Me and the Second Grade - and an exciting McDonalds discovery!

Today is a beautiful sunny day which made me very happy! I had classes all morning so I have been very busy. I had my first fourth grade class this morning which went well and then two second grade classes and a fifth grade class. I thought I would include some of the work the second grade class did, this is class 208's efforts at learning the Australian animals. I also wrote my signature on several more pieces of paper for the 5th grade class so I am still a little bit famous!! This is also a photo of me with the second graders in class 207.

Today the teachers ordered in a delicious cake to be eaten. This cake is only made in winter because that is when the Taiwanese Strawberries are in season. It is a rectangle shape with different coloured layers and strawberries on top and in the middle, and with a little bit of chocolate on the bottom and what is either cream or mousse near the strawberries. It is very tasty and sweet.

I also discovered today that McDonalds here sells soup and bagels with Philly cream cheese!! It was very exciting because I love bagels and I love Philly, and I also quite like soup. In Australia McDonalds mostly just has burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, wraps, salads and some desserts. Also breakfast food. But no soup and no bagels! Mmmmm...bagel....

Tonight I am going to Bella's house for dinner. She is one of the English teachers and it was very kind of her to invite me.

Bits and Pieces...including more commentary on food!

Tomorrow I have my first second grade class and also class 510, which is the school basketball team. For the second grade I have prepared a lesson about Australian animals, with a powerpoint and a sheet for colouring in and labelling all the animals. I thought that maybe Class 510, being the basketball team, might like to learn about Australian sports so tomorrow we will learn about cricket and Australian Rules Football. We will also go through other sports played in Australia, such as surfing, rugby, basketball and soccer. And then afterwards we will play pictionary with the sports. So I will see how it goes tomorrow... I vary between thinking they will guess the pictures really quickly annd the lesson will be over too soon, and thinking it will be too hard for them! So we will see.

The children seem to like learning about the Australian animals so i think it will be a good lesson for the second grade.

Yesterday was a pizza day which made me very happy...the teachers ordered pizza for lunch and there was very tasty chicken and also ham and pineapple pizza. I haven't had pizza in ages so I enjoyed it more than I usually would.

Well I had the second grade and the fifth grade. It was funny because the second grade were so happy with the animals that they had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever! So they didn't have any questions for me...but I had a photo together with some of the girls. The fifth grade class were very energetic and very keen on making everyone laugh. They were very involved in playing the game and they picked up all the new words fast.

Today I went with the teachers to a restaurant for lunch. We had Peking duck, which was really nice. You took a slice of duck, a slice of skin, some spring onion and some sauce and wrapped it in a wrap that is slightly like a pita bread but thinner. It was my favourite part of the lunch, though I also enjoyed the pancake-type dessert we had at the end. It had red bean in it. I try to describe these things cos I hav absolutely no idea what they are called!

Well that is all for today. But this picture is of the sheet the second graders filled out, they label the animals and then colour them in.

Shilin and Danshui

Good morning everyone. It is bright and early on a Monday morning, back at school for the week and I am very very tired! But I have had a fun weekend so I will tell you all about it.
On Friday night I went to a birthday party for Boris, a member of AIESEC CCLC. He cooked lots of food for us to try and I got home very late. Happy Birthday Boris :)

I was tired on Saturday morning so I accidentally slept in a bit but afterward I went to a meeting at the school and met the Scouts, the parents and the Leaders. They played games and activities; I joined in one of the activities, which was fun. Afterwards I travelled on the metro with Paulina to the National Palace Museum. It is in an area which is very beautiful, with green mountains and the weather was nice so there was blue sky and the sun (which made me very happy)! The Museum has so many things so we were there all afternoon. I liked the paintings the best, they are so delicate and the attention to detail is so painstaking; you can tell the artist spent years completing the work. Also some of the paintings are very long and give insight into the way of life for all people in that era that you might not otherwise see. I also liked the ivory carvings and statues made during the Qing and Han Dynasties, they were very intricate.

Afterwards Paulina and I went to Shilin Market, which was absolutely jam-packed with people. There were so many people there was no room on the street for cars or buses and there was no space to look at anything. It was a crazy, crazy place. But I had a very nice drink made of papaya and milk.

On Sunday I went to Danshui with Paulina and Bella. It was beautiful weather again, sunny and warm and it made me sooooooo happy... maybe you may have guessed that I don't really like winter! :)

Danshui is a beautiful place; the landscape made me think of a miniature Hong Kong crossed with a miniature San Francisco. First we went for lunch at the Red Castle, it is a beautiful old red brick building built in 1899. Lunch was tasty; I had a massive chicken and salad sandwich and some pumpkin soup. Afterwards we took some photos on the balcony; but by then fog had rolled in, obscuring the view. The fog came in so fast, this is why it reminded me of San Francisco. We then visited Fort San Domingo, first built by the Spanish and then taken control of by the Dutch. The British had control until after World War Two. Nearby is the British Consular Residence, which is the same style as the Red Castle. Both were surrounded by very nice grounds and gardens. We took some great photos...especially with some statues in the old prison at the Fort :)
We also saw the old hospital of George Mackay, who brought western medicine to Taiwan.

Following this we took the ferry to Fishermans Wharf, where we walked across the bridge and then ate a dish that is made in Danshui, called a-gei. It is rice noodles in a big fish ball. It was tasty and I was able to use the chopsticks pretty well to eat it! We visited the nightmarket in Danshui afterwards, which wasn't anywhere near as crowded as Shilin, and Bella bought a rubber chicken that makes a very loud noise. Bella I hope it is effective! And I ate one of my favourite things in Taiwan: the strawberries on a stick covered with a sugar glaze. Mmmmmm.

When we got back to Taipei i was pretty tired but I had a good day!

P.S. Oh and on Saturday before I went to the Museum Paulina introduced me to a wonderful place where you can have brunch called LaGuardia. I had an excellent tuna salad roll and there are bagels and subs with all different fillings. It was so so nice, i thought I would share my happiness with the tuna salad roll with everyone :)

P.P.S. I know there are a lot of photos but I really wanted to put more on!! Plus they are all out of order so the first photo is actually me and Paulina on the ferry in Danshui.

I look like the President of the United States

Yesterday I ate a very tasty bun. It was warm, I think it was steamed, and it had things inside. Cheese and nuts and some kind of red stuff.... this is not very specific but I have no idea what it was! But it was very tasty.


Last night I went to a meeting with AIESEC at the Cheng-Chi University with the Non-Corporate Function, the group which brought me to Taiwan. It was the last meeting for the year and they just wrapped things up with a review and then wanted to know how things were going for me. They were interested to see this blog I keep for the school so hello to any AIESECers from CCLC who are reading this :)


Afterwards I went for food with Franziska, who is the president of Non-Corporate function, and ate something which I also have no idea what it was! It was black, a liquid which solidifies when it gets cold. We ate it warm like a soup with sweet potato, red beans and peanuts in it. The English menu said it was 'herb jelly' but I'm not quite sure about the translation. To me it looked like liquid liquorice.



Today I had the 6th grade and the 5th grade. The kids are all very curious about me, they want to know things like what colour my eyes are and if I like computer games. I'm curious about them too but there is less opportunity for me to talk to them. After the 6th grade class another funny thing happened kinda like being a filmstar the other day... except today I felt like the President of the United States because I had several photos taken with some of the girls, shaking their hands and smiling at the camera, just like the President does!! Almost as funny as giving my autograph the other day!

An example of work

Today I had lunch with the English teachers at a place where everyone has their own personal hotpot. Its a really cool concept, because each person has their own hotpot which is connected to a switch which you can use at will to heat or cool the water in the hotpot. And then you can pick whatever you like to put in your hotpot. It was very filling because there were lots of choices, such as vegies, meat,sauces, noodles and seafood. The tastiest was the cheese dumpling, the broccoli and the small pieces of fish.

So thankyou to the English teachers for taking me out, I had a very nice time! And you are all very generous.

I thought everyone might like to see some of the work done by my classes so I have taken some photos. There are some pictures done by the first and second grades about an English book we read; at the top, a 'mix-n-match' game that the third and fourth grades play in the class about Australian animals; and finally, this is part of a quiz about Australia which the fifth and sixth grades have in their classes.

I feel famous

Today was a funny, funny day. Firstly I watched the Youtube video about the 'Tim Tam Slam' which Bella told me about, and it is funny! If you don't know what a Tim Tam Slam is, this is the video to watch. Hilarious!
Apart from that today was shaping up to be a normal day... until the fifth grade class i had just then which asked me to sign their books and pieces of paper like i was a film star and then wanted to look me up on facebook! It was the funniest thing, absolutely hilarious, and completely brightened my day. :) :) :)
Apart from this i also taught another fifth grade class and also a younger english class in which my host family's son, Tim, was in. We read a book, they drew pictures which they labelled and we played a game about the alphabet. But that last fifth grade class was the funniest!
I am pretty tired today though because last night I went up Yangming mountain with Samantha and we had dinner at a restaurant called 'The Top'. It is a great restaurant, with the best views of Tienmou and if it was clear, could see the 101 Tower as well. The food was also tasty, especially the salad. It had starfruit, guava, apple, kiwifruit, tomato, lettuce, onion, capsicum in a Japanese dressing. I loved it!
Well I mostly just wanted to share the 'filmstar' feeling with everyone because it was so funny!

hot springs are the best!

Well it has been a very busy weekend!

New Year's Eve was Thursday night and I went with my host family to a party near 101 Tower. At midnight we watched the fireworks, which were spectacular but didn't go for very long! But I think it is very expensive just for those few minutes. I also saw part of the concert outside the 101. but I didn't really know who any of the performers were except for when President Ma came out to do a speech at the end!

On Friday I went shopping in Xinyi. We went to Mitsukoshi and Eslite, both of which are massive! I really liked Eslite, a 24 hour bookstore is a great idea! Mitsukoshi has an amazing kids' level with a small outdoor area dedicated to rides and games. This is also a great idea for when you take your kids shopping. There was a massive Christmas tree and lots of street artists and music so it is a very entertaining place...afterwards I bought 3 pairs of shoes and then regretted it slightly because I don't think they will fit in my suitcase!!

On Saturday I went with one of the teachers at school, Candy, to Keelung and Baian Hot Springs Resort. I met her family, who were very friendly and made me feel at home. The Hot Springs were great, very relaxing. You could quite easily spend all day just slipping between pools...I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep! And the resort is set in beautiful lush mountains, so the scenery is great. But after midday it started to rain so we went to Keelung and had lunch with Candy's husband's family, of whom one of the daughters speaks very good English and I know she reads this blog, so - hello! hope you had a good weekend. Thankyou for lunch!

In the afternoon we visited a temple in a cave next to Keelung port. It is an amazing place. I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic though, because to get to one of the rooms we had to crouch down and squeeze through a narrow stone passageway lit by small lights and when we reached the room the air was very close, warm and hard to breathe. A good experience, but it was too dark to take photos. We also climbed up what felt like a million steps above the temple cave to a pretty park overlooking the port. Afterwards we went to a night market called Miaokou. I tried so many different foods but I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what the names of any of them are! But the icecream was very tasty. When I got home that night I was really tired!

On Sunday I went with Paulina to Longshan Temple, which is an interesting place but really crowded. We took quite a few photos and then went to a reconstructed old Taipei street nearby. That was an educational experience and really interesting, especially learning about the Chinese medicinal herbs and the education system in Taiwan in the early 1900s. We had a late lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Ximending, where the food goes around the middle of the store on a small train! It's great, I love the train and the food is very nice. And pretty healthy too!

In the afternoon Candy and her son joined us in Ximending for a look around and then we went to a place that sells starfruit in ice. It was really nice but I couldn't finish it because I was so full from my Japanese food!

Well this has been a very long blog but that is because it was a very long weekend and now I am very tired! But I am glad I get to see all these things so thankyou to Candy and her family and Paulina :)