We all live in a Yellow Submarine.....

Today I had the best sashimi, I have ever tasted in all my life. Probably because it was swimming in the ocean hours before it was put down in front of me. I spent the day in Budai, it has a very famous fish market, well known throughout Taiwan. I snapped some pictures of the fish market but I left my camera in my Scooter and I am too lazy to walk downstairs and get it. So I am posting a photo, from caveman_lee (go check out his photo's, he is pretty talented), that best represent the wonderful sashimi I ate. Not only did I have wonderful sashimi, I was treated to a 8 course meal by one of my students Aunt's. All super fresh seafood, sea bream, prawns, chow mein, chow fun, some kind of small fish that was heavenly and two different types of clams, one in a broth and one in a sauce, amazing food. Budai is about a half hour ride from my apartment. The seafood there is so cheap, Jennifer (my student) bought 6 tuna steaks to take home nice large cuts for 350nt, that's less than 12 dollars. There were so many types of sea life in the market, some fish I have never seen. The only problem is I have no idea what their English name is. Well I am going to end this post I am heading out to the night market for dinner. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

A Feast for the Senses

I spent my Easter Sunday wandering around the streets of Kaohsiung. After a 1 1/2 train ride I arrived in Kaohsiung. The MRT Kaohsiung's new subway, is free to ride for the first month. It was insane how many people were taking advantage of their new public transportation. I got on the MRT and went to the shopping district, 3 stops away. There were their major department stores, each at least 10 stories high. I went in one store and browsed around for a while, until I made my way to the 14th floor. There I had lunch at a wonderful tea house, where I had some excellent Dim Sum. After a very filling lunch I made my way back to the MRT and travelled to the Love River, there I took a boat down the river to Kaohsiung harbor. I walked around the harbor for a bit and then grabbed a cab and went to Central Park. The shopping around Central Park is amazing, anyone that enjoys shopping would be in heaven. I snapped some pictures of the crowds shopping, I also took a picture of a stores sign, the store was named Marijuana. You have to realize in Taiwan there is no illegal drug culture, mainly due to the fact that they put drug traffickers to death. I also took a few pictures from the boat on Love River. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. The sights and sounds and smells of the shopping district all swirl together to make for a most enjoyable experience. I imagine Harajuku must be something close. Tweeter you would love the stores there, they have many shops from all around the world, and little boutique stores. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

A flower by any other name.....

Let's see it has been a little while since I last updated. I went to an Orchid Show last Friday, because 2 of my students were working there. I got a few good macro shots of some Orchids, and I was introduced to the fact that there are hundreds of different species of Orchids. They also had some Bonzai s I will put a picture of my favorite. The two girls are my students Jen and Judy, Jen was my tour guide for the show. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

Just another day in Paradise

So another week of school has gone past, had a lot of fun teaching. I have some pretty cool students, went to lunch with a group of them yesterday and then they invited me to the Yenshui night market. A lot of fun, even though after a while I began to feel like an ape in a zoo. People can't help but to stare when they see the giant white guy, it kinda cracks me up. Some of the girls from my class today wanted to have their picture taken with "Teacher". I only took one picture of the group, trying to maintain the teacher student relationship at least for a little while. I will include the pic of the girls, and some random shots on campus. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

Swan Lake - SinYing City, Taiwan

I had put up another slide show but it bogged the page down too much, so I am including a link to the next series of pictures. I took these at a local man made lake, it's about 5 miles from my apartment. I hope you enjoy the photo's, I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

Swan Lake

Temple Time number 2

Temple Time

Ok the next three entries are going to be all pictures that I took today of two temples here in SinYing City.

Shake Rattle and Roll

Well my slumber was disturbed last night by a 5.0 earthquake centered about 30 miles away. The shaking woke me up, but like every jaded Californian, I just laid there till it stopped and went back to sleep. I guess they don't happen all that often here because I heard people wandering around afterward. Well I am going to go and run down something for dinner, pictures will be posted sometime this weekend. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

An Apple for Teacher

I am writing this blog to you all from my desk in my office at NJTC, cool huh? I am teaching 5 classes a week for two hours each class. I will be preparing the students here to pass the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). I purchased a scooter today a Yamaha 90 for 8000nt that comes out to about $250us, pretty cheap! Everything is going wonderful here, and now that I have transportation besides my two feet, I will be taking a lot more pictures to post for all of your eyes. Well it's lunch time here in Taiwan so I am going to sign off and go get some food. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.

Classes Begin

Well I attended my first Mandarin class here today, and it was very laid back. I am in a class with 5 French and one Japanese student. We have class every Monday morning from 0810 - 1000, the class uses a textbook designed to teach Chinese students how to speak to tourists. Tourism is a major industry here in Taiwan. I was given my class schedule today and an Office of my very own, it's way cool. I teach Monday through Thursday so I have a three day weekend every week. The French guys are very cool, they invited me to join them on a trip to the coast this weekend, if they can wait until I finish teaching Thursday, I will probably join them. I was given the choice to teach two different curriculum's this morning and I need to go and read through both of them to see what will be better. But I think I will leave it up to my students, since they will have to purchase whatever book we use, and one of them is expensive here, like $30. I miss you all and will talk to you soon.