I am here too.

For all those people that might of thought Allie was just making up stories with me in them and photo shopping me into the pictures, well you are wrong. I am here and am sorry that I have not written on the blog as much. Allie is just a better writter and since people love to correct English teacher's grammar structures I just thought, 'keep the writing to the professional teacher.' Which I am becoming more and more a professional teacher other than a retirement specialist. I do love teaching with so many great kids from all different ages, it make everyday a challenge and a joy. For every crazy kid that would rather sit, lay, or just hide under their desk there are ten kids that would do anything for a high five.

Enough of just me. Allie and I have been trying to make Taichung feel more like home. Which we find hard because normaly during this time of year we would be spending a great deal of time with our families. So, we do miss our families and friends a great deal, and wish everyone a happy holiday! But today we took a big step to make us feel more at home..... we joined a gym. So sorry to all the people that thought we should of bought a refridgerator first. Allie and I are members to "The World's Gym" which is just like any gym in the States, it has all the weights, mechians that anyone could want, and a pool. So for Allie and I, Christmas came a little early. Today was also a good day because we made friends with the trash lady. I know earlier I was yelled at by the trash lady but today (which was recycling day) we took our trash out, when we got done, she said thank you, not in Chiniese but in English! (This is Allie now because Jay writes to slow and I have to correct too many spelling errors) The trash process is very interesting here. For Monday, Wed, Fri, Sat..we take our regular trash, its not like back home where you just leave it out and they pick it up. You actually have to be there when it is trash time, which for us is 12:30. The garbage truck has music that goes along with it. It sounds like an icecream truck...with the Fir Elise song. I can't imagine how annoying that would get to the poor person who has to drive that truck. Anyways, when we hear the music we have to run down to the street and throw our trash in it... the problem with that is you might hear it and it would actaully be 2 streets down (Thats how loud it is) Anyways we have had many false alarms ...of running down the stairs and then waiting for 20 minutes for it to actaully get to us. On Tuesday's and Thurs...it is recycling day and the garbage truck has different music...I haven't seemed to have identified the tune yet but I will get back to you.

This weekend we went to the National Science Museum in Taichung and it was awesome, botanical gardens, dinasaur exhibit, Chinese history, medicine, evolution of human life etc...here are some pictures.

Another success of the the day was...after we got done with teaching at about 10pm we went out for dinner. WE have this one Japanese place down the street from our apartment that we have dined at for 3 meals now. They cook in front of you and the States' Japanese restuarants have nothing on these guys. WOW the food is awesome. Anyways this was our third time at this place and we exchanged some Chinese for teaching the cook some English. It was a lot of fun and he bought us both a coke. I think that will definately be a regular place. THey love us...before we even got off our scooter they had our place sat and they were already fixing our food. We are working on obtaining Gwanshi there, which means we both have good 'face'..which means we have an extremely great relationship ...Face is something that the Taiwanes call a great friendship. and high respect....that is the first step gaining face...Relationships is the most important thing in Taiwanese culture. So, if you have good face... the 2nd step is keeping that face and doing things for that person..then you might gain Gwanshi which is like the ultimate face and the best relationship of all...this is where you might get things for free or have them do things for you and help you out that probably no Westerner would even consider doing for someone. It is interesting to compare the priorities of WEstern lifestyle and Taiwanese lifestyle. For Westerners I think the order of most importance is...1. Law 2 Logic 3 Relationships
For Taiwanese 1. Relationship 2 Law 3. Logic And because of this it changes more things that you can imagine..

Each day we are feeling more confitable and making Thaichung more like home. We can't wait to work out tomorrow. Here are some pictures of our apartment.

Taiwan's everyday differences

Well this entry is going to be more about all the differences that Taiwan has that we see everyday. And I was just realizing that there is some really crazy and unexplainable things that occur that Jay and I have incountered and will keep incountering without explanation. Lets first discuss scooters, they are a major part of everyday life in Taiwan, so I will give that our first attention. Scooters are very dangerous, thats all there is to it, but they are also pretty much an essential item if you want to do our get anywhere in Taiwan., and exspecially in Taichung. I have purchased pratically a motorcycle helmet, that covers my entire face and Jay will soon purchase a heavy duty helmet. Helmets are required for driving a scooter, it is the law BUT Taiwanses have not seemed to have grasped the importance of a decent helmet. They might have one on but if they did crash it would do absolutely no good. And sometimes they don't even buckle it under their chin....which I think they think looks cool because even when they aren't on their scooter they are walking around a store or down the street with an unbuckled scooter helmet. They have a variety of very stylish scooter helmets... so instead of a safety item I think it is more of a accessory. Even though it is the law to where helmets while you are driving a scooter I still haven't found out if it is illegal not to wear a helmet if you are just a passenger on a scooter. Children from the age of 1 to 14 are on scooters with no helmets. Jay and I have seen as many as 4 people on a scooter, which is a pretty impressive feat. Not only are they carrying their precious children on the scooter, they also carry their dogs on the scooter. I have seen about 3 to 5 dogs on a scooter with a person. WOw it is so impressive. THey are so well behaved, big and little dogs. I am looking for one to take a picture of ...so be looking for that footage. In this country you are not allowed to take left hand turns....but of course you have to take lefts so you are allowed to basically do some sort of U-turn in the middle of an intersection, which for some reason I think they believe is safer...beyond my understanding. Also, there is some sort of strange concept that when you ride a scooter you have to wear your jacket backwards. I haven't found an explanation for that yet.
This country is also very fanatical about recycling, which is so great and every country should learn from it. I mean the garbage lady has yelled at Jay many times for trying to throw away something that could have been recycable. But you would think that they would have an abundance of recycle bins around the city...but you cannot find a single tashcan on the public streets, but yet their streets are very clean. You also would never find a public restrooms. If you go into a store you will find the regular restroom which is called the squater, basically a hole in the ground...but suprisingly very clean and really not that bad. You will also find a 7-11 on every corner of Taiwan, right now that is our refridgerator since we have not bought one yet. 7-11 really keeps everything so cold, it doesn;t seem like there is any need for a fridge.
THe people in Taiwan, really are afraid of the sun..they don't want to be tan at all. They want to be as white as possible. So they carry around umbrellas when it isn't raining. I don't know what they are going to do when it is 120 degrees outside.
Well things are good, teaching is getting easier and easier everyday. We get lost with the scooter everyday as well, which is great because we learn a new part of the city everytime. We have skype now which is great and if you would like to talk to us please download it, its free and you can talk over the computer for free, its awesome. if you have a camera you can also see us and we can see you. Anways hope all is well, please leave messages we love it, no matter who you are and who reads this. Hope all is well

We bought a computer...the blog is back in action!!!

Sorry it has been so long since we have last written on the blog but it has been a very busy time. I promise the blog will not go this long again without an entry. We are now living in Taichung(pronounced Taijung) We really like it. It is still a very large city but it is so spread out that you don't really notice how large it really is. WE are only about a 10 minute scooter ride away from the downtown area. There is so much to do around here. If we want to get out of the city and into the mountains is only takes about 30 minutes on a scooter and then to get to the coast in about the same amount of time. We got an apartment which has a living room, study room, very big bedroom, a very large kitchen (Taiwans standards..most kitchens are non-existent) our bathroom is awesom...most bathrooms in Taiwan have a single shower head in the middle of the bathroom, right next to the toilet. no shower curtain..only a drain in the middle of the bathroom....we fortunately found a regualr bathroom with a great shower..no tub but thats ok. We have a large deck and access to the roof since we are on the top floor of a 5 story building. We live on a nice quite street but still close to everything. Teaching is going really well. It was really tough at first but I think Jay and I are really getting the hang of it. I think the other teachers are impressed with us. THe kids are sooooo smart. We teach a class for two hours and w'e have only 2 classes a day but I think we are going to start picking up more. WE teach from 4:30 to 9pm. We have from about 7-14 year olds. It is amazing how much school these kids go to. They have regular school from 8 to 3 and then the go to cram school...for example a 9 year old will go to regular school then to a science cram class..chemistry...physics...and then to french class and then they might come to us for English class. So, we try to make it as fun as humanly possible. THe kids are so cute and they are sooooo smart. Some of the kids have the craziest names. Since they come to English class they don't have an English name, so they either name themselves of the teachers name them. Some of the more common names are, Yo Yo, Apple, Rock, Luck, Winner, and the 0n some of the not so popular names but still crazy, Pizza (because everyone loves Pizza he says, Godspeed we will update you on some of the others we hear. When we teach we have a CT (Chinese Teacher) in the classroom with us..they can help us out on making sure we get to all the kids. We teach a range from about 12 students to 22 students. Today we subed a junior high class and a public school. WE really enjoyed it and I think we might try and do that more often.
SCOOTER TIME... oh wow we have joined the dangerous yet fun world of scooters. Taiwan is the largest manufacturer of scooters in the world. It really is the only way to get around. We got one scooter but I think eventually we will get another because I can see Jay and I fighting over who gets to drive. You really have to be careful. We plan on taking scooter trips around the island which I think would be great and so much cheaper.

KTV: the ultimate past time in Taiwan

Well we have finished our time in Taipei and all of our training. Wow what a long 9 days. We had a little graduation party up in the penthouse of the Hess main ofice where the owner has a party slab, very sleak and up class. We had a nice time with good food and wine. Jay and I both got awards out of about 25 people and only about 5 got awards, so we felt pretty special. I think they really like us. That night as our last time all together we all went to KTV which is Karaoke. Oh wow they know how to do it here . It was about a 15 story building and it was kind of like a hotel. You rent a room and then they take you up. So we had our own private room with plasma TV, bar and 3 mics. WE had a blast. Althought they are sort of stuck in the 80s with their music it was still really fun. The next morning about 12 of us were picked up and taken to Taichung, which took about 2 hours. The country side was really green and nice when we drove through. WE came here and the rain stopped and the sun was out. We already like it so much better than Taipei and we actually liked Taipei We all arrived at our really nice hotel which Jay and I are on the top floor of a 19 story building. It has an amazing view. They took us out to a really nice dinner and then we went apartment shopping. It was fun. We found one place that we really like but we are going to look again today to make sure and we will let you know with our decision and some pictures of the apartment. I think we will probably move in tomorrow. We start teaching on Monday which is good we can kind of get settled in. Our schedules are not that bad. I am at Feng Chi Branch and Jay is working at Ken Su branch and my branch. The are only about 10 minute scooter ride away. We are going to be gettign a scooter soon which will be fun. I will have to learn that. We already met some some people that we will be working with and they are so helpful and nice. We are so excited to finally get settled in somewhere. We will write more later when we have things a little more organized.

Pictures!!!

Here are some pictures from exploring around, training, and going out on Friday night...Enjoy
!!!!!

It's 1996!!!!....WHAT???

Well an interesting fact about Taiwan we found out today is that it is actually the year 1996 according to them, so we sort of feel like we are getting back 11 years of our life, kind of nice and crazy. I wonder if they will go through the crazy/rediculous Y2K thing and everyone will act like a crazy person and start buying generators and a year supply of cigerettes because everyone smokes here.. Anyways...Jay an I experienced the night life last night. VERY INTERSTING!!! we met up with Daniel Ray and then some of our friends we have made at the Hess training and went to a place called Party Room. It cost about $500 NT which is equivilant to $15 US. It was all you can drink maybe not such a good idea haha. The scene was very intense, lots of Taiwanese women groping and striping the foreign men. But we had fun and stayed out later then I think we have since we have been married. Today we had the day off from training which was really nice. We had a slow start but then we got out and about and did the regular thing of getting lost and exploring around the city. We went to a nice nature preserve that was more outside the city so we could see more of the countryside which is very beautiful, really green, mountains that remind us of North Carolina. The weather was nice today finally, no rain until the end of the day. It rains a lot in Taipei and for some reason the people here think it is cold this time of year but its about 75degrees which feels great. We are glad we are going to Taichung though becuase the weather there is supposed to be so much better. The scooters here are facinating. They have the dogs on them their 2 year old children on them, the art of scooter riding is beyond me but I am sure we will master it. Jay of course is looking at motorcycles, which is a NO from me. It is so easy to get around this city, public transportation is great here. Jay and I have also mastered the art of eating with chopsticks. I mean we eat everything with them, scrambled eggs, french fries, fruit, and cereal, well maybe not cereal but I am sure it can be done. We have found this great little dumpling place which we have fallen in love with. They really know their food here, I don't see there being much of a problem with missing certain foods from home. They have everything and some things are soooo much better. It think our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of going to the night market which is awesome and eating soup filled dumplings, Taiwanese sausage (which is kind of sweet), Rice sausage, and beer.....with the smell of stinky tofu in the background, you can never escape it. We will have pictures up on here the next time we write on it which will probably be tomorrow. So sorry for the delay in pictures.

Ni Hao......Hello!!

Hello everyone, we are alive and well. We have made it to the other side of the universe. And believe me when you fly for that far and that long (14 hours from LA) you really feel like you have taken the plunge. We arrived here Saturday night our time and Saturday morning your time. We are 13 hours ahead of your time, so for your calculations. Sunday, Daniel Ray took us around Taipei, which the weather was kind of glumy rainy and sort of cool but not cold. I don't think it will ever be cold in this country. We went to a buddhist temple, Taipei 101 (tallest building at the moment) actaully doesn't look that tall because all the other building are not that tall. Taipei actaully doesn't seem that huge, the bus and subway systems are great and very easy to use, we have already mastered that...... EXCEPT for the fact that we can't ready absolutely anything. CHINESE/MAnderine is something that is beyond Jay and I at the moment and probably for the rest of our lives, but we sure plan on taking classes and learning as much as possible. Which we have learned Beer already Pi Ju. Sunday and Tuesday night we went to the famous night market in Taipei, we got awesome food. And they sell anything and everything imaginable, I mean seriously ANYTHING. The fashion here is different that anything I have seen. I think the guys here take about and hour longer than the girls to get ready because of fixing their hair in basically looking like they were just in a typhoon. But I plan on trying to buy some cute clothes and shoes. (When Jays not looking) We started our training on Monday and it goes until next Wednesday. It is very internsive training and we haven't really had much time for anything else. We finally found an internet cafe to have some contact with the outside world. We are going to move to our location next Thursday which is about 2 hours south of Taipei on the western side called Taichung. It is the 3rd largest city but more spread out than Taipei. It is a mountain city with lots of hiking and close to the beaches, probably about 45 minutes or so. We are going to have to buy a scooter which I am excited and a little scared about because the driving here is a little erratic. We are very excited to find an apartment and get settled and not live out of our suitcase. Food here is amazing and you can't really go wrong. Squid on a stick, whole fish (eyeballs and everything), chicken intestines, Stinky tofu (which I can't even discribe how bad it smells, you will just have to come visit) So actually maybe you can go wrong with the food BUT there is a ton of wonderful things as well. The people are amazing and are very helpful, even if they don't understand you they really try to help you out. So far we are falling in love with this country. I will write more later when we have pictures to go with our stories. so keep looking and we will try not to go so long without getting in contact. Oh and please wrtie on our guestbook, since we are so far away if you read this please take the time to let us know what you think or if you have any questions, it would be great to have contact from home. Relaly anyone, because I know some random people read this and pass it along if you think people would be interested. IF you want to email us as well it is akeever42@hotmail.com of Jay hustead@gmail.com Love all of you BYE BYE