The Christmas Spirit Is Taking My Soul Captive

Saturday, after a day of walking around NOVA and comparing prices for printers and Ee PC's (Boyfriend is obsessed with these adorable "cuteness" laptops) Boyfriend took me to Starbucks because I have been craving a Chai latte and I was sure Starbucks would have it...much to my dismay, Starbucks in Taiwan does NOT sell Spiced Chai Latte...oh what cruel fate!

So, I had a Gingerbread Latte instead and boyfriend and I shared a slice of pecan pie and Oreo Cheesecake...

It was so wonderful!!! They were playing Christmas music, Boyfriend and I sat in comfy chairs and after that first sip of the latte (which tasted like pumpkin pie) I felt like it was Thanksgiving. Boyfriend even took me to get Turkey Rice earlier that day and the turkey tasted sooo good!! Boyfriend even fell asleep for about an hour in his comfy chair while I was cherishing the moment with my pumpkin pie tasting latte...I was in my element!!!

Unfortunately the creamy and rich food and drink didn't agree with Boyfriend's tummy so he was miserable the rest of the night...

But he stuck it out for a little while and took me to a store where they sell ALL Christmas stuff!!!! I found the ornaments I'm going to put on my Christmas tree. But the Christmas tree that I wanted for my apartment which was small was NT$4,999!!!!! That is €100!!!!!! Are you effin kiding me?! And it was fake!!
Luckily, Geant has one for only NT$199(€5) and Hola has one for around NT$400(€8) so that's good!

Then Boyfriend bought me a secented oil lamp (Beatrix Potter). You put a little bit of water in then 3 drops of scented/aromatherapy oil in the water, turn it on and as it hats up it makes the room smell nice. I needed a small lamp for my room anyway and I am so happy to have this as it emits such a soft and warm glow and makes my apartment more comfortable which is what I need!! I love it!!

I'm a Cancer (starsign) so I need comfort in my home and this helps!

So then Sunday, Boyfriend went to his sanctuary while I went to mine. See, Boyfriend is converting to Christianity (and, ironically, I'm converting to Buddhism/Taoism) and is looking for churches here as opposed to in Taipei...I told him I would go in with him, but I really did NOT want to hear the negative comments about how I am sinning and blah blah blah because my beliefs are with Buddhism/Taoism. I am at a very sensitive stage in my life with religion and it is something I need to do myself and the last thing I want is to be pushed!!!! Boyfriend is VERY good at understanding where I'm at...unfortunately I am not as sensitive to his choice as I should be...I tend to be VERY skeptical when he starts talking to me about the church.

Soooooo, while he was at church finding his sanctuary, I found mine...at the National Taichung Library!! I went in, and fileld out the application by myself (Luckily almost everything there is in Chinese AND English) and wen to the English book section and found two books:

Wild Kids by Chang Ta-Chun: About a 14-year-old Taiwanese boy who drops out of school and immerses himself in the underground world of Taiwan in the 80's.

Foreign Babes in Beijing by Rachel Dewoskin: About a 21-year-old American girl who leaves to work for an American PR firm in Beijing and ends up being a star for a "Sex and the City"-esque TV show in Beijing...

So Boyfriend and I decided that every Sunday we will find out own respective "Sanctuaries" from 15:30-16:45...:)

Well, that's all for now: Typhoon's a comin and I want to do my Chinese homework now so that I can start reading one of my library books tonight after work :)


"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
-Charles Dickens

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul."

-Henry Ward Beecher


Since today is Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post a personal "What I'm Grateful For" blog.

So here it is:

1. I am grateful for my mom and stepdad and the BooBoo. They truly have been there for me and have helped me sort out my life and are still helping me. I am sure I put them through a bit of a hell with some of the mistakes I made (ahem..Germany)...and I am so sorry that I still put them through hell sometimes...but I am very VERY lucky to have such great parents! I love you guys so much!!

2. I am grateful for my job. I have finally found a job where I feel like I'm doing some good...maybe not entirely, but I am on my way! I am doing something worthwhile and am helping others. I am sooo lucky to be working at the branch I am at as they have been WONDERFUL!!!!! I've heard so many horror stories about Chinese Teachers and English Schools and branches and so far, I haven't had problems....YET!! But it gives me hope :)
Also, my students are great and it is such a great feeling to have one of the Chinese teachers tell you that the kids ask about if you if you didn't teach that day and when you walk around the school and students you don't even have say "Hi Teacher Bre!!"

It puts a big smile on my face!!

3. We all should be grateful for ANY and ALL opportunities that are given to us. I was given a chance to live out my dream (live in Asia) even if it is only in baby-steps...Not many people get such chances. I also get to do something else that I love and that is learn Chinese...now granted..I originally wanted to learn Japanese, and maybe someday, but have grown to really love Mandarin!! It is extremely hard and a challenge, but I feel so good when I finish my Chinese homework and when I finally start to recognize characters such as:

she: 她
he: 他

4. I am extremely grateful that I have been given many chances to start my life over. As I said before, not many people get even a second a chance to start their life anew so I am very lucky to have had these chances and see the err of my ways...chances are I won't be given another chance to start my life anew so I need to treasure and work hard at this one right here...


I am grateful for everything that has happened to me good AND bad...if the "bad" things didn't happen, i wouldn't be here today and I probably wouldn't be happy. I am learning and have learned so much! I learn something new everyday and that is one of the MANY things that keeps me happy here...

I am grateful for many other things and people, but I need to go and get ready for classes (or go take a nap) ;)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Seeing (RED)

http://joinred.blogspot.com/

http://www.joinred.com/products/apple/

I have decided to virtually go (RED) this Christmas and support joinred.com

When you buy (RED) products the proceeds go to fight AIDS...I have been wanting an iPod for forever anyway and when I saw the (RED) iPod shuffle I squealed like a lil piggy! I love it!!!!! So I am asking for it for Christmas-it's sooo cute!!

http://www.apple.com/ipod/red/

Actually, no news on the Taiwan/Taichung front or the teaching front...theings are pretty cool so far...


Oh and one more thing:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

As for me, my thanksgiving will be spent teaching but boyfriend said he'd take me for Turkey Rice this weekend so I'll be having Thanksgiving Taiwanese Style ;)

TTYL
Bre:)

Chinese Classes Level 2

This is my test that I took on Tuesday..well, only the first page...the second page is Buh Puh Muh Fuh's for the oral test...I was the ONLY one in the class to get a 100...and as you can see I got 7 extra points because I answered two difficult questions correctly first in the review. I told you I was the nerd in the class ;)

Speaking of Buh Puh Muh Fuh...mom said I should explain to my audience what Buh Puh Muh Fuh is...

ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ ㄉ ㄊ ㄋ ㄌ...
Buh Puh Muh Fuh Duh Tuh Nuh Luh...

These symbols are used to teach pronunciation and to ease learners into the symbols...
Basically it weens us off the romanization/pinyin (using Roman Alphabet).
It also helps us learn stroke order for when we do learn to write the actual Chinese characters...

So today was my first day for Chinese level 2 and lemme tell ya: I have my work cut out for me! If you all thought I was working hard on level one just wait because I am going to have to work even harder!!!!

ㄅㄆ ㄇ ㄈ's are really only between 1-4 strokes, but today we were learning to write characters up to 9 strokes!! I'm still struggling with the character for mei 美 and the character for guo 國 (meiguoren-American).

Chances are I am going to be writing these all weekend!!! Thank goodness for the book and work book as the workbook shows the stroke order step by step for each of the characters we are learning!!

So it seems that I excel at speaking and listening but reading and writing are my weaknesses ESPECIALLY writing. My classmates are the opposite because my Chinese teacher was raving about their "beautiful handwriting" and didn't rave about my mine and kept correcting me(but it's good- I NEED to be corrected)...BUT in all fairness she always raves about my speaking...;)

Well, I seriously need to get ready for class...thank god it's Friday because my energy is low and don't feel like teaching today :( It's ok...I'll get over it-I have to! :)

I hope these are the characters for Zai Jian...再見!

Should I get a life??

This is my late night "I should be doing my lesson plans or sleeping" contemplation which has been bugging me for a while...

To put it bluntly...I kinda have no life.

It seems that most of my colleagues go hiking in the mountains, ride their scooters to the mountains or nearby waterfalls, go drinking or go to the movies and pay NT$500 for the VIP "Watch a movie in bed with food" on weekends.

During the week before teaching they see the city, go to different restaurants and all that stuff (especially since they have scooters)...Then when they talk, it sounds as if they spend little or no time preparing their lessons!!

Me? Well let's see...Monday to Friday from 13:30-16:30 I am grading HW and preparing lessons, 16:50-21:00 I teach then 21:00 to about 00:30 I grade HW, go home , grade HW, prepare lessons and study Chinese...oh yeah not to mention my Chinese class on Tuesdays and Fridays...oh and let's not forget laundry...

On Saturdays I sleep in till about 11, clean my apartment and listen to music, get lunch, veg out, and etc...Boyfriend comes over and we wither do something or do nothing and veg...but it always involves food either way...
On Sunday it's sleeping in, hanging with boyfriend and then preparing for the next day by grading HW and teaching...


So before you go and call me a hermit and criticize me for not going out and enjoying life (YET), let me explain why I do this and the benefits:

Why: 1. I have made a buttload of mistakes these past couple of years and I am now working hard to make DAMN sure that doesn't happen again!!
2. I ACTUALLY want to live here(for a loooooooong time or forever even) unlike most foreigners here so I am actually trying to settle down...
3. For once I am actually following my budget and REFUSE to let myself borrow money from people-I HATE doing that!!!! I want to be independent and of course this all goes back to #1 in saying that I don't want to make the same mistakes.
4. This goes back to #2 and #3 as I am saving my money and investing in things like a nice printer and Adobe Photoshop and other things to help me be a better teacher as I want to stay here...
5. I want to be fluent in Mandarin and will do whatever it takes to learn...I love languages and I love being able to communicate with people...There are so many reasons why I'm working hard on my Chinese....
6. Why I take so long preparing a lesson-I want this as my career or if not this forever then a career helping people. I WANT TO DO A GOOD JOB!!! I want to finally be good at my job!!!!! So that is why, plus I want to have a good relationship with my co-teacher so I try to talk to them before class and go over the lesson or if they are not there then I ask my head Chinese Teacher for help-this is about the students!!!!
...
Plus, I am not good expressing myself verbally, especially giving instructions so it is important for me to work out any kinks in the plan before I teach. I always confuse people so I need to work out what I am going to say, how I'm going to say it, etc, etc...

I just happen to be one of those people who need to work a little harder to get good results-always have been...I used to get soo jealous of my school friend because she would never study and would still get A's and I would have to work my ass off to get one...

Anyways...Here are the benefits:
I get a LOT of work done on time or early
I space my time out and rest when I need to
My teaching is getting better thanks to my hard work
I have more time on weekends to relax
I ALWAYS have enough money for food and everything I need
I don't feel rushed
I feel accomplished
I am an A student in my Chinese class (well, OK I'm the nerdy "grade grubber" in the class ;P )


So it seems like a lot of work that I'm doing and no time, but the main issue is I AM NOT STRESSED!!!!! Things get done and I feel better when things/work get done...

Plus, I am working hard now so that I will have money and time in the future to enjoy life..

And by the way, who says I'm NOT enjoying life?????!!!

Every weekend being with boyfriend makes me happy, sleeping in on weekends and cuddling up in my bed makes me happy, I get to go to cool places in the city, try new things and foods and see different things...even if it isn't cool waterfalls or anything-it is still exciting. Everytime I look out of my tiny little window and see Taichung, I enjoy life. Everytime I ride my bike on Mei-Tsuen road with the wind blowing my hair back and the sun in my face as I pass palm trees, I enjoy life.

As I said in the title of my first blog post on here: "Babysteps" I am enjoying life in babysteps...

I will post this again as it bears repeating:

“A tree as big around as you can reach starts with one small seed; a thousand mile journey starts with one step.”

- Lao-tse

I Have a New Love...

...



and his name is Caramel Milk Tea...

Taking a sip of this stuff is like..well..umm nevermind...seeing as my family reads this (ESPECIALLY my 15-year-old cousin) I am just going to say that this is love...yeah..that's it!

Actually I was only going to post this little message above as I thought I had no news, but actually I do...!!

I tell you a cute thing that has happened to me yesterday, and made my week! I have kinda had a bad week (personal issues) and have been very bitter and angry these past few days-I was worried that I was becoming a bitter expat (even though my anger has NOTHING to do with Taiwan)

But yesterday as classes were over one of my students in my upper-level class gave me a small gift (the level is over and now they move on to the next level) because she was leaving. Not because of me (thank god!! you know my fear of being a bad teacher), but because she is in too many cram schools and had to cut one-unfortunately it was English :(
Here is the gift and card: She gave me Fererro Rocher and a rubber bracelet...I am pretty sure she got me this because I ALWAYS wear my rubber bracelets when i teach (one to help the rainforest, one for children literacy, one to fight breast cancer, one for peace, one to fight poverty and one to help feed animals in shelters) and so she gave me one more which I will wear proudly with my other bracelets!!!! This bracelet will remind me that when things are bad that I came here for a reason...not JUST for myself, but to change the lives of these kids for the better, to give them an opportunity that a lot of kids do not have.

My co-teacher has been teaching that class for 21 months so she knows them better, so the student gave her handmade friendship lanyards tp put on her teacher pencilbox or cell phone, (beautifully and carefully done i might add) some chocolate and a little note pad...We both were raving it about our lil gifts to everyone and pretending to cry, but honestly it made our day...

So here are the photos of my gift:


So like everything, with good comes bad and with bad comes good...I am slowly getting over my bad mood and even though I might be on my own this weekend, I am going to get outside, drink more Caramel Milk Tea and walk around the parks near the art museum because it is so relaxing there...maybe I'll venture a little further...who knows...All I know is that I am not going to let anyone ruin my life here...not even myself! I will do whatever it takes to keep myself happy...I have a worthwhile job that is relatively stress-free(but don't get me wrong it is HARD work), I'm learning a new language that I not only love, but for the sake of convincing my parents...this language could actually be useful in a career! I really believe I have a chance at succeeding here in Taiwan and will work hard towards that goal!

Anyway, I need to clean my apartment..my very UNWELCOME pet ants have contributed to my rather sour mood...they WON'T LEAVE and no matter how much I clean and no matter how many ant traps I have and anti-ant crap, they love me so much that they stay...Despite my newly developed good mood, this is slowly pushing me to the edge of insanity...

Other than that...things are OK...Chinese lessons level 2 starts Friday and I have already paid for my books and CD and tuition...Everyone wonders why I bought the CD(as it is a little costly), but I find that I am good at mimicking accents and intonation so listening to the CD is a big advantage for me...

Till then dear readers...Zai jian!

Sunday Night Lesson Plan Procrastination

Yesterday, Boyfriend and I went to the Art Museum http://www.tmoa.gov.tw/english/home.php which is like I have said before, 5-10 minutes from my house. It was really interesting. There were a couple exhibits: One was called "Have You Eaten Yet?" focusing on contemporary Asian art.
Another was "Back to the Root - A Retrospective of Hsin-yueh LIN"
The last exhibit we saw was "The River of Art Meanders-Tracing the Origin of Taiwan from 1736-1969"

Today we went to one of the big Wal-mart-esque places (RT Mart) and got some cooked whole (still with shell, eyes, legs, poop) shrimp, and a bunch of fruit and some breads...So Boyfriend peeled the shrimp for me and I de-pooped them and dipped them in soy sauce...yummy!! No really, it was actually good!!

I am even going to start drinking aloe vinegar every morning...drinking diluted vinegar is the big "Health Trend" here in Taiwan...I even tried Peach Vinegar and it's good!

Oh..so I have my big test for my "BuhPuhMuhFuh" Basic Chinese class on the 13th and then start level 2 on the 16th...

This is the book I will need for the class: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Audio-Visual-Chinese-Level-Textbook/dp/9570912375

This level is a bit more expensive than the last one but it still is cheaper than learning at a uni...plus my teacher is great!! She makes learning fun and I am sooo excited to be learning Chinese!!! I even put on my "Learn Mandarin" Cd at night to hear Chinese while I sleep!!!

Oh which reminds me...funny story yesterday...before Boyfriend and I went to the art museum, we walked around the park a bit and the cool restaurant street. One of the little parks has little exercise things scattered around it and so Boyfriend and I were going to each one and competing to see who was the best..then this little Taiwanese boy started following us around and kept saying "Weiguoren" and smiling (weiguoren=foreigner)...Boyfriend just ignored him but I kept smiling...and he just kept following us and getting closer and closer to us smiling and saying "Weiguoren"...it was kinda freaking me out-haha! So then I asked him his name in Chinese and he didnt say anything and I tried to ask in VERY bad Chinese where his Mama and Baba were, but he didnt get it...then boyfriend asked in Chinese and the boy told him something like"I can't tell you" which had me a little worried, because he was there with his sister, but I'm thinking..."Where the bloody hell are these kids' parents?!" So we then walked away...weird...just weird...haha!!

OK..now I REALLY need to go and start my lesson plans!!!

Wahn An!
李艾莉