TeamWaWa and their crazy adventures

Family and Friends, hello! Today is Teacher’s Day in China. Being a teacher is a respectable job here. Teachers work hard to prepare fun and engaging lessons, provide a safe environment for the children and please the parents. The pressure on Chinese students is high. At 9-10 years old, they take extra lessons outside their primary school. They are forced to learn English. To get into a good school, they need to score high. Grades do matter here. We never thought of teaching young learners in the States, but we do enjoy what we do here. And our students do seem to love us! #china, #teachersday

Hello friends, family, and any passerby reading this blog. We have returned safely from Taiwan. We spent 3 nights, 4 days there. It was worth the trip! We have been to approximately 17 States in the US, Jamaica, Mexico, Bahamas, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and China. The Chinese will tell you that Taiwan is part of China. I count it as a different country since they stamp your passport as Taiwan. But, anyways, the point I am trying to make is we have seen a lot of places and experienced different cultures. I mean, hell, America is considered a melting pot right? In Georgia, you have a whole town dedicated to “Asia”. I want to say Korean, but I can’t recall specifically. It’s near that H Supermarket near Roswell. China is not one of my favorite countries. Yes, we currently live here. And yes, we’ve been in China for almost 2 years. That’s a lot of hours and days to experience authentic China. And, well, it’s sad. Here are the top reasons we dislike China (Jiangsu Province): 1) S...

Taiwan Day 3 - Lovers Lake Park The day started a little less organized. We didn’t get the bus, so we had to take a taxi. It was 290 NT to go to the famous park. The park is free so that’s a bonus. We read online that it’s an easy hike around the mountain. I think our definition of easy isn’t the same as others. The stairs and incline are steep. Plus, it was very humid in this area. There’s no place in the park to buy snacks or drinks. Good thing, we planned for this and brought a cold water with us.  The park wasn’t very busy. There was a few tourist looking people, and some older people who looked like they came for the exercise. There was one annoying family who was playing their non English music through their speaker. Put on headphones! Be respectful to the people who want to hear nature. Side note: Asian culture does seem to be different in this area. Even people at the gym don’t always use headphones. Taiwan has beautiful green gardens and parks. Of course...

Day 2 - Wanli/Yehliu Day 2 of our Taiwan adventure started with a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel. Bacon, eggs, ham, chocolate muffin, orange juice and coffee. ahhh! Good breakfast spread.  We caught the 790 bus and went to the Yehliu Geopark. The bus ride was free! It was an interesting ride going up the mountain. Plus, seeing an old man defecate himself.  The Yehliu Geopark was so pretty. 80NTD each. Well worth the money. Such pretty blue skies. Clear water. And of course amazing rock formations. We tried to make it to the beach area, but couldn’t find it. And didn’t feel like asking for help. So we went back to the Keelung hotel. Kristin took a nap. Matt watched English movies on HBO. We had dinner at a place called MOS Burger. Pretty good. And we went through the night market to get a deep fried Oreo and some egg wrapped hotdog with sauce.  We went by the famous bridges and enjoyed the night breeze. It started to rain so we went back to the...

Hey friends, family and others! For our short summer holiday, we decided to go to Taiwan. We booked a hotel on the Northern tip of Taiwan in a port city called Keelung. The start of our journey began on Sunday, August 26th. We finished classes at 5p and had 6:30p train tickets. Business class train tickets to Shanghai to be specific. Business class was nice. It was a 6 person carriage with lots of space, drink holders and a foot rest. The best part... private. A door closed you off from the other passengers. We’ve been working a lot, and we were so tired by the time we got to Shanghai. But, there was still an hour metro ride. The metro was ridiculously busy. It was like a can of sardines. To go off on a tangent for a minute. Pardon me. We are use to America. You drive or taxi/Uber your way to the airport. And then wait 1-2 hours for your flight and life is good. No, not in Changzhou. You have to get to the train station and then take a metro ride. It’s quite a journey in itself....