Tuesday 17 August 2010

Quick update

All moved in to my new place. I don't have the internet yet...but it is on the to do list :)

The apartment is great. I have to get organised and put things away but I have been busy with work and other things. I was meant to have this evening off but I was called into work because a co-worker is sick and I had to cover his class.

Selfishly I hope he is better tomorrow as I need the time to get stuff done before my schedule gets hectic next week.

Well, i'm currently stealing Geoff's computer to check e-mails etc, so I should stop being rude and talk to my good friends then head home to sleep.

Much love
xxx

Saturday 14 August 2010

Moving day!

Today, with the help of my awesome friend Minerva, I am moving to Taichung. I have a lot more stuff than I thought. That is usual for me though. Haha. It if a four floor walk up to my apartment, so moving the stuff in will be tiring. Eek.

Then after that we are headed to a bbq at Richard's place, he is the other NST who is leaving Nantou branch. He has been there 4 years and is returning to the UK to do some course on something. I have found it so difficult saying goodbye to the kids, I have had to have a few moments alone to stop myself from crying. I have no idea how it must be for Richard.

Anyhoo, I have to finish off my packing. Again, Gillibean leaves it to the last minute.

Thursday 12 August 2010

Keys for the new place

Miki, one of Dave's good friends kindly agreed to go with us to meet the landlady and her daughter (who knows English...practically fluent) to sign our contract.

Do you remember that we cheekily asked for a couple of beds and a fridge...well they did a lot better than that. There is a sofa (currently stuck in one of the rooms) a TV, DVD player, table and chairs, a futon mattress thingy for the spare room and a washing machine! I was so happy at that last one. A man will come on Sat to hook it up.

So, we paid all the money and have the keys. Yay!

The story about the sofa, which is beautiful, everything had to be lifted into the apartment via crane and through a window because the staircase leading up to it is so narrow. Apparently that's a common thing here.

I am so happy to have a place sorted :D in a great location right around the corner from my kindy branch. YAY. Now, just to find the time and energy to pack.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Good news

I will be signing the contract for my new apartment tomorrow after work. YAY! My great friend Minerva is going to drive me with my stuff on Sunday. Yay :D

The next step of the goodbyes

Today I had my favourite class F03 :D They are amazing kids. I am going to miss them so much. We tried to make time for a 'party', which turned out being at the end of the class. There was too much to get through. But we still had a great time. I bought some tea, chocolate, and pringles to share after class. Some of the kids brought munchies too :) It was good. I got a couple of gifts as well. A cute pillow, which is a Scottie dog :) awesome! And a cool gift that had lots of bits in it...with a card that had a rule. No 1. Do not throw this card into the trash. haha. Love it! And I love the kids :D











Monday 9 August 2010

Kindy is great :D Update of weekend shenanigans

I had my first kindy class today. So I had to get up really early 5am to get ready to leave from Nantou. It was well worth it. The kids are great!

They are so smart, and this week is all about superheroes. Haha! Great fun :D

Also, I met my future flatmate Dave to check out an apartment. We decided on the apartment that we saw on Saturday. It was one he heard about from the owner of the Early Bird Restaurant. It was only advertised by a sign on the building...in Chinese.

My good friend Victor (met through language exchange) kindly agreed to meet with Dave and I to help us out with flat hunting on Saturday. He met up with me at my new branch 'Shuang Shih', I taught a class there on Saturday. It was amazing having him along because he talked to everyone for us. We looked at 4 apartments (3 in the same place, which we didn't like).

[Also, we went for dinner, then I went with Dave to a house party in a town near Taichung- Fengyuan. At about 1am I got itchy feet and ended up scooting to Chunghua to hang out with folks there- I met some new people who were cool. I had a good time. It was easier, and a shorter distance, scooting to Chunghua than to Nantou. When I got back to Nantou on Sunday I took Erica out for a scoot about Nantou, Jhongshing village and Caotun. It was good fun :)]

Today we got in contact with the folks who have the place we like. It had been empty for a couple of months. So we were cheeky and said we'd take it if they put in two double beds and a fridge. They agreed. So hopefully over the next couple of days we can meet them and sign a contract. Then I can move in properly at the weekend, in time for me to start properly in Taichung.

This is my last week in Nantou :( i'm really going to miss my workmates, who have become really great friends. And of course, i'm going to miss my kids. I've become really attached to them. But it's all part of the process. I'll no doubt become attached to my new kids.

Friday 6 August 2010

The beginning of the goodbyes

My classes are starting to find out that I am leaving. One of my favourites 'F03' were told today. They grabbed me after class and showed me what they did on the whiteboard. I am going to miss them SO much! They are an amazing class :D I will teach them for the last time on Tuesday and so we are going to have a little party in class :) Of course, I still have to teach them but we have to make some extra time for celebrating good times.



Jim and Daniel pretending to sob.




Wednesday 4 August 2010

New Beginnings

I had to get up at the crack of dawn, 5.30, to get ready and out of Nantou to get to Taichung in time to observe my new kindy class.

I was planning to scoot through but decided it was wiser to take the bus. I scooted to the bus stop to see if there were any buses running that early and thankfully I managed to get the first one, 6.45am. Eek.

I got to the branch with plenty of time to organise my notes etc and start my lesson plans for next week...which turned out to be the wrong one. Which is great to know. Now I know the kindy schedule. Yay.

The class was great. It was so good to observe them. I wish that I could have had the opportunity earlier but I know that wasn't an option. I'm so excited to be starting that class. They are great, I know it will be a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Also, I met the new NST's for Nantou. They are great! They seem really nice :) the girl (one chap, one lady) will be taking over my tenancy at my apartment. She will move in with me on Friday as HESS can't keep them in a hotel for another week. So I will have a roomie for a week or so until I move to Taichung.

But then again, I feel bad that I won't be around. I will still try and show her around so she knows where things are.

I will hopefully get an apartment this weekend and be staying in Taichung during the week due to having to teach so early in the morning. I'll scoot back to Nantou each afternoon to teach and then take stuff back to Taichung after work.

Though to be honest I think on busy scheduled days I'll just get the bus. I don't want to get too tired.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Work, work, work.

Tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn to get my sleepy self to Taichung to observe my future kindy class. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works as i'm a bit nervous about it all. The way you relate to kindy kids is different and all my back up games are useless as they'll be too complicated and involve sticky balls- balls you throw at the whiteboard and stick to it. As for kindy kids you can't give them anything to throw.

I'm nervous and excited :D

I still have to find an apartment, hopefully that'll be done this weekend.

Also, all the recent updates, you will have to scroll back quite a bit to see them all.

Love to all
xxx

Monday 2 August 2010

Temples in Caotun Part 1

I had a great night out last night and I had no plans for Sunday. I didn't want to waste my day off with doing nothing. So I decided to go in search of the temples I see when going past on the bus through Caotun.



























I didn't manage to get pictures of the main temple hall as there was some kind of gathering happening. It may have been political, i'm not sure :)

Under the main temple building was a museum that had hundreds of Buddhas in there. It was amazing. I was also followed around by a little girl and boy. They gave me a leaflet when I walked in, so I think they were helping out.


Sunday 1 August 2010

Temples in Caotun Part 2

I spent a while trying to find the 'gourd' temple. A temple in the shape of a gourd. I was driving around and spotted the flags. If in doubt follow the flags. They usually lead to a temple.

I was walking around the temple area and a couple of different people tried to talk to me. I ended up talking to a gent who is a police officer. An older man. I ended up spending a couple of hours drinking tea with a group. That's why there aren't as many photo's as there would be. It was beautiful there with a lot more stuff than my pictures show. Also there was a large tree behind the temple. It is one revered because it is so old.

There was a woman I spoke to mostly, with the aid of my dictionary on my cell phone. lol. As they didn't know English. I couldn't work out if she was the wife or sister of the police man. But I figured brother because he was trying to get us to be 'friends', something which i'm always dubious about here because that usually means something else. He was trying to get me to agree to go to KTV with him. Quite dodgy. But on the whole people here are just friendly. I have to admit to having lied and said I had a boyfriend. Bad of me, but was for security.

I had a great time. It was awesome watching the process of making the tea and then the order of who it was served to. If you are served first you are the most important guest. To start with it was the police man. Then my tea would be poured first because I was a guest.



A family plot.


The sign to follow to get to the 'gours' temple.


A big temple you can see from the gourd temple. The original one I wanted to go and see that I can see from the road. I eneded up finding the other one first. One to try and check out before I move to Taichung.












Taichung in the distance.




Inside the 'hat'