Merry Christmas, Nanao!

Me and some of the other Yilan city folk trained it down to the rural aboriginal township of Nan'ao (where 3 other Fulbrighters live) on Christmas morning to celebrate the holiday and a double birthday!

At a tiny elementary school nestled in the mountains, we partied it up with BBQ, sweet breads, cookie dough truffles, mulled wine, as well as homemade rice whiskey and raw boar meat - both local aboriginal specialties.  

Here are some pics I stole from my friend Jenny's blog (again).

Party spot!

Chillin in the pavillion

Mmm BBQ!

I assumed that after camp ended this summer, I would never do archery again... WRONG!  We played with the school's traditional archery equipment and shot at a drawing of a boar mounted on plywood.  I hit that sucker in leg.  Not dead, but at least crippled.  It's comforting to know my chances of surviving in the wild / a zombie apocalypse just went up a little.

A few of us stuck around late into the night (9pm) singing KTV and drinking shooters of Taiwan Beer.  We were invited back for beach ATV'ing and all future BBQs.

Life's really different down in Nan'ao.  It's an incredibly beautiful, incredibly rural area surrounded by mountains and the ocean.  Drinking is a big part of the culture and many people speak the native aboriginal languages outside of school.  While I don't know if I, personally, would be happy living in such a secluded area, I definitely plan to make many more visits to Nan'ao in the coming months!

Merry Christmas from me and some English Village kids!

Christmas Gaiety

It's Christmas (well, technically Christmas eve) at Gu Ting today!

Since we're not having a Christmas performance this year, Stacia and I threw Christmas parties with our two English classes!  In her 6th grade homeroom class (English is usually taught by a different teacher, but not in this case), we had a gift exchange party!  I traded a Spongebob candy-cane and Christmas tree ornament for a Spongebob plush toy.  Spongebob's translated Chinese name, by the way, is "Sponge Baby."

I've received a ridiculous amount of AMAZING cards from students (most of whom I don't even teach!),

 along with five slices of pizza (two seafood, three Hawaiian), 5 packs of Yilan specialty cookies, a crystal tree, delicious chocolates, a pencil case, and a very special pair of earrings...

A Milky Christmas Story

The featured star of the Christmas video I made for my parents, a boy I accidentally renamed Milk, loves me.  He not only confessed his love to me several times, but dropped down on his knees yelling "THERE'S STILL HOPE!" when I told him I wasn't married.  He drew me an awesome Halloween picture, then preceded to throw it at me and run away screaming "MIIIIIIILK-UH!"  Ahh, to be young again.

Milk's English is not that great but he is one of the funniest and most creative kids I have ever met.  Usually he just speaks English-sounding gibberish at me, with the occasional "MILK-UH!" thrown in for good measure.

For Christmas, he presented me with a very delicately wrapped package in front of the whole class.  Inside was not only a very beautiful pair of earrings but also the best Christmas card I have ever received.

I'm not sure where he learned the word "gaiety," which makes me like this even more.  I think I'm going to get it framed.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!

One of my 6th grade classes helped me make this Christmas video for my parents!

Merry (early) Christmas!

Finally!

Yilan is an area known for its fantastic hiking and gorgeous natural beauty.

Dante and I have been vowing to go since August.

Today was finally the day!

Well-rested and full after a pre-Christmas dinner party at my house, we headed out bright and semi-early to explore the Caoling Historic Trail that runs from the north of Yilan county to Taipei.

 
(dinner party photos courtesy ETA Jenny's awesome blog)



The hike starts at a temple behind Dante's school.  After hiking for about 3 hours, we reached the tallest point in the Northeast Region, with 360 degree views of the ocean, mountains, and surrounding counties.  The weather was 70 degrees and breezy, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

Here are some pics, more are posted on Picasa.

We tried to do as the Taiwanese do, and pose for pictures at every possible location.

We finally reached the top!

Mountains to the west

Fulong Beach to the north

Dali and Daxi to the south, Turtle Island to the east

Poker Face

Today at English Village, Teacher Jenny and my 6th graders had been talking all morning about how excited they were to get in the EV Dance Studio and dance to Poker Face by Lady Gaga.

We wrongly assumed that they had just wanted to let loose to a little Gaga... but then, this magic happened (keep in mind that these are 6th grade boys doing this of their own free will):











Thanks a billion to Jenny for being genius and well-prepared enough to digitally capture these wonderful, wonderful memories.

KTV

My friend Vivian, who has worked at the Fulbright Taiwan office in Taipei for a few years now, recently introduced me to Liz Williams, a past Fulbrighter who had returned to Taiwan for a few months.  Before actually meeting Liz, I'd seen videos of her singing on TV as one of the stars of Super Idol (the Taiwanese version of American Idol).  The show is just as glam and dramatic as the American version and the singers are just as talented.

Long story short, a few of us Yilaners ended up going VIP Karaoke-ing (known in Taiwan / China as KTV) in Taipei with Liz and her fellow Super Idol cast-mates.  

Seeing as my usual Karaoke haunts in the states are Pudgy's and Sellwood's own Penguin Pub, VIP KTV is pretty much my life-long dream come true.  VIP rooms are private; stuffed with comfy couches, state-of-the-art KTV technology, a big flat-screen TV, personal waitresses, a bar, and a clean bathroom.

Hanging out with people as incredibly talented at singing as the Super Idol cast-members are, was pretty freaking awesome, to put it lightly.  Imagine your own, private American Idol screening and you've pretty much got the idea.

Check out some of the talent:

Liz on Super Idol

This guy was there, too and was SUPER hilarious... but I forget his name!

This guy, Eric was also there!

Pics stolen from Vivian:

Also available were some of the great hits of American pop music by artists like Aqua (remember them? They sang "Barbie Girl," the bane of everyone's existence), Dido, No Doubt, Blink 182, the Backstreet Boys and of course Lady Gaga.

Carolyn, Erin and Steven hold their own with the Idol crew

Bon Hiver

1. Winter
2. Second grade
3. Holidays

1.

Winter has arrived in Yilan.

Every single adult I spoke with yesterday informed me that, "Tomorrow the weather will change."  I found myself constantly reassuring others that yes, I do own a sweater and yes, it also gets cold in America.

That was yesterday.  Today is definitely colder than yesterday (+1 for the weather bureau) and winter jackets have made their grand seasonal entrance.

And I should mention that by "winter," I mean that the temperature has fallen to a dangerous low of ... ... ... 61 degrees.

While I'm a little disappointed in myself for abandoning the Pacific Northwest tradition of donning shorts as soon as the thermometer hits 60, even I have to admit that it feels really freaking cold out.

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2.

Today, I helped the 2nd graders make Christmas trees using hand cut-outs (think: green Thanksgiving hand turkey dog-pile that sort of resembles a tree).  It was pretty awesome and involved a lot of messy, messy glue.

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3.

Lately, Stacia and I have been discussing the differences between the American and Taiwanese education systems which has been incredibly interesting as the Taiwanese system is modeled after the American system, but is very different.  

A more detailed blog entry for this topic is in the works, but one noticeably major difference is the holiday schedule -- also known as Taiwan's lack of any vacation-warranting holidays that fall before February.  That's right: the semester goes straight from August 31 until January 20.  No Thanksgiving.  No Veteran's Day.  No Columbus Day.  No Christmas.  No New Year's.  No in-service days.  Imagine it.