"So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten..."

le Today is a sad day for us here in Taipei.

Last night, Simon decided that the three intense interviews that he had to undertake for this particular English teaching position had affected his confidence that the school would have faith in his abilities as a teacher. So, this morning, he was offered the position but declined to take it, and was assertive and honest with the manager of the school as to his reasons why. It wasn't easy though, and we still can't help but feel that we're in an increasingly precarious position. It's something that Simon is (and should be) proud of, that he has enough confidence in his capacity to be a great teacher and that he would need to stand by certain conditions if he is to be happy here. I'm sure - we are sure - that it will pay off in the long run. He's at another interview this afternoon, so we'll see how that goes.

We've been feeling pretty homesick over the past few days, if only because we'd envisaged having a phone line that would allow us to have long chats with our loved ones back home. I really miss speaking to Emm, Schmools, Tee, Sel and Dan and my family, because you each play such an important role in my/our lives. Instead, we've got the occassional email and text message, I wish I could say it was enough right now.

Today I found out that a friend that I had gone to high school with, my friend Rowan, died tragically at the Golden Plains Music Festival last month. Jules and I saw him and hung out a little in what I now realise was the last few hours of his life. He had planned with his boyfriend to travel this month to Madagascar as part of his medical internship. He was 21.

Tonight I was meant to start my training at our new school - instead I called and cancelled. At the moment, I'm waiting for Simon to arrive back from the interview, with the same school, and we'll spend the night together, quietly, in the little privacy that we have here.

And on a final note, for the past few days here the weather has been warm and lovely. Today, fittingly, it's rained and rained. Another good reason to curl up inside and get ready to face another brighter day tommorrow.