August 27, 2011

I slept through an entire night!!! Wooo!  And I might be getting used to the wooden plank bed, but I won’t speak so fast. My mattress is on its way. Sam ordered me one online and the landlord offered to pay for half of it which is awwesommmme (Allison, you know how I’m saying this.) I woke up very unsure of how I’d spend the morning. The only plans I had for the day were with Chiao (I’ve been spelling her name wrong) and that was at 1:30-2 pm. I got really ambitious and started googling maps of how to get to the train station (which is where that Mode mall is) and I was writing down bus stops and how many stops each one is both ways and then I ended up chickening out a bit and just walked around in a big square. It’s always good to know what’s down the block from you (oh and a big reason I copped out was that I forgot the SD card in my camera and there was no way I was going on an adventure without my camera) It was pretty humid out today, I was instantly sweating. I walked into a little convenient store, Family Mart. Bought some things I needed which surprisingly wasn’t too hard. The only thing I couldn’t tell which was which was body wash and lotion, I needed lotion. I ended up buying some little tub that had a picture of a lamb on it and it said skin moisturizer..if this stuff can moisturize a lamb then its gotta be good, right? I also treated myself to a bottle of wine. It was a Cabernet from Chile, can’t be bad..only about $8 bucks. Oh and, when you make a purchase here, you keep your receipt because every receipt is a lottery ticket. As of today, I've collected about 14. I'm winning that damn Taiwanese lottery if its the last thing I do! I also tried getting myself lunch which was so hard. I don’t know how to order food. This place is right next to my apartment and Chiao said it had good breakfast sandwiches. I wasn’t expecting an egg mcmuffin (which sounds delicious right now) but there weren’t many pictures to point to and the people didn’t speak a lick of English. It got really awkward because I was just standing there saying Ummm..Ummmm…..so finally I point at the only picture they had which looked like piece of thick toast with cheese on it? Beggars can’t be choosers. I get home with all of my groceries and eat my toast thing. It had a little bit of marinara sauce, cheese, corn, peas, and ham I think? It tasted fine.

The rest of the morning I ended up skyping with people, which was great. I got to talk to my cousin Erin who just finished her first week of classes at U of I. Sounds like she’s having a blast and loves her classes. I miss those days, the first week of college was awesome. I got to talk to my parents and say hi to Charlie. She just seemed really confused. My dad had just gotten back from Houston and of course had a big class of his target wine in his hand. Love it. My best girl friends were out to dinner for Ashley’s birthday and they skyped me with their phone. They couldn’t hear anything I was saying which sucked but it was so good to see them!! I miss them all and wish I could have a rager in the city right about now! I also got to skype with Tom for a while (missed my wingman!) He’s a good person to talk to because he can understand what it’s like to live out here. He lived in China for 3 months or so and visited Taiwan. Honestly, If it wasn’t for his input, I’d probably be teaching in South Korea right about now. I was still hungry so I finally finished my bag of gummy bears which some how have lasted me an entire week.

Chiao showed up right after and was ready to go shopping. I was getting nervous that she wouldn’t show up for some reason. The only way I can communicate is through email/facebook/skype, so you can’t just text someone and be like “I’m outside.” Instead I just stare out my window which works good. It’s probably what ancient human’s did before cell phones. Chiao and I headed out to go shopping for furniture. We had some interesting conversations on the way. She asked me questions about my family and asked about weddings in our culture because her younger sister is getting married in October. I was telling her how girls in American get really crazy about weddings and you have like 3 parties where you get gifts before the actual reception. She also asked me what kind of boyfriend I want haha. Maybe you can mail order them and check off boxes on a sheet of paper or something. Anything goes in Asia. I didn’t even know how to answer it! I said someone who has a sense of humor, and she didn’t know what that meant. I’m like..oh um..you know..funny? Makes jokes..outgoing?  I need to start practicing explaining these English terms.  She was making some funny comments about her current boyfriend as if she didn’t like him that much. She’s like, he’s too shy, he’s not that handsome. It was hilarious. She took me to one of her favorite food stands before we shopped. We got noodles in broth with some sort of popular potato or yam in it?? It was purplish and had the texture of a potato. We also got some sticky rice with chicken and you pour this hot sauce over it. That was good. I liked that one way better because the first one didn’t have much flavor. We went to an ice tea stand and I got the one that was “in season” which was grapefruit green tea. It was delicious.

She took me to A-Mart. She asked if we had an A-Mart at home and I said no but we have a K-Mart.  Definitely way different from K-Mart. This place was HUGE. About 4 levels of food , clothes, anything. The top level was like a Home Depot. I got everything I needed. She just needed a night stand and a few other things. Instead of getting a couch, I decided to get this cute little table and chair set. It reminds me of the one that I had in my room in the sorority house. It was really cheap and seems like its good quality. I asked if it was a bad idea to buy these things if I’m leaving in a year and she said she did the same thing when she lived in UK for a year. You can just sell everything for half price to the new tenant or to a new foreigner teacher. I really enjoyed shopping with Chiao. She’s just so happy all of the time. She also likes to ask me how to pronounce a lot of English words. She said she’ll help me with my Chinese. I learned Duo so Chien (that’s phonetically typed in my language) which means, “How much?” She also told me some bad words that the student’s might say. “Gan (gon?)” is  the F word. “Pee” is asshole. (Note to self: never say the phrase “I gotta pee..” that would be bad.) We packed the car to the max. This nice worker helped us pack everything. She had the tiniest little car and he somehow packed every little thing in there. She said normally they would never offer to help people but because we’re girls and I’m foreign, that’s why he did it. I got a desk lamp, a 3 drawer dresser, a bamboo carpet, a pillow, and a table and chair set for $250. I think that’s a pretty good deal! And unlike the items at IKEA, (where it comes in about 3,000 little pieces and you have to spend hours putting it together just to have it break into about 1,000 pieces that day) it's sturdy and nice looking items that are already built for you and put into a box.  After A-Mart, Chiao asked if it was ok if we picked up her boyfriend from the high speed train station. After she spent about 3 hours shopping with me, of course it’s ok! I owe her like, dinner or a gift or both. The high speed train station was really cool. It looked like we were arriving at an airport. 

Chiao kept mentioning that her boyfriend was really shy, but he didn’t seem shy at all. He was real smiley and he told me his English isn’t good so it’s probably why he doesn’t talk much. She insisted that he talked to me in English though haha. He asked what sports I like to play and she told him that I like beer and he said he likes beer too. I told them that I was starting to think people in Taiwan don’t drink. She said, well people drink, but a lot of people prefer tea over alcohol.  In my head I’m like WHAT?? You don’t prefer tea over alcohol, you prefer tea over coffee..two way different beverages. Anyway, they told me that one weekend they would take me out and we could have drinks. He was very nice and drove us and the packed car back to my apartment and carried everything up the stairs for me.  Chiao and him helped with setting everything up and then said their goodbyes. I was actually ok with being left alone for the night. I could organize my room and rent another iTunes movie or watch the latest Jersey Shore and drink my wine. I got to use this real cute penguin bottle opener that we got from Urban Outfitters, but unfortunately it’s the most useless wine opener ever created. I’m sure it can open beer bottles fine, but I spent about 10 minutes of sweat and maybe even some blood, trying to open this wine. That’s perseverance right there. Tomorrow, I’m going to do a lot of lesson planning and prepping for the week.  I’m getting buzzed, this wine is good. I decided it will suit an episode of Jersey Shore just fine. Oh and the lamb lotion is nice..(omg I just thought of a reference to Silence of the Lambs.."it rubs the lotion on its skin.." ew creepy.)

I love lamp. And I don't have a wine glass yet, so that large plastic one will do just fine.

Devil opener that drew blood, and my wine.

Lamb cream.

August 26, 2011

Today I’m going to buy another mattress or a box spring. Honestly, I don’t care how much they are. Apparently, I have a mattress already, but it’s about 3 inches thick and it lays on top of wood.  I’m getting a little annoyed that you don’t crawl into your bed to be comfortable here. You know when you have to get up in the middle of the night or early in the morning to pee or get water and then you walk back to your bed half asleep and just pass out because that’s just what you do.  Not here. I’m up an hour earlier than I should be and just lying on a wooden plank pretty much. On a positive note, I only woke up one time in the middle of the night compared to my usual 3 or 4. Today’s going to be a good day though! It’s Friday, Sam is coming to the apartment to physically walk me to my bus stop (probably not necessary) and I’m going to get to the Dewey building nice and early and get Starbucks (That’s one part of my lifestyle that If I’m given the opportunity to keep, I’m keeping it. Diana runs on coffee.) The “Government People” are getting to our orientation meeting at 10am, and I’m going to Yu Ying Junior High after they leave our orientation to meet my Co teachers. WOO HOOO. I have to dress nice and I already stayed up late doing my nails. I got to soak in a nice bath in my bathtub (which is probably the best thing about my apartment.) First thing to do after orientation today, is to make my room COMFORTABLE. I want to buy pillows and the works. 

Well I was right about today, it was a good day! Sam got to my apartment at 8:15!! On time!! Way to go Sam. He walked with me to the bus stop but had his scooter so he was walking with that. He claimed it wasn’t that heavy but it was. The stop is right next a public pool which apparently is down the street from me. Yay pool! From what Sam has told me and what I’ve gathered the past couple of days, Taiwanese people do not like sun. They’re always wearing long sleeves and pants and always walk with an umbrella. Oh and I always wondered why only some wear face masks and Lien told me its only when they have a cold and don’t want to spread it. I thought that was actually pretty courteous. I wish Americans would do that. Anyway, I get on the bus and even though Sam told me 5 times which stop to get off at, I was still nervous I was going to miss it. Then, after a few stops go by, Lien gets on the bus! Fortunately, she knows exactly where to get off, unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention and still don’t. After today, we won’t have to go to the Dewey offices for another few weeks. We’re going to see each other every 3 weeks on Wednesday nights for meetings which I think is great. I was getting sad thinking people would lose touch and not talk to me after orientation was over.  Lien is getting people together from our training group to go to Sun Moon Lake. She says its beautiful. I think we’re going next weekend and then the weekend after that is the Moon Festival and we have a 3-day weekend. We’re going to go to Taipei which I’m really excited about! The buses and trains take you to these places for of course, super cheap. 

Orientation was going really good today. We started out meeting “government people,” which really just seemed like 4 people from the Educational Department, but either way, important people. We had a 45 minute break until our speaker came in so me and this guy Dylan went down to Starbucks. He’s a really cool guy, maybe early to mid 30’s. He’s from San Francisco and taught Special Ed and I think he went for his Master’s, but then decided to teach in Taiwan a few years back. He married a Taiwanese women and has lived here ever since. He thought it was funny that he wanted soy milk in his coffee and they didn’t have it but they had real milk..pretty backwards. Then he asked in Chinese and she pulled some out for him. We went back up to orientation and this guy in his late 40’s from Tennessee was setting up. He was a really nice man who runs his own buchebon (cram school) and also works for a public school, teaching English. He was telling us about some of the situations you can come across with your co-teacher or with special need’s students. Things are a little different here when it comes to children with special needs. No matter what, they are in the regular classroom and they don’t have an aide. He’s taught English to blind kids and children with Autism. Pretty impressive. With this orientation, it was more of a group discussion. The speaker asked us if we knew about the Typhoon that was coming. He said it’s a level 4 out of 5. My heart started pounding but he and some of the people in the class who are familiar with Taichung said Typhoons barely affect this city. It gets blocked out by the mountains or something. It’s still scary. He’s like, “oh its not big deal, just hang out in your apartment, make sure you have some food and water in your fridge.”( I don’t have a fridge..I’m screwed..but I do have a giant jug of water and I do have internet) 

Taiwanese baristas are geniuses..tape over the mouthpiece to prevent spillage

At about 11am, Sam pulled me out of class to go meet with the school. Me, Sam, and Sonja (one of the higher up people in the Dewey offices) took a ride over to the school. We took a realllyyy long car ride to take Sonja somewhere first and her and Sam spoke in Chinese the entire time. When she got out, he apologized for speaking Chinese, and I joked and told him I already knew he spoke Chinese. We got to Yu Ying Junior High and it was beautiful! Just like the pictures online haha. I met the principal, Mark, and he walked us to the cafeteria where I’d be eating lunch with the teachers. Instantly these two female teachers welcomed me. The younger one, Chao (like Ciao in Italian), speaks English and teaches English, and the other (I can’t remember her name..shit) Speaks fairly good English and asked me to speak slower so she can understand. The cafeteria was filled with trays and trays of food. Rice, noodles, meats, salads, fruits, desserts..This was a pretty awesome cafeteria and I got excited because they told me lunch would be provided everyday during the year.  I asked Chao is this is how it was every day, she laughed and whispered that it starts out this good and then doesn’t always stay this good throughout the year. Sam and Sonja left me at the school and gave Chao my address and Sam’s number because she offered to take me home. She was so friendly and talkative and I instantly felt comfortable around her. Even though she teaches 9^th grade English, she’s not a teacher, she’s a counselor. She kept telling me that if I have any problems with any teachers, or I feel overwhelmed, sad, or stressed, that I can come to her.  She told me a little bit about herself in the beginning. She asked me to guess her age and the other woman’s age (I hate when people do this, I always give the same broad answer..) I said she looked like mid to late 20’s and she’s like, “I’m so old, I’m 29!” And I was like “Oh that’s not old, my brother’s 29 and he still acts like a child.” They liked that joke, sorry if I offended you Nick. 

After lunch, they gave me a tour of the school. It had palm trees and 4 or 5 floors that were “outdoors.” Very different from my enclosed dark schools and a student, I’m jealous. The principal was so nice and they showed me the office that had my desk and computer and it was in the only air conditioned room. Chao was giving me a lot of inside information and secrets and told me that the office I’m in has a lot of “higher up” faculty and even though they’re very friendly, always watch what I do. The computer at my desk still has documents and some old things from the previous teacher. Chao talked about her a lot and had a lot of great things to say. It’s kind of intimidating because I guess the previous teacher just goes from country to country every year to teach and she had a good amount of teaching foreign language. She was also from UK and the 8^th graders I’ll have are familiar with her accent and pronunciation with words.  Chao said this wouldn’t be a big deal and it would make a good lesson in the future. Talking about the differences between American English and..British English? Haha I don’t even know what the other one’s called.  Anyway, she discussed what my lesson plans should be like (and they’re based off of these “magazine” looking workbooks that teach English.) The first week is going to be introducing myself and I have to give a powepoint presentation at their first school Assembly next week. Kind of scary, but awesome. I will have about 20 classes a week, 4 a day, and about 10 co-teachers..now that I type this out, I don’t know understand how many times I’ll see each group of kids. It’s ok, I’ll ask her tomorrow. Chao asked if I needed to use the toilet (not bathroom or washroom, just toilet) and I was like, oh yea sure. So I went to go use the bathroom in what appeared to be a nice girls restroom, and low and behold, it’s the infamous hole in the ground toilet!! Ahhhhhh, I’m never EVER using the bathroom at the school. I just don’t get it..I’m picturing it in my head and its just..wrong..very wrong. It’s almost google worthy because it makes zero sense, but I don’t want any strange images to show up.  We wrapped things up at the school after going over a lot of the expectations and Chao looked at the address and the map I gave her and she was going to drive me home. She kept telling me that I should get a bike or a scooter because it will get me to work a lot faster than waiting for the bus. 

She gave me a detailed explanation of how to get home from the school and told me to pretend I was on a bike and taking the route she took. It was really helpful. When we pulled up by my place she was getting really excited about all of the things that I live by, and I told her that I still don’t understand what’s around me so she asked if I minded if she drives me around and gets me something.  I’m like..sure! I have no other plans! Chao is really funny and energetic and shes like “ok I’m going to take you to a famous place that you live by.” Since I live by this crazy huge night market, parking took forever (10 times worse than Chicago, but less parking rules) Humans literally just walk slowly in front of cars and don’t care and the cars equally don’t care that there’s humans in front of them and push through the crowds. No one yells or curses each other out though. Chao takes me up to this little stand and is getting me this “ice” drink..Sounds refreshing right? Ok, be prepared for what she buys me. She even warns me and says I don’t have to eat it, but I HAVE to try it because its famous and it was her favorite thing growing up. 1) Take a plastic drink cup, fill the bottom with some sort of ice cream 2) Fill it up with some sort of flavored shaved ice 3) top it off with KIDNEY BEANS..WTF?? I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture. I eat it and I can’t help but make the same face I make when I’m about to take a shot, and then 4,000 thoughts fill my head when I try it; its sweet and salty and the texture is weird and its super cold but its beans and beans shouldn’t be cold and the ice is salty why is ice salty and the icecream is sweet and tastes like bubble gum and ahhhh. I’m saying the word weird a lot, but seriously, my brain couldn’t even comprehend the flavors and textures that combined to make this thing. I almost tricked myself into liking after 4 bites, but then it got sickening. Honestly, the worst part wasn’t even the beans (because those were actually sweet) but it was the salty ice. 

Chao went to take me back to my apartment but she was asking me so many questions about my place and about me and I told her she could come eat her bean drink thing in my room if she wants, so we hung out at my apartment which was fun! She just plopped right down on the floor to sit. I gave her a tour of the building and she translated the washing machine to me that’s on a different floor, and outside. She asked me a ton of questions about myself and was just so hospitable with the things she was offering. I mentioned I wanted to get a couch and a rug and don’t know how to tell them to deliver it and she said her and her boyfriend would help me tomorrow because he has a big car and she knows what store has them cheap and cute, and then she looked through some of my old power points from previous classes and encouraged me to use a lot of that material for these students, and then she felt bad that I didn’t know anyone so she said I could come to her house and her family would cook for me. Literally, every nice thing a person could do, she would do. She said she wishes she had that when she was abroad in the UK. She didn’t have anyone to show her around and it wasn’t a very warm environment. She also said we should meet for lunch once a week at the school because she won’t be one of my co-teachers and then we can discuss how my classes are going and help me with any issues I have. It’s a great feeling to be welcomed in a completely new environment! I think back to the beginning of my student teaching when I felt so out of place and alone at the middle school and I wasn’t introduced to anyone. It’s so hard to be open with your ideas and teaching strategies when you feel like you are walking on eggshells or you feel inferior and I didn’t get an ounce of that vibe from this school or faculty. I’m excited to start on Tuesday!! 

Tonight, I basically was hypnotized by my computer because my internet is finally working, and Sam stopped by to sign the contract with my landlord. He also set up my cockroach traps (vomit.) Oh and the landlord told Sam that I threw my garbage away wrong and this is the second time today that I noticed how particular the Taiwanese are about recycling. They literally separate every little piece of trash. Paper, plastic, food. I felt bad! When we set up the apartment I just took every bag/box/tissue and threw it in the big garbage bin outside. Oops. He’s so nice about it though. Sam took me to take pictures for my Visa and took me to get food because I was starving. We went to this little stand that made soups and I got a beef soup with these thick square noodles and a ton of vegetables in it and we got it to go so I could eat it at my apartment. He also had me stop at a convenient store so I could get an umbrella because I was freaking out about the Typhoon that’s coming. I also got a big beer. It was necessary. Happy Friday to me. Oh and my umbrella is bright orange with a giant panda on it. I’m going to watch Something Borrowed on iTunes and pass out on my rock hard bed.  Landlord offered to pay for half of my mattress. Tomorrow morning I’m going back to that awesome mall and going to do some retail therapy. Then I’ll meet up with Chao and her boyfriend to get a couch!

August 25, 2011

It’s Ashley’s birthdayyyyy  :( with I could be there to celebrate. Somehow, I still have not had an alcoholic beverage. How? Why? This morning I had a minor meltdown. Sam was supposed to pick me up at 8:45 am because he was going to sign a contract with me and my landlord and then take me to orientation at 9am. He didn’t show up until 10am. He called the landlord at 9:30 to tell me he was going to be late. This is the 3^rd orientation I’ll be attending and the 3^rd I’ve managed to show up late...not because I wasn’t ready, but because Sam would get me late. He didn’t even apologize and when I asked why he was so late, he said he got “caught up in some stuff.” I was LIVID when he picked me up..like on the verge of tears. I of course took the passive aggressive route most of the way there and didn’t say one word..and finally I just told him how frustrated I was because things aren’t going the way I’d hope they’d be. I have no mode of communication, he’s showed up late every single time to pick me up, I’ve asked him numerous times to teach me the bus systems and I’ll get places on my own, and the reason I’m out here is to teach so if I’m late every day for orientation, its rude and it looks horrible as a professional. I’m so bad at confrontation so I of course started to cry. Since we were so late I had zero breakfast by the time I got to the orientation at 10:20am and was up since 7 and went to bed at 2am. It was going to be another one of those irritated moods I guess. He apologized and I apologized for getting upset and said I appreciate all he’s doing for me but I just want my internet to work, my address for my family, and how to use the bus routes, and I want to know where my school is so I’m not late on the first day.  When I showed up to orientation, it was fine, they just go about their business and smile and say hi. Today, there was a new guy in class that I’ve never seen. His names Ian and he’s from England. I sit next to Karen and Jeff at the orientations. They’re a married couple that just picked up and left Portland to live in Taiwan. They are so quirky. It’s the one word that describes them. He’s got this real goofy laugh and is constantly smiling and she’s making funny sarcastic remarks under her breath during the classes. Somehow she could tell I was upset even though I walked in there like nothing happened. I gave her brief idea of why I was upset and she seemed to understand my frustration. Then, Sam sent in a drink and sandwich for me for breakfast and Karen said it was probably an apology sandwich. It was a really nice gesture but the sandwich was so strange..it had egg, mayo, lettuce, I think meat, and some sort of red and orange sauce. It was wrapped in a package that said “Delicious Sandwich” (False advertisement right there.)   I took a few bites and hid it in my bag pretending I ate it. 

Some of my breakfast? Black tea with milk.

this picture doesn't show what really was in the "Delicious Sandwich"

The presentation was good today but there’s this one guy who drives Karen and I nuts. He’s apparently been teaching in Taiwan for 11 years but he is the biggest know it all ever and he interrupts each speaker after every breath they take. It’s the rudest thing. When anyone is talking, he’ll just blatantly interrupt them and keep talking for 5 minutes straight. The speakers are so nice and have broken English and every time they mispronounce a word, he corrects them out loud, and they’re words that you don’t even notice they’re mispronouncing because you just listen to the context of their presentations. At one point, he started speaking to me from across the big long table about god knows what in the middle of someone talking!  I was like..”oh ok..um ya maybe we can discuss that after orientation?”  For such an educated teacher of 11 years, he has zero tact or common sense..and I know its mean to think but he reminds me of this really creepy actor who’s name I can’t remember...he definitely plays a bad guy though..kind of like the clown from IT..but that’s Tim Curry, well ya Tim Curry’s creepy. Whatever, I’m rambling. This has nothing to do with Taiwan. 

Today’s presentation was about Asian holidays and their backgrounds and it was from this really fun Taiwanese man who had a ton of energy and a cowboy hat with a pirate skull on it?? Too funny. The history of their holidays was really interesting. All of the stories reminded me of Greek Mythology stories.  Our second presenter was this Asian lady, don’t know where she works exactly, but she had a lot of materials on classroom management and lesson plans. It was longer and bit more boring class, but it was good to brush up on that stuff. This orientation ended at 4pm. When I got out, Sam had a sheet of paper with a map of where I live and the bus route to the school and on the bottom of the paper he wrote my address. He also set up a time to meet with the school tomorrow. I guess my little melt down got things done. Again, I of course expressed how thankful I am for what he’s doing. I realize he’s a little overwhelmed. He’s helping out all of the teachers because Andrew is not back from his business trip.

Lien and I went to the bus stop because we were going to Mode Mall to get dinner with 3 of her friends. This high pitched song which sounds like an ice cream truck on volume 80, drives around every day at a certain time, and people just walk up to it and put their trash into it. So weird!! Lien seems like a great person and has offered to show me around and take me places and hang out with me on the weekends (I feel like such a loser.) She’s 24 and from Arizona and has 3 brothers. She was teaching last year in Taiwan so she knows the city and country fairly well. Our bus took forever to get to us but we rode it to the train station because the mall is right by there. I have a bus pass now and if you ride under 8 kilometers I think, you ride for free. It’s cool because everything I’ll need to go to is under 8 kilometers, I have no idea what that means in miles..and if I had the internet I’d google it, I’m going to guess 3 miles? The mall that Sam said is close to my apartment isn’t close, but it’s the most beautiful mall ever. It’s 9 levels of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, restaurants, and furniture. There’s this really cute furniture place that reminds me of a Bed Bath and Beyond and I wish I knew about it before I purchased all of my stuff! I’m sure when “winter” rolls around I’ll get really nice comforter. Lien’s 3 friends met up with us. One was this guy, Devon, who’s from Utah but travels everywhere, and the other two were these Taiwanese women that Lien and Devon used to work with last year. They spoke little English. We ate dinner at Mode Mall and I just told one of Lien’s friends that I like spicy food and I like Chicken or Beef and she told me to order Beef Noodle. I did, and it was good! It was a giant bowl of noodle soup with chunks of beef in it. It had a “tea egg” in it and I didn’t eat that. 

Super loud icecream truck sounding garbage truck. Did that make sense..

Lien got me a little snack. It's like two pancakes with vanilla custard inside. So good!

Panda shaped food! That's for you Kristen

I'm still amazed that people can read this

Lemon Green Tea

Beef Noodle! Floating awkward tea egg..

This was in the cab I took..I get the no liquor thing..but the car and scooter??

August 24, 2011

I almost slept through an entire night, only woke up 2 or 3 times. I’ve been falling asleep to my iPhone which has now obtained the official title of an iPod Touch. I was picked up at 9am by Sam to go to orientation. Apparently they’ve been starting at 9am everyday and he just has us stroll in whenever, he says it’s really ok because unlike the other teachers, I just got there so I still have things to get done and places to see. He also promised to take me to Starbucks this morning. It was amazing, they had all the same drinks and written both in Chinese and English. So I got a triple grande carmel macchiato and a blueberry bagel with cream cheese! Woohooo they have cream cheese and different types of milk! My drink was made nice and slow but it was sooo good, I savored it the whole orientation.  Even the bagel tasted better, probably not mass produced for 3 million Starbucks stores each day like our Starbucks pastries are. Orientation was awesome today. This tiny Asian lady named, Cheryl, ran it. She’s been an elementary teacher teaching English for 10 years but was born and raised in Taiwan. Her English is very good, a little hard to understand at times, but her teaching approaches and ideas and games that she created were amazing. I couldn’t believe all of these creative ideas came out of one lady. She even created C.D.s that went with songs that she made up and made these fun little word games. It was a really fun orientation because it was a bunch of adults playing games and singing songs the whole day. The “American” songs that we sand towards the end of the day were super funny. A few of them, she’d be like “Oh you don’t know this one??” But the other ones we knew, YMCA, We Will Rock You, Mammamia, HEY JUDE!! J She asked ideas on what to do with each song. YMCA was very active. She loved “my” idea for the Hey Jude song which was have the boys sing the first Na Na part and the girls sing the second Na Na part (Paul McCartney did it at his concert) She kept thanking me for the idea and I told her that it wasn’t me, so don’t worry Paul McCartney, I gave you credit. Our lunch was better today, nothing goopy. I got basil chicken with rice. The only thing was, the chicken has bones in it, but it was good. Came with rice, bok choy and tofu, but I didn’t eat the tofu. After class, I took my first bus ride back to the hotel but with Sam’s bus card. It was easy because my hotel is right next to the huge train station and apparently my school and apartments by there too? Still have yet to see the school. 

Back at the hotel, I get a call around 5pm from Sam saying that we’re moving into the apartment tonight! I packed my stuff so fast. I also said a Chinese phrase to the lady at the front desk that I got from one of my little books.  “I had a very comfortable stay” is Wo zho de hen shufu, except with a bunch of symbols that I don’t know how to type. Sam helped me pronounce it and she got all happy and told him I had a pretty face haha. Before the apartment move, of course Sam wanted to do more shopping at weird little Wal mart like stores. We picked up some bathroom stuff and a screwdriver and he insisted I buy roach houses. I wanted to throw up in his face when he was telling me how to set them up and dispose of them. I literally told him I’m not touching those things, he said he’d stop by every once in a while to throw them away for me. I just don’t see how I would get roaches, my apartment is brand new, with tile floors and its like..one room with no crevices..ew. Maybe I’ll go back to Fuh Chun Hotel and pick up Liz Chun and keep her as my pet to eat every bug that tries to get into my room. I also got my own bus card which you get at 711 (which are on every corner here) and my choices for the design on my card were Dragon Ball Z or Spongebob Square Pants, naturally I chose Spongebob. We made another stop before we went to the apartment and that was for dinner, thank god. We went to a hot pot place and it was crazy. The only thing I can compare it to would be Old country buffet crosses the Melting pot? All you can eat, but you pick your broth that will be in your pot (literally built inside of your table) and you control the heat settings. While they make your broth (I got spicy broth) you go and fill you plate with vegetables and raw meats and fill another little plate with different salads and dumplings and desserts. I haven’t eat any shrimp here yet because they all still have their whiskers and eyeballs and it just makes me sad/grossed out..but I did put scallops, beef, chicken into my hot pot, and you just dip it in there with your chop sticks and its so hot that you pull it out after 10 seconds and dip it into your little sauce concoction (kind of like when you go to BD’s Mongolian bbq and make your own sauce) and you eat it right away. Sam kept getting all worried because apparently I hold my fingers too low on my chopsticks and he thought I was going to dip them in scolding hot water. I like the way I hold my chopsticks because you have more control, just like holding a pencil. You don’t hold a pencil up at the top to write. I’m sticking to my Americanized chopstick hold. Didn’t get burned once.  I thought I was eating so much but the meat would shrivel up so fast and I would fill my plate thinking it’s a lot and it ends up being two bites!  Anyway, this place was my favorite food thus far. It was $300 NT, so $10. 

The move into the apartment wasn’t too bad, it was just brutally hot because we just turned the AC on for the first time in it. Sam was a big help and brought everything up and built my pop up closet and night stand while the landlord showed me around a little. His English is pretty good and he’s the teacher for the classroom I live above.  Sam finally left around 12 and I stayed up til about 2 trying to organize things. There’s still so much more stuff I need to get..it’s crazy. Oh and the weather here is great! Not as humid as summers in Chicago so far, and just some light drizzle tonight. You can always tell when it’s going to rain here because it gets real humid for a little bit then after the rain it cools down. That’s what I’ve been told.