Riding Against Typhoon Winds:

This week has not been a very good week for me as far as teaching goes. I have a visit from my "Aunt Flo" and I am pretty miserable and have been an extra klutz and an even crazier "Teacher Bre"

But last night I had to go to the supermarket right after work as I needed to stock up for the typhoon. So it was about 22:30 and had to drop my books off, then ride my bike back to the store, but since I don't have saddlebags yet and only a front basket, I had to ride with 3 bags slung over my shoulder.

Luckily my 24 hour supermarket is only 5 minutes from my apartment and 2 minutes from my school so it's not so bad, but after stocking up and riding home...My god it was the WORKOUT of my life!!!!!! 3 somewhat heavy bags slung over my shoulder as I pedal against the beginnings of Typhoon winds...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ironically, My stepdad and I's bike ride from Amsterdam to Lisse(the Flowerfields-3 hours there and 3 hours back) was actually worse than this!!! After that bike ride I couldn't move my legs-hahaha!!! My stepdad was probably a half a kilometre ahead of me on the way home to make it worse-hahahahahaha!!!

So my supermarket has soooo many cool things!! Refridgerated, Japanese yogurt balls, Green Tea Pumpkin seeds, Plum Green Tea, etc, etc...So I have food :)


But I have to teach 3 classes on Monday now and have papers to grade and since boyfriend is away in Taipei for the weekend and the typhoon seems to be a lot stronger than the last one, it looks like I am going to be bunkered down and working or being a lazy arse this weekend-it will be great...Thank god for HBO, Cinemax, Star Movies, CNN, 24 hour anime channel and the internet!!!!

I even slept in till 11am today as the winds screaming and whistling against my window and door have kept me up most of the night...it's not that it's scary, only that it's loud...

So I am going to veg out for a few hours and maybe work on my lesson plans...:) I think today is probably the best day for vegging as I am worn out and energyless...Aunt Flo sucks the life out of me...

Zai jian!
Bre :)

New Year's Resolutions Update

My First Chinese Homework Assignment-finished :)



1. Be a better person.

• Have improved but still need more work.

2. Help others in need.

• Attempting to in my teaching, but in the outside world...ehhhh not as much as I should be....need more work.

3. Find a worthwhile job.

• For once in my life, I can check off a resolution that I have fulfilled...CHECK!!!

4. Raise self-esteem.

• Ehhhhh it's a LOT better than it was, but still needs MORE work!!!!!

5. Think Buddhism/Taoism/Zen.

• Trying-more work.

6. No relationships of ANY kind until I have a steady job.

• CHECK!!!!! But...I need to keep myself grounded and out of trouble! Learn from Germany...
  

7. Job in non-profit sector.

• Not yet...

8. Listen to others and CARE!!!!!!

• Improving but still MORE work!!!!!!
  

Getting Into the Swing of Things

I am finally starting to feel more and more comfortable as each day goes by. I am still having problems teaching grammar and giving instructions, but I feel more comfortable around my students and I don’t get that nervous feeling before each class starts.

I started my Chinese lessons today and love it!! It’s very hard, especially the 4 tones and even more so the writing of the characters, but my teacher is hilarious and so funny and I had so much fun in the class! I even retained almost all of what I learned I think! I can now count to 10 except I can never remember seven and even noticed a HUGE difference today that even before class I am starting to understand small pieces of Chinese when spoken to me…for example: I went to a tea shop and asked for Molilucha(Green Tea with Jasmine) and the girl said a couple times “Meiyou Cha” and after the third time-it hit me..Oh yeah…”No tea.” So the lightbulb went off and walked to the next tea shop and got my molilucha qing bu jia tang (Green tea with jasmine, please no sugar). Then after my class went to the smoothie place and the girl said Sanshìwu kuai and I automatically knew it meant $35!!! So I have to write a few characters out for Friday and Friday I get black saddlebags for my bike J Yay!!

So this weekend boyfriend and I went to another nightmarket not Fengjia and had my fortune told and my palm read and here is what the man said:

~I’m a hard worker
~I’m kind
~My big forehead is a symbol of something good
~I’m very highly intelligent or educated (Damn Straight Mr. Fortune Teller ;P)
…And the ones that make me laugh…
~I’ll end up making more money than boyfriend :)
~Be careful because I might be in an accident next year
~THIS year is a good time for me to get married….HA!!!! It's OK Mr. Fortune Teller, we can't get them all right you know...
~I will have 2 kids with boyfriend..(Whoa! Mr. Fortune Teller! Methinks we are being too hasty!!)

But I think he only said that stuff about marriage and kids because we were together and because I’m 27(we told him our ages) and I think traditionally the older generations push the younger ones, especially the younger females to get married and have kids…

But… he also said that I would have less and less contact with my parents which worried me (because I don’t want the Germany incident to happen again) and thank god for boyfriend’s cynicism because he told me that can’t be true because I have MSN, Skype and my mobile and so there is no way I can have less contact with my parents…and that made me feel a lot better.

So here are the foods I tried this weekend:
~Coconut milk straight from the coconut
~Taiwanese fried eggplant (I luv me sum eggplant) and fried scallions with mussels
~Taiwanese ice with milk, red bean and the other ice with barley-very good!
~Soup Dumplings-yum!!!!!!!!!
~Taichung “Sun Cakes” and “Green Bean Cakes” Yum again!!!!!

Oh and one last thing: On Friday, I get to learn how to write my Chinese name!!!!! Yay!!!! It is probably going to be one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do but will be sooooooo cool once I can do it!!!!!!! I can’t wait to post pics!!!

BTW, pics will be up soon I promise!!! Boyfriend and I are very busy so we have no time to upload pics and stuff yet…I’ll try to do it ASAP k?

Dai hui jian!

My Moon Festival Weekend

OK, so my internet was down for a few days but now it is up...

Tuesday was the Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival. This is a long weekend starting Friday night and ending with the Moon Festival Holiday on Tuesday. This is a time when families reunite, eat barbecue, sing KTV (karaoke), and eat Moon Cakes of all different shapes and flavors.

Although I didn't get to spend this time with my family, it turns out that I was introduced to the parents of boyfriend's family. It was unexpected for me as I didn't think I would be meeting them that day, but it happened. And of course, they only speak a few words of English, but that isn't a BIG problem for me as I try to find a way to communicate although there are and will be a lot of awkward silences...and eventually I will speak Chinese (as it is my goal) so if things work out, then I will be able to communicate.

As I was talking, his mom was analyzing me as any significant other's mother would (My mom does it as well, but she is such a sneaky devil she has her own way of doing it :) ) And of course asked if I could cook (Like any traditional mother asks) and unlike my answer in Germany (where I said I could only make spaghetti and stir-fry which horrified my ex's mom especially since I'm part German and should be cooking Kassellar Rib, Saurkaut, Linsen suppe, etc, etc, etc) I told them that I like to cook, but am not very good at it..actually I told Boyfriend a while ago that I would love to watch his mom cook so that I can learn to cook truly Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese. So then she took me into the kitchen and showed me how to make Papaya Milk-SO EASY!!! They also had "Pineapple Cakes"which I tried as well!

And like every weekend, I tried new foods: different barbecue foods, Tea Egg (Egg boiled in black tea if I'm not mistaken-looks scary, but tastes pretty OK), some more Hot Pot, Asian Sweet Potato, Taro, Korean Sesame Buns, etc, etc, etc.

As for Tuesday-the actual Moon Festival..boyfriend had to spend it with family (which they sang KTV and ate and etc) and I stayed home, did my lesson plans and did something that I haven't actually done in a loooooooooooooooong time..."Me Time." I watched movies and anime (they have a 24 hour anime channel!!!!) and it was so nice!


As for teaching, I have been worried if I will actually be a good teacher, but I am SLOWLY getting into the routine. Yesterday is usually one of my challenging upper level classes, but it turned out OK! Today or tomorrow is Teacher's Day (Confucius) so I bought a bunch of small packages of European chocolates (Fererro Rocher, Kinder, Toblerone, French Truffles, etc) for VERY inexpensive to give to the teachers at my branch as a thanks...
They even have these Lindt Dark Chocolate with Orange thin wafers that I fell in love with in Holland AND Andes Cherry Jubilee mints!!! So of course I bought them!!! I ate a couple last night and it tasted like home :)

OH! One last thing...Saturday, Boyfriend and I ate at a Greek Restaurant by my apartment...boyfriend has never had Greek food (or he claims that if he did he wouldn't know the difference-haha!) and I am craving tomatoes like crazy so we ate there and it was soo good! Except...if you wanted a SMALL bottle of J.P. Chenet wine (Mom, you know it because they sell it at KingsAlMarkt for only about €1) you'd have to pay NT$380!!!! Which is €8,30!!!!!!! So needless to say we drank water ;)

OK now I really need to work on my lesson plan!!! :)

So that’s it for now…dai hui jian!! :)

My Purple Orchid

Well it has been yet another fun filled weekend with even a wee bit more romance but...

I am so busy during the week that I just don't have time to venture out. My mom and I had a discussion about this as she is worried I am not happy here and what not and also about my job. But the thing is, I am busy, but I am not stressed...I am nervous but that is purely my own doing as I get nervous speaking in front of a lot of people...But that is yet ANOTHER reason why I'm teaching is so that I can get over it and it is actually helping. I am also nervous because for once in my life I have found a career that I love and feel worthwhile at the end of the day, but am so afraid that I might screw it up like I have with many other things in the past. It is such a great feeling that when I leave the classroom the students say "Goodbye Teacher Bre!!" and one student might offer me a barbecue flavored chip as a means of friendship and when they finally do learn something from me it will be all the more worthwhile!

I am also scared, because it seems that the students aren't learning what I'm teaching and are making the same mistakes and it makes me question my own performance...but all the teachers have said I've been great and they make me feel so welcome!

As for the weekend...here are the new foods I tried:
1. Candied Tomatoes...Yes you heard me right...much like the beloved candied apples we eat at County Fairs, I was positively surprised to have had candied tomatoes...And..it was actually good!!!!!
2. Sugar Apple/Skya/釋迦; Pinyin: shìjiā
From wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar-apple

3. Chinese red/rosé wine...pretty good but very sweet
4. Mango milk which tasted like a mango flavored Orange Julius

We even went rowing on a little tiny man made lake in the middle of Gonghue(sp??) park and got to see many many turtles sunbathing and swimming in the lake...Then we went to a market where all the young kids hang out and got some food did some window shopping (although I needed to buy a watch to keep track of time during my classes).

Oh and we also went to another little park yesterday as well as two tiny temples. I even got a fortune and it said something about me becoming successful and rich-ha!! I'm not going to leave it to the fortune, I think if I become successful it has to be by my own hand...OH! And I forgot...I even have a purple orchid for my apartment now!! I have my own orchid :)

But anyway, it doesn't seem like much but actually it was a lot and I'm pooped but happy.

Tomorrow I have three classes and my first one is Junior High...I'm really nervous about it as I always feel like I'm not quite sure what I'm doing and don't want to screw up. Oh well...this is how you learn!

Now it's off to plan lessons...I'll have a link for my photos soon...

Oh yeah:

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog! It makes me feel so good to know that you are all actually interested in my life-haha! I have gotten a couple of comments and even though I haven't thanked you personally, you are definitely in my thoughts and my heart! Thank you all for being so supportive. I really do love it here and can't wait for the day when I actually have some visitors!!!!! :)


Zai Jian!
Bre

A Weekend of Fun

Wow, I got to see and do so much this weekend!!! I had a little bit of everything including lots of fun: more fun, adventure, excitement and even a wee bit of romance ;)

I tried so many interesting food and drinks this weekend...I even ate a fish similar to squid and a piece of its tiny tentacle (which I swore up and down I would NEVER eat), and even ate beef noodles with cow stomach and "thread" which I am assuming is some kind of entrails...and usually I would gag and REFUSE to try it as I want to be a vegetarian, but I am a good sport and want to open my mind so I tried it and ended up loving the broth! The cow entrails...not so much :( Oh! I also had traditional Taiwanese shaved milk ice (NOT ice cream) with red beans...YUM!!!!!!

The night markets are so amazing! I'm in love with the night markets and know that I would spend a fortune at these places if I could, but have been VERY good and VERY picky about what I buy. The only downside is if you go on a Saturday it is wall to wall people and unbearably hot!!!!

I would write more, but I have training at 9am tomorrow and I have to walk a km straight to the next branch...I just keep telling myself it will get rid of my cellulite ;)

Zai jian!
Bre :)

Little Earthquakes

I think I experienced my first earthquake last night. I was in bed asleep, when all of a sudden my bed started shaking...as if I lived by tain tracks or something...I was pretty much asleep and thought this amusing until I started hearing things fall in the hallway...nothing major, just little things. I didn't realize it was an earthquake until I started hearing my little fridge move back and forth and the jingy sounds of the Belly-dancing shawl my parents bought for me in Egypt that was on top of the little fridge.

Right then and there I froze in my bed, telling myself to get my ass out of bed and seek shelter in my doorway, but I panicked...I have never been in an earthquake before, was still half-asleep and suddenly all these images of buildings collapsing entered my head...

Luckily, it was a very tiny one, and I think all it wanted was to just be heard...

As for my teaching, it went OK. The children are so sweet, funny and soooo smart! Sometimes they are mischievous, but I had so much fun with them and they weren't mean to me at all! Not yet anyway...;)

So I teach again today, but haven't had time to work on my lesson plans :( I was so tired last night I feel asleep and didnt get up till 9 :( I hope I can break out of that habit!

Also, even though they don't read this, I just want to thank all the CT's (Chinese Teachers), and everyone at the school. They have been so wonderful, so nice, so helpful and just great!!!


A few months bac before I started my research, my mom said that she really thought teaching EFL/ESL would be my nich and I truly think she is right. I still panic as to whether I'm doing a good job and if I'm going to be a good teacher, but yesterday proved that I can do it!!! I had so much fun with the kids AND I got them to learn!!

"Positive changes positively" :)