Japanese Exchange!

Be a pusher when you go abroad or you will miss out. We had Japanese students at Kaiping for two days and no one told me. Finally, on the last day Shohei told me about it. So I pushed my way into their class.  That's what you need to do!

It was worth it. I met the Japanese students and befriended them.

We cooked together.

She was so cute and nice.

I've totally forgotten Japanese though.

Tour of Kaiping!

When I was in America trying to find out anything I could about this school, I noticed their were no pictures of the actual school. So, enjoy. The school is a little like a prison though. There is a gate around the whole thing with only two ways to get out. And each is locked with a security guard there to make sure students don't leave. We're are locked in during the day. This is pretty normal for Taiwan though, and the kitchens are super nice.

Really bad picture, but there aren't many lights.

One thing I found a little weird/cool is that the floor levels aren't even and there are random stairs everywhere. If you are disabled, this would probably be an issue. It felt a little Harry Potter-esque to me.

Outside is nicer. This is near where the bakery I work at is.

The restaurant is also nice.

If you are going to this school next year. I feel I've given you all the pictures you need.

If you are not going to this school, your school in Taiwan probably wont be as old as mine. Because mine is a cooking school. The chefs are famous though.

Socializing with my Kaiping classmates and Taiwanese people! At the Taipei Zoo!

The girl in the middle of the first picture is in Marielle's class and she speaks english and is really nice. The girl in the left of this picture is in my class and so so nice. She doesn't speak very much english though.

The zoo is a really nice young couples place since it's cheap and beautiful. And fun. Although the food isn't very cheap.

Favorite animal at the zoo.

They had a lot of HUGE animals at this zoo. I was really shocked. Taipei has a really really nice zoo. You should go.

Fun day, we had ice cream at the department stores later.

Working hard in Kaiping

I'm the only one doing anything in class though. Be warned that at least in the school I went to, everyone really spends most of the time they aren't cooking, just fooling around. This includes playing video games at school.

I am such a good exchange student.

This is my life here.


Another class I go to, yoga class.

Which reminds me. Taiwan has no heat in schools or homes. Bring warm clothing for winter. 

kaiping My Taiwanese host school

Class participation:

This is what we start out with when we go to Chinese cooking class.
Most groups have three people, might has four, as I'm the extra. But look at this stuff! It's so cool.

I've learned to gut fish, shell shrimp, scale fish, and cook crab. It's really useful.

Nothing much to say.

Marielle (the french exchange student with me in Kaiping) cutting.

That is Tofu, by the way.

We cut everything.

Look at this egg.

We boiled it and cut it in half.

The recipes use way too much oil all the time. Marielle and I try to sneak some of it out all the time though. XD

Bad quality pictures, but our school is always really dark.

Cooking class is fun. But we need to change uniforms and since they have no changing rooms, students, boys and girls, all get changed in the classroom together. Yes. They strip in the classroom. Which, might not be a big deal if Marielle and I weren't foreign and if we weren't females. Everyone in the room watches us very intently and makes comments. It's very annoying.

I've really enjoy this time cooking with my classmates and eating the food afterwards all together. The chefs are all really kind to me as well.

What do I cook at school?

This.

 

The white thing is call hua jh. Or cuddle fish. Take your pick of names.

 And does my school have it's own resturant? Yes. A bakery, a "western" resturant, and a Chinese resturant.

The western tables look like this:

 Yes, I can fold the napkins like that. I'm that skilled.


I would really like to post more stuff today, but I'm tired now. I just stent out all my college applications. Tired tired tied. I'm so busy doing stuff lately.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is an American holiday when we eat a lot of food with family and it's okay to be really fat. It's the one day a year where you just keep eating and eating and everyone is okay with it. XD Actually it's supposed to be about family. But it's traditional to have a whole roasted turkey, and tons and tons of food.

In Taiwan, they don't even know what day Thanksgiving is. The day went by without notice. Actually, I forgot about it too, until about 9 am in the morning when an American exchange student in my Chinese classes told me. Then I got a little sad.

But actually my day was great.

I went to school and there was a meeting about chocolate. Ah, the joys of going to a cooking school. So Marielle and I spent the whole meeting drawing stuff. We actually drew a really smart picture of the Taiwanese election going on right now and some other ones.

It's so funny. We couldn't stop laughing in the chocolate meeting. We got free chocolates too.

Here are some pictures of the real meeting, which was actually pretty cool. We got to see the chocolate bean and we got to taste 100% chocolate. It's pretty bad tasting.

After school, Marielle told me she forgot her house keys so she couldn't go home. So we took the opportunity to go shopping for some food and cups and plates for the next culture fair we have coming up and for our Kaiping Birthday thing. I will talk about that more later.

Then Peggy had invited me to dinner to help me with a Chinese speech I have to give to rotary. She's so nice. I had tried to call her and tell her Marielle was with me and ask her if that was okay. But I couldn't get in touch with her. Anyway, she reacted so sweetly. When I told her it was thanksgiving she told us that we would celebrate it together! So we went out for steak!

It was so good.

 Outback Steakhouse

Seared Tuna

We got so much food.

Then she helped me with my speech. And told me she would help me find calligraphy lessons. I'm so excited about that.

My speech:

It was a good day.