Recently we took two little day trips to Lugong and Sun Moon Lake. Lugong we went and looked at some temples and street markets, and then went to the glass museum that I had previously taken my students to. Later that week, we went on a trip to Sun Moon Lake. It was beautiful, but quite chilly. By the way, thought you guys would be interested to know that I bought a jacket, scarf, and mittens!! Here are some pictures, I will try to write more soon! Sorry it’s been so long, time is flying. Plus it’s a crazy busy month subbing classes for a girl that went home for Christmas. We are going with some other NST’s to Hualien for Christmas, so hopefully we will have lots of pretty pictures and exciting stories to tell. Hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Earthquake!!!
Earthquake!! It finally happened. We experienced our first earthquake. It wasn’t a strong one, only a 4.7, but it was still exciting and very creepy. So were just watching a little TV at night before getting ready for bed, and we started to hear the doors and cabinets and everything rattling. It started to shake everything, and we could feel the building swaying back and forth. It wasn’t a strong sway, but it was still a very creepy feeling, especially being on the 8th floor of a building. A co-worker of ours mentioned that since he has been here, some have been strong enough that he has fallen out of bed. Now that would be really scary! It’s really an indescribable feeling, for people who haven’t experienced one; I don’t think I could describe the creepy-ness of the feeling. I’m sure it’s something that people just get used to and it doesn’t even faze them, but being from Minnesota, it definitely was a rush for us.
We dont have any really exciting plans for this weekend. The weather is really crappy right now. It has been raining all day, so we don’t really have any big plans for when Matt gets done teaching. It is not fun to ride scooter in the rain, so it might be lazy evening in. Hopefully its nicer tomorrow. That’s all for now! Love and miss you all!
We dont have any really exciting plans for this weekend. The weather is really crappy right now. It has been raining all day, so we don’t really have any big plans for when Matt gets done teaching. It is not fun to ride scooter in the rain, so it might be lazy evening in. Hopefully its nicer tomorrow. That’s all for now! Love and miss you all!
Friday, November 5, 2010
A little bit more!
I want to add one comment that one of the pictures is a shrimp that wouldnt let go of the bucket. Its grip was so strong it seemed like it was going to pick up the bucket! We couldnt get it to let go, they hardly even seem like shrimp but more like lobster with how big and strong they are. Although, they do have a nasty habit of losing their arms when you are pulling them up. One time, one got away from me but I pulled up his arm!
Also, when I said they put salt on the shrimp, I didnt mean a little bit. They dumped 5 or 6 scoops full of salt on it. Each scoop was probably around a cup of salt.
Also, when I said they put salt on the shrimp, I didnt mean a little bit. They dumped 5 or 6 scoops full of salt on it. Each scoop was probably around a cup of salt.
Shrimp Fishing
Hello again,
So we finally got to go shrimp fishing! Something that I have wanted to do since I discovered we were going to be coming to Taiwan, and it was as amazing as I thought it was. It’s a relatively inexpensive activity, a lot cheaper than going to a KTV or bar. You can rent a pole, or you just pay for two hours at a time. Everything you catch you put on the grill when your time is up and eat! We went with some of our fellow NST’s, which was a good thing as we are not professional fisherman like most of the Taiwanese that were there. One guy pulled up 27 shrimp by himself! As a group of eight, I believe we got 16 or 17. The very nice man gave us some of his shrimp, which are absolutely amazing. How you cook it up is wash the shrimp, put some salt on it, put it on a rack, and throw it on the grill! The shrimp are really huge, unlike anything I have seen back home! The “small” ones are like four inches long, and the large ones are like ten to twelve inches long. As a group we got two really large ones, Andy and Nicole (who were fishing together) and a different Matt caught two that must have been at least a couple pounds. The first catch was very exciting for everyone! A nice man helped me, so I never completely got a catch by myself. They did teach us some shrimp fishing techniques though. I look forward to going again. The fishing was a lot of fun, place it tastes absolutely amazing!
So we finally got to go shrimp fishing! Something that I have wanted to do since I discovered we were going to be coming to Taiwan, and it was as amazing as I thought it was. It’s a relatively inexpensive activity, a lot cheaper than going to a KTV or bar. You can rent a pole, or you just pay for two hours at a time. Everything you catch you put on the grill when your time is up and eat! We went with some of our fellow NST’s, which was a good thing as we are not professional fisherman like most of the Taiwanese that were there. One guy pulled up 27 shrimp by himself! As a group of eight, I believe we got 16 or 17. The very nice man gave us some of his shrimp, which are absolutely amazing. How you cook it up is wash the shrimp, put some salt on it, put it on a rack, and throw it on the grill! The shrimp are really huge, unlike anything I have seen back home! The “small” ones are like four inches long, and the large ones are like ten to twelve inches long. As a group we got two really large ones, Andy and Nicole (who were fishing together) and a different Matt caught two that must have been at least a couple pounds. The first catch was very exciting for everyone! A nice man helped me, so I never completely got a catch by myself. They did teach us some shrimp fishing techniques though. I look forward to going again. The fishing was a lot of fun, place it tastes absolutely amazing!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Temple and Glass Museum
Hello,
One of my favorite things about teaching is that we get to go on field trips! Today we went to Lugong, to a glass factory/museum. It was really pretty. It had beautiful blown glass from little trinkets to 4 foot high temples build all from glass. I didn’t get too many pictures, as I had other things I had to do, but I plan on taking Matt there soon enough so he can see it too. My favorite was a beautiful glass water lily pond, with a pretty bridge. There was also a really cool mirror map of Taiwan.
On our way back from the field trip, I saw a temple not too far from school that I had not seen before. So I directed Matt back there when we got off. It was really beautiful, although my pictures are pretty terrible because everything was so big that they couldn’t get in focus. Although we did find a charger for our nicer camera, so our pictures should be prettier now. Our old camera was just a 7 mega pixel camera, and is pretty outdated now. Especially since we want nice pictures of our time over here! Well, there was one nice man who was at the temple who spoke a little bit of English. Basically, it’s a temple dedicated to a general of the gods, as best as the guy could translate anyways. Well, it was pretty so I thought I would put up a few pictures.
By the way, it’s been pretty cold over here! We know you don’t feel bad for us, especially since you have already had a bit of snow, but for us it’s very chilly! It’s now even getting chillier in the evenings, maybe down to the 60’s or 70’s. You see a lot of people here now wearing big puffy jackets, or at least sweatshirts. We wear sweatshirts, and if you are in capri’s or sandals at night you will be cold, as I often am. We definitely will have to get jackets before we can attempt a longer drive, especially if it will extend into the evening.
We have an amusing little story about life here in Taiwan. We live in a quieter area, at least by Taiwanese standards. There is a road out front of our place, and every so often a lane will be blocked for a day or two for what seems to either be a mini-festival or something to the gods, or a funeral. Well, a while back a lane was blocked off for two days, and all traffic was diverted into the other lane. (That at least is not uncommon; lanes here are more suggestions than rules for a lot of streets.) The first night was relatively normal looking; they had food offerings and some traditional music. The second night however was a different story! They still had the tent up, but they were feasting on food, and watching Avatar!! They had set up a big projector, and it was playing on the side of the apartment building. We felt kind of bad driving right through it, but it was too late by the time we knew what was going on.
One of my favorite things about teaching is that we get to go on field trips! Today we went to Lugong, to a glass factory/museum. It was really pretty. It had beautiful blown glass from little trinkets to 4 foot high temples build all from glass. I didn’t get too many pictures, as I had other things I had to do, but I plan on taking Matt there soon enough so he can see it too. My favorite was a beautiful glass water lily pond, with a pretty bridge. There was also a really cool mirror map of Taiwan.
On our way back from the field trip, I saw a temple not too far from school that I had not seen before. So I directed Matt back there when we got off. It was really beautiful, although my pictures are pretty terrible because everything was so big that they couldn’t get in focus. Although we did find a charger for our nicer camera, so our pictures should be prettier now. Our old camera was just a 7 mega pixel camera, and is pretty outdated now. Especially since we want nice pictures of our time over here! Well, there was one nice man who was at the temple who spoke a little bit of English. Basically, it’s a temple dedicated to a general of the gods, as best as the guy could translate anyways. Well, it was pretty so I thought I would put up a few pictures.
By the way, it’s been pretty cold over here! We know you don’t feel bad for us, especially since you have already had a bit of snow, but for us it’s very chilly! It’s now even getting chillier in the evenings, maybe down to the 60’s or 70’s. You see a lot of people here now wearing big puffy jackets, or at least sweatshirts. We wear sweatshirts, and if you are in capri’s or sandals at night you will be cold, as I often am. We definitely will have to get jackets before we can attempt a longer drive, especially if it will extend into the evening.
We have an amusing little story about life here in Taiwan. We live in a quieter area, at least by Taiwanese standards. There is a road out front of our place, and every so often a lane will be blocked for a day or two for what seems to either be a mini-festival or something to the gods, or a funeral. Well, a while back a lane was blocked off for two days, and all traffic was diverted into the other lane. (That at least is not uncommon; lanes here are more suggestions than rules for a lot of streets.) The first night was relatively normal looking; they had food offerings and some traditional music. The second night however was a different story! They still had the tent up, but they were feasting on food, and watching Avatar!! They had set up a big projector, and it was playing on the side of the apartment building. We felt kind of bad driving right through it, but it was too late by the time we knew what was going on.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Hiking in Changhua
Hello,
So, today we did a little bit of hiking. We just went back up Mt. Bagua in Changhua to explore some more trails. There are quite a few, several miles worth anyways. So today we went up, intending to explore this area with some really cool planes, but instead stumbled upon this exhausting trail. There was easily 150 stairs, just on the section that we hiked. Wasn’t so bad going down, but it was terrible going up. The pollution wasn’t terrible either, so from the top of the mountain we could see all the way to Taichung. We were so tired from hiking back up the stairs that we didn’t even really explore the airplanes very much. We just wanted to get something cold to drink, so we headed back home. I am still scared to try sometimes some of the random things around town, so I mostly stick to bottled beverages instead of the stuff random carts will sell. Plus you don’t know what you’re getting. Matt and I tried a tea up at the Buddha a few weeks ago, that was really unique to say the least. Can’t really even say what the flavor was supposed to be, and it wasn’t horrible, but I like to know what I am getting. This is why we don’t play restaurant roulette as much as we used to. I am hoping to start learning Chinese soon, more than what I just pick up in school and stuff. There are a few places I have been picking stuff up, and I think I will be learning more formally soon. Best wishes to everyone at home!
So, today we did a little bit of hiking. We just went back up Mt. Bagua in Changhua to explore some more trails. There are quite a few, several miles worth anyways. So today we went up, intending to explore this area with some really cool planes, but instead stumbled upon this exhausting trail. There was easily 150 stairs, just on the section that we hiked. Wasn’t so bad going down, but it was terrible going up. The pollution wasn’t terrible either, so from the top of the mountain we could see all the way to Taichung. We were so tired from hiking back up the stairs that we didn’t even really explore the airplanes very much. We just wanted to get something cold to drink, so we headed back home. I am still scared to try sometimes some of the random things around town, so I mostly stick to bottled beverages instead of the stuff random carts will sell. Plus you don’t know what you’re getting. Matt and I tried a tea up at the Buddha a few weeks ago, that was really unique to say the least. Can’t really even say what the flavor was supposed to be, and it wasn’t horrible, but I like to know what I am getting. This is why we don’t play restaurant roulette as much as we used to. I am hoping to start learning Chinese soon, more than what I just pick up in school and stuff. There are a few places I have been picking stuff up, and I think I will be learning more formally soon. Best wishes to everyone at home!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Scooter!!
Hello,
So we have got a scooter!! Just a day ago, so we just took a few pictures of it so you could get an idea. It’s a 125cc Yamaha something or other. We have been taking it on some adventures around Changhua, which has been a lot of fun! We have spent several hours with just the wind in our hair since we got it…seeing some things we have seen before, but with a different perspective, and many things we have yet to see. We went and visited all of Baguashan Scenic Area tonight, which has some cool stuff. Unfortunately, it got dark so that picture taking became impossible at a point, although there were many cool things we saw we didn’t photograph. We also ate some really good squid, ostrich, and sashimi at a place in town that was before a very long, long walk. Here are a few pictures, I hope you enjoy!!
So we have got a scooter!! Just a day ago, so we just took a few pictures of it so you could get an idea. It’s a 125cc Yamaha something or other. We have been taking it on some adventures around Changhua, which has been a lot of fun! We have spent several hours with just the wind in our hair since we got it…seeing some things we have seen before, but with a different perspective, and many things we have yet to see. We went and visited all of Baguashan Scenic Area tonight, which has some cool stuff. Unfortunately, it got dark so that picture taking became impossible at a point, although there were many cool things we saw we didn’t photograph. We also ate some really good squid, ostrich, and sashimi at a place in town that was before a very long, long walk. Here are a few pictures, I hope you enjoy!!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Baguashan Buddha & Moon Festival
Hello!
So we have had a very busy last two weeks! I told you that there was a typhoon coming, and I have to say, that that typhoon was probably the most boring storm I have ever seen. We woke on Sunday morning, extremely excited, hoping to see some crazy rains and cool winds. Enough that would at least cancel school the next day. Instead we woke up to see that we had winds of about 20 mph and it rained for maybe 20 minutes all afternoon and evening. Needless to say, we had school the next day. However, we only taught Monday before we had a really long training on Tuesday (sad...our day off) and then it was Moon Festival!!
Moon Festival was very cool. One of my favorite things about Moon Festival was Tuesday night and all day and night of Wednesday, there were fireworks getting shot off everywhere. We could sit out on our balcony, under a brilliant full moon, and watch them go off in every direction. There is a wide variety of fireworks that people have. They have the ones that are legal probably nationwide back home that kids, and everyone else, plays with on the 4th of July like sparklers, noise makers, and little fountains. However, they also have the cool illegal ones that people in Minnesota will drive to South Dakota to get. Some people also manage to shoot off the ones that towns buy for the huge firework festivals! Im not sure if there are any laws regarding this, because there was a guy shooting the big ones off in the major intersection right by our balcony, and I watched a police man drive right by! I would have been very sad if the guy had stopped him, but it is a serious public safety hazard!
Moon Festival is actually several different myths important to Chinese culture, in which I am learned because we taught this in my Kindy class. One story is about the Moon Lady. Her husband had done the earth a great favor when he shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, he was given a pill of immortality by the Queen. However, his wife took the pill and discovered she could fly. She flew away in terror when she heard her husband calling her, all the way to the moon, where she remains to this day. Another legend surrounding Moon Festival is the Jade Rabbit. Three fairies turned themselves into old men and asked for food offerings from various animals. They all gave them food, but the rabbit had none, so he offered his body by jumping into the fire. The fairies were so touched that they asked the rabbit to come live on the moon in the Jade Palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit. The big traditions to do on Moon Festival are to eat Moon Cakes and grill with your family. It smelled absolutely fabulous all day on Moon Festival with people grilling outdoors, all sorts of fabulous food. Seafood, tofu, duck, eggs, and basically anything you can put on a skewer.
What we decided to do on Moon Festival was to go up to Baguashan and visit the Buddha. Also explore around as there is a ton of trails and other things to do up there. Its actually Baguashan Scenic Area, and its what is probably one of the most famous things about Changhua. Its what gets it in the foreigners travel guides anyways. It was a very pretty place. I wasn't feeling too well, which is a whole different story, so we didnt get to explore as much as we would have liked. I was just too hot and exhausted for much of that after the mile to 1.5 mile hike to get there, with the last little bit taking you up the mountain. This is the mountain you can see off the balcony pictures, unfortunately a building is in the way of the Buddha. I know this is the biggest Buddha for sure in Taiwan, I couldnt really say about any place else, but its enormous. Since I wasn't feeling well, I left the camera to Matt, so we didnt get the million and ten pictures I would have felt required to take, but we did get some nice ones of the trail we took to get up to the Buddha (which I took before I got too exhausted) and some great ones of the city. The view from up there is spectacular, high above the city with panoramic views. Its not the most beautiful city, but it gave us some idea of how large the place was we were living in. The Buddha looks no where near as huge on the picture as it does in real life. We also found a very cool snail on this really pretty water trail leading up to the top. Some of the bugs, snails, and things around here are just crazy, usually in an interesting way. I just love the tropical trees and vines up in the mountains, although this is not very rugged at all, and actually very well groomed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
So we have had a very busy last two weeks! I told you that there was a typhoon coming, and I have to say, that that typhoon was probably the most boring storm I have ever seen. We woke on Sunday morning, extremely excited, hoping to see some crazy rains and cool winds. Enough that would at least cancel school the next day. Instead we woke up to see that we had winds of about 20 mph and it rained for maybe 20 minutes all afternoon and evening. Needless to say, we had school the next day. However, we only taught Monday before we had a really long training on Tuesday (sad...our day off) and then it was Moon Festival!!
Moon Festival was very cool. One of my favorite things about Moon Festival was Tuesday night and all day and night of Wednesday, there were fireworks getting shot off everywhere. We could sit out on our balcony, under a brilliant full moon, and watch them go off in every direction. There is a wide variety of fireworks that people have. They have the ones that are legal probably nationwide back home that kids, and everyone else, plays with on the 4th of July like sparklers, noise makers, and little fountains. However, they also have the cool illegal ones that people in Minnesota will drive to South Dakota to get. Some people also manage to shoot off the ones that towns buy for the huge firework festivals! Im not sure if there are any laws regarding this, because there was a guy shooting the big ones off in the major intersection right by our balcony, and I watched a police man drive right by! I would have been very sad if the guy had stopped him, but it is a serious public safety hazard!
Moon Festival is actually several different myths important to Chinese culture, in which I am learned because we taught this in my Kindy class. One story is about the Moon Lady. Her husband had done the earth a great favor when he shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, he was given a pill of immortality by the Queen. However, his wife took the pill and discovered she could fly. She flew away in terror when she heard her husband calling her, all the way to the moon, where she remains to this day. Another legend surrounding Moon Festival is the Jade Rabbit. Three fairies turned themselves into old men and asked for food offerings from various animals. They all gave them food, but the rabbit had none, so he offered his body by jumping into the fire. The fairies were so touched that they asked the rabbit to come live on the moon in the Jade Palace, where he became the Jade Rabbit. The big traditions to do on Moon Festival are to eat Moon Cakes and grill with your family. It smelled absolutely fabulous all day on Moon Festival with people grilling outdoors, all sorts of fabulous food. Seafood, tofu, duck, eggs, and basically anything you can put on a skewer.
What we decided to do on Moon Festival was to go up to Baguashan and visit the Buddha. Also explore around as there is a ton of trails and other things to do up there. Its actually Baguashan Scenic Area, and its what is probably one of the most famous things about Changhua. Its what gets it in the foreigners travel guides anyways. It was a very pretty place. I wasn't feeling too well, which is a whole different story, so we didnt get to explore as much as we would have liked. I was just too hot and exhausted for much of that after the mile to 1.5 mile hike to get there, with the last little bit taking you up the mountain. This is the mountain you can see off the balcony pictures, unfortunately a building is in the way of the Buddha. I know this is the biggest Buddha for sure in Taiwan, I couldnt really say about any place else, but its enormous. Since I wasn't feeling well, I left the camera to Matt, so we didnt get the million and ten pictures I would have felt required to take, but we did get some nice ones of the trail we took to get up to the Buddha (which I took before I got too exhausted) and some great ones of the city. The view from up there is spectacular, high above the city with panoramic views. Its not the most beautiful city, but it gave us some idea of how large the place was we were living in. The Buddha looks no where near as huge on the picture as it does in real life. We also found a very cool snail on this really pretty water trail leading up to the top. Some of the bugs, snails, and things around here are just crazy, usually in an interesting way. I just love the tropical trees and vines up in the mountains, although this is not very rugged at all, and actually very well groomed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Our apartment in Changhua
Hello again!
So sorry that we haven’t written! It didn’t seem as long for us as it actually has been since we have been so busy. We are starting to get adjusted and feeling more comfortable as teachers. At first it was a lot of hard work (not that it still isn’t) and a lot of hours spent agonizing over lesson plans and grading. It still takes us a lot longer than the other teachers, but that is to be expected since it has only been a month.
We are starting to settle in some in Changhua. We have two wonderful little kitties that were rescued from the streets! Pizi, which we are told in Chinese means something like Lothario, and Xiao, which means little or small, have helped made this place feel much more like a home. And Xiao is super little. You can see in a picture below that she is about the size of a neck pillow. Pizi is a very cute, funny looking city. I think he looks like one of those black and white cows, in the best possible way. Our apartment could still use a lot of work, but things move slowly around here and as for cosmetic fixing up that is pretty much for the residents and not the building management. So that means we have some gross areas on the walls that could use a coat of paint and the tiles on our balcony are falling off, but it’s structurally sound for the most part! The AC in the living room is broken, which is a huge pain. Although it’s not as hot as when we got here, it’s still in the 90’s every day. We have temporarily moved the TV into our bedroom, just so that we can have a space where we can cool off and relax after teaching long hours or when it is raining outside. Its typhoon season, and although we have not gotten one yet we have our fingers crossed! We are supposed to be getting one this weekend, but I am not so secretly hoping that it holds out a little longer and we will get Monday off work :) Typhoon days here are the snow days of back home, so a teacher can dream.
Sorry for not getting pictures of our apartment up sooner! We actually are having some difficulties locating the camera charger, so we might have to replace it. We’re hoping it’s not too difficult to replace, because I believe it was made in Taiwan, or that it just shows up one day soon. So I have had to take these pictures from our old camera, making the quality really not that great. Most of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, just basic ones from around our apartment. I also have a few pictures of the view from the 2nd balcony, where we do laundry and which looks over the park, some buildings, and on to the mountains. Also, I really love our Koi and turtle pond/fountain, but the turtles where not cooperating and the weather was starting to get bad so use your imagination. It actually looks a lot cooler than it is. We do have a really weird elephant slide out front too. Mostly I have seen children play on it (you can’t actually slide down it because it’s concrete) but I have seen a neighbor’s very cute beagle play on it also. I’ll try to write more often! I hope everything is going well for you back home!
So sorry that we haven’t written! It didn’t seem as long for us as it actually has been since we have been so busy. We are starting to get adjusted and feeling more comfortable as teachers. At first it was a lot of hard work (not that it still isn’t) and a lot of hours spent agonizing over lesson plans and grading. It still takes us a lot longer than the other teachers, but that is to be expected since it has only been a month.
We are starting to settle in some in Changhua. We have two wonderful little kitties that were rescued from the streets! Pizi, which we are told in Chinese means something like Lothario, and Xiao, which means little or small, have helped made this place feel much more like a home. And Xiao is super little. You can see in a picture below that she is about the size of a neck pillow. Pizi is a very cute, funny looking city. I think he looks like one of those black and white cows, in the best possible way. Our apartment could still use a lot of work, but things move slowly around here and as for cosmetic fixing up that is pretty much for the residents and not the building management. So that means we have some gross areas on the walls that could use a coat of paint and the tiles on our balcony are falling off, but it’s structurally sound for the most part! The AC in the living room is broken, which is a huge pain. Although it’s not as hot as when we got here, it’s still in the 90’s every day. We have temporarily moved the TV into our bedroom, just so that we can have a space where we can cool off and relax after teaching long hours or when it is raining outside. Its typhoon season, and although we have not gotten one yet we have our fingers crossed! We are supposed to be getting one this weekend, but I am not so secretly hoping that it holds out a little longer and we will get Monday off work :) Typhoon days here are the snow days of back home, so a teacher can dream.
Sorry for not getting pictures of our apartment up sooner! We actually are having some difficulties locating the camera charger, so we might have to replace it. We’re hoping it’s not too difficult to replace, because I believe it was made in Taiwan, or that it just shows up one day soon. So I have had to take these pictures from our old camera, making the quality really not that great. Most of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, just basic ones from around our apartment. I also have a few pictures of the view from the 2nd balcony, where we do laundry and which looks over the park, some buildings, and on to the mountains. Also, I really love our Koi and turtle pond/fountain, but the turtles where not cooperating and the weather was starting to get bad so use your imagination. It actually looks a lot cooler than it is. We do have a really weird elephant slide out front too. Mostly I have seen children play on it (you can’t actually slide down it because it’s concrete) but I have seen a neighbor’s very cute beagle play on it also. I’ll try to write more often! I hope everything is going well for you back home!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Hello,
We have not had much time to write, or really a whole lot of really interesting stuff to write about lately. We have been working a lot, along with all the little and big things associated with moving. We do not have internet yet (although we are somehow connected at the moment) so we havent been able to keep up with much. We have a place in Chang-Hua! It is a very nice place, if you dont take into account that we haven't figured out what all our light switches do, and some wiring does not work at all. However, we really like it and for anyone who is able to visit, you have room here! We are living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom (western bathrooms!) apartment, with a nice little bonus Japanese room! I love that even though it is about twice the size of our place in the States, we are paying less than $400 USD a month! This is not common in Taiwan, we are just in a small city. Even in Chang-Hua standards, it seems like we got a good deal. We hope to get up pictures as soon as possible. The place was pretty gross though when we moved in so we will not be posting pictures until we have had time to properly scour the place. Hopefully we will have time this weekend to get to things, as Matt has the whole weekend off and I only teach one class on Saturday!
Although we dont have any pictures of Chang-Hua yet, we still have some really cool stuff from Taipei. We went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. It is an absolutely beautiful place, and huge, although it was way too hot to explore as much as we would like when we were there. It has the main building, with a huge statue of Chiang Kai Shek inside of it, and two buildings on both sides of the central walkway. The main hall has 89 stairs leading up to it, to commemorate the 89 years of his life, or so our tour guide for the afternoon (one of our trainers) told us. So I hope you like the pictures!
We have not had much time to write, or really a whole lot of really interesting stuff to write about lately. We have been working a lot, along with all the little and big things associated with moving. We do not have internet yet (although we are somehow connected at the moment) so we havent been able to keep up with much. We have a place in Chang-Hua! It is a very nice place, if you dont take into account that we haven't figured out what all our light switches do, and some wiring does not work at all. However, we really like it and for anyone who is able to visit, you have room here! We are living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom (western bathrooms!) apartment, with a nice little bonus Japanese room! I love that even though it is about twice the size of our place in the States, we are paying less than $400 USD a month! This is not common in Taiwan, we are just in a small city. Even in Chang-Hua standards, it seems like we got a good deal. We hope to get up pictures as soon as possible. The place was pretty gross though when we moved in so we will not be posting pictures until we have had time to properly scour the place. Hopefully we will have time this weekend to get to things, as Matt has the whole weekend off and I only teach one class on Saturday!
Although we dont have any pictures of Chang-Hua yet, we still have some really cool stuff from Taipei. We went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. It is an absolutely beautiful place, and huge, although it was way too hot to explore as much as we would like when we were there. It has the main building, with a huge statue of Chiang Kai Shek inside of it, and two buildings on both sides of the central walkway. The main hall has 89 stairs leading up to it, to commemorate the 89 years of his life, or so our tour guide for the afternoon (one of our trainers) told us. So I hope you like the pictures!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Random Tidbits
So I have some random things that I feel like sharing about Taiwan. We haven’t really been able to get out much since we have been super busy with training, and then exhausted once we are done in the evening. We do about 9 to 10 hours a day, and then we have had to a few times to some lesson planning outside of class, which has taken anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours. So we have been very busy but loving it so far!
First of all, they do not have large outdoor garbage cans like they do back in the States. Taiwan has garbage trucks that come around at regular times that play what we all think of as ice cream truck music! At the moment (Im not sure if all provinces use the same tune or if they switch it up) it is playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise. When the music starts coming, everyone brings out their garbage and throws it in the truck. I guess some foreigners get really excited the first time they hear this and run out with money hoping for a treat! They also seem to come at almost all hours of the day, or perhaps it’s more of an evening thing, because we have heard them as late as 10 at night.
Also, fireworks are a pretty big thing here! And not like, “Oh, it’s a holiday, lets shoot off some fireworks” but on random days. I heard that it is supposed to be done on days that are significant, such as births, weddings, and the like, but it is really quite shocking when you’re not expecting it. The other day on our walk to school we were walking by this guy, and he just lays out this massive roll of extremely loud fireworks right in the street! This is not a small street by any means, at least two lanes each way plus a “anything goes” shoulder. The Taiwanese are all just driving by on their scooters and such not paying any mind while a group of us foreigners just about jump out of our skins. We hear some rather hilarious anecdotes from our trainers, who have all been here several years at least, about foreigners coming from violent areas who freak out. I guess one set of girls who when they first heard the random fireworks flattened themselves on the ground thinking it was guns! Thankfully, Taiwan has an extremely low crime rate so if we hear “gunshot” type sounds, we can say pretty confidently that it is just fireworks.
Anyone who knew me, Amy, back in the States knows that I had a pretty serious caffeine addiction. While, since coming to Taiwan I have pretty much gone without it! (It was going to be a lot more entertaining to say that I had not had a caffeinated beverage since arriving in Taiwan, but unfortunately I did have one on Friday and boatloads today). Although you can get soda at 7 Eleven’s here, and coffee is abundant, it’s not a very common thing to drink. It is not very refreshing in this extremely hot weather, and if you don’t drink it really quick it will be hot in like 10 minutes. Also, Pepsi products are not common, and I have yet to see a diet coke, just coke zero. Basically, if it’s not Coke Classic, Zero, Orange or Sprite, I do not believe I have seen it here.
So I hope you enjoyed my random thoughts for the day! We will be moving out to our branch in a few days so we should hopefully have something more interesting to write about soon!
First of all, they do not have large outdoor garbage cans like they do back in the States. Taiwan has garbage trucks that come around at regular times that play what we all think of as ice cream truck music! At the moment (Im not sure if all provinces use the same tune or if they switch it up) it is playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise. When the music starts coming, everyone brings out their garbage and throws it in the truck. I guess some foreigners get really excited the first time they hear this and run out with money hoping for a treat! They also seem to come at almost all hours of the day, or perhaps it’s more of an evening thing, because we have heard them as late as 10 at night.
Also, fireworks are a pretty big thing here! And not like, “Oh, it’s a holiday, lets shoot off some fireworks” but on random days. I heard that it is supposed to be done on days that are significant, such as births, weddings, and the like, but it is really quite shocking when you’re not expecting it. The other day on our walk to school we were walking by this guy, and he just lays out this massive roll of extremely loud fireworks right in the street! This is not a small street by any means, at least two lanes each way plus a “anything goes” shoulder. The Taiwanese are all just driving by on their scooters and such not paying any mind while a group of us foreigners just about jump out of our skins. We hear some rather hilarious anecdotes from our trainers, who have all been here several years at least, about foreigners coming from violent areas who freak out. I guess one set of girls who when they first heard the random fireworks flattened themselves on the ground thinking it was guns! Thankfully, Taiwan has an extremely low crime rate so if we hear “gunshot” type sounds, we can say pretty confidently that it is just fireworks.
Anyone who knew me, Amy, back in the States knows that I had a pretty serious caffeine addiction. While, since coming to Taiwan I have pretty much gone without it! (It was going to be a lot more entertaining to say that I had not had a caffeinated beverage since arriving in Taiwan, but unfortunately I did have one on Friday and boatloads today). Although you can get soda at 7 Eleven’s here, and coffee is abundant, it’s not a very common thing to drink. It is not very refreshing in this extremely hot weather, and if you don’t drink it really quick it will be hot in like 10 minutes. Also, Pepsi products are not common, and I have yet to see a diet coke, just coke zero. Basically, if it’s not Coke Classic, Zero, Orange or Sprite, I do not believe I have seen it here.
So I hope you enjoyed my random thoughts for the day! We will be moving out to our branch in a few days so we should hopefully have something more interesting to write about soon!
Monday, July 26, 2010
We know where we are going!!
Hello everyone,
We have finally found out where it is we are going to be living for the next year at least. We are going to be living in Changhua City, which is in west central Taiwan. It is only about 20 minutes outside of the third largest city, Taichung. Changhua is a pretty small town, of about 230,000 people. Its not too much of a touristy town, but it does have the biggest Buddha statue on the island, and is surrounded by pretty mountains I'm told.
We will be working in the biggest branch that our company has, with around 1000 students. There will be at least seven other NST's (Native Speaking Teachers, like us!) at the school. We will be teaching all ages and skill levels. They are being really amazing, and trying to keep our working hours similar so that we are not constantly working opposite hours, like we were back in Minnesota. They are also looking around to find a couple options for apartments for us to look at when we get done with training next week, and we may be lucky enough that they find a furnished place!
On Saturday, we went to the Taipei Zoo. Two words, freakin' huge. It is about 4x the size of the San Diego Zoo, and man did our feet hurt at the end of the day. It was an absolutely fantastic place though. They had a Formosan section (Formosa is another name for Taiwan, the Portugese called it that when they "discovered" this place) which was very neat. There were some Formosan Monkeys which were highly entertaining. They were playing around on their trees/islands, which were surrounded by water, when all of a sudden a monkey did a cannonball into the water and started to swim around! Which wasn't a bad idea because it had to be at least 95 degrees outside at that point. Shortly after that, we got our first true experience with the weather we had been expecting from the start... massive amounts of rain. It poured for at least two hours. Even underneath an umbrella, we were very wet. At one point, we tried to walk through a "puddle" that turned out to be a small lake. Not exaggerating, it was at least three inches deep! On one photo you can kind of see just how hard it is raining, and if you look real close you can see a crocodile. Although we got very wet, it was an amazing day. We got to see lots of cool animals, and the actual zoo atmosphere is fantastic. The zoo was built into the mountains, and the plants and natural habit just added to the experience. Also, we found it really entertaining when walking through the "temperate zone" to see how amazed the locals were at a beaver. They also went absolutely crazy over the mountain lion. I imagine its something like us when we see a monkey in the wild, just grabbing our cameras and snapping away like crazy. We did get to see Pandas and Koalas too! Basically, it was a fabulous day and we hope you enjoy our pictures!
We have finally found out where it is we are going to be living for the next year at least. We are going to be living in Changhua City, which is in west central Taiwan. It is only about 20 minutes outside of the third largest city, Taichung. Changhua is a pretty small town, of about 230,000 people. Its not too much of a touristy town, but it does have the biggest Buddha statue on the island, and is surrounded by pretty mountains I'm told.
We will be working in the biggest branch that our company has, with around 1000 students. There will be at least seven other NST's (Native Speaking Teachers, like us!) at the school. We will be teaching all ages and skill levels. They are being really amazing, and trying to keep our working hours similar so that we are not constantly working opposite hours, like we were back in Minnesota. They are also looking around to find a couple options for apartments for us to look at when we get done with training next week, and we may be lucky enough that they find a furnished place!
On Saturday, we went to the Taipei Zoo. Two words, freakin' huge. It is about 4x the size of the San Diego Zoo, and man did our feet hurt at the end of the day. It was an absolutely fantastic place though. They had a Formosan section (Formosa is another name for Taiwan, the Portugese called it that when they "discovered" this place) which was very neat. There were some Formosan Monkeys which were highly entertaining. They were playing around on their trees/islands, which were surrounded by water, when all of a sudden a monkey did a cannonball into the water and started to swim around! Which wasn't a bad idea because it had to be at least 95 degrees outside at that point. Shortly after that, we got our first true experience with the weather we had been expecting from the start... massive amounts of rain. It poured for at least two hours. Even underneath an umbrella, we were very wet. At one point, we tried to walk through a "puddle" that turned out to be a small lake. Not exaggerating, it was at least three inches deep! On one photo you can kind of see just how hard it is raining, and if you look real close you can see a crocodile. Although we got very wet, it was an amazing day. We got to see lots of cool animals, and the actual zoo atmosphere is fantastic. The zoo was built into the mountains, and the plants and natural habit just added to the experience. Also, we found it really entertaining when walking through the "temperate zone" to see how amazed the locals were at a beaver. They also went absolutely crazy over the mountain lion. I imagine its something like us when we see a monkey in the wild, just grabbing our cameras and snapping away like crazy. We did get to see Pandas and Koalas too! Basically, it was a fabulous day and we hope you enjoy our pictures!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Our First Post
Hi everyone!
We have arrived, are relatively well-rested, and enjoying ourselves in Taiwan so far! The flights over were horrendously long, but Matt says he really enjoyed seeing some cool airports. I dont particularly enjoy any aspects of flying, but it got us here so thats what counts. We haven't had a lot of time yet to explore, as we have been jet-lagged and my feet got swollen on the 14 hour flight from Chicago to Seoul. However, we have gotten to explore the area where our hotel is located, had some really good food, and been able to see some of the amazing sights Taipei has to offer. This morning we went to Taipei 101, currently the second tallest building in the world, where we travelled from the 5th floor all the way up to the 89th floor in 37 seconds. It has the Guinness Record for fastest elevators in the world at 1010 m/min. It was quite a trip! Even being relatively terrified of heights, I did not get scared in the least bit (except a bit before we even got on the elevator). The view was simply spectacular! The pictures can not describe how beautiful the mountains surrounding this massive city are. Matt thinks that without a doubt it was the single most spectacular thing he has ever seen.
Also, the heat here in Taipei is terrible. It has been hot and humid every day, and unlike back home in Minnesota, the temperature does not cool off that much in the evenings, at least during the summer months. Even last night around eleven, both Matt and I got really hot walking around looking for some food to eat. 7-Elevens are nearly around every corner here, it seems like there is one on every block. We have discovered cold tea that is bottled just like soda. They taste amazing and really quench your thirst when walking down the street. We had our first experience today with the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) today. Matt has never been on a subway before, but we discovered that it is quite easy to figure out the maps and transfers and is very convenient. We got from near our hotel to Taipei 101 and back for around $2US. That's about it for now, check back frequently for updates.
We have arrived, are relatively well-rested, and enjoying ourselves in Taiwan so far! The flights over were horrendously long, but Matt says he really enjoyed seeing some cool airports. I dont particularly enjoy any aspects of flying, but it got us here so thats what counts. We haven't had a lot of time yet to explore, as we have been jet-lagged and my feet got swollen on the 14 hour flight from Chicago to Seoul. However, we have gotten to explore the area where our hotel is located, had some really good food, and been able to see some of the amazing sights Taipei has to offer. This morning we went to Taipei 101, currently the second tallest building in the world, where we travelled from the 5th floor all the way up to the 89th floor in 37 seconds. It has the Guinness Record for fastest elevators in the world at 1010 m/min. It was quite a trip! Even being relatively terrified of heights, I did not get scared in the least bit (except a bit before we even got on the elevator). The view was simply spectacular! The pictures can not describe how beautiful the mountains surrounding this massive city are. Matt thinks that without a doubt it was the single most spectacular thing he has ever seen.
Also, the heat here in Taipei is terrible. It has been hot and humid every day, and unlike back home in Minnesota, the temperature does not cool off that much in the evenings, at least during the summer months. Even last night around eleven, both Matt and I got really hot walking around looking for some food to eat. 7-Elevens are nearly around every corner here, it seems like there is one on every block. We have discovered cold tea that is bottled just like soda. They taste amazing and really quench your thirst when walking down the street. We had our first experience today with the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) today. Matt has never been on a subway before, but we discovered that it is quite easy to figure out the maps and transfers and is very convenient. We got from near our hotel to Taipei 101 and back for around $2US. That's about it for now, check back frequently for updates.
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