End to my amazing journey

I can't believe I'm blogging in my hometown of Iowa. This past year has been a surreal rush. I've done so many things and have experienced so much that I can't believe that I was hesitant to live in Taipei. Of course I had to leave behind my family, friends, and my American culture which wasn't easy. Coming home as made me realized that I'm very blessed and grateful for the people who stuck by me and made my trip abroad worth it.

I not only made such great friendships, ate amazing food, reunited with my relatives, but also discovered my own personal identity and what it is to be an Asian American, more specifically Chinese-Taiwan American.

After I left Taipei, Taiwan I stayed in Los Angeles for 3 days and 4 nights to visit old high school friends and watch American Idol in concert. I had so many dreams come true like reuniting with my friends after 9 years. I used to live in LA when I was a freshmen in high school and moved shortly after. I told them I would come back and this was the time. I met Stefano and got his autograph and he took a photo with me after the concert. I also saw Leo's beach house. California was amazing and I'm so glad I stopped by to visit.

I'm sad to say that this will be my last blog for now. I'm so glad that I have my memories of Taiwan kept on this blog and I can relook at all the posts that I've done, talked, complained, and laughed about. I'm moving to Springfield to go to grad school in less than a month. I hope I have time to blog but right now, I know I need to study and focus on grad school.

Thanks for everyone for following me and keep in touch via email or facebook :)

Take care!
Chihchat

Wrapping things up

My year in Taiwan is ending in a couple of weeks and I'm busier than ever. It's a weird kind of rush since I'm not too excited to leave but I'm happy to be done and moving on. I will miss a lot of things in Taiwan especially my family, friends, and food :) My friend came from the States a couple of days ago to work at my school and it's strange that while I'm leaving, she's coming. It's definitely like a cycle where one door closes, and the other opens. Yes, that is a lame motto but it's definitely true in this case.

I feel guilty that I'm done working and in a state of "non-work/school" period. It's weird because I feel an obligation that I have to be somewhere at a certain time or place but really I just have to wrap everything up here.

Although this isn't my last post that I will write on this blog, I have so many things to do like closing up ties with work, closing my bank account in Taipei/figuring out taxes, saying goodbye to family and friends, helping my friend get adjusted to her new life in Taipei, getting ready for my 4day stay in LA and finally going home.

I can't believe in less than 2 months I will start grad school! I will try to post one more time in Taipei but if not, my last final post will be when I arrive home in Iowa. It will be about one year and one month that I have taught abroad!

-Chihchat

My friend is coming! :)

My friend got a job teaching out here in Taipei and she is coming tonight. It's crazy to think that I haven't seen her for a year. I remember when just last year, I moved out here and now she's doing the same thing. As I mentioned before, things are getting busier and busier as now not only is my friend coming tonight, but also my relatives are coming this Sat.

Today is exactly 2 weeks until I leave Taipei. Tomorrow is my last day of work and my roommates and I are trying to move out of the apartment since rent is up by the end of this month. So many things happening all at once but it's also really exciting too :)

-Chihchat

Teacher Lilly, please speak Chinese!

As this week is my last week of classes, I gave some of my classes cookies and for one of my fav. classes, I gave them either a coin or a stamp. Although they aren't the brightest and can be super naughty, I really grew to like them a lot. Anyway one of my favorite students Jack was begging me to speak Chinese. It was funny because I said, okay just wait for everyone to leave lol My CT needed to write in his book anyway but he really wanted to hear me speak it. I don't know why. My CT said it was really nice that he stayed after class to wait for me to speak Chinese lol

So I said what do you want me to say? He said anything! I then said "Ni hao" which means hello in Chinese. He goes, no, more than that! lol I said what? He said say hospital because that was one of our vocabulary words. I knew what it was but he said it first and then I said it. He didn't really say anything after I said it. Then I asked him in Chinese why he wanted me to speak Chinese? He didn't say much after that LOL I asked him and said, is my Chinese bad? But again he just smiled and didn't say anything. His English isn't the greatest though and I talked to my CT later about it and she thinks that he just didn't know what else to say lol

Anyway I will miss him and that class but I'm really done teaching today. I'm pretty tired and I'm just ready to be done entirely. I just have 2 more days left (2 more classes). Next week will be family time and showing my friend around Taipei. It's crazy how much time I still have although I know I don't have much time before I go home.

-Chihchat

Rain, Trash, Go Away!

Today was downpouring when I was going to work and I was buying cookies for my classes since it was the last day that I would be teaching them. Of course I miscounted the cookies and so I was missing cookies for 2 people. I had to go back out in the rain and go to a bakery nearby work and get some more cookies LOL

Right now our apartment is messy because we cleaned out everything so basically we just need to throw everything away. I rushed home after going to my aunt's and uncle's and tried to help my roommate throw the trash out. I threw out the trash last night too but we STILL have trash lol The dumpster truck doesn't come on Weds. so I will have to wait until Thurs. Then we can finally start cleaning the apartment lol

-Chihchat

I just want to take one picture!

My Mon. night class is really naughty and it's weird because I like them individually but they are a pain when they are together. They also aren't the brightest and we're learning harder concepts so it's just frustrating because they are older but they don't act their age. Anywho it was my last day teaching them and I just wanted to take one picture.

The students kept pushing each other and it was so hard to get everyone in just for one picture. I yelled at them and I said, wow it's my last day and I just want to take one picture! Stop pushing each other. I'm glad I'm done teaching them lol My roommate asked me why did I want to take a picture of them if they're naughty. I'm like yeah, but I just want a picture of all my classes. Some of them were sad though that I was leaving and I was happy that at least some cared LOL

-Chihchat

Cleaning aka throwing stuff out!

Today my roommates and I planned to clean the apartment. Since both of them are almost moved out, we just need to clean the apartment out. Unfortunately, there is a lot of stuff at the apartment and it took awhile to actually just throw everything out. We have tons of garbage sacks but we finally cleaned out the apartment. Now after we throw out the garbage, we just need to clean it lol As I blogged before, the trash trucks come out on certain days and so we have to wait until tomorrow to throw out the normal trash and paper and the plastic containers will have to wait until Tues.

I also started to clean out my room. I'm glad that I didn't have too much stuff but I'm getting rid of a lot of clothes. I'm really trying to minimize what I bring back to the States because of my weight limit and I don't want to bring back a whole lot. It's going to be hard though since my mom wants me to bring back a rice cooker..yes, a rice cooker lol

-Chihchat

Last day of teaching my Sat. classes

Today was my last Sat. of teaching. I bought cookies for two of my classes and I took pictures of each class. I was really surprised that some of my students were sad that I was leaving. I wasn't expecting it and then the students that I thought would care, weren't really that sad about it lol I felt like I was having party day with most of my classes today but oh well.

It got a little sad with my third class of the day since I taught them since day 1 with ABCs and I was their first foreign Kojen teacher. They are all so young and they were pretty sad. They were surprised that today was my last day with them although I did tell them that I would be leaving.

The biggest surprise was my JK class. They are middle schoolers and they don't want to be in class, especially since the class is on a Sat. from 6-7. It's the last hour of the day and I dread it a lot. Anyway 4 of my students wrotes notes saying they really liked me and were sad that I was leaving. One of my other students gave me a gift certificate and the other gave me a pin off his bag. It was really really sweet. The nicest note was one of my students who remembered me from day 1 of when I started teaching. She said I spoke really fast but then she understood everything that I said later on haha

When I was taking a group picture of my young class, I heard the students speak in Chinese of how they wanted to stand by me and was happy they could stand next to me. I was surprised how excited they were to be near me. I felt like a celebrity haha After work my coworker and I went to this awesome night market. I waited in line for about 20 mins for this awesome snack. It's made from taro and basically it's just a fried taro ball..but it's extremely delicious!! It's well-known and I understand why haha Definitely was a great way to end my night!

Pictures are one of my classes decorating the white board with good-byes, my young class that I had since K1 (the beginning class of English), and the yummy fried taro balls.

-Chihchat

Glamour photos

I finally got my glamour photos today. It took me a month because I went on vacation but it was worth it. It was sort of a long process since I needed to choose certain photos and then I have to check the arrangement of the photos. It's nice because I have a CD where I can print off my photos and it doesn't have the studio name on the pics. It's great so I can develop them without having to worry about copyright issues. The four pictures above are the four outfits I used. I had four different themes: cutesy, traditional-Asian, natural, and artsy.

On a side note, I got accepted to another grad school (Minnesota State Univ.). I obviously am not going to the school but I was wondering why I haven't heard back from them since it's the end of June. But the application deadline was May 1st. It's nice however to be accepted to another grad school program because it makes up for all the rejections that I have received in the past lol

-Chihchat

Recap of vacation

I just realized that I didn't really blog about what I did on vacation and so I'm going to recap of my vacation and link some photos :) Quick highlights of my trip!

Hong Kong:
-Got lost many times with Drew
-Our hotel was on another island so we had to take a ferry every day
-The dragon boat race competition was outside our hotel which woke us up at 8am
-Realized that people in Hong Kong are much more patient in speaking Mandarin than Taiwanese people (a lot to do with the fact that Mandarin is also their second language)
-Bought a dvd to learn Cantonese (I've always wanted to learn Cantonese since my father is Cantonese)
-Hong Kong is EXPENSIVE
-The bread is delicious but also super filling
-The Big Buddha statue park closes at 5pm :(
-The subway station is called "MTR" not "MRT"
-Reunited with Michelle who I'm traveling with for the rest of the trip
-Got to reunite with my old college classmate Jason
-Was a translator between Michelle's grandparents who can only speak Cantonese and Mandarin and Michelle only knowing English
-Ate lots of food and had many awesome drinks
-Got to see the Avenue of Stars which had star celebrities like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and even older celebrities like Anita Mui :) I was super ecstatic about that because I did a project about her in my Chinese Pop Culture class last year at Iowa

Macao:
-I can use Mandarin lol
-I have no luck and didn't win any money while gambling
-Macao is like a mini Las Vegas
-The casinos didn't have any free drinks or food :(
-The beef jerky was awesome and it's cheaper when you wait until the end of the street to buy it instead of the first stand when the street begins
-Our hotel was NICE :)

Thailand: I'm splitting it up within cities since there's so much we did in each city lol

Bangkok:
-I didn't realize how scared I was going to Thailand until I was going to Thailand lol
-The first scam: the taxi driver forgot to turn on his meter when he was driving us to our hotel from the airport
-I learned Michelle's tactics of how to know when someone is looking through your stuff
-Mr. Som is a scam artist and never pay over $60 US to go to a tourist attraction (unless you know it's worth it). Sadly he worked for the hotel as the tour company
-Thai milk tea is always amazing :)
-Went to see Hangover 2 in the Bangkok movie theaters lol
-My first trip to Madame Tussad's wax museum to see the oh so lovely..LEONARDO DICAPRIO. Hong Kong also had a wax museum but there was no Leo. I asked lol
-Saw Khao San Road where Leo filmed part of The Beach. There we booked a day trip to Thailand's old capital Ayutthaya.
-Went to the Floating Market where Michelle forced me to take a picture of a big huge snake that was wrapped around me and her. The guy had a lovely time scaring me with his snake
-Saw a very attractive, yes SUPER attractive salesperson that was trying to rip Michelle off while she was trying to buy a painting
-Went to the Grand Palace and saw the Jade Buddha
-Went to the weekend market and raced back to our hotel to make our flight to Phuket. Luckily we made it lol

Phuket-->Aonang, suburb of Krabi (one of the islands)
-Land at Phuket airport only finding out that we missed the ferry and to get to our hotel we would have to take a 3 hr bus ride to get there
-Met a cool Aussie who found it was amusing about how we would get to our hotel
-Thank goodness Michelle asked and instead of being driven all the way to Phuket town, we can stop halfway in the middle of the route to take the bus back to the opposite direction where we came from. I don't know why getting to Krabi was so difficult and why people were telling us to go this completely long, backwards way route
-Ran across a major highway with our heavy backpacks to catch a bus to Aonang
-Met this lady who helped us get a bus to Krabi
-Michelle sat next to a really nice guy who was becoming a lawyer. He was really nice but he had bad breath (from what Michelle said lol)
-I asked the bus driver to tell us when we reached Krabi town and he didn't mind that I sat up front since he said he liked me..yes, weird lol
-After a very bumpy ride of 2 hrs, we landed in Krabi town and by this time it was night
-Michelle got sick and I asked this guy who was riding on the bus with us how to get to our hotel. It would be another 40 mins to get to our hotel ahh! This tuk tuk driver wanted to take us there but we didn't trust him at first because we didn't want to pay a lot. Luckily he found us again because there was another couple who were backpackers going to the same direction
-We met Lorenzo who was from Italy and his (I think girlfriend, forgot the name) from England. They were nice and took care of Michelle by giving her water and hydration pills since Michelle got really sick
-First experience riding a tuk tuk and the drive took about 40 mins or less. We finally got to our hotel!
-Our hotel was AWESOME! Ok not a hotel I mean our resort :) It was definitely a resort haha
-Bothered the receptionists about day trips and how to get to the other islands
-Booked a day trip to Koh Phi Phi Don

Koh Phi Phi Don:
-This is the beach that Leo mostly filmed at during "The Beach". I was HAPPY!
-We went on a speed boat and lucked out because the weather was good enough to go to Mayan Bay which is where they filmed Leo's movie.
-Snorkeled and it was an okay experience although after I got done, I got a little seasick
-Had a nice lunch and rested at the beach
-Snorkeled again and realized I wasn't breathing out of the tube correctly. I mastered the snorkeling experience and had a great time. Also I didn't get sick finally :)
-Went to Bamboo Island and Michelle and I were picture crazy lol I mean, it was just gorgeous. White sand, turquoise water. All you can hope for!
-Toured Aonang. It's a small city but there's also a beach. The people of Aonang are so flattering because they want our business lol

Railey Beach
-Our driver didn't know he had to pick us up so we had to go in the afternoon
-Chilled at the beach and our swimming pool of our amazing view of the mountains
-Our driver to Railey Beach looked like my good friend
-Rode in a longtail boat :)
-Rock climbed for the first time! The mosquitoes were deadly though haha They were everywhere! I'm proud to say I rock climbed a 12 m mountain. I pansied out though and didn't go to the next step since I didn't have enough energy or courage at that point
-Michelle rocked at rock climbing :)
-Spent another evening at Aonang and Michelle got a massage while I got a pedicare. I can't handle massages lol

Aonang--->Phuket
-Went back to Phuket by taking a mini bus
-Rushed to our hotel to go to the beach so we would have time for parasailing
-Parasailed :) It wasn't that long but it was fun
-Since we parasailed, we didn't have to pay money to use their beach chairs
-Layed out on the beach and we met this friendly local who taught us how to wakeboard
-Toured Phuket and saw some interesting nightlife
-We were so poor we only had $180baht ($3USD) between the two of us and we just wanted to get a drink. We stopped at this local bar which was dead because we were there for the low season. The lady was going to charge us for 2 drinks when we told her we could only pay for 1. She was nice for giving us a discount but I think they were desperate for business

Phuket-->Taipei
-Traveled all day and stopped in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia for a 2 hr layover
-Arrived in Taipei to find out that I didn't know exactly what bus to take. Made it back to Taipei and my roommate planned for all of us to go out
-We went to a bar and it was fun. Met up with my old coworker who was in town

Hualien/Taroko Gorge:
-We had one day of rest in Taipei and I went to the immigration office. I got my extension so I was happy about that
-The next day we went to Hualien. We left early to take the bus and I hired a cab driver to take us around Taroko Gorge.
-Met up with a nice guy named Grant and it was fun checking out the gorge
-We also spent some time at the beach
-Went to the night market but they only had food
-Realized there was nothing to do in Hualien when we got back from the gorge haha
-Next morning I messed up on the train times and I got food poisioning :( On a brighter note, Michelle bought lots of mochi lol
-We traveled from seat to seat on the train since we had to take another train but it worked out where we had seats for most of the ride
-Got back and had dinner with my relatives
-Went to Shida night market

Taipei:
-Showed Michelle around my workplace
-Saw my glamour photos that I took which tomorrow I get to pick up
-Took her to the hotsprings in Bayen where we took a bus
-Went to Shilin night market and bought clothes and shoes
-Played mahjong and went to KTV until 6am
-Took Michelle to many restaurants and ate different types of food
-Helped Michelle to get a haircut..yes I translated their conversation between Michelle and the hairdresser lol

And yes, while Michelle was in Taipei for one week, I had to work for some of the days. I'm still recovering from the trip but it was soooooooo amazing. Thanks Michelle for dealing with my tiredness by the end of the trip. She was so awesome because I could barely keep my eyes open when she left to go back to Hong Kong. My body physically couldn't anything since I got a heat rash, cankersores, sore throat etc. It was bad and I couldn't believe that my body was reacting so much. I was just tired and really needed sleep lol

Anyway THAT was my vacation. I really enjoyed recaping my trip because it reminded me of the good memories I had. Why can't I do it all over again? lol

*Photos are from Thailand

-Chihchat

Humid attack

It's so humid here that I forgot how bad it was when I first came to Taipei. I don't even know how to explain how much it affects what I do, think, and eat lol I mean definitely I don't want to eat anything and I'm always hot and sweaty but I'm also really tired. It's so muggy, sticky, and nauseating that I don't want to do ANYTHING lol It's so hard to push myself to teach this week because next week I'm done. If anything, the days should go by faster but I feel it's so slow and it's dragging me to pieces.

I know next week will fly by quickly because it's my last week of class but I'm actually ready for it and not sad. I'm so ready to be done teaching. As much as I will miss my students and I get sad when I think about leaving, I don't think I can handle teaching them anymore. I think it's that I have accepted the fact that I'm done teaching them and that I will be leaving. I don't know if I'm having a good attitude or not towards leaving but I wish it wasn't so darn hot here!! haha

-Chihchat

Selfless students

Tonight I was teaching my second favorite class. Next Fri. is my last day of class so I was telling the students that since next week is our last day of class, I want to bring them something. It's the oral exam and I know they will get done early so I said raise your hand if you want cookies. Only 2 out of 16 people raised their hand. I said don't worry about it, let me know if you like cookies. Then no one raised their hand. I said okay..how about cake? Still no one said anything except one of my loud students who kept saying that they don't want junk food (she was kidding).

I said okay how about pizza? I thought they would say something but no response although some students whispered to each other like they were interested. I even said McDonalds and yet no one really said anything. I started calling some people out to see what they would like but they still were quiet. They were being wayyyyy too polite. I couldn't believe it. They are 10 year old students and they are so well-behaved. This is one of the reasons why I like the class so much, also because they are very smart.

I told them I would surprise them next week. I'm thinking of getting them a pizza. I told my co-teacher about this and she said, don't worry about it. You don't need to give them anything lol I'm only giving out food to the classes that I like the most and were well-behaved. So that would be a total of 6 classes out of 11 lol I want to give pizza to my top two classes and the other 3 classes cookies.

It's so crazy to think that next week is my last week of work. I could have subbed for some classes after next week but I want and need a break. As much as I did think about it and the fact that I'm a workaholic, I don't want to stress myself out before I leave Taipei with teaching classes. I definitely need some relax time :)

-Chihchat

I'm back and busier than ever!

It's been forever since I last blogged. So many things have happened but here's a short recap. I went on vacation with my roommate and my friend from the States. I went to Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, and Taroko Gorge in Taiwan. It was an amazing trip but my body couldn't handle it. I got major cankersores, food poisoning, sunburn (of course), and even a heat rash.

All in all the vacation was unbelievable but I definitely need a vacation after my vacation. The hardest part was juggling hosting my friend around Taipei while going to work. She left last week and I'm still trying to regain my energy.

The next couple of weeks will be fly by quickly as my good friend from Iowa is going to come teach in Taipei. My relatives are flying in for my grandmother's one-year death anniversary, and I need to close everything up before I leave Taipei. I also need to plan for my Los Angeles trip.

I can't believe that my year of Taiwan is ending soon. I've been in Taipei over a year and it doesn't seem like it at all although I remember how hot it was when I arrived in Taipei and I'm not happy that the humidity is back lol

-Chihchat

Ready for my vacation paradise

I leave tomorrow for my 2 week trip and it's been pretty rough these past couple of days. A lot has to do with the fact that I have a lot of grading and prepping to do. I have so many classes to grade and so I have to get everything done before I leave. I'm so tired but it's good to keep my mind off from my trip but I'm definitely ready to leave. I just teach tomorrow morning and my flight leaves tomorrow evening.

Here is my trip's agenda/itinerary:

I will stay in Hong Kong for 3 days with my roommate. We are meeting up with my friend who is flying from America. We three will then go to Macao. Then my roommate is going back to Taipei while my friend and I will go to Thailand. We are staying in Bangkok for a couple of days then flying to Phuket. We will take a ferry to Krabi island and stay there for a couple of days. Then we will go back to Phuket and stay one night. Then we will fly from Phuket to Taipei. My friend and I will then go to Taroko Gorge in Taiwan for one night. She will stay in Taiwan for a couple of days and then go back to Hong Kong/America.

We've been planning this trip since Oct. and today I finally finalized everything since I got our train tickets and our cab driver to take us to Taroko Gorge in Taiwan. It's been pretty crazy to get everything booked but it's so worth it! I'm VERY EXCITED!

My friend leaves Taiwan June 16th so I will be able to blog until then. I'm signing off and will write again in 3 weeks :D

-Chihchat

"Is Teacher Daniel coming back?"

This morning my coworker and I had a mini-American Idol party. They showed the live finale this morning in Taipei and yes, we got up early (the show started at 8am). It was a great performance and I'm happy that Scotty won although Lauren is a great singer. We got pretty obsessed this season and my coworker goes, "Now I have nothing to look forward to" lol

I've been blogging what my students say right after I tell them that I'm leaving to go back to America because 1) it's surprising what they say and 2) their reaction makes me a little anxious. Everyone reacts differently and although I've only been teaching for 11 months, I've made good relationships with most of my students and I will be definitely sad leaving them. Now to them is a completely different story.

My crazy, young old Mon. night class now switched to Thurs. nights have been getting better. I finally am at peace with them and maybe it has more to do with the fact that I'm leaving. Anyway I told them tonight that I was going on vacation and they wanted to know who the sub was going to be.

Then I told them that I'm leaving and the boys in the class (they're only 7 students in my class) asked about Teacher Daniel who was the teacher that I replaced when I came to the school. They thought he was coming back and I said no he's in America. The girls were sad though so at least someone cared (sniff sniff) lol

When I was signing their bye-bye books, one of the students asked again about Teacher Daniel. I told him again he's in America and he wanted to know what he was doing. I told him he wanted to be a lawyer but Cody didn't understand what "lawyer" meant. (Mind you, he's only 8 years old). Then he asked if he was coming back and I said "No, he's in America and he's not coming back because he's done at this school." Cody all of a sudden asks with surprise, "Is Teacher Daniel DIED?" (Yes, bad grammar) lol He confused "done" with "die/dead". I quickly said no but it was really funny to see his expression. Oh little kids. Oh well..I'm glad they will be okay when I'm gone :)

-Chihchat

"I'm so ANGRY!"

I've really started to like my K8 class tonight more and more. They were really naughty and slow before and a lot of them are still like that but they are getting better. I told them tonight that I will be gone and that I will be leaving to go back to America. One of my students who is known to be super talkative and be "different" yelled "Oh I'm so ANGRY!". He jumped out of his seat too lol It's been pretty crazy this week but only because I will be gone for 2 weeks and I need to prep and grade a lot.

Definitely counting down..only 3 more days left!

-Chihchat

"Teacher Lilly, we died"

This week I've been telling my students that I'm leaving for vacation for a couple of weeks. Not only that but that I'm leaving at the end of June for America. Tonight I taught my second favorite class and I really like them. They are super smart and they are just really polie kids, well for the most part. One of the students is pretty crazy, Wawa. Wawa is the Chinese name for "doll." But she doesn't really act like a doll perse because she's very talkative but she's not too bad.

Anyway I first told them I was leaving for vacation. They were like okay see you soon. But then I told them that I'm actually leaving for America. Then they were like okay. I then said but I won't come back. They were really quiet and all of a sudden Wawa said, "No! Teacher Lilly we died!" lol I was like aww it's going to be okay but a lot of them were sad.

It's crazy how I'm leaving Taipei just a couple of weeks after I come back from my trip. Time goes by way too quickly!

-Chihchat

Last booking

I only have a couple of days left until my vacation. I leave for 2 weeks and I wanted to get all my booking done so the plane tickets wouldn't be as expensive and I can just get everything finalized. I'm staying at my friend's house in Cali and finally I got the dates set. I booked my ticket tonight and I'm leaving Los Angeles July 18th and arriving at Omaha in the afternoon. I leave Taipei on July 14th, land in Los Angeles on the 14th. I'm going to stay in LA for a couple of days to revisit my old high school and to see Stefano Langone live in concert. I haven't been having too much sleep lately since I've been super excited about everything.

In less than 2 months I will be back home in Iowa!! I can't believe it!

-Chihchat

Natural selection

This morning I went to choose my glamour pictures to put in my book and cd. Last week I decided to take glamour pictures and with the phots my pics are organized in a book, complied on a cd, and I will get one poster of one of my shots. I first looked at all of the pictures and they turned out surprisingly well! I figured it would be okay but I thought I wouldn't like a lot of them. Then I deleted the ones that I really didn't like and I thought I would have enough since I could only choose 30. I had 4 outfits to choose from and I still had 80 pictures left!

I had no idea it would be this hard. I then kept deleting and then finally choosing pictures from different outfits and deleting ones that looked similar. Ironically, I really like the pictures from the natural pose I was forced to take. I had 4 outfits and there were 4 different themes. The one theme that I really didn't want to do was a natural shot where I'm wearing simple makeup and wearing not so much clothing to make myself look "sexy." I'm still covering everything but for my outfit I wore a big button up white shirt. Surprisingly the pictures turned out nice and they weren't so bad as I thought.

It took me an hour to choose only 30 pictures but I'm really excited to see the end result. Since I'm going on vacation, I have to wait until I come back to see the setup of my pictures in my book and then 4 days later I will get everything. It's a long process but it's worth it :)

-Chihchat

End of the World?

I'm known as a scaredy cat and although nothing happened on May 13th which a Taiwanese "scientist" claimed that Taiwan would have a huge earthquake right smack in the middle of Taiwan, I wasn't that nervous about today. I read many articles about "judgment day" and I wasn't really scared. I worked all day though and of course we're one day ahead of the U.S. but nothing has happened. It's crazy how so many people have claimed that the world is going to end. I guess this is prepping me up for 2012 so I won't be scared on the day..although I think I will stay at my house on New Year's Eve lol

-Chihchat

Free scooter rides

My roommate bought a scooter a couple of weeks ago and it's been nice to be chauffeured around the city. I do get nervous because he doesn't have a lot of driving experience but I love riding scooters. Taipei traffic is busy and it is really dangerous but there are so many scooters on the road and it's an exhilarating experience to say the least. It's definitely nice not to walk to the MRT subway.

Today was a pretty good day. I had my Chinese lesson and I think I'm going to stop the lessons because pretty soon I'm going on vacation and then after vacation I'm going to be super busy with wrapping everything up in Taipei. I finally finished reading this Jay Zhou Chinese article so I'm happy with that lol

I'm mostly anxious and super excited for my trip next weekend. I leave next Sat. and I'm really counting down the days. I'm going to Hong Kong and Thailand for two weeks with my friend from Univ. of Iowa. My roommate will also go with us to Hong Kong but not Thailand. I'm trying not to think about it but it's super hard because after the trip, everything is going to happen fast like having my last days of work, getting everything settled to leave Taipei, and leaving Taipei to go home. I can't wait until next week is over! lol

-Chihchat

Reader game

Besides teaching a lesson per class, I also teach a page of a book called a reader. It's just supplementary materials for the lesson. It's just to practice reading and some of my classes like reader and some don't. My Thurs. night class that is now growing on me and I don't mind teaching anymore, really enjoy being in class and it's not AS bad. They are still naughty but I learned to accept their craziness. Also, some of the students left the class because they failed so that also has helped.

I always play lots of games with them because they are really young but I didn't have enough time to do a reader game. Sometimes the bell rings really early and we would have our readers out to play a game but usually there isn't enough time. You know, usually my students are like ok I want to go home but surprisingly a lot of them were booing and complaining tonight. They really wanted to play a reader game. I told them, "Don't you want to go home?" lol It's nice though because they finally are liking the class and they do the work. They really want to play and they will write the voc. and sents. so it's a nice refreshing change from the students who are sick and tired of doing the activities and don't want to be there. Every time in class now they surprise me and I never thought I would see the day that I would like this class. It has taken about 10 months but I will actually miss them when I leave! lol

-Chihchat

After dinner scare

Tonight I had dinner with a couple of my coworkers and we ate at this really good risotto place at the Shilin night market. We stayed there for a bit to chit chat. My Taiwanese coworker is a journalism major and she really liked talking about things that I don't like to discuss such as: rapes, murders, human trafficking, and executions. We were just talking about all kinds of things (especially in detail) but I definitely wasn't interested in these topics especially since it was getting late and I still needed to walk home alone. Taipei is super safe though; the crime rate is very low here. I mean, it's good to talk about these issues but I do get really bad nightmares and just thinking or talking about all these bad things don't really help when it was almost midnight lol Oh well..I'm so tired from today and it's getting really late that I think I will sleep fine tonight!

-Chihchat

Need directions

I was on my way to the gym this morning. I was standing on a corner waiting for the red light when this lady on a scooter rode up to me. She asked me where one of the universities were at. I was telling that my Chinese isn't that good and she looked at me with a huge surprise. Her mouth dropped open literally and she really was speechless. I told her to keep going straight and turn left but that she might want to ask someone else since she might not be able to understand what I'm saying. She was like ok and rode off. It was hilarious because she was really in shock.

I really felt like I was an alien or something. I knew I have a strong American accent but dang haha Nah, I'm just kidding. I know she was expecting I was Taiwanese but I really do feel like I look more western than anything else. Oh well!

After my run on the treadmill, I was pretty tired since I haven't ran for awhile. I went to this restaurant on the sidestreets of the Shilin night market. I ordered food and actually just ate there. It was pretty nice though and I felt like I was really in Taiwan since I ordered everything in Chinese and ate Chinese food, also the radio was on and playing traditional music. Today was one of those days which I kept thinking about how much I liked it here and that I would really miss Taipei when I leave.

-Chihchat

-Chihchat

Finally putting my foot down

My recent bad class (K10) is my Mon. night that I just picked up a couple of months ago. I've been teaching them for awhile now but they are all pretty naughty. They are almost to an advanced level however they don't do the corrections and some of them don't even do their homework. They don't really do that with my Chinese teacher though and it makes me angry and today I got a huge headache because I saw how badly they did on their homework. They are so lazy and finally I got angry.

I had my Chinese teacher call one of the parents to make one of my students stay after class to finish his homework. He had to stay an extra hour because he didn't do a lesson. I was just mad at him for not doing the work and writing short answers like yes and no.

I was tired and in a bad mood and I think the students could tell since my tone of voice was low and intense. I wanted to yell and freak out but I didn't want to do that since I don't think yelling is the best key and I know when I get mad, I speak a mile of minute (yes, I know speak fast :)), and with these students they wouldn't understand a word I would be saying. So I just told them calmly that if they don't do the correction, then I will make them do voc x 5 and I will doc off 10 points off their homework. Today I had to review so much and I didn't even have enough time to finish the book.

Partially the main reasons why I get frustrated with this class is because my other 2 K10 classes are smart and they can mostly do the homework. I also just got done teaching another K10 and they did a fantastic job so I know this class is capable of it. I just hope they listen and try to do better on their homework and I'm glad I finally showed that I'm not a pushover and I can be strict!

-Chihchat

I can't be a model

Today I took my glamour pictures and the photo shoot was really long as I met at 9:30 am and ended at 5pm. It was tiring to say the least! I was really nervous on a lot of things. Mainly because I don't understand Chinese that well so it was hard for me to follow the photographer's and make-up/hair stylist's instructions. The make-up lady was really nice though and she made sure that my hair and make-up looked perfect at all times which was nice, but the photographer was extremely intimidating. I don't know, she kept asking me if I was having fun but it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

The language barrier was a big issue but some other things bothered me too. They didn't have a big dress selection and since I chose 4 outfits, they wanted me to do certain themes: nature/natural, elegant/artsy, traditional/Asian, and cutsy/girlie. I didn't really want to do a natural shot since it was mostly "sexy" poses but I just said okay since I didn't really know what other outfit I would wear. It wasn't bad and I'm sure they turned out okay but it's just not me lol The elegant picture was okay although I didn't really like my hair/make-up too much and I couldn't fit the dress! Luckily she attached some extra fabric so she pinned it on my back. It's interesting how the make-up in Taipei is really light. They don't put too much on the skin since they want you to be lighter and they focus on making your eyes bigger so I had tape on my eyes to serve as a double eyelid. I was happy about this shot though because I was able to use a piano in the pictures.

The photographer was easily frustrated with me because not only did I have trouble following directions as to where to put my left arm, right leg, etc., I also didn't know how to make my hands more "delicate." In most of my poses, he wanted my hand to be rolled up or poised in an artistic, gentle way. I couldn't do it at all and it was definitely uncomfortable. It's hard being a model! There are so many things to do like keeping your head straight, keeping your body in a right position, but then also looking at an angle while trying to smile. I love taking pictures and doing poses but definitely modeling is a hard business! lol

The traditional/Asian pose really bummed me out at first because I originally wanted to wear a chipao dress that is a traditional Chinese dress. Once again I couldn't fit into some of the dresses and I didn't want to waste time so I ended up wearing a Japanese style dress. It was fine since I really liked my hair and make-up but I really wanted to wear a chipao. The last dress had to be cutsy and I was dreading this one but it's funny because I looked very, very Taiwanese. I had to do very silly, girly poses but oh well.

I get to see my proofs next Sat. and they put the photos on a CD, poster, and book. I'm excited to get them (I will get them when I get back from vacation), but the whole picture taking process thing wasn't the best. It's okay. I'm just glad I got it done and I can say that I could take pictures with a Taiwanese photographer lol

-Chihchat

Professional photos

I wanted to blog yesterday but this website was unavailable so I couldn't post anything. What happened yesterday was I decided to make an appoint. to do professional pictures. I heard from many people that it's really nice here and although it's pricey, it's worth it since the pictures turn out really good. Fri. afternoon there was a photo studio right across my work place. I first went to check out the prices but since my coworker already went there, and this other Australian girl showed me her photos (she went to pick up her photos), I was easily persuaded. I made my appoint. for this Sun.

Basically they are glamour shots and besides giving me a nice book, poster, and cd, they will do my hair and makeup for free. I also get to choose 4 costumes and it's crazy since it will take all day, 9:30-4:00. They are expensive since it's around $400 but in the end it's worth it for me since I won't have a chance to take these photos. I could take them in the US but it's not the same since I want them done in Taiwan since it's something special and unique. Also I think Taipei is known for glamour photos. I heard good things about the studios in Taipei so I'm excited.

Tonight after work, my coworkers and I ate a really good pasta restaurant. The picture above is my pasta topped with smoked almonds. It was pretty delicious. Also, it's my 11th month mark that I've been in Taipei. I can't believe next month will be a full year!! WOW! I'm actualy leaving exactly 1 year and 1 month from when I first came on the date. Interesting huh? lol

-Chihchat

Umbrella confusion

For tonight's kickboxing class, we had a sub for our instructor since our regular instructor took the day off. The class was fine but it wasn't as intense and it just wasn't the same lol I really like my kickboxing instructor but he will come back next week haha

After kickboxng my coworker and I went to eat dinner at the small restaurant that sells seafood at the Shilin night market. I went there multiple times but they are pretty mean. They were rude like always but whatever. It was pouring outside and when we were about to leave, they tied the umbrellas up and put them on the table. I got confused as to which one was mine since mine was purple and there were 2 that looked the same plus there were other purple umbrellas. The guy with a table of 6 told me that those were their umbrellas but then I couldn't find mine. I just told the worker forget about it and I was about to leave but the worker told me stop in English and he was trying to figure out which was mine.

There were 7 umbrellas and there were only 6 people on the table. He gave me a purple one and said are you sure this is yours? I was embarrassed but I didn't even remember what mine looked like. I told him I don't remember the color but he just gave it to me and said in English "Remember your color." It was pretty embarrassing but the people on the table were rude. I tried to get their attention and they didn't even want to answer. Oh well...I guess now I know I really have to pay attention to what my umbrella looks like. I think I won't go back there for awhile lol

-Chihchat

Going to see Stefano Langone!

Last night I was checking out the unofficial website of Stefano Langone, yes I'm becoming a huge fan, and I saw that the tour dates and cities were listed for the American Idol Live Tour this summer. I was just curious and I saw that they will be hosting a concert on July 15th at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. I was in shock since I'm flying into Los Angeles on the 14th! What perfect timing! I contacted my friend from high school since she only lives 15-20 mins away from the airport. I was only going to plan to stay in LA for a day or so to see some of my old high school friends when I thought, hey I can go to this concert, too!

After my friend told me that she was able to go with me and I could stay at her house, I checked to see when I could book the concert tickets. The Internet presale started at 10am PDT (Pacific Daylights Time) which means 1:00am here Thurs. morning. Although I waited for an hour or so and now it's almost 2am, I bought the tickets and I got good main floor seats! I wasn't really thinking too much when I heard that they were going on tour since I knew I wouldn't be in an area where they would be performing but then this awesome opportunity came up. Things definitely happen for a reason!

On an eerie note, a Taiwanese (doctor/scientist?) claimed that on May 11th, today, around 3pm, there was going to be a huge earthquake that would split Taiwan in half. Even my student told me about it last week. Now, I know that seems weird and strange but I am a scaredy cat and I will be at home on Dec. 31st, 2011 with my family because yes, I'm afraid the world will end in 2012 lol Luckily nothing bad happened but it's interesting about all these "claims" and "theories" and sometimes it's hard not to believe at least one of them!

-Chihchat

Trick Art

This morning my coworkers and I went to a "Trick Art" exhibition. Basically all the art was 3D and you can take a picture with the paintings. It was pretty sweet and luckily the lines weren't too long. My coworkers went on a Sunday a couple of weeks ago and it was packed. It wasn't busy at all since we didn't have to wait in line for a long time. We did some pretty funny poses and I did a headstand in one of the pictures lol My coworker has the picture on her camera though so I can't upload it on my blog yet. It was pretty fun trying to think of creative poses and the exhibition was definitely unique!

One of my favorite poses is the last picture of me taking a picture with my coworker headless haha Can you figure out the illusion?

So it has gotten a lot hotter these past couple of days. A lot has to do with the fact that a typhoon just passed us. It didn't hit us luckily but we're dealing with the wrath of the heat. I don't know how I survived last year haha

-Chihchat

Sticky rice temptation

They opened up another kickboxing class on Mon. night and I was excited since I'm now able to kickbox twice a week. But then this weekend I found out that one of my students can't make it to the class and so now I'm tutoring him on Mon. nights. It's only an hour and luckily I can still make it to kickboxing but I would be about ten mins. late.

So when I got done with my tutoring and I was going to leave, my coworker had some sticky rice she received from her relatives. It was too tempting and I ended up just eating and staying at the office lol I asked my coworker if I should go kickboxing but she said I should just stay haha I really wanted to go kickboxing but yes, the sticky rice was too tempting and I ended up staying at work. Oh food haha

-Chihchat

Happy Mother's Day

This morning I tutored my two students but it felt weird since I haven't seen them for 2 weeks. I don't know how long I will keep tutoring them since now we only meet on Suns., school is ending for them, and I'm leaving. It was nice pay for awhile but I'm glad that I don't meet them as much since before I would meet them 4x a week! It was really tiring to say the least.

It's been a lazy day but tonight I'm going to skype with my mom and sister which I'm happy about since today is Mother's Day! I don't know why I was a little surprised about this but Taiwan celebrates this holiday. This past week at school the students made mother's day cards for their mothers. It will be morning in Iowa when I skype my time tonight so it's perfect timing to wish my mom happy mother's day!

-Chihchat

Kung Pao Chicken

There is a restaurant near my workplace that makes really good kung pao chicken and Drew and I usually go after our long day of work on Sats. Tonight we went with 3 of our other coworkers and it was funny since we each ordered our own plate of kung pao chicken. It's typical where you order many dishes and have everyone share but we each wanted our own separate dish. These plates of kung pao chicken are huge too so it was just funny that we had 5 plates of it! It's however definitely a nice treat after a long day of work. Picture above is our dishes at the restaurant lol

Today was super exhausting for me since usually I teach 10-12, 2-4,4-6, and 6-7. Since I had to sub 2 extra classes, I taught a total of 9 hours from 9-10, 10-12, 1-2, 2-4, 4-6, and 6-7. It was pretty insane since I taught 6 classes with only having an hour break and I'm so glad I survived!

-Chihchat

Scheduling my last day of class

My ARC expires on June 29th which also means that would be my last day of teaching although technically I started working on July 1st. My favorite class is on Fridays, A-12, from 6:30-8:30. I love teaching them and they never give me any trouble. Anyway June 29th is a Thurs. but I want my last day to be on Fri., July 1st so my A-12 can be my last class at Kojen. Luckily my half-day class will also end before then so I don't think I have to teach them either. I have my crazy, chaotic class on Thurs. night and I definitely don't want them to be my last day of work since as much as I've learned to control them, I don't want them to my last class.

This A-12 class will make it extremely hard for me to leave since they have been amazing and I've learned so much from them. I can't believe that almost a year has passed by. I don't know if they even will continue since they have one more level to finish the children's dept. but I think they will as long as they aren't busy and they love to learn English. My boss made a joke that the immigration office will close by 5pm so they won't catch me if I teach this Fri. night class lol I'm really glad though that I can end my ESL teaching career in Taipei with my favorite class :)

-Chihchat

Gym Class Lesson 101

Each week my coworker and I go to a kickboxing class every Thurs. night. It's usually crowded and there's not enough to room kick or do the moves. The instructor opened up a new class on Mons. so tonight it wasn't as crowded. It was really nice because there was actually enough room to kick and what not but still, people were being spatially retarded.

I was standing next to my coworker and all of a sudden this old lady stands right behind me. I look back so she got the idea to move back. I know she didn't know where to stand but she was really standing really close to me and my friend. I didn't have enough room to do the moves and it was really irritating. Then this girl was on the other side of my coworker and she doesn't know how to control where she kicks. She will kick but she will jump all over the place. She kept getting close to her, making her move back.

While we had a min. break, the same girl that was jumping all over the place stood right in front of her again! This time it was really close and we just looked at her. We were like, really? OMG lol I don't get it. I mean, it's just common courtesy to not stand so close. There was a lot of room but yet people would stand just a foot away. I don't think they understand the whole "this is my bubble" area lol Next time we are going to stand in the front of the class so we can always move up if people are too close to us.

-Chihchat

P.S. This marks my 300th post!!! :D

Pig Dance

My Wed. night class is crazy in the fact that they love playing games and they get super excited and like to play competitively. I was playing the game pig/horse where the first person shoots the ball anywhere and the next person has to shoot the ball exactly where the first person shoots. They were going balistic! They kept laughing and screaming. It was getting pretty crazy and then we had enough time to do a reader game.

I was trying to think of a punishment game and my co-teacher/Chinese teacher played this game where they have certain punishments they need to do. They were all pretty crazy but one of them was the pig dance. The first team messed up reading and then the second team gets to choose their punishment. They chose the pig dance and it was hilarious because when I told them their punishment they all started to make faces and went down on the floor and started crawling and grunting like pigs. I just lost it and started laughing. It was way too funny and I wasn't expecting it at all!

-Chihchat

Boyfriend tutor

Last night I had to switch the date of my airplane ticket and so today I had everything ready to go to the immigration office to get my extension. I had to get up early and stop by at work since my boss was nice and helped me print off my airplane ticket. I then went to the immigration office by taking a taxi. I told the taxi driver where to go and I even wrote it out just in case he didn't understand where I wanted to go.

The taxi driver started talking to me and he was curious as to why I was going to the immigration office since he thought I was Taiwanese. It was nice to practice my Chinese but I was really tired. But we talked for a bit. The funniest thing though was when he mentioned his son. I guess his son is 23, getting his masters, and can speak some English. He took classes at Kojen when he was little. He said that I could do a language exchange and his son can teach me Chinese while I teach him English. He kept saying that his son was tall lol He asked me if I had a boyfriend and I'm like nope. He asked me if I was looking for a boyfrend and I'm like nope since I'm leaving the country.

I was kidding around, and being a little serious, and said the only reason why I would want a Taiwanese boyfriend is to show me all the good places to eat haha

I finally got to the immigration office and waited 40 mins to only realize that I can only extend my ARC a month before the expiration date. I came too early since I have to extend it after May 29th!! Ahh! But at least I know that I can get my extension and now for sure I'm leaving Taipei July 14th. I'm still really sad about leaving early though because I'm leaving sooner than I thought and I'm not ready to say goodbye to everyone, including my students. I didn't think it would be this hard but it's going to be for me.

I casually mentioned to my second favorite class tonight how I'm not staying in Taipei forever and I will leave to go back to America since the voc. word is "stay". They were quiet though so I don't know if they understood what I meant or if they were actually sad lol

-Chihchat

Getting kicked out

Today I went to the immigration office to apply for a month extension on my visa since I was planning to leave on Aug. 2nd because I need to stay at least 183 days to not pay extra taxes and get my tax refund. I went to the office this morning but I can only stay 15 days after my ARC expiration date (June 29th) which is July 14th. It's normally a 15 day extension and not a month. That made me really sad because that meant that now I have to leave in July and also I have to change the day of my flight since I already booked it for Aug. 2nd.

Then my Taiwanese coworker went with me to apply for being my beneficiary for my taxes since I needed a Taiwanese person, over 20 years, and has a job be accountable so if I'm not around, she can receive my money and send it to me later. That didn't take too long and I will receive my check around June so I will still be around. I will just apply for my 2011 taxes 10 days before I leave Taiwan. So the stressful thing was figuring out when exactly I have to leave the country.

I tried to get a hold of my boss this morning but she didn't pick up. I called her in the afternoon and when I went to work, we went over the details. For 2011, I have to stay at least 183 days and it would be fine except that I'm going on vacation to Hong Kong and Thailand at the end of May, beginning of June. With my extension, luckily I will be here exactly 183 days on the dot! I just saved myself from paying back 13% of my taxes. I shouldn't be celebrating yet since I haven't spoken to the tax office but it should be okay since they will see that I have stayed in Taiwan for enough days. My only other solution was to leave at the end of June to Hong Kong really quick and then come back to get a regular 30 day pass. I was thinking about doing that so I can stay longer in Taiwan but it would cost money to book my ticket and I would still have to leave by July 28th and my ticket is booked for Aug. 2nd.

Tomorrow I need to go back to the immigration office to apply for my 15 day extension. I need a copy of my plane ticket so tonight I had to change the date. I bought my ticket through cheapoair.com and customer service took forever. I waited about 45 mins on the phone and finally got my ticket time switched to July 14th but unfortunately I had to pay an extra fee since I changed the day. Oh well..I have no choice. Hopefully they will send me the confirmation email and then I can go tomorrow to the immigration office and get it all sorted it. Who knew this would be super complicated?

-Chihchat

Hot Spring May Day

Happy May Day everyone!

Today my coworkers and I took an hour bus ride to Jinshan (near Yangmingshan) and went to its hot springs. It was beautiful as it was outside and it took a small hike to get there. It wasn't too hot outside and it was actually rainy a little bit but after awhile it got pretty hot. It was fun to play in the water and just relax. We also took a small hike to see the source of the hot springs although I only saw smoke coming out of a mountain.

Pictures above are from this afternoon's trip to the hot springs.

Then we ate at a nice hot pot place near my apartment. Drew and I ate there before and we recommended the place since it wasn't so crowded and it had good food. It was fun and definitely nice to get out and enjoy more of beautiful Taipei!

-Chihchat

More things to finalize

As much as I thought I finalized all the things I need to do in Taiwan before I leave, I realized I have a couple of more things to do and they might not be so easy. I first have to extend my visa at the immigration office for one month because my contract ends in July but I'm leaving in Aug. to get my tax refund. It actually should be okay but I hope they aren't strict and ask me why I want to extend it. I also hope they won't be strict and ask why or have to talk to my boss but my boss is awesome and if a problem were to occur, then she can help me out too.

Then I need to go to the tax office and explain how I'm leaving in Aug. and if I could receive my tax refund earlier and that if I get my money after Aug. 1 (taxes for this year 2011), that they can send it to my work at Kojen and then someone mail it to me. I'm going to have my Taiwanese friend go with me since I need a Taiwanese person who is over 20 years old and has a working job as a reference if they happen to be the one responsible for receiving my tax refund.

I'm going on Monday so hopefully things will get straightened out. Other than that, I just need to hear back from housing and book my ticket from LA to Sioux Falls/Omaha (depending how long I stay in LA). I'm very anxious for Monday to come!

-Chihchat

What's taking so long?

I checked out a Chinese book a couple of months ago, hoping that I would finish the book. I haven't had time and I've been renewing it the past couple of months. I checked out the book in March. It's always the same lady and today I renewed the book again and she asked me again? Why are you taking such a long time to read it? I just said oh I'm reading it bit by bit lol I mean it was weird but I mean, I guess if she saw me renew it a couple of months and it was a teenager book, she is probably wondering what's taking so long. I mean I didn't have to respond or I could have said that I don't have enough time. Oh well...again example of Taiwanese commentary lol

-Chihchat

"E-ah-teng"

There's a place in Shilin that I go to get oyster soup every Thurs. night after my kickboxing class and I did blog about this before. Anyway they are very rude to me and when I came tonight, I ordered the soup by trying to pronounce "oyster" in Taiwanese. My Taiwanese is extremely awful and they don't understand Mandarin although later we spoke in Mandarin. I ended up pointed to the oysters so they got what I meant. Then the guy that was smirking at me and being mean to me was snickering. I asked me how to say it and he tried to teach me and I was like ok and I tried to say it. Then he told me it cost $50NT and that he was going to add a teaching fee. The soup cost $50NT anyway so I joked and said why should I pay a teaching fee? He goes because I'm teaching you how to speak Taiwanese. (This conversation was in Mandarin). Then I muttered back, oh you're so nice.

I didn't mean to be so snappy but I don't think he minded so he just went back to drinking his soup. I was trying to joke around with him and I think he was teasing a little bit but they are soooo rude. I don't know why! I mean, I'm giving you business. Oh well..I'm going to try to learn it. It's pronounced "E-ah-teng" but the tones and the pauses are difficult. Let's see if next week he will be nicer lol

-Chihchat

Slowing down

I haven't been sleeping a lot and finally I have reached a breaking point where I'm pretty exhausted so I think tonight I will be able to sleep more! lol I knew I wouldn't handle Wed. since I teach all day and I've been having about 3-4 hours of sleep on the previous nights. It's so hard to teach now too since all I can think about is going home. I shouldn't think about that since I should be enjoying my time in Taipei but it's hard because I'm excited to come back home. I didn't think I would and I know I will be sadder when I actually do leave, but of course it hasn't hit me yet.

Today one of my classes was ending their level and we had our party/review day. My T/A said loudly about me leaving but luckily the students didn't hear her. I was afraid they would and then they would ask me about it since they care so much about me for some reason. They know my Chinese name so they like to say it and they like to ask me random things. I like them a lot though so I will be sad and miss them as well as my other students.

There is a new Chinese teacher and she is my sub T/A for one of my classes. I always wear a ring on my ring finger on my right hand. She saw it and asked if I was married lol I actually get that question a lot but it's a ring that my best friend gave me a couple of years ago. It's surprising I get that assumption because there is no diamond or stone on the ring lol

-Chihchat

Whirlwind

I'm still ansy and it's very hard to sleep the past couple of days. I'm slowing down though and I think hopefully tonight I can sleep well haha Today I continued with my errands and I'm really psyched since I booked my ticket back home for Aug. 2. I found a really good price for my one way ticket from Taipei to Los Angeles, $825 USD including taxes! I think that's a very good deal considering that tickets can go up to $1,000.

I just taught one class and I got observed by a new Chinese teacher. She was really nice and she asked me how long I was teaching and was shocked that I've only been teaching 9 months. I can't believe that I have only been teaching that long since I feel like I've been teaching forever lol I asked my students how long they have known me since they were learning that question structure and some of them said 2 years haha I said um, I've only been in Taipei less than a year lol

Tonight I went to my uncle's and my aunt's older brother's daughter was there to stay for a couple of days since her brother is having ear surgery. She is 5 years old and she is super cute. She immediately knew I was a foreigner because of how I looked and kept calling me a princess haha

-Chihchat

The aftershock

After I found out I got accepted, I then started to get on the ball and start to figure out everything: registration, classes, financial aid, apartments, job, airplane tickets. I was so excited that I only had 4 hours of sleep last night. I couldn't go to bed and went to bed around 4am last night. I woke up around 9am and again have been on the computer all day lol I lost my appetite and I barely ate today. I'm just way too happy lol Honestly it's been like I've been a slug the past couple of months and now the clouds have lifted and I'm so happy!!

Tonight at work I tried to contain my excitement but I couldn't. I had to tell my boss about it of course to figure out when I can go home. I had to wait forever though because my other coworker was talking to her and I was so anxious I couldn't wait. But finally I was able to talk to her and she was bummed since she wants me to stay another year. She is so sweet and told me that I can always come back. She told me she didn't want me to leave since I'm a good teacher. I thought that was very nice of her to say. I told her if I didn't get into grad school I would stay and it's not like I don't like my job, but I know what I want to do with my life and this is the time to start. My contract ends in Aug. 1 but she was nice and said I can leave in July since she knows I need to get home earlier but I won't receive my tax refund until Aug. 1 so I have to stay until then so my last day of work is July 30. I won't have summer classes though because I will be leaving in the summer. I won't get to earn extra money but I'm okay with that since I need to get ready to leave and move out of my apartment. My two roommates are moving out and so we need to clean the apartment since our rent is up at the end of July.

I was sad to tell my coworkers I was leaving since that means I'm leaving them and that I only have 3 months with them. It stinks that I can't be at two places at once. I really like teaching at Kojen though and I've been blessed to have such a great opportunity working at this branch (I owe it to my roommates). I don't know if I will sleep at all this week but we will see :)

-Chihchat

Accepted!

Today has been a roller coaster ride indeed. I've been tutoring a boy and a girl and I meet them 4 days a week. It's so ironic because after I tutored them this morning, the mother tells me today that she only wants me to meet them 1 day a week since their English is improving and it's too much stress on their performance for other activities. Although I was losing good money, I was fine with it since I was tired running around and stressing from tutoring and working at my job. I knew I would have more time on my hands but then I didn't know if that would be good since I would worry about whether or not I got into grad school.

Tonight I skyped with my sister and my mother and unfortunately my webcam wasn't working so they couldn't see me but they could hear me so we just chatted with out the video. The first thing she tells me is "Lilly, you received a letter from the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) and you got accepted." It didn't hit me right away. I just kept saying "oh my god" over and over again. I didn't get into any grad schools last year and I applied to 6 total this year and I have been rejected to 4 so far (I still have to hear from Minnesota State Univ. since the deadline is May 1st). I was in shock but of course I was also super relieved and happy. The nicest thing my sister said was she said that her and my mom are happy I got in so I can come home. She knew that if I didn't get in, then I would most likely stay another year in Taipei since my mom was okay with it and I wouldn't have mind staying here for just one more year.

I haven't accepted the offer just yet because I want to make sure to tell my sister and Mom that I'm for sure doing it. It's such a crazy thing how one thing can really change everything! I had no idea what I was going to do for next year and I've been stressing out about it the past couple of months. When I accept this school, I can say that I will be coming home in early Aug. and that I will only have about 3 full months left in Taipei. Wow! Also, I can finally say that I FINALLY got into a grad school. I'm really excited about UIS because one of the professors currently working there has written a book on Amy Tan (I wrote my senior honors thesis on Tan). Now I just need to start planning for next year which means registering for classes, finding an apartment, booking my ticket back home, and many other countless things. I mentioned in the beginning of this blog that it's ironic I'm not tutoring as much because now I will have more time to do all these things for this upcoming Fall semester!!

-Chihchat

P.S. HAPPY EASTER everyone! :)

Oral Exam day

I had 3 oral exams today and it was an easy prep day since the students just had their oral exams but it was mentally exhausting to repeat the same questions and hear their answers. I also had to teach 2 classes besides my 3 classes of my oral exams. The worst is when you ask them a question and they have no idea how to answer it. You just wish they would figure out how to say the answer but they sit there and just look at you. Oh well...I know that it's hard to talk in a foreign language but today my brain definitely had a meltdown lol

-Chihchat

Stefano Langone eliminated from American Idol

I've been surprisingly obsessive watching American Idol, only because I've really grown to like Stefano Langone. I watched the auditions from time to time but it was the round of top 24 that I saw Stefano performed and I immediately liked him. Not just because his looks, yes he is extremely good looking, but also because he has a fantastic voice. From then on I faithfully watched every episode in hoping that Stefano wouldn't be eliminated and of course be the next American Idol.

The picture above is him performing "Lately", the first song I really got addicted listening to when he was in the top 13, after he was the wild card pick.

He's been in the bottom 3 many times; two of the times were shocking and I thought he was going home since it was a close call. The first time he was head to head with Casey Abrams and Casey did get voted off but the judges saved him. Then it was him against Pia Toscano, who many people thought was going to win the show since she has amazing vocals, but she also got eliminated. That elimination show was hard for me to watch since by that time I wish I was in America to vote every week. Also many people thought Stefano instead of Pia should have went home and there were so many people complaining how he is a bad singer and that he should go home.

Every week has been nerve-wracking since I didn't know if he would stay another week. Sadly tonight (technically yesterday in America) he finally got voted off. He was against Jacob Lusk and I thought Jacob would go home but it was Stefano. I was bummed of course but Stefano took it all so well. He really took it like a champ which is one of the things I most admire about him. He sang his song with smiles, gave everyone high fives, and danced around the stage. He has a good attitude, doesn't complain or blame anyone, and thought of this as another great opportunity, like the good ole saying "another door closes while another door opens."

I then checked out his goodbye video on Americanidol.com and in his interview he had a message to the fans and it made me feel so much better; I loved it. He told everyone to not be down about his elimination but to be happy since that's how he feels about the whole thing and that pretty soon we can enjoy his music. He did everything he wanted in the show, fulfilled all his goals, and now it's his time to do his own thing which is to make music/cds. As corny as this whole thing is, it really did make me happy to hear him say that. I know it's just a singing competition and I know Stefano will have a great chance to make it big in the music industry but I'm sad that I can't see him perform week by week or to see him get crowned as American Idol.

Oh well. Now I can look forward to listening to his own music, not be obsessed with American Idol by watching the show constantly, and not worry or lose sleep if he's going to make it to next week hahaha Wow..I had no idea I would get this addicted or how my obsession got to this point! :D

-Chihchat

Changing up the schedule

I usually meet my coworker to work on my Chinese on Fridays but because she has something to do tomorrow, we meet this afternoon. It's nice so tomorrow I have some free time. Then I have so many oral exams for my classes on Sat. which is awesome so I don't have to prep so much and not be tired teaching :)

My coworker and I finally got up the courage to speak to our kickboxing instructor to see if he can make another time for a kickboxing class or to do a private class. The only problem is that there isn't enough time at the gym and if we were to do a private class, we would have to find a place. Anyway he will tell his boss about trying to make another time for the class.

This morning I also went to the post office and I had no problems. Yay! :) Although tonight after the gym, my coworker and I went to get dinner at Shilin night market and the guy didn't understand what I was saying. I wanted oyster soup but they spoke Taiwanese so I think that's why he didn't understand.

The best thing ever is that I used to despise my Mon. night class because they were obnoxious and young but I'm finally getting used to them. They are actually improving and they are almost ending their level. It's crazy how far they have come and I actually don't dread teaching them now :)

-Chihchat

Growing up so quickly

One of my younger classes that I've had when I first came to Taiwan is now in K8, an upper level class since K classes go up to level K12. I can't believe already that they have reached K8 since I taught them at the end of K4. Each level lasts about 3 months so it makes sense that they are already up to K8 but it's pretty shocking. I feel like they have gotten older although only 10 months have passed. I'm just pretty sentimental since they are growing up quickly and already improving on their English :)

-Chihchat

Heat Rash

I went to the flora expo again but this time with my coworker. We went to all four sites and it was great weather as it was sunny and windy but the problem was I got major sunburn. I didn't realize it until I was itchy and scratching my skin. I saw that I started to get a rash and it hurt really badly! It's getting much warmer now since spring is approaching and I need to realize that it's easier for me to get a sunburn since I'm in Taipei. I'm glad though that I went to the flora expo twice and that I survived it. Pictures from the expo are above! The first picture is of me with one of the mascots (like the Shanghai Expo in China), my coworker and I with the popular head shot pictures, and some of the pretty gardens.

One interesting and weird thing that happened at the expo was when we asked a person, who is there to assist people, how to get the fourth site. The first thing he said was "Why are you going there?" We looked at him in puzzlement since obviously we wanted to go there to look at the exhibits. Then he said have you gone to the other two sites? He said they are much better and they are more things to see. I said yes and then he told us how to get to the site. It was pretty strange! It's like what I've experienced many times before and blogged about and that is Taiwan commentary. As I said before, Taiwanese people tend to be blunt and say what they think and sometimes you just wonder, why are you telling me your opinion and I don't care! lol

Another example of this "Taiwan commentary" is when I went to the expo yesterday morning by myself. I was at this flower maze and I asked this lady to take a picture of me. She then asked me if I wanted to take a picture with another background since the flowers weren't so bright. I go no, I want to take a picture of this since I like the colors. Her comment was very subtle but also really surprising. You don't expect it and then you wonder why they would say it lol I know they are being helpful but it's sometimes too much!

-Chihchat

Flora Expo...finally!

My aunt and uncle gave me two free day passes to go to the Flora Exposition that was opened in November. It ends next Mon. and I finally went this morning. I never had the time to go and I heard a lot of horror stories that the lines were too long and it was just crowded. There are four expo sites and I only went to two. I didn't go to any of the special exhibitions and I just walked around which took me about 1 1/2 hours. I'm going tomorrow to the other 2 spots with my coworker. Pictures are above. The flowers were pretty cool and at one site, they had areas which represented different countries. For the American site they showcased cowboy hats, Montana, and Idaho potato stuff animals. I thought it was pretty funny. The lines were outrageous though. People would wait for hours just to go into one of the special exhibitions. I'm glad I can finally say I went since I kept putting it off until now.

-Chihchat

Lazy/Rainy Day

This morning I got up early to do some errands and in my apartment I have no windows. My room has been pretty warm since I don't have any windows and if I wanted to see what the weather was like, I just need to go to the balcony which is through my other roommate's room but her doorknob has been broken and you need to climb through the window to unlock it lol Since I'm lazy and I had to get up early, I just decided to wing it and wear shorts and a shirt. I figured it would be nice and sunny since the past couple days it's been pretty hot. Was I WRONG!

I left the apartment and it was cloudy and a little drizzling but I was too lazy and tired to walk back to my apartment and change my clothes or get a umbrella. I also didn't bring a umbrella with me since I forgot but I wouldn't be out for too long. After awhile it started to downpour badly and I was soppy wet. It was pretty miserable and people were staring at me haha That's what I get for not looking at the weather but it's so inconstant in Taipei. At least I wasn't out for too long although my hair was dripping wet when I went home and I had to change clothes. I need to stop being so lazy!

-Chihchat