green eyes???!!!!!

I've had a really busy past few days full of birthday celebration planning (and celebrating), beaches, cold springs, Taipei adventures, SCHOOL, scootering, and typhoons!

On Friday, my Taiwanese friend Jodi took a few of us down south to SuAo township to visit the famous cold springs -- one of only two cold springs in the world!  On the way, we stopped at a beach and drank coconut drink in the sunshine.  Unless you get it freshly squeezed from a street vendor, juice is impossible to find in Taiwan.  Everything is called "____ drink," which has resulted in the constant quoting of Dave Chapelle.

I BOUGHT MY SCOOTER TODAY!  While it was pretty expensive, it's only a year old and is really cute and popular.  Looking cute is important because a cute scooter will have a better resale value at the end of the year if it looks cool, like mine does.  I'm in love.

I've been getting lots of good use out of my Columbia rain clothes, as it's been pouring for the past two days.  Taiwan's surrounded by THREE typhoons right now, building everyone's hopes up for a "typhoon day" off from school.  Scootering in the rain has been an adventure, thankfully I invested in a super high-quality helmet a few days ago.

As for work, my school has been AWESOME so far!  Today, I was introduced to the whole school at assembly and presented with a beautiful bouquet of red roses as a welcoming gift.  The kids are so fun, I've taught all four of my sixth grade classes and love all of them - even the bad class.  Working with my new co-teacher has been interesting, we planned our lesson a whole 10 minutes before class started today.  Luckily she's been teaching English for about 8 years and we have really similar teaching styles, so we work well together in the classroom.

I had a genuine teaching moment in one of my classes today, explaining that not everyone in America is white although we are all Americans.  People are generally puzzled by my mixed ethnicity, commenting on my nose and green eyes.  Yesterday, one little boy chased me down the hall yelling "GREEN EYES??!!! GREEN EYES??!!!!!" before running away in terror.  I took his fear as a compliment.

school!

1 and 1/2 days of school down, many more to go.  Lovin' it, lovin' the staff and lovin' my 6th graders.

GuTing's English-language webpage:   http://www.gtes.ilc.edu.tw/english/index_e.html

Three typhoons currently surrounding Taiwan = rain rain rain wiiiind rain rain!

Buying my scooter today!  Photos and school stories to follow after this first-week craziness dies down.

Orientated

After a fun-filled morning at English Village, an afternoon packed with presentations, and an incredible 10-course meal, our month-long orientation has finally come to an end.

Tomorrow, after spending at least 8 hours a day together for the past 3.5 weeks, us Yilan ETAs will be going our separate ways and starting our working lives.  While it's hard to imagine life in Yilan without the constant companionship of orientation, I don't think I've ever felt so thoroughly well-prepared for anything as I do now.  We're all really grateful, the Fulbright Foundation has really done an amazing job of introducing us to all things Taiwan.

Co-teacher Harry Potter and our awesome group of kids at English Village

Soulmates?

First course - sashimi platter

Courses #5, 6, 7, and 8

Parker and Sherry finish the meal with a shooter of drinking vinegar for health

LICENSED

Despite being sick all day  from Steven's birthday all-you-can-eat hotpot buffet adventure last night, I prevailed to (barely) PASS MY SCOOTER TEST!!  I was one of six people to pass both the written and driving part of the licensing exam and I am now on the search for the perfect scooter / helmet combo.

We passed!!! 

Waiting patiently at the DMV

This baby cried when I tried to be its friend :'-(

Dad, jealous much that I'm playing with an iPad?

Stacia Fierce and I doing our teaching demo

Yilan

Scooter

I will be taking my scooter license test on Tuesday, and am deep in the process of studying for the written exam portion.  Driving is all about morals.

Here are some sample questions:

Traffic rules and an orderly traffic are a requirement for drivers. It has nothing to do with driving morals. FALSE

The car behind me is overtaking because he wants to avoid dusts. I also hate dusts. Therefore, I have to overtake him after he overtakes me.  FALSE

Yielding and forgiveness are the best way to demonstrate driving morals. TRUE

Kindness, manner, self-control, and responsibility are the minimum requirements for motorcycle drivers. TRUE

To show off driving skills, drivers may hold the steering wheel with one hand and hold a cigarette with the other hand. FALSE

Those who are mentally retarded, blind, or epilepsy are not eligible to take motorcycle driver’s license test. TRUE

Ghost month!

It is officially Ghost Month here in Taiwan!   During Ghost Month, ancestral ghosts come back to earth to haunt the living.  People are advised to stay home and to avoid going out at night and going near large bodies of water, as the ghosts especially like to screw with us mortals during these times.  This means that the beaches, pools, and nightclubs have been less crowded than usual, which is nice if you're not afraid of ancestral ghost hauntings.  People also sacrifice food to the hungry ghosts and burn paper money, so lately the streets around my apartment have been lined with tables full of food, incense, and street-side barrels of burning (fake) cash.  I don't have any photos yet, but I'll try and get some this week.

I just found out on Friday that I will be moving out of my apartment building and across the road to another building in the same complex for the year!  I'll be living with my two really really good friends Harry and Steven in a nice apartment on the 2nd floor, whoohoo!  These past three weeks of Taiwan summer have been incredibly wonderful, but I'm ready to get to work and excited to finally meet my students.  My Taiwanese friend Jack took me to buy a guitar the other day, which I will use to serenade my students with acoustic renditions of Lady Gaga, to help them learn English and American culture, of course.

Earlier, I was working on this post when I was suddenly interrupted to participate in the ultimate Taiwanese community event: throwing household garbage into the back of the trash truck.  The trash system in Taiwan is actually super interesting, ALL garbage has to be sorted into various categories of waste and recycling (ex: paper recycling, glass, compost, non-recyclable plastic trash, old clothes, old electronics, batteries... the list goes on) which are picked up on different days of the week by big yellow trash trucks that play just slightly off-key renditions of Mozart's Requiem, audible from 25 stories up.  Even restaurants sort their trash, McDonald's is actually known for their excellent sorting organization.  If you don't sort your trash correctly, the big yellow trash truck drivers will refuse to accept your trash, which is why you have to personally throw it in the truck rather than leave it on the curb.  

While it's cool to see such an effective waste disposal system in place, Taiwan has lots of neat little things that make it an easy place to live.  For example, you can use your Taipei MRT (subway) card like a debit card at any 7-11 or bus station, as well as on any MRT in the country.  Public schools seem to be really well-funded, also.  Interestingly, the government provides each school with a stipend to promote certain clubs and extra-curricular activities, such as music, in-line skating (which is HUGE here), diabolo (Chinese yo-yo), calligraphy, basketball, etc.  So each elementary school in Yilan has one or two activities that it's known for, along with its regular clubs and e.c. classes.  

I went into Taipei again this weekend for American-style dinner with a few friends before heading to a posh bar for another friend's birthday celebration.  To get to Taipei from Yilan, you spend about 45 minutes travelling through tunnels before emerging right under Taipei 101.  Imagine: you're surrounded by rural Yilan's rice paddies before entering the tunnel, and 45 minutes and no scenery later, you're standing below the 2nd tallest building in the world in one of the wealthiest cities in Asia.  It literally feels like you travel through time.  Everything moves faster in Taipei, everyone is dressed to impress, and the clubs around 101 are always packed - even during Ghost month.  While I love the city, it is definitely nice to be able to take that last 12:30am bus back to Yilan.

After getting back last night and finally falling asleep, I was woken up by an earthquake at 2:45am!  Once I finally realized what was going on, all I could think to myself was, "I'm glad I turned off the gas this morning!" because Kelly has constantly been reminding us to turn the gas (for the stove and shower, located in a tank on the balcony) off specifically in case of an earthquake.  It wasn't a bad earthquake, but it was definitely enough to get the building swaying for a few minutes.

Finally, it's important for you to know that I lost an epic battle with a huge kitchen cockroach on Friday night after coming home from a bar in Yilan.  I went to grab some water from the fridge and there it was, settled on the handle in the 1-inch gap between fridge and freezer.  I quickly called for backup, who then attempted to whip the cockroach off the door with a dirty floor rag.  After several tries and me running around the apartment in search of a suitable pair of roach-squishing shoes, the cockroach fell to the ground where its fate met the bottom of my house slipper with a disconcerting crunch.  BUT, when I lifted up my slipper to examine its guts, it somehow escaped to mock me from the handle of the kitchen cabinet!  That's when I gave up.  Luckily, the stupid bug ate roach poison and was found dead on the kitchen floor the next morning next to the roach trap.  Cockroach: 0  My dignity: also 0.

Here are some pics of good people and good places and other stuff I've seen

Cool future roommate 1 of 2

Cool current roommate + cool future roommate 2 of 2, battling it out on the train over the best Asian photo pose

Supposedly the view is better from up there

Andrew as Patrick Star.  Spongebob is also HUGE here -- a popular night market treat is the Spongebob shaped waffle.

Parker and Principal Wellington dance it up

Yilan, again.  Turtle Island in the way back, Luna Plaza in the middle

Luodong Night Market

I would seriously not survive Taiwan without these two, Jack and Kelly!

Assigned!

I got my school assignment this morning...

I will be working at GuTing Elementary School in the farm country outside of Yilan City!  It's a mid-sized school that's 20 minutes outside the city, which means that owning a scooter will be essential.  I will be working with two Taiwanese co-teachers, Stacia (pronounced "Stasha," who Steven and I affectionately refer to only as "Stacia Fierce") and part-time teacher, Jackie, whom I have yet to meet.  I'll primarily be teaching 6th grade English, which will be nice because I'll only have to do lesson plans for one grade level each week.  Another plus: while some teachers have an "English Only" in-class policy for their ETAs, Stacia encouraged me to speak as much Chinese as needed in order to build better relationships with my students.

My school's front gate!

Today is also Chinese Valentine's Day, which none of us knew until Stacia Fierce showed up at orientation with a single rose for every girl.  :-)

Smooth Caramel Pudding with Inflexible Spirit

Since I haven't updated in a while, this blog entry's going to be a long one... ready? GO!

The focus of orientation has shifted to teaching us Fulbrighters how to be teachers.  We spent the majority of last week in the teacher's center basement learning about phonics, reading strategies, and Taiwanese culture.  We also had two full days of school tours last week, both of which were exhausting but fun.  We submitted our final choices for schools today and we'll find out tomorrow where we will all be working for the year!  I'm excited to finally get started teaching!

On Wednesday, we toured the aboriginal schools in NanAo, in southern Yilan county.  From what I understood, the aboriginal schools receive money to fund aboriginal education and culture classes because of the area's high concentration of Hakka and Taiya villagers.  We were informed that if we move to NanAo, the local villagers will invite us to participate in their traditional customs: hunting boar and daily heavy drinking.  Although this  lifestyle appeals to the meat and beer lover inside of me, I'm not sure I could handle living in the real Yilan countryside so I opted for schools in Yilan city.

As Wednesday was also my dear friend Harry's 23rd birthday, I helped our program coordinator Kelly organize a midday birthday celebration that ended up taking place at the NanAo train station.  We had a really yummy chocolate cake with lots of fresh fruit that Kelly picked up in NanAo and snuck onto the train platform.  Later that night, all 16 of us went out to dinner at a Shabu Shabu restaurant in Yilan and then headed back to one of the Yilan apartments to hang out and drink homemade 10 year old plum wine (aka Taiwanese moonshine) that tasted like soy sauce.

On Thursday, we attended dinner with some very important people from the Yilan County Government and the Ministry of Education.  I was lucky enough to get a seat at the VIP table with the Education Bureau Director and both the past and present directors of Fulbright Taiwan.  Our dinner was a 10-course traditional Taiwanese meal, which included some of the best sashimi I've ever had as well as fried chicken fat dipped in straight MSG for dessert.  All in all, INCREDIBLE.

A few friends and I went into the city (Taipei) yesterday to hang out with our friend Murphy and her little sister at White Sand Beach, near the DanShui area of Taipei.  The beach was a nice change from the teacher's center basement, the water was warm and the weather was beautiful.  The only downside was that the lifeguards were really strict - the drove around on jetskis and yelled at everyone that swam out (by swam I mean waded, the water wasn't more than waist deep) further than the little flags they had posted.  I didn't bring my camera, but I will steal all my friends' pictures once they are posted.

My latest obsession is that of TOFU PUDDING which might sound gross but is actually delicious.  I am friends with the most prominent tofu pudding vendors in both Yilan and Luodong.  Tofu pudding is super creamy tofu mixed with tea, ice, and various other things such as tapioca balls, red bean, and peanuts.

I am really loving getting to know the wonderful group of young people with whom I'll be spending the next 11 months.  They are awesome.  Seriously.

Finally, here are some photos from our visit to NanAo:

Harry's lovely train station birthday party

On the way to NanAo

We stopped at this beautiful stream for a bit to chill.

NanAo Elementary School

And some more random pics:

Luodong from the 25th floor

Yilan City from the roof of my apartment building.  While taking this photo, I managed to lock myself out on the roof without my cell phone (STOOPID) which resulted in me panicking for 15 minutes and accidentally gashing my leg open on a piece of metal.  I was eventually saved by a building security guard who was oblivious to my bloody state of distress and told me how nice it was that I was taking photos to share with America.

Blog title inspiration

1 Week Down

I have definitely fallen deeply, madly, head-over-heels in love with Taiwan -- and I've only been here a week!

Our month-long Yilan orientation started on Monday at the local teachers' center.  Over the course of the week, we were walked through the important details of living in Taiwan, which include taking care of household trash and recycling (more complicated than it sounds, lots of sorting involved) and what to do if we are involved in a scooter accident (take pictures, call Kelly).  We also practiced scootering on Kelly and Principal Wellington's  125cc scooters in preparation for our licensing tests at the end of the month.

On Wednesday, we toured our first round of elementary schools in the Yilan area.  At the end of next week, after two more full days of campus tours, we'll have to submit our final choices for our year-long placement. Despite being in the same general area, the schools were all very different.  One school, located in the northern part of the county, was a charter school that emphasized independent student learning based, from what I understood, on the multiple intelligences theory of differentiated instruction focusing on the individual needs and learning styles of each student.  It was very interesting and inspiring, to say the least.

On Friday, Fulbright took us to the Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival at a local water park.  I had a ton of fun despite being terrified by the so-called family water attractions.  The first attraction my three friends and I decided to check out was the water maze, which looked like a big black inflatable bubble from the outside.  Once you walked inside, you were ushered onto a pretty much pitch-black walkway and blasted from all angles with surprisingly powerful jets of water.  As far as I could tell, the goal was to make it out alive.  It was the most disorienting thing I've ever experienced.  There was also a giant water bed covered by more big spraying jets of water and the goal was to not get squished by people falling over on top of you.  The way you "play" the water bed game is that, once you fall, you try and drag people down by grabbing at their ankles.  Also terrifying, yet incredibly fun.

The other Yilan Fulbrighters and I are getting along swimmingly.  For being such an incredibly driven group of individuals, everyone is wonderfully easy-going and friendly.  We bonded pretty quickly over the shared experience of being the only foreigners in Yilan.  Last night, a few friends and I bussed into Taipei to check out the nightlife, which was INCREDIBLE.  Tonight, us Yilaners are all taking the train down to Luodong to eat Sunday family dinner at one of the Luodong apartments and then going as a group to the Monkey Festival and awesome night market.  Luodong night market has the best tofu pudding!

Mango Ice.  Definitely the best dessert I've ever had ever. Ever.

Chillin' on the roof of the Luodong apartments.  Tallest building in the city!

My team won the Luodong night market scavenger hunt.  Our prize?  Snacks!

One of the schools we toured was literally ON the beach.

CHILDREN

I've had an exciting past few days that I'll write about later, but for now...

I ended up babysitting the landlord's kids today as he and two repairmen installed my new air-conditioner.  We played with my camera.  Here's a preview of the cuteness to come:

My new BFFs, Benjamin (6) and Theresa (11)

We also made videos.  TOO CUTE

Taiwan, Touch Your Heart

Sooo... I made it to Taiwan!  After spending an exhausting day in Taipei exploring and doing official orientation stuff and only sleeping 3ish hours out of 50, we finally went to bed in a really cool hotel called "Just Sleep" and headed out for Yilan this morning via chartered bus.  Run-on sentence much?

While some of the kids live in neighboring Luodong township, I live in an apartment with two other super cool ladies in Yilan city.  We live on the 7th floor which gives us a pretty nice view of the city, surrounding mountains and even Turtle Island.  Yilan is a really beautiful area with lush mountains and rice paddies.

Here are some things that I've learned so far:

1. Taiwan is HOT and HUMID.  so hot. so humid. so sweaty.

2.  It reminds me a lot of living in Thailand, which is nice because not everything seems entirely foreign.  The buildings are similar in their construction and there's a similar mass amount of 7-11 shops, as well as scooters.

3.  Taiwanese people don't accentuate their tones as much when speaking Chinese, which means I now kick butt at speaking Chinese.  Hellz yeah.

4.  Lysol sets off carbon monoxide detectors (confirmed by Google).  Or else we have a carbon monoxide leak, one of the two.  We're pretty sure the first.


My apartment has 3 bedrooms with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, a nice but very small kitchen, laundry balcony, 2 other balconies, 2 bathrooms, and a big living room.  It came with a bunch of stuff that had been left behind by past years' Fulbrighters, including a little grill for the balcony so we can BBQ!  It really is pretty nice and everyone has been so helpful in getting us set up and settled in, even the helpful cashier at 7-11.  Also, the bottom floor of my apartment complex houses not only a BABY CENTER but also a 7-11 and a musical instruments store!  Pretty cool.

I've never dealt with cockroaches before, but our apartment had two today.  We squished them and sprayed Raid all over the bathroom and along all the bedroom doorways.

I'm excited to get out and explore the area around our apartment, find some good places to eat and make some neighborhood friends!  Both Yilan and Luodong are supposed to have really awesome night markets, so that'll be exciting to check out.

Tomorrow we have a formal photo op with the local media (my Asia dream come true!) and we start our summer training on how to be teachers!

Can't wait to get me one of these babies

Cantonese-style dindin

Taipei

Yilan is very green

View from balcony #2