Cooking classes and Kaohsiung

I've arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. This place defies description and is quite different from Canada, understandably.

But first, I have to update the rest of my time in Chiang Mai after the trek. On my third day I signed up for a Thai cooking class. These are very popular in Chiang Mai and nearly everyone partakes. For about 22 dollars CAD I was picked up at my guesthouse at 9 am, brought to an authentic Thai market place for a tutorial on various spices and vegetables, taken to the place of instruction where everyone had their own ingredients and cooking station, made 5 traditional Thai meals and one dessert, received a cook book with detailed recipes and pictures, and was given a certificate.

The instructors spoke excellent English and were quite funny. We had a good group and enjoyed making Pad Thai, chicken stirfry, green curry chicken, spring rolls, another chicken dish, and stewed bananas in coconut cream. Sooo goood. I met a daughter and mother team who where traveling across Thailand together and we decided to hit the night market that evening. Sundays in Chiang Mai are known for their open-air night markets. There was SO much to look at and I ended up purchasing quite a few items for my new room in Taiwan.

The next day I traveled for 20 hours straight until I arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I met people at every point along the way who helped me immensely! I only know how to say "thank you" and "hello" in Mandarin! You can imagine that I needed quite a bit of help getting from A to B.

April and Dan picked me up late last night on their scooters and we headed back to our apartment. This place is unbelievable. I will post pictures soon. My room is huge and I've already decorated it with things bought in Thailand and Taiwan. Tomorrow my mission is to find some picture frames so that I can look at familiar faces once again.

Sometimes I just want to pinch myself. I really can't believe how luck I am! I arrive in a foreign country were I walk into my furnished apartment with friends from Waterloo, I wake up in the morning and go to a job interview that April has organized (I finalize the contract tomorrow after my "demo" class), April and Dan also organized a scooter for me to buy at a great price, AND they know the city quite well already.

I'm starting to feel a bit like a local already. I'm getting used to the frequent stares from the Taiwanese folks (guess they're not totally used to foreigners), and we all bought face masks today!!! You know you're in Asia when! I got a cute red mask with various cartoon characters (must post a pic of this as well). Kinda gross when you think about how necessary they are, the air quality is quite poor here.

If you would like my address and phone number please email. April has the week off and then Mark and Melissa arrive from South Korea for a week! What a complete surprise, they told me last night when I came in. After that I'll start training for two weeks (assuming I get the job after my "demo"), and then I teach on my own as of December 1st.

I promise that pictures from Thailand will go up soon, I'll have some free time until work starts.
keep in touch,
love Rach