lotsa stuff

hey hey!

its been a busy couple of weeks! i kept it real Cleveland and cheered a losing professional sports team, i worked at the elementary school across the street from me, and i spent a day/night on the southern shores of Isla Formosa (taiwan) with the Doors crew.

the professional baseball league of taiwan is made up of 4, count'em, 4 baseball teams. these teams dont really have 'homefields' so much as they all kinda whore around to different cities throughout taiwan and play games at whatever stadium might be available. takes me back to the Webb Park - Trackside Sandlot days of field relocation due to Black Widow invasion. (props to the Posse, not props to those whack mid-twenties dudes who tried to bully a bunch of 14 year olds off the baseball field to throw around tennis balls...queers) anyway, i represented the erie-shore city with an indians shirt and kept to the tradition of routing for the weak side when the team whose side we sat in, the 7-11 Lions, lost again. theres still one more Lions game to be played here later on in september, im hoping we can make it a solid .000 winning average in the Dou.

next up was the English Village of Yunlin Elementary School across the street from my apartment. this school received a ridiculous amount of cash from the gub'ment to build this little English learning center with rooms that are made to look like an Airport check-in area, an airplane cabin, a bank, a museum, a store, a gym, a restaurant, and a theater. i was one of three teachers hired to take part in the 2-day english summer camp. i was in charge of the store and the gym. so after teaching kids how to fatten themselves up by purchasing cookies, ice-cream and coke i'd march them to the gym and teach 'em about baseball and basketball and then run them through drills and verbally abuse them like an army seargent (i kid, i kid). it was pretty fun actually, and i got to meet a few more of the little monsters that dwell in this tiny countryside town. ha!

finally, the weekend crept up and a bunch of us headed south to max and relax ocean side. due to a tight work schedule we only had about 30 hours to drive 3 hours south and make the most of our time playin in the sand before we had to drive 3 hours back and teach monday night. work hard, play hard. after we got to our destination we rallied up the crew and jumped into some jeeps. the jeeps, piloted by drunken locals, were then driven at high speeds through mountain jungle terrain on sloppy, slippery, mud-ridden roads. it was pretty sweet, but i dont think our driver was drunk enough...next we went snorkeling in some bay area. after invading the world under the sea and chasing tropical fish while simultaneously dodging garbage, we decided to end the day on the beach in front of our hotel. we tore up the sand with our extreme beach volleyball session, sans net. had we actually had a net, im sure we wouldve been told to stop by other beach bums for lack of knowledge and skill of the game. we sucked so hard. about 6 of us were 'playing', and collectively we were all pretty awful, but it was pretty rad. after a few mouthsful of sand and a sand papered back, i jumped into the ocean and chilled in the water until after dusk. we then showered up, went to dinner, and spent the rest of the night walking through the streets in treacherous rains and sipping spirits. for a one night, mad-rush of a trip we rocked it as much as we could and had a good time...as always here are some visuals to follow up with...






jiggity jory the driver


our palace for the evening

the beach across the way

the veiw from the jeep journey

our driver

hard to get a clear shot while being thrown around

break at this rust bucket of a building

gearing up. its out of order...deal with it

the back of the jeep

the convoy

the crew

Mario jump

kicking matts ass

michelle kicking kens ass

jory and jill kinda like each other

will.i.am, awesome american dude, and matt

replace william with jory

jory's about to get his dome rocked

were like those G.I Joe diver characters...dont remember them? well we're way more badass anyway

remember the cartoon the Snorks?

well this is them

but this isnt. this is jory and jill

what are you lookin at?

swimming after sunset

im 3 seconds away from throwing jory off of my back...he cant swim.

what happens when you climb something that isnt strong enough to hold you

english village

b-e-a-utiful.

grubbin with the kids

wac arnolds

this is roland, he was in charge of the museum and bank

museum

different angle

kids gettin their learn on

'shopping mall' - my turf, and you can bet none of these punks got away with stealing

securing the perimeter

shopping list/miranda rights

the little girl in the middle was ridiculously adorable

cashier and customer

teaching correct shoplifting procedure

theyre shopping for items on the list, the kid has 'shoes' on his list. he brought one...silly

foods

fruits, vegetables, breads

baseball, YOURE OUT!!

vocab time on the baseball field

throwing drill

runningman

wii homerun derby

whatever he just saw just totally blew his mind

swingin'em things

shes all about the benjamins

a real working ATM in the school

this girl is high rollin, so i mugged her after school

i tried to convince him to teach "This is a stick up!" as one of his conversation points...no dice

the bank

airport check in area

check his shoes!

arms out

theyre getting antsy, like theyre really waiting for a plane

this is rita, shes the flight attendant

and the customs agent

teaching how to properly secure the oxygen mask

tommyboy moment

peanuts? pretzles? squid balls?

inside the plane

baseball fans!

we want a pitcher, not a belly itcher

the elephants crowd put the lions crowd to shame that night...come to think of it, the same went with the actual teams

buncha losers saying farewell

batter-up!

this guy was supposed to get his 1000th hit that night...went 0 for 3. weak.

try to get people to do the wave with a crowd like this...its more like a ripple