New Classes and Amazing Food

Not a lot has been going on lately. I have just been waiting for the teacher's college application to become available, which is SO frustrating. I just want to do it now. The thing that sucks is that there is the online application which is pretty straightforward but which isn't available yet. BUT each school I want to apply to also has an extra profile that I have to fill out and Brock, York and UOIT all have yet to release it. A big thank you to whomever works at Western and decided to be nice and let everyone see it early. Hopefully they are all pretty similar and I can just tweak each of my answers a little to fit the specific questions each school asks.

Anyway, Rick and I were both given new classes! Starting next Monday, we will both work from 9AM-3PM at a local elementary school. We are really only teaching for 3.5 hours (we teach 5 classes for 40 minutes each and get an hour lunch break), BUT we get paid for 4.5 hours of teaching so it is a pretty good gig. Plus the school is super close to our apartment. I am actually really excited for this because working at an actual elementary school will look really good (hopefully) on my teacher's college applications. Better than just working at the cram school that I work at. Rick is less excited about more work but the prospect of more money definitely excites him haha. For those of you who don't know, Rick is pretty stingy. So making money makes him really happy!

In other news, we went to Taipei for the day last Sunday. It was pouring rain literally all day long but we really didn't want to waste our one day off. We were originally planning on going to Yehliu where they have these beautiful natural rock formations but that will have to be saved for a sunny day. We went to Taipei just to eat some good food. Taoyuan has okay food but Taipei has AMAZING food.

Our first stop was Macho Tacos. We have both been hearing about this place for a long time and we were really excited. We love Mexican food and we were nowhere near disappointed. It was like being back home because I got to eat my favourite (soft shell tacos) and Rick got his favourite (hard shell tacos). We each tried chicken, taco meat, and pork and each one was so good. 

Our whole meal cost us $410 NT, so just about $13 CAD. We had three tacos each, a drink, and churros for dessert. Which were amazing. Definitely can't beat those prices compared to eating out in Canada. Rick and I are both fully aware about how cheap we are going to be when we come home, considering how we are so used to spending no money here.

Our next stop was 12 Cupcakes. Rick had been the week before without me and knowing full well how much I LOVE cupcakes, he didn't bring me one home. But he did promise to take me here and he came through on his promise. The cupcake shop itself was so cute and the cupcakes were definitely amazing. But the prices were ridiculous. It was really nice to go but we definitely won't be back anytime soon. We each got two cupcakes and I got a coffee and it cost us $410 NT, so about $13 CAD. THE SAME PRICE AS OUR ENTIRE MEAL AT MACHO TACOS. Insanity. The kinds we bought were red velvet with creme cheese icing, peanut butter and chocolate, and chocolate and salted caramel. Yummy, but expensive.

Even Atlas wanted a bite!

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.

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!

The Final Days of my Parents in Taiwan

As I said, we spent our last few days relaxing. Showing them around Taoyuan, where we used to live, where we used to hang out, our favourite places to eat. And of course we took them to Taipei to see 101, and have some amazing shaved ice. 

Here are some pictures of their last few days:

My mom met the man of her dreams..

Taipei 101

How could I forget! We went to Modern Toilet! This is the restaurant that is known for their slogan, "Shit or food? You decide!" I'm not even kidding. This restaurant has terrible reviews online about the high prices for the sub par so we were pleasantly surprised with our experience. The prices weren't ridiculous and the food was actually good, we definitely enjoyed our selves. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you can stomach it haha my mother wasn't too keen on eating out of a toilet but she managed!

If I thought that saying goodbye to my parents the first time was hard, I definitely wasn't prepared for it the second time. Especially the aftermath once they were gone. It was hard and made me miss home a lot. However, getting back into the swing of things in Taiwan helped a lot. Their visit just love and appreciate them that much more.

Around Kaohsiung

We decided to go on from Green Island to Kaohsiung since it was only a four hour train ride there as opposed to the longer train ride back to Taoyuan. Also my father had read a lot about Kaohsiung and was super excited to go there. So I booked us a room, booked us train tickets, and off we went.

The one bad thing about our trip to Kaohsiung was that I did not book an express train... ooooops. It ended up stopping every 20 minutes or so for at least five minutes, or more, at each stop. It was really annoying and we probably could've gotten there a lot faster but it was definitely a lesson learnt.

So we arrive in Kaohsiung and the hotel we booked at picked us up from the KMRT station. The staff at the hotel was super nice, even though they barely spoke any English, they were always trying. We didn't realize when we booked our hotel, but it was right beside Love River. Which is one of the main things we wanted to see in Kaohsiung. It was beautiful at night and we spent our night walking by the river and eating at a seafood restaurant close by.

The next day we checked out of the hotel, left our luggage there and off we went. First we went to Dream Mall. It is, apparently, the biggest mall in Southeast Asia and my mother wanted to do some shopping. It was a lot of fun and really big. While we were there, we went on a ferris wheel on the top of the building. People call it the Kaohsiung Eye, similar to the London Eye. It offered a really cool look at the city of Kaohsiung.

Next we went back to the hotel, picked our luggage up, and headed to Lotus Lake. We really wanted to see the Confucius Temple, along with the Lake itself. However the Confucius Temple was closed for renovations. So we made our way down the Lake and saw some beautiful temples and some great views of Kaohsiung.

After Lotus Lake, we were off to the High Speed Rail Station to come back to Taoyuan. Our travelling around Taiwan was finished and my parents still had a few more days left. We spent the rest of them relaxing after our long week of travelling, going to Taipei to see Taipei 101, and taking them to a nearby town called Yingge which is known for its pottery.

Green Island ft. the Pituls

Okay.. I have been slacking lately on the blog but moving on... MY PARENT'S CAME TO TAIWAN. I put ft. the Pituls in the title because maybe the Lococos will come visit us too one day! (Hint.. hint... nudge.. nudge.. wink.. wink......)

SOOO. My parents arrived, they were very tired after their long trip and we still had a couple days of work. So for the first few days, we just did little things with them. Took them to the Taipei Zoo, the Maokong Gondolas. And then we were off to Green Island. Our trip to Green Island started with an eight hour train ride that left at 6AM... such a joy. But the seats were comfortable and I mostly slept. While my mother spent 96% of the train ride taking pictures of what we went past. After the train ride, a taxi ride with a very friendly taxi driver and a pleasant ferry ride (read: extremely rough ferry ride), we were at Green Island!!

We met up with the people we booked our trip through and were taken to our eBikes. Now my mother wasn't sure about these bikes at first and said she would just use it as a normal bike. But by the end of the trip, she was a eBike professional. Weaving around pot holes and bumps in the road. Without the eBikes, Green Island wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable. While it is a small island (17 km around), there were no taxis at all so walking around the island would not have been an option. The eBikes took us everywhere and were a lot of fun to ride. We had a couple problems with the battery dying but the hostel owners were quick to help us and we were on our way.

Our hostel was also a lot better than I expected. A fellow teacher had told me to expect "rustic," when going into Green Island so my expectations were very low. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel was very clean and very comfortable. Air conditioning and a pretty nice shower. 

Included in our package was snorkeling. My father and Rick were very excited for this part while me and my mother were hesitant. We went out, got our flippers and all our gear, and stayed on land. My mom and I just couldn't get the hang of it so we told the boys to go off on their own and have a good time. Rick says that Green Island was the best snorkeling spot that he has ever been to, he saw so many different kinds of fish. They both loved snorkeling so much that they continued to snorkel four different times on our three days there.

The hot springs at Green Island were another highlight. They are one of the three only natural salt water hot springs in the world. The other two being in Italy and Japan. Rick and I have decided that we want to go to all three. The hot spring down by the beach wasn't open but we still enjoyed the other hot springs. It was beautiful. Nothing like the Beitou hot springs in Taipei which I found kind of dirty and off putting. These were so clean, and just so relaxing. We all had an amazing time.

Finally, the food. Green Island is known for its seafood since it is an island. Some of the seafood we ate was just okay.. some was amazing. We enjoyed eating so much. Every meal was a new adventure, and breakfast was included with the package that we booked! We also ate the best shaved ice that I have ever eaten while we were there. 

Here are some picture highlights of the trip!

The train ride

The ferry ride

Green Island

We booked our package through Green Island Adventures and I would recommend this company to anyone. I was originally worried about the payment method but everything went without a hitch. They made our time on Green Island amazing and without any difficulty. We booked the Relax package and had an amazing time. I cannot say enough good things about this company. We loved our time in Green Island and they are the sole reason why. Here is the link if anyone is interested! http://www.greenislandadventures.com/

From Green Island, we went on to Kaohsiung! Next blog post coming up!