Two American Girls Takin' Over Taiwan

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A familiar face arrived on Wednesday - Risa "Around the World" Janzen, my roommate from Boston. We have been exploring the city of Tainan since she arrived, and we've also had some "chill" time 😊 She has been traveling through Asia meeting new friends since February, so she welcomed the chance to hang out with an old friend. On Wed. night, we went to dinner at this little place by my apartment, and I got to taste my first "Taiwan Beer." Basically, it tastes like Bud Light 😊 For dinner, the menu was all in Chinese, so we asked the guy for anything but not beef. When the dishes arrived to our table, they were....ALL BEEF! haha....it was still good though.

On Thursday, Risa came to my school with me to meet the children. When we arrived, my boss Amy asked me if I could substitute for one of the teachers who was sick. So, Risa & I both taught the nursery students, who are the children I will teach in August. They are all so adorable! We took more pictures, so I'll post them asap. It was a fun experience "teaching" them. They are all so eager & excited to learn, so they absorb every word. Plus, I got paid for subbing 😊 Later that day, we walked a long distance to get to the bay area and saw a really nice park on the way. The sun was so hot that my shirt was dripping with sweat, and I got a little sunburned 😞

My school had a dinner for the teachers on Friday night at this nice restaurant near my place. It's an "Italian" restaurant, but the pasta left a lot to be desired. There was an all-you-can eat salad bar though, and that was wonderful....equipped with Haagen Daas ice cream 😊 After dinner, Amy offered to bring us to a bar, and she ended up driving us around the city showing us the sights. It's really a beautiful city with a lot to do. Once I get a scooter, I think I'll enjoy it more. Risa & I went to an American pub here, but when we walked in everyone stared at us - mostly old, white men! So, we had one drink then asked our waitress where we could go to dance. We went to this really fun club where I saw a teacher from my school and a lot of English-speaking people. It was so fun dancing there that we didn't realize the time. When we walked out of the club, it was daylight!!! Needless to say, we slept in for awhile on Saturday 😊

When we woke up, we both had facials at the spa by my house. It was $23 for 100-minutes, which included a long back massage. The woman (Arwen) was soooo cute & sweet. She had a notebook with Chinese & English phrases, so each time she wanted to tell me something, she would say "Sorry" and point to the phrase. So, she was in the middle of massaging me, then she pointed to "Please turn over and face to me." At the end, she pointed to "Please take your time sitting up. I will assist you." I can't explain how amazing the whole experience was....but I will say that I want to pay for anyone who visits me to go to this spa!

Later on Saturday, we walked to find a place to eat dinner, and we ended up walking for about 3 miles! We ended up finding this internet cafe where we stayed for over an hour. Right before we were going to leave, all of these policemen walked in! I was talking on the phone to my boyfriend online, and the police walked over and asked for our IDs. It was crazy because we had no idea what was going on. No one else seemed to mind, and the owner kept smiling at us. Risa said they have really strict pornography laws here, so maybe someone was getting caught....we'll never know :-)

I ended up buying a DVD player for really cheap, and we rented the 1st season of Sex & the City. So, we got pizza from Pizza Hut and are having a girls night in 😊 It's great to be with a good friend here. Suddenly, Tainan seems familiar. We'll head to Taipei (the capital) tomorrow, so I will write again soon. Hopefully I can be less-boring then :-)

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Photos

Willy
One of my students showing me his collage :)

Old street in Tainan
It's hard to capture at night, but this is a very old street in Tainan.

Narrow Cafe
Risa took some better pictures of this narrow entry to a cafe - called, of course, "Narrow Cafe."

River in Tainan
This river is near my apartment in the Anping District

Fishing boats
Some very old looking boats in the river

Balancing Risa
Risa using the balance beam in this little park near my school.

I think it's called Yoga?
I was copying the picture & this is what it said to do! :)

Cute puppy in the park
Risa & I met a little friend in the park. He was so energetic & wanted to play!

Students' Artwork
When Risa & were substitutes, we had the children make collages :)

More cutie-pies
Most of them didn't quite get the concept of posing for a picture with their art :)

Me in a bar
Yes, it's that exciting :)

Night on the town
Me, Risa & our new friend Ananda after staying out all night :)

Comments

[Marianne]

I'm so glad that Risa was there. The whole visit sounds like so much fun. I wish I could go to that spa with you!

[Stella]

So fun!
I looooooove this entry! Your pictures are beautiful and through your writing, I can almost picture Tainan. I'm glad you're adjusting well...the kids are ADORABLE! I'm so happy for you. P.S. I bet you miss your BOYFRIEND!!! ;-)