Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! This gives a whole different meaning to the opening line of the Christmas song. For a country that doesn't exactly celebrate Christmas they sure do have the market on actually roasting chestnuts on an open fire.
It's raining here but the Christmas spirit ... well some of it even reaches this part of the world. Downtown, Christmas trees have gone up and department stores have decorated with some of the greatest ornaments and bright lights. You can hear Christmas music all around the city much to my delight.

My English class and I had a little party to celebrate the end of a session. They told me that having parties like this was very North American. They normally go out to restaurant or karaoke bars to celebrate. After eating we played the game where you stick a name of a famous person on your head and have to ask questions to guess who you are. It was super funny and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves. This class was an intermediate English class although they seemed quite proficient in the language. I used each teaching opportunity to address current world issues like fair trade, sex trafficking and racism and each time they proved eager to tackle the difficult English vocabulary and the hard moral issues.

Life In Taiwan

Traditional food to the city I live in.Kinda like fish ball soup. More people eat at dinners like this for dinner than at home because it's cheaper and faster.


Nothing beats a little Bubble Tea. Course here it only costs a dollar compared to the 4 or 5 back at home.


Some friends I made. They've been helping me with my Chinese.


Danshui Night Market, the place where I've been living.



The little kitchen at the dinner.


Two of my friends turning the Asian picture pose into something a little more ghetto ... kind of.