Good Eats

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I had a food-filled day today. For lunch, we went to this amazing mountain-top restaurant called 野宴食堂 (Wild Feast Dining Hall?) out in 石碇 (ShiDing), which is a rural town about 20 minutes south of Taipei and famous for its tofu. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures, but you can see pictures of some of their dishes here. The seafood was so fresh, in fact, you could pick out what you wanted, which were all freshly caught and in coolers of ice.The sashimi and squid were so sweet and fresh. The baked fish, clam soup, and the udon were phenomenal.

(For the Chinese readers, the address is 台北縣石碇鄉彭山村崩山12號 (石碇交流道往華梵大學方向) (02)2663-4276

I can’t translate that into English, and since it’s so local and Taiwanese, it’d be a bit hard for non-Chinese speakers to go, so bring a Taiwanese friend!)

Afterwards, we had tofu ice cream! It’s literally just soybean based ice cream, but it tasted like the tofu dessert (豆花 dohua) but frozen. It’s totally healthy, not too sweet, and really light, and I would eat it every day if I could.

Then four hours later, but still full from lunch, we had dinner at A Cut Steakhouse in the Ambassador Hotel. (Definitely pricey and costs more than Ruth Chris in Taipei) The steak was pretty good, but I’m raving about the dessert. (Again, no camera no pictures, sorry!) There’s this chocolate ball thing where they pour heated chocolate over a chocolate ball filled with cappuccino ice cream. The top of the chocolate ball will melt so you can get to the good stuff inside. The soufflé was also superb. (I totally miss having a kitchen with an oven so I can cook and bake dessert goodies!)

To top it all off, since we were celebrating a birthday, we got a Caramel Banana Chocolate Cake from Black as Chocolate, and this is the only picture that I can actually post (which is taken from their website but it’s linked). I love Black as Chocolate cakes (careful with the pronunciation there) because I’ve been fairly disappointed with the dessert/cake selection in Taiwan, not counting the ones from American-styled restaurants. Their cakes are made from dark chocolate so they’re just the right amount of sweet (and healthy!) but don’t taste like they’re sugarless like most of the other cakes here.

(This post is brought to you by payday advance loans.)

B is for Boy

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My junior high boys have been so good lately, which has been pleasantly surprising. *knock on wood* Then again, it’s probably because I sent my bad kids away to the other classes. See, there’s a system of classes which are broken down into A, B1, B2, and C class. The A kids have the best English ability (we’re talking second grade level English here), the B kids are about the same (first grade/second grade) but B1 moves at a faster pace, and C kids have the lowest-to-no level. I teach B2, and after last semester, my worst kids (based on test scores) were sent to C class, and my best kids were sent to B1 or A class (which was really sad because my best kids were also most of my favorite kids). In return, I received the lowest-test-scores kids from B1 and A class.  After the first test of this semester, there was a bit more shuffling around, and a couple more of my lowest-test-score kids went to C class and one especially naughty one went to B1. (He’s a real jerk. He picks on me. I’m his teacher, and he picks on me like throw stupid paper balls at me or says things in Chinese. Ugh. If only I were bigger and stronger and a male.)

Why is it a child’s test score negatively correlates with his naughtiness level? Is it because they are naughty so they don’t pay attention in class and therefore gets bad grades? Or is it because they don’t understand what’s going on and will get bad grades anyway so they get bored and are naughty? There are rarely some students who are naughty and can still make good grades. I have discovered that the highest-scoring kids are the ones that participate in class and are engaged with my teaching. They can be funny and give goofy answers, but for the most part, they actually take the class seriously and can answer most my questions.

Fun Fact

The pros to being a young attractive female teacher: You can pretty much get away with anything with these junior high boys. Give them a ton of work, yell at them, be tough on them, but then they’ll always forgive you again and shower you with compliments the next day. For the most part, they’re also really nice to you and will offer to clean your board and carry your books.

The cons: Getting compliments or inappropriate comments. I get “sexy” a lot as in,”Teacher, you are so sexy today”. I’d like to think it’s because they don’t know what it really means and equate it with “beautiful” or “pretty”. Then again, maybe they do cause they’re 13-year-old boys, and I’m just being naive. Regardless, it still makes me uncomfortable. That and having “So-and-So love (or even f***) Tina” written on about half of the desks in my classroom. Flattering, but no thanks.

(This post is brought to you by quick loans.)

Illnesses Galore

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I get sick about every two weeks here in Taiwan. I’ve probably been to a doctor more times in the past year than in my entire life in the States. My biggest moments were probably the ten-day hospital stay due to a bacteria infection and getting H1N1 aka swine flu, which I caught from my students.

My allergies have also gotten ten times worse due to the humidity and the mold in all the old buildings so I’m always getting sinus infections.

And let’s not even get started on stomach problems. I always seem to have monthly stomach problems, and if it’s a bad day, it’ll result in a stomach virus like it did a couple of days ago, but thankfully that passed quickly.

But that’s living in a country without health codes for you. Boy, do I miss those pieces of paper with a big number hanging in restaurant windows, telling you that their place is fit for human consumption. I need to hit up the night markets soon so I can build up my immunity again. (Just saying that sentence kinda disgusted me a bit.) If you completely forget how tasty night market food is and really think about how clean they keep everything, you might not eat there ever again. But the tastiness level of those candied tomatoes and blood-on-a-stick easily lets you forget about all those insignificant details such as how often they wash those cutting boards and how much foot traffic goes by their stand hanging out in the open air.

Readjusting to a whole new climate and bacterial system is tough on a body. I suppose another factor of me not taking vitamins or not exercising at all doesn’t help, which is why tomorrow I’ll be hitting the gym after the winter hiatus. (Not only for health reasons, but also for the fact that I’ve been told that I’ve gotten fat by about half the residents in Taipei this week. Especially from the lady who does my nails whom I haven’t seen in a few months, and she even narrowed it down to “gained at least 2-3 kgs”. SIGH)

Heathens

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I remember when I first took a Spanish class in middle school, my classmates were horrible to the teacher. They were obnoxious and rude, and they just seemed to treat the class much more differently than math class or science class. Maybe it was because they realized that they probably wouldn’t use Spanish much in their future so why bother taking it seriously now. Or maybe it was because they really had no interest in it since the school forced us to pick a foreign language as part of our curriculum. Whatever the reason, they were disrespectful to the class and the teacher, who also happened to be a recent graduate and in her 20′s. I remember there were days when she would get so furious at us or get so frustrated and just be reduced to tears. But to us back then, it was all fun and games. Teachers didn’t really have feelings.

Every time I teach my second group of junior high students, I think of my middle school Spanish class. It’s surprising at how familiar it all feels, except this time, I’m on the other side. There seems to be some sort of unspoken immunity in a foreign language class. Since it’s foreign-language-only, the students assume anything said or done in their native language is safe. They can say whatever they want to the teacher, about the teacher, at the teacher, but because they can’t even understand the foreign language when reprimanded, it’s like they’re really not in trouble.

Being a teacher is hard work. Being a teacher of a foreign language to a group of kids who don’t even care is harder work.

To my eighth grade Spanish teacher, I apologize for our terrible behavior because now I finally can understand what horrendous heathens we must have been. And yes, teachers do have feelings too.

I Am Taiwanese American

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Sorry for the lack of posts, but I’ve been busy busy with GMAT studying and whatnot. But a real quick FIY, on April 1st (aka Census Day 2010), if you’re a Taiwanese-American (like me!), then make sure you put yourself as that. For more info, go here.

Year of the Tiger

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First off, Happy Belated Chinese New Year’s/Valentine’s Day.

I get two weeks off for the holidays: last week and this week. The boyfriend got ten days off last week too, but we were kept busy due to an unfortunate event so there were other things on our minds besides enjoying the break.

I’m surprised that this little island of ours hasn’t drowned and disappeared into the ocean yet. It’s been cold and raining nonstop for the past two days, which also means that I haven’t left my place in 48 hours which will be going on close to 72 hours. Because it’s Chinese New Year, and everyone takes a week off, there’s also not much stores or shops open either. I ordered a lot of pizza on the first night and have been living off that for awhile. Kinda feels like college again, especially the lounging-in-sweats-and-eating-cold-pizza-while-studying-occasionally part.

Why the studying? I’ve finally signed up for the GMAT. I’m taking it on March 9th. I’m one of those people who just work better under pressure and deadlines, so I figured if I didn’t actually sign up, then I would never really get around to taking it no matter how much I studied. Technically, I’ve been “studying” on and off since last April. Ergo, a deadline is necessary.

Anyways, I was born in 1985, the year of the Ox, so this is my forecast for this upcoming year.

Forecast for 2010
The Ox loves methodical planning and everything working out in the correct time. The Year of the Tiger will throw all this to the wind with it’s fast pace and unexpected developments! People born under this sign may find 2010 a challenge but in a good way. The Ox will have to adapt to new routines, delays and obtacles thrown in his way, but he will be well able for any task and may find new hidden talents and personal power he didn’t know existed. Hobbies, relaxing pursuits and friendships will all be beautifully highlighted during the Year of the Tiger and will provide a welcome relief to any stresses he may face. Home improvements and redecorating plans will move forward smoothly with excellent results. Career opportunities will present themselves from April to June, while exciting, intense romantic encounters are likely in July, August and December. An important aspect for those under this sign in 2010 is to be mindful and caring of loved ones. It will be crucial to listen to them and also to accept any help they may offer during this changeable year.

Hey, that sounds pretty good to me. I’ve always had a thing for horoscopes, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that they only sound so accurate because I can always think of something in my life that applies. Is that the point? Or are they really just that good? Let me know; you can find out yours here.

Digital Perm

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I got a digital perm last weekend because I got tired of my straight straight hair which I’ve worn for years. Usually when I get tired of my hair, I usually just cut it short, but this time I decided to do something really different.

I kind of made an impulse decision to get a perm or something that would give my flat and straight hair some volume and body. So after a couple of hours of research online, I decided that I would get a digital perm. (This blog post pretty much helped me make up my mind.) Basically, a digital perm, which started in Japan, is a hot perm applied to the ends of the hair so you get big curls and/or loose waves. A cold perm is close to the head and produces small tight curls.

This is what my hair looked like before my appointment.

When I got to the salon, they applied creams and such to my hair to protect it, then they hooked me up to this contraption where the heat is kept at a certain temperature based on what kind of hair you have, i.e. thin, coarse, thick, fine, etc.

The whole process took five hours (partly because the salon was really busy that day), and it cost $4500NT ($140USD), but I got a 50% discount cause I had a coupon. After the stylist dried and styled it, it looked like this.

Now, I can just wash it, put some curl-enhancing product in it while it’s damp, and then let it air-dry. The waves appear when it dries. Then if I want it a bit more curlier, I can take a curling iron to the locks in front for a few seconds, and voilá!