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Published: March 9th 2006
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View from Pool
You can see our apartment kinda - Ours is the first balcony to your right(there is a red scooter helmet on the balcony ledge). Things are all starting to come together for me out here in Kaohsiung. Lately I have just been relaxing and continuing to adjust until my contract starts at Junior Jungle tomorrow, March 10th. I am very anxious to start teaching regularly - and am really glad that I have had the chance to meet my students on many occasions leading up to this point. It has really helped me to be excited about starting (and less nervous) because all my kids already know my name and are familiar with me.
Anyway, I thought I would post some pictures of my apartment so you can see how I am living. Faye was right - it really is a palace (esp. compared to some places I have visited!). The building is quite new, and the whole complex is taken care of really well. I have barely even seen a bug on the grounds (except for that gigantic beetle I ran from the other day…), but really - they do a great job of keeping things pristine.
Actually, you know - speaking of bugs, I am starting to notice that the bigger they get, the less scared of you they are.
Pool Deck
This is our pool - unfortunately the water fall wasn't on when I took this picture. It's really nice to sit under if you have sore shoulders... This worries me.
About a week ago, there was a baby cockroach crawling inside our toaster oven, and I had to get Faye to come out and spray it (as she recounts it I “screamed like I had broken a bone”, but I don’t seem to remember being
that dramatic…). But seriously, ever since then, I have “seen” them out of the corner of my eye…dust particles, shadows, small objects - they all look like cockroaches now.
As we are getting into the summer months here it is more important than ever to keep food in the fridge. Anything that has been opened, from cereal to peanut butter, has to be kept in there since the bugs can smell that stuff a mile away. And I thought ants were creepy…
So, as of April first I have a new roommate! As some of you already know, my new roomie is a Taiwanese girl (Kellin) that answered my online add. Kellin and I have some things in common, like how we both like to go to the gym, we are both interested in learning more about each others
Walkway Through the Palms
Here is a view of the main garden - when you walk into the apartment complex, you walk through here to get to each apartment tower. They keep the plants really healthy, as you can see. It's really nice to have since there aren't many live plants in the city. culture, and we both speak English quite well. She offered to teach me how to cook some typical Asian dishes as well, and in turn, I can teach her how to make….Kraft Dinner.
But really, I am learning how to cook.
The biggest challenge is finding the right ingredients (which usually consists of me smelling everything or trying to decipher what something is, based on the other products that are shelved close by). Like, a couple weeks ago - I was SO excited to have found a good Chicken Alfredo recipe - but after it was all made, I realized that I had bought the kind of cream that had sugar in it (essentially liquid cool whip). After a few mouthfuls of “candied chicken” I had to stop pretending that it tasted good and throw it all away before I made myself sick. Needless to say, my dinner that night consisted of gummy bears and peanut butter toast. One lesson learned.
Above all, though, I am really looking forward to learning some Chinese from Kellin - as of now my vocabulary consists of “thank-you”, “no”, “straight”, “left” and I can order a green tea with half-sugar. I know they
Walkway - Leaving our Building
This is a view of what you see when leaving our building - the pool is behind the bushes on the left. are random, but I have gotten by surprisingly well on these words, and a whoooole lot of charades.
I can now count to ten on my hands (they go from one to nine on one hand) as well. This may not sound so exciting to all of you - but these little things have really helped me out here. For example, one time, my botched Chinese caused me to accidentally order 3 green teas when I only wanted one. Now that I have the counting-with-hands thing down, that will not happen again….i hope. It was a little embarrassing - but regardless, the tea stand lady and I had a good laugh…at my expense. Actually, come to think of it, so did the other employees and customers standing around me…
Well - that’s it for now. I anticipate that I will have many more stories to tell once I get into the swing of things here. As far as traveling goes, I have no real plans as of yet since I want to focus on finding my teaching style and getting used to my new daily routine - but one thing I aim to do is get out of
the city as much as possible on weekends.
There are many beautiful places to see here in Taiwan, and the great thing is - the longest drive you could ever do here is around 9 hours (from top to bottom). So, everything is quite accessible. One popular spot is Kenting (a beach and national park) which is 2 hours south of me, by scooter. I suspect I will be making many trips there in the future…especially since summer is around the corner!!
Hope you enjoy the pictures…keep in touch!
Rebecca
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SAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWEEETTT
Hi REEBs! Youre place is awesome! I love asia! My place in Malaysia was just like that too. hahahah. Im going to be straight out and cheesy and say that I love reading your journal. keep it up!MISS YOU