Teacher gifts

The Taiwanese sweets/things I got

So the Chinese kids and parents like to give their teachers gifts. I'm not complaining its a great way to experience their culture. So far I have been given these Taiwanese 'sweets' or 'pudding' I dont know what to call it cos its not like anything I have had before. I guess sort of like Turkish delight in texture but not in flavour. I'll find out the name and add it later. Also been given yams, milk, forrero rochers and chips. Its quite fun getting random gifts from your kids I wont lie.

Fifi

Practising my driving in a random little area of Taichung

So the last time I wrote about my scooter, it was all in the pipelines. Now its mine. Bought and paid for. The papers are all in my name and I officially own my first set of independent wheels (as my dad calls them) I have named her Fifi. There is a logic behind this bizarre name. She has Fever written on her side and Taiwan is Formosa so I went with the two 'F's but lets be honest Fefo doesn't really work. So Fifi it is.


Needless to say I am loving the independence of having wheels. It took me a few try's to get steady on her. Last weekend I was in Taichung with Chuck and Molly who were looking after Fifi for me until I could drive her home. And Venus came over to help me get used to driving around. Now anyone who has been to Taichung will know that its not the best place to learn to drive a scooter because of traffic. Fortunately Venus found a quiet little suburb and I practised ridding there. Then we went to buy a helmet (its the good looking thing you see on the left) and after that I was a for away.

I didn't ride home on Sat though cos of traffic, I waited till Sunday after church on the hope that there would be a lul in traffic at the opportune moment. I was also covered with the prayers of my church (just before I left Chuck announced to the WHOLE church that i was going solo... I'll admit to a little embarrassment)

So my trip home was good all round. I had to turn around once or twice cos I thought I was lost... both times I wasn't and ended up driving the same road twice. But I'm not to phased cos it was quite a distance a good 20km.

And now that she's home, i'm zooting around as often as possible. I'm going to make the drive back into Taichung this weekend for Church, and hopefully all goes well and I don't get 'not lost' again.


And this is evidence that I got home safe, tired but safe ;)

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'