Wow has this been a busy month so far! My parents were here for 2 weeks so I tried my best to spend as much time as I could with them. I went out to eat with them a few times a week and I also went to Hukou for the whole weekend just so I could spend more time with them. Aren't I a good daughter...haha. So one of the highlight of their trip here was going to a restaurant called Jurassic (aka the Indian...don't know how this nickname came about). It was a pretty cool place. The decor was quite fun. It was set up with a bunch of dinosaur bones. The best part of this restaurant was that I got to have a beer to go with my fired crickets, yum! I figured I'd be daring and give it a go. It tastes just like soft shell crab! Then there was someone singing and playing music. Overall it was a fun place!

Then I got a job. So while my parents were here, I was also training for my new job. I'm going to teach English to kids. It'll be interesting. I have already taught one class...I think it went ok. Good thing this is my level! Hahaha...The only bummer about teaching is that I have to do it on a Saturday. It just means that I can't go out of Taipei. I guess I can't complain. I need some money. So...you gotta do what you gotta do!

My parent's are in Taiwan...YAY!!! I miss my family. So whenever I get the chance, I hang out with them. They got here on May 1st. Since then, i've been so busy. Because my Dad reads my blogs, he saw that restaurant, KGB, I had mentioned a few months ago. So the first day they were here in Taipei, I took them to get some hamburgers. It was my Mom and Dad, my Aunt and Uncle, my cousin and me. We all went to KGB and had ourselves some burgers and beers. Mmmm! We ordered some funky stuff too. My Aunt, Mom and I had a "normal" avocado burger while my Dad got a satay burger. It was a burger with peanut sauce and other fun stuff on it. He said it was delicious. Then my cousin ordered a "Kiwi burger". This is really what all those "kiwi's" love. It was a burger with beets, eggs and pineapples. Weird...but it wasn't that bad. Then my Uncle ordered a lamb burger with feta cheese. Looked interesting, I didn't get a chance to try that one. Then to go with the burgers, we had to get beer of course! This was also fun. I had a Taiwan microbrew, my Dad got a lychee beer (yummy!) and then a New Zealand beer, and then my mom got a different kind of Taiwan microbrew. Overall, I'd have to say I had a really good time hanging out. It's so nice to be joking around with my family in English again.

I'm also happy to say that I finally can speak to my Mom in Chinese. That is such a nice feeling. It's a feeling of accomplishment. I came out here to learn Chinese, and now I can actually communicate not only with my mom, but with random strangers as well. Last week I was so busy trying to get my ARC (Alien Resident Certificate). I had to use all the Chinese I had learned within the last 5 months all in one week. It was such a hassle, but I did it. I got my stupid ARC and now I can stay here with a resident visa versus a visitor's visa. I could have bothered my Aunt to help me, but I figured I might as well give it a shot. And all was good. Well, it's way past my bedtime. I'll leave you with a fun picture of my Dad!

Last Friday I went on a field trip with the Tai-Da language center. I wasn't sure how it was gonna turn out, but it was actually a lot more fun than I had expected. We went to Tao Yuan. Before going there, the only thing I knew about in Tao Yuan was the airport. Now I know there is at least one other thing...hehe. The itinerary for the trip was to first barbecue Aborigine style, go to a flower field and then go to a big park and ride bikes...or something like that. So when I got to Tao Yuan, I was curious to see what we had to do to. We were broken up into teams...I was put in a team of 9, my 3 classmates that went plus two English students, two German students, and one Norwegian student. As a team, we had to build a chimney sort of thing with a bunch of dirt rocks (if that makes sense) on a pre-made oven looking thing. I think if you just look at the picture, you'll get the point. Then after the building process, we set a fire in the oven and wait until the chimney is charred. After that happens, we can cook our food...sweet potatoes and eggs....yum...not really...hehe. After doing that, we grilled up some lunch. I had some delicious rice with chicken blood cakes and some fish balls. Normal food for folks in Taiwan. I am glad I tried the blood cakes because this means I don't have to ever eat it again. While we were grilling, we also made a gelatinous drink from a special fruit seed. By rubbing the seeds together in water, the natural stickiness comes out and makes gelatin after it's been refrigerated. It's kind of weird. An hour later, we were able to eat our sweet potatoes and eggs. It was pretty much a baked potato and a boiled egg with an "earthy" taste.

After all the food stuff, we were suppose to head to a flower field, but it was raining. So instead, we went to Ying Ge. This place is really famous for it's ceramics. Unfortunately, I didn't really get any good pictures. We didn't spend too much time there. We were there to look around and do shopping if we wanted. I wanted to buy a bunch of stuff...but i didn't bring that much money! And I didn't really have a place to put these things. So I went home empty handed. Overall, it was a pretty fun trip because of the people. It's always nice to meet new people. I see these students all the time now. So I am glad I went. Without it, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet them. I kinda hope we do another field trip next term!

So I went to this International Bakery Exhibit a little while ago...surprise right, and I finally uploaded my pictures. I already forgot all the cool things they had there. It was like watching the food network, but I was actually there in the showrooms. There were pastry competitions going on with live cameras and TV screens for everyone to see the action. Also, there were pastry chef creating chocolate sculptures. Which by the way, are really awesome to see in person. Check out the little fishys on the left hand corner of the picture with the guy working on the sculpture. They are so cute! And then the fun recreation of Taipei 101. That's a lot of chocolate. I wonder what they do with the sculptures after they are done? Like I said, it's a lot of chocolate. I can't imagine them just taking a picture of it and then throwing it away...hmmm. I guess I'll have to google it and see. Then again, I've watched enough food network challenges to know that half of the time, chef's use something non edible as a base. So maybe there really isn't that much chocolate used after all.

I went to this Exhibition because I was hoping there were going to be a bunch of supplies being sold. People in Taiwan don't own ovens, so they don't have use for baking supplies. But, people are starting to buy ovens. It's becoming a lot more popular. I on the other hand, just love to bake. I already own a oven and was just scouting the place for more fun baking utensils. Unfortunately, the only things that were on sale were machinery for bakeries. Things that were way too big for me to buy. And too expensive! At least I got some gelato out of it!

Mmmmm...hamburger, fries, and beer. The best part is that it's not McDonald's! So I went out with a bunch of friends last night to this burger joint in Shida called KGB aka kiwi gourmet burgers. This burger place is like a burger place you'd find in New Zealand. They have a bunch of New Zealand beers and local beers, they import their meat from there, and I guess the "gourmet" combinations are similar to those that are popular in New Zealand. Overall, it was really yummy. I think I spent about five hours just hanging out there and talking with my friends. It was the first place i've been to that probably had more foreigners than taiwaners. The next burger they want to add to the menu is a lamb burger....i guess i'll have to go back and check it out...haha.

Whoo! Happy St. Patty's day! I rarely go out and drink, but I thought that I really didn't have an excuse not to go out and do a little drinking tonight. So I did. I was hoping people would celebrate a little bit more, but it is Taiwan... not really the place you'd find a bunch of drunken Irish rovers..hehe. The only people wearing green besides myself were those who happened on wearing green. That was really about it. But that didn't deter me from getting my St. Patty's day on! I had some beer... and it was quite refreshing. I was bummed that most of my classmates didn't want to join me tonight. So what if we have a test tomorrow! You can study tomorrow! There's always time for some pi-jiu!

So nothing has really happened these last two weeks. All I've been doing is going to class and learning some more Chinese. The fun thing is that I have two new students in my class. One guy from Japan and one guy from Germany. It's always interesting to see if the former classmates interact with the new classmates. I think that I'm really lucky because it turns out that we all get along really well. In fact, a few of us went out this weekend. It was fun getting back into the swing of things. Me, Kaori, Ronald, Patrick (my German classmate) and Patrick's friend went to Chili's Friday night...of all places. Then the next day I met up with Kaori and Ronald for lunch. Fun stuff... hehe.

But like I said nothing new so far. This week will mark my 4 months of being here in Taiwan. I can finally apply for residency and insurance. At least that'll give me some stuff to do...whooo! Except that I do plan on going out and getting a beer tomorrow. Can't miss out on St. Patty's day! So I hope you all have a good St. Patty's day! And I'll let you know how mine went!