Girls Make the World Go Round

I spent the weekend making new girl friends. Don't act so surprised. I'm fully capable of making girl friends too. It's just harder here with the language barriers and the cultural differences. And most of the English teachers here are males, if you haven't noticed.

Friday night, I met up with fellow blogger, Serena. She was already cool just by sharing the same last name, and Wu's don't disappoint. We had dinner at Taipei Main at Sababa's and just talked for an hour or so. I insist on being a good wingman for her, but first we need to solve her curfew situation.

Saturday was Thu Van's good bye party since she's leaving Taiwan. We had a great time at Barcode after bowling with one of Michael's friend and girlfriend. I've been doing a lot of bowling lately, even pulled a muscle. That's hardcore bowling for ya.

I think we've finally found another couple to do couple things with. Michael's friend and his gf are totally awesome, and we've gone bowling a few times already and such. The gf and I went out on Sunday for lunch and shopping, and I officially got to hang out and do some girly things with Taiwanese girls. I have to admit, getting to know these girls have changed my perspective on Taiwanese girls a bit. Girls are innately girls; it's just the cross cultural differences that make it harder to get to know them better especially since girls are already a bit more reserved and conservative than boys. But I'm learning, and who knows, maybe my Chinese will finally get better.

Future Rockstar

I'm doing a plug for one of the students that I teach. She's a 16 year old high school student, and she's so cute and very talented.

This is her YouTube channel. Her English is really good, definitely one of the best students that I've taught thus far.

If she ever makes it big one day, I'm sure the application of internal vs. external conflict in Jane Eyre will be significant somehow. :)

Fourth of July Weekend

Unfortunately, there weren't any BBQ or fireworks here in Taipei, so this weekend was spent just like any other. Although I do miss me some hot dogs, grilled burgers, cole slaw, and big backyards with sprinklers and the smell of fresh grass.

I spent Saturday working for three hours in the morning, then sitting in the searing sun at T.G.I. Friday's for lunch. Fast forward to dinner at the Ambassador Hotel, bowling (first time here!), and poker at Champagne into the late hours of the night.

This morning was sunny and beautiful, so we attempted to go swimming. But anytime we step anywhere within a 100-foot radius of the swimming pool, storm clouds immediately cover Taipei and so we got rained out after an hour.

But I did get this shot of a rainbow in the sky before the clouds opened up and poured.

Vandy Folks

Alfred and Julie came to visit Taiwan, and we got to hang out! Too bad they were only here for a short week, or else we would have done more fun things.

It was Alfred's first time in Taipei, so of course we had to show them the good eats. First, we went to eat at DingTaiFeng. Best soup dumplings ever.

Then we had to go get ice cause it was so hot and muggy out, so we took them to Meet Fresh.

Red beans, grass jelly, taro root, and tapioca balls. It may look a bit sketchy, but it's really really good.

This, however, is the best thing ever invented. Mango ice. Oh. my. god. I could eat this stuff every day for all three meals.

And the summer visitors commence!

9 to 5

I've been waking up at 7:30 now because I have morning tutoring classes from 9:30-12:30. They are a couple of high school students from Canada who are back for their summer vacations. I've been experiencing the 9-5 (ish) workday (except my hours are a bit longer) and, suffice to say, I'm not thrilled. It's going to be really hard when I go back to a regular day job.

Because I've been up so early, I'm a bit cranky when I get to my afternoon classes. With all the talking, they drive me up the wall so I've been assigning work after work. With my second graders, it's usually funner things like making posters or booklets. However, with my fifth graders, I'm merciless, and I make them do sentences. Right now, they're stuck on singular and plural possessive nouns and still need help with subjects and predicates, so I'm adding extra work along with our curriculum. I'm a perfectionist, so I demand perfection from my students. Ok, maybe not perfection, but at least a basic understanding.

There are good days and bad days with teaching, like any other job. But when you're having a bad day working in an office, you don't get something like this shyly sneaked into your bag and a whisper to "Read it at home, ok, Teacher?"

Week in Pictures

After the past two weeks of constant rain, this was a rare time when the sun finally came out accompanied by some nice fluffy clouds.

Waiting in my empty classroom for classes to start.

Riding on the back of Michael's cool orange scooter.

Trying to find a spot in the scooter parking lot at the Guang Hua Digital Plaza so I could go buy an external hard drive.

My first time setting foot in Da-An Park since I've been in Taipei. I've forgotten what green looked like.

Due to a random number generator, the winner of the giveaway was Eric! (And no, you cannot give up your vote to Jen because she's my roommate.) So if you'll email me your mailing address, I'll send a package full of these goodies to you. :)

Sharing is Caring

Dude, makeup. If you enjoyed that, there's a lot more where this came from.

"You out clubbing, I just made carmel delight!" Taylor Swift is a badass. What more is there to say?


I don't even know these people, but it made me tear up. Be warned, people. (Thanks for sharing, Eric.)

carol + bryan's // stillmotion special edition sde // NY from StillMotion on Vimeo.

I can't wait for Kevin and Zhou's wedding. Swine flu and all, nothing can stop me from flying across the country to see all of my favorite people.