Well, last week was my first full week back, and though it was very hard work indeed, I (think I) survived with all my marbles intact.

This week, lots to do... our new Foreign Teacher Louise arrives on Tuesday, while on Tuesday evening Huwei town plays host to one of the biggest night festivals that the current 'Ghost Month' has to offer.

Already many of the streets in town are under big marquee/awning type affairs, which the traffic deftly swerves around, and these are filling up quick with stalls selling everything from chicken's feet (to eat) to puppets and big mounted rocks (for your coffee table).

Ghost Month, as you may have also read last week, also features probably Taiwan's most controversial competition, the name of which has been haunting my thoughts all week - 'Pigs of God'... more commonly referred to by newscasters as a 'supersize pig contest'. GREAT phrase to be sure, but a nasty business in my opinion.

Yup, it's a contest to award the heaviest hog with all manner of praise before slitting its throat in the street. In recent years, according to the article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3136587.stm there have been reports of people filling these monsters with sand and lead (force fed obviously) just before the judging, which occurs in front of temples. Winners have weighed in at over 900KG. Really. Quite gruesome.

Apparently we can expect to see rows of dead pigs on tables down Huwei high street, though I'm not yet sure if Huwei has its own fat porker round or if that's just the pleasure of the big cities.

I'll be sure to take lots of piccies to scan in and disgust you all.

Have a good week... more soon.