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.
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.
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