Old & New in Taiwan XD

My new year in Taiwan is awesome! :D I went to 義大 to "khua nian". The fireworks was amazing! Really!! :D Thank you so much to Hui Ju and 柄雄 for driving, tour-guiding and accompanying me :D. I really enjoy myself! :) We went to Eda quite early and did some window-shopping, eating, riding ferris wheel, then eating again, and eat and eat before we finally watched the singing performance and fireworks. We got a really good spot to watch the fireworks. Here are some of the photos:

After the fireworks, in the middle of the large crowd

The awesome fireworks :)

View of Eda World at night

On the first day of new year, we went to 安平, an ancient town located in Tainan City. There are a lot of nice food there. The first thing we did when we reach there is to eat the very famous 韭菜包 (garlic chive buns). We had to queue for about 20 mins just for that. Hahaha, we'll do anything for nice food! :D Afterwards we walked around 安平老街 and ate more food. :p I bought a cute little cactus, hopefully I can bring it back to Singapore. I cooked something like a cake (but it's crispy and really sweet) from brown sugar. It's fun, but the cake was way too sweet. XD We also went to Sio House (Salt Museum), where there are 366 different colour of salts (one for each day in a year). I bought a boiled egg covered in green color shell (which is actually salt) and i need to break the shell using a wooden mallet to eat the egg. :D We can eat the egg with the salt shell. It's so unique! I wrote a postcard to myself and my parents there! They have postcard sending service, so it's really convenient :) By then, i t was already night, we went to 海安路, a street with a lot of artwork and ancient building. Just nice, we saw Dr.William Lai (賴清德) during the inauguration of some art exhibition, so I took a photo with him! (luckily he is nice enough to stop for a while to take a picture with me :p I was a bit shy though, so I stand quite far apart and don't dare to ask for second photo :/)

Pretty and Cute Cactus

A very nice and cheap ice cream shop

The 366 colored salt

Eggs wrapped in colored salt shell

Me cracking the egg :D

With my awesome friends <3

Cooking the cake/candy

In front of a very old house (transformed to a cafe)

The famous coffin bread

Yummy Ice Tofu

Encounter with Dr.William Lai XD

An extremely good artwork on a wall

Wedding, Art, Music

This weekend is very special to me. I went to a wedding reception. It's my first time attending a Taiwanese wedding. It's kinda similar to a normal Chinese wedding in Singapore and Indonesia, except the fact that they prepare the food outside the building. Ben told me that is is very normal here, except if the wedding reception is in a big hotel. It was a 12-course lunch, and it's really really very filling. They even prepared plastic packaging on the table for us to take-away as they know we won't be able to finish the food, hahahaha! :p I was there in the photo, somehow, when they were photographing the relatives of the bride. Hahaha, I think the couple will wonder who this girl is in the photo when it's printed out. Anw, I took a photo with the bride too :)

With Pretty Trista & Handsome Rex

with the bride :)

I also went to a lot of museums together with the P3 kids as part of their class trip organised by 林老师. Thanks laoshi for bringing me along :D He is a very dedicated and passionate teacher, who is willing to go the extra mile for the benefit of the kids. I myself learned a lot about Taiwan history (from the prison visit and the historical building visit) and ceramic pottery. It's also my first time taking the Alishan red train XD hehe, it's so unique because alishan traditional song was played in the atrain during the journey and that we get to wave to the people that we saw outside :p. Haha, I felt like a little kid XD Oh, it is also my first time to visit a prison. It was damn creepy when I looked at the whole row of dark and tiny cells that used to contain a toilet bowl + 7 people each.

In front of Alishan Train

林老师 teaching the kids along the journey

In front of the prison

Over the weekend I made a few new friends. One of them is a great couple: an artistic husband, Toph and a talented wife, Sunny. We chatted for very long during our visit to their home. I saw some of Toph's artwork, and it's really meaningful. I always wonder how an artist's mind work and different they look at things. I really respect this family because while they have the chance to stay overseas, they choose to come back to Taiwan, stay and take care of the grandmother (she is 94 years old and super healthy by the way). I also learned that Toph has made a big decision in his life by leaving his job of 18 years and pursue his hobby of painting instead. To me it really take much courage to do such things. From him, I learned that we can make our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them. :) Anw, we planned to meet up for a coffee when I'm back to Singapore since they will be going there for a few days.

with Sunny's family

On Sunday, I attended a very unique music concert specially for kids. You know how usually music concert works. You have to keep quiet, listen attentively to the music or simply falling asleep :p However, for this concert, they involved the kids (and parents), by singing or dancing together. You might think that this concert doesn't sound like a good music concert and all, but it's totally the opposite. It was amazing!! The music that they play were really good (one that I really like is Fur Elise). I especially love the piano part. The purpose of the concert is to show the kids that music and learning musical instruments is fun. And I strongly believe that they succeed in achieving it. There was one surprise in the middle of the concert. The pianist's grandfather (105 year old!) was in the concert hall and it's his birthday. They musicians played a happy birthday song for him while we sang. It was really touching that I teared.

And my third week is over. So fast.

A new family; A different experience; A new challenge

It has been a few days since I moved to a new home, with another awesome and unique family. :) They are a very motivated and positive family, whose father (Ben) loves music, mother (Luna) loves art and craft, and the kids (Trista and Rex) who loves candies & chocolates. Hahaha :p I'm told that I'll be attending a Taiwanese wedding, a concert, and a camp, while eating delicious home-cooked food. They are a really homey family. :)

Rex & Trista

Christmas is finally  here, and there are Santa Claus here and there to surprise the kids and to make their day, including the 聖誕鬼公公 who appeared mysteriously and giving out candies to the kids in school. Until now, his identity is still unknown. :p In the morning of Christmas Day, we have a Christmas activity in school prepared by Eric, 柄雄, and myself, while the school principal himself disguised himself as a Santa Claus. I'm glad that the kids had fun and felt really happy. :)

 聖誕鬼公公

Santa Claus at the Night Market

Kids playing games :)

Santa Claus giving out gifts (I got one too!)

Kids checking out their gifts as the champion team

The Reindeers :)

The kindergarten's kids join in the fun too

The gifts we prepared

Oh, and I made a candy house with the P2 on Christmas Day!!

My two cute teachers! :D

A really nice candy house made by this P1 boy! (much better than mine!)

My candy house :)

For teaching wise, I found a new challenge. I just realized there is a big ability gap in some of the classes. Some of the kids are quite good in their English, while some of them don't have a strong basic of abc. I have to think of a way to teach both group at the same time, while trying to bridge that gap. At the same time, I am giving out extra practices for those who wants to learn more. The kids here are really self-motivated and are willing to learn, which encourages me to also give my best to them while I'm still around.

I fell sick for the past few days. Thanks to all the really caring people around me, I recover really fast! Thanks to the school nurse, directors, teachers, and students, who asked me how I was everyday, giving me hot drinks and fruits, heating up my food so I don't eat cold food while I'm sick, giving me scarf to keep me warm, and giving me sweets so I can feel better (from all the sweet boys and girls)! And also to Luna especially, for taking care of me, preparing hot drinks and porridge for me, and giving me massages with that unique tool! Thank you everyone. :)

My beloved 蔡 Family in Taiwan!

Me & 蔡 family at National Museum of Taiwan History (國立臺灣歷史博物館)

Yesterday was my last day staying with my first host family, 蔡 family. I am really grateful to have them as my host. I want to use this opportunity to thank them, namely 蔡papa, 蔡mama (Petty), 蔡昀蓁 (Jennifer), and 蔡荞安 (Joanna). Thanks papa and mama for taking care of me like your own daughter, and for treating me like a friend. Thanks for bringing me around Tainan, sharing about every single thing, and always buying me nice food to eat. Your mission of making me chubbier is definitely a success, I have gained 2kg (at least!) so far. Hahaha :p To my lovely and truly independent sisters, Jennifer and Joanna, thank you for all the laughter, all the silly jokes, song and dance. I always laugh whenever you girls are around. You both are truly gems to your parents, a sunshine to the family. "Laughter is the best medicine", but remember not to keep laughing nonstop when you're eating, be a good girl. :) I love our movie, chit chat, dinner and play time together. (fyi, we always watch 海棉宝宝/Spongebob Squarepants during our dinner time :p). I've always wanted a younger sibling, and you girls are the best I can ask for. :D

[  昨天是我在蔡家庭住的最後一天，我很感謝他們身為我的主人。我想趁這機會感謝他們，謝謝蔡爸爸，蔡媽媽（Petty），蔡昀蓁（Jennifer），和蔡蕎安（Joanna）。感謝爸爸媽媽像對自己女兒的照顧我，並把我當成朋友。謝謝您們帶我繞台南，分享每件事物並經常買好料的給我吃。您讓我变成胖呼呼的任務絕對成功，至今我已經胖2公斤（至少！）。哈哈，我可愛與獨立的姐妹，Jennifer 和 Joanna，謝謝所有的歡樂，所有的愚蠢笑話，歌曲和舞蹈。當妳們在我身边，總是帶給我笑容與歡樂。妳們的確是父母的寶石，家庭的陽光。“笑是最好的藥”,但記得不要在吃的時候笑個不停,要成為乖女兒。我喜歡我們在一起的時間，看電影，聊天，吃飯和玩耍。(我們總是在晚餐時間看海棉寶寶）。我一直想擁有年輕的兄弟姐妹，妳們就是我想擁有的妹妹。 ]


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Our fun time together during my last weekend with them:

The three Js! ☺

My super sisters!

In the museum

With Joanna at a farm in Jiayi City

Llama (草泥马) ♥

Me feeding the hungry goat :p

Feeding the cow using a baby bottle

With Jennifer :)

Don't worry! I'll see you girls again soon, I'll confirm go back and find you girls again before I go back to Singapore :) I'll miss duo duo and pudding (the family's adorable dogs) too! :)

Cold Outside, Warm Inside

It is freezingly cold everyday, especially in the morning when I woke up. I always don't feel like getting out of hiding place, my blanket. But I also want to go to school to chit-chat with the kids and witness their cute behaviour. Hahaha :p I want to thank each and every person here, especially 主任(both male and female), 方老师 and my host family, for being very caring and taking care of me while I'm here. Thanks for the hot drinks and soup, warm clothes, thermos, and a lot of other things. It really warms my heart. 

Hot Red Tea + Milk

    

Hot Jelly-like drink

There is one story that made me laugh continuously: When I was eating lunch with the P5 students yesterday, the students reminded each other to leave some soup for me. One of the ingredient in the soup is 猪血 (cube-shaped pig blood) which is blackish/chocolate in colour. They like to eat it so much, but they still want to leave some for me. However, they don't know how to say it in English, so when they are in the midst of reminding each other, the conversation goes something like this (in Chinese of course):
"Remember to leave some of the 猪血 for Josephine ok, don't eat finish everything!"

"Did she know what 猪血 is??"

"Never mind lah, just tell her it's CHOCOLATE."

Hahahaha, omg, I laughed nonstop as I totally understand what they're saying and I know what that 猪血 is. LOL.

I also saw something interesting in school yesterday. There is a van that sells lots of types of drinks every Thursday in school. The school I'm teaching in don't have a canteen (as they have an awesome cook that take care of their lunch everyday). I just anyhow pick the drink and when I asked the students what that was, they told me it's called 多多. Well, that doesn't really help me understand what drink it is, but I just bought it anyway, hahaha. It tasted like yakult, at a much cheaper price and bigger bottle. XD

A friendly uncle selling drinks (hot and cold) in his van

Today we made 汤圆 (glutinous rice flour) in school, together as a class. The kids get to make their own Tang Yuan, and they made a lot of weird-shaped Tang Yuan, such as: pizza, puff, cube, french fries, and other unknown shapes. I made a few myself. I made one pinkish-white star-shaped Tang Yuan. :p Hahahaha :p

Uniquely shaped Tang Yuan by the 6th graders (and myself)

Pot full of Yummy Tang Yuan

Hakka style Tang Yuan (by P1 teacher)

Extremely excited 5th graders waiting for their teacher to finish cooking

I saw Christmas light decoration in school today, it's very nice. It should be even nicer at night, but I can't stay back in school for too long as I need to cycle back home myself and it's not good to go back too late when the sky is dark). It's all done by 柄雄 and Eric. They are doing their army service in the school. They both take care of the school and kids very well. They are like their big bro! Hahaha :p Thanks to both of them for always helping me (in calming the kids down and in our Christmas activity project) and being a dedicated photographer. :D

Christmas light decoration (the sky is too bright!)

Flowers in school 

My bike ^^