Livin' it up in Macau!

Disclaimer: The next few weeks are going to be really busy so I won't have much time to post! (Not that I've been very good about it anyways...but it's just been a crazy whirlwind of a life these past few months).

BUT for now, here's a post about my first visitor (yay Lauren!) and our trip last weekend to Macau. Lauren got here last Thursday late night and I was SO FREAKING excited!!! I didn't realize how much I've been needing to see someone familiar. Sadly I had to go to school on Friday, but since Lauren is an expert Asian traveler, she managed to site-see all around Taipei all by herself - and saw more things than I have the whole time I've been here! The school day felt like it took ages, and when 3 pm finally rolled around, Lauren arrived right on time at the front gate to get the full tour of TAS. We also managed to fit in a visit to the night market before our early pick-up to Macau the next morning.

Ready for our 6 am pick up!

Passports at the ready!

We went to Macau with Georgina, Lori and Cory and stayed in the snazzy Venetian (same one as in Vegas, just way bigger!). It was so nice to get a break from work and from Taipei...as soon as we landed in Macau I was pumped! We had huge rooms, fancy dinners, and great pool time. Lauren brought all the fun clothes and the bathing suit I ordered with her, so I was totally ready to hit the town...and the pool :) We also managed to take the ferry over to Hong Kong on Monday, so now my passport has even more stamps! Score.

Four days did feel awfully short though. And Lauren had to leave on Wednesday morning, which made the re-entry doubly rough. I'm already thinking about the next vacation! Just 6 weeks of lots of work to weed through before then...

Poolside and ready to relax. 

Getting ready to watch the Cirque show (although we never really understood the plot line...).

Looking good for a night out on the town!

Time for a stroll amongst the mix of Portuguese/Asian streets!

Total Asian tourists.

Visit to the Macau Tower...some crazy people like to bungee jump off of it. Not us!

Yummy dim sum in the dim sum capitol of the world...Hong Kong!

Camp Taiwan

I have now officially been inducted into the TAS Middle School by surviving (and even enjoying) Camp Taiwan with the 6th graders! We took the kids down to the southern tip of the island, Kenting, last week for 5 days of hiking, biking, and adventuring (and only a few tears, haha). Monday and Friday were actually primarily devoted to the 8 hour bus ride back and forth, but it still counts as part of the week because it involved wrangling fidgety 6th graders. And that's a lot of work!

The place we stayed was called the Kenting Youth Activity Center and it was WAY more posh than my Thailand experience last year! No tents, no squatty potties, and about a tenth the amount of sweat. It was glorious! We did all sorts of outdoor activities - biking, beaching, hiking, kite flying, and water games. The kids loved it, and even though it was exhausting, I actually had a lot of fun, too. It was nice to be around the kids outside of the classroom environment. Check out the pics below for evidence of the adventuring!

6:45 am on Monday morning - Georgina and I are ready to go and be roomies for the week!

2 teachers versus 33 children = potential for disaster.

Wide awake at 6:45 am. I kept waiting for them to fall asleep but it never happened. Dagger.

The Kenting Youth Center was RIGHT on the ocean! So pretty, but also lots of scary rocks.

Naden and Bill - the MCs for the week and the designers of all the evening entertainment.

How cute are they?? These are the times that make me realize why I'm a teacher (sappy I know).

Terrific Teaching Team! Looking pretty perky on Night #1.

Getting instructions from Ken about the do's and don'ts of our hike (it was actually more of a beach walk).

Ready for action! It was so nice to be outside all week!

Getting my name written in the sand courtesy of Brian, haha.

Bill gave many lessons on tidal pools and marine life. The kids loved it!

Hunting for crabs with Lori!

Gorgeous scenery! Being down there made me realize that I actually do live on a tropical island!

Ahh Starbucks and the beach! Not a bad gig, eh?

Cool fountain outside of the Kenting Aquarium! The kids loved it.

Georgina and I are ready to lead our bike groups out on an adventure!

Serious instruction time. Good thing all the kids in my group knew how to ride a bike!

Gotta get the Asian hand in there somewhere :) I am seriously tempted to buy a bike now!

Pauline wanted to try out the small bike. It wasn't as easy as it looked!

Hiking the Steps

Well I managed to cross another thing off my "Taipei To-Do List" this weekend. I finally hiked the steps at the top of Section 7 in Tienmu! There are about 1000 of them (not that I counted or anything...just a rumor I heard) and they lead up into Yamingshan National Park. During New Teacher Orientation, they organized this hike for us, but I was too tired to go at 6 am, haha. But I have now managed to accomplish getting into nature TWO weekends in a row! Pretty good if I do say so myself :) Check out the pics below. There is a fantastic view of Tienmu and the entire city of Taipei. It's gorgeous! Definitely taking all of my upcoming visitors up there! (If that refers to you, make sure you're calves are prepared for a whole lot of steps!)

Ready to get started! Note the double water bottles: needed all of that water!

Already needed a break after only like 30 steps.

If you look realllllyyyyyyy close, you can see Taipei 101 tower in the background!

Don't attack the macaques!

Finally to the flat section. I was very happy.

Can you believe this is RIGHT outside the city!? Only 5 minutes to nature = a happy me!

Mango shaved ice as a mid-hike break? Yes, please! We totally deserved it!

We had to eat quick because it was melting...and because it was freaking delicious.

Another view of Taipei 101. Looks so much closer than it really is!

Cool panoramic shot :) This is the whole city!

Tienmu! If you look towards the bottom right, you can see TAS. It is the huge green field with the track around it. Takes up a lot of space!

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!