Almost got ran over...again

Taiwan traffic consists of scooters, subways, taxi drivers, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, and cars. As I almost been ran over numerous times since I have been here in Taipei, I had two very close calls these past couple of days. Yesterday I was crossing the street and it was dark and rainy. It was my turn to walk but of course the cars don't want to wait for pedestrians to turn and I almost got ran over. I just remember the car passed me with a blink of an eye and it even slowed down after it was turning since it was really close to me. I felt the wind brush me and it was so scary.

Then today while I was walking to the night market, the scooter was driving through the alley where me, Blake, and Drew were also walking. The scooter was driving so close and there was no room for it but of course they tried to drive regardless of seeing three pedestrians. This might be a little dramatic but I swear I felt the hair on my arm stand up lol I know I blogged about this before but these past couple of days have been bad!

-Chihchat

Typhoon? Earthquake

There have been a couple of typhoons brewing around Taipei but none of them has hit Taipei yet. It's just been raining a lot and so while Drew and I were going to work it was really pouring. While we were at work around 4pm, I felt a little tremor. It was an earthquake! It was so weird because I felt something was shaking but it wasn't a lot to freak out but you can tell the building was moving. There's earthquakes all the time in Taipei but I never actually feel them since they aren't big. Drew checked later tonight and it was a 5.2 earthquake. My coworker who just arrived to Taiwan also hasn't experienced an earthquake so we were both excited about it lol No one else really cared since they are used to them haha

-Chihchat

Queen's Head

This morning my uncle and aunt took my cousin and I to Yeliu park to see the queen's head. It was an awesome park!! We went in the morning to beat the crowd and it wasn't that sunny while we were there. We saw many rocks created by nature (water, wind) including the famous rock that looks like the queen's head. We ventured out at the end and walked further around the island. It didn't take too long to see everything but it is a little far as it's about a 30 min. car ride to get there. I posted some photos above.

Later this evening Drew wanted to get a slushy at 7-Eleven but only certain 7-Elevens have the slushy machines. We were ordering pizza at Pizza Hut so while we were waiting we were trying to find a 7-Eleven. It was funny because we were walking around and encountered a lot of them but none of them had the slushy machine so we ended up getting our green tea with ice cream :)

-Chihchat

Funny French Names..not really

I taught a new class today that just changed from a K middle class to an advanced (A) class. It was their first day and we were going over the instructions to do voc. They started learning countries and nationalities and there is this activity game where you just mingle with people to talk about where you are from. The questions are "What is your name?" and "Where do you come from?" The countries were France, Australia, China/Taiwan, Spain, and America. The names fit the country that they were from and they all were laughing at the French names. One of the names were Jean-Paul and Anne-Marie and they thought they were hilarious. They would just continuously repeat "Jean-Paul" and laugh. The other names were Sheila from Australia, Wang from China/Taiwan (which one boy couldn't even pronounce Wang), and Carmen and Giovanni from Spain.

They kept laughing and giggling about Jean-Paul so I taught them more French names like Jacque and Pierre. I will admit, some of their voc. are ridiculous like they are learning Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. The other day I was teaching my other class what DNA means. Then in my other class today the boys and girls do not like to talk to each other at all. They are about ten-thirteen years old. Anyway they had to write their names and most of the boys were writing Angle instead of Angel and Janes instead of James. Silly students..

-Chihchat

TV Sports

I saw this a couple of days ago but something that was really crazy to me was while I was washing my hands in the bathroom I saw a lizard! It climbed up the wall and it looked like a gecko. I freaked out and jumped which made the gecko move. My coworker was there and she said they are very common in Taipei. I shouldn't have been surprised but it's weird to see lizards in buildings.

When I'm home, I barely watch TV and when I do, I can't find anything that I want to watch because I'm not into Taiwnese shows and I don't want to watch American movies because then I want to stay at watch the whole thing. I usually watch the MTV channel to listen and watch music videos that are popular in Taiwan or I try to find a channel that has sports. Cala always jokes around with me because I watch sports a lot. I never realized how much I do like watching sports considering I only had season football tickets at IOWA for one year. Tonight I was watching golf lol

-Chihchat

Color-Coordinated Gifts

Today was my last day of my SK1 class which is a beginners level of English. They come into the class not knowing any English and they learn the alphabet and finish with sentences like "What do you see?" "What is it?". They meet three times a week and they learn three lessons per week! They are extremely smart and they are competitive with the games so they really push each other to understand what is going on since they really know little English. They always try their hardest and the "slowest" student in the class has an average of about 86% on her tests but that's still good. Some of the students got 100% on both their oral and written exams. Like I said before, I bought them all bookmarks and I saw my other co-teacher preparing gifts for her summer class too. It was funny because she was putting bows on the pens when I realized that the bows were color-coordinated with the pens! (first picture above)

Then I pulled out my bookmarks and realized that they also color-coordinate with her pens haha (second picture above) So I made her take a picture with me haha (third picture above). The last picture is of my SK1 class and my co-teacher (CT=Chinese teacher). They are all cute and it's sad since it's a summer class they will all be split up because they will have different schedules. I hope I can teach some of them again soon!

-Chihchat

Energized!

Yesterday I felt so much better since I'm getting over my cold and today I think I'm almost recovered! It's nice to have energy again and not be so tired. One of my classes today are always loud and crazy! They were feeding me their energy actually lol So the lesson they are learning is about Christmas and their sentence patterns are like "What will you put on the Christmas tree?" and "What are you going to do on Christmas Eve?" I layed out flashcards on the floor and for the first sentence I say the voc. word like "bell" or "angel" and they first have to write it on the board, grab the voc., and then tell me the sentence. The girls and boys do not get along at all and so they were very competitive and wanted to beat each other really badly.

They were so hyper and one of their new voc. words is gingerbread cookies and I actually had two students volunteer to write it since it's a really hard word to spell and say. For the first sentence pattern game, it ended up that it was tied 4-4 so then I continued with the same objectives for the second sentence. But since there were more to write, I wanted them to first write the phrase, then tell me the sentence, then grab the flashcard. They are learning things like "bake roast ham", "decorate the tree", and "sing Christmas carols". It was so intense because they couldn't sit still in their seats and they were looking at me like they were going to charge at me since they were running to the board lol

But I'm glad I have a class like that because they are a ton of fun and they make me excited to play with them haha They are also pretty smart but probably because they talk more in class and because they want to know what's going on so the other students won't get angry at them lol Then later I was singing them some Christmas carols and a lot of them knew how to sing Jingle Bells!

Then I ran 3 miles today and I was pretty excited because I think I'm running faster in a shorter amount of time! Yay..today was a productive, revitalized day!

-Chihchat

Blog Makeover

It's been awhile since I didn't have anything to do until the late afternoon. I usually have something going on but for once I had a chance to relax! I slept in which was nice since I have been sick lately and today I woke up feeling a whole lot better. *knock on wood* but I think I'm not sick anymore! I was going to work on grad school things or study but I decided instead to remodel my blog. Yeah, I'm a procrastinator for sure but I feel that this will be the last time that I will change the look of my blog..well for now anyways. I really wanted to add pictures and I finally figured it out by uploading my photos through picasa and making a slideshow. Since it's affliated with Google, I don't need to create a new account since I can just use my gmail account username and password.

Here are the new updates on my blog:
-new tabs that are named "Home" and "The Blogger." If you click on "The Blogger", you can read a little bit more information about Chihchat!
-slideshow-through picasa web albums, I created a photo slideshow of my adventures so far in Taipei, Taiwan
-the posts are now arranged more evenly so you can see more of the labels of the posts..not that it was that important or anything lol
-two link boxes where (I think) it allows people to follow my blog without having a gmail account
-a search box where you can search any word in all of my blogs
*hint* search leonardo dicaprio..his name will pop up numerous times! ;)

So I wasted a couple of hours this morning just seeing what I can do to make my blog a little bit more exciting. But I had a somewhat busy day today nonetheless as I taught a class, ran 3 miles, and celebrated a friend's birthday where we played rock band!

-Chihchat

Celebrity Status

This morning was the last day of my writing class. I bought them a notepad as a farewell parting gift but I was dumb and didn't realize that I bought 14 when I have 17 students in the class. Today for the first hour they made their essays into books and decorated a cover for it. Then for the second hour they had to recite an essay in front of my boss. I have been getting sick but today has been the worse day (so far). My voice sounds bad and when I was explaining to my class how good they were when we were about to leave, they thought I was crying lol I was like no no no haha

I gave them the gift but then I explained how I didn't have enough for three students. There were three students that were nice enough to not care to have a gift until I realized I had some really nice dry erase board markers. So I gave those three students my markers lol Everyone liked the notepad and it had an English phrase, "Run to my goal" on the cover. Inside the notepad had paper and a small sticky pad to write notes. Some of the students were nice and they wanted my signature and one took a picture of me on her cell phone! I definitely felt like a celebrity. I didn't think about it but I should have taken a group photo with them but oh well. I have a class that's ending this Thurs. as well and they are very good students! I want to take a picture of them for sure and I bought them bookmarks for their farewell gift.

A lot of the students were nice and asked me what my Chinese name was and if I was going to be here next summer. Most of them are only here for the summer though since regular school is starting up soon so I don't think I will see them. I really enjoyed the class since there were two students who wrote a great short story and they wrote a final copy to give to me and another student who likes to draw drew me a picture. Yep, I'm a teacher nerd what can I say?

-Chihchat

Hot dog, White Sand Beach, Rice

Drew and I planned to go to the beach with our coworker and our other friends this afternoon. While our coworker was still at work, she wanted us to get her a hot dog at 7-Eleven. Drew and I never got a hot dog there before. We didn't know exactly what to do since the hot dog buns were wrapped and it came in the box. We didn't know where to put the hot dog at since it was still cooking and if we should open the hot dog bun wrapper or just put the hot dog in a plastic bag. We were going to get the hot dog when Drew said it was frozen. He already opened the hot dog bun so we just left quickly lol Then we went to another 7-Eleven and we got the hot dog because again it looked like it still needed to be cooked but we asked the cashier and she said it was done. While we were paying, the cashier said something to me but I didn't quite understand her and I think she said I can open the hot dog bun instead of putting it in a sack. I was trying to say that it's for my friend so that's why I didn't open the bag but instead I said the hot dog is my friend! I didn't even realize it until the lady looked at me funny and Drew told me about it.

Drew, our two new friends we met last week, our coworker, and I went to White Sand Beach (pictures above). It took about 15-20 min on subway and then another 15-20 mins by taxi. It was nice when we got there because the water was just the right temperature to wade in. It was weird to think that I was standing in the Pacific Ocean when I was also in the Pacific Ocean in California lol The tides were fun and it was crazy because one couple brought their dog in the ocean! The girl was on a float and she was holding the dog with her then later the guy was throwing the dog in the air and catching it. It was ridiculous..poor dog! It was freaking out and it looked so scared! We chilled out for about an hour then we went to eat dinner at a Thai restaurant.

I ordered the spicy chicken with rice and I like my rice plain so I always eat the vegetables and meat first and then the rice last. I was done with my meat and vegetables and almost halfway done with my rice when my friend looked at my plate strangely. I explained to them what I was doing and they thought it was weird because you're supposed to mix the rice with the vegetables and meat. My coworker said it's like if a person was eating a hamburger and you first eat the meat then the bun. I didn't think it was too strange...I just like eating plain rice!

-Chihchat

Hard to say goodbye!

Today was my last day with my A-6 class since there are only 7 of them and they are so small that they are merging in with another class when they start their new level of A-7. They already finished their written and oral exams and I gave them extra handouts to keep them busy. There oral exams actually didn't take a long time since there were only 7 students. They had a chance to look over their essays and I felt bad for them since I kept giving them all these handouts when they finished everything for the class so the last 10 mins I allowed them to rest and do whatever they wanted.

This class wasn't the greatest because most of them were not motivated and were extremely lazy. They don't act like an advanced class at all and even though they know how to follow the sentence patterns, they won't branch out and actually write or speak except one or two students. I was sad saying goodbye though because it was my first class that I will be done with. I will be done with two more of my summer classes this week. It's not a huge deal and I know I will be switching and changing classes all the time but if the students are willing to do the work and you have a good relationship with them, it's hard to let them go haha For my summer writing class I bought all the students little notepads. As for my intensive English beginner class, I bought them bookmarks. I know I'm a nerd for getting them gifts but they deserved it since they had to take summer classes although I'm sure they had no other option but to take the class.

-Chihchat

Anger cures test anxiety

This morning I took the analytical writing portion for the GRE at National Taiwan University. The test was at 8:30am and I had to get up early to get some coffee. I took a taxi there and got there about 35 mins before the test started. Right away I knew it was going to be a little awkward since everyone was looking at me but I didn't want to think about it. I thought there would be other people taking the GRE test but all of them took another test that allowed them to use a calculator.

I was already tired from waking up early but I had no patience in dealing with the test adminstrators. I understand English is not their first language and I am still experiencing culture shock but I felt like I was treated like I was 6 years old. The lady was trying to find me since I was an American and she didn't even say my name. She looked at each person individually while we were sitting outside the classroom in desks and she came across me and said "YOU" in English. I was like umm yes? lol They were trying to speak English which was nice but I told them I could understand Chinese and I would reply back in Chinese. I have to get my photo taken before I take the test and while I was sitting down, the guy was trying to move my seat to adjust the camera and the other test lady next to me giggled and said in English, "take it easy." A lot of people tell me that phrase a lot lol I usually would just laugh but I was very annoyed. I was only moving because they wanted me to adjust the seat but then he would tell me not to move but that I need to move my chair. Then when I was in the testing area, they kept telling me where I should click the buttons and I was so frustrated and said "I know" in Chinese. The directions were in English so I don't understand why they kept checking up on me. I understand they were trying to be nice but I just wasn't in the mood for it.

When I took my test, I was so mad about everything that I just wrote my essays and I didn't even think about taking the test. I just kept writing and writing and the two hours passed by quickly. Being angry and frustrated has cured my test anxiety! So when I take the other portions in Oct., I have to make sure I am angry again lol

After I got done taking the GRE, I stopped by a supermarket and there were two older ladies trying to choose what kind of crackers to buy. I was reaching to grab two bags of crackers that taste exactly like animal crackers. They are only $10NT a bag which in America is only 30 cents. After I grabbed the bags, one of the ladies grabbed it and they were conversing in Taiwanese so I don't exactly know what she said but I understood what she meant because she grabbed it, pointed at the price and then pointed at me and then to the crackers and said strong in Chinese. She basically meant that I am strong by eating these crackers. I smiled and she kept pointing at me and the two bags I was holding and smiling. It was so cute! I wanted to say something but I don't know any Taiwanese and I was too tired to speak Chinese and didn't want to start a confusing conversation so I smiled politely and left.

Then when I was going to work, I took the bus with Drew and I moved to another seat which was close to the window so a guy can sit down and he kept thanking me and telling me that I am very nice. I said it's okay! I was very quiet and he kept talking to me and he was surprised that I was an ABC. He said my Chinese was really good since I just got to Taiwan. I said umm no but thank you! lol He studied in America for 2 years and he was a very nice friendly guy! So of course once in awhile I run into some mean, awkward, and frustrating people because I can't speak Chinese well but then I also encounter nice, friendly people who really make my day!

-Chihchat

That's sexy, Kenny the cat

There are many phrases in Chinese that cannot be directly translated with the same meaning or connotation in English and vice versa. In Chinese, a lot of people say that's sexy which means a lot of things for ex: cool, pretty, or sexy. It's sorta like the famous phrase from Paris Hilton "That's hott."

I teach a writing class and today's composition prompt was about having a computer game in a bedroom and if it's a good or bad idea. One of my students were talking about online games and he said that these computer games are sexy and scary lol I told him that you shouldn't use the word sexy but I understood what he meant. Then later tonight my roommate had an oral exam for her class and she asked them how they were and one of the students said he was sexy. After she made him ask again what he said, he knew he said something wrong so he said he was hungry lol

So something that I didn't blog about yet was about the new addition to my apartment..Kenny the cat! (second picture above) My ex co-worker/teacher who I replaced left for the States about a month ago and he had a cat. He needed someone to take care of him and my roommate offered to have the cat Kenny live with us. Kenny is such a cutie but he meows A LOT and LOUD too! It's because he wants attention but he will just meow all the time and the walls of our apartment are thin so you can always hear him. There is a long hallway between my room and Drew's and he likes to stand outside my doorway and meow. One time I got home and he would meow 5 secs straight. It was the scariest thing because he wouldn't stop meowing and he would even have his mouth wide open! He is a really mellow cat though..one time Cala put all these tissues and things on him and he didn't even freak out about it! (second picture above)

-Chihchat

Blaah blah blah blah blah blah blah

For every lesson we have to read out of the book and today was the review lesson for the unit quiz. The students just had to fill in the answers and usually you can say blank or blah to read the sentence with the missing word. To make it a little bit more fun, I say blaah blah blah blah blah blah blah lol So for ex: I need a blaah blah blah blah blah blah blah because I am not good at math. It's really funny and since I make so many sound effects, the students want to read the questions. It's great because they say blaah blah blah blah blah blah blah..and if they don't, I make them haha

Then after they do the book, I check to make sure they do the work and some of my students call me superwoman because I will run around and put a quick checkmark on their book to make sure they did the work correctly. I learned to write checkmarks upside down :) Ooo and my students now make sound effects since I do but that's not good though because they don't really listen to me but instead make fun of me.

I got observed today by two of my trainers and overall I think I did okay. It was cute because one of my students for my Sat. morning class tried to see me while I was teaching. I was looking at the door window and I saw his two eyes haha

-Chihchat

Trying to find the National Taiwan University Testing Center

This morning I subbed a 50 min class for a coworker. I got off at 10am and I asked the Taiwanese secretaries which subway station I should get off to go to National Taiwan University. I need to go there to take my GRE. They told me it was this subway stop on the blue line. There are five main subway lines: red, blue, green, orange, brown. I got to the subway station and looked at the map to figure out what street I should go to. I walked out and saw a convenience store so I asked where was the university. He told me to go across the street and turn left. I started walking when I saw a sign that looked like it could have been the center. I went in and it was like a church and I asked the lady but she didn't understand me at all and got another person to help me who knew how to speak English. He told me to cross the street and turn left on Xin Sheng Road. He said I will pass two big intersections.

I then was walking when I saw the sign for Xin Sheng Road but there was no intersection. I saw a center where they teach English (like my workplace) so I figured I can ask someone who knew English. The lady didn't know how to speak English ironically but she summoned her coworker who knew little English. He told me I was going the right way and I need to keep going straight and then I will need to turn left when the road splits off. I then kept walking for awhile and I passed a sports arena. I then reached a big intersection and I didn't know if I should cross the street or turn left but I turned left and I saw a security guard relaxing outside on the sidewalk where there were people doing road construction.

I asked the security guard and he asked me the address. I told him and I said I was going to the right direction and I just need to keep going straight. I said thank you and was about to leave when he asks, just one question, where are you from? He had the biggest grin on his face. It was so cute! I go guess! He said "dong ya ren" which I didn't understand so I said no. Then he said American? I said yes! Then I told him my background and he said oh yeah and I asked him what "dong ya ren" was and he said it was like Asian, from another Asian country. I asked him if he could tell I was ABC and he said I didn't look like it but when I started talking he knew I wasn't from Taiwan because of my accent. Then he was so nice and asked me if I was traveling by myself. I said yes and he told me I should be careful especially walking on the sidewalks since there are motorcycles. He said you know how to get home right? I said yes and if anything I can take the taxi. We had a good conversation and he just wanted to know what I was doing in Taipei. He was super sweet and then I left and he goes bye! Be careful lol I then kept walking and finally I saw a gate and I noticed there was a campus map. I was trying to find the LTTC which is the center where I need to take my GRE. I was looking around and trying to read the map when I noticed that the place was right in front of me! Urgh..I go in and I saw the counter. The first thing I usually say to people in Chinese is "Sorry, my Chinese is bad." Then I start talking. When I said that to the guy at the counter he goes yeah I know. I was like geez wow..wasn't expecting that response. I asked to make sure this was the place to take my test and he said yes. Then I needed to go home and I was trying to find a subway station near the place. He gave me a map and showed me the nearest subway station but I need to switch lines.

I left and found the subway station to only find out that it was the brown line. I have to switch two lines from my house. That takes forever especially since my test is this Fri. at 8:30am. It took me about 1 1/2 hrs to find the place! I think I will take a taxi there and then take the subway home after I'm done with the test. Then in my class tonight there was a little bug but my student killed it thank goodness. I'm glad it wasn't a cockroach! After work Drew and I were planning to run on the track but it closed down because of construction work. We ended up running outside on the street though so at least we got a workout!

-Chihchat

I talked to the luwei guy=七夕節

Today is exactly two months since I've been in Taiwan but if you count by the date then last Sat., (Aug. 14) was exactly the two month mark. Today is Chinese Valentine's day called qi xi jie or qing ren jie. Tonight I looked up more information about the holiday and I guess girls would wash their hair at night to give them a fresh, new shiny look. Lovers would go to the matchmaking temple to ensure their long-lasting love while single people can also go there to hope for new love. Ironically I washed my hair tonight so hopefully I will have a "fresh, new shiny look." lol

After work my coworker wanted to get luwei. I went with her and the workers know her since she goes there a lot. She doesn't know that much Chinese so I was sort of her translater although she wanted to know what kind of food they served but I didn't even know myself. I have a crush on one the workers who is the older brother. His younger brother works with him and he knows little English. He was really nice and asked us where we were from. I spoke Chinese to them and I asked them for their English and Chinese names. The guy I like is named Calvin and I told him it's an American brand name lol He started laughing and his brother's name is Eason who is a popular singer. Then we were talking about Chinese names and I told them mine and they thought it was cute lol I was trying to figure out Calvin's Chinese name and first it was yellow (huang 黄) and then he said ji. I didn't quite get it and Calvin doesn't know any English and his brother was trying to explain and Calvin told him that it was too hard to explain to me. I thought it was chicken like 雞 and yeah chicken has a bad connotation so when I said that, they started laughing. I was pretty embarrassed but oh well. Then they gave us free desserts made out of plum jelly that they made and my coworker and I were so surprised. I was excited to finally talk to him though especially on Chinese Valentine's day ;) haha

It's crazy to think that I've been here for two months. I have done so much stuff and so much stuff has happened that it's a whirlwind. I really like Taipei and it's sad to think I only have 10 months left. It seems like 10 months will be awhile but 2 months flew by so quickly. I'm still not used to everything and I wish my Chinese was spectacular but it just takes time. Summer classes are ending next week! It's crazy to think fall is coming so soon but it has definitely been one of the best summers I've had!!!

-Chihchat

Waterpark, Umbrella Game

Today I went to a waterpark with a bunch of my coworkers in Taipei county. We had to take a bus for 20 mins to get to the waterpark. It was just the 6 of us and it was really fun. We spent almost the whole day there and we went on a lot of rides. It was hot of course and most of us got really burnt although we put tons of sunscreen on. I was shocked when I saw the lifeguards..they were so dark because of the sun. Also I noticed most of the people there were extremely skinny..I mean not just skinny but you can see their bones and everything. I'm not used to that still, seeing people's shoulder blades popping out or their rib cages. There was this one ride where they actually make you take this swimming test before you can go on the ride. You have to swim across a pool but it's not very long. We went on a lot of tube rides too and it was fun because you can ride with more than one person. Drew and I rode one together and it was hilarious..we kept falling off lol The first picture above is of the waterpark and the second picture is the whole group.

We were waiting for this ride which wasn't that great..it took forever since you have to wait for the person to go down the slide. After lunch, we waited again for this UFO ride which was actually really fun since you can ride with 3-4 people on the swimming tube. While we were waiting, we were just trying to entertain ourselves. Drew and I played thumb war, I said the alphabet backwards, my coworker Dorothy was asking if we could hit one leg with one hand while the other hand rubs the other leg at the same time, and then Drew taught us how to play the umbrella game.

I heard of it before but I don't know what the rule of the game is. The person initializng the game says I'm going on a trip to ___ and I'm going to bring __. Then we have to guess what the rule is by saying I'm going to bring __ and figure out what the rule is. We were playing for awhile and one of my coworkers got it and I thought I got it but I didn't. We were playing for awhile and finally I understood the rule because Drew kept giving me hints. I don't want to ruin the game so I won't say the rule but it was just like omg really? It's such a stupid thing lol It was a good game to play though because it passed the time quickly.

Later Drew and I went to a little night market near our apartment and I finally tried fried noodles. I had noodles before but they were either boiled or not the type of noodles I wanted to try. They were delicious and the size of the dish is really big so I can eat it for lunch tomorrow too! I wanted to get hot and sour soup but the stand was close that night. Oh well..next time!

-Chihchat

My age

Although I have been teaching for awhile, I still have some students that are really interested in my life. My Sat. morning class is a good class of students who have tons of energy. They always want me to speak Chinese and they want to know a lot about me. This Sat. when I first walked into class, the first thing they asked me was they wanted to know my age.

I have had a lot of students guess and one student thought I was 31. This time they were teasing and saying I was 100 years old but some actually thought I was 37. I couldn't believe it lol I told them that whatever number they guess, I will write it down on the board until they guess my real age. Some thought I was 16 which was nice though but yeah it took awhile until they guessed 22. Then of course they said I was really old although since some students thought I was 37!

I told them I need to look and dress older since I'm young. I was the youngest teacher but now we have a new teacher who came this week and he is younger than me by 8 days surprisingly!

-Chihchat

Ex-boyfriend explanation and bus

Tonight for my advanced class I was teaching them sentence structures should and must. The book had problems and solutions to use should and must. One of the problems was my ex-boyfriend's getting married. The solution is to not go to the wedding. It was funny because the students didn't know what ex-boyfriend meant. I explained it by saying that one of the boys in class and I dated and we broke up. It was funny and then I explained other terms such as ex-husband and how you can't say ex-teacher. My co-teacher said yeah you have to say former teacher instead...I know I probably sounded creepy saying I dated one of the students but I was just kidding lol

Drew and I went to Shilin night market after work and I got some school supplies but I also ate lots of food. I ate jipai which is a piece of fried chicken with seasoning, polish sausage with garlic pieces, fried sweet potato balls, drank bubble milk tea, and passion fruit slushy type dessert. Yum! Then Drew showed me another way to go home by taking the bus. It's a really nice bus and it's cheaper and quicker to get to work instead of the MRT although I do like taking the MRT. I just love going to the night market and my tummy does too!

-Chihchat

My mom knows how to use technology :)

The 13hr time difference from Iowa to Taipei has its pros and cons. Since my sister works 8-5 every day and I usually work at night, we would skype in the morning my time so it will be night time in Iowa. I started to teach summer classes this month so now my schedule is all random and so now we have been trying to figure out when is a good time to skype.

Tonight I skyped my time at night so it was morning in Iowa. My sister had to go to work but she taught my mom just to shut off the monitor since my mom doesn't know anything about computers. My mom had a cell phone once but she never understood the concept that when the phone rings, you have to first push a button to answer the call. Anyway my sister and I never taught her to use the computer because she never really needed to use it. Tonight while I was skyping with her, my sister's webcam fell a little bit and my mom adjusted it. She even knew how to shut off the monitor. Although she just had to push one button, that's a big step for my mother lol

It was just awesome talking to my mom and she was using technology without needing my sister to be there...wow!!

-Chihchat

Making new friends...sorta...

When I'm back home in Iowa, I cook a lot and mostly make Chinese food. Ever since I got here, I don't want to cook because 1) it's actually cheaper eating out than making food at home 2) Taiwanese food is WAY better than my food 3) our refrigerator sucks and the humidity is so bad you have to make sure you eat everything quickly and 4) it's convenient and quick to eat out.

After I got off work, I was walking to the MRT (subway) when one of the ladies working at a food stand where I occasionally order food there said hello to me. Then when I was walking to my apartment I saw one of the restaurants I like going to and it was open. They never open when I'm around and I have no idea what their hours are. They serve hot and sour soup and so far it's the best I've had in Taiwan (SO FAR). I was planning to go running but it was lightning and thundering outside so I decided just to eat dinner and not run. I went to a 7-Eleven on the way to get my hot and sour soup which is near the MRT but I don't go there often. But the coworker there recognized me and he said in English oh you're staying here for awhile! I replied in Chinese yep, one year lol It's not embarrassing but it's like great..I come here so much now that you know me. Oh well!

-Chihchat

Green tea float, 7-Eleven points

One thing that I should have blogged a long time ago is that Taiwanese people love sweets! Although they are self-conscious about losing weight, they love to add sugar to anything. Sometimes I can't buy bottle tea just because there is so much sugar in it. When you order drinks, you can choose how much sugar and ice you want to add but depending on the drink, I usually say little sugar since it's too sweet for me. They add frosting or glazed sugar on their bread even. This afternoon Cala told me how there is a drink store near our place where they add a scoop of ice cream in the tea. We went before work and I got green tea with a scoop of ice cream. It was delicious..reminded me of a root beer float!

7-Eleven like I blogged before is a popular convenience store and they sell a variety of things like a gas station store. During certain months they offer a point system where if you spend more than $60NT, then you get a sticker which equals to one point. If you collect 10 points (stickers), there are specific items where you can exchange for and get. Some items you can get for free, some are buy one, get one free, and others are discounted.

Drew and I just got done running and we went to 7-Eleven to use up our points since it was the last day to use them. We were trying to figure out what we can get since there are only certain items we can get for the month and it was funny because we were just looking confused, trying to match up the items with the pictures in the book lol We also asked the workers and I talked to the same one that I saw the last time I ran. He was again really nice!

I ended up getting this snack food where the English name is called "Ball Cake." It looked good since it was just little small dough balls. I was going to get the potato twists but I thought I would be more healthy by choosing the ball cakes. I was wrong! I went home to eat them and it turned out that the flour was mixed with sugar like powder sugar so when you chew them, you are basically chewing sugar. It was gross and I got two bags for free. I'm going to bring the remaining unopened bag to work to see if anyone wants it lol

-Chihchat

Confusing school supplies

Taiwan is environment friendly...so environment friendly that they recycle everything including markers. I can get free dry erase markers at work but you have to continuously sign up to get new markers out of the drawer. I have some money now so it's not a big deal to get my own ink. Yesterday I bought refill ink and I was dumb and didn't realize that not only did I buy black and red ink,I also bought green ink instead of blue.

This morning I was trying to refill my markers and I was trying to read the instructions although they were in Chinese. I saw a picture showing what to do and you have a dropper and the picture showed how you just add the ink to the tip of the marker. There are two different sets of markers and when I was refilling the ink, I asked my coworker if I was doing it correctly. She asked me if I could use that type of marker to refill the ink. I was refilling the wrong type of marker so she showed me the correct type and you have to unscrew the top part of the marker and there is a hole to add the ink. I started to add the ink in the hole until it got all messy and I was spilling everywhere. It wasn't working and I was trying to figure out why. Another coworker came in and I asked him and he told me I needed to unscrew another piece to add the ink. Wow..who knew it would be so complicated to refill ink. The picture above is the correct way of refilling the ink. Okay actually I'm making it extremely confusing.

A lot of the students use pens and I bought white out tape and I opened it and tried to use it but I also broke that somehow lol I'm not having luck with school supplies. So I just added green ink to my blue marker because it was too late and I wanted to use up my ink. Today in class all my students were wondering why green ink was coming out of a blue marker. I tried erasing it but it was so hard to rub off since you can still see the green ink and also I think I added too much ink. My student tried to erase the board and he was complaining how he couldn't erase the ink because it was too hard to rub off. It's okay..he is 7 years old and a naughty student so it was funny to see him try so hard to erase the board :)

-Chihchat

I actually have $$

This afternoon Drew, Cala, and I went to a bookstore sort of near our apartment and they sold mostly English books. It was awesome because there was a history section and I saw the book "Socialism is Great!" The author of the novel (Lijia Zhang<--I think that's the name) came to Iowa City to speak and I bought the book and she signed it. It was just cool seeing the novel on the bookshelf. There were other books as well that Cala and I recognized from our Chinese history courses at IOWA. I also saw a couple of Amy Tan novels too :)

While we were walking back, we passed a Filipino section of town like "Chinatown" which was interesting just because I didn't know a lot of Filipinos lived in Taipei. Today was nice though because I received my paycheck last week and now I have money to buy things lol Today I bought some things for teaching and it was nice just to eat what I wanted to eat!!

-Chihchat

Hot Pot and Wondergirls

My coworker and I went to this small food stand for lunch because our Chinese co-teachers got their lunch there and we wanted to venture out and try other places to eat. We ordered pork noodle soup which only cost $35 NT, roughly $1 USD but there's a reason...it wasn't filling or good at all!

My roommates and I planned to eat hot pot tonight. I made the reservation at 5:30 after I got off work and we didn't get to eat until after 9pm. It's so busy because it's a Sat. night and we waited for over 1 hour. It's all you can eat with fruit and cake and they had haagen das (not sure of the spelling) ice cream too :) It was four of us and I ate a lot!! We were all starving since most of us didn't really eat too much today and we didn't get to eat until 9pm. It was really good though and the ice cream was great. I also had "wax apples" (first picture above) :D

We got home around 11:30pm and now it's 1:00am and I'm writing this blog. I am going to sleep!! I ate hot pot a lot when I'm at home in America and I had it when my sister was here in Xin Zhu but I am never sick of it. My stomach is happy but now I just want to sleep. I think also teaching a full day today has something to do with it.

Ooo and the other day when I was waiting for the subway to go to work, I heard someone's cell phone go off and it was the Wondergirls "Nobody" song!! I knew that it was popular a couple of years ago but I haven't heard it being played here in Taipei until then. But weirdly enough, one of my students said sorry and the other student started to sing the "Sorry" song again from Wondergirls. So random!!

-Chihchat

Card Attack=Scream Attack

I had a review day for my one of my advanced classes because they got done with the final exam. I teach the first two hours and the last hour I subbed for my co-teacher. The last hour we played a card game and they showed me this game they played called pick two. They said little kids play this game but basically you just need to get rid of your cards by trying to create pairs from picking other people's cards.

Then we were playing card attack and everyone has a set of cards and you count the number and if what you say matches with the card, then you have to slap it. There were about 8 of us and it was funny since there were so many hands slapping the cards lol Everyone was getting really into it then my roommate/coworker Drew came in and scared us and we all screamed. It was funny :D Oh the joys of teaching :)

-Chihchat

High pitched voice=Cantonese accent

At work today there was a ginormous, yes GINORMOUS, huge fly that landed on one of Drew's papers. My coworker killed it with a rolled up newspaper. My other coworker took a picture of it since she thought it was cool that it was such a huge fly since it seems that Taipei just has a lot of big bugs! Anyway we were staring at it for awhile when all of a sudden tiny baby maggots were coming out of it!! NASTY! It was so disgusting! I had dinner with my aunt tonight and we were talking about nasty bugs with my cousin and I started to tell them about the fly story. Before I got to the maggot part, my aunt said yeah the maggots were coming out of the fly right? I was so surprised she knew. She said she saw it before when she was little. Eww...so that's why the fly was big was because it was a female fly and it was pregnant.

On an interesting or maybe not so interesting note, I get mistaken for being Cantonese because when I speak Chinese they say I have a Cantonese accent. I think I definitely sound like an American when I speak Chinese. I was talking to my aunt and she said the reason why I sound "Cantonese" is because when I speak, I have a higher tone and pitch than a Mandarin speaker. So if I said 你在那里？ (ni zai na li-Where are you?), I pronounce the last word a little higher than the rest of the sentence. I think it is funny since I just fluctuate more on my tones because I just have a lot of energy and I joke around by emphasizing the last word. Naturally I have a higher pitch voice but it's crazy that I get confused of being Cantonese. I just think it's hilarious!!

-Chihchat

Finally...a normal conversation!

So a thing or two about Taiwanese girls that I have learned through my roommate and myself is that Taiwanese girls rarely exercise and they do not like walking. I have been running these past couple of weeks at a school track and I initially wanted to wear my sports bra but my roommate advised me not to since a lot of Taiwanese girls don't show their skin like that. So when I run I just wear a sports tank top and shorts.


After work tonight I ran 25 laps on the school track and of course I was sweaty and my face was red especially since the humidity outside tonight sucked. I was walking to 7 Eleven to get something to eat and of course people were staring at me. Oh well..who cares right? Well I go into 7 Eleven and I wanted to buy this tea but I didn't really know what it was. It only cost 16 NT and I figured, eh what the heck? Let's try something new. I asked the workers about the tea in Chinese and they were nice and responded back in Chinese and not in English.

When I went to the cashier to pay my things, the guy asked me if I just played tennis. I laughed and said no, I love playing tennis but I just got done running. The other girl coworker joined in the conversation and we were talking about the names of the school track I ran at since there are two schools near my apartment and I don't know which one is which. They were so nice since they spoke Chinese to me the whole time, didn't think I was strange (that I know of), didn't ask me where I was from and why I was in Taiwan, and didn't call me an ABC. Finally..a normal conversation with people!! :)

-Chihchat

Random Compliment

I was walking to work today when a guy with two girls asked me where I got my purse that I was wearing. I told him I got it from America and the girl who was with him asked me if I knew a store around here that were selling that style type of bag. I told them I didn't know and I was trying to explain how the bag was made in Africa but I forgot how to say Africa in Chinese. It didn't matter anyways because they didn't understand me lol The girl was really sad because she has been looking everywhere for a bag like mine.

I bought my bag (me wearing the bag in front of the national palace museum) this past year from my friend Michelle who study abroad in Gambia, Africa. She had a guy make purses, wallets, and other items to sell for charity donations to stop the female mutilations that are occuring in Gambia. I love this bag and I wear it all the time also because it just hangs right off my shoulders and I don't have to carry it with my arms. And of course it reminds me of my friend Michelle :)

-Chihchat

Pass or Fail

I have this awful class on Monday nights where there are only about eight students and they are very young. They are very naughty and they do not listen. They have thrown their shoes before and they basically roll on the floor and whine. So yes, I do not like this class AT ALL!

Tonight they had their oral exam and usually while there is an oral exam, the students work on handouts and extra worksheets just to keep them busy. I gave them a 10pg. double-sided worksheet and told them that it's homework. They were upset and I told them that they have to do or else it's homework. While I was giving the oral exam by having each student individually go outside and be tested, my Chinese co-teacher was watching the students. He told them that they had to do the handouts and that if they didn't finish it, they will not be able to move on to the next level which is M7. I have never seen these students work so hard in my life!

I was done with the test and I asked them if they wanted to play a game and some of them wanted to but others didn't because they were afraid they would not be able to move on to the next level. I couldn't help but giggle but I had to explain to them so many times that there isn't any homework if they don't finish and they will all be able to pass. I know it's mean to "trick" them but they need some sort of punishment. I should have made them do the packet for homework but I did feel bad. ugh I don't really know how to handle these kids. I have to continue teaching them so I hope I can survive! lol

-Chihchat

Rabbits and Hawkeyes

One of my cousins who just graduated from college in China is leaving for Toronto, Canada tomorrow since she is going there to grad school for her master's. I first met up with her and my cousin from Canada and we ate at an American style restaurant that served mostly breakfast food. They had cute pictures of different styles of rabbits and they made a Michael Jackson rabbit, above is the first picture.

My other cousin that lives in Taipei was meeting up with us later and we were going to try to eat at this famous cafe called Dazzling Cafe. A celebrity owns it and while we were inside trying to see how long the list was for the food, a famous movie star passed us since he was leaving the cafe. I didn't recognize him since he just left but apparently he was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My cousin was on the phone with my other cousin and she was trying not to freak out about it. I don't even know who he is and same with my other cousin lol Ooo and my cousin saw Wang Lee Hom at the airport when she was leaving for Beijing. He was here last Sunday to promote his new cd that is coming out soon.

My cousins and I were walking around Zhong Xiao Dong Lu Area when I saw a guy with his son and they were both wearing University of Iowa football jerseys! I was freaking out and was trying to explain to my cousins since they didn't understand why I was so happy. I wanted to talk to them but I thought it was too creepy so I took a picture of him, second picture above, but yeah I guess it's creepier that I took his picture haha I should have talked to him but I didn't really think about it..ugh..oh well. They were both wearing #88 and yes..I don't follow football so I don't really know who that was since I didn't really catch the name on the back of the jerseys. Made my day though..I can't believe I saw IOWA gear in Taipei!! :)

-Chihchat