22 August 2013

Typhoon Day.. Part Two

Yesterday was our second typhoon day here in Taiwan. (I know, I didn't blog about the first yeah yeah yeah..) ANYWAY. Typhoon day, you may be asking yourself, what in the world is that? The best I can do to compare to Canada is that it is like a snow day. Except instead of snow, we have lots of rain and sometimes heavy winds. The previous typhoon day (Typhoon Soulik) was a lot more intense, crazy rain and a lot of heavy winds. This typhoon day was mild, to say the least. It rained a lot but it wasn't unbearable.

We spent our day watching movies, playing with Atlas, watching Big Love (almost done the series, so good, can't believe how hooked we are), baking, and hanging out with our friend Steven. I've mentioned Steven before, he was a big help in getting our apartment and in life in general in Taiwan. He called us up and asked if we wanted to hang out at his apartment building since they have a badminton court there, Rick obviously jumped at the chance. Personally, I was just excited to get to be driven around in a car. (A rarity in Taiwan for us English teachers.)

So our Typhoon Day was pretty unexciting. I would've been happy working though, especially considering that Wednesdays I have three classes and make good money. It was nice to have a day off though.  What is exciting though is that in less than a month, we will be in Hong Kong for four days. Flight is booked, hostel is booked, now just to specifically plan it all out. I really want to go to Disneyland, wish me luck in convincing Rick. Also some exciting news, we're headed to Thailand in November for two weeks! Flight is booked! Just have to do everything else haha but first, Hong Kong.

We have been in Taiwan for 8 months. Although our contract is supposed to be one year long, time is added whenever we take a vacation day or a sick day. Our contract ends here at the end of January so just about 5 months to go. Five months seems like such a long time on some days and such a short time on others. Can't wait to see all of my family and friends but I will also be very sad to leave here when the time comes. Definition of bittersweet.

13 August 2013

Wo men you xiao gou

This post is really just for random life updates.

1. Wo men you xiao gou = WE HAVE A SMALL DOG.
Probably one of the most exciting things to happen in Taiwan. Small dog! His name is Atlas, he is five months old, cutest little boy around. We have already looked into bringing him back to Canada and it should be relatively easy. I've already started the process. He is so adorable. When we first got him, he was such a clutz. He couldn't understand the concept of a step, he would just fall off but he is learning. Here is a couple pictures of his first time swimming this past weekend.



2. Our Chinese lessons. Personally, I feel like I have hit a plateau and I am really unmotivated lately. I know how to order food, answer questions when people ask me but past that, it is getting harder. I am trying to focus but I just don't have the motivation right now to learn more. We shall see where this goes, we still have six months left here, I should probably keep trying.

3. Most people already know this, but I have decided to apply for teacher's college for September 2014. That means I have to apply this December. I've started to look at what the applications entail already and I am hoping to stop being lazy and start preparing soon.

4. I was just given a new kindergarten class (MY FAVOURITE) so I am now up to 26.5 hours per week. Rick was also given a new class so he is up to 23.5. I really think where we work is having a foreign teacher shortage right now. I know of 8 people who are leaving in the next two months. It will definitely be a different environment with all of those people gone. Especially since a lot of them definitely helped me to get used to living in Taiwan. I will miss all of them.

5. My cousin, Stefan, and his beautiful fiancee, Amy, are getting married in May 2014. And.. they have asked me to be a bridesmaid! I am so excited! I was already very excited for their wedding because Stefan is the first of my cousins on my mother's side of the family to get married but now I am even more excited. I can't wait and I am so honored to be a part of their special day!

Summer Camps

I know it's been awhile since my last post but let's just forget about that. Moving on ..

Since it is summer vacation, the little children are out of school! But since this is Taiwan, their parents think they should be studying so they put them in summer camps. There are three different summer camps where we work, a cooking camp, a sports camp, and a combo camp. Seeing as me and sports tend to clash, I wasn't interested in the combo or the sports camp. Cooking camp it is! I went to the workshop, seemed pretty easy. And then I had my first cooking camp! I was given another one after that but I haven't been given one since..... maybe the kids didn't like my omelettes the second time around haha

Day One: Breakfast - Omelettes and French Toast
The first omelette was really bad. The school gave me one egg per student and they were all so picky about what they wanted in it. I thought I would be doing one egg at a time. But the first omelette was a disaster, it tasted good so it wasn't too bad but it definitely was not an omelette. More like scrambled eggs with ham and onions. After that, I told them to find someone who wants some of the same things as you and mix your eggs together. In my first week, I was really lucky with the kids I had in the camp. Their English was pretty good and they were a lot of fun to joke around with. My second camp was at a more high end school so the kids were a little more... picky. 
All of them were super hesitant about the french toast. I swore it was amazing but they just didn't believe me. Lucky for me, French Toast is simple and fast. They all loved it and now I can make it in record time.

Day Two: Salmon Pasta with a White Sauce
I can't decide which week this went worse in. The first week, the pot they gave me to boil the pasta was too small and we ended up burning a lot of the pasta. The second week, cooking cream was apparently not available in all of Taiwan so we had to improvise. The kids said it tasted good but the sauce was very watery. Still not a master chef at this dish. Which I thought was ironic because when I saw day two was pasta, I thought it would be super easy. Not the case.

Day Three: Chicken Curry
I was expecting this day to be the hardest but it actually ended up being relatively easy. Who knew that chicken curry was easy to make? Not me. It was so good to eat too! While it was easy to do, this was probably the most stressful day. Most of the recipe requires cutting vegetables, or meat. Watching kids use a knife makes me cringe, a lot. Especially the younger ones. But we got through it and no one cut themselves. Success!

Day Four: Hamburgers and a Blueberry Smoothie
This day was definitely a lot of fun. Who doesn't love hamburgers? The only thing that sucked was the school gave us HUGE hamburgers buns and only enough hamburger meat to cover less than half the bun. Kind of embarrassing but whatever, the kids loved the hamburgers. The blueberry smoothies were just fun to make. The recipe we were given had NO measurements whatsoever so we just kept adding ingredients until the students said it tasted good.

Day Five: Field Trip!
On the last day of the camp, we get a field trip! We get to go to a cake factory and the kids get to decorate the smallest cake I have ever seen. This day was a lot of fun, very laid back. And consisted of me counting heads a lot. I felt very old, like one of my teachers in elementary school who was constantly counting heads on the bus.

The cooking camp was definitely a learning experience for me. For those of you who know me, I am not a cook. Baking is my thing, specifically, cupcakes. Cooking, not so much. That is Rick's job. I get to clean. But now I can safely say that I have mastered the art of omelettes, french toast, chicken curry, and hamburgers. Go me!