Shawn and Tarisha; Part Two, Taipei Zoo and Maokong Gondola

We woke up bright and early (well some of us did), and headed off to the zoo! It was a rainy day so it wasn't too busy which is exactly what we wanted. It also gave Tarisha and I an excuse to buy matching umbrellas from the zoo.

Again, the zoo did not disappoint. Every animal was so active, it was amazing. I think the highlight for all of us was the tiger. He was right up against the glass and jumping on top of the glass, I have never seen anything like it before.

After the zoo, we decided to go to the Maokong Gondola ride. For only 100NT there and back, you get to ride all the way up to the Maokong teahouses. It was definitely worth the $3 CAD that we paid. The views were amazing and I would love to go back to see them again. Finally we get to the top and we visit a teahouse. Which also had an amazing view of the mountains right beside our table. This day was definitely an amazing day. We finished it off with visiting mine and Rick's favourite night market in Taipei; the Raohe Street Night Market. We tried to have a somewhat early night as the next day we were headed to Hualien for two days and from there, straight to Kenting for the next four.

Shawn and Tarisha; Part One

They have arrived! And I don't think my days have ever been so full of adventures before they got here! Normally on a day where we teach, we don't do much. We hang out at the apartment, maybe eat some lunch, and that's about it. But Shawn and Tarisha are here so we kept them busy! Hiking before class, and then finally we had our days off!

Saturday was our first full day with Shawn and Tarisha so off to Taipei we went. Our first stop was the National Palace Museum (a first for all of us), the grounds were beautiful, and the museum was also really interesting. There was so much stuff there, it was a lot to take in and we had a full day planned so we didn't visit every exhibit. There is always next time.

Next we were off to the Ximending area of Taipei to eat some food, and do some shopping. I really wanted to try out the Modern Toilet restaurant (they serve all your food in a mini toilet haha) but Shawn felt that his stomach couldn't handle the idea of that. So we went to Chili's. This was the first time that Rick and I went to a Western-style restaurant (other than fast food) so we felt pretty boring haha. Thus we compensated by buying some very Taiwanese clothing!

Off to Taipei 101. It was so beautiful. Rick and I had already been once during the day but when it was darker, it was even more beautiful. The view is extraordinary. After Taipei 101, we went off to try some shaved ice for the first time. My friend Darren had told me about this restaurant called Ice Monster in Taipei that is apparently pretty well known for their shaved ice and he raved about how amazing it was. They did not disappoint. Tarisha and I shared the Strawberry Avalanche and good thing we did share because there is no way we could have finished it alone, we didn't even finish it together. Rick and Shawn shared the Fresh Strawberry Sensation. Safe to say, I'll be back to Ice Monster many more times.

Fresh Strawberry Sensation

Strawberry Avalanche

Tomorrow we are headed to Hualien pretty early so I will have to update about our second day in Taipei later. I'll say this, it involved tigers, gondolas, and tea.

Countdown: Two Days

Until two of our favourite people in the world arrive in Taiwan! Tarisha and Shawn! We've got some big stuff planned while they are here such as going to Hualien, Taroko Gorge, Kenting for Spring Scream and other festivities! As well as some day trips to Taipei.

Super excited to see someone from home. It is probably what is making me miss home a lot today. The idea of seeing someone from home so soon. Nothing new has really been happening since my last update. Just getting settled into our apartment. We are officially out the dorm, gave back our keys and everything! It was kind of bitter sweet. I will definitely miss some of the people we lived with and the idea that there was always someone else around but I will not miss the constant dirty dishes.

This past week has been full of our new regular classes and lots of substitute classes so it has been a busy one. Next week will be my third time with my new regular classes which means... I GET PAID. YAY. The way our school works is there is a two week pay lag, I don't get paid for the first two weeks of every regular class but you start getting paid the third week. Once you have been here for six months, you get the first week back from all your regular classes. And once you finish your contract, you get the second week back. It is basically to ensure that we don't run out on our contract. That is why substitute teaching is nice sometimes because you get paid right away.

This upcoming week we also get our ARCS. Which means I can finally open a bank account, have health insurance (it is sad how excited I am to go to the dentist), get a COSTCO card haha, and a Carrefour points card. For now we are off to Ikea... don't even ask me how I convinced Rick it would be a great idea to go.

Moving in, and new classes.

We are officially moved in to our new place! I'll take some pictures and add them to this post later for your viewing pleasure. I know you're all very interested! Speaking of moving in, it is a lot harder in Taiwan than back home. The concept of borrowing someone's truck and making one trip is not possible. We made about 10 trips on Rick's scooter with me wearing a massive backpack and Rick balancing a suitcase in front of him. It was an interesting experience to say the least and I am not sure how in only two months that we have accumulated that much stuff. 

One of our many trips from the dorm to the new apartment

Our new place

 Typical Rick.

 Our picture fridge!

In other news, I started all three of my new regular classes this week. And they were all adorable and, mostly, very excited to learn English with their new foreign teacher.

My first was my beginners class so they were older but had no previous knowledge of English. Most of the children were aged 9-11 but there are two students who are 13 and one who is 12. I felt super bad for them cause we're playing all of these little children games and they are just sitting there, bored. The good thing is they are quick learners and for the most part, they are willing to play the games with us. In the end, it was a really fun class. I loved my coteacher, she was great and fairly new too so we are learning together.

My second class was a kindergarten beginners class, as was my third one. The first kindergarten class was larger than the second and full of younger children. There were some there who haven't even been to kindergarten in Chinese school yet so they had no idea how to act in a classroom setting. They were so adorable though! There were a brother and sister who were so young and kept putting their hands up, but the second I would call on them, their hand would shoot down and they would shake their heads and say, "No teacher..." Hahaha it was also adorable how excited both classes were to see me. My first coteacher asked the children if I was the first foreigner they had ever seen and the majority of them said yes. So honest and adorable.

It has been a fun week. Finally 100% in the apartment. We have internet in the apartment! For awhile there, I was heading to the dorm everyday to Skype my mother in the morning but now that is unnecessary. And Rick's cellphone is finally working again!

Today we are off to do a chatroom. We both have the exact same chatroom with the same topic and level today so hopefully that goes well. 

What do you say?

We have found a place! Originally we were going to put an offer in at an apartment that we saw a couple days ago but neither of us felt right about it. Something just didn't sit well with the place we had seen. So yesterday we had two hours to spare between our workshop and classes and we decided to spend it looking for an apartment. We tried a new area that we hadn't checked out yet by Rick's regular school.

Finally, we found our home. It was perfect. We knew as soon as we walked in and looked around that the place had to be ours. An hour later and I signed the lease with the keys in my hand. Today is our cleaning day and hopefully we finish at an okay time to start moving some more stuff in. We are very excited but also very sad. The dorms have been fun, while also frustrating at times. But I really do enjoy the company of the people we live with and it will be sad to not always see them. But I am also very excited for us to live on our own.

After being so excited about signing the lease, I went to my regular class and I was given THREE more that start next week. It was a really good day! Two of them are kindergarten beginners so they will be aged 3-6 and this will be their first time learning English. Therefore I will be their FIRST EVER foreign teacher. I have heard horror stories about kindy classes cause they are so young and crazy but I can't help but be excited!!! My other new class is a beginners class so they will be at the same level as my kindergarten classes but they will be around 7-10 years old. Also very excited!

I officially have the same amount of regular classes as Rick but more hours than him! Hahaha I knew that bachelor's degree would be good for something

Apartment Hunt

Looking for an apartment is exhausting, frustrating, exciting, and fun.

Who would've thought it would be this complicated? If it is this hard to find a place to rent, finding a place to buy must suck.

That is all for today folks.

Slow Week

It has been a slow week in Taoyuan so far. Everyone had Thursday off for a national holiday and we have had quite a few other days off as well because we weren't given any subs. Even though it has been slow, a lot of things have happened.

We had our first Chinese lesson with our tutor Bobo. A lot of the teachers at Gloria go to her for lessons and even after one lesson, I already feel like I know a lot more than I used to! I can officially order my favourite kind of bubble tea without using my little piece of paper that had it written on Chinese. It is kind of weird how accomplished I feel whenever I order it in Chinese, just makes me more excited to keep on going and learn more. We go back on Tuesday, once a week for now. 

Another new thing that happened this week is that we went to Taipei to start the process to get our ARC. We have to go back in a week to continue the process but it was a lot of fun to go to Taipei just for a few hours. Really shows how close things are. We ended up going to Taipei again on Thursday night with Danielle for a night market. Lots of great food and one traumatizing experience seeing a turtle all cut up. Let's not talk about it.

The last exciting thing is I think we found our apartment! I am so excited and I don't want to jinx it so that is all for now. Back to writing my lesson plan for tomorrow morning..