Complicated games

I prep with a trainer for every class and for my Sat. morning class, my trainer gave me flashcards to use for the lesson. There aren't really any specific rules for the flashcards but she gave me these little flashcards for ideas to play a game. The flashcards are divided into two catergories; animals and verbs. This morning I divided the class into two teams. I gave one side animal flashcards and the other the verbs like study or fly. They learned new sentence patterns such as "The eagle flies every day" or "The eagle is flying now." I wanted to incorporate the dice and sticky ball but didn't know exactly what to do.

After dividing the class into two teams, my trainer thought it would be best to count the team members for each team so #2 on one team and #2 on the other team can make a sentence since in pairing one person has an animal and the other has a verb. I had the students talk to their partners and then I called two random pairs and one person from each team rolled the dice. Whoever rolled the highest number had to then say the two sentence patterns. If they got them right, then they have the chance to throw the sticky ball to win junk cards, their incentive to win prizes. It was confusing at first since I didn't really know how I was going to do the activity and the students were super confused. Luckily the students were nice enough and helped me make some rules and it worked out. It was really fun and the students wanted to keep playing. The boys were nice and if they were paired with the girls, they would let them roll the dice or throw the sticky ball. If they both wanted to throw the dice or sticky ball, then they had to play paper, scissors, stone aka rock, paper, scissors and whoever won can throw. Yay for young kids who get amused easily or really, the sticky ball since that was the highlight of the game :)

-Chihchat

蓮霧 "Wax Apple"

The other night I ate at my aunt's house and my one aunt who left today to go back to Canada bought some fruit since it was her last night in Taipei. She bought some papaya, guavas, and this fruit that looked like a mix between an apple and a pear. I asked my relatives what it was but my uncle said that it wasn't an apple. They said the Chinese name but I didn't remember it. They told me it was an expensive fruit and that you can't buy it in America. When I got home I asked Drew and Cala about it but they had no idea what I was talking about.

Ok...so I will admit..I didn't give the best description of the fruit. I said the outside was a reddish, light green color and it was an apple shape but it wasn't an apple. When you bite into it, there's a snowflake layer/design in it and it's dense when you bite it. Yeah..so Drew and Cala were making fun of me and they wanted to know what kind of fruit I was talking about. Cala thought I was talking about an apple since I described it like an apple but I asked my relatives and they said it wasn't an apple. So Cala asked her friend Vicki from Taipei who's currently in Iowa City and Vicki had no idea either.

We were talking about it again and I finally googled it myself tonight by typing in the search box "Taiwan fruit." It so happened to be 蓮霧 which is a common fruit. I guess maybe it's expensive now since it's not in season. The English name is Wax Apple but it's not an apple but a mix between a pear and a watermelon (says Wikipedia). Well at least I solved the fruit mystery...why was this such a big deal? I don't know LOL

-Chihchat

Changing names, changing languages 舅舅

I first created this blog to ensure I don't lose my English. I wanted to keep a daily blog so I wouldn't forget to write in English but after living almost two months in Taipei and teaching English language and now a writing class, I'm realizing that I need to improve my Chinese!

I knew the language barrier was going to affect me and I thought I could handle it but now I'm noticing how my Chinese is really bad lol Okay..maybe not extremely awful but bad enough where people are asking me to repeat things and they notice my accent right away. It's not a bad thing but today I was trying to leave my uncle's apartment and the security guard asked me where I was from since I went through the wrong gate. He asked me who I knew and I said uncle in Chinese and he had no idea what I was saying. I finally had to say my mother's brother and he understood and then asked me where I was from. I just wanted to go home and not have a conversation with him about my ethnicity. Oh well...that just means I need to keep learning Chinese and keep practicing by speaking even if people can't understand what I'm saying :) Ooo I wonder if I should start blogging in Chinese?? lol jk

-Chihchat

The luwei guy has a name

I have blogged about the guy who works at a food stand near my work and for some reason I just gush over him. Above is a picture of the type of food stand he owns. You pick the vegetables and meat you want with the noodles and they cook it. They usually don't put that much soup in it. I talk about him to my coworkers and my coworkers have helped to stalk him haha One of them has taken his picture since she wanted to take a picture of his food stand and my other coworker asked how old he was. The same one who took his picture asked him today what his name was! I thought it was going to be a Chinese name that I can't pronounce but his name is Calvin or Kelvin. Either way...he didn't say the name too clearly since he doesn't know any English. Awww.. now I know his name LOL

This afternoon I was going to work to only realize I left my money in my room. I had no cash with me so all I had to eat today was a bag of corn nuts that my sister gave me from the states that I had that morning. I managed to be okay and not eat anything until I got home around 6pm. After work I go to my apartment and change shoes and was already out on the street when I remember that I didn't grab my money AGAIN. I had to walk up the four flights to my apartment AGAIN! Ugh...I'm way too tired but from last week. On a funnier note, I was eating dinner and wanted to improve my Chinese and came across spongebob squarepants and it was dubbed in Chinese! It was awesome!!

-Chihchat

Almost settled in...

The above picture is me and my cousin making pottery bowls in Ying Ge. We both struggled to make an awesome looking object whether it was a bowl, cup, or vase. After the pottery man helped me, I just decided to quickly touch it up which really meant that he made it for me and I tried to shape it but ended up making it worse. But beside the point of my interesting bowl, I'm glad I accomplished the task of making a bowl or whatever since I have no artistic talent whatsoever. The reason why I'm explaining this story is because I'm happy I'm not giving up and sticking through things whether I'm scared or uncomfortable.

Today I had to open up a bank account. I thought there would be people who were able to speak English but I was wrong. All my coworkers go to this bank since the school is joined with the bank. I was proud that I was able to go by myself and open up a bank account and to communicate with the bank teller all in Chinese. Her English was bad and with her English and my Chinese, we got it all figured out. I think this is the last thing I need to do to "settle" in Taipei. I'm so happy! After two months of running around and making sure things are taken of, it's all done. I really hope I didn't jinx myself now lol

-Chihchat

Recap of last week!

The first picture is of me and my cousin Michael who was so nice to let me ride on the scooter 2x :) The second picture is of me and my sister as she is leaving Taipei to go back to America. The third picture is of me and my cousin from Canada getting ready to see Inception. The fourth picture is some of my family relatives on my mom's side but not that isn't even most of them. My mom is a family of 7!

Wow..I had such a busy week that I didn't write a daily blog. Here's the big highlights of last week's craziness.

-my sister came to visit for 10 days
-went to my aunt's place in Xin Zhu and played mahjong with my family...won a couple of times but my aunt dominated
-went to the beach area in Xin Zhu and rode a 4 person bike with my 2 cousins and sister. My two aunts and uncle rode another bike
-rode on my cousins's scooter more than 20 mins long lol
-saw the top university in Taipei
-ate at this really good hot pot place in Xin Zhu
-went to San Xia where my other aunt lives and we got to go to a free water spa including hot and cold springs. You had to be naked in the hot springs and I again swallowed my fear and went in without any clothes..that was very hard and extremely uncomfortable for me even though men/boys were not allowed
-started summer classes last week so now I work some mornings and afternoons
-got my work permit so I had to get that all figured out and go to the immigration office once again
-my ex coworker Daniel left for the states and he gave my roommate and I his cat Kenny. So now we have another addition to our apartment
-went to Taipei 101 at night and saw Inception with my cousin and sister..Inception was really good and Leo of course was amazing like always. My aunt and uncle gave us free movie tickets
-went to Xi Men to tour the President's building and this time I could go in since I was wearing appropriate shoes
-went again to Chiang Kai-Shek memorial Hall and showed my cousin and sister where I worked which they also saw the cute Luwei food stand guy
-saw the changing of the guards again
-went to Shi Da night market and got some cute clothes and then went out to Luxy bar which was an unforgettable night indeed. They had good deals but in the beginning there was a dance competition which was boring
-saw the luwei guy at Shilin night market with his two brothers!!!!! <3 <3
-went to Danshui and nearby areas to the beach and ate really good zong zi. Then went to Fisherman Wharf and had to work then later that night. I met up with my cousin and sister at Shilin night market with my roommate. Ate really good food and got some cheap clothes
-went to eat at Mr. Onion which is the restaurant near my apartment. It was a good place to eat consisting of about 5 courses including escargot.
-Lisa left to go back to America and the next day my cousin and I went to Ying Ge, my mother's birthplace, and made pottery. I made this not so good looking bowl lol
-went to Si Hu where Chiang Kai-shek was buried
-went to Grand Hotel in Yuanshan and ate the famous rice sticky cake that the first lady (Madame Chiang Kai-shek) ordered to be mailed to America 2x after she moved there

*During this week, I ate lots of good food but barely had any sleep!!

It was an exhausting week but it was great spending time with my family :)

-Chihchat

Like uh..you know?

Yesterday I was subbing for a class and I wish I had them as my own class. They are so much fun and way better than my Monday class. I wish I could exchange classes lol I have one more day of teaching with them which is next week :( I'm so sad! They are about 8-9 years old and they had a party day yesterday. That means they are done with their level and they can move on to the next one as long as they passed with their tests. During the second hour, they can bring snacks and have about 20-30 mins of playtime. They ate interesting snacks like dried flavored noodles and jelly that you can squirt in your mouth.

My grandmother passed away a couple of weeks and my sister flew into town last night and will be staying here for about 10 days. It was great seeing her and having another person to speak English with..although I actually speak English a lot here. Today we were having a conversation with my cousins and it was funny because they were asking why Americans always say like..uh..you know right? You know what I'm saying? Like? I always use like and my sister, my other cousin from Canada, and I were trying to explain why we use it. It was funny though. I mean, it is interesting why people always say you know. Like, you know what I'm saying, you know? I mean like, it's like this :)

-Chihchat

Time is of the essence

I had to go to the immigration office today to apply for my ARC. I had to apply for a 60 day landing visa which got approved yesterday and I had to already pay fees for it. This is not the first time I had to quickly do errands in the morning. The following day after I arrived to Taipei I had to fill out all this paper work. This morning I got to the office at 10am. I took a taxi there and the taxi driver didn't know where I wanted to go even when I showed him the piece of paper with the name and address. He took me to a random spot on the street where the office was located. I asked him where the building is and he got confused but I showed him the paper again and he finally understood. I get to the office and I had to wait for about 45 mins. My number is finally called but the lady I had told me to make copies of my passport and my lease. I went to the copier machine and luckily this American guy lent me change since I didn't have any with me. I go back to the lady and she figures everything out and she tells me that it cost $3200 NT when I thought it would be $1000NT (about $30 USD). I didn't have the money with me and I told her I didn't have enough and she said if I didn't have the money, then I can't process my ARC. She wanted me to come before 12 since she goes on a lunch break from 12-1:30 or I can come after 1:30 since they close at 5. Well I was on a time constraint since I work from 2-6 and the head office wanted a copy of my diploma and I had to be there by 12 as well.

I told her I will make it by 12. I dashed out and got in a taxi. I first told the taxi driver to go to my apartment so I can get the money but I called Christine and she said she needs my diploma to make sure nothing will go wrong when I'm applying for my ARC. She said time is of the essence. I said ok so I told the taxi driver to go to her office. It's 11:00am at this time and I get there at 11:10. Christine copies my diploma and then I ran out and I got in another taxi. I'm freaking out just because it's almost 11:20 and I don't think I will have time to make it. This time I had a lady driver and I told her my apartment address since I needed to grab the money. She didn't understand me because of my accent and it was just annoying because I didn't want to deal with it at the time. This morning was the first time I realized that I can actually speak Chinese fluently while being angry. I wasn't trying to yell at her but I was telling her where I lived since she kept asking me and she didn't know where to go. We finally get to my apartment and I sprint there and got my money. I run out again to another taxi and this time he understood me perfectly and I got there around 11:40. Perfect timing! This taxi driver was amazing and I was complaining to him about my morning all in Chinese and he understood everything. It was great! I ran inside and I gave the lady my money and she started laughing since I was running. She kept saying don't worry..umm yeah how can I not worry when you tell me I need to give you this money within a hour or else I can't process my ARC? Whew..so I finally had time to spare and got home and ate a quick lunch and taught two classes from 2-6. I even ran tonight and did DDR and Wii fitness since Drew has it.

The good thing about teaching though is that when I have a good class with good students, it makes me happy. My first class was really slow and quiet but my second class was loud and funny. I asked them if they thought I was a strange teacher since one of their new vocabulary words is strange. They said yes haha It was great and it totally took my mind away from this morning! I know I'm a strange teacher...I will admit it! lol

-Chihchat

BOO!!

In one of my classes today, the students had to review for their upcoming oral exam. My trainer had a really good game where there are two teams and each person has to say one word to answer my question. The last person who finishes has to run and grab the dice and roll it. Each number has a punishment like #1 give two cards (to exchange for prizes) to the other team and #2 is to walk like a chicken. One of the punishments was to say "Teacher Lilly, I love you." The other one was to hug the teacher and another was to do 10 push-ups. Everyone was having a fit since they were not happy about any of them. One of the punishments was smell your shoe but everyone couldn't do it since it was hard so I told them to say "Teacher Nancy, I love you" who is my t/a. It was hilarious! It landed on the hugs a lot and no one wanted to hug me. They were freaking out and screaming haha I didn't think I was that scary but apparently I am. One of the boys Daniel was running around the room, jumping around, and I even tried to grab his arm LOL The girls were pouting about the 10 push-ups so I did the push-ups in class to show them that I can even do it. One of the boys did it and I gave him extra cards. Awww..what a great game!

I realized that as I'm getting older, I'm becoming a scaredy cat. I'm getting easily scared about the littlest things. Well Drew and Cala have picked up on it and they now tease me and try to scare me. The worst so far was last night when Cala was hiding in my room in the dark and I went in my room and she screamed "What are you doing?" lol I told them that I'm going to get high blood pressure from them. One time I was going home and Drew was sitting in the dark and yelled at me. Even the night of river tracing, Drew was taking a nap and it was dark and we were sitting in the backseat driving home and I was in the middle next to him. All of a sudden he yelled to scare me and I jumped and screamed lol I should be sorta used to it but I'm not. I flinch easily and I don't know..I just freak out a lot haha I need to get a backbone but I can't :( Hopefully after dealing with them for a couple of months I will become braver or you know, just barely surviving...whatever comes first...

-Chihchat

One month down, eleven to go!

The picture above is me at Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan. It's Monday and exactly one month that I've been in Taipei. I realized this while I woke up this morning. I left my apartment after lunch to go to work and while I was walking I wasn't annoyed, surprised, or irritated by my surroundings. Everything fell into place and I feel comfortable..for now. It really hasn't hit me that I'm living in a foreign country. I feel like I'm already in a routine where I wake up, eat lunch, and go to work. I have done so many things that it doesn't seem like I've been here for one month but five months...is that good or bad?

My Chinese is slightly improving although I don't practice it much since I work a lot and have to speak English. I'm poor for now until I get my paycheck so I can't enjoy shopping or eating whatever I want, however, I still can enjoy eating cheap Taiwanese food that I manage to get. I like taking the subway and I love hearing people speak Chinese aka the Chinese language. I just started teaching and although it can be really stressful at times, I enjoy it and I look forward to going to work..for now lol It's only a month and I'm still in the euphoric stage of living in a different country but corny as this DOES sound, I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to live and teach in Taipei. Three months ago I would definitely not be saying this but I'm actually glad I didn't get into grad school this year :)

-Chihchat

P.S. Sorry for a mushy post!

River Tracing 加油!

Today I went river tracing with a bunch of my coworkers from Kojen and a couple of other people we knew through friends. We got up early around 7:30am and we began the journey around close to 9am and got done close to 5pm. It was AWESOME! I'm so glad I started running because that got me in shape a little bit. We climbed up rocks and a little stream and came across a couple of waterfalls. We were rappeling off one big waterfall and the others we had a chance to jump off them. I swallowed my fear and did all those things!

Highlights of the trip:
-Enjoying Taiwan's BEAUTIFUL scenery! The mountains, trees, rocks, and forests were gorgeous!
-Practicing my Chinese and realizing that I can't use certain words to make sentence because sometimes they would mean something else and it would sound really really really bad LOL
-Wasn't afraid to be in and around water, especially deep water and waterfalls
-Jumping off a bridge and two big waterfalls. The second waterfall wasn't that bad since I had a chance to run off it since there was room but the third waterfall was higher and the ground was uneven so you couldn't really run off it. I actually had the tour guide push me off since I was too scared to jump off right away.
-Jumping off another waterfall which was near the third jump but I was too scared to cross over the waterfall. I was bummed I chickened out and couldn't jump off the ledge but I did climb up the waterfall so I feel a little better!
-I rappeled off a waterfall! I was really nervous at first and I even had to put my arm around the guy's head while he was buckling me to the strap since I thought I was going to fall lol I lost my balance 3x while going down the waterfall but it was fine since I pulled myself up again.
-Eating noodle soup and drinking tea for our lunch break.. so Asian..I love it :)
-Corny I know but having bonding time with my coworkers!

I'm proud that I could handle the whole trip, my legs weren't sore, and I wasn't too exhausted tonight to even eat dinner. For dinner some of us ate at a seafood restaurant where we shared lots of dishes and I had amazing sushi! The cute guy at the food stand (Luwei guy-now he has a name) was mentioned again haha Everyone knows I like him since I talk about him a lot haha So now I know he is 25, has facebook, and is single :) Later some of us went back to our apartment and we played Wii and DDR for a couple of hours!

-Chihchat

Leonardo DiCaprio does not want to be a pin-up

Today was my first day teaching three classes in one day. I didn't get to teach my morning class last Saturday since we had the morning off. I heard from my co-teacher that my Saturday morning class is super energetic. I prepared myself by drinking coffee and I was overly caffeinated but it still wasn't enough to handle the kids. I said shoot really fast and they thought I cursed and said the other bad word! I was like really? How do you know that word? They were quiet lol

For one of my advanced level classes, we were teaching a unit over celebrities and I asked my co-teacher to switch lessons so I can teach the Leonardo DiCaprio segment. I had so much fun teaching this lesson haha We had to read an interview that he did shortly after Titanic was made. I explained what pin-up, ordinary, and well-off means. I explained how Leo wasn't rich when he was young and that he doesn't want to be known as this really attractive man. Also, in the interview he talked about his love life and how he's still unmarried haha Then I told them that he has a new movie coming up this Fri. Oh yeah, my students thought I was weird! hahaha It was great! :) I'm such a dork!

It was nice though because they write compositions and I explained to them how to correctly write a paper. Ahh reminds me of college again..I sadly miss college lol I actually like grading papers and assignments. A lot of the teachers don't like grading just because it takes so much time but I enjoy it!

-Chihchat

I know how to use chopsticks!

I wear high heels to work just because they match some of my outfits and I have no other shoes to wear and I can't wear flip flops to work. The air conditioner wasn't working in one of my classrooms again like last week. I swear I'm having bad luck with air conditioners. After work I went to the Shilin night market with Drew and his friend Jason and my feet were killing me! We were crossing streets and jaywalking which petrified me since I'm wobbling in high heels and trying not to get run over by cars.

I ordered 油飯 which translates to "oil rice." My mom would make this rice for the rice filling in 粽子 , Chinese type dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves and has a rice filling inside. Anyway so I was eating it and I realized that I now know how to hold and use chopsticks without having to try hard and think about doing it the correct way. When I was little, I never knew how to properly hold chopsticks. Since I had this problem, my sister would try to help me and she would teach me to just hold the chopsticks like a fist. I somehow found a way to use them by holding the chopsticks with a fist and moving one chopstick with my pinky and the other with a thumb. I remember when I went to Taiwan when I was 13, my grandmother yelled at me because I wasn't using them correctly. I never learned to use them the right way until I lived here. I realized after the first day that I need to use chopsticks the right way or else people will keep staring at me LOL The other day Jason demonstrated how ridiculous it looked and I knew it looked weird. The past couple of weeks I have been forcing myself to learn the right way and finally, finally, finally I know how to use chopsticks!

-Chihchat

"People here are spatially retarded"

I went to work today and I was dressed in heels wearing black flowy capris and a white shirt. I met with my trainer to help prep for my class today that I was subbing for and she asked me why I was dressed up. She thought I saw my relatives that morning but I told her no. She agains asks me why I am dressed up and I said well because I wanted to look professional. She said I looked like a professor. That totally made my day!! I was so happy :)

I was subbing a younger class today. The students were about 7-8 years old or so. They kept saying oh my god in English. It's weird to hear these small Taiwanese children say that phrase. I didn't like it so I told them not to say it. It's cute though because they can't pronounce the "d" sound so it sounds like they're saying "oh my gaw."

After work Drew and I went to eat at this food stand near our work and we met a nice lady who worked at the stand. She was patient and spoke slowly in Chinese. We talked to her more and I told her my story about the "stinky tofa" lol Her name is Annie. She was cute! She also was about the 30th person who thought I was from Hong Kong. A lot of people here think I have a Cantonese accent. My dad is Cantonese but he never spoke it at home and I never learned it. It's weird!

Drew and I were walking home when he exclaims "People here are spatially retarded." haha! It's so true though! Drew, Cala, and I were talking about this and people here do not understand what "space" means or "personal bubble." Taiwanese people would walk so close to you or they were walk really slow in front of you and suddenly stop and then you would run into them. The worst is when they are walking slow so you want to pass them but then they start walking ahead of you and then slow down again or if they use their elbows to shove or even when they have all this space on the sidewalk to walk but they just get so close to you to make sure you will have no room to walk. Today was bad because I was wearing heels and I was walking out of the subway and I had to walk a ways to my exit and people kept pushing me closer and closer to the edge of the subway track where if I were to fall, I would get electricuted and die lol Ok..I know that's pretty dramatic but you never know. I asked Drew why not use the term "visually retarded" and he said vision has nothing to do with this. It's "spatially retarded" because they get in your space.

-Chihchat

Stinky Tofa

I tried sleeping early last night because I knew I had to teach two classes today and teaching has been making tired! I couldn't sleep and then I woke up randomnly at 6am. Oh well..time to catch up on uploading Facebook pics I suppose lol

Yesterday I already prepped for my two classes so I didn't have to go into work too early. I taught from 2-4 and 4-6. It was nice because it was the same level, the same number of students, same co-teacher/ TA, and the same classroom. I don't know what is worse. A class that is quiet and a little slow or a loud class and pretty smart. It was interesting teaching these two contrasting classes side by side because I had to approach things differently. I honestly like the "louder" classes because at least they participate but yes, they can get out of control. One of the vocab. words the students had to learn today was tofu and the students were doing a writing assignment. They also learned stinky tofu which I think is funny since we wouldn't learn that in English. I was checking their work and one student wrote "tofa" which sounds like hair in Chinese, pinyin=tou3 fa=頭髮. Everyone started giggling because I said aloud "stinky tofa" haha


Then tonight Cala and I found a school which had track for us to run since most of the schools are closing their tracks due to remodeling because of summer vacation. When we were at home, Drew heard a weird noise in the kitchen behind the stove and Cala went to the kitchen to check it out. I thought they were playing with me but there was a real noise. I went over and there was a bug coming out of the stove but Drew and Cala said the noise wasn't just a small bug. It had to have been a rat! Eeeks. So we were trying to figure out what to do or how to kill one if we saw it. I jumped on the counter and opened the door but nothing came out. Maybe the rat went back to it's home since it was too scared. I know I can't kill a rat!

-Chihchat

Pretty Ximen

I was playing a game with my class tonight and they wanted to switch up teams. There were about 21 of them and I was dividing them up into 3 teams. They weren't happy about it and I said I would play paper, scissor, stone (Taiwanese version of rock, paper, scissors) to see if we can change teams. I played with a girl and we both threw scissors but everyone started laughing. I don't know why. I think I did it wrong because she was teaching me how when they shoot scissors, you use three fingers instead of two. I didn't really get it..oh well lol I just made them stay into the 3 teams :)

After work, Drew and I went to Ximen to meet up with Drew's friend Jason. They were going to watch Eclipse tonight and we went to the movie theater and they had all these awesome movie posters including Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio :) The picture above is at Ximen. I'm so excited to watch it, especially in Taipei! Ximen is gorgeous at night. I went there in the day time and it's near the President's building. There is this shopping district and it's really Americanized. They have a lot of American brand name stores and food places. When Drew, Cala, and I went to Shinlin night market, they told me that there are people on the streets who illegally sell things. They put their items on a mat so in case the police comes, they can wrap it up and run away. Tonight at Ximen when I was walking to the MRT, the police on scooters were driving around and there were a lot of people running away with their huge mats. It's crazy how the police don't chase them but they run fast! Drew and Cala told me that you definitely don't want to get in their way.

I was walking home from the MRT at night after Ximen and of course I had to see a couple of cockroaches. It wasn't a big deal until I saw that one had WINGS. It was the first time I saw a cockroach with wings. Luckily it didn't fly. Bleh..

-Chihchat

Eating escargot at Pizza Hut

Today was my first time teaching a young class of about 8-9 year olds. I'm learning to speak slower which I'm happy about! You have to automatically speak slower to teach a younger class otherwise the students don't understand what you're talking about. I know I speak pretty fast but I didn't think it was that fast where it would be a problem for me and my teaching. My relatives joke around with me and tell me to slow down lol I'm getting better now and I'm speaking slow enough where I pace each word in my sentences haha

Tonight one of my advanced level classes that I'm teaching had a farewell dinner for Daniel. Vera, who is the coteacher for the class, invited me and it was nice to get to know more of the students. We ate at Pizza Hut. I knew that Pizza Hut was different in Taiwan and that in China too it is much more fancy and sophisticated but it was insane! The picture above are scooters used to deliver pizza. Since there were about 17 of us, we ordered multiple dishes including pasta, chicken, seafood/potato soup, and fried squid which I mistakened it for an onion ring lol I even had escargot which was delicious. They offered awesome drinks which I got the fruit tea that had pieces of apples and oranges in it. The servers were dressed all nicely wearing headsets. It was definitely a nice restaurant and the food wasn't cheap at all. The best part of the whole night though was getting to talk to the students..well sort of. I was speaking Chinese and needing Daniel's girlfriend to translate lol But the students are about 12-14 years old and they were playing these fun hand and talking games. One of the students asked me why I speak fast haha I didn't really know how to answer!

-Chihchat

Scooter Ride =D

Yay!! Today I got a chance to ride on a scooter in Taipei. My cousin owns a scooter and I was able to ride on it for about ten mins. My relatives were teasing me because I wanted to ride on so badly. I heard that Taiwanese girls don't usually like riding on them because of the weather. I don't care about that! lol I was really nervous at first though because I didn't really know how to hold on since I felt awkward holding on to his shoulders but I ended up wrapping my arms around his waist since I was scared haha I liked riding on the scooter though. It was awesome to weave in and around traffic. I now want him to take me for a longer ride throughout Taipei LOL I told him I would pay for gas!

Thank goodness for Drew. I was talking on the phone with my sister tonight when I saw a huge spider on my wall. I have no idea why my room has all these insects! But thankfully Drew killed it for me although it took awhile since he sprayed it since it was big. Then it didn't die instantly and then he had to squash it with his shoe. Yuck..I don't really know how I can live on my own when I can't kill bugs.

-Chihchat

P.S. Happy Fourth of July America!

Broken air conditioner

It has been my second day of teaching and I was teaching an advanced level class. Their lesson was about celebrities and it was awesome because I saw Leonardo DiCaprio in the book! I will be teaching the lesson in about two weeks so it really made my day since the segment was over an interview that he did. Although the picture was taken in 1997, it's nice to see that he was such a bit hit in Taipei.

Teaching my second day of classes were alright. I forgot to give a class their break (whoops) and I kept forgetting their names. I would try to talk to them and call a student out but I would forget. It's interesting because certain names are common like Jimmy and Willy and I would confuse the people easily lol

But the worst thing was when the air conditioner was broken at work and it was unbearably hot at the teacher's office. The classrooms and hallway were okay but I wanted to stay at grade and prep for other classes but I got way too tired and exhausted. I lost my appetite and it was just way too humid and went home. I am really not prepared for July-Aug. weather :(

-Chihchat

Teacher Lilly

It was my first day of teaching and I was pretty nervous about it. I only had to teach one class, an advanced level class, and there were only nine students who were roughly about 12-13 years old. I observed them before and they were the best class I've seen during my two weeks of observation since they paid attention and were pretty obedient.

When I got to the classroom, of course it would happen that the air conditioner broke so we had to switch rooms. I started with an introduction and allowed them to ask me any questions about myself since I was their new teacher. Most of them were timid but some asked me my age, where I'm from, and why I wanted to teach in Taipei. I drew a map of the U.S. and showed them where Iowa was. I don't know if they really understood where Iowa was at the map but oh well lol I then immediately told them that I speak very fast so if they don't understand, they need to tell me lol Overall it went okay. It wasn't bad but I don't think it was the best either. I felt I could have done more active games or whatever but I know it was just my first day teaching and getting to know my students.

I think the highlight of my night is when the students were calling me Teacher Lilly lol I don't know..it's strange and weird but I really liked the sound of it. It just made me feel important if that makes me sound sad or pitiful haha Oh actually, another thing that really made my day was my coworker took a picture of the cute guy who worked in the food stand. *I blogged about him in the Food, food, and more food story.* He was working alone and she was the only one there but she took a couple of pictures of him working and smiling. She told me I need to take a picture with him. I don't know. I'm not brave enough to do that yet!

-Chihchat

No money= need strong will power

I had a good chunk of money with me when arriving to Taipei but since I'm not getting my first paycheck until the end of July since I get paid monthly, money is extremely tight for me especially since I just had to pay about $150 to finish my ARC work permit application today :( Cala and I went to a bookstore tonight and I saw two magazines with Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover promoting his new movie Inception coming out in theaters July 16. Off topic-I'm excited that I will get to see it in Taiwan and the movie won't be dubbed. It will just have Chinese subtitles. Anyway so I held the magazines in my hand but I kept thinking to myself, I don't need these right now. Save money!! I finally let them go but it was very hard. Then outside the bookstore there were people selling cheap clothes and jewelry. I really wanted to get a cute shirt but I kept thinking to myself NO! Just wait until next month lol I'm so proud of myself. I always spend my money on clothes and Leo stuff..sad I know.

One thing I haven't blogged yet that is really bothersome and annoying is the traffic! Everyone drives crazily and the scooters ride whereever and whenever they please. I get scared walking down alleys or crossing streets because I'm afraid I will get run over. Even when I'm walking on the street, scooters will brush past you. I feel everyone is out to fend for themselves because if you're scared, it will take forever to get to one place to another. It doesn't matter if it is a scooter, bus, taxi, bike, or car..they will drive so close to you that you feel the wind brush your skin. It's unbelievable how close you can be to a moving vehicle and how people will drive near you. I want to ride on a scooter though. My two cousins own one so hopefully they can give me a tour around the city. Another thing is that on a scooter, people try to fit everyone on it. The most people I've seen on a scooter was four people. A little girl standing in front of the steering wheel facing the person driving, the second person was a man who was sitting and driving, the third person was a boy who was sitting and facing the opposite way (had his back to the driver's back) because the last person, a woman, was sitting facing the driver. The picture above is similar except the first and third person are facing the opposite direction. It's fascinating and also frightening how people can do that. Ooo and many people wear surgical masks because of the smog and some of the girls' masks have awesome decorations on them like hearts or diamonds lol I wore one once and it was too hot and I could barely breathe. I don't know how they can do it!

-Chihchat