Howdy!
Well, I arrived in Taipei on August 7th, and it's now October 4th. That is NUTS! If time flies by that quickly, then maybe I'll be done with my year of teaching kindergarten that much more quickly. ;o) Just kidding (kind of). Don't get me wrong, my job is mostly fine, it's just that they're so young. And so much is asked of them. It's more frustrating to me than it is to the kids! Anyways, time is flying by!
Saturday, October 3rd was Taiwan's "Moon Festival" or "Mid-Autumn Festival". Couldn't tell you too much about what it means and stuff, but basically everyone just barbecues and has a family day and eats moon cakes. My friend Evonne, a Taiwanese girl that I originally met in Boston, is back in Taipei so she invited me and David out with some friends of hers to a barbecue restaurant in Ximen, which was delicious, and then we found a Shisha (Hookah) place that absolutely blew my mind! Best hookah I've had ever, hands down. We ordered a Peach flavor Nahkla tobacco, and wow, it was fantastic. So tasty! Sorry Julie and Mandy that you weren't here for it - it rocked. Anyways, so we spent the night hanging out and enjoying the company of new friends and stuff, it was a nice time.
Stuff at school has been slowly shaping up. All the kids are sick though, as is 1/3 of the teaching staff. Laryngitis is a popular one. I've been fine though, I'm happy to report that I haven't been sick since those first 2-3 weeks of teaching! No problems (knock on wood). We did have a couple of swine, er, H1N1 scares which shut us out of a field trip to a bookstore and from having our own barbecue for Moon Festival last Friday. Bummer.
Recently (as in yesterday) I found a new sandwich shop that is down the road from my apartment (an alley I just haven't meandered down before) and had a tasty ham sandwich served with cheesy doritos and a cup of coffee (or tea) for 123 NT (that's the name of the shop.. "123"). The server was talking to me quite a bit, I was happy to go to a place where someone can speak English and help me out. She was really nice and asked if we could maybe meet again, she was an English teacher at a Senior High school and would like to perfect her speaking skills. I said sure. I gave her my email and she wrote down her email and phone number, which I then put in my pocket, which I then put into the washing machine today. I pulled out my clothes only to find them covered in bits of paper. That was fun. Oh well, I'm sure she'll get in touch. But anyways, that was nice.
I get paid tomorrow for the first time too, I'm super stoked!!! I have a bank account and a debit card and it will be automatically deposited. I. am. so. psyched. I'm down to my last 170 NT (about $5). Thanks in part to the 500 NT bonus I was given in a traditional red envelope from the owner of JumpStart in honor of Moon Festival. But tomorrow I'll have some cash again. I'm not sure exactly how much will be taken out for health insurance and taxes and everything plus I'm supposed to be reimbursed for the money I spent on getting my health check when I arrived in Taiwan and all this other stuff, so we'll see what the grand total is.
That's all for now, here's to a super week full of rain and typhoons!
-Tiff
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