on a public blog.

Alishan Mountain Trip

This weekend I met Dave, Kevin, and a bunch of teacher from Kevin's school to go on a trip up the famous Alishan Mountain. The Tsou tribe was having some ceremony that we would be able to see. We met at the Chiayi train station Saturday morning at 9 before beginning our journey up the mountain. These mountain roads would not be acceptable in America....there are more 180 degree turns than straight-aways. You must drive slowly the whole time, be in overdrive, and pray for your life. More to come on the roads later in the story. The whole way up the mountain, we saw hundreds and hundreds of bikers. It took about 45 minutes to realize there was a bike race up the mountain. Duh...numbers on their backs...sponsor flags everywhere...I bet it's a race! lol! We saw numbers up to 3300, so that gives an estimate on how big the race was. A bike race didn't stop drivers from weaving in and out of traffic or driving two deep on a one-way road. The bikers had to be extremely cautious.

About two hours later we come to a small area (I can't call it a village....) and parked the car. We weren't sure if this was a bathroom break or if we were at the B&B....we just kept following the bunch. It turned out that we were at the Tsou Tribe celebration. There were tons of people, aboriginal and tourists both, watching some dancing and initiation ceremony. Soon after, I head the wedding march. About 15 couples were introduced and stood in a line in front of the crowd of friends family, media, and strangers (like us). I figured that this was an annual festival and all the couples getting married in the last year were being recognized. I was way off. This was their actual wedding ceremony! They shared the ceremony with 14 other couples, and some of them were in Adidas running shoes! The ceremony part was very official. At this wedding, unlike the other I saw, the couples kissed in public. There was one couple that actually had a mini make out session. I can't believe it! In public! No way. After the kissing, many gifts were given to the couples, and they had a ceremonial couples drink. One gift was a bamboo cup that was connected to another...each person would take hold of the contraption and take a drink from their respective cups. This was a huge part of the ceremony - I could tell by how many cameras and news reporters gathered around each couple while they took a drink. It was a major media event. There was some more dancing, then the couples exited stage left. From there, I believe they met their families for group pictures. Kevin, Dave, and I hung back and were watching the elders of the tribe eat, drink, and be merry! They definetely did a great job. Kevin had to get a taste of the alcohol, so he was brave and dove right in to the scene. He graciously took a sip and them gom-bayed (bottom's up) the "stuff" that he was given to drink. He came back and said it tasted like fermented milk. We were told it was wine. I decided NOT to try the wine. After the wine, they were cutting some soft bread. I can do bread....so I stepped up and held my piece of bread while the chief (I think) cut off a piece with a macheiette....watch your fingers! The bread I think was rice flour and water - perhaps not baked at all. It was extremely gooey. It didn't taste bad...but it wasn't a taste I would go back for. The ceremony was over, so what are we doing next? We didn't know! The theme of the weekend! My next argus article is going to discuss how I'm a leader and an indepedent person...but being in a foreign country I need to humble myself and learn to follow when I don't know what's going on. Which is most of the time. Back to the story...

We went to one of the huts in the "area" and sat down for lunch. We were first served a stick of bamboo...when you open it, there is rice inside. We saw this many times over the weekend...and I would not be upset if I never saw it again. It's overcooked rice with a sticky substance (similar to the bread). You cut off a chunk with your chop stick and it's like a stick of rice to eat. It's definetely different. Next, a few vegetables were served. I love the cabbage and pepper vegetable that's always served. yummy. Finally, a noodle soup was served. I think it was pork. It was oily, but very tasty. We were going to get a few beers, but they were room temperature, so we opted for water instead. Next, we walked to another hut and had some espresso. I'd never had espresso, so I was intrigued. I always thought you shot espresso like you do vodka...but we sipped on the tar-like substance. It's not something I prefer...but it was a nice little pick-me-up. We left the hut area and got back into the vehicles (we had a caravan of three). We drove up the mountain for perhaps another hour. Most of us were drifting in and out of sleep...but I woke up at one point and noticed we were entering a scenic park. We drove up to a visitor center, parked, and began hiking. We were in a national scenic park hiking on a trial. We saw so many awesome things: very tall trees, extremely old tree stumps, and national stump formations. I have lots of pictures at kateintaiwan.shutterfly.com of this hiking adventure. There were so many beautiful scenes, I can't even explain. While we were taking a picture with a train, we ran into a guy from America. He was pretty good looking, and his tour guide saw me and said he found a girlfriend! lol! We ran into the group many times that day, and then even once on Sunday at a different place.

From there, it took about two hours in the car. It was getting dark, so I thought perhaps we were going to check in to the B&B and then perhaps get dinner. Again, we didn't know our destination or plans...we just waited to find out. The drive was like nothing I've ever experienced before. We were mostly on one-lane paved trails, going about 20 mph, with hairpin turns every quarter-mile. If there were cars coming in the opposite direction around a turn, we would probably be dead. There were many times when we couldn't make the turn, so we'd have to go in reverse and try again. I was reminded of going up north trying to find a camping spot in the middle of the night after a long day of driving. I was actually scanning for deer. lol. There's none here! It was spooky, like Blaire Witch project spooky. After I thought we were further away from civilation than you could imagine, a bed and breakfast pops out of nowhere, and there is dinner waiting for us! I couldnt' believe it! Who would ever find this place? The people greeted us with large smiles and bows. We sat together and ate dinner: the bamboo rice stuff again, some fish, some pork, some chicken, and lots of vegetables. It was ok, but definetely not my favorite meal. I was getting so tired from all the driving and no knowing what we are doing...I was ready for a power nap. We got to our room (which was a rustic cabin with two beds and a bathroom. That was it. It was like a camping trip, I like it! The guys were very kind and were ok with me laying down for a little. Remember, I'm still sick at this point, so I'm trying my hardest to forget about my conjested chest and sinus headache. The guys were so understanding! They left the cabin to take a little walk, while I rested for about 40 minutes. I heard some guitar and singing, so I decided it was time to get up. I easily could've crashed for the night. The owners of the B&B started a camp fire and were entertaining our crew. How cool! Not just bed and breakfast, but dinner, entertainment, and bonfire too! That's Taiwanese hospitality for you! We listened to some really cool tribal songs, then the older man brought out his harmonica. He brought his old dog over and the dog howled to the beat of the harmonica playing. It was HILARIOUS! Such a cute dog! Then, they played some English songs. It was great when he brought the guitars to us and had each Kevin, me, and Dave take a shot. Kevin drummed on the guitar, Dave actually played a few chords, then there was me. I stood up and strummed up the most awful sound ever acting like I was rocking out to a sold out Aerosmith concert. I was definetely a rock star. I got an encore in the end! you know! I'm sweet like that. lol. It definetely was a good laugh. At the bonfire, Lily got Kevin to try a chicken foot. He said the sauce on the outside wasn't too bad, but the texture was something you need to get used to. I can't believe he tried it...how gross! They eat these things all the time and they are so disgusting looking and I can't imagine they are any good. How many gross things does a chicken step in everyday! Okay, no eat it! NO THANK YOU!

It was almost ten and I was completely out of energy. I decided to go inside and read for a while. Right as I went into the cabin, Damien called, so we talked for about a half hour. Then I finished a chapter in my book and turned out the lights. Right then, the guys returned to the cabin and laughed because I wasn't reading like I said. They had gone inside to where some of the men were playing a game or watching tv or something. They had some shots of vodka with them and were given some beers. We were planning on partying Saturday night, but we didn't get beer because we didn't know what we were doing or where we were going when....and we were all pretty exhausted from the drive and the hiking. So it was better this way. Kevin really wanted to see the sunrise the next morning, but he would've had to get up at 4 am or before to get a sunride tour. I'm glad that idea was nixed.

We woke up abotu 730 on Sunday and I had no idea what the plan was. Where we packing up and going home? We all go ready, then headed to breakfast. Some porridge, rice, vegetables, dried pork, and egg. Breakfast isn't the same here...it's almost like another meal just less meat. I had some porridge with peanuts on top and some coffee. We got into the car and took off down the mountain. WOW! In the daylight, the roads were EVEN SCARIER than last night. We could see the cliffs that we were about to full down to our deaths. We had to get some insurance for the weekend because it's such a hazardous trip. I'm not sure what it costs, if it was individual insurance, or what....but I had to give information for insurance purposes. I see why....this was so dangerous. There were many occasions where landslides and typhoons took off almost half of a road. There was a point where the road was completely gone and a new path was made higher up in the mountain on the landslide. These roads were rediculous. Sometimes there were cones to warn you of a cliff, sometimes yellow tape (so safe!) and other times, nothing. No camera can capture the amazement we experienced in these awful roadways.

During the day, we took about 4 stops. The first two were pretty views of the mountain where we got out, took some shots, and got back in. Then we came to a small village with no people and were told to meet back in a half hour. There was nothing to see! What would we do for 30 minutes! We were completely confused. Then we found a shop with handimade crafts...which were all imported from China. They were pretty crappy. Then we went across the street to a refreshment place. There is this nut that they dry and then turn inside out and dry. Somehow it turns into a geletin like substance. They were drying everywhere and didn't look very appatizing. Here, we each got a cup of the geletin substance. They added some flavor and water so it was like a jello drink or something. The geletin had no flavor, but the flavoring syrup they put in it was pretty gross. I swallowed as much jello as I could, then threw my cup away. I didn't want one in the first place, but didn't want to be rude.

After our snack, we hopped in the car and took off to what I thought would be home. Wrong again. We stopped at someone's house...where we thought we might have lunch. We hung out on someone's porch for about a half hour before anyone said what was going on. There was an extremely dirty dog that caused there to be flies EVERYWHERE. The leather couches were nice, but everything else was very uncomfortable. Finally, we were taken across the road to have lunch. We had rice (normal this time) and fish and chicken and lots of vegetables, and snail. Kevin tried it and by his reaction I decided to not go near it. I'm just not at adventurous when it comes to taste. We had some beer and some food, and then karaoke came on. Oh geez. One of the ladies with us wanted to sing, so we left to chill while they sang for probably an hour. At one point, we walked across the street to where some tea was being harvested. Many people in long sleeves and pants and hats were plucking fresh tea leaves in the hot mountain sun. We learned what leaves were good to pick, and it supposibly smelled amazing up there (I couldn't smell anything). From there, we went back to sitting on the porch. This stop took three hours. All we did was have lunch. I assume that the lady of the house was a good friend and the friends wanted to visit....so we gave them their time to visit and catch up. It was wonderful once we got back into the car. Are we headed home? nope. This time, when we stopped, I asked what we were doing. I was answered in Chinese and given to real answer. This actually pissed me off. I was tired, didn't know what was going on, and wanted to know when (if ever) we were going home. All I asked for was to find out if I needed my wallet, my camera, etcc.... I didn't take anything because I thought maybe it was a bathroom break. We ended up hiking aagain through what looked like a jungle. We hiked about 30 minutes to this place in a river that had fish that only were in this area. It was really awesome and beautiful. We played on huge rocks, and Kevin fell in with his shoes. It was something that I was originally annoyed by, but ended up being worth the hike. I didn't have my camera because I didn't know what we were doing, so I'll have to steal pics from Kevin, Lily, and Dave. I finally asked how many more stops we had, and I was told this was the last one of the day. It was a relief. I just wanted to know when I would get home. I saw a lot of beautiful things and had a great time with my friends, but was ready to be home and relax. A few more hours, and we were at a restaurant. It was about 5:30 and I didn't really feel hungry. I was wondering if someone would just take me and Dave to the train station instead of eating dinner...then we found out we were too late for dinner, so we left anyway. I think we were all relieved. When we finally got down the mountain, it seemed like we were in Chiayi forever before finding the train station. We got there, had some hugs goodbye, and parted ways.

It was a very lowkey weekend, with a lot of beautiful sights, not so wonderful food, and good conversations with friends. I love when Kevin uses his slow voice with particular announciation to speak to Taiwanese...it's hilarious!

great Dave quotes:

Do you want some? It's pork paper. Like paper. Made out of pork. Pork paper. You can write on it. It's paper.

Sorry this is such a long story, but I wanted to get all my adventures in!

Halloween in Taiwan

My first Halloween in a place where it's not celebrated. It was different, yes...but fun all the same. In America, some girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress premiscuously. I am guilty of doing that. Here, women still dress extremely conservativiely, and Halloween is no exception. I've never worn so much clothing on Halloween...my friends thought that was pretty funny. I told them that some girls would go in fancy underwear and wings and that would be their angel costume. I, however, had white leggings, a white dress, an undershirt, my wings, and a halo...so I was appropriately dressed.
I wore my wings to school, which got the students excited. On Friday mornings, there is an assembly, and each foreign teacher takes their turn teaching phrases or sentances. This Friday was my turn. I had Gerry go on stage with me since he was also dressed up (as a Viking). I was scheduled to teach "what time is it?" "we're early, we're on time, we're late" but I also threw in Happy Halloween and Trick or treat. Luckily, everything is translated...so we told the rule that you have to say trick or treat to get candy...and you have to be in costume. Throughout the day, I was disrupt Gerry's class to go trick or treating. It was fun for the kids, gave a break in the routine, and gave a chance to demonstrate trick or treating. I made sure to have plenty of candy on hand for the kids that came to my classroom. I went through 4 bags of candy that day.
In the evening, the cheerleading coaches, Gilbert and Vince, invited me to go to a costume dinner with them. Several high school teachers (all very young and hip) were dressing up and going out to eat. It was so exciting! They were celebrating MY holiday! Vince picked me up and we went to the student apartment complex by the high school. We spent probably 40 minutes helping everyone get ready before we went to dinner. Because it is student housing, there were high schoolers in the lobby when we came down the elevator. Gilbert was embarassed to be in costume and wanted to ride the elevator back up...but we decided to face the hundred students and leave the building. The kids got a kick out of us! I was an angel, Vince was Bart Simpson, Gilbert was some Chinese villian or something, Kate was an 80's rocker, one guy was young Albert Einstein, we had Hulk, and also a rabbit.
The drive took about 40 minutes to get to the restaurant in Puzih. The restaurant was so nice and I had the BEST curry I've ever had in my life (it had kiwi in it....!). We definetely turned a LOT of heads at the restaurant, and several people took pictures of us. We were there for almost 3 hours taking silly pictures and having a great time. I was a nice time to get to know some people my age, and attempt to take my mind off Nick.
We had planned on going to my house and drinking that night...but after dinner I was beginning to get tired (and I was feeling really sad inside). Only a few of us went back to my house, picked up some beers, and went to the park. I told them I was tired and had to get up early, so I wouldn't stay out late. Vince brought his guitar and seranaded us (watch out boy, that makes us girls fall in love!). We had some beers, sang some songs, then I headed home. On the way, Vince and I looked for Xiou Hu, the puppy I found, but she was gone. Hopefully she found her family.
It was a very good Halloween...much more sober and sane than ones in the past. That's a good thing, right?