up, up, and up we went

these past weeks i have had the awesome opportunity to venture around some of the island with my parents. i got excited counting down the days till they came and had many co-workers jealous of me. i had so much fun traveling with them and loved seeing them again. on one trip we drove up into the mountains until we couldn't drive any higher.

wunwu temple

this is the ginormous temple at sun moon lake.

fun in taichung

douliou is a fun place to live but its fun to get out and explore other towns. taichung is only 40 minutes away by train and a nice change of place. they have a variety of stores (with clothes that actually fit) and a nice selection of restaurants.

long time, no post

to my awesome post followers, i apologize for the huge delay in posts, but that will change. at least for a while.

unexpected views

while traveling around taiwan i get to see many things. i often come accross some of the most beautiful views. i feel like they should be on a postcard.

sun moon lake

these are some of the beautiful around sun moon lake.

biking to sun moon lake

i meet some really nice taiwanese bikers over the last month and we kept saying that we would go on a ride together. i was thinking a small ride starting from douliou lasting a few hours. but because of a communication error we ended leaving from shuelli and bike up and up and up to sun moon lake. i didn't make it all the way up, but my friend was kind enough to drive me to the top so i could see the lake.

the place to be

the best place for foreigners to hang out is roxy's.  this is one of the two bars in douliou that caters to foreigners.  it is an awesome hang out, much like cheers.  i can walk in and everyone knows your name.  they host trips to other towns, hash runs, and weekly soccer games.  many nights you can be drinking along side an american, canadian, swiss, french, south african, taiwanese, and english bloke.  it's awesome.

the taiwanese love to dance

in taiwan children are trained from a young age to perform.  every event/holiday becomes a reason to dance.  my students, although very young, had a good time showing off on stage.  the older students had completely choreographed routines to thriller and the like.

staff enjoying halloween

the victoria english teachers had a good time dressing up.  maybe just a little too much fun.

halloween in the grade 1a

victoria at dusk

after the craziness of the day is over, victoria academy can look beautiful and calm.

Hallomas

the chinese have an interesting way of celebrating western holidays.  they tend to celebrate it a little because its western and they want to be as western as possible.  they also can confuse them and parents have referred to it before as "hallomas."

A real first grade teacher

here it is.  here is my classroom with all the arts-fartsy crafts required when you teach the gremlins they call grade 1.

chinese fingers

anytime you pull out a camera your picture will have "chinese fingers".  that is what the foreigners call it though it may not be PC.  it can be a picture of a 1st grader, 8th grader, or staff.

my boys

i have many pictures of my first graders, but here is a picture of my older students.  

honorable judge carolyn

i don't know how i got into this but i ended up being called an honorable judge.  someone said "do you want to make some extra money?" and i raised my hand.  i was hired on to be the "native English speaker" judge for the melody national English speech contest.  i enjoyed the experience watching 7-10 year olds do their best to present the English language.

biking into the mountains

in just an hour i can bike up into the mountains, which is a whole different world.  the plants, animals, and people change as you gain elevation.  

meet the neighbors

how can we meet the neighbors?  stand outside and wait for the garbage truck.  the garbage truck comes everyday, except sunday, and you stand outside and throw your garbage in.  so, as you are waiting you can strike up conversation with your neighbors.  funny, eh?

play time and work time

first graders have plenty of energy and working never lasts very long.  their attention span for one activity is about 15 min, then we move to another activity, then we play.  their parents want them fluent in english, but we need to remember that they're just kids.

I'm legal now!

it took patience, time, and money, but i'm finally legal.  i now have all the documents necessary to teach in taiwan.  i have my ARC (alien residence card), my work permit, and even a bank account.  this is a stress reliever for me and for the school.

my students

here they are! super-crazy and wild but good.