Wednesday 30 December 2009

Weekend Shenanigans

It is New Years Eve and i'm not sure what I am going to do. I could go through to Chang Hua after work and search out a friends apartment. Or relax. I think it will depend on how the teaching day goes today.

I know that i'm leaving early to catch a bus to Taipei. I'm going to visit my friend Kurt. We've not met for a while and a catch up is in order. Also, i'm meeting my friend Hans. So, fingers crossed I can manage all of that :)

Another reason for getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow is that I want plenty of time to go around the National Palace Museum. I know what i'm like when I get in a museum...I will need all day to get through it all. A nice surprise when I checked the website to see if it was open on January 1st, is that entry is free because it is a national holiday. The museum is open every day of the year. That is cool!

So I intend to sleep on the bus on the way up (which takes about three hours) and spend most of the day in the museum. I am looking forward to that :D And, in my own company, which i'm also looking forward to :)

The rest of the weekend...nothing is set in stone. So a 'go with the flow' philosophy is in play.

Sunday 27 December 2009

Speech Competition

I had to rise early (6am) on Sunday in order to get into Taichung for 9am. It was the speech competition for my kids. I was so nervous, so I have no idea what it was like for them.

I ended up leaving late (at 7.30) because I kept forgetting things, or thinking I had. I had to return to my apartment because I thought I had left my mobile at home. haha. Once I looked for it, I found it in my bag. Oh well, a classic Gilly Bean moment.

I got the the branch in Taichung and greeted my kids that I saw. I made sure to ask how they were and tell them to have fun.

There were 32 kids in all (11 from my branch) and only 7 were being chosen for the next round. Naomi was there as well (my co-teacher). So we sat together to watch them. They all did really well, but the other kids were also really good.

Though, I was so happy to have 2 of ours selected. There was a third that just missed the selection. So she would have been upset on seeing the scores for the different categories.

They were: content (what they talked about), oral (pronunciation/intonation), physical (gestures).

I was so chuffed that two got through. One boy and one girl. The girl deserved it, she worked really hard from the very start. We knew she would definitely get through. The boy was a brilliant shock! :D

I am so very proud of them!

Moments like that makes me think I have the best job in the world!

Charlies and Julia: Who made it through to the next round.

Charlies


Julia


A group photo of my kids :D
At the back, Elly
Debbie, Jennis, Serena, Julia, Annie, Jenny, Jenny
Charlies, Joey, Louis


Post Christmas Relaxation

We all slept in really late. We didn't go to bed until 4am but still...getting up at 1.30pm seemed like wasting the day. After getting dressed we went in search of food.
The Italian I wanted to try was closed so we went to 'New Cafe'. haha. Your food comes with a tea, but I ordered an extra coffee, at a price which I thought it was a really good and large coffee...it turned out I had ordered a cake set. So I had quite a mountain of food on the go. So I enlisted some help :)

After that we checked out the local Taoist temple which is very close to where I live. I then took the others back to my apartment to collect their stuff, then I headed off to work. The class went well, and quickly...with the aid of cookie bribery :)

After that I went to dinner with Donna and Vickie. Who turn out to be sisters, I had no idea. I've been doing interviews for Donna, for her course which is about differing views on the concept of beauty. It is quite interesting. So between sitting down and finishing our meal, I was asked ten questions on my opinion and general Scottish concepts of beauty.

I had a very tasty hot pot for dinner, which was Satay Ramen Pot...Ramen, meaning noodles. Very nice indeed.

Once I got in, I chilled and then hit the sack as I knew I had to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning.

Some kind of American candy. Very tasty.


I thought I had ordered a really expensive coffee...it turned out that I ordered cake too :)

Christmas Day

I was so excited the week leading up to Christmas. I listened to Christmas music a lot and had unbelievable sickly Christmas cheer :D

On Christmas I was quite productive. My young Tree House class had a Christmas activity of making stockings (which they had started in the previous lesson) and I had decided to give out gifts. So once upon waking, I cleaned, shopped for prizes for the kids, then did a little more shopping for my secret santa. I also bought fake snow and stencils to decorate some of the glass doors in my apartment...to give it that tacky yet cool Christmas feel :)





I opened my Christmas presents from home when it had gone midnight. It felt right to do so. Even though it wasn't Christmas back home, it was here. I had the Christmas lights on, other lights dimmed. It would have felt quite sad to open them by myself on Christmas morning. It had the right ambiance the night before :)

School went well. It was great fun actually. The kids loved their presents. I also had lots of cookies left over which I took to my next class and threw out randomly when an answer was given :)











Renee, Perry and Zach joined for Christmas. Renee made spaghetti carbonara. Not quite a Christmas meal but it was tasty all the same. We exchanged gifts and relaxed. Unfortunately Zach got some bad news from home. My prayers are with him.

Monday 21 December 2009

Christmas Brunch, Glorious Gardens and Evening Viewing

This weekend. Saturday Taichung...dinner with friends. 89K to watch band. Stayed at Renee's. Sunday, brunch at the Splendor hotel for HESS Christmas treat. Walked around with folks afterwards. Went to the Tropical Greenhouse by the Science Museum. Took some great photo's. Then went to ChangHua to watch the movie 'Avatar'. It was awesome.

More comprehensive update to follow. Very busy with work at the moment.

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Birthday Bonanza

It was my birthday (not sure whether the post will show as the 16th or not) yesterday. I had a morning of studying course books for a new course I'm teaching. It's for older kids who have gone through the other main courses. The class went well. It's more conversational, so it's student centred.

My first monkey class wasn't too bad :) during the second class one of my favourite classes came up to where I was teaching and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was so sweet. I was so moved. I love those kids.

Then after classes I got the most pleasant shock. My friends (colleagues) had bought me a beautiful cake, a card and a gift. It was so nice of them!

Then true Taiwan style...lots of photo's in various poses. It was so much fun!

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Three Month Training

I had my three month training session today. It was really informative. It was great meeting others who have been teaching the same classes as me. My first session was about Tree House. The second about HLS (the evening teaching), which includes Kids Club and Step Ahead.

It's always good getting a 'top up' of energy and information. It really encourages you to keep improving your teaching style and approach.

I'm looking forward to applying it all.

Local Temples

After attending the wedding banquet on Sunday (13th Dec) I returned to my apartment and met up with Zach, Gaz and Renee. We decided to explore the surrounding area a little. The first temple we went to was one on the outskirts of Nantou, on the road towards Fengyuan. The second is in Fengyuan. Then we went to Taichung, had dinner at Chilli's where I had an awesome salad and then we watched the new Twilight movie 'New Moon'. I really enjoyed it. I think it was much better than the first movie. Mind you, I am easily entertained to anything with vampires in it :D and werewolves!

Here are a couple of pictures of the first temple we went to. It is a Buddhist temple. The gardens were meticulously maintained. The atmoshpere was so peaceful! I intend to go there regularly...especially during the week in the mornings. It is a great incentive to get up early, if I can go and relax somewhere like that :)















There were two pillars. One either side of the entrance. They are depicting...in all honesty, I don't know what of.






In-lay on the floor before the main entrance to the temple.








There was another temple area. You climbed the stairs to an area that had a couple of tables and seats. The views were spectacular.




View from the top.


Pagoda nearby.







The temple at Fengyan.


A picture of a diagram of the temple.


Main square of the temple (Pink in the diagram).


This is a close up of the incense pot. This was taken of the pot which is in the upstairs temple area (Blue in the diagram).


Dragon pillars. These were upstairs too (Blue in the diagram).


This is a beautiful pheonix carving, it was part of the railing upstairs. Pretty spectacular stuff for non-essential decoration!


This seems to be a central feature of the temple. It is in the second area (once you walk through the first main square)on the ground floor. (Blue area, groundfloor).


This is slightly blurry picture of an original foundation pillar stone. The temple is over three hundred years old. The joints are all dovetail, so no nails, screws or anything like that. (Pink area, diagram).


The man in the temple was really helpful. He couldn't speak English but we still understood what he was saying. He told us about the joints and the age of the temple, and pointed out the pillar stones. Cool stuff :D it's amazing what you can understand...tis a shame I can't reply properly.

Also, the temple had little bits and bobs you could take. So I took a couple of Buddha lucky knot tastle thingys. haha, great description.

Monday 14 December 2009

Taiwanese Wedding Banquet

I had a night of chilling with my good friends, Gaz, Perry, Renee and Zach, with a couple of drams of whisky on Saturday evening. Sunday, was an early rise to take Perry to the Bus station. Then Zach and I had a wander around, purchased some breakfast and fruit. A nice quiet Sunday morning.

Then I started to get ready, as I had my friend Naomi's wedding banquet to attend. It was amazing! I have included lots of photo's of the food. It only lasted two hours, very quick. I liked that very much.

You witness the exchange of rings. What is interesting is that for the woman the ring is on the right hand, for the man, on the left. The woman puts the ring half way down the mans finger. To do so is to show him disrespect, because you are saying you are the dominant character in the relationship...and that is not the way it is supposed to be.

Me, Minerva, Naomi, Vickie, Bella (friends and co-workers)


Family pictures being taken. Everyone looked so serious. But it is a serious occassion :)


The happy couple go to each table and say thank you (with a toast) for attending. What is interesting is that the table can make any kind of request to the couple and they have to oblige the guests. Apparently, at some weddings, when the elder generations are not there, things can get a bit rowdy. It was all very nice at Naomi's wedding though. There were a couple of times the couple had to kiss...but it made everyone cheer. So that was great!


The first dish was two sushi dishes. I hadn't taken photo's at that point...but when I realised it was a never ending line of tasty food...I had to take pictures.


Fish. In the background is Chicken and Sharkfin soup. The sharkfin is regarded as a delicacy in Chinese food. So at special occassions it calls for something to have some kind of special ingredient.




The long things are prawns in thin noodles. They were delicious!


Christmas Cheer!

I had friends to stay on Saturday. We went to the local store Carrefore to get some ingredients for dessert...which I was not making :D Whilst walking past the Christmas aisle, I had the overwhelming urge to purchase a Christmas tree.

I got so excited. Christmas is my favourite time of year!
Upon our return to my apartment my friend Zach and I started to unpack all the stuff. After we assembled the tree we decided that we needed more lights...so one more quick trip to Carrefour was in order. We had a quick scoot through the doors as it was closing time. Then when we got back...decorating fun! We opted for a silver/blue theme, which I must say is rather nice (if I do say so myself).


Once it was finished I put my Christmas cards nearby and my Christmas package under the tree :D