What year is it?

I am craving some dumplings but I don't want to go to the night market because of all the traffic and because it's super windy out.

Unfortunately, that's the only place that I know has dumplings. Funny how before now I saw them all the time when I wasn't looking for them. I can't remember where though other than Dar-Nan.

I did all of my lesson plans for the week today. Now all I have to do is remember to actually take everything I need each day.

I have to give one test this week and I have a demo on Saturday for my last News Camp. I'm also starting a new class in Guei Shan on Wednesday.

Clutch. Shift gears.

Did you know that it is the year 98 in the ROC? I didn't know until I got a water bill the other day and the date said 98. It later occurred to me that's why the registration sticker on my license plate says 98.

Apparently the ROC calendar is called the Minguo Jiyuan (Minguo means "country of the people") and started in what would have been 1912 for the rest of us. This was just after the Xinhai revolution of 1911 which eventually (after two attempts to restore the Qing Dynasty and a period of military rule) led to the formation of the ROC.

Mainland China stopped using the calendar in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was formed.

Other information: The dates coincide with North Korea's Juche calendar (Kim Il-Song was born in 1912) and Japan's Taisho calendar which the country stopped using in 1926.

See the smallest things (like a $155NT water bill) can cause you to learn all kinds of interesting things.