A short blog for a short story

I forgot something in the last blog!

Last weekend James and I were at the bus stop in Hsinchu.  A guy at the bus stop asked James if he had run the Georgia Marathon since he was wearing the race T-shirt.  It turned out the guy is from Atlanta, graduated from GA Tech one year before me, and is working at an Industrial Park in Hsinchu for a one year contract. So, for the count, 1 for GA Tech (or the entire southeast) and 3 for Grand Valley State University (and about 30 for Michigan).  

Also, a friend who has been teaching in South Korea for a few months posted this chart on culture shock on Facebook.  I really hope this is wrong for James and I! I certainly don't feel like I am in a honeymoon phase after two months but I may be in denial. I think we hit the crisis phase on Day 4 so maybe we are way ahead of schedule :) 

A long and long overdue blog

The days are flying by much faster now than before!  They are flying by so fast that I have no had the time to write a blog posting.  We have officially been in Taiwan for two months now.  I must say that it feels like we have been here MUCH longer!

The day after the typhoon we met up with some new friends to go hiking.  This is the first time since we have been in Taiwan that we actually made social plans!  One of the guys loves hiking and knows all the good hiking spots, so we headed out towards the small town of Neiwan on our scooters with our "tour guide" and three more of his friends.  Once we reached Neiwan and started driving up the mountain, we learned that the typhoon had caused a mass amount of damage, including landslides.  The locals were cleaning up the roads at top speeds.  We gradually made our way up the mountain just to find out the road to the hiking trail was closed.  We did have some great views though!  On our way back down the mountain, we stopped for a quick dip in cold springs.  It was a relief after driving around on such a hot day!  It's pretty awesome that we can just go take a dip in the endless amounts of cold and hot springs in the mountains.

Some nasty roads due to typhoon damage

A house we made a quick stop to check out.  One of the ladies with us has a friend that rent this house for $1,000 USD/year. 

Some good views

Enjoying the cold springs

As far as teaching goes, it is going.  I have my highs and lows with teaching.  Overall, I enjoy it. However, some days it seems like all the students have too much energy or not enough energy.  On the days they are full of energy, I feel like I am leading a 3-ring circus.  The classroom is just nuts!  On the days they have no energy, I feel like I am torturing them by making them play games and speak English.  

The other teacher returned from vacation, so no more junior high students!!!!!  But on the flip side, I am disappointed he is taking over the "summer camp" class.  I really liked that class!  The young class (Phonics A) is becoming one of my most enjoyable classes.  The students are starting to "get the hang" of school and the classroom scene.  They are all just so cute and ridiculously happy at times.  My other young class is struggling to understand my pronunciations of certain words.  The previous teacher had a strong British accent.  The students are not doing as well on the spelling/phonics quizzes as they were before.  For example, one of the words was "black" and several of the students wrote "block." Hopefully they will get used to my accent soon...

I have now seen two of my students outside of school.  It's very entertaining to me for some reason.  It really seems to freak them out and they don't know what to say :)

James and I are official drop-outs.  We are no longer attending our free Chinese classes at the University :-(   The class was way over our heads from the beginning (I can't believe they called this a Beginner's Class!) and we were not studying the material they gave us.  With our teaching schedule, attending Chinese classes for a mere three hours a week was just too stressful.  Personally, I was showing up at school a little later than I preferred.  I already felt rushed and just confused from attempting to speak Chinese.  We were called out in class several times for not studying.  It was really embarrassing for me :(  I never do that to my students.  In our defense, how were we going to study whenever we pronounce everything wrong?  Plus, what's the point of starting a beginner's Chinese class with family names?  I can say little brother but I still can't count to five or ask how much something costs.  Really?!  Sorry...I needed to vent about it.  They really should have given us some audio to listen to for studying.  The entertaining part about us quitting is that we seriously see the main instructor for the class almost daily.  He is a tall, large man from Israel who has been teaching English/learning Chinese for the past 20 years.  He is exactly who you would picture as a bodyguard or security guard.  He lives near us, eats at the same vegan restaurant as we do everyday for lunch, exercises at the University gym, and teaches English at a school right next to mine. Seriously?!

There seemed to be some confusion for some of the blog readers on who is feeding (literally) their sugar addiction.  That is James, not me.  I must confess that I do have an addiction to the sweet potatoes sold at Family Mart though.  I am not surprised since I have had a sweet potato addiction on and off ever since I ate at least two sweet potatoes a day at the dining hall in college.  I tanned orange that summer.  No lie!

The summer heat and humidity here is close to unbearable.  Of course, it makes it worse that James and I don't wake up and start our run until about 9am with our schedule.  Others have told us we are at the worst part of summer that will last through the end of August.  It will be nice to not be dripping sweat after my walk to school!  All of the students are always sweaty during class, too :)

A random fact - Every grocery store here has a full isle dedicated to ramen noodles.  I have never really eaten ramen until recently.  I must say it is quite delicious mixed with some frozen veggies!  Also the tofu section is about the same size at the meat section.  

Last weekend we felt like it was time to do an overnight trip.  It had been one month since our last overnight adventure.  We decided to go to the small town of Wulai famous for its waterfalls, hot springs, hiking, sticky rice cooked in bamboo sticks, and fried bees.  A couple of our new friends joined us for the journey.  One of the guys is from Paris doing an internship in Taiwan for the summer.  It was nice to chat about all of my great memories of the city from my study abroad trip eight years ago.  

We are finally learning how to "travel light."  We packed for the whole weekend in my camelback bag (notice the small blue backpack I am wearing in all the pictures) and a small black backpack that James is wearing.  Unfortunately we forgot to make me be the camera girl for a while so James is only in one picture, so you can't really see the backpack he is wearing.  Anyways, we were pretty proud of ourselves!

We took a bus from Hsinchu to Taipei (less than $4 for the one hour trip).  Then, the MRT to the most southern stop (about 30 minutes of travel time).  Then, a bus to Wulai (about a 40 minute journey south of Taipei).  We arrived at literally a whole new world!  After a stop at the visitor's center, we were disappointed to find out the hike we wanted to do was closed due to damage from the typhoon.  That typhoon keeps messing up our hiking plans!  Anyways, we made the best of it and started on a journey of Wulai by foot.  We walked for about 2 hours full of scenic views to get to the National Park with a famous waterfall.  It was well worth the journey!  The park not only had a three tiered waterfall but also a hike with pine and cedar trees.  I had no idea Taiwan had cedar trees.  On our journey back to town, we stopped at a cold springs swimming hole to cool off.  Once back in the town, James and I cancelled our hotel reservations.  There were no other hikes for us to do and the hot springs sounded extremely unappealing in this hot weather.  We did get to eat sticky rice cooked in bamboo sticks and mountain vegetables.  One of the vegetables is actually a leaf grown on a tree.  None of us tried fried bees!

Papaya Tree

Walking down the road.  We chose walking over paying for the mini-train. 

Waterfall #1

After the long walk, we arrived at the three-tiered waterfall.  Tier #1

Tier #2

Walking up to Tier #3

Tier #3

View from our hike

Pine trees and cedar trees

An overly friendly butterfly

What kind of spider makes a web like this?!

Enjoying cold springs with the locals

Yuck!  Gross!  That spider is huge!  We were not willing to stick a hand in the picture for perspective.  It is literally the size of your face.  Not kidding.   

Waterfall #5003...we saw a lot of waterfalls...

Sticky rice cooked in bamboo sticks

We headed back to Taipei on the bus thinking we might just go back to Hsinchu.  I had a change of heart and decided we should stay in Taipei for the night.  James agreed.  We went from hotel to hotel looking for a room that was less than $70 USD.  This is difficult to find in Taipei on a Saturday night even if your room has cockroaches.  The city is alive and crowded.  After only a few stops, we found a room at a decent hotel for $60 USD.  For the first time in a while, I enjoyed a hot shower and a cold room.  Those are real luxuries around here!  We have yet to heat our water at home nor do we want to since our apartment always seems so hot.  

The free breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning was a pleasant surprise.  The buffet included green veggies, tofu squares, rice porridge, peanuts, bread and jelly, coffee (James was so happy!), tea, orange juice, fried eggs, spicy pickles, and some other things that I don't know what they are to tell you.  

The breakfast was a good start to our adventurous day!  We rode a bus to Keelung and then another bus to the small town of Jiufen.  Jiufen is on the gorgeous east coast.  We did a short but very steep hike to the top of Keelung mountain for some scenic views.  We walked down the famous crowded street in Jiufen.  They are famous for their sweet potato taro balls.  We tried a free sample and they are not good!  They are so chewy!  Yuck!  Instead of continuing on to the Gold Ecological Park a few bus stops further away, we decided to call it a day.  We will be back to go the the Gold Ecological Park though!  

What buses are for...sleeping!

A typical bus

Keelung's port.  The large ship is a cruise ship to Hong Kong.  Maybe someday?

Beginning of the hike

A large group with flags and drums that had just finished the hike.  I am glad they were not on the hike with us.  It would have been one crowded and noisy path!

Sigh...the lovely east coast

Famous Old Street in Jiufen

Taro balls

I promised James he could get a coffee if we went to the Crocs (type of shoes) store in Taipei not too far from the main station.  First of all, I want to say that I still think Taipei is an awesome city.  The Crocs store was located in this large shopping area with no cars.  The streets were filled with performers and people shopping.  Everyone spoke English at the Crocs store and were very helpful.  My reasoning behind these shoes is that I destroyed the work shoes I brought from home.  I have never had a smelly feet problem until now.  I am just sweating so so so much that everything reeks.  (I hope that was not too much information!) Crocs can be hand-washed because they are all rubber.  So, I found the perfect pair for work.  I once had someone tell me that owning a pair of Crocs is life-changing.  Well, my life is at its limit for changes but I must say these shoes are so comfortable for standing and teaching all day!  I also had one of my students say to me, "Teacha, are those new shoes?!"  It made my day :)

Shopping area in Taipei

View of Taipei 101 from the bus with the mountains in the background

My new Crocs!

We made it back to Hsinchu safe and tired on Sunday night.  It was a great weekend break before another crazy week at work!

Random pictures - 

A sticker on someone's scooter.  James said he looks like this in class sometimes :)

Typhoon damage at the University in Hsinchu

The definition of typhoon is stir-crazy

The never-ending rain in Atlanta this summer has made it to Taiwan....more to come later...

I survived another week of an intense teaching schedule.  I would still say I am enjoying teaching the majority of the time.  The Phonics A class, the little ones who have never been to English school, has been...well...interesting.  I was incredibly nervous going into the class.  In fact, I was more nervous than I was going into my first class three weeks ago.  The children just stare at you so intensely!  There are 16 students in the class which is quite large for English class.  Unfortunately, it means the games have to be fast so everyone gets a turn and the other students don't get bored.  It also means individual students do not get individual help.  A few of these students really really need individual help.  One of the boys, named James (how appropriate!), is younger than the other students.  He could not even hold a pencil to write A, B and C in the second class.  What I am supposed to do about that?!  Anyways, while we were playing "Teacher Says" (like "Simon Says") with a very limited vocabulary of classroom language (such as Look, May I use the bathroom?, Louder, Sit Down, Stand Up, etc), little James was trying to hold my hand.  He is so precious but there's no time for the touchy, feely stuff in the this class!  Overall, I enjoy the class.  It's much more difficult to grasp how to teach than my other classes.  The students get bored soooo fast and the games have to be insanely simple. I have to be ridiculously upbeat.  I feel like I am a cheerleader again leading a pep rally of the ABC's.  I am truly struggling with the saying my phonics correctly.  It's terrible because the students are learning this for the first time from me.  It's hard to say "eh" (for E) over and over again without making mistakes.  In addition, I must teach how to write each letter exactly how the book says.  It's definitely different than the handwriting I have adapted over the past 25 years!  Good thing I don't have to teach cursive, too.  I also have to do everything myself along with the TA.  I normally have a "Little Teacher" for every class who will do everything from take role, to set up games, to clean up games, etc.  It's awesome!  In fact, I don't even have to teach with a Little Teacher!  Just kidding...that is wishful thinking :)  

The rest of my classes went well except that darn junior high school class.  I can't wait for the teacher on vacation to come back and take that class back!!!!!  However, in their defense, teaching past progressive form and imperatives is hard to create a thrilling lesson on for the students...

I also taught two private classes this week to young students.  They have missed a few classes and need to catch up.  These are great.  You don't have to lesson plan for these because you are strictly teaching at an incredibly fast speed.  I am actually being paid for about the same amount of time that I work.  I spend about 10 minutes getting out the book and matching flashcards while thinking of ways to teach the unit, teach for one hour and get paid for 1 hour.  Not too shabby!  In addition, I enjoy working individually with the students.  I struggle with not being able to help the students that need it the most in the classroom individually.  I have always worked with children on a more individual basis in the past.  I like getting to know the children more personally.  I think with time in this environment, learning the individual students more with each class, and advice from other teachers, I can learn how to incorporate this in the classroom.  

So, my Taiwanese manager told me on Wednesday to not to leave school until she gives me celery.  I responded, " I like celery!"  She giggled at me.  It's just like home where everyone gives James and I their extra fruits and veggies, right?  Well, the day was incredibly busy with teaching four classes, TAs talking to me between classes, my manager observing one of my classes, getting paid for June, etc.etc.etc.  As I was rushing out the door at 9:30pm, I realized I had forgotten about the celery.  I asked her about the celery dreaming about what a great addition it would be to our dinner.  She said, I already gave you your salary.  Oops!!!!!  There are a lot of miscommunications that happen at our school like this but luckily everyone just finds them funny.  I work at a great place with awesome people!  

We prepared for the typhoon as we were advised.  James did the grocery shopping.  Our kitchen has never been this full since we arrived in Taiwan!  A typhoon is sort of like the threat of snow in Georgia.  Everyone freaks out and cleans out the grocery store.  

Here is a picture of the busy RT Mart taken by James:

All businesses and schools closed at 6pm on Friday in Hsinchu due to the typhoon.  It was nice to leave the school earlier than normal.  I did not miss teaching my last class and private class that keep me at the school until 9pm on a Friday night.  However, James and I were a bit worried about going stir crazy this weekend...so much for our regular exploration and hiking weekend adventure.  

The typhoon started to rear it's angry head during the night.  You could hear the wind howling through the building and the rain beating against the windows.  Neither of us slept well.  I was amazed that every time I woke up and looked out the window, I would see a few cars go by and at least one person on a scooter.  Are they crazy?!  The typhoon gave me nightmares of seeing all these animals (which I had just taught a lesson on animals on Thursday) drowning in a rough river from the storm.  I also did not know where James was and could not contact him because I did not have a cell phone.  I guess I should get a cell phone soon....

Anyways, the main reason we kept waking up was because our power went out.  It was insanely hot in our apartment.  We woke up in the morning and attempted to open some windows since the typhoon appeared to be calming (I think this was the eye of the typhoon) while we cleaned the apartment.  We had a rude awakening when the typhoon picked up again and water came flowing through the window.  Oops!

Of course we had to get in a workout some way and there was NO way were leaving the building.  We used the seven flights of stairs and some headlamps.  We actually had quite the tough workout.  By the way, the power was out at the Family Mart next door but the place was still opened.  It was funny to see people being dropped off there in taxis!  I guess they were desperate for some food.  After a dark shower and creating a lunch of what would spoil the quickest in the warm fridge, James said a prayer before eating.  It went something like this "Dear God, thank you for all that you have given us.  Please let us not take for granted everything we have.  We especially realize this when something we have is taken away.  Amen."  No joke, about two seconds later the power came on!  James and I laughed for about one minute straight.  The big man is always listening!

We made the best of an afternoon indoors with looking up new games to introduce in our classrooms and lesson planning.  Our place was so nice, cool and well lit with the power back on.  We even have internet again.  Even with the AC on, our windows were still covered in condensation.  Yuck.  We kept dreaming about how nice it would be to spend the afternoon at Big City.  The only problem would be getting there in the typhoon...

Well, the typhoon finally ended Saturday evening.  We enjoyed a quick walk to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner and simply being out of our apartment building!  We saw some damage around our place but nothing too bad.  Another teacher told me on Friday that typhoons are either boring or scary.  I think this was a bit of both!!!!  However, I have to admit is was nice to slow down for a day.  I would not want to have to do it for two days straight though like some of the Georgia ice storms  :)  Plus, we ate the majority of our food that was supposed to last the weekend. When the Rockwells are stuck inside, our favorite thing to do is eat.  We'll see what tomorrow brings...  

Random thought - a few things a woman doesn't need to use during the hot, humid, sticky, sweaty summer in Taiwan: lotion, leave-in conditioner, and eye make-up (or really any make-up for that matter).  She must use a lot more sunscreen and bug spray though!

What is this you ask?  Banana flavored Hello Kitty Taiwanese Beer.  They also had other fruit flavor.  

A very strange bug that was outside of Family Mart after the storm.  Unfortunately the camera focused on the wrong thing :-( 

I want to send a special congratulations to a few special people at home!  Three important couples in our lives had babies all within a week of each other - Mackenzie and Nolan (my cousin and his wife who have the most adorable little 2 year old I talk about all the time), Laura and Clint (a couple from our church small group), and Sara and Aaron (James' childhood friend who lives in Michigan).  I look forward to meeting all the little ones when we come home next!!!!

Also, Happy Birthday to my wonderful Nana!!!!

Making Friends?

It's (so far) been a great week!!!  Rachel posted on Sunday about our fantastic weekend and the good vibes have kept rolling in to the week.  I will pick up from Sunday...

After church on Sunday we came home to eat dinner and email all the different people we had met at church.  One in particular was a guy our age that has been living in Taiwan for 7 years.  He has taught English the entire time, learned and is fluent in Mandarin, and is just finishing up his MBA at one of the local Universities.  But more importantly, he is super athletic and hikes around Taiwan every chance he gets.  We were excited to meet him to say the least.  But, it seems we meet lots of people but none have really fit our typical friendship mold.  It is hard making friends after college!  But anyways, I have since exchanged about 10 emails with this guy and we have plans to go hiking with him and his girlfriend this weekend.  A solid day-hike in the 1500-2000 meter above sea level range.  Looking forward to hanging out with another couple and getting shown some new parts of Taiwan.  As long as the typhoon that is heading our way doesn't ruin the weekend weather, we will have lots of new photos and new things to write about in the blog.

That's Taiwan straight left of the typhoon

As scary as the picture looks it is nothing to be nervous about.  Taiwan gets hit by a few typhoons every season and where we are living is the absolute most protected part of the island (we are in the NW corner).  Just some heavy, heavy rains.  Living on the east coast would be a bit scarier...  And by the way, do you know what the difference in a typhoon and a hurricane is???  Nothing other than geography!  A typhoon is from the Pacific Ocean and a hurricane is from the Atlantic.  Now you know!

Another good thing that has happened is my improvement as a teacher.  This and last week have been very light for me as I am teaching 'summer camp' (again, not the kind of camp you are thinking of) so a few of my classes are on break for these two weeks.  It has allowed me to catch my breath and really focus on how to get better.  I even took the time on Monday to go over to another branch of our school and observe another teacher to see how they structure their class.  It was a teacher I met a few weeks ago and he has been immensely helpful to me.  He calls / emails me every few days to see how I'm doing (remember, I'm the only teacher at my school so have no other people to bounce ideas off, etc) and offer his help in any way he can.  He has provided some materials for my summer camp as well as directed Rachel and I to veggie restaurants and nearby hiking trails.  A good guy for sure.  After observing his lesson we went out for a tea.  We ended up hanging out for like 2 hours and talked about a lot of stuff.  He is my age and we do have a lot in common.  I think we will definitely be hanging out more over time.

Almost forgot - I ran out of gas on my drive home from this school.  I pushed the scooter back home; about a 15 minute 'walk' in a shirt and slacks and 90 degrees w/95% humidity.  I remember my dad saying you are allowed to run out of gas only once.  There is no excuse if it happens a second time.  So, I better keep a closer eye on that fuel gauge cuz that was my once ;-)

This morning (Wednesday) we had another beginner Chinese class.  Whew, it seems to be going waaaaaaaaay too fast for Rachel and I.  All the other students seem to know so much more than Rachel and I and the lessons get pulled in all kinds of different directions due to the other students asking so many questions.  Arrrrrgggghhhhhh!  And it hurts your mouth trying to pronounce all the weird Chinese sounds over and over.  But afterwards we did have lunch with a couple of the other students.  Rob, a guy from Australia, has ate with us twice now after class and is also a vegetarian.  Seems like a cool guy.  The other student we ate with, Malika, moved here from India a few months ago with her husband.  Her husband works at the Science Park (the Silicon Valley of Asia).  They seem super nice and are our age too.

But the Mandarin lessons that we are taking seem a little tough for an actual newbie.  So last week I sent a message out to a Facebook group I am on - Hsinchu Buy, Sell, Trade - asking if anyone had any beginner learning Mandarin books or audio lessons.  I got a few responses and picked up a book from a gentleman on Sunday.  Another person replied saying he had a ton of audio lessons he could burn to disc and get to me.  For free!  He dropped them off at my apartment mailbox last night.  I just took a look at them and have, seriously, like 500 beginner lessons.  The Pimsleur lessons come highly regarded and I just listened to the first one.  There is once again hope for learning Mandarin!  So nice of him to take the time to burn these DVD discs for me, hand deliver them, and not ask for anything in return.  So nice!

It seems like we have made lots of connections this week with lots of good people.  I feel like I am starting to get a grasp on how to teach English to the youngins.  But we will see how tomorrow goes.  It is crazy how one class can make you feel completely awesome or completely the opposite.  So grateful for the last few classes being the former!

One last pic...figured we better stock up before the storm hits ;-)

SUPER Sunday

Today was just so awesome that I feel the need to post before this high goes away!

James and I actually woke up early today.  It was painful, but we did.  We left prepared for a hike on the scooter before 8am.  I know...that sounds pathetic compared to our old lifestyle.  We drove about one hour into the mountains to the Five Fingers trail.  The morning was pleasantly cooler than the recent city temperatures.  The trail was incredible.  It was the most rugged and secluded trail we have hiked in Taiwan.  During the 2.5 hour hike, we probably saw about 20 people.  Although the trail was tough, we saw a variety of people.  We mostly saw families that ranged from 7 year old children to 75 year old adults.  The trail was only about 20% stairs and 80% actual trail.  The trail included five peaks - thumb, index, middle, ring and you guessed it...pinky.  The views were great!  We also learned that a couple of apples combo'ed with a pack of uncooked ramen noodles makes a good hiking snack.

The Five Fingers mountains from a distance

Scenic spot on the drive

James had to be in some of the pictures this time!!!!  Here's the trail. 

The thumb peak

Scenic view

The index finger peak

The naughty middle finger peak

Hiking through a bamboo forest

The ring finger peak...so sweet

The pinky finger had the best view

The pinky finger peak

Random display of dragons and rainbows near the start of the trail

Afterwards, we drove back through the town of Beipu.  We joined the crowd and took a dip in the cold springs.  They were quite refreshing!

James and I picked this more secluded area for our dip.  The waterfall was pretty painful but the locals hung out under it anyways. 

We headed to the famous Old Street of Beipu to find some much needed lunch.  Beipu is known for the Hakka aborignial tribe.  We tried free samples of the popular Hakka tea and dried persimmon.  We followed it up with a traditional Hakka veggie meal of rice noodles (that tasted like Thai food), pickled cucumbers and cabbage.  I was able to use my Chinese writing abilities to write the vegetarian symbol so they knew which meal to serve us!  James was impressed by my skills :)

On the way home, we met with a guy James communicated with through the Facebook  group "Hsinchu Buy/Sell/Trade."  We bought a Beginner's Chinese Textbook.  Another guy from the group is mailing us the matching audio.  We will learn some Chinese no matter what!

We hurried home to defunk and rerag to make it to a 5pm English church service I found online.  We went in with no expectations.  Although our first impression entering the church was a bit awkward, the service was surprisingly great.  There were about 20 people at the church.  We sang some songs.  Then, the preacher spoke about Jacob's struggles for about one hour.  It was very interesting!  Then, we took communion.  During the communion, the preacher gave a detailed description of why we were taking communion.  After the service, we stayed and spoke to people for an hour.  We will be going back to this church!  It seems like such a tight-knit, caring, fun community.  They really seem to know the Scripture and bring a focus to personal prayer.  Way cool.

The answer to the puzzle is: Drink from the mattress spring, eat a date from the calendar, and use a piano key to open the locked door.

Random photo -

James loves to see road construction because they use these fake flagmen!

Have a great week everyone!