14 June 2013

BIG DAY TODAY

Three reasons why today is a BIG day!

1. Today, my parents finally arrive!!!!!! After one delayed flight, and because of that delayed flight, a missed connecting flight, a night in Tokyo, they will be here at 1PM!!! Since I work at 1:15, Rick is headed to the airport to get them! On Fridays, I have a 4 hour break and usually I am too lazy to come home so I stay at the coffee shop down the street but today I will come home to see my parents!

2. I have my first demo today. A demo is where all the students' parents come and we basically put on a show for them to show them what they are paying for. I'm insanely stressed out about it. It's my first one, my co-teacher is new too so she has never had a demo either. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The class is a good class, except for three older kids who 100% don't want to be there and are ... a challenge, to say the least. Wish me luck. I might die.

3. We booked our tickets to Hong Kong!! We have a four day weekend in September off work so we decided to go somewhere! First we were thinking Singapore but then we started to look into Hong Kong. Which was cheaper so off to Hong Kong w ego! Plus its a shorter flight so more vacation time for us! Now we just have to book a place to stay, someone remind me to do that ASAP. Cause we all know Rick won't remember.

I probably won't have time to update a lot while my parents here so I hope everyone is enjoying reading the blog! Again, feel free to send us an e-mail if you have ANY questions at all! A couple people have e-mailed me and I am planning on making their questions (and any others) into a FAQ blog post. So send us some questions!


10 June 2013

Four Days

Until my parents arrive in Taiwan! They arrive here on Thursday night! The school I teach at on Thursdays is closer to the airport than Rick's school so I am going to meet them at the airport alone while Rick goes home and waits for us.

We've got some pretty exciting stuff planned for while they're here. We're headed to Green Island for three days, a bunch of day trips to Taipei, Formosa Fun Coast (water park), and we're going to try to do a day trip to Sun Moon Lake. I had a lot more in mind but my parents told me they didn't want a trip where they were always moving, they wanted it to be more relaxing.

My mother told me she'd be happy just sitting with me in my apartment for two weeks haha. I'm pretty excited to see them! It is going to be so weird to go from seeing them on Skype every day to seeing them in real life every day. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to say goodbye to them when it's time for them to go. But let's not think about that for another two weeks!

Anyway, we have this Wednesday off school for Dragon Boat Festival. Rick and I weren't planning on doing anything since my parents arrive the next day and we will be doing a lot then so our friends, Carly and Jason, asked us to watch their dog for the day, Pudding. I am so excited. I'm hoping that babysitting this dog will convince Rick that it's a great idea to get a dog. Cross your fingers!

See you soon mom and dad!

3 June 2013

Shihmen Reservoir, Hsinchu, and the Amazing Hospitality of the Taiwanese

Since our only real day off is Sunday, we always try to do something with it. Rather than just sit around and be lazy like we want to. Two Sundays ago, we went with another teacher from the South and met up with a Taiwanese girl named Sophie in Longtan. It was about a 45 minute scooter ride to get there, as a passenger, I can tell you that this scooter ride sucked. But we made it there and then got into Sophie's car.

While I haven't missed driving a car (considering I only had my license for two months before coming to Taiwan), I have missed just sitting back, relaxing, and riding in a car. Sophie was an amazing tour guide. She took us to Shihmen Reservoir in Longtan which is the reservoir where our water is supplied from. It was so massive and beautiful. Definitely worth the drive. There were a lot of hiking trails so we walked for awhile and then Sophie took us for lunch. Afterwards she took us to a few more stops and we thought our day was about to end.







Getting tired here....


Completely at ease in the car

Rick loved the rice patty fields



This wasn't the case. Her parents called and wanted to take us to a mountain in Hsinchu so off we went. They were such an adorable family and the nicest people ever. Again, I definitely appreciated the air conditioned van we were driving in. The mountain there was beautiful, such an amazing view of some rice patty fields in Hsinchu. While we were there, her mother announced that she was taking us out to dinner at a restaurant in Hsinchu so off we went. The food was amazing and she would not even think about letting us pay. We were so appreciative and they were so kind. 

Us with the beautiful town of Hsinchu behind us.



Rickie and I outside the restaurant we ate at


Our day ended and I hope to see Sophie and her family again. They were wonderful people and I hope that one day we can treat them to something.

Tiger Head Mountain

On a random Sunday off, Rick and I decided to go to Tiger Head Mountain. We had already been before but to a different part of it. Funny thing is, we actually thought we were at a completely different mountain but it was all Tiger Head. This area of Tiger Head had a bunch of different walking trails, some vendors, and a beautiful fountain. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The first of many stairs that we would climb that day.


Dog in a box. Rickie obviously took this picture.

Taking a break on one of the many swings that are throughout the mountain trails. 


 Rickie enjoying the beautiful views of Taoyuan while I lazily sit on a bench.

Street vendors, trying to find something to eat!

Beautiful fountain. Rickie was literally in love with it. So detailed.



View of Taoyuan. and a sleeping Asian lady.

Some shots of some of the types of vendors that were there. Turtles anyone?




Updates

It has been awhile since our last post but it feels like not a lot has happened and yet we have been so busy. Rick and I are both at full schedules now, so we have a lot of busy days. I'm actually at 23 hours while Rick is at 20.5. Our Wednesdays are both so full and my Saturday is exhausting but it is definitely worth the money. Starting this week I got from 10AM to 7:30 PM on Saturdays, four different classes, it will definitely be a tiring day.

The heat is getting to be a lot. I'm told it is going to get hotter so that makes me super nervous. We're pretty cheap with our air conditioning but we recently bought a fan and it makes a huge difference. The fan is a lifesaver!

My parents come to visit in less than two weeks so we are super excited about that! We have lots of fun days planned for when they get here. We're going to go to Green Island for a few days, a day trip to Sun Moon Lake, some day trips to Taipei and who knows what else. So there will be lots of blog posts then.

Lately we are just in a routine of teaching and relaxing. Trying to save money to pay off my student loan back home. But we have had a couple of really fun days. We spent one day at Tiger Head Mountain. Its located in the town we live in but it was a super fun day. Also we went to Shihmen Reservoir in Longtan and Hsinchu on another day.

Blog posts coming soon!