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 ;-)