My meanderings working around the world :)

¡Bienvenidos a mi aventura!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Celebrating Columbus Day (a Terrible historical figure that I do not approve off) with a blog post


I am finally sitting down to write an finish a blog post- I have today off becuase it is Colmbus day- yes I know that it is weird to be in Asia and get Columbus Day off and that we are still celbrating Columbus Day considering what he did- but becuase of my job we get some American Holidays off which is GREAT. I really needed a chunck of time to catch up on life stuff and communicate with everyone that I have been missing. 

I have gotten worse and worse about taking pictures as I have been getting older but luckily for you all- I am living in a country where people are obsessed with taking photos- so this means I actually have some thanks to friends here to share with you. 

So I have been here for about 2 and a half months now. Which is kind crazy to think about. 

Work has been interesting and has been keeping me busy. I am giving workshops, doing observations confrences and reports, readiing and responding to teacher reports, problem soloving....

I have to admit I hate the question that I keep geting lately- How is chinese going? Not so well, my retention is pretty nonexistent- despite my tutoring sessions. I am so exhuasted with work stuff and living in a nother country and culture stuff that my brain hurts by the end of the day when I have chinese tutoring. I started a langauge exchange with a friend from work- so I'm hoping that will help too. 

I had a house warming party 2 weeks ago, and all of my favorite people came which was really special. My place is starting to feel much more homey post the party. They brought me some fabulous housewarming gifts which was so unexpected and so sweet. I made quesadillas, chismol, guac, brownies, cupcakes- and they seemed to go over well. 

Other news- I have taken some really great trips with friends- Which also included crashing a wedding with a famous Buddist Master. (see pictures below). On friday I went to the presidents mansion for a national day party. It is probably the fanciest part I have ever been too (pictures below). See pictures below for some of the highlights. 


Wedding crashers. After attending a very special memorial ceremony in a temple for people who suffered in natural disasters- we were invited to a very fancy- very loely wedding 14 course vegan wedding banquet. 

Stinky tofu- a tiwanese favorite. It really really does smell bad- and kinda tastes like a dirty sock in my opinion. 
Tofu with green bean noodles 

My neighborhood shuttle bus picture

Mango monster ice- so yummy!


Natural hot spring- BETO

View during night time bike ride

Temple near work


Waterfall outside of temple in the middle of the city. 

Puppet theater in a park for moon festival 

Elephant mountain view of Taipei, waiting for the moon on moon festival day. 

The moon in its full glory 




Sun moon lake trip (below)
Getting weird looks from small children- I guess this happens in Asia too. You think I would be used to getting stared at. I had some students pet my arms and touch my dimple when I was doing an observation the other day. Arm hair gasp- Im a freak here 
Look who I found !!!! 








Bambo forest & bike trip Nanto (below)






 10/10 party the Prez Mansion 


 Chinese characters for 10/10- national day



Trip to waterfall & wish lanterns Pingxe

 the tiny things in the sky are the wish lanterns
 some people getting ready to send off their lantern





I hope you are all well. Take care. Keep in touch. 

Em

PS Please ignore any and all spelling and gramatical errors