Dear Reader,

    I've been preoccupied with my English school the last few months.
    I always seem to be busy improving our curriculum. To reward
    myself, I decided to "take off" last Sunday and give myself a
    "break from the routines". I also decided to invite all the
    teachers at my school to come with me. Together, we enjoyed a
    fun trip to NanTou County!

    My plan was to "head off" to Ji-Ji. Ji-Ji is a beautiful small
    town in the central mountains of Taiwan and where the famous 921
    Earthquake occurred. To get there, we took the nostalgic Ji-Ji
    "Small Train", which stops at a station near my school. It was an
    hour and a-half ride from Taichung. It seemed "everyone and their
    dog" wanted to get to Ji-Ji. It was standing room only on the
    train.
  (512K MP3 recording,
    http://home.pchome.com.tw/education/path2english/MP3-042-01.mp3
    or http://www.path2english.com/Reference/MP3-042-01.mp3)

    After arriving at Ji-Ji at around 11am, we rented some tandem
    bicycles to "take a spin" around town and see the sights. We
    visited a very old traditional Chinese school. I was told it was
    over one hundred years old. Apparently, it is still being
    repaired because of the 921 damages. We also saw the Ji-Ji
    Elementary School next to it, which was very seriously damaged,
    but is being very beautifully rebuilt.

    Another famous landmark that we visited on our bicycle was the
    "Green Canopy Road". While there, we ate lunch at a pottery kiln.
    I guess it was also a famous tourist location because of the crowd
    of people there.
  (422K MP3 recording,
    http://home.pchome.com.tw/education/path2english/MP3-042-02.mp3
    or http://www.path2english.com/Reference/MP3-042-02.mp3)

    We were very lucky to have agreeable weather. The sun wasn't out
    otherwise we would have been "toast"! We were also lucky it didn't
    rain, at least not until we returned to Taichung ^_^

    If you ever go to Ji-Ji, don't forget to try their delicious
    popsicles. Many flavors are available and they seem to be sold
    everywhere. I wanted to loose some weight and "get into shape" on
    this trip. Oh well, I am "back to square one" ^_^

    We took the Ji-Ji Small Train back to Taichung at around 4 pm. It
    didn't take long before I "slept like a log". I was told later on
    that I was so tired, I slept with my mouth wide open. How
    undignified! ^_^
  (539K MP3 recording,
    http://home.pchome.com.tw/education/path2english/MP3-042-03.mp3
    or http://www.path2english.com/Reference/MP3-042-03.mp3)

                                                      See you in the next issue!
                                                      JacksonFive

THIS ISSUE's FEATURED TOPIC:

    "Daily Idioms"

  You know what? I have already incorporated all the idioms and
  slang's I wanted to teach into my "story" above. You'll find
  their explanations below:

  "Take off" - to make/create some time away from work or school
                 - ALSO: "have off"
  "Break from the routines" - doing something different than usual
  "Head off" - going in a certain direction
  "Everyone and their dog" - many many people (and their pets ^_^)
  "Take a spin" - to drive for pleasure, usually for a short time
  "Toast" - becoming very hot, burnt (slang)
  "Get into shape" - being in better physical condition
  "Back to square one" - starting over, coming back to the starting point
                                  - ALSO: "back to the drawing board"
  "Sleep like a log" - sleeping very deeply, not easily awaken

NEXT ISSUES's FEATURED TOPIC:

    "Savvy e-Surfing"

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