Mountains, Waterfalls, Hiking & More

Hey again! I am finally back with more stories from these past couple days...well week. 

Can you believe that I have already been in Taiwan for almost 40 days? (yes I have been keeping track). It has been a crazy ride so far and I can't believe everything that I have done since I got here. 

Recap:

-Found an apartment

-Moved out of hostel -> into apartment

-Started working 

-Started taking Chinese class

-Will start private tutoring

-Figured out how to use the buses and MRT 

-Go site seeing

I am very happy that I finally feel like I am getting somewhat settled in to my new life in Taiwan. It has still been very difficult to get used to the cultural differences and sometimes I just want to have my car here with me so it isn't such a hassle to get from one place to another....but I am considering getting a scooter. Don't worry!! (Side note: Taiwan has the most scooters per capital anywhere is the world). 

But other than doing all of this I am really enjoying my Chinese classes. Although they are very early at 8:00 am, I think that they are going to be very helpful and I love my teacher. I also am enjoying teaching and like my co-workers, but it gets very tiring. Some of the students are so wild and they definitely aren't afraid of misbehaving!! Wednesdays and Fridays are my longest days and on Wed. I have to work from 2-7 and on Fridays I have to work from 2-9.  

Now for the fun stuff: 

At the Pool Party!

This past weekend was nice and on Friday night and bunch of friends and myself all went out to this ex-pat bar called Revolver and sat outside and drank for a while. We ended up going home a little bit "early" around 2:00, because we were tired. But the next day, Mary, Colleen and myself all headed to this pool party that was happening. The party was held at the Taipei Country Club and the whole place was pretty much all foreigners. It was really fun and super wild. Then in the evening all of us headed to another ex-pat bar, that is called On Tap. It is a really cute British-type pub and it is very fun. 

In Wuli

On Sunday, there was a Reach to Teach event that was being held in Wuli. Wuli is about an hour or more outside of Taipei City and it is a beautiful town. Wuli is very mountainous, with trees stretching as far as the eye can see and fresh air...(which is nice to have). We had the most beautiful weather and the sun was shining for most of the day and the R2T group and myself hiked for about 3 hours. After hiking, and walking past water streams running down the mountain-side and rivers, we reached this triple waterfall that all of us had been wanting to see. It was so beautiful and it felt so great to just be outside of the city. I realized how peaceful and tropical Taiwan can truly be outside of the hustle of the city.  We then headed back to the little town of Wuli and tried some amazing food, which was native to the mountains...like "Mountain Pig" (which was AMAZING) and Bao zi, which are these dough balls with pork and scallions on the inside. It was such a great day spent with great people and I think it was one of the best days I have had here yet. 

Waterfall in Wuli Mountains

Finally I had to come back to reality and go back to work and school. This week has been very busy and on Wednesday I met with a family from South Korea, because the father wants me to private tutor his girls. The girls are 12 & 14 and they seem very sweet. The family is here in Taiwan, because the dad is the Head of Marketing and Sales for Samsung (heck ya...maybe I can get a job!) and he was transfered here for 5 years. I will start tutoring them next week..so wish me luck!! ahh

Also, after work on Wednesday, Pei Wen and I went out for my first nice dinner here in Taiwan at this place called Tasty! We sat there for a good 2 hours just talking and having fun eating this great meal. Then....we decided it would be really great if we told them it was my birthday!!!! hah. ( well I mean you could "technically" say it was my birthday, because yesterday was my half-birthday!) But it was sooo great, because the servers came over to me and sang me Happy Birthday in Chinese and English and then made me wear a birthday hat and were taking pictures of Pei Wen and me, hah. I think we are going to start saying its my birthday everywhere to see how many present we can get!! ha. 

So I have had a pretty busy, but uneventful week so far and I am already definitely ready for the weekend to come. I am so tired and I plan to relax and do some more touristy things this weekend. I think I may head to Maokong Gondola (which I am pretty sure is where the "Bachelorette" went with JP on her date in Taiwan to look over all of Taipei City! I am very excited. SOOO Stay tuned and I will try and post blog updates more frequently, so you do not loose interest....You better not loose interest!! ha. 

Asian Style photo!

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and am missing back home!!! 

Look for another blog post soon. 

Olivia. xx

New Beginnings

Ni Hao & Dui Bu Qui...(Hello and I'm sorry!)

I'm back!! Sorry for the delay in writing, but I have been extremely busy doing many things to create more amazing stories for this blog!!

MY ROOM!

So last Saturday I moved into my new apartment. This was a STRUGGLE...because once again I had to move both of my 50 pound suitcases down the stairs as well as my backpack, purse AND another backpack that I acquired since being here. It was pretty ridiculous, because the owner came out to help me carry my luggage and he was SMALLER than me...so I don't know how he though he could do any better of a job carrying them, ha. But, I let him do it. I finally arrived at my apartment and was ready to move all of my things in and finally get settled. But, after arriving, I found out, a little too late, that my bed is pretty much a mattress that has probably been used by at least 4 people before me that sinks directly to the floor when laying on it...GREAAT. So, I decided the couch would be more comfortable and sadly enough it was. So I staying on the couch in the middle of the living in room for about 4 days...kinda awkward. So, I finally moved back into my room and decided to suck it up and sleep on my bed. I have been doing alright so far...don't worry. A new mattress will be on the way...thanks to the landlord!

The outside of my school!

The next day, Monday, August 29th was supposed to be my first day of teaching English! I am so happy that I am getting paid to teach something that I don't even have to think about and learned all of my life...what a great job!! So, today I am planning to go into work when I find out that school has been cancelled due to a TYPHOON...ok great...what the heck and I am supposed to do? Do I run out to get food just in case I am trapped in my house? Well, it turns out that the typhoon didn't even hit Taipei and I got the day off to relax and get settled into my new place. Tuesday finally came and now it really was my first day to teach English class. I was soo nervous because I didn't have much experience teaching...actually I take that back....ANY experience teaching English, so I was kinda freaking out. Well, here it goes!! It was pretty brutal teaching the first couple of classes. The kids were vert shy, because I was a new teacher and they probably thought I was a giant and were scared of my blonde hair and blue eyes, but as the week went on, the young kids started to become louder and louder and by that time I kinda wished that they were still shy, because they are SOO LOUD. *side note: it is very interesting, because when the kids get older and become better at speaking English, they become less likely to talk English and become more shy** I guess English Isn't the "Cool" thing to do when you get older! But, all in all, my classes are pretty good, but I have to play a lot of games with them in order to get them engaged.
After the week finished, I was ready to FINALLY have some fun. So, that called for some drinks with friends. I met with some of my friends on both Friday and Saturday night and we all went out to a couple bars and hung around and talked. On Saturday night, we went to this ex-pat bar, called Brass Monkey, which was pretty fun, but you HAD to wear pink to get in, so all of the men in the bar were wearing bright pink....it was pretty funny. I am definitely going to have to get used to the way things work around here, because pretty much everyone stays out until 4 am. I can't believe it...I am going to become nocturnal on the weekends.  OH also, after arriving home from the bar on Saturday night/morning, I saw my first COCKROACH...SICCCK!! It was soo disgusting and I was like a mad woman trying to kill it in my bathroom with a plunger at 4 am in the morning...haha. You would have died laughing if you were watching me try to kill this thing!

Mary and I at Fulong Beach

 Anyway, this past Sunday I surprisingly woke up at 10:30 and met up with my friends Mary and Colleen to catch the bus to Fulong beach. I was pretty much a zombie after waking up and getting 6 hours of sleep. So, Mary, Colleen and I went to catch the train, which is usually extremely packed going and coming from the beach and just accepted the fact that we wouldn't get a seat for the hour long train ride. While waiting in line to get on the train we saw some seats open and to say the least, we pretty much just bulldozed our way through the crowd and GOT a seat...ahha.
Well anyway, Fulong Beach was awesome and it was nice to get out the city and see open land for once. It was also nice to go swimming and visit a beautiful temple that was really close by.

Well that is literally almost every detail of what has happened to me since moving into my new place. There have been many new beginnings....Stay tuned for more.....and keep reading!!

Olivia