Routine

Life is pretty much back to normal for me here in Canada. Living at home, I am back working at Great Wolf Lodge, and hanging out with my friends. Only thing that is missing is Rick. Some days, it is easy to not see him but I am always reminded of how much I miss him whenever I send him a message knowing that he can't respond for at least eight hours because he is asleep. What scares me is that even though we have been talking at least twice a day, some things are still hard without him here. We went from seeing each other all day every day for over a year to talking on the phone twice a day and texting in between. This scares me because soon he will be leaving the comfort of a friend's couch in Taiwan to actually start his travels. On February 26th, he leaves Taiwan. He comes back to Canada on April 3rd.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog and how much I actually enjoyed writing in it, and whether or not I should continue to write in it. Or maybe if I should start a new blog, we really aren't a couple living abroad anymore. We are now half a couple living abroad and half a couple living in Canada. Lots to think about.

For now, I have my routine here. Work. Hanging out with my mom. Watching my favourite TV shows. Babysitting Aberdeen. Cuddling Atlas. Hanging out with Saher. Planning our next vacation! Repeat. 

I leave you with a picture of my soon to be goddaughter (Aberdeen) and my baby Atlas:

Cutest freakin' kids alive

STORY TIME

I was at a bar with some friends this past weekend and there was a pause in conversation. I heard a conversation to the right of me, all in English, and I was shocked! I jerked my head to the right to look at the other foreigners who were in the bar, what a coincidence!

Some old men stared at me because apparently they noticed my very sudden head turn. Forgot I was in Canada and that English is spoken by everyone. Guess there are some things I still have to get used to now that I am back home.

13 Things I Miss About Taiwan or 13 Reasons to Try Living in Taiwan for a year

I don't want people thinking that I didn't enjoy my time in Taiwan or that I don't miss it there because that is not the case. So in order to counteract my other list, here is a list of things I DO miss about Taiwan or a list of reasons why you should move there for a year.

1. How nice the people are
I noticed this almost immediately after getting off the airplane in Canada. As a small 95 lb girl, people in Taiwan saw me pushing a cart with four suitcases on it and holding a dog and they would either a. offer me a sympathetic smile or b. HELP ME. I received neither of those in Canada. Not that people in Canada aren't nice, but we really have NOTHING on the niceness of the Taiwanese. Canadians; fix this.

2. The weather
Maybe I complained about the rain a little too much. What I wouldn't give for some of that rain and heat in this -20 degree weather I'm dealing with now.

3. The cost of living
Everything is cheap. You can eat our for every meal during the day, have GREAT meals, and spend 1/10th of what you would spend doing the same thing in Canada. Even more than the food, rent is cheap. Gas is cheaper. Clothes are cheap. Oh, the cost of living makes it all worth it.

4. Driving a scooter
When I first got to Taiwan, if you wouldve told me I would be driving a scooter to work every day, I would have told you that you were nuts. I was very against it, convinced I could find other ways to work. The ending of this story is that I did end up buying a scooter and I loved it. On those sweltering days, there was nothing better than getting on your scooter and enjoying the breeze. Granted, the rain sucked while driving but now that I'm back in this cold, snowy weather, all I can remember are the good times driving my scooter.Funny how that works eh...

5. #shameless #selfie #nation
If you think that people take a lot of selfies in Canada, you are mistaken. The amount of selfies I would see being taken on any given day while living in Taiwan was astronomical in comparison to the amount that I see being taken in Canada. Its not that Canadians don't take them, its that usually we take them in the privacy of our own home. In Taiwan, there is no shame. At a party? Selfie. At a bar? Selfie. In class? Selfie. And at first, I thought it was a little weird. But it turned into a little quirk that I love.

6. Hamburgers for Breakfast
Not only are hamburgers eaten for breakfast, they were a staple at breakfast stalls. Can someone inform my mother of this?

7. Passionfruit Green Tea with Bubbles
The amount of tea shops available on any street in Taiwan was ridiculous, along with all the different kinds of fruit teas for a super cheap price (please see #3 on the list). My favourite will always be passionfruit green tea; give it a whirl!

8. Rick
He's still in Taiwan..... I personally believe that everyone should move to Taiwan just to see Rick. He'd be worth it.

9. Dumplings and Hot Pot
Two types of food that I ate twice a week each, at the very least. Look it up. Try it. You won't be disappointed. 

Hot Pot

10. My coteachers
I had the luxury of being pretty lucky in that every one of my coteachers was one of the nicest, most genuine, and helpful people I have ever met. Working with these teachers on a daily basis really helped me when I first started teaching and didn't really know what I was doing and continued to help mold me into the teacher that I am today. I will be forever grateful for each and every one of them.

11. Free time
Being a foreign English teacher in Taiwan = working only 30 hours per week, getting paid a lot to do so, and thus having a lot of free time. Even when we did work, my longest day was 7 hours of actual teaching in one day. I start back working this week and I'm not looking forward to it

12. Ease of traveling
Taiwan is so close to so many other countries in SE Asia and getting there is so cheap that it is almost stupid of you if you don't go and travel a little. Visiting Hong Kong and Thailand was amazing and I am so glad we went to both of those places. As well as travelling around the country itself. There is so much public transportation available for great prices that you never get that guilt while being a tourist that you're paying way too much for stuff. What guilt you ask? Oh, that might just be me and Rick... living in Taiwan has made us pretty stingy...

13. My students
Last, but certainly not least, my students. It is amazing how attached to my students I have grown over the past year. Saying goodbye was very hard and it really made me reconsider if leaving Taiwan after only one year was the right thing to do. I really got to know some of my students on such a personal level and I'll miss seeing their faces every week. 

In conclusion, if you're looking for a cheap, beautiful, different place to live; choose TAIWAN. You won't regret it.

Home Sweet Home

Now that I've been home for a week I figured it was time to update the blog. My last few days in Taiwan were filled with lots of goodbyes to my last classes and to Rick. Leaving him behind was one of the saddest things and I think it is because, for the moment, I don't know when I will see him again. When I left Canada to go to Taiwan, I knew I would be back in a year. The same went for saying goodbye to my parents, I knew they would visit me in Taiwan and after their visit, I knew I'd be back in Canada. 

My flight home felt longer than our trip to Taiwan even though it was ten hours less. My direct flight was comfortable and yet filled with worry about my baby Atlas, sadness about leaving Rick behind, and excitement to see my family and friends. I took off from Taiwan at 7:40 PM on January 30th and I arrived in Canada at 8:30 PM on January 30th. I may, or may not, have traveled through time. Be jealous.

I struggled to get my three massive bags, one small suitcase, and one small dog and we were off. It was actually relatively easy to bring Atlas back, a lot of people said it would be so difficult but it wasn't at all. And he was perfectly fine after the flight! A little scared but as soon as I got him out of his crate, he was the same cute dog who was super excited to see me and to meet so many new people.

Being home has been pretty weird so far. The second day I was back, I already felt like I had never left. The jet lag didn't hit me until this Saturday when I fell asleep from 7-10, woke up and couldn't sleep until 2am and then woke up again at 5am. I think I've got a handle on the jet lag now, my sleep is pretty normal. But it is still weird getting used to life in Canada. The cold, the snow, English, my family and friends so close by, English, English, English, high prices, English.

I had planned to stop this blog upon returning to Canada but Rick is trying to convince me otherwise. But I don't think my life is all that exciting enough to write about here. I guess we'll see what happens.

For now, I am home. Rick is in Taiwan. 

The End

Tomorrow is the day I leave Taiwan. Still not feeling like it is all real but also managing to get sad about leaving this place, and Rick behind. I will definitely miss Taiwan, all the friends I have made here, and all the places that I like to go. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world. While I didn't blog as much as I had planned on, I'm still glad that I did blog as often as I did. If only for the reminder to myself of the time we spent here.

Our journey is ending. Rick will be in Taiwan for around another month while his fractured foot heals and then he is off on his own travels. I'm excited for him but also scared about how much I'm going to miss him. The airport tomorrow will definitely be heart breaking. How different from when we first arrived in Taiwan; crying at the airport while saying goodbye to our families to crying at the airport saying goodbye to each other. I've grown accustomed to relying on Rick to pick me up when I'm feeling down about missing my friends and family but now he will be the one I'm missing. It will definitely be a challenge but that doesn't change how proud I am of him for having the courage to take this trip on his own. That is something that I don't think I could ever do.

Tomorrow, Atlas and I will be making our way to Canada. Wish us luck. Here are some pictures of me saying goodbye to my classes. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry after saying goodbye to some of these little cuties.

The first class I had to say goodbye to

 My babies

One of my favorite older classes, I will miss them all so much!

 Cutest weirdos ever

This class lined up for a hug from me after wards.. pretty much started bawling by the fourth hug

Goodbye dinner with some friends

My very first class I ever taught in Taiwan and my very last

Accidents and Goodbyes

On Friday night, Rick got into a scooter accident on the way to class. During the accident, his scooter fell on his foot which caused him to fracture a bone in his foot. Originally, the doctor had told him it would take eight weeks to heal. He was pretty upset, considering his plans to travel around Taiwan and elsewhere. We were 99% sure that he would be coming home with me on December 30th. But he had a follow up appointment first and we were hoping for the best.

Our friends, David and Monica, offered Rick to stay on their couch while his leg healed and then he could travel. Rick's spirits were lifted. He was thinking of asking to work at Gloria longer while he healed and then doing his trip around Taiwan (but now on a train) and then going to Sri Lanka. We headed to the doctor yesterday with high hopes. He said it was a 4-6 week healing time so that was very exciting. Rick decided on staying and working and he just had to talk to our boss.... who told him he can't work for Gloria any more because his working permit will be expired :( Set back again but Rick has decided to stay and try and look for some work during his healing time.. then travel once his leg is back to 100%.

So now instead of thinking I won't see Rick for about a month to two months.. 4-6 weeks is now added on top of that. I will miss him a lot BUT I am very excited to get to see all my friends and family. Hopefully everyone will keep me busy. (Mom and Dad, I don't mean busy with housework....)

In other news, Tuesday marked the beginning of saying goodbye to our classes which has turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. I thought that the younger classes would be harder but so far, saying goodbye to my older classes has sucked. I have been given so many cards and hugs, it feels so bittersweet to be saying goodbye. I am going to miss all my students, co-teachers and friends so much. I really wasn't expecting it to be this hard to say goodbye so maybe that is what is making it harder. I think a big aspect of it is that when I left Canada, I knew I would be back. I don't know when or if I will ever be back in Taiwan. I think that is more sad than anything.

Only eight days to go.

Two Weeks To Go

Officially two weeks until my flight. Still doesn't feel real. This week, I am telling the rest of my classes that next week is my last week. With my younger classes, my coteachers and directors didn't want me telling them yet so now I will tell them. I told one baby class yesterday and it was so sad. They are one of my favourite classes, along with one of my favourite coteachers. Every Wednesday from 2-3:30, I will miss them.

In other news, Rick and I booked a trip to Tainan this weekend! Tainan is the old capital of Taiwan, before Taipei so it is one of the bigger cities in Taiwan. It is also in the Southern part so I am hoping it is a little hotter there than it has been here. Lucky for us, Taiwan is so small so we will be taking the High Speed Rail after work on Saturday night and back on Monday morning. We wanted to do something a bit further away but were unsure of what to do because of Atlas and then one of my friends reminded me about Air BnB. We've used it before and always had a great experience. With Air BnB, you are renting someone's home to stay in for a few nights AND we found a place with pets allowed.

Tainan will be our last trip within Taiwan before I leave which will be pretty sad but I am so excited. Today, we are off to lunch with some friends who are leaving for a vacation before we leave so we won't get to see them a lot. Last night, we went to a nightclub in Chungli with two other friends. It is called Search and its pretty popular among the teachers at Gloria bu we had never been before. One more thing I crossed of my to do list before leaving.

13 Things I Won't Miss About Taiwan

So I have been getting a little sad lately about leaving Taiwan. Leaving the place I've lived for a year. Leaving all these people and places that I see on a daily basis and will probably never see again. I have decided to combat this sadness I will make a list of things about Taiwan that drive me crazy aka 13 things that I won't miss.. one for each month that I have been here!

1. Driving a scooter in the rain

2. Not being able to just order what I want at a restaurant without some kind of language barrier

3. How much it rains

4. The amount of times I have been sick in the past year

5. Lunch boxes, pig's blood, chicken butt, red bean soup, red bean anything, taro, squid balls, fish ball soup; Taiwanese food dishes that I do not understand

6. Mosquitoes

7. Eating dinner every single night at 9:30 or even later

8. The complete disregard that drivers have for each other

9. Not being able to properly discipline children because they don't speak enough English

10. Scaring children in stores simply because I am a foreigner and they've never seen a foreigner before

11. Knowing enough Chinese to know that people are talking about me but not what they are saying

12. Learning the frustrating language that is Chinese

13. "You're Canadian.. why are you cold?"

Yehliu

With only a few Sundays left, we have decided to make them count. We were very hungover and tired this Sunday after celebrating a friend's birthday on Saturday night but we sucked it up and headed out for the day. We had planned to have an early start at around 8AM but ended up leaving the apartment at around 12. It was a two hour journey to get to Yehliu. First we had to go to Taipei and then take another bus there.

The bus ride was terrifying and worrisome. Our driver had clearly just watched the Fast and the Furious and thought he was Vin Diesel. He was making the sharpest turns on the side of a mountain, the bus was constantly lurching forward and I kept on having to brace myself. So that was the terrifying part. The worrisome part is that usually when we take a bus, there is an LED sign saying the name of each stop as we approach it. For some reason on this bus, the driver had turned it off. I knew how to ask in Chinese for him to tell us when we got there but since I have been really shy lately at using my Chinese, I spent the next 5-10 minutes teaching Rick how to say it and then sending him on his way.

Finally, he told us that we were in Yehliu! Yehliu is a little small fishing village about an hour and a half outside of Taipei and there is a beautiful geopark there. There are all these naturally made rock formations there that people come in droves of tour buses to see. It really was amazing to see. I'm so glad we went there before our time is finished here. We brought Atlas along with us and we had such a fun day. It was pretty chilly down by the water, it rained a little but we still had a great time.

A very windy day

After we finished at the geopark, we were both starving and had heard about the great seafood restaurants Yehliu had to offer. Unfortunately, we seemed to have chosen the wrong one. Our food was edible and that was a good thing. We headed back to Taipei in search of better food. We ended up at one of our favorite restaurants that we've been to, Macho Tacos and again, we really enjoyed our food. We grabbed some cupcakes and headed back to the apartment. 

Not amused with our food in Yehliu

YAY TACOS!

One Sunday down... two to go.

Twenty Two Days

It feels really weird to be having a countdown for coming home. Especially when you consider that I started this blog with a countdown for coming to Taiwan. I only have 22 days left in the country and only 19 days left until I am finished working. The other day I started to get stressed out about all the stuff I have and not being able to fit it into two suitcases, so I did what every other sane person would do. I started packing.

This only made me more stressed out. That one suitcase is half full and that is only souvenirs, some shoes (not even all my shoes), and some random little tidbits. I still have all my clothes, toiletries, medicine, shoes, coats, and all my favourite coffee mugs to pack. I want to scream. For now, I will just obsess about it and send another box of stuff home. But then every time I send a box home, I start to think, what if when I do leave, I have all this extra room because I sent so much home in boxes? What a conundrum.

This week, I've started to tell my students that I am leaving because after teaching this week's class, I will only have two more weeks with them. So far, I have only told one class. Some were confused. 

"Why are you leaving?" 

"Because I have to go home." 

"But you live in Taiwan.."
"But my mom doesn't live in Taiwan."

"She should move to Taiwan."

Or: "So when are you coming back to Taiwan?"

It was actually pretty sad to tell this particular class. I have been their one and only foreign teacher and I've gotten to watch them learn so much. I will really miss them. I'm hoping that it gets easier to tell my classes each time but I'm thinking it will actually be the opposite.

Daxi Old Street

We just had our first Sunday off that we didn't have to worry about waking up really early the next day to work at the elementary school because the semester is over! Safe to say, we were pretty excited! For the past three months on Sundays, we would try to go out and do something considering it is our ONE day off a week but we would feel constantly plagued by thoughts of finishing a slideshow and waking up at 7AM.

There are a few places near Taipei/Taoyuan that I want to visit before I leave Taiwan and since Rick is doing a trip all around Taiwan on his own, we decided that I get to decide what we do for our last few Sundays. This Sunday, I was torn between going to Daxi Old Street and Keelung but ultimately, I picked Daxi Old Street.

We google mapped our directions and we were off. It was a thirty minute scooter ride but it was pretty straightforward. We arrived around 11:30/12 oclock which was nice because it wasn't too busy yet. Daxi Old Street was exactly what I expected it to be. A cute little street filled with lots of little things to eat, cute stores, and lots of people.

Atlas and I enjoying the busy street

The first food we had were steamed buns. But these steamed buns were easily the best I have ever had. Steamed buns are a favourite amongst foreigners living in Taiwan but I am usually not impressed with them. These had me speechless. At the end of our day, I actually went back to get some more. We had some deep fried mushrooms, some mini shephard-pie style cakes that Rick wasn't too fond of and did a little more shopping. We also stopped by a temple and took some pictures of the nice views there.

Atlas is a little camera shy

I'm actually in love with this picture

After we enjoyed our food and drinks, we took a rest in a park and just walked around enjoying ourselves. By the time we were ready to leave, the street was packed with even more people. I actually was surprised how busy it was. At this point, I was pretty happy we came as early as we did.

On the way back to the apartment, I was exhausted. I was legitimately falling asleep on the back of the scooter. This probably has to due with the fact that I am still just getting over being sick. For a few days there, I was losing and regaining my voice every single day but since I went to a doctor, I seem to be on the mend. But that didn't stop me from falling asleep at every red light and then being jerked awake when Rick started to drive again. After I told him I kept felling asleep and he said, "I wondered why you kept hitting me in the head, that was getting really annoying but I didn't want to say anything."

Spent the rest of our night relaxing and we watched an amazing movie, Side Effects. I had been wanting to see it for awhile but I didn't think Rick would be interested, the trailer makes it seem very different than it really is which is a very dramatic, thrilling, mysterious movie with tons of twists and turns. I highly recommend you see it.

Only 24 days to go now. I am off to lesson plan for the day and start cleaning out our spare room. Wish me luck.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy New Year! It is officially 2014! Rick and I spent the days prior to new year's eve being sick so we were planning on staying in. But on new year's eve, my fever had decided that three days was enough and had left.

We went to our friend's apartment to watch fireworks from his roof and enjoy some food. Since that night, my sickness changed to me losing my voice. Rick says I sound like an old man, so that has been what 2014 has been like for us so far. We are back to work today. I am not looking forward to it with my voice the way it is but I know my students will get a kick out of it.

Our New Year's was pretty low key this year. We are looking forward to finishing work in a few weeks and coming home. 28 days left for me.