I promise that I am Mother Nature

Halloween in Taiwan is an interesting sight to see. Gone are the cupcakes with spiders and reese's cups. They are replaced with Hello Kitty candy and stickers. Stickers are more popular and powerful. You can render a child quiet with the promise of a sticker. Children trade them and barter them. I have been introduced into a world wear children are bribed by stickers and not candy. On Friday, the first grade celebrated Halloween. All of the kids dressed up and went on a parade around the school. I was a mouse since it was the only costume I could find that would allow me to look decent for 1st grade and 8th grade. There were some parents there and almost all of the had a video recorder pointed straight at me. The worst thing about the whole thing is that it was so stressful. I remember Halloween not being rushed to much at school. Here, there is 2.5 minutes to hand out candy then 5.6 minutes for a parade. I don't remember it being that stressful when I was in school, but I was too busy with a cupcake in my hand to notice. I asked the kids if they enjoyed it and they said they did. That is all that matters.


Becky, Me, and Kathleen before class.

Kathleen the Butterfly

My 1 Ren class dressed up.

My 1 Ai class dressed up.

This weekend KB and I celebrated Halloween. She was a pirate and I was Mother Nature. I had to keep telling people that I was Mother Nature not Eve, a Tahti girl, a hula girl, and a nymph. It was probably the most comfortable costume I have worn in a long time. KB and I met some really nice girls from Michigan, Sarah and Rachel. We went to Mia apartment, KB's friend, to meet everyone. By the time everyone wanted to go out, both KB and I were exhasted and went home.
KB and I dressed up and about to go out.

Sarah and Rachel.

Mia, KB's friend who hosted the party.

Rachel, Sarah, KB, and me.

The weekend was spent going to school and watching movies. I still do not feel like I am rested, but I am sure I will adjust and get use to it.

Smart Casual

I can see my neighborhood from here.


The girls in smart casual.

K.B. and I at the party.

Posing in front of the 25th Anniversary plaque.

Last night I went to the M Moser Assiociates 25th Anniversary Celebration. I got to rub elbows with many of important businessmen and women. I even met the president of the M Moser Company. Sounds exciting right? Well, somewhat. M Moser is a office design company. They have worked for Microsoft, Loreal, Dupont, etc. The offices look great. We got to get our picture taken by a professional photograher (which have not been good since I am sure I spaced out during the president's speech). But the best part of the night came when I stopped feeling dizzy (the party was on the 84th floor of Taipei 101) and found beer in the mist of champagne and wine. The finger food was great and we met some of the most interesting people although most people stopped talking to us when they found out we were just lowly teachers and could not advance their careers.

The girls and I got to hang out by ourselves which was nice. We were cracking each other up. There were no chairs so I sat by the window. K.B., not really comfortable being so high up, stood a good 6 feet away. All the girls were drinking wine and champagne so they were toasty. I had two beers on an empty stomach since I had only 40 minutes to get ready. I was fine, the sober one, so at the end of the party K.N. and I headed to Toys-R-Us since it is so close by and I needed a mouse hat for my Fuhsing Halloween Costume. It was quite funny going into the store in high heels looking for a mouse hat. We made it home by 10 pm and I had a Hotpocket that I got from Costco (bless that store). I have to give the night a 9 out of 10 since my feet still hurt from standing for 3 hours. Top Night.

Costco: A love and hate relationship

This weekend was a need break from work, work, and more work. I think taking on extra work was not all together smart. With Lynn leaving and getting everything straight, sleep did not happen often. Friday night was spent with the girls watching Moulin Rouge and eating pizza, Coke Light, and Doritos. On Saturday, Kathleen N and I went to the markets. It was not as crowded so I was able to look at all the booths. There are some beautiful things there and I have some great ideas for Christmas time. I was able to go back home afterwards and just sit and do nothing. It was wonderful. I loved it. Above are pictures of what I got.

Sunday was the best of all. I went to the gym and I had one of the best workouts ever. I love my instructors, they make me laugh. Kathleen and I then went to NY Bagels which has the best Western breakfasts in Taiwan. French toast, sausage, eggs, homefries, apples, o.j., and tea (I kept telling myself this at the gym so I would work hard). It was delicious. After the gym all of the apartment went to Costco. It was like stepping into Sam's Club. It was so Western and big. I got a book and an organizer, plus muffins and bagels for breakfast. It made me extremely happy to be in a comfortable place. I just walked down every aisle and enjoyed my time there. The hate relationship with Costco started trying to put get the stuff home in the cab. Then it progressed to having to carry it up to the apartment. It ended with all of us trying to figure out what we had spent. I think that we wont go there anymore, but it was lovely all the same.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing since this week is Halloween week and it will be stressful. This is the time for coffee (if I drank it), haha. Well back to the daily grind. Missing everyone.

Lynn is gone

Everyone,

This is Lynn. I can't believe that she is gone. Lynn just picked up and left without telling any of us or the school. I am a little upset she didn't at least tell me. We both worked at Ershin and bonded over the 4 hour breaks we had between classes. Now we will have 5 people in the apartment. I hope that doesn't ruin what we have going on now. I am sure going to miss Lynn. She was so funny and weird, she could always calm me down whenever work made me upset. It hasn't hit me yet that she has gone back to America. When it does, I will definitely be sad.

Well off to buy laundry detergent and go to Outback to drown my sorrows in a cheeseburger (I promise I don't have cheeseburgers a lot, only on special occasions).

Jules

Trying out this blog thing

Hello Everyone

Just thought I would start a blog so everyone can check up on me. I will write at least once a week. It will be up by Sunday each week.

Julia