Dragon Boated

As promised, here's the post-race Dragon Boat update!

Post-race victory photo

First of all, it's H-O-T today, 90 with high humidity, and it's beginning to feel like summer again. We arrived scooter-gang style at Dong Shan River park around noonish and were given chicken lunch boxes, another summertime favorite (not).

Since we weren't allowed to practice at all, we watched the other teams row for a bit before it was our turn to hit the water.  Dragon boat rowing is a big deal in Taiwan and most teams practice daily for months ahead of the big competition... but not us!

Professionals

Also professionals...

The boats seat 18 rowers (2 rows of 9) plus a steerer at the back and drummer and flag-grabber at the front.  A few weeks ago, I volunteered to be the flag-grabber under the false assumption that "flag person" meant I wouldn't have to be in the boat and instead would be doing something similar to waving a flag from the shore... I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Flag person" (aka flag-grabber) actually climbs up on the front of the boat and leans off in order to grab the flag for their team.  This is just as difficult and bizarre as it sounds:

Hang 10!

I wasn't too sure how to actually get my body onto the dragon's face, so I just kind of dragged myself up there as far as I could and leeeaned!  It turns out the good flag-grabbers will hop onto the dragon's head with their knees and then lower their bodies down parallel to the water.  Now I know for next time!

The best part about being flag-grabber is that you don't have to do too much until the very end of the race except cheer your team on and, if you're me, take videos of them!  My video uploader software isn't working at the moment, but I'll get them up ASAP.

Action shot!

My team ended up getting last in our heat, but only by a few seconds -- which isn't too bad considering it was all of our first time even setting foot in a dragon boat!

Now it's time to eat shaved ice and cool off.  Tomorrow is my big singing performance, wish me 加油！

The beginning of the end

I have only 10 days left in Taiwan -- I honestly can't believe this year's gone by so quickly!  While I am definitely sad to have to say goodbye to this beautiful country with its lovely people and delicious food, I'm eager to get back stateside and into my very own classroom!!

This is how I imagine next year. 

I'm glad to say that this year has solidified my love of teaching.  Although I've become a skeptic of the organization I'll soon be working for, Teach for America (TFA),  I do whole-heartedly support their mission of eliminating educational inequality in America.  However, the topic of TFA is one for another day (or another blog -- see the end of post for deets!) and I'll be sticking to Fulbright business for now.

I've been busy lately trying to tie up lose ends before departing to the good ol' USA.

Thanks to the hard work and creative genius of fellow ETA's Andrew, Jill and Glen, we were able to pull together the best surprise roast Taiwan's ever seen.  We got to spend Friday afternoon in the company of all 16 ETA's who were literally crying with laughter at how flippin' funny the four of us are how well we've gotten to know each other over the past 11 months.  Jokes included fake middle names, superlatives, and celebrity personae.

In case you're curious, I was crowned something similar to "Most likely to learn 7 languages 'just for the hell of it' while teaching full-time and maintaining a perfect South Beach tan" and my celebrity personae were a Jersey Shore groupie and Audrey Hepburn (talk about flattery!  I hope it's because I always look fresh.  For a definition of "looking fresh" watch this clip at 1:20).

Afterward, we had the final Friday family dinner at my apartment with oh-so-delicious salad, soup, and pasta prepared by none other than Eric, Brittni and my roomie Harry.

Tomorrow, we're all rowing in the Dragon Boat festival which is going to be hilarious because the government won't let us practice before the actual race.  I'll post an update after I've recovered from the post-embarrassment shock.

And so begins the packing and cleaning...