An amazing weekend in Taichung

So as I mentioned early I had the most amazing weekend in TaiChung this weekend. I went in on Sat morning with Nandi, we caught the train in. The Taichung train station is really beautiful and is a national heritage site, I've put a photo in for those historians following this blog. Its baroque architecture apparently... really cool.

Then we hailed a cab to take us to Nova where I bought my camera :D yay... Then we walked around that area of TaiChung which is really picturesque and has cool buildings that have plants and things growing out the side... see picture.
Then we had lunch at a restaurant called the Naked Cafe, which had really good food, that felt like home, if it weren't for all the Chinese spoken in the restaurant I would have thought I was back in SA. So after a great burger at the Naked Cafe we walked around TaiChung some more then we caught a bus to one of TaiChung's market streets (there are many) and did some clothes shopping. These markets are really cool, cos everything is super cheap (like costs under R150) and most of it looks really cool. After trawling through the night market ( I only spent R75 on a gorgeous scarf and a really nice vest) then Nandi and I parted ways. I took a taxi to Chuck and Molly's house and Nandi took a bus to take a train back to Ching Shuei.

I had a great time with Chuck and Molly (they are the couple who pastor my church, CCT) we had supper and chatted alot and then watched some of the extended version of LOTR, Chuck has them and loves the book so that was great. I slept at Chuck and Molly's, and it was SO great to get out of Ching Shuei and my apartment for a change. Chuck and Molly have been really great and have said I can stay there any time I want, no problem. So thats really cool.

The next day was church and I was there super early for a change (normally I get in just after church starts cos of the bus) and was helping the muso's set up when they mentioned they didn't have a piano player for that day, so I volunteered and ended up playing piano in church on Sunday, which was really cool. I have missed it a lot, and it was good to be involved.

Then we went to the scooter shop to scope out potential and found the baby I have bought, and after that I went out for lunch with Michael, Emily and their daughter Miley. We had proper Chinese, fried rice and something called Hun Tun, which is like a dumpling stuffed with meat and veg, they are really good.
After lunch Michael and Emily were kind enough to drive me home to Ching Shuei so I didn't have to catch a bus. And on the way home Michael mentioned that he needs someone to edit the English in his students papers (he's an engineering lecturer) and so now I have a part time job editing papers, which is great because at least my brain is getting a work out!

So that brings me up to the end of the weekend when I had a sleep and did a little skyping. All round...FANTASTIC! so that's the long and short, ok just the long of it.

SCOOTER SCOOTER SCOOTER

So the other thing I did this weekend was go scooter shopping... (If your wondering at the sudden bought of spending, my student loan took a hit this month for the sake of me getting set up and I had been saving for a camera)

People from church have been really great in helping me get settled, so this weekend, while I was in Taichung Chuck and Michael took me to a scooter shop and we looked for and found a potential scooter. I went back today and bought it, I will have it in my possession by the weekend. When I will go into TaiChung for church and also learn how to ride a scooter. I've had one practice round, so I plan on driving it around Morrison Academy, the place where church is and getting a feel for it, then I will attempt the trip home.

So I've posted a picture of me and my new scooter above, I think its really cute and I'm really excited. Thank you Lord for helping sort all this stuff out!

CAMERA CAMERA CAMERA

So this weekend I finally submitted to the typical touristy vibe in Taiwan... I went electronics shopping...with one particular camera in mind... Anyway I had scouted prices and was expecting to pay $12 000 for the Canon IXUS 100 which was really nice and small and I was stoked (I also budgeted money for the battery and memory card). So I went into NOVA the home of all electronics in TaiChung city to see if I could find it for cheaper ( I wasn't to convinced I would)

And lo and behold I found the Canon IXUS 120 (obviously the higher the number the better) on sale for $12 000 with 2 batteries and an 8 gig memory card... SO I BOUGHT IT (the cute little thing above is the picture off the box...)

And wow wow wow did it feel good, its the most expensive thing I have ever bought cash, not owing any money, and its the best one of that range on the market today (it might have changed by tomorrow knowing technology)

Either way I am really REALLY really stoked. And am having SO much fun take pictures of everything, and anything. So the above pictures are of my new camera (well from the box, cos i couldn't really take a pic of it with it...) and my 'So happy I have a new camera smile'

A comment about comments

So I'm not trying to be ungrateful or anything... or complain, but please leave comments... not essays, just a short little...READ IT!! kinda of thing... cos otherwise I don't know if anyone is actually reading my blog, I do wonder sometimes. So please please please leave a little comment if you've been here.. Thanks

The Masked Educator.

Okay so I'm a little behind with my blogging, there have been quite a few noteworthy occurrences, so I'm going to try update this thing.

The first one on my list is THE MASKED EDUCATOR, as demonstrated above and below. This is both a strange and frustrating occurrence. Swine flu, or H1N1 as they like to call it here in Taiwan is a becoming a real problem, therefore all teachers in Taiwan and ALL students are required to wear a mask to school. Furthermore temperatures have to be taken before entering the school, if your hot YOUR OUT! (view the advanced thermometor in the picture below, its the grey thing. The spray bottle is antiseptic hand cleaner all kids are sprayed on entering...nice)



So these photos are of the first day of masked teaching, when I was still laughing about it (you can see the smile in my eyes) needless to say the smiles soon wore off because masks are FRIGGING hot! And when you are teaching pronounciation it is rather important to be able to show your mouth... needless to say I spend most of my time teaching with my mask on my chin.

Its actually quite normal to see kids and teachers with their masks on their chins, and then quickly slipping them back on if a manager walks past... as I said to my kids, your chin is not the thing with germs, but I don't really have room to talk.

I almost threw in the towel and refused to wear it but then I realised that if I did get H1N1 I would feel like a real tonsil... so on the mask goes.