An unexpected wake up call

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

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

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

-Chihchat

34 cent sushi

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

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

-Chihchat

Trying to recooperate

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

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

-Chihchat

I'm back! *Merry Belated Christmas*

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

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

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Laser tag and hot pot :)

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

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Prepped out!

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

-Chihchat

Spongebob Squarepants Composition

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

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

-Chihchat

The truth behind wax apples

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Iowa Buff

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

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

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Change your seats

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

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

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


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

-Chihchat

Being more food adventurous surprisingly

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Proof that Chinese donuts do exist

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

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

-Chihchat

Behaved students!

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Got my stamp seal

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

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

-Chihchat

New food finds

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

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

-Chihchat

It's starting to get cold!

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

-Chihchat

Going to Bali ^.^

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

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

-Chihchat

Surprisingly productive

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

-Chihchat

Sluggish day

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

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

-Chihchat

Game night

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

-Chihchat

Nonexistent Electricity bill

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Because I'm an American! :/

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

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

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

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

-Chihchat

Weather change

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

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

-Chihchat