First, I should make an amendment to my last post... The pictures go: Vivian, Christine, Samuel, Kitty. Christine is the cutest and sweetest little thing and I could take her and her sister home forever! : )
So, I have survived my first major holiday away from my family! Those of you who know me well know that's quite a feat for me. It wasn't easy, and I'm sure Christmas will be much harder, so I'm bracing myself now...
I did have some turkey rice and a pumpkin muffin on Thanksgiving Day, so I still remained festive! : ) Also, Nick and I are going to celebrate together tomorrow. I'm going to make some chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, maybe green beans in the make-shift kitchen in my apartment and there's a place here to buy pies, so the meal will be complete! It should be nice. I'm so happy I have him here because it certainly made it much easier to miss the family gathering.
So, in the true spirit of the holiday, let me say how thankful I am to have a wonderful family who loves and supports me, and who I miss very much. I am thankful for Nick who makes makes me laugh and who lets me be myself (for better or for worse). I am thankful for my friends who are great people and whose words of encouragement and support keep me going sometimes and who I love hearing from. And last, but far from least, I am thankful for this opportunity that I've been given to experience a new culture and to learn about myself and find what I'm really made of.
I hope everyone had a great holiday and I hope to hear from you all soon!
Love,
Katie
Friday, November 23, 2007
pictures of my students
Here are pictures of some of my students and my friend Jennifer from Canada (she's in the first picture). The pictures of my students are of Vivian (hard at work), Samuel (he's in love with me, and he's a cutie), Christine (my FAVORITE, along with her older sister, Grace, who's in one of my other classes), and Kitty (named after "Hello Kitty"... seriously...) They are all in my first grade class, and I love them, even through their naughtiness. : )
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Hong Kong pictures
Downtown Hong Kong looks just like any other big city might when you're standing on the street... Skyscrapers so high all around you that you can barely see the top when you look up. However, when you go up a few levels off the street, you can see the thing that makes Hong Kong's downtown different from that of, say, New York City - the skyscrapers are built into the mountains! As you can see in one of the first pictures, in the background, the mountains are almost as tall as the buildings. You can also see the buildings that are built right on the sides of the mountains. So strange and REALLY cool!
The night time pictures are taken across the water from the downtown area. The view at night was spectacular! We may take another weekend trip back to Hong Kong before heading home next summer, or, (maybe wishful thinking) on the way to Beijing to watch a little of the Olympics?!?!?!?!
More pictures!
These pictures are from my first weekend here. The first pictures are from a trip to the night market, which is basically a couple of blocks filled with food and clothing vendors and game booths. It's a good time, and a great place to get a cheap dinner or wallet! : ) The last two pictures are of the nieces of the family I was staying with. They are two of the cutest and naughtiest little girls ever!!!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Going Away Party
Here are the first of some of my pictures. These are from the small going away get together at my house the weekend before I left : ( Some of the fam, one of Courtney, and one with Marcus and Nicole.
Monday, October 22, 2007
A Quick Shout Out : )
Two posts within a week's time!!! Amazing! Well, I just have to mention a couple of things. First of all, I'm a total food nerd for this (some may even call me a "fatty" or "food addict"), but yesterday, I found a grocery store here that has tons of great stuff!!! They had tons of fruit and vegetables, lots of American products (even Bisquick!) and stuff I can use to make chili when it starts to get cold outside. However, the absolute icing on the cake was when I found Relax Reisling in the wine section!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually jumped up and down a little - Nick laughed quite a lot, but he understood. It seriously made me so happy. It's nice to find the comforts of home whenever I can. (Probably unfortunately) The easiest way to find that comfort is through food!!! Don't worry - I'm working out and running as much as I can and I'm going to try and curb the "comfort food" addiction so I don't have to buy two plane tickets for my flight home next summer : )
Anyway... The second reason I'm writing is to say "thanks" to you all. I have received so many emails and blog posts telling me what a great and brave thing I'm doing by being here, and I really can't tell you what that means to me. The support helps so much and once in a while, I need a little something to help get me through the day.
I should mention that I have really not felt a lot of homesickness yet, and for that, I thank Nick, SO much! I of course miss my friends and family (and cats) like crazy, but having him here to give me a hug at the end of a hard day makes all the difference in the world.
Also, the endless packages (people at school are actually jealous) from my mother and sister are wonderful. I received one from Katie Heimenez (Lang) today, and it was the best ever! Homemade salsa and some Tostitos to eat it with, lots of whole wheat pasta (which you CAN'T get here at all) and even some Halloween Oreos!!! It made my day! (you're the best, Katie!) : )
So, thanks for everything. Love and miss you all very much!
Katie
Anyway... The second reason I'm writing is to say "thanks" to you all. I have received so many emails and blog posts telling me what a great and brave thing I'm doing by being here, and I really can't tell you what that means to me. The support helps so much and once in a while, I need a little something to help get me through the day.
I should mention that I have really not felt a lot of homesickness yet, and for that, I thank Nick, SO much! I of course miss my friends and family (and cats) like crazy, but having him here to give me a hug at the end of a hard day makes all the difference in the world.
Also, the endless packages (people at school are actually jealous) from my mother and sister are wonderful. I received one from Katie Heimenez (Lang) today, and it was the best ever! Homemade salsa and some Tostitos to eat it with, lots of whole wheat pasta (which you CAN'T get here at all) and even some Halloween Oreos!!! It made my day! (you're the best, Katie!) : )
So, thanks for everything. Love and miss you all very much!
Katie
Friday, October 19, 2007
New place
So, I've officially been in my new place for almost a week now! Very exciting! I'm living in a sort-of apartment (two rooms and a bathroom) in the house of a friend of a friend. I'm on the 4th floor again, but the fact that I have some furniture and free cable (including the English movie channels) makes up for that. Originally, I was thinking of using this place temporarily, but I may decide to fix it up a little and stay there for the rest of the year. The only real downfall is the lack of a kitchen anywhere in the house.
Cooking is really uncommon in Taiwan, as most people eat out most of the time. A lot of people simply don't have the time to cook because if they own their own business, they are typically at work most of the day and sometimes late into the night (the girl I'm living with owns her own tea bar and works from morning until 11 or 12 at night!). Also, it's significantly cheaper to eat out than to buy groceries here. A typical lunch or dinner might cost me 40 NT ($1.10 US)!!! However, I get sick of eating the same thing over and over, and I do like to eat for the health benefits as well, which spoils the eating out benefits for me.
So, given the fact that I have only a refridgerator, and it's on the 1st floor, I am looking into buying a few things to have my own make-shift kitchen in my apartment. Apparently, I can probably get some portable burners (think camping stove), a small used refridgerator, and maybe a small new microwave for around $100 US. I do have a rice cooker (which will not only cook rice, but steam vegetables, and I'm going to experiment with making pasta) and a toaster oven (which will cook nearly anything that will fit inside of it), so those and a lot of peanut butter and jelly, and things that my mom has sent me - like cereal and granola bars - are holding me over for now. The change in living situation has done wonders for me, as I feel a lot more like myself when I have my freedom to do as I please.
I'm still enjoying my job (I took pictures of some of my students and will post those just as soon as I post all of my other pictures : ) My friend Jennifer (from work) left on Sunday to move back to Canada after 4 years here, and I was sad to see her go. She was a lot of fun and I could never thank her enough for all of the help she gave me in the last month! I only hope that I will be able to help someone else half as much when it's my turn to go home.
For anyone who's wondering : ) Nick is doing well. He is still living under "the rules" of his house and handling them far better than I was able to (but he has his WoW to keep him warm). He works a lot, with a few extra jobs private tutoring students outside school and correcting papers people have written in English. In short, until I get my first full month's pay, he's my sugar daddy! : ) We started taking Chinese class together last week, and that's seriously going to kick both of our butts for the next several months.
Also, I've started the process for grad school application again, although this time armed with a lot more knowledge and one absolutely GREAT connection and letter of recommendation. I'll be applying to Nebraska, the University of Utah, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and probably the University of New Mexico. Wish me luck!
I hope all is well for everyone, and I hope to hear from you all very soon!
Love,
Katie
Cooking is really uncommon in Taiwan, as most people eat out most of the time. A lot of people simply don't have the time to cook because if they own their own business, they are typically at work most of the day and sometimes late into the night (the girl I'm living with owns her own tea bar and works from morning until 11 or 12 at night!). Also, it's significantly cheaper to eat out than to buy groceries here. A typical lunch or dinner might cost me 40 NT ($1.10 US)!!! However, I get sick of eating the same thing over and over, and I do like to eat for the health benefits as well, which spoils the eating out benefits for me.
So, given the fact that I have only a refridgerator, and it's on the 1st floor, I am looking into buying a few things to have my own make-shift kitchen in my apartment. Apparently, I can probably get some portable burners (think camping stove), a small used refridgerator, and maybe a small new microwave for around $100 US. I do have a rice cooker (which will not only cook rice, but steam vegetables, and I'm going to experiment with making pasta) and a toaster oven (which will cook nearly anything that will fit inside of it), so those and a lot of peanut butter and jelly, and things that my mom has sent me - like cereal and granola bars - are holding me over for now. The change in living situation has done wonders for me, as I feel a lot more like myself when I have my freedom to do as I please.
I'm still enjoying my job (I took pictures of some of my students and will post those just as soon as I post all of my other pictures : ) My friend Jennifer (from work) left on Sunday to move back to Canada after 4 years here, and I was sad to see her go. She was a lot of fun and I could never thank her enough for all of the help she gave me in the last month! I only hope that I will be able to help someone else half as much when it's my turn to go home.
For anyone who's wondering : ) Nick is doing well. He is still living under "the rules" of his house and handling them far better than I was able to (but he has his WoW to keep him warm). He works a lot, with a few extra jobs private tutoring students outside school and correcting papers people have written in English. In short, until I get my first full month's pay, he's my sugar daddy! : ) We started taking Chinese class together last week, and that's seriously going to kick both of our butts for the next several months.
Also, I've started the process for grad school application again, although this time armed with a lot more knowledge and one absolutely GREAT connection and letter of recommendation. I'll be applying to Nebraska, the University of Utah, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and probably the University of New Mexico. Wish me luck!
I hope all is well for everyone, and I hope to hear from you all very soon!
Love,
Katie
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