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