Mini Adventures

September 26, 2009

Carrie and I finally leave the apartment to take in a few tourist experiences. Our school planned a day trip for the new Native English Speaking Teachers (NEST) aka it was free!! haha. Only a few decided to come but it was a still an exciting little day.

Highlights not in the video

Carrie tried some of the traditional Hakka food that I couldn't try because it was looking at me! Her face as she tried to de-shell the giant shirmp was priceless. Also her face after I told her the "meatloaf" tasting dish was squid and random seafood. She was unaware as they chose not to tell us what we were eating but I could see little tentacles in it, suction cups and all. Finally Carrie and two little girls were looking at fish in the pond and as Carrie pointed at one it jumped up out of the water and bit her finger! I would have paid money to see that happen. The litte girls thought it was the funniest thing ever!!


Episode Six

Just another Manic Monday

Monday, September 21, 2009

Monday....the beginning of another week at Korrnell. Luckily, Denise and I have a fairly relaxed Monday to start off our week.
A student who missed one week of class due to illness came back today. I found out he had the swinepox. Not sure if it's related at all to chicken pox but I had my first experience wearing a mask. I didn't wear it for very long though because it's hard to breathe in those! Don't they know it's hot out?

We found out on Saturday we are going on a little excursion with the NEST teachers. We're excited, it should be fun. We haven't done a lot of "touristy" things yet so this will be a nice change.

My care package came today! YAY! Thanks Mom, you're the best!

Episode 5

Shoppin

Sept 17th, 2009

Our fresh food supply was running a little low so Denise and I took a little trip with our buddy Berma to A-Mart. With our bags packed tight and our arms full, we knew we wouldn’t feel like making supper when we got home. McDonald’s it was…Denise had her first taste of the fries in about 3 years. Yes, I tattled.

Just a Wednesday

Sept 16th, 2009

Hump Day! Denise and I finally feel like we’ve started to get into a groove…except they keep throwing things at us. “Oh by the way…do this…by tomorrow.” Gee, thanks for the warning.

Parent's Night...

Sept 10th, 2009

Parent’s PTA evening. Arrived at school around 7:00am to start our day and left around 10:30pm or so. The teachers are expected to make a Powerpoint presentation to introduce themselves to the parents of each classroom they teach in. So, in other words, our nightmare. Parents are very vocal here about their children and their issues. It’s a completely different way of looking at things…what the parents say – goes!

Saturday Mayhem

Sept 5th, 2009

After our first week of teaching we have learned one very important thing…we are not the only ones who have no idea what’s going on. How refreshing…neither does anyone else at Korrnell. The things we do throughout the day are very ritualistic and in no way have anything to do with a normal school day. Korrnell is much more concerned with doing things the same way than doing them the right way or the best way. We were given some wise words of wisdom comparing ourselves to jellyfish. Just float along with the current, nod and smile and don’t ask any questions.

Wednesdays are our monthly NEST teacher meetings. We were told (not asked) that we would be going on a 10k bike ride. Umm, ok? Saturday morning, the one morning we were so looking forward to sleeping in, would be spent biking around Jhubei. It was for the Deaf Olympic Games so how could we say no? The day turned out beautiful and we wished we had showered. We’re probably on the news somewhere here in Taiwan. Pictures were taken left, right and centre. Played the drums with the Governor of Hsinchu!


Episode Three



After that week and our tiring bike ride, we were in high need of some beverages and a night out on the town. We did a little research on Hsinchu county nightlife…turns out, not a whole lot is happening! Found a little bar called “The Flying Pig” and made do with that.


Episode Four

Date Night

Sept 4th, 2009

Movie night. Denise and I stay in for a romantic evening to watch some movies together. We don’t quite feel like we’re spending enough time together so we thought we should stay in. Found a bootleg copy of “The Ugly Truth” on the internet. Shut the lights off, curled up on the couch…good to go!

Day One

August 31st, 2009

Our first teaching day at Korrnell Academy. It was hectic and confusing to say the least. We had no idea of our time table for the day or what we were expected to do. The whole day was in Chinese so we had no idea what was going on. Bilingual school? Really? Alive and kicking though…so we peg it a success.

Teacher Training

August 28th, 2009

Teacher training day. This consisted of telling us about the textbooks, a tour of the school, getting our textbooks (no teacher editions) and hearing what classes we would be teaching. That’s about it. Thanks?

The Zoo

August 27th, 2009

Now that we mastered the Hsinchu shuttle bus, we decided to take a little tourist trip and visit the Hsinchu Zoo. After walking/wandering around for about 1 hour or so…we managed to find the entrance.

Hsinchu (About 32 degrees and very humid)

We were told there was a free shuttle bus that would take us to Hsinchu city. Our apartment is within walking distance from the THSR so we wandered our way in that direction. Everything is of course written in Chinese and no one speaks English. We were on our own. Taking a chance with the only bus with English writing we got on. Thankfully we were successful! We rode the bus to the end of the line, and our hungry eyes spotted a beautiful yellow glowing arch. McDonalds! And breakfast nonetheless. This day is turning out great! Denise broke her 3 year ban on the food.

After our highly nutritious and satisfying meal we roamed around searching for the elusive Dongmen market. We must have stuck out like a sore thumb because a nice stranger could tell we were lost and pointed us in the right direction. The Dongmen “Market” in reality is a dark alley behind stores and buildings. Little old ladies sat on the ground selling fruit, meat, rice and clothing. We bought fruit, as it was the only food we could eat with no utensils. After buying cherries, oranges, bananas, grapes and some other fruit our total came to 541 NWT. We continued to wander around and stumbled across what looked like a mall. Thirteen floors of clothing and shoes later, we found housewares and groceries. Not being able to read 95% of the labels makes guessing what the food is a little game, and trying to cook it quite interesting.

After our first trip we bought:
Chicken
Rice
Soya sauce
Salt and pepper
Noodles
Bread (6 slices)
Jam
Mini croissants
Juice
Eggs
Sushi
A pot
For a grand total of about 1000 NWT

To eat our meals, we stopped at a 7/11 and bought paper plates, bowls, cups, a fruit knife and chopsticks.

Living it up Taiwan style.

The Adventure Begins...

August 19^th

Now two blondes along with their little brunette buddy, were on our way. Our flight was from Toronto to LA to Taipei airport. Total travel time averaging to about 22 hours. While being in the air we managed to lose a whole day, arriving in Taiwan on the 21^st.

We left Emily back at the airport to fend for herself, and we were swept away with our driver to take us to our school.

We got to Korrnell Academy around 7:30am and got an unnecessary tour of the school. Hungry, tired and sweaty we still had no place to live. Luckily, our supervisor Lee was able to help us with our living situation. Dorms? Apartment? Dorms? Apartment? The closest place to sleep and shower was the apartments. Decision made!

The first two days consisted of a lot of sleeping on our sectional couch. Jet lag is NOT a myth…it is very real, and very long. We had a place to shower and a place to sleep, 2 out of 3 of our problems were fixed. Point us to the food please!

Episode One

The Beginning...

Once upon a time, one brunette and one blonde were sitting in a bar talking about their next step and getting their next beer. The problem: with no money and no real jobs, what were we to do? The solution was so simple of course…teaching abroad!

With our guru Emily on board we knew we were set. The only question remaining now, where did we want to go?

South Korea? Nope Emily has been there, done that.

Japan? Too expensive.

Taiwan? Sounds good to me!

The hardest part of the whole process was convincing ourselves that it was actually happening. After many phone interviews late at night and people changing their minds (Emily!), the night came to book our flight. Talking via phone and msn we had to make sure we booked the flight together. Done and done. The countdown could begin.