An unexpected wake up call

This morning I woke up from the lovely noise of drilling, hammering, and pounding from the apartment below me. They are remodeling the apartment and the walls here in Taiwan are paper thin. I had this problem before when they were tearing down a wall near my apartment but just hearing them tearing and reinstating things in the apartment right below mine is just insane. It was around 8am when they started and I know that's not super early but it just got louder and louder throughout the afternoon. Poor Kenny was digging his claws in the couch cushion because of the noise.

I blogged about this before but 7-Eleven and other convenience stores like Family Mart have promotion stickers where if you spend a certain amount of money at the store, you get a sticker. If you get 10 stickers, you can get a discount off food, museum tickets, or free toys. This period they decided to give our legos! But it's not just legos...these legos are made to build landmarks and famous places in Taipei. For example, there is a lego building of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. This deal started in Oct. and I've been saving a lot of stickers to get many lego pieces. I want to collect as many as I can but the problem is that you can't choose which lego piece you will get. It's in a bag which you can't see inside so you just have to guess but today I got the lego building that I wanted (Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall). I want the Queen's head too that I went to this past summer with my uncle, aunt, and cousin and the lady said they are only receiving five, yes only five, tomorrow for shipment so I have to come early to get them. Yes, I will go early there tomorrow to see if I can get it haha It stinks since the promotion expires next week and they are already selling out of the lego pieces.

Today was my day off and I went to two exercise classes today. The first one was a class I never went to before with two of my coworkers and it was really intense since we had to do a lot of situps. The second class is the kick boxing class which I love going to. Tonight was fun since the instructor played Michael Jackson's Beat It :) But it wasn't Michael Jackson singing it though, it was just a version of the song. There is this move where I keep jumping instead of standing still and at first he told everyone not to do it but later he wanted us to do it for a move. I don't know if he saw me doing it and figured that it should be a part of the exercise but I guess I'm secretly thinking this haha Then after class, he asked me if I was tired and it totally took me by surprise since I was talking with my coworker and we were at the gym, not in the classroom and I didn't even see him so I just said it was fun(in Chinese). I didn't even answer his question lol I'm definitely not good at responding quickly in Chinese for the matter. At least I spoke Chinese to him though haha He just smiled and said, "Oh, okay!" (in English and in Chinese) lol

-Chihchat

34 cent sushi

I've been going to this traditional market near my place because every day there are different food stands. This morning before I went to work I went to check it out for lunch and there was a stand selling $10NT sushi which was equivalent to 34 US cents. I was so surprised since it wasn't just California rolls but actually good sushi. I could pick as many as I wanted and it was only $10NT.

Then there was this other stand selling everything for ony $30NT and I got noodles and rice. They were such huge helpings that I had leftovers and ate them for dinner. I'm pretty happy to find my good food finds although I'm not having good luck with shoes. I bought 2 pairs and already they broke but I can't complain since one pair I bought only cost a little less than $6 USD. But anywho I definitely want to go to the market all the time now!

-Chihchat

Trying to recooperate

It's pretty sad but I'm still worn out from my trip lol I know, I know...I shouldn't be complaining about this since I had a vacation but I'm very tired still and I can't even muster up the energy to do anything. I could barely get out of bed today and I only taught one class.

After class I went with my coworker to go to an exercise class. It was a latin class and usually it's pretty easy and it's not hard at all but today was completely different. We haven't gone for awhile and I don't know if it's because it's almost the end of the session but we barely had any breaks and she was really pushing us to do harder things like high jumps etc. It was good though since I needed a workout but not tonight. I was expecting an easier, pace class and of course when I expect it, it's not like what I expect at all. The instructor liked my hair though because she was passing out light keychains to dance with and she only selected a couple of people and she gave me one and said my hair was cute lol And what did my hair look like? It was just up in a bun like always lol

-Chihchat

I'm back! *Merry Belated Christmas*

I went on vacation to Bali, Indonesia for 5 days and 4 nights. I came back on Christmas Eve. and worked all Christmas day. I will tell you..I'm so worn out! The trip was really fun and I did a lot of shopping. The two girls I went with like shopping a lot so we went to a lot of shopping areas. I also went on a banana boat and went snorkeling. I'm glad I faced my fears of doing water activities in the ocean. I also had a 2 hour whole body Indonesian style massage which I had to be nude, again I'm trying to face my fears on that too lol Sadly, after my massage, my back was really sore the past couple of days. It hurt while she was massaging my back and my back was so sore that I couldn't even sleep on it or let the water hit my back while I was taking a shower. Above our pictures from the trip. I went with my coworker and her friend. The first picture is at our hotel's swimming pool. There is a place where we can order drinks near the pool. The second picture is us after we got done doing the water activites such as the banana boat and snorkeling. I'm wearing a purple sarong which is really popular there. The last picture is me with my new swimsuit on the last day of the trip. I'm soaking up the sun before heading back to Taiwan :)

Bali's a great place to travel but I will definitely admit, I got very scared and paranoid a couple of times. We hired a driver which wasn't really comforting to me since we met him when he was hassling us to sign up for a water package. He took us to the beachfront to do the water activites and since everything was fine, we hired him the next day to go sightseeing and shopping. I was scared a couple of times since he would drive through a shortcut but we were going on a small dirt road with no buildings or cars. I was really freaked out about that but it was okay at the end. There are many taxi companys in Bali and the person who set up our hotel/flight package in Bali told us to only ride taxis with a blue bird on it. After our dinner, we needed a taxi to go home and we didn't want to ride in this taxi since it didn't have the bird on it. We went inside anyways and my friend asked the taxi driver how far this other city was at. He misunderstood us and asked us where we were from. We told him and he was saying how all the taxis have a base rate and that the blue bird doesn't mean anything. He got super angry and I got scared and then I asked him if he was taking us back to our hotel. He didn't say anything but I saw his face in the rearview mirror and he was angry. When we got to the hotel he didn't shut off the meter and he didn't tell us how much we owed him. I couldn't see my bills when I was paying him since it was dark and the meter kept running. We were all so angry but I gave him the money and left. I checked my wallet when I got home and I gave him the wrong cash. Instead of giving him a $10,000 rubi bill, I gave him $100,000. It really isn't too much since I just gave him an extra $5-10 USD or so but oh well.

There's a lot of tourists that go to Bali so it was funny since they know how to speak many languages. I got mistaken for being Taiwanese or Chinese and since I was with my Taiwanese friends, they kept speaking Chinese to us. One night we were trying to figure out which stand to eat at this night market. Everyone kept yelling at us in Chinese thinking we don't understand English. It was funny but it got really intense when they kept yelling at us and everyone eating kept laughing at us since they knew the workers were being silly. Even the workers themselves were laughing since they knew they were being ridiculous. I wish we had it on video camera but everyone kept shaking their menus and screaming in Chinese for us to eat at their place lol

I got back on Christmas Eve. and later that night my roommates and I exchanged Christmas gifts. The next day, I worked all day on Christmas. It was sort of a bummer since it didn't feel like Christmas although our school was decorated with Christmas decorations and they were playing Christmas music. After work, my coworker had everyone over for a Christmas dinner. We had turducken (turkey, chicken, duck) and I didn't even know I had it. My coworker's friend dished out all the food on the plate and we all had one and I just ate the food, not even realizing that I was eating turducken lol It's because he baked it in a dark sauce but it was really good. Then yesterday I slept all day since I'm still tired from the trip. Drew, our coworker, her roommate, and I had hot pot last night.

Today it was hard for me to wake up and I just taught one class. I was supposed to have my one-on-one tutoring but the student canceled it. I'm okay with it though since I'm really exhausted from the trip. We did a lot of things in 5 days and we did a lot of walking. It was a great vacation but I need a vacation after this vacation lol

-Chihchat

Laser tag and hot pot :)

Today my coworkers and I did laser tag for 2 hours. It was really fun! at first I wasn't super excited since I never did it before and I didn't know what to expect. But it turned out to be super fun and really intense lol We would play for 5 min. intervals with another group. It was 8 of us and we beat them when we were playing against teams. The first session was an individual thing where you try to see how many points you can get. Drew got the highest points :)

Then we were battling against the other time and we had certain restrictions like you can only have so many shots in your gun or you only had 10 lives. There was a punishment and we had captains. If a group lost, their team captain had to put paint on the other captain's face. Our team won twice so my coworker Mike and Drew painted stuff on the captain's face lol There was a person taking pictures this afternoon and they put them up really fast since I saw them when I got home. The first picture is of me and my coworker Melissa. I love how I'm so into the game haha The second picture is our group.

After laser tag, we went to eat hot pot. We had to wait awhile but we got to eat for 2 hrs. They were busy so we were pressed for time because we had to wait in line to get our food even though we had 2 hrs to eat hot pot, fruit, and haagen daz ice cream lol One of my coworker's friend came to visit her and she was smart and put the ice cream in a bigger cup topped off with a ice cream cone. I definitely did that and that's the last picture. I'm so stuffed now lol

I'm leaving for Bali for 5 days, 4 nights so I won't be able to blog until I come home. I will fly back on Christmas Eve and I have to work the next day on Christmas. It stinks but Taiwanese people don't celebrate Christmas so I can't do anything about it. It's okay though, we get 1 week for Chinese New Year in Feb. But anyway I will be signing off until this Fri.!

-Chihchat

Prepped out!

I'm leaving for Bali this week and as much I'm so excited to go, prepping and getting ready to leave my classes for only 4 days is a pain. I'm leaving Mon. and will be coming back on Christmas Eve (Fri. night) and I have to work on Christmas all day. Christmas is on a Saturday and it will be busy since I will be teaching 4 classes. I had to tell the teachers that are subbing for me that I will be gone and I had to prep for next week's classes since when I get home, I will be teaching the next day. I was definitely ready to be done today at work but all is good and now I just get to look forward to my trip :)

-Chihchat

Spongebob Squarepants Composition

Today was a nice break from my regular class routine. For my half-day class, my coteacher and I did a collaborative Christmas workshop where they made 3D Christmas trees. My students and the other class didn't want to work together but it was fun as we made Christmas trees and forced them to be together. My student won the prize for the best decorated Christmas tree. I took a picture of her but she doesn't like taking pictures lol

For my A-11 class I had to assign the compositions and I told them they can write about anything. They wanted me to choose the topic and I wanted something fun for them to write. One of the students said Spongebob Squarepants so I said the topic is that they are going on a vacation with Spongebob Squarepants anywhere for 1 week. They have to write about their journey and trip. It was funny as we were trying to figure out all the character's English names and if Squidward is an octopus or a squid and if Mr. Crabs is a crab or a lobster. I thought Squidward is a squid and Mr. Crabs is a lobster but actually Squidward is really an octopus and Mr. Crabs is a crab, from Wikipedia lol The Chinese translation of Squidward's name is Octopus so that's why they thought he was an octopus. But from the English name, you would assume it would be a squid. Anyway it was fun just talking about it and I'm excited to read their compositions :)

-Chihchat

The truth behind wax apples

Today I did some quick errands to get ready for my trip to Bali. It was actually cold today. It was raining and during the evening it was actually cold that I could see my own breath. I was pretty surprised since a couple of days ago it was in the 70s. It actually feels like Iowa weather since the weather keeps changing.

I went to the market right near my apartment this early afternoon after I skyped with my family. I got a good deal on some fruit since I got there close to 1pm and it was raining outside. The guy was nice since I was looking at the fruit and he actually cut one open and gave me and the lady a couple of slices to eat. I also bought some cheap sweatpants and shoes to exercise in since I didn't bring mine from home. While I was about to leave the market, this old man was singing a Taiwanese folk song that I've heard before. I wanted to see what he was selling and he was selling one of my favorite foods which is sticky rice. He was giving out huge bags and I asked how much it cost and it only cost $20 which is pretty crazy since I was expecting to pay $50 or so. It was a pretty good bargaining day for me.

I went to my uncle/aunt's tonight and I blogged about this in the summer but I remember how they told me that wax apples are really expensive. I bought fruit for them tonight and I told them I wanted to get the apples but they didn't look so great. I now know why they were expensive when my aunt bought them this past summer. These special wax apples were raised in a "refined" way where it's basically like organic food. The apples were sweeter and bigger so they were much more expensive then regular wax apples. It's sort of funny how I finally know why they were expensive after all these months.

-Chihchat

Iowa Buff

The weather has been crazy lately because some days it's really hot and others it's been sort of cold. I left my apartment this morning and it wasn't AS hot and it was a little rainy. Me being lazy, I decided just to tough it out and not go all the way back upstairs to my apartment to get my jacket. I figured that as long as I have my umbrella I should be fine. I was walking to get some lunch anyways so I wasn't really cold.

When I was at work, some people asked me if I brought my jacket and I said I wasn't cold. Of course I get funny looks but after my last class, I went with my coworker to get a dessert at small eatery to take back to work. A lot of my Taiwanese coworkers thought I was weird because I wasn't wearing a jacket. I know it was getting colder but I'm just not that cold. I hear from people back home that it's snowing a ton and I'm definitely used to that cold. I think tonight it might have gotten down to the 60s and yes, it was rainy but it wasn't bad at all.

Some days it does get cold and I was wearing a shirt tonight but I wasn't too cold. My coworker made a joke with me and said what is this? Are you being an Iowa buff or what? lol I know January and February it will get colder so I just enjoy the weather now before it gets super chilly.

On a happy teaching note, today's classes weren't too bad at all! My half-day class is such a hit and miss. Some days it's a really good day and others it's bad. One of my students wanted me to sign my name on this piece of paper and I was really suspicious at first because it was in Chinese and I thought it was something for them to get out of (like homework or a project in Chinese school) but as I was reading it, it was an information sheet about her favorite teacher. She chose me as her favorite teacher and I had to sign my name on the sheet of paper. I thought that was really sweet of her. They really like cursive writing since they've never seen it before so I wrote my name in cursive and they were so astonished. Her English name is Tania and she thinks that her English name in cursive is ugly lol

My other two classes went really well and I'm starting to just have more fun with one of my classes but it's because they are getting smarter and they are usually good. My last class isn't the brightest but they can be really funny. They really wanted me to speak Chinese and my Chinese teacher made a good bargain. She said that I can say one Chinese word but they all have to write vocx1. One of the students actually agreed to it lol It's incredible how badly they want me to speak Chinese and they try so hard to have me speak it. For example they are learning "feel,taste,smell" and we're talking about food and one of my students said Korean kimchi in Chinese. During break they asked me how to say helicopter in English. Then they say it's your turn. Say it in Chinese. But I haven't cracked yet..I haven't said a Chinese to word them yet although they know my Chinese name.

-Chihchat

Change your seats

This morning I took another exercise class called Sexy Dance and again, it was like the other classes where I felt pressured to get the dance moves right. The instructor was actually getting frustrated and started to even speak English to us which was weird. She would say "sexy", you know "sexy" right? Then she would count in English which was super strange. Last night I went to a class called Easy Style but it was the same instructor as the kick boxing class and I really liked it. So I guess those two are the only classes I really like taking or maybe I just like the instructor lol

When I left my dance class, I was walking to the MRT to go home but passed many food stands. I wanted to get lunch and I was craving noodle soup. This lady saw that I was looking at the signs and she asked me what I wanted. I told her but she said they didn't have it. I told her it was okay and I was about to leave but she quickly said she can make it for me. I told her it's okay and I didn't want to inconvenience her but she said it was fine. Then she asked me where I was from and she quickly said, Cantonese, Japanese, and I said American. She's like oo lol But yeah it was very nice of her and I knew she wanted my business but right next door there was a bigger restaurant and I'm sure they served noodle soup.

My Tues. class is my second favorite class so far. They are very smart, young, and well-behaved except two students who like to talk. I get to play higher level games with them and I tried to play many games with them because they like to be competitive and have fun. I got to class and I looked at everyone to take attendance and I noticed how some of the students sat in different seats and I said, "Wow, it looks like people have changed seats." All of a sudden everyone got up and started to change seats. Before I play a game I like to ask if they want to keep or change seats and they usually like to change and it's funny because they get excited when I say "change seats." I always say "change seats" and they know I would introduce a game to them. I was so surprised when they started moving. They all sat down and I asked them what I said and they said I said change seats. I told them no, I just said that it seems like people are changing seats. They were all bummed because we had to do book work first since they had their unit quiz. It was pretty funny though just watching them hurriedly changing seats lol


So I totally forgot to write this yesterday. Yesterday was the sixth month mark of me being in Taiwan! I know it's been going quickly but I had no idea that I've already been here half a year. I don't know what will happen next year but I'm trying to live it up these next six months because I know pretty soon they will be over. I'm happy to say I've done many, many things that I've wanted to do, but there are still more things I want to do and enjoy! I mean I need to experience more new, exciting things to keep this blog interesting jk jk haha

-Chihchat

Being more food adventurous surprisingly

I've been here for almost six months and although I've eaten a lot of different types of food and tried many things, I feel like I tend to eat the same things over and over again. I don't cook since my kitchen is small and we don't have a microwave. Also, it's more convenient to eat out and it's much cheaper. I would cook Chinese food anyways and definitely vendor street food is better than my own cooking. BUT sometimes I work really late and the restaurants and small food stands are closed so it's hard to get dinner. I have my usual stands I go to where I order the same thing but I'm realizing that I've been here for awhile and I want to venture out more. There are two markets near my apartment but I don't go there usually because I would be busy doing this and that. Since I'm done dealing with grad. school applications, I have more time to walk around and see what other kinds of food I can eat.

I'm really lucky because my work area is at a busy area where I can easily find food. It's hard though because it becomes a routine and I tend to eat the same thing since it's good and I know how to say it in Chinese. My work is only a couple mins away from the famous Shilin night market. A couple of weeks ago, Drew and I went to a small stand that served desserts and drinks. I really like taro. It's getting pretty bad because I would want shaved ice every day which basically you can add many toppings on ice like taro. It's delicious especially when it's hot outside. I used to eat it a lot in the summer since it was ridiculously humid. When I was with Drew I got their menu and I finally sat down and used my electronic dictionary and deciphered it lol I'm proud since sometimes if I like a restaurant or food stand, I will get their menu so I can see what else they have but I actually never translated all the characters. I should be doing this more but it's hard. I'm definitely recognizing more characters and sometimes the restaurants will have English menus but I just wish I knew what each stand/place served. Anyway now I can order other things since I know how to say it in Chinese lol

Oh well...it's good practice and maybe it's a good thing so I don't eat everything in sight haha

-Chihchat

Proof that Chinese donuts do exist

Today I went to Yingge with my coworkers. It was fun as we ate, looked around, they made pottery, (I already did it 2x and so I didn't do it again), and went shopping. We got there around close to noonish and we spent about 5 hrs there but we didn't have enough time to go to the museum. It was nice just to check everything out and actually there was another street I didn't get to see before so it was nice to see something new. I couldn't find the pottery place that I went before with my relatives but we found another one which was still good enough although they couldn't choose their colors for the bowls. After they made pottery, we went shopping and I got some cool things including a whistle that sounds like a bird. It's designed like a rooster and you add a little water and you just blow at the tip and it makes a sound. I gave that one to Drew and a pretty bird one for Cala lol They also had panda ones too.

There was a lot of good snack food of course and I passed a donut stand. I've seen many donut stands before but this one has been the most enticing since it looked just like the ones that I made at AAC. The only difference is that I didn't put a filling inside the donut and the ones the lady was selling did. There are different flavors as the signs from left to right are taro, red bean, and butter. The first picture above really captures why I think Chinese donuts are great as the sign directly translates as "time longevity good sip, no eat regrets" and what does that mean? My short, direct interpretation is that "life is too short; eat and have no regrets." Anyway I just wanted to prove that there are Chinese donuts although I'm sure they are just called donuts lol The other pictures are of me and my coworkers at Yingge. It was a fun, relaxing day!

-Chihchat

Behaved students!

I teach all day on Saturdays and I have 4 classes so it's a full day. Of course not all my classes are going to go so well and there are going to be some naughty students. I've been tired all week and my half-day class has been draining all my energy/spirits which I meet 2x a week. I don't know if it's because of them or of my low expectations but I definitely was not looking forward to teaching today since I had my half-day class yesterday. I don't meet them today but I was just tired and last week, my last Sat. class was super naughty and didn't want to do anything. Anyway all my classes for the most part behaved. Of course they weren't angels but some of my students were really surprised me. I had do an oral exam this morning and my slowest students did so well, I was literally in shock lol Then in the afternoon my one class that WAS slow is now super smart. They understood everything and we had time to do so many things including playing a game using multiple sentences in present and past tense and new sentence structure with voc. words.

My young kindergarten level is now understanding more and we can actually play more competitive games. It was hard since there are 24 students (the max) in one class and it's hard to play games with such a large class especially since they were learning their ABCs. The last hour of class which I dread is my older junior year students who's in a lower English level class. Today they actually wanted to do the work and participate. They even did jumping jacks which I made them do for punishment.

Anyway today was actually a great communication day between me and my classes. Now I just wish my half-day class can be okay and then I will be fine lol

-Chihchat

Got my stamp seal

My sister wanted a traditional seal with her name on it for Christmas. I wanted one too and I actually ordered them a week ago at this store and I got them tonight :) The owners were extremely nice but I think it's because I had a big order. They were really patient with my Chinese and they have dealt with many foreigners before. So a nice quick tutorial about the usage of seals...

Chinese/Taiwanese people would use seals to show that the document/paper is their possession. It's a red square box and inside would have the Chinese name but there are other variations like circles and rectangles. The seal itself is also significant because the design of the stamp itself would bring luck or fortune. The stamp seal is basically like their signature and it's very common for people to stamp things to prove that it's real. For example, some of the books that I use in my English classes have a stamped seal on each page. At the bank especially, it's common for people to stamp on the piece of paper to verify that the transaction can be processed. Back in the day, poets and famous officials would have seals on their pieces of work. You would see especially on calligraphy posters the red square ink with their Chinese name inside which shows that it's real and not a fake. Although I won't be using my seal a lot since I need to get the ink and I don't really need to seal anything, it's just exciting to have one and have it in my own Chinese name too :)

-Chihchat

New food finds

Today I just had to do a couple of errands of buying some grocery sacks (you need specific ones that has a stamp on it) and going to the post office to receive my lottery money of $200 ($6USD). While I was doing my errands I wanted to get this wrap at a market near my house for lunch. The stand wasn't open but there were a lot of little snacks like red bean biscuit and this chewy rice cake thing. Then when I went to the post office, there was a stand nearby that was selling the wraps so I got one. Then while I was going home, I passed by this other stand that were selling bread and they had white radish and red bean. So delicious..I was so stuffed that I went home and took a nap lol

Then I went to my aunt/uncle's and the guard still didn't understand me so I wrote my uncle's name in Chinese on a piece of paper ugh Oh well..My aunt told me that while she was walking the dog, she told the guard that I would be coming. At least he was nicer to me this time. Then my aunt made some dishes using my favorite foods that I like such as fish, tofu, and white radish. I guess my cousin told her that she should switch up the dishes. Definitely ate a lot today but my aunt said it was okay since I was going to my kick boxing class. My kick boxing class was fun and there is this lady who is nice and who also comes during the same time. She wanted to exchange emails and wanted to hang out but I'm a little wary just because I don't know if she wants something or what not. I will just be careful. She wanted me to meet her Korean tutor so I can study Korean. I told her I don't have time to study Korean...I still need to know how to speak Chinese lol

-Chihchat

It's starting to get cold!

Although it's December, it really hasn't felt like it these past couple of weeks because, well of course I'm in Taipei, and second, I'm usually at work or indoors so the weather doesn't really affect me. I don't live too far away from work and so commuting to and from work is okay. I realized this morning though that it started to get chilly but I didn't really feel the full effects until I went home tonight. I mean, I will not complain since I know it already started snowing in Iowa but it was windy and I actually felt a little cold that I was walking briskly to get to my house. I was however, wearing a thin long-sleeve, skirt, leggings, and sandals. I'm trying to see how long I can last without wearing jeans. I'm not a big fan of wearing them and so far I haven't had to wear them yet (knock on wood). I also brought two sweaters from home and I haven't worn them either. I actually just bought some cheap tights at a market near my house today so I have different colors and I can wear them instead of jeans since it hasn't been super cold yet. I can wear those for now but I'm sure once January and February rolls around, I will have to give in and wear jeans.

-Chihchat

Going to Bali ^.^

I've been planning to go to Bali this month with my coworker and her friend and today we confirmed the tickets. Originally I was going to go home to visit my family at the end of Jan. but my mom thought it would be best that I would stay in Taiwan to save money and because I would be home soon since my contract is up in June. Now, I don't know what's going on for next year since it depends on a lot of things (grad school). But anyway then my mom was going to come visit me but she had teeth surgery and wants to wait it out. So I'm going to Bali, Indonesia for 4 nights, 5 days. It's actually a really short trip and it won't take too long to get there by plane. I think it's about 5-7 hours or so? I'm leaving Dec. 20 and will be back on Christmas Eve. I have to work on Christmas Day but after work, my coworker who is amazing at grilling/barbequing food is going to have a Christmas dinner and make turducken (turkey, duck, and chicken all in one). Sats are super busy and I do work all day but it's okay since I will be home in the evening and rest up. At least I will have a Christmas dinner to look forward to.

I get up to a month of unpaid vacation. I wanted to go to Korea with Drew in Oct. but my boss wouldn't let me since I can't take off vacation within the first six months that I've started. Luckily she let me go on this trip. I'm pretty excited just to relax because I felt like ever since I got here, I've been super busy either hanging out with family, getting adjusted to my job, and applying to grad schools. Things are winding down so now I want to enjoy in and around Taiwan.

-Chihchat

Surprisingly productive

Ever since I turned in grad school apps, I've been more lazy. Strictly speaking, I've been sleeping a lot more lol I still wake up early to help Drew give Kenny his meds but then I fall right back asleep. Today I don't have to work until 5 so I slept until 1pm! I felt so lazy but I made lunch, did my laundry, worked on Chinese, taught a class, had my one-on-one, threw out the trash, and ran my usual run of 3 miles. After thinking about all the things I did today, I say I was pretty productive but I still feel like I wasted the whole day away since I woke up so late lol

-Chihchat

Sluggish day

I don't know why, but Sundays are really the sluggish day of the week for me. Although I have a day off on Thurs. and don't really have a busy schedule throughout the week, by the time it's Sun., I have absolutely no energy. This morning I woke up close to 1pm! I woke up several times but I really couldn't muster up the energy to actually get out of bed haha Drew and I watched Team America World Police and I worked on Chinese for a bit. Then we went to Coldstone because we had the 7-Eleven deal and then KTV with a few of my coworkers. It was a somewhat productive day but I never really woke up lol I was tired and really had no energy. Oh well, at least it will be easier to sleep tonight.

Tonight for KTV, I have increased the number of Chinese songs that I am able to sing. I can sing more than 5 songs so I'm pretty happy haha I also sang to the Chinese songs that my friends chose so I'm happy that I can sing more. They do have American songs but it wasn't a great selection, however, I did sing a Britney Spears song :)

-Chihchat

Game night

After work today my coworker had people over at her house to play some mahjong. She had leftover burrito mix from the other night so she decided to make burritos again. It was really nice to eat some good food after working a whole full day. Then we played mahjong and others played xbox and this number card game. It was a nice night to just relax and be happy after a long day of teaching. Actually, I'm really getting the hang of teaching (knock on wood) and usually I would be exhausted after teaching a full day but now I can survive and be able to stay up longer than 8pm lol

-Chihchat

Nonexistent Electricity bill

This morning Cala saw a notice on the front door about our electricity bill. Apparently we were overdue on our bill and they will shut off the electricity by this week if we don't pay asap. The thing is that we never received the bill to begin with. The bills are weird here since they are usually bimonthly instead of monthly. Sometimes they can go up to a three month period. I called the landlord and luckily we got it figured out. I had to go to the main office to pay it but Drew was afraid we would get charged a late fee.

Fortunately the office is right on the way to work. I got to the office and I was a little annoyed since the ladies were being a little mean but anyway she gave me a number which I had to call to figure out about the late charge. I thought we had to pay an extra $2000 NT but it turned out to be $200. I had my coworker help call the company and I guess it was another phone number that was on the bill. Anyway we still have to pay the late fee but at least we got the bill paid off. Hopefully we will receive the next bill.

I was already a little frazzled from that and I'm still recovering from a little cold so I was sort of tired in class. I also worked on my Chinese which gives me a headache sometimes but tonight's classes were fine. After work, Drew and I ate at this nice desert place where you can get a red bean soup with taro balls and then we played DDR. We are doing this dance tournament where you try to win the tournament by completing all these levels. It's pretty addicting but we're getting pretty far..mostly from the help of Drew though lol

-Chihchat

Because I'm an American! :/

Today was a busy day! I went to do some errands including working on Chinese, skyping with family, going to my aunt's and uncle's for dinner, and going to two exercise classes. The first exercise class was belly dancing. I'm proud to say that I tried it but there were only 5 people and it was awkward since I didn't understand some things that the instructor said and we had to learn basic moves. At least I tried it and it was okay for the most part.

When I went to my aunt's and uncle's, I have to pass the entrance gate and I usually never have trouble since I've been going there mostly every Thurs. I had problems one of the first times I went to their place and again, tonight it was the same guard that gave me trouble. This time he asked me who I wanted to see since I asked him if I could go in and he wouldn't open the door. Normally the guard lets me in without me asking since I've been going for the past 5 months. I told him my uncle and he goes well it could be anyone's uncle. He asked for the name but he started to get angry with me and I said the last name but he made fun of my pronunciation and said what? I don't understand what you're saying. I started to call my aunt and she had to talk to him but I finally said his name. I was SO ANGRY! I was really pissed off because he kept attacking me and my mind went blank. I know my uncle's Chinese name but I totally forgot at the moment and it's hard to think in a foreign language. He kept saying he didn't understand me and I finally yelled "Because I'm an American." He goes oh a lot of Americans are coming back to Taiwan and it seemed like he was mocking me.

He finally opened the door for me and I rushed past the gate quickly and didn't even look at him. I was furious. I got to my aunt's and she was trying to calm me down. She knew I was angry. I understand that a lot of people are trying to pull scams and get in the apartment but the fact that he wasn't even patient with me and wouldn't even let me speak made me upset. UGH...When I left, he opened the door for me and I said mockingly thanks in Chinese. Yeah, I'm immature lol

Well besides that fiasco, I then went to the kick boxing class tonight. It put me in a much better mood and I kept imagining myself hitting the guard so it was okay lol I go to these exercise classes mostly with my coworker and there was this lady who was really nice and started chatting with us. We were talking about our awesome instructor and the class. He is so sweet. We were the last ones to leave since the lady was talking to us and the instructor asked us if we were okay and if it wasn't too tiring for us. Aww lol Definitely looking forward to Thurs. now :)

-Chihchat

Weather change

Lately the weather has been changing and definitely affecting me. I should be used to it since I live in Iowa but some days it would get super hot and humid and other days really chilly and windy. At night I would have a draft in my room and other times I wouldn't even sleep with a blanket. I've noticed that my throat has been bugging me but today I definitely felt sick. Unfortunately today is my busy day of teaching of about 7 hours but luckily I made it lol But I shouldn't be complaining since I won't experience any snow. That is one thing I really like about Taipei's weather so far.

I told my students in my classes that I was a little sick because of my throat but no worries, it didn't affect them since they were still loud and energetic lol I just hope I can get over my little cold and feel better! At least it's almost the end of the week and I have a day off tomorrow!

-Chihchat

Kenny's home :)

Kenny has been at the vet for the past 3 days and he finally came home today. Drew, our coworker, and I went this afternoon to get him but the doctor wasn't in and we had to wait until he came. Poor Kenny had a tube around his neck and was just sitting in his cage. There was another cat next to him that was constantly meowing. Now Kenny knows how we feel to hear that loud noise all the time lol

I just taught one class tonight and after class my coworker and I went to an exercise class. This time we tried the Latin class. It wasn't too bad actually because it was like kick boxing where you do different dance moves and you get little breaks. I didn't get an intense work out like the kick boxing class but I definitely still was sweating. We were even using toilet paper to dance with and I originally thought it was for us to wipe the sweat of our faces lol But after we got done using the toilet paper for dancing, the instructor said we could use it to wipe our faces.

We had a lot of trash at the apartment because of the Thanksgiving party. Everyone is busy when it's trash time except me. Tues. and Thurs. are the only days that you can throw out the bottles and cans. I rushed home and made it but there was too much garbage so I could only take two buckets. I got there and this lady wanted me to give my recyclables to this other lady that was collecting them. People collect recyclables because they get money when they take it to the dump. I told the lady she can have it but she had to watch my bucket of trash because I was going to go home and get the other two buckets that I couldn't carry lol So I rushed back home to get them and luckily I made it. I'm happy I got all the trash taken care of tonight since we would have had to wait until Thurs. to throw it out.

Drew brought home Kenny tonight. Kenny has to be on new medication. It's going to be rough for him since he has to drink lots of water and eat pills. He had a tube inserted him but he should be okay now. He just has a bladder infection. Hopefully these next couple of weeks he will get better. Drew gave him a bath tonight and he looked really funny lol But yeah poor Kenny, hopefully he will feel better and won't meow at night!!

-Chihchat

Gorging out

I felt like a slug today since last night we had the Thanksgiving party. I was tired from the night before since I went to bed late and I woke up around 12:30 today. I then ate some leftovers which then made me sleepy lol I taught one class, then had an one-on-one with my new student. I used to tutor her little brother but not anymore. She's older and I'm helping with her writing. I don't have to worry about boring her but she isn't motivated whatsoever. Oh well. Then I threw out the trash, ran, then ate again lol I brought food to work too and ate before class haha It's okay though. It's nice to eat some yummy leftovers and not have to go somewhere to eat dinner.

-Chihchat

Our Taiwan Thanksgiving

Today was our Thanksgiving dinner/celebration. Since most of us didn't have a chance to go back home for the holidays, Drew and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our place. Everyone brought a side dish and it was a great turn out. There was a lot of food and it was a good night. The pictures above are all the food that we made and what people brought.

The turkey was good although the gravy and stuffing that came with it wasn't super delicious but I can't complain since it was free with the turkey. I also decided to make cranberry sauce this year since I didn't know what the quantities were for the sauce at the place where I ordered the turkey. I made it last night and it was still soupy this morning but I just had to keep boiling it but at least I made it and it was okay lol Everyone was getting pretty stuffed and we even had 3 big pies. There will be a lot of leftovers at work these next couple of days. After we ate, everyone was getting pretty sleepy but some people were playing mahjong while others were playing on the Wii. It was a good night to just have a good time hanging out with coworkers and friends, eating different types of food, and celebrating Thanksgiving aka being thankful for what I have :)

-Chihchat

Costco craziness

After work I went with Drew and a bunch of our coworkers to prep for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow so we went to Costco, an Westernized supermarket basically like a Sam's Club x 100. It was enormous! There were two levels and to go to each floor, you had to stand in line on a moving escalator. The carts were huge since children can sit in them although they aren't supposed to and it was really crowded tonight. I guess a lot of people go shopping on a Saturday night since they have free time. There were workers to help people guide through the different levels and the entrance/exit. It was definitely hard to weave a huge cart among the aisles.

We were trying to get items to make some side dishes for tomorrow. I'm making my scallion pancake and cranberry sauce. Drew is making chip dip. Everyone who is coming is bringing a side dish. Drew and I got the turkey which cost a whopping $3400NT which is about $112 USD. Yes, we bought a $112 turkey. We ordered at a restaurant that will already have cooked it tomorrow and hopefully it will come with sides but we don't know how much. I didn't want to spend extra money on cranberry sauce since I don't know how much we need so I decided to make my own for everyone. The turkey is about 18 lbs I think. We ordered the biggest one so I guess I will see tomorrow how big it is. I ordered on the phone so I hope everything worked out and nothing get messed up. I'm excited to see it though lol We are expecting at least 10 people so hopefully we will have enough food for everyone!

Costco actually didn't have a lot of variety but they sold everything in huge bulk. It was pretty insane with the sizes but the food was meant for families. Then Drew and our other coworker went to Carrefour which is another Americanized grocery store. We didn't get home until close to 11pm and then I cooked my cranberry sauce. It's going to be a long day tomorrow cleaning and getting everything prepared but it will be totally worth it!

-Chihchat

Trip to the vet

Lately Kenny has been meowing up a storm and he's also been spraying everywhere. He had an UTI before but we didn't know if he was just acting up since he hasn't been fixed. Tonight Drew, our coworker, and I took him to a 24 hr vet. Kenny has some stones in his bladder and he needs to stay in the animal hospital for about 3 days to get his stones by inserting a tube in him. It was so sad because he was so scared when we put him in the cage and he wouldn't get out. I literally had to pull him out and he just didn't want to leave. Then when Drew was holding him he was clawing at his pants because he didn't want to leave. Poor Kenny...this is when I feel for bad him and I'm sorry to see him like this. Hopefully the stones will go away and he will be back to normal. The saddest/cutest thing was when Kenny was so scared that he put his face in Drew's arm :( I just don't want him to think we are leaving him.

It was interesting to go to a Taiwanese vet. I'm so glad our Taiwanese coworker came with us. But anyway I got to see a cat ultrasound. It was so weird since we could see the stones in Kenny's bladder. Kenny also got an x-ray and blood work. Then after we went to the vet, we went to a night market near by. We ate this Mongolian stir fry place where you pile as much as food as you want and they stir fry it for you. It's not like Huhot where they just stir fry the noodles. They add water so it's a little soupy and it's so delicious. They had unlimited rice and black tea! I also had mochi and this other fish soup with rice noodles so I'm pretty stuffed. Drew and I were thinking of getting shaved ice since that was the original plan but after eating all that food, there's no way we both could eat it. Definitely I will eat shaved ice next time!

-Chihchat

I won the Taiwan lottery and kick boxing is now my new hobby

Every 25th of the odd month Taipei has a lottery. Instead of buying lottery tickets, your receipt is a lottery. I'm not sure if I blogged about this before but it's a good way for people to keep their receipts and not throw them away. Basically every receipt that you get from anywhere has an 8 digit number. If you match the last 3 digits of a number or all the numbers that is listed on the website that was put out today, you can earn some money. If you match the last 3 digits, you receive $200NT which is about $6USD or so. If you match 4 digits, it's $300NT and so forth. If you match all 8 digits of the grand prize number, you win $2 million NT dollars. I checked today and I won $200NT. Yay! I didn't win the last couple of times so I'm happy to say that I won the lottery.

My coworker and I tried another exercise class tonight. This time we decided to take kick boxing, and it was a great choice! Our instructor was a guy and yes, he happened to be in shape and not bad looking. BUT it wasn't his looks that made the class fun. He was really energetic, supportive, and nice. He explained to the newbies, like me and my coworker, that we don't have to hit so hard and that if we need a break, we can take one and stop. He told us not to over do it and hurt ourselves. He also even tried speaking English and singing to the songs lol And when we were doing the punches, he would pretend that we were punching him when we were hitting lol It was also a great work out since we would have an intense workout for 15 mins or so then have a quick break. We actually exercised and we did different things, not like the routines that we did for the high and low class the other day. Yep, we were pretty satisfied and I definitely like kick boxing now :)

By the way, to my fellow American friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone has a great turkey day. My roommate/coworker and I are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner with our coworkers and friends this Sunday. I'm pretty excited and it should be fun to have a great gathering of American food in Taiwan. I will blog later about the food and how much the turkey costs..also the fact that it's rare to find an oven in Taipei.

-Chihchat

Not as tired!

A couple of days ago I tried to submit my grad school application to the Univ. of Minnesota. The problem was my credit card wasn't working. I really owe my sister a lot because she submitted the application for me. I don't know why my credit card wasn't working. I'm sure they suspended it since I told them I was in Taipei and because I haven't used it for awhile. I need to call my bank about it but for some reason it's hard for me to get an international phone card. I will get one when I get paid next week since I don't want to deal with getting one right now. It was really stressful these past couple of days for some reason. I'm so glad that I submitted one application already!!

I know universities and colleges send information to anyone who has taken the GRE regardless if they did well or not. It's called the GRE free search service where universities and colleges can send you information. It's interesting because a couple of days ago I received an email from Northeastern University's graduate studies. It's interesting because I applied to their English Ph.D. program last year and got rejected lol I was really surprised when I received the email but maybe it was just a mass email. Then yesterday I received an email from Georgetown University's journalism Master's program. Although I'm not going to grad school for journalism, I was really excited to receive an email from Georgetown University. Yep, I'm a loser...let me be happy haha

As I blogged many times before, Weds are my busy days since I teach all day. Surprisingly I wasn't tired after work. I mean, I'm not super energetic but I'm not so exhausted that I can barely stay awake to write a blog. I think I'm actually getting used to my classes. My Wed. classes are all pretty loud and crazy but I think I'm getting used to teaching them. I was lucky and one of my classes had a unit quiz today so I didn't have to teach too much during the second hour. Maybe I don't have to dread Weds now :)

-Chihchat

Never again...

Today my coworker and I went to the YMCA gym and bought tickets to take classes. We decided to take an aerobics class today. It was called high and low and we thought it would involve different steps and what not. It was fine in the beginning but we were basically taught a dance and we had to keep doing it over and over again. It definitely got boring fast, especially when you don't know the steps all too well. It was sort of embarrassing too because they knew we couldn't speak Chinese well and they were laughing and what not about little things. The class was okay but it was definitely hard since I wasn't expecting to memorize and do a dance.

Then later tonight I wanted to return the international phone card that I bought last night and it took forever since the cashier had to again make sure I didn't use the minutes and they had to call the company on the phone. Then she didn't know how to return it and it took a good 15 min. wait. It was my fault and I felt stupid for buying it but it was just frustrating since it took forever to return the card. In the end she got it figured out but I really have to clarify what kind of calling card I need to use because when I say I want to buy an international calling card, they order it from the machine. I rather they just give me a card since it's easier to use but sometimes not all the stores carry the card form.

-Chihchat

I just want to make a phone call...

Today is the day when I call to find out my GRE scores...but there's one problem. I need a way to call the U.S.! I went to a convenience store this afternoon to buy an international calling phone card but the cashier asked me a question which I didn't understand and it turned out to be an important question because the phone card he gave me was only used for pay phones. He asked me where I would be dialing from but I thought he was asking me where I was calling to so I said that it's not a house phone or cell phone since I was calling a test center. Big mistake...

So then later tonight I actually went on a payphone to see if I could use the card but it was confusing since the instructions were in Chinese. I even called this International phone center number listed on the payphone to figure out what to do lol That didn't work so I returned the phone card. When I returned it, I had to wait for 10 mins since the cashier (ironically the same person who sold me the phone card in the first place) had to make sure I didn't use any of the minutes from the card and he could only check by using the payphone outside. Of course there was this lady who was talking on it for awhile so I had to wait for her but I got my money back and I bought another card but again of course it was all in Chinese.

So I go home to try to figure it out but I didn't and thankfully Drew lent me his phone to use Skype. It's free for him since I was calling a toll-free number but I still felt bad. So I got my GRE scores and I was going to submit my first application but it wouldn't let me because of some complication of either my address or insufficient funds through the pay service of the application. I checked my account though and I have enough money so I don't know what's going on. It's almost 1am over here and I think I will just work on it tomorrow.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up this week, my roommate/coworker Drew and I are having our coworkers over for Thanksgiving this Sunday. I called to order our turkey which is nice since it will already be cooked since none of my coworkers and I have ovens but a big turkey of about 16-18lbs is $3400NT which is over $100USD..that's insane! But turkey is not common at all here and they need to export it from the US but still. It's pretty shocking just for a cooked turkey but we are having a good amount of people so we can have turkey leftovers for a couple of weeks if need be!

-Chihchat

Mahjong madness

Last night at my coworkers' housewarming party, we were playing mahjong. Drew and I bought a mahjong set for our coworkers as a housewarming gift. Then today we went to our other coworker's place and ate yummy burritos that our coworkers made for us and played mahjong. We actually played for money and I won! It got really intense for me though at times because I'm used to playing for fun and although we weren't betting huge money, I just kept wanting to win. Yes...it's an addiction haha But no, it was fun and I learned new rules of the game.

Drew was getting ice cream at Coldstone this afternoon and we were with our coworker when I saw a couple of cute guys. I just told them that I saw some cute guys and one of them turned out to be the luwei guy! I haven't talked about him anymore since I really don't like him too much but it was funny that I saw him again with his friends. I didn't even recognize him until he passed us lol

I shouldn't be complaining at all since the weather is still nice for being late Nov. but since it's still humid and in the upper 70s, the mosquitos are still out roaming around and I keep getting bitten! It's been bad especially these past couple of days when it's nice and humid out. I used to have a plug-in that would kill mosquitos in my room but I ran out of them. I'm glad it's nice out still and I can still wear shorts but I got 5 already in the last 10 mins. I was getting an immunity from them this summer since after awhile I wouldn't get anymore mosquito bites but it's been awhile since I've gotten bitten. I guess it's time to wear bug spray again...

-Chihchat

Small dogs

Tonight two of my coworkers had a housewarming party. They just moved in together and we came over to their place tonight after work and had food and drinks. One of my coworkers has two dogs and her roommate has one. Another one of my coworkers brought her dog over too so altogether there were 4 small dogs. They are all so cute and minature-sized. Most of the dogs here are like that because there is no space for a big dog to play outside and go to the bathroom and also because Taiwanese people like small dogs, well actually anything small and cute. One of the dogs is pretty territorial though and bit one of my coworker's nose! I was scared of him the rest of the night. He is a Chihuahua and they tend to get pretty mean. But it was fun getting to play with them and pet them. At first when I saw them, I didn't think they were that cute but now I will admit, they are pretty cute...

-Chihchat

Daycare or teaching?

I have been teaching a half-day class for the past couple of months which meets twice a week. They are different from a regular class since I meet with them, they do not have a CT (Chinese teacher), and they learn from another book. Most of the students have been at my school for a long time so really it's not a learning place but more like a daycare center. I teach an older set of students but there a lot of problems that I have to deal with like crying, fighting with one another, crying, complaining, and did I say crying? lol They are mostly 10 years old with an exception of two students who are 11 years old but they cry very easily. I guess maybe this is why I like teaching older students lol

I like most of them but they are very unmotivated, mostly because they have been at the school for a long time and they are forced to be there after Chinese school. I feel bad for them though because they don't have a lot of free time so I try to create fun projects for them to do. The teachers joke around saying we basically have to take care of them but I'm trying to look at the brighter side, at least I'm gaining experience in teaching young children....at least... lol

-Chihchat

Duck?

I feel so old today, haha that makes sense huh? Last night I went out and got home around midnight and today I could barely get up at 10am to skype with my family. Although I did teach all day yesterday and hung out with friends, I don't work today and yet, I was sleepy and really tired. I skyped with my mom and sister for a good hour and then I tried to go back to sleep although by this point it was after 12. I guess teaching really tires me out!

On a much random note, when I was walking to my uncle's apartment tonight for dinner, I saw on the sidewalk a duck in a small caged area outside a shop. At first I just saw a yellow fence and wondered what was inside and when I glanced in the area I saw a white duck and it was huge! It scared the crap out of me lol I wanted to take a picture but I'm sure people would have thought that was wierd. I usually see people leave their bird cage's outside, I'm thinking to let the birds get some fresh air, and I even saw a rooster in its cage but never have I seen a white duck, a big one in fact, like that. Oh Taiwan...

-Chihchat

Alley Cats...sounds like a bowling alley

Tonight my ex-coworker had a get together to celebrate his new job. His girlfriend still works with me and she is also my trainer. We went to Alley Cats which sounds like a bowling alley but it's a restaurant/bar with really good pizza! The first picture is of Danny and all the girls. Second picture is an all girl pic. Their pizza is also thin crust which I love and they had lots of different toppings to choose from. This lady who used to work at my school now opened up a bakery and my coworker ordered tiramisu cake from her (third picture above). It was amazing. Also, all the servers can speak English since a lot of foreigners go there and eat. I talked to this one server and he was raised in South Africa and he lived in South Carolina for a bit. It was a good time to hang out with everyone after a long, busy day at work ^.^

-Chihchat

Teacher's Point of View

My Tues. night class is a really good class full of smart students who are very young. There English is pretty good for only being 9-10 years old. They are in the upper K level which is almost advanced and for this unit quiz they had to write questions and answers dealing with be + verb-ing ex: I am swimming, and using past tense. Then they had to match the sentences together and then make questions using "who", "what", "when", "what time", "where", "how", and "did". They also had to write sentences using "before", "after", and "when". Since the unit quiz takes awhile, I usually would bring something to grade. I forgot but it didn't matter anyway since a lot of the students had questions. It's really intense seeing everyone taking the test because it reminded me of the GRE. Everyone was really stressed out, sighing, looking at the paper exasperated, and some really confused. I wonder if my Chinese teachers thought the same way when I took a Chinese test? lol

After Drew and I went running, we went to a grocery market and the lady directly asked me if he had a card in Chinese. Drew would answer back and she would ask me if he wanted to buy a bag. It was strange since she talked to Drew before in Chinese and this time she just spoke to me. She was rude about it and it happens all the time where people would look directly at me since I'm Asian and they think I can speak Chinese when Drew can speak it better than me lol

-Chihchat

No self-control..when it comes to food!

At work, everyone is pretty sharing and generous with food. People will bring food for everyone whether it be candy, chips, cookies, or popcorn. The CTs (Chinese Teacher) always bring food over to the FT (Foreign teacher) room (we all work in one big room but there is a wall with an open window that divdes the CTs with the FTs) to give us to eat. Sometimes the CTS are nice and just bring food over and sometimes they can't finish something so they just ask us which usually one of us will eat it since they don't like to waste and they know us foreigners eat way more than they do. Sometimes people leave really good treats like cookies and today was pizza and cheesecake. I'm sometimes not hungry but it's really hard when the food is left in the middle for us to take lol One of my coworkers Matt who brought the pizza today usually brings a bag of ritz-type crackers. I always tell him not to bring anything since I will eat it and he told me to have self-control haha I obviously do not have that since I can't resist and I always eat what's on the table unless it's something I really don't like. I don't know why..I'm not even hungry but it's just hard. This past Saturday one of the CTs brought over kettle popcorn since she didn't like it. No one was eating it and I practically ate the whole thing and then my other coworker gave me a home-made cookie. I have no idea how I'm actually losing some weight...

-Chihchat

Taco Night Round 2

There were leftover ingredients to make more tacos from last night so Drew and I made more tacos tonight. Yummy! They are so good. I think what made it the best was the corn and black bean mix and that he heated the tortillas in the pan. Alex who made tacos last night just mixed those two ingredients together but I think because he made it into a bean paste topping so it was just extremely delicious. Anyway I posted up pictures of the food and Alex who was making the tacos. He was really nice as he made everyone 2nd and 3rd helpings, and there were about 7 of us or so.

Tonight Drew and I went to get another DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) pad so we can compete against one another now. I will now be super addicted to DDR!

*Oh and I forgot to say this, today (14th) is the 5th month mark that I've been in Taiwan! Time is going by so fast that I didn't even realize it until this morning hehe

-Chihchat

Taco Night

Cala had people over at work tonight to make some tacos. Her coworker made extremely delicious tacos since he a really good recipe and way cooking the tacos! Oh my goodness...definitely still craving them although I'm stuffed right now from eating so many lol I will post up pictures later but it was fun to just have a small get together after work and to eat some homemade food. Today was a good work day although I was really tired afterwards and just wanted to sleep. I had to drink coffee tonight which barely woke me up while people were over eating tacos and hanging out. I wish I had more energy but I guess it will just take time and some getting used to teaching all day and to not pass out by the time I get home lol

-Chihchat

Generosity

This morning I went to work early because I needed to prep and grade for my classes. I need to scan an unofficial copy of my transcripts for one of my grad school applications. It's really hard to find a scanner here, well mainly because I'm in a foreign country. My aunt and uncle have one but when I went to the their place last night, my aunt told me that it was broken. I could go to a copy store but I didn't really have an idea of where to go. I was at work early today and I tried to see if the copy machine could also scan things. One of my coworkers was there since she teaches an early morning class. She was so sweet. I asked her if the machine could scan things and if she knew how to do it. She had no idea and she called one of the secretaries to help me scan things downstairs. That was very nice of both of them and I kept saying thank you. This may sound corny and it's not a big deal but they both really helped save me from a lot of stress and hassle of finding someone/some place to scan an important document for my grad school application that is due within a couple of weeks. And it only took a min. or so to scan and upload it on my USB. Awesomeness!

-Chihchat

I'm a local today

Today while I was walking to the post office at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in the middle of the square, there were some people building a stage which I'm assuming it's a concert of some sort, or maybe for the elections, I'm not sure. While I was walking, this older lady asked me if I knew what they were doing. I told her I don't know. I was really surprised since I was wearing shorts (although today was in the 80s!) and lately a lot of people have been wearing jackets and pants so I can't believe she thought I was a native Taiwanese person. Although she could have just asked me but there were a lot of people there so she could have asked anyone.

Then when I was waiting for the MRT to go to my aunt's and uncle's place for dinner, this young lady asked me how to get to this place on the subway line. She was with an older lady and there was a map near us and I told her how to get there all in Chinese. The younger lady was really nice and she never asked me where I was from or questioned about my accent. Also, she understood exactly what I meant although I had a map so she could see what I was talking about. Surprisingly she didn't need to me to repeat anything that I said. That really made my day though. I told my aunt about it when I reached her place and she said I'm a local now lol

Oh and today is Leonardo DiCaprio's birthday :) He is 36 today! Happy birthday Leo!

-Chihchat

Bread goodness

For one of my lessons tonight, my K6 class is learning past tense questions and answers. I was practicing with the "wh" questions like who, what, where, when, why. I was getting confused though because I would write the answer and they would write the question but they were mixing up on the tenses when they were writing the questions. However, I realized that when you ask "what, where, when" it needs to be in present tense like "What did you do today? Where did you go shopping?" But if you ask "who" you need to use past tense like "Who cried today?" Sadly, I was getting them confused though because I wouldn't emphasize the tenses and I didn't even think about how the tenses switch when you ask certain questions. This is how my job is actually improving my English because as a native speaker, you don't think about these things since it makes sense and it comes natural to just know the rules. It's weird that you would have to explain these little details but they are important. I was tired though by the time I taught them since I previously taught two energetic classes before them so I wasn't thinking clearly but luckily they understood somewhat of what I was saying. But they are crazy kids anyways so it's not like they were getting angry with me lol Oh English..

After work I went to the Shida night market tonight to buy some presents. I haven't eaten dinner yet since I just got off work and I was planning on buying some small snack food at the market. I passed by this bakery which had fresh bread and huge buns/rolls. They had many different kinds of buns and I ordered two; red bean and taro. It was amazing! I was happy to see the red bean since I haven't seen many stands that have them and as I blogged before, I just had my first red bean bun a couple of weeks ago. The buns were so cheap and so fresh that it just came out of the steamer. Then when I got to the night market, I got another bun that had different meat and vegetables inside. I definitely had my bread fix for awhile!

-Chihchat

Nice routine

Since I'm almost turning in my graduate school applications, I'm not as super busy as I have been these past couple of months. It's really nice to not have to be working on something. I have begun a routine now where in the afternoon I study Chinese, then work at night, throw out the trash, and run. Although Wed., Fri., and Sat., are my busy days since I work all day, it's nice to have a couple of relax days too. I'm turning in grad. apps. in less than 2 weeks and I'm definitely counting down the days :)

-Chihchat

Defending myself

For some reason I always have something new to say when I throw out the garbage. I throw out the garbage 3x a week and lately I haven't experienced any conflicts. I've been doing good for the past couple of weeks but today I got yelled at again and I finally fought back. There are two trucks and I was waiting to throw out the paper/cardboard that doesn't touch food since today is Monday. Mondays are the days when you can usually throw away that stuff. As I was waiting for the guy to open the bag, he looks at me and asks me a question. I couldn't hear him though because he was wearing a face mask since he probably didn't want to get sick from dealing with the trash. It's popular to wear face masks here. Anyway I didn't answer right away and then he asked me again what was in my bucket and that it was the wrong day to throw the trash and that today was the day to throw out paper/cardboard. I was frustrated since I just wanted to throw away the trash and I had paper/cardboard in my bucket so I quickly retorted angrily in Chinese (of course), "No, this is paper" since he was asking me if the things in my trash were touching food. I was so mad because he asked me although you can see that I wasn't throwing the wrong stuff. I'm glad I finally got a little snappy since when I first got here, they would always yell at me. After I left I gave a glare to the other worker lol I'm sure he just wanted to make sure I wasn't throwing things in the wrong bag but it was just annoying that he questioned me when I'm sure he didn't question other people. I also had paper and cardboard so I don't know why he would assume I mixed everything up. Okay, just had to vent a little bit :)

-Chihchat

It never gets old

During lunchtime I went to Shilin night market to buy some school supplies and do some errands. Shilin night market nevers get old. No matter how many times I've been there, I always find something new and manage to get myself lost lol Although most of the stands weren't even open yet, there are so many small hidden alleys where you can seriously just walk forever and look at everything. I walked around for 2 1/2 hours and it was awesome. I just love looking at everything and I even passed by a temple and they were playing some music.

This evening Cala and I went to my mother's cousin's daughters, Lily and Anita, (I don't know what to call our relation) clothing store. I went to check it out and it was near a lot of food stands. After shopping at the store, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant.

A little side note, I saw that in the US they had daylight savings time this weekend. Oddly enough, in Taiwan they don't do that here. All year round the time is the same. Anyway days like today where I have a day off and just travel and explore different areas and places of Taipei are when I just love Taiwan because you can always find something new, eat something different, and enjoy a whole different atmosphere.

-Chihchat

Brownie points?

For my A1 class which is the first level for the advanced classes, I assigned them an essay to write about their favorite thing. It could be about their favorite sport, movie, actor/actress, color, band, etc. One of the students who is doing really bad in the class turned in her essay and she wrote how her favorite teacher is me. She said I was beautiful and in big bold letters she colored "We heart you (yes she drew a heart)" I was really surprised. I thought she actually didn't like me because she does have an attitude in class. Sadly I thought maybe she was just trying to get brownie points since she's doing pretty bad in the class and barely passing. After reading it, I told her thank you about the essay and she just smiled. It was pretty nice of her, I just hope her English can improve so I don't have to fail her.

-Chihchat

蔥油餅 heaven

My favorite Chinese snack/food is 蔥油餅 aka scallion pancakes. It's basically fried dough with green onions in it and I made it all the time back home in the US. It can be a breakfast food although it's a snack food in Taipei and you can even add cheese, basil leaves, and egg. I usually eat it plain but lately I would add hot sauce and this type of sour pickled vegetable to it. The other day Cala and I went to a little market near our place and we went inside this building where they had more food stands. We passed a 蔥油餅 stand. Usually in Taipei they sell 葱抓饼 which I blogged before but the difference is that the bread is thinner and fluffier. This stand was selling 蔥油餅 which I've never seen here yet and the dough was super thick and they were in huge pizza slices. One piece was bigger than my own hand. It only cost 50NT (almost $1USD) and I ordered a piece this afternoon. After seeing the stand yesterday, I had to go back today to order it lol The guy cut it up for me and it had sesame seeds on it too. It was so big that when he cut it up, it added up to about 10 big pieces. It was amazing though..I probably won't eat 蔥油餅 for awhile since it's way too much but it was incredible. I never seen such a big piece of 蔥油餅 in my life lol I need to go back and take a picture of it haha

-Chihchat

Hiking up Mt. Qixing

Today Cala and I went hiking at Yangming Mountain to Mt. Qixing. It's 1120 meters high (about 3,000 ft) and it took 2.27 km (1.41 miles) to walk there. We left at 5:45am to take the first bus since we expected this trip to take 5 hours. We both had a class tonight so we wanted to get home early enough to relax before we had to work. We took the correct bus but we couldn't find the second bus to transfer. We figured it out and all the buses were filled with older Taiwanese people getting ready to hike. Hiking is a popular pasttime for the older Taiwanese generation. The age range of these people are probably about 60s-80s and they are definitely in shape.

We reached the park and we get outside to find out that it is drizzling. It's just really annoying since the past couple of days it was so nice outside and of course the day we hike, it's rainy. It took us awhile to get to the trail but we finally started the trail at 7am. The steps weren't too bad and it was warm enough to wear my tank top and not have to wear my jacket. I was wearng shorts and my shoes didn't have the best traction since they had shocks. We were walking halfway there and it wasn't too bad. The stone steps were ok until we reached a little halfway to the peak and the trail became really steep. The steps were elevated higher so it was harder to climb up each step. The path got curvier and the rain didn't help at all since it made the stone steps slippery. It was pretty intense at some times because you would just look up and all you would see were more steps. We got to a grassy area, only a couple of kilometers away from the peak and the rain really started to pick up. The wind was blowing like crazy and we both had to wear our jackets again. We finally got to the top and we were basically in a middle of a cloud. It was super foggy and you couldn't see anything. We wanted to see the beautiful view of Taipei but the weather ruined it and you couldn't see anything except whiteness. (pictures above). It only took us about 50 mins to walk it up since we took some time taking pictures.

Walking back down the mountain was a whole different story. Well right when we were starting to head back, this guy who's not wearing a shirt and just wearing shorts, runs past us down the steps, practically jumping down. He was so crazy, but sadly he definitely outbeat us in walking down a mountain. Cala and I got passed a couple of times and a lot of the Taiwanese people were worried that I would get sick since I was wearing shorts and they would talk and ask me about it lol They were surprised I would be wearing shorts but it really wasn't that cold. I'm still used to the snow and cold winters of Iowa. The funny thing was that I was afraid of walking down the steep stairs since I didn't want to fall and my shoes aren't good handling traction. I slipped a couple of times and did fall a little bit (on flat land luckily) but at one point I would always fall or stagger when I was around people and Cala was joking around and said I was doing it on purpose and wanted attention lol It was pretty embarrassing though that I was slipping and having to walk really slow. We got back to our apartment at 10am. It was awesome! We then got lunch, we both went to Starbucks, and I studied a little bit of Chinese. I had to sub a class tonight and I'm not as tired. I feel pretty good considering I got up around 5am to hike a mountain!! Cala and I are definitely going back up again when the weather gets nicer.

-Chihchat

Speaking Chinese without stopping

Today after work I ordered some dinner to go. I ordered luwei which is where you can select noodles, meat, and vegetables and they cook it in a sauce and serve it in a bag. I ordered my food and I even asked them questions like why they weren't using the vegetables I chose and the lady told me they don't use the vegetables up front because they have them in the back and it's already cleaned. Anyway so then I orderd shaved ice and the lady understood me when I told her my toppings and she didn't speak English to me. So as you may think this is just another ordinary day of ordering food, but it wasn't since no one spoke English to me. Usually they don't understand and I have to repeat myself or I can't say something smoothly and I stutter. Tonight wasn't the case at all. I actually ordered food at two different places and I spoke with my Uncle tonight about making dinner plans for next week, all in Chinese without stopping to think of what to say next. I know I've been here for almost 5 months but I don't get to practice my Chinese a lot. I'm glad that it's somewhat improving. At least now I can think of what to say and actually converse with most people lol

-Chihchat

Noisy Taiwan and unpopped popcorn once again

This morning at 8:30am I woke up from the lovely noise of jack hammering. They are tearing down a building or room of some sort near our apartment and you can hear everything. When I was skyping with my friend, I at first had no idea what the noise was. Then Kenny was having a fit and meowing so it was just a loud morning.

Cala lost her keys a couple of days ago so we went to find a key store. Her old roommate knew of a place so while we were walking there, there was a food stand selling two kinds of donuts and sesame balls. I ordered a sesame ball and it was so good I had another one lol The lady asked me where I was from and I just told her I was American but I asked her what I thought I was. She thought I was Korean. It's because of my shirt though since it was a really Korean-like haha Cala and I made a joke about it but I guess I just have my days. Some days I look Japanese, Korean, Cantonese-Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Chinese, American, or Canadian.

Cala and I found a place near the market by our apartment to copy keys. It was literally like, let's find a sign with a key on it. There were so many signs with the key symbol and a telephone number posted on it but we couldn't find the store. We finally found a place and it only took the guy 10 mins to copy them and it cost a little over $3. Plus the new set of keys are really shiny! haha

Drew and I had Korean food for lunch. We both ordered the bibimbap (picture above). It was extremely delicious and super fresh. Then we went to Coldstone to get ice cream since Drew had stickers remaining from 7-Eleven and we needed to finish it up before they expired. During my night class, I had a student give me candy. Then for my private tutoring, my student also gave me candy lol I was surprised since my Monday night awful class had a party day and didn't give me anything :( lol

Then tonight after Drew and I ran, I went to my favorite 7-Eleven store near my apartment to buy popcorn. Unfortunately they ran out of the kind I like and I even went to another convenience store (Hi-Life) but they didn't have any either. I finally had to go to this 7-Eleven that is closer to my place but I don't like them since they are unfriendly and they always mess up on something. So Drew was at another food stand so I went to the 7-Eleven to get my popcorn. It took awhile for it to pop but anyway I got my popcorn and left and was walking to meet Drew when I realized that the bag was 1/3 popped. I complained to Drew about it and we went back to 7-Eleven. I explained to the 2 guys working although my Chinese isn't the greatest so I didn't really know how to say that the popcorn bag wasn't fully popped but they understood lol They opened another popcorn bag since I told them since they were going to repop the bag in the microwave. They were looking at me like they were annoyed though. Taiwanese people seriously must not eat that much popcorn because I always have trouble when I buy it. No one seems to know how to pop it and it's really a mystery to them lol But yeah, today was definitely a food day!

-Chihchat