I'm off on a new international teaching adventure! After spending a year in Bangladesh, I am now heading to Taipei, Taiwan to teach 6th grade at the Taipei American School for the next few years. I'm going to be flying solo on this experience so check in for stories about traveling, teaching, and just living large in the city!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Spring Break in Thailand

I can't believe that Spring Break was only two weeks ago...it feels like it was months ago! Pretty sad that all of those wonderful beach memories have been washed away by work, BUT I have enough pictures from the trip to at least remind me that I was (at one point) feeling relaxed. I left early for Spring Break to attend the EARCOS teaching conference in Bangkok - best decision ever! Not only did I get to hear some really good presentations, I also got to spend a lot of time poolside at the Shangri La - no complaints here! After that, Jordan and I headed down south to the island of Koh Lanta (near Krabi). It was magical! Aquamarine water, white sandy beaches, gorgeous sunsets, lots of Chang beer, and it wasn't too touristy. I could have stayed there forever (not kidding). We also spent a few days in Railay to see the famous limestone cliffs. I never wanted it to end! Alas, we had to come back to Taipei. Only 6 weeks till the next vacation, though!

Here are some pics from the trip...apologies in advance if they make you jealous! :)

Chillin' poolside at the Shangri La - would definitely stay at this hotel again!
Eating street food in Bangkok and enjoy the first (of many) Chang beers of the trip. Yum!
Heading over on the ferry to Koh Lanta. We knew we were in Thailand because it was so freaking hot!
As soon as we got to the Lanta Castaway, we headed straight for the beach! I was checking out the possible activities we could try out that week - a cooking class and snorkeling were at the top of the list!
Hanging out at the hotel bar...which just so happened to be right next to the beach!
Ultimate relaxation.
Postcard moment? This was pretty much the same thing we were doing every night at 7 pm when the sun started sinking beneath the horizon.
One of about 500 sunset photos. Not kidding.
Photo sesh with a perfect background!
We took an awesome four island snorkeling trip one of the days, and had a great time exploring different beaches and seeing TONS of fish!

The wet rat look. It's all the rage.
I still can't get over how gorgeous the water was. You could see straight down to the bottom!
Beach exploration time!
Ready to jump in! The boat guys kept throwing bananas into the water so that the fish would come eat them...it freaked me out a little, not gonna lie.

We also did a really fun cooking class at a place called "Time for Lime." We made all sorts of delicious Thai dishes including chicken coconut soup, spicy fish cakes, and red curry. Yum!

Ready to SMASH the shallot with my huge knife!
Master Chef Thailand. If it had been a contest, we totally would have won.
Chicken and lime coconut soup! Totally delicious.
4 second stir fry! I was worried that my eyebrows were going to be singed off.
Viola! A perfectly presented Thai feast.
The last part of our trip was spent at Railay Beach. The only way to get there is by longboat because the bay is protected by huge limestone cliffs. It was incredibly gorgeous, but a little bit more touristy than Koh Lanta. I was a huge fan of the fact that our hotel had an infinity pool - where I spent most of my time.

Ferry from Koh Lanta to Railay - about to have our first adventure in a longboat!
More beach time. I will never complain about beach time!
Yet another gorgeous Thailand sunset.
Pretty sweet backdrop. Apparently people rock climb up that cliff....we didn't attempt it.
It was amazing how the water changed colors depending on the time of day. We also had fun playing around with the fancy camera settings :)
Longboat lineup!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spirit Week Insanity

No, not LINsanity (that's practically over, even in Taiwan). This week was Spirit Week in the TAS Middle School...and man, was there a lot of spirit involved. It was basically a week full of assemblies, games, dance competitions, bulletin board contests, costume contests, and cheer practices. And now that it's Friday afternoon, I am officially exhausted!

Our 6th graders made a valiant effort every day to beat the older grades, but we were never quite able to win the overall day competition...but we did win a few rounds! It was a fun week, but I am definitely glad that I've got a whole year to rest before we need to do it again! Check out some pics below to see what the craziness entailed! (Definitely on the 3 day countdown to Spring Break after this...).

Neon Day in full force! The kids were all pumped up and ready for the competition!
Ms. Tang coaching the relay team participants!
NINJA TIME! Naden represented grade 6 well in black!
Neon teachers! Totally hit up the Shilin Night Market for this outfit.
Hippie Day! Totally groovy!
Grade 6 cheer practice! I was worried the kid was going to beat through the drum...
Angry bird grade 6 team! The kids were in love with our hats.
All different colors of Angry Birds!
Mr. Cook working hard with the 6th graders to create our bulletin board!
Not sure how the kids came up with the "Fear the Boss" slogan, but they liked it!
Grade 7's phoenix board...pretty cool use of paper!
Grade 8's white leopard! (or something like that). I was pretty impressed by the use of materials...and yes, this was the winning one.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Cooking Taiwanese Style

Last Friday my friend, Shirley, had a fabulous birthday party event - a Taiwanese cooking class! It was a perfect end to a busy and hectic work week. I mean who doesn't like unlimited wine and delicious food on a Friday evening? There were about 15 people present ranging from expert cooks to total newbies (I like to think of myself as somewhat in the middle). We worked in teams of three to (try and) mimic what the lead chefs were doing. It more or less worked out...and it was all delicious so that's what mattered!

I volunteered to help mix the dough for the Taiwanese beef pancakes. Not easy using only chopsticks!
Royce and the birthday girl ready for action with spatula in hand!
Vicky and me sporting our super cute aprons :)
I left Jordan and Zach in charge of our three-cup chicken...luckily nothing caught on fire!
I decided to replace Jordan as Zach's second-in-command.
Our side of the cooking studio focused on Taiwanese/Chinese dishes: three-cup chicken, beef pancake, and ginger milk pudding. I know all of those things have actual Mandarin names, but I honestly don't know them. The other side of the room did Western dishes: steak salad (delish), seafood paella, and crepes. Luckily we all sampled everything so no one got jealous :)

Beef pancake (expertly put together by me) ready to get thrown in the hot oil! Yummy!
Three-cup chicken: chicken, ginger, chiles, oyster sauce, and basil.
Finished version of the beef pancake! Pretty professional, eh?
Everyone's hard at work!
It's hard to beat crepes as a dessert. We were lucky the other side felt like sharing!
Successful cooking trio!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Weekend in Kaohsiung

I finally got the chance to do some exploring of Taiwan last weekend. Jordan and I decided that we needed a break from the dreary clouds of Taipei, so we hopped on the high speed rail (which really does go incredibly fast) and went down south to Kaohsiung! (The second largest city in Taiwan). The train was freaking cool - if we had the HSR in America, everything would be easier.

Yes, I did pack an entire suitcase for just two nights...a girl needs her options!
Off we go to Kaohsiung!
All aboard! We sped south at about 276 km/hour. Crazy!
The weather down in Kaohsiung was beautiful: 90 degrees and sunny all weekend. It was a great mini-vacation full of laying at the pool, eating yummy food, and hanging out with Zach and his girlfriend, Larissa. Kaohsiung is pretty different than Taipei; it is much more "Taiwanese" and not nearly as metropolitan, which was a nice change. It's always fun exploring new places!

Pool time! I wish I had one of these at my apartment.
Enjoying the sunshine at a local cafe.
Hello self timer :)
Being super Asian down by the Love River Walk.
Rockin' the shades.
Mmm...I never say no to salmon sashimi!
A key example of Asia's obsession with Hello Kitty: the hotel we stayed at had a Hello Kitty suite!
Fresh coconuts!! I was pumped.
Cutest dogs ever at the night market! I wanted to take them home.
Watching in disgust as the poor shrimpies were grilled alive.
Freaking cool MRT station - it was more like an art gallery than a train station. 
All that warm weather made me SO ready for Spring Break...only three weeks till Thailand!!!