Carlton Hotel Hsinchu

... in Taiwan. This was never an option because I figured that I would just get a job at home and work after college graduation. Roughly two years ago I arrived in Taiwan on some family business. <br><br> But, I decided to stay behind after friends and family members introduced me to the true beauty of this island. This ...

... is called the Formosa. I'm hoping my Cantonese background will help me get around, although I can't help but think of how people will react when they realize my Mandarin isn't very strong.<br><br>I haven't had much of an impression of Taiwan so far as I was shepherded into a hotel out in Hsinchu right from the airport, but today, is our first day of our program. I'm hoping ...

... my debit card a few days ago...and now found myself monetarily stranded. Thankfully I knew that I would be getting paid soon...and so I wasn't freaking out as much as I would have been had I 2 more weeks to go before I got paid or something. I thankfully managed to cancel my Visa and my debit card. A new debit card is being sent to my parents in Ottawa and my Visa will just stay cancelled (the bank wanted to mail it to my Brazil address). I just now have to wait for ...

Real-time Entry I couldn't help but do another update since I want to tell the story myself (since my mom has been telling it to everyone here). If you noticed the change in cities, I'm back in my mom's relative's house. Her sister is the one with the Internet, but we're staying at her parent's house, which is just down the street. Anyway, here's what happened yesterday. Remember my really bad case of hives? Well ...

Today was my first day. It is very easy to get lost in Chang Gung Hospital. Its huge and crowded. The basement is like a mall with a large cafeteria, a 7-Eleven, a McDonald's, several markets, bakeries, flower shops. Wendy, the fellowship coordinator, is super nice and very well organized. She is incredibly helpful. When I met her I met 2 other visiting fellows from Germany, Emre and ...

... thing and visited the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial, a monstrous building in the downtown area complete with a giant statue of the great leader, a cultural center and an interesting changing of the guard ceremony. On Tuesday, it was a beautiful day, my headache was gone and I was ready to be on the move. I started by heading to the Chiang Khai Shek Memorial Hall (*current news note - they just announced they will change it to the ...

... against the slopes of a volcan in the night. As the sun climbed closer to the horizon new scene's suggested themselves. Moisture passing from the warming ocean surface trapped in the low cloud cover transformed the bumps and boils of little cumulus formations into a misty jungle canopy that stretched across the face of the earth to the horizon where appeared the glimmering ramparts, and walls of a golden palace, whose king and queen ...

... Typhoon Day" off of work... but sadly no. We were all ok with it because the center of the typhoon wasn't supposed to hit Hsinchu until 3 am Friday morning. Yesterday was windy and rainy as well, and once again we all thought of the high potential of no work on Friday! Even all my coworkers in the department were exclaiming the great possibility of no work. Last night 4 of my coworkers invited me out to dinner with them, and to show me some ...

... help. What a dream. And then of course kindergarten,aaaahhhhh kindergarten. Denene defined kindergarten so beautifully: 'kindergarten and self respect has got nothing to do with each other'. Every day you walk in there and you are a clown, but you do get so much back - they're energy is contagious but the time you're out of there you're done... All in all you get a lot back but that does depend where you teach. My advice, stay clear of junior ...

... huge round tables. At these type of meals everyone sits around the table and eats off of all the plates ordered. You get your own rice, but choose whatever elese you want. This was the first time we tried a deep fried fish (not like fish and chips). They just take the whole fish, head eye, tail, skin ad throw it into the deep fryer. After they added sweet and sour sauce. It was sooooo good. We had a great day!