Beach Adventure

Ever since arriving in Taiwan two months ago, I've been wanting to do two things: 1) get out in nature and 2) hit up the beach. I managed to do BOTH things today...WIN! Despite getting a late start this morning (sleeping in seems to be my new MO in this country), we still managed to get to the beach by 2 pm. I'm pretty psyched because it's so easy to get there from my apartment! Just hop on the MRT (the stop is literally 2 minutes from my apartment) and go north about 7 stops and then you're in Danshui! Danshui is a little boardwalk town that is right on the water. Then we took a taxi for about 20 minutes to the beach. After getting some rays for about three hours (perfect amount of sun since I haven't seen light in like 2 months), we went back into town and got some DELICIOUS food. Like seriously epic dumplings and squid. I want to eat the squid every single day even if it meant that I turned into a squid. See pics below for some visuals!

Not exactly white sand but good enough for me!

Instagram makes me a great photographer! Still in love with my iPhone! 

I was surprised to see so many Asians swimming...but then I realized that they all had floatation devices and were wearing full coverage to avoid the sun.

Very sticky sand!

Cabanas to block the sun. God forbid you get tan!

Ready to dive into the food streets!

Glamor shot with the fancy camera!

Can we say postcard pic??

I want to eat this all over again! They put this delicious sauce on it and then chop it up into little pieces!

YUM! 

Watching the sunset :)

Nice view to the South! 

More snacks! We could have stayed there and eaten all night.

International Birthday Bash!

Who knew that I would be celebrating yet another birthday in a foreign country? The big 2-4 was the classiest of all my birthdays so far (although nothing can top the epicness of my 21st....). I was really nervous about organizing anything at all because I didn't want anyone to feel obligated to come to a party...and it also feels kind of weird planning a birthday thing for yourself. (I was seriously missing Diane and her planning skills!) A couple of friends here convinced me that I had to do something or else I would be totally lame, so we booked a table at a swanky bar downtown called Barcode.

When we walked in I was like, SWEET! Totally rockin' lounge bar with fun interior and a great atmosphere. Everyone was ready for a break from the week, so a lot of people showed up and it ended up being super fun! My worries were put to rest and I got to just enjoy a night out with new friends :)

View from our table on the patio...reserved table of course.

Favorite ladies in Taipei!

Chilling with some counselors...they let me into their circle despite the fact that I'm just a teacher haha.

Stationed on the couch ready for other to arrive!

New friends, new city...still having fun!

Night Market Adventures!

Wow it's been awhile since I've added anything to this...so much for keeping my promise of blogging more often! Between school, exploring Taipei, and being a social butterfly (I can't resist), I haven't had much time for social networking. I made my first visit to the Shilin Night Market about two weeks ago, and took some great pics of the food and shopping. It was crazy! And awesome. Definitely going back soon and am taking everyone who comes to visit there on the first night. The best part is that it is only two metro stops down from my apartment, which takes about 7 minutes. Love it! i documented the evening with photos so check them out below!

Potato chips on a stick! Pretty creative.

Popular snack although I couldn't quite tell what it was. Looked like fruit and veggies on a stick with sticky syrup on them.

The food section was jam packed!

These looked AMAZING. Didn't have the chance to try them but am def getting them next time.

All sorts of cooking was going on! More smells then I even knew how to identify (and not all were good).

Weird looking veggie that freaked me out. I think it's called a bitter gourd but I refuse to taste.

Snails! Didn't try these either but I am intrigued. 

Mini-fried crabs! So delicious. You just pop the whole thing in your mouth!

Blood soup with stinky tofu in it. Major combo of strange smells and flavors. It was way better than I though it would be, but I don't think this is going to be an everyday meal.

We did a pretty good job on it though! I think the Taiwanese cook lady was impressed and surprised.

First bubble tea! The tea part is really good, but the little gel balls kind of made me nauseous after a bit. 

Posing in front of the massive crowds in the street shopping area.

This was on a Wednesday evening...I can only imagine how crazy it is on the weekends!

The cell phone covers here are INSANE! I love rhinestones and pink things, but this might be pushing it a little too far...

Lots of little figurines! My mom will love this stuff.

We walked around the candy store and then happened upon the salty fish section. Apparently these are really good but I have not tried them yet. Too many eyeballs.

Just one example of many mistranslated moments that I have encountered so far.

Full Swing!

Whew! Can't believe that I haven't had a chance to write a post in over a week! School got underway last Thursday and life has gotten considerably busier and more hectic since then. I'll give a little rundown of life post-Orientation via photos (taken with my new iPhone of course!):

Bulletin boards ready for the first day! Pink and green of course :)

After spending all day trying to come up with what to put on this bulletin board, we decided to let the kids decorate themselves! Also a social experiment to see who would be the first to write...

Ready for the first day of school!

In the midst of all the crazy school stuff, I've also done more exploring of the Tienmu area and have been (slowly but surely) working on getting my apartment to look like a real home, which was helped along tremendously by the fact that my shipment arrived last Thursday!!! No, not the one from Dhaka (that would be too much to ask for) but the one from America! So I now have actual kitchen supplies (no more borrowed plate and silverware) and can microwave things. If only I had made it to the grocery store this weekend...

Moving in the mattresses! Door is open for any and all visitors :)

36 boxes up 5 flights of steps? Sorry mover people!

Yay for friends AND shelves!

Other activities have includes shopping for iPhone covers, eating lots of dumplings, going to birthday parties, and generally just figuring out what my life will be like for the next two years. So far, I think I'm gonna like it! Now if I could just figure out how to add about 5 more hours to every day then I would actually have time to do things...

How cute are these?? Little mouse breads! But then I realized that they might actually have mice in them and I was too nervous to get one.

OMG totally cute pet pig that lives right next to one of the local bars that I walk by on my way home from school. I want to steal him...not for my plate, but for a pet.

Din Tai Fung heaven. Enough said.

New friends! And using Instagram. Love it.

Cory!!! New friend. We share an affinity for taking lots of photos and being dramatic. 

I promise to try to be better about keeping this thing updated but bear with me! I've got a trip to the Night Market scheduled for this week and it might involve eating the famous duck blood soup, so I'll definitely have something to write about after that!

New Teacher Orientation

Can't believe there's only one more day left of New Teacher Orientation! This week has been super long, but really great because everyone is SO nice. We kicked off the week with a big dinner at the top of the SOGO department store on Monday night, and it was delicious - as every item of food seems to be in this country. I felt pretty relieved that I had already met a few of the other new people (like Lori and Zach) because it was a bit overwhelming trying to remember over 30 new names and faces at one time. I of course somehow got assigned to the "family table" and was therefore surrounded by lots of little kids and stressed looking moms. Post-dinner the "younger crowd" slipped out and headed to one of the nearby bars to hangout and chat without the hecticness of the restaurant. I think we've got a good group!

The orientation has been quite excellent because they have focused on helping us adjust to living in Tienmu. The first day was exhausting because there were a ton of information meetings, but I got to see my classroom and it is great! I also went on a trip to IKEA with Lori and it was fab...but HUGE. (Currently waiting on them to deliver a mattress pad and desk chair, but it is already 8:30 pm and somehow I don't think they're still coming...

Quick and refreshing smoothie before trekking to IKEA. Standard Asian pose, duh.

This was my first IKEA experience and it was intense. I thought I was going to get lost inside. 

My very own classroom!!!

Great windows! I'm excited.

The second day we had a) more meetings full of information and b) a tour of the city transportation system. It's really, really easy to get around Taipei, which is fabulous because I am scared to buy a scooter! (I've already seen about four accidents). There is a pretty decent bus system, and the Metro runs right by my apartment and it only takes 15 minutes to get into downtown Taipei. Lots of adventures in the near future!

Taking the bus from TAS to the metro station! Super easy and clean!

The famous Shilin Night Market...only a 10 minute ride on the MRT from my apartment. I sense lots of shopping and eating in my near future.

Metro stop #1! Successfully navigated our way on board :)

Today was Day #3 and the great excitement of the day was: we got our school computers!!! New toys are always so fun :) I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I am going to have to use a PC instead of my beloved Macs, but this thing is actually pretty neat; it's a ThinkPad tablet so the screen swivels around and then you can flip it and it turns into a writing tablet with a touchscreen! It's also new and shiny so I like it, haha. ALSO I have taken two "Survival Mandarin" courses and it's really fun!! I can count to 99 (kind of) and say a few things that are useful...I even spoke only in Mandarin to the taxi driver today :) I'm kind of intrigued and might try to keep taking classes once a week if I have time. It would be a pretty sweet language to speak!

New fun work computer! Notice the swivel screen.

Of course I took notes during the two Mandarin classes :)

I can say AND understand this entire conversation!!! Pretty cool, huh?

One day left and then I won't be THAT much of a newbie anymore :)