So it was Halloween for them - true, it was a day early and during the day rather than the evening... but that was okay. They certainly did get into the spirit of the thing and none more so than the Taiwanese teachers, so that mellowed my grumpy mood about having to wear a hot, rubber mask that I could barely see through. After the outdoor judging of the costumes, they all came in and we had games set up for them in the classrooms.

It was a hot day. The temperature was at least 30 in the shade and we were in the sun, like Hamlet... too much in the sun.




I got an email from one of the university debaters at Wenzao College in Kaohsiung telling me that she and two other students are going to Beijing for the North East Asia Open Debating Tournament in late November. They'll be the sole Taiwanese team - English-language debating is still in its infancy here - and most of the other teams will be from Mainland China, Japan and Korea. I met the Taiwanese debaters in Seoul this year at the All-Asians tournament and was quite impressed with them. I can't go to this tournament but I'll be watching the results carefully and wishing them well.