New School and Vacation Plans
Don’t know why I have these “brilliant” ideas. I thought today would be a great morning for going to the local fruit stand to get some fruit – it’s about 3 blocks away – and it’s only morning (can’t be that hot outside!). I walked with Liz in the stroller to discover that the fruit stand wasn’t open, ok, well, I’ll just walk the other block to the local market and get some fresh produce that I need. So, we walked through that, had a great time, bought some salmon, potatoes, onions, broccoli, a hat for Liz (50 NT!) and some cashews. The guy at the fish stand was really sweet, talking to Liz, showing her fish – he had a parrot fish, which I find to be one of the most beautiful fish in the ocean – it was sad to see it there, I’ve never thought of eating one – but it was also beautiful to see out of the water – amazing the colors it has. I had always thought the colors on those fish were so brilliant because of the water and the reflections from the sun, but that is not so. Anyway, I started to feel a little off, so we started to heard back home – boy, it’s a LONG walk home when I feel like puking! In the heat, I was so hot and my stomach was churning. I was walking along a major road though and didn’t really want to give up my breakfast in front of all those people. I managed to make it home (of course, the elevator was on the 10th floor and I had to wait for it come down – argh) and to the bathroom, thank goodness. Guess I’m just not ready to venture out yet in this heat and humidity, with the smells of a market. It did feel good to be out, before I started feeling icky.
We ate last night at a local restaurant – the menu was all in Chinese and Anthony did his best to order something. The tea they served at the place was superb – the milk tea was YUMMY! The food was ok, but I think if we knew what we were ordering, it would have been better. I told Anthony it was nice to go out, to eat local and feel like we actually live here rather than that we are just passing through this place. Sometimes I get that feeling, that we are just biding our time until we leave and not really experiencing all that Taipei has to offer.
I’ve been looking at local preschool/daycare centers for the girls. We got the rate sheet for Ashley’s school for the fall and decided to try and see what else we could find and compare prices (something I didn’t do before). I had just heard how good her school was and all the other expats sent their kids there, so I didn’t do a lot of research on other places. I looked at a place right down the block from us – it was TINY – but they had about 10 students – range in age from 3 to 6. The girls would be in the same classroom, with one Chinese teacher and a foreign (English) teacher a few hours a day. They did outings and field trips and provided lunch. It was a decent place, not the cleanest, but it looked promising. The cost was about ¼ of what we currently pay for Ashley’s school! Yesterday, I looked at another place, near us, called Princeton school. I really like it. It’s colorful, full of books and games and toys, age range is 2 to 6, low student to teacher ratio (both girls classes have 4 students enrolled for fall), Chinese teacher and English teacher, gym room with foam padding, safety concerns, great bathroom with little toilets for the kids, cameras in all the rooms so you can watch the kids from downstairs without disturbing the classrooms and so much more. The tuition is about 1/3 of what we currently pay, which means we can have both girls go for less than what we were paying just for Ashley! That part I am happy about. We’ve decided to go ahead and enroll them starting next week. Liz just isn’t getting enough social interaction with me at home feeling icky all the time, we think it’s best that she start going to a preschool. She seems very excited about it when we tell her she’s going to go to school with Ashley. I’m sure that won’t last, but we’ll see. Ashley is very excited too! Her first comment was “They have English!”. The kids won’t be getting exposed to as much Chinese, but I think for Liz, that’s a good thing since she’s not even speaking much in English. For Ashley, I have mixed feelings on that. She knows a lot more Chinese than she lets on and I just hope that maybe with a class of English and Chinese, she’ll feel more free to speak both languages, like she’s got a choice and isn’t being forced to speak Chinese. Seems like she’ll speak Chinese out of the blue when we don’t expect it, but if we ask her to speak it, she won’t. They’ll go three days next week (Liz ½ days, Ashley all day) and then Thursday and Friday we are going to a little resort with Anthony’s work for a “team building” time. The girls are I just plan on hanging out at the pool while Anthony does his work stuff. I’m hoping it will be fun, should be nice to get out of the city for a bit and stay in a hotel.
In the beginning of September, we are planning a trip to Green Island, an island off the east coast of Taiwan (http://www.greenislandadventures.com/). Should be fun, yet interesting with 2 kids in tow. We have to take a 6 hour train ride from Taipei to a harbor, then a ferry to the island. Only way to get around the island is by foot or scooter – so we get to try our hand at scooters with kids. It’s a small island and should be fun to explore. They supposedly have excellent snorkeling, I really hope so as I could use some relaxation with the fishes.
We ate last night at a local restaurant – the menu was all in Chinese and Anthony did his best to order something. The tea they served at the place was superb – the milk tea was YUMMY! The food was ok, but I think if we knew what we were ordering, it would have been better. I told Anthony it was nice to go out, to eat local and feel like we actually live here rather than that we are just passing through this place. Sometimes I get that feeling, that we are just biding our time until we leave and not really experiencing all that Taipei has to offer.
I’ve been looking at local preschool/daycare centers for the girls. We got the rate sheet for Ashley’s school for the fall and decided to try and see what else we could find and compare prices (something I didn’t do before). I had just heard how good her school was and all the other expats sent their kids there, so I didn’t do a lot of research on other places. I looked at a place right down the block from us – it was TINY – but they had about 10 students – range in age from 3 to 6. The girls would be in the same classroom, with one Chinese teacher and a foreign (English) teacher a few hours a day. They did outings and field trips and provided lunch. It was a decent place, not the cleanest, but it looked promising. The cost was about ¼ of what we currently pay for Ashley’s school! Yesterday, I looked at another place, near us, called Princeton school. I really like it. It’s colorful, full of books and games and toys, age range is 2 to 6, low student to teacher ratio (both girls classes have 4 students enrolled for fall), Chinese teacher and English teacher, gym room with foam padding, safety concerns, great bathroom with little toilets for the kids, cameras in all the rooms so you can watch the kids from downstairs without disturbing the classrooms and so much more. The tuition is about 1/3 of what we currently pay, which means we can have both girls go for less than what we were paying just for Ashley! That part I am happy about. We’ve decided to go ahead and enroll them starting next week. Liz just isn’t getting enough social interaction with me at home feeling icky all the time, we think it’s best that she start going to a preschool. She seems very excited about it when we tell her she’s going to go to school with Ashley. I’m sure that won’t last, but we’ll see. Ashley is very excited too! Her first comment was “They have English!”. The kids won’t be getting exposed to as much Chinese, but I think for Liz, that’s a good thing since she’s not even speaking much in English. For Ashley, I have mixed feelings on that. She knows a lot more Chinese than she lets on and I just hope that maybe with a class of English and Chinese, she’ll feel more free to speak both languages, like she’s got a choice and isn’t being forced to speak Chinese. Seems like she’ll speak Chinese out of the blue when we don’t expect it, but if we ask her to speak it, she won’t. They’ll go three days next week (Liz ½ days, Ashley all day) and then Thursday and Friday we are going to a little resort with Anthony’s work for a “team building” time. The girls are I just plan on hanging out at the pool while Anthony does his work stuff. I’m hoping it will be fun, should be nice to get out of the city for a bit and stay in a hotel.
In the beginning of September, we are planning a trip to Green Island, an island off the east coast of Taiwan (http://www.greenislandadventures.com/). Should be fun, yet interesting with 2 kids in tow. We have to take a 6 hour train ride from Taipei to a harbor, then a ferry to the island. Only way to get around the island is by foot or scooter – so we get to try our hand at scooters with kids. It’s a small island and should be fun to explore. They supposedly have excellent snorkeling, I really hope so as I could use some relaxation with the fishes.
posted by The Armstrongs at
8/17/2005
