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!