Feeling like we are in Atlanta...

The rain seems never-ending as of lately.  We have experienced our third typhoon.  Thankfully, school was not cancelled.  James and I could not handle another full day in our small apartment!  Is this what it has been like all summer in Atlanta?!  On our way home from a wet run this morning, James and I saw the thermometer was 23 degrees Celsius or 74 degrees Fahrenheit.  We were freezing!  In fact, for the first time since we have been here, we turned on our hot water heater in order to have a warm shower.  So, here's a blog dedicated to our recent limited adventures in the rainy weather plus a few extra things from my teacha Rachel life....

I received my first real gift from a students last week!  Not that I cam competing with James or anything.  I would need a lot of gifts to catch up to him :)  My vegan chef student traveled to southern Taiwan last week. She brought me back a bracelet from a temple.  She picked out this one for me specifically because it brings protection.  She is in my class that was cancelled the day I fell down the stairs!  Well, so far so good.  I have been blessed with protection and assurance that one student and her mother like me!

One of my classes has older students.  Probably around 6th grade.  I struggle to find ways to teach the simple lessons without incorporating silly games, but they are not advanced enough to do in-depth assignments during class.  I finally had a very successful class with them!  They are learning: first, then, next, after that, and finally. We did a group fun word chain in class on the board.  I had them write a funny story in groups of 4 using at least five of the words from the word chain.  They loved it! I liked this story because it was about a students named James and it included fun drawings.  

Friday was the first day of school in Hsinchu.  At my school, our schedules changes, new classes were starting, a new/old teacher started (he used to work at this branch, then moved for a year, and now he is replacing the teacher that left), and the school was a mad house!!!!  For the most part, I enjoyed my two new classes and think they will be good in the long term.  However, I think the students were feeling pressure and stress from their first day back at school.  I even had one class start 20 minutes late.  I went to the classroom and no one was there!  In the first class, I had three students cry!  What?!  They cried over other students cheating while playing a game.  Weird.  I thought the class was having a blast and then someone starts crying.  Ohh well.  By the way, it was all boys that cried!  Ha.  I felt like a new teacher again with the two new classes and moving to a different classroom.  

After the crazy day on Friday, I awoke on Saturday to read a relevant prayer to me in my women's devotional book.  I liked it so much that I wrote it all nice and puuuurteee on paper and hung it on the wall. It's a good reminder for me and why I wanted to work with children (although I question that desire some days).  I thought some of friends with new babies and children would enjoy the prayer so here it is - 

Just to add to the student/school section of the blog on this rainy Sunday afternoon, I often have dreams about my students and being in the classroom.  It's never anything weird or crazy.  In fact, most of the dreams seem real.  Like I dreamed a couple of nights ago that my favorite student in one of my classes decided not to attend Shane English School any more.  I suppose school and my students are always on my mind!

Earlier in the week, we visited the statue park in Hsinchu after a morning run.  This place was so random!  We entered the park at a temple with a good view of lots of green trees.  The, we walked down into the trees.  The place was not well-maintained and no one else was down there despite the tour bus parked outside the temple.  None the less, we enjoyed seeing the huge amount of random statues.  Ohh Taiwan...everything is so random here!

James with the dinosaur. 

Ohh no!!!

Just going for a ride. 

The sign says "Mythical Beast."  I am so scared!

Unfortunately, we did not have a coin to see if this machine works.  I told James that he would probably make a wish and we would have something crazy happen like in the Tom Hanks movie, "Big." 

Where's the "say no evil" monkey?

Go USA!

Hmmmm.....

View from the temple

We had no problem finding the place with a statue of that magnitude!

Saturday was a depressing rainy day.  James and I actually went to a gym for a long workout!  We could handle the rain no more! We can only spend so much time at Big City. Well, the rain decided to give us a small window of opportunity to go outside, so we went to the Hsinchu zoo.  The zoo is small (it took us exactly 58 minutes to see the whole zoo), but it costs about 66 US cents to visit!  It's not the best maintained zoo and the animals looked pretty crazy.  They are not given much room to roam.  We were told from someone else the zoo is depressing.  I wouldn't call it depressing but it's definitely not on my must-see list in Taiwan!  It's interesting to visit a zoo in a foreign country.  They have animals they would never have at the Atlanta zoo.  We saw rabbits, raccoons, wild turkey, ponies, and turtles.  I know where they can find a few more of those animals no problem!

Everyone crowded around the monkey exhibit although there are monkeys in Taiwan!

Turtles from the south eastern US.  I think I've seen a few of those...

The tigers were the most popular animal at the zoo.  They seemed extremely bored...

Dinner time!  He has a papaya and bread. 

These are some nasty thorns for such a pretty flower. 

So, the bird exhibit was a bit too close for comfort.  Here I am nervously posing for a picture with the peacock...

A few random photos: 

Family Mart potatoes!!!!  Please note the faces on the potatoes on the sign.  Mr. Potato Head!

James artistic abilities have really improved since becoming a teacher.  I was amazed by his drawing on the whiteboard attempting to teach students about a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

Field Trip

On Sunday and Monday I spent 36 hours with 28 students.  I went on the end-of-the-summer field trip to the Hualien Ocean Park.  I felt a lot pressure to go on the trip from my school, especially being a new teacher.  The teacher that is leaving next week decided not to go.  I would have chosen the same action if I were her! So now about the trip...

I woke at 5am to get in a run before the field trip. I knew the two day trip would be more pleasant for myself and others if I did.  I  have not seen the sunrise since we have been in Taiwan. Well, even starting my run at 5:25 meant I missed the sunrise here though unfortunately.  I remember why I used to get up early to exercise.  The world is so peaceful and calm in the morning. 

I was surprised as I was getting ready that James' phone kept ringing.  It turned out after I had left work on Friday evening they changed the meeting time at the train station from 7:30am to 7am.  Our train was not until 8:49am so I have no idea why we were meeting so early anyway! Well I did not arrive until 7:45am and guess what I missed?  Absolutely nothing! 

Since this is an English school trip, we have to teach the students "life English" for every thing.  Such as life English for the train station, the train, eating lunch, taking a shower, etc.  It was quite annoying to teach and drill the life English while on the trip.  You have to think we were doing this on the train, in the park's restaurant  etc. Plus, some of the students can hold a conversation in English while other students know about as much English as I know Chinese. Not to mention we had to plan and play games with them while on the train.  Would we do this is the states or just ask parents to please send a book with their kid? 

At certain parts during the trip the students were not supposed to speak Chinese but I let them anyway.  That's just torture for them.  

I really wish I could speak Chinese more so than ever after his trip.  I truly felt a huge barrier to build rapport with my students.  Not that I thought it wouldn't be but I am wondering why the English teachers even came on the trip.  Such as I am currently sitting by a student right now on the train and I can't say anything to him.  He is sitting by a teacher because he is a bit naughty but he sure is quiet now :) Why didn't the TAs just take the trip? 

James hit the nail on the head about the trip. Before the trip he told me that this whooooole trip is for marketing. This English school is better than the one next door because we took the students the the Hualien Ocean Park...

Now to finish the blog.  I am currently on the train back to Hsinchu.  I wrote the first part of the blog on the train to Hualien.  My opinion of the trip did not change too much...

Boy do I wish I spoke Chinese!!!! First on the bus ride to the Ocean Park some of my favorite girl students were attempting to teach me some Chinese.  It was a bit embarrassing how terrible I am on my end but the students seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. Second, everything at the park was in Chinese.  Every show.  Every guide we had that gave us special tours.  The TAs would give instructions to the students in Chinese and then the English teachers would have to ask what in the world is going on!!!  The other English teachers felt my pain.  They wondered why we were on the trip and were highly annoyed by hearing Chinese non stop! 

There were a few highlights of the trip though.  The dolphin and sea lion shows were pretty cool.  We had guided tours of the aquarium at night.  All of the lights were out and the guide would shine a blue flashlight into the tank.  We could see the creatures of the night hanging out.  I just don't know what she was saying about the creatures though.  

I also got a break while the students were taking their shower at night.  The park was closed so I decided to go exploring with my iPhone flashlight app! It reminded me of camping. I enjoyed the silence of the park and the stars were twinkling bright! The park is nowhere near anything else.  I also watched the moon "rise." It was red! As it rose higher in the sky it changed to white.  

I actually somewhat enjoyed the last show we watched in the "sea castle." It was mostly foreigners dancing and less speaking in Chinese.  I think the foreign dancers/actors were probably all the English teachers who couldn't handle the children or their school made them go on too many overnight field trips!!!! 

The last highlight of the trip was the last 45 minutes at the park the students were allowed to ride the rides.  Finally!!!! A couple of the boys decided I was their teacher of choice to ride the big rides with them.  We had a blast doing the big kid rides :) I personally enjoyed the adrenaline rush and bonding with the students.  By the way, there are apparently never lines for more thrilling rides at amusement parks in Taiwan.  The Taiwanese are scared of the big rides.  Also, they were selling ponchos outside of the water ride here.  Have you ever seen someone on a water ride during the hot summer with a poncho on?!

The park was definitely in the most beautiful landscape possible.  It's almost a shame to stick an amusement park in the middle of natural beauty like that.  Also, it's a shame we could see the ocean but we never stuck even a toe in the ocean or felt the beauty of nature as we were surrounded by ice cream stands and souvenir shops. But I have never had such gorgeous views from rides or a cable car or a restaurant in the park! By the way I do not recommend this park for adults. It's a bit cheesy and lame.  Especially if you don't speak Chinese! 

Here are some fun pictures of the trip. There are pictures of me with the students on facebook posted by the TAs so I have decided to include these in the blog, too. I don't really have a ton of awesome pictures though.  James is always the camera man but I tried my best :)  

The big kid ride!

View of the amazing coast from the cable car

Sigh...ocean morning sun on the east coast...James and I will wake up to see the sunrise on the East Coast of Taiwan when we travel here. 

Breakfast with an ocean view

Sea Lions playing basketball!  Ha.  They can play volleyball, too!

James was so jealous of my kiss!

Sleeping with the dolphins.  Somehow I pictured the glass walls being larger.  I suppose the GA Aquarium spoiled me!

Making eye contact with a dolphin is a bit awkward.  

A terrible picture but proof of the red moon rise. 

Mountain views from the train. 

One of my favorite sweetest kindergarten students with her Angry Birds fan on the train.  She is so sweet and likes to hold Teacha Rachel's hand :)

What the kids wanted to do on the train.  They did not want to play English games!

Wow....a manatee.  Everyone was so excited.  

My group enjoying the guided aquarium tour. 

The biggest sting rays ever!  I would never be the guy in the tank feeding these monsters. 

Best views from an amusement park cable car I've ever seen. 

Ferris Wheel

Dolphin Show

Group Photo

Drilling life English on the train.  Don't the students look thrilled? :)

My group in the aquarium.  They were so well-behaved the entire trip.  Well, they could have been saying mean things about me or each other in Chinese and I would have just smiled at them!

On the cable car

As far as the rest of life goes, my leg is healing quickly.  My schedule changes the first week of September.  I am replacing my kindergarten class hours with a couple of the teacher's classes who is being replaced.  Although my kindergarten class was a struggle at first it was my favorite class by the end of the summer! On the last day of class the parents can come watch the kids play games and show off what they have learned. It went incredible! I learned that young children are trainable in the classroom. I hope I have the opportunity again to work with the young age group.  

James is the opposite though.  Finally a second teacher starts at his school just in time for fall classes! James will no longer have his teenager class. James worked really well with them.  He would come home and talk about how the whole class was laughing together about something.  What?! All I hear about the teenage classes is how they won't talk much less laugh! Go Teacha James go!!!!

Well, Georgia is on my mind.  We have seen two people with Georgia t-shirts.  We also talked to a local on a trail about his trips to the USA. He pronounced Georgia as George-ee-a.  It's funny it's not pronounced that way more often :) 

Love and miss you my George-ee-a homies!

Injury prone

Apparently, I am a very injury prone person.  I even stopped riding bicycles because I was annoyed by my never-ending injuries.

First of all, on Monday morning I told James how excited I was to finally be over my sinus infection and finish taking my antibiotics.

Now for the story. Well, a typhoon is currently happening in Taiwan.  As I was walking to school yesterday, it was raining pretty hard. I pondered taking a taxi to work but decided walking would be fine.  I have to walk up and over a bridge with about three flights of stairs to cross over train tracks.  As I walking down the steps, somehow I fell.  The oddest part is I fell forwards.  My umbrella broke my fall when I hit one of the platforms on the stairs.  I felt a pain on my right palm and left leg.  I noticed my umbrella was broken and I had a cut/scrape on my palm.  I turned to look at my leg and freaked out at the blood.  Somehow I stood up and rushed down the steps to seek shelter from the rain beneath the bridge.  I called James and immediately started crying and shaking.  Poor James.  All he hears is me crying and this man speaking in Chinese. I guess he is starting to get used to these phone calls though...

In the mean time, this man tries to talk to me but I told him I don't speak Chinese.  He pointed for me to sit down and called 911.  Thankfully James showed up quickly right before the ambulance arrived.  James gave the sign indicating expensive.  The EMT's said "No Money."  They quickly cleaned me up, put me on a stretcher, and loaded in the ambulance.  They indicated for James to follow them on his scooter.  After they turned on the extra loud sirens,we drove about 30 seconds to the hospital.  I could have walked there!

Immediately upon arrival, they took my Taiwan National Health Insurance Card.  Then, two nurses cleaned my wounds.  They said I needed one stitch in the gash on my shin and gave me the stitch immediately.  Another nurse came in and indicated for James to help her push me to the elevator. James was happy to be of use. I went to another floor, straight into an x-ray room, and had a doctor x-ray my leg.  He looked at me. My hair was wet.  My dress had blood on it. He just said, "Today is not your day." Then, James and the nurse pushed me back downstairs.  The nurse that gave me the stitch said I had no fractures.  He handed us some pain meds and antibiotic cream.  Then, he handed us a piece of paper with the appointment for me to come back to have my stitch removed.  They told me I was dismissed.  I paid $15 USD for the whole deal and was at the ER for about 25 minutes!  That's efficient!

James had called both of our schools while we were at the ER.  My manager came to pick me up and drive me home.  They cancelled my classes for the day.  Tuesday is a light day for all teachers. I start in the late afternoon and only have one class and two private classes.  I bet my manager doesn't think I am so elegant anymore!!!!! They also found a cover teacher for James.

My leg and the top of my foot are bruised but I think the recovery will be fast especially with my sweet husband taking care of me. Amazingly, the typhoon hit today so school is cancelled.  It's probably best for me not to stand for 6.5 hours of teaching today!

The Taiwan National Insurance is probably going to kick me out of the country when they realize how much I cost!  Seriously though, I am glad my guardian angel was there to break my fall and it was not worse.  I am also glad I took the nice umbrella to work.  It really helped break my fall, too.  Too bad it's broken now! Also, James suggested to keep a record in our apartment of how many days Rachel is injury free like they do at the work place :)

Ohh and as for this typhoon, so far it has been pretty lame compared to the last one.  It's raining a lot but the winds are not high.  My fingers are crossed we keep power this time!!!!!!

For those of you who can handle blood and stuff, here's a picture of my leg. As for me I am glad I never entered the medical profession. The stitched section is under the bandage... yuck.

We officially received our first package in the mail this week!!!!!  Thanks mom!  Apparently our landlord told the postman she could not read the writing on the package so she wouldn't accept it.  One of my Teaching Assistants called the number on the card that was left by the postman in our mailbox.  The package arrived safe and sound at my school later in the day.  Among the many great things in the package, mom included a bunch of photos of our family and a few frames.  Our apartment feels more homey now :)

 

A decorated fridge!

James and I have gotten a bit more adventurous in our weekday lunch dining now.  Please note, we do not eat at the same vegan restaurant every single weekday anymore!!!!  They probably really miss us when we aren't there...  We tried a dumpling place near my school this week.  They had an English menu so basically that's why we went there.  The garden vegetable dumplings were amazing!!!!!!  What's the cost of these tasty treats you might ask?!  Six dumplings cost $1 USD!!!!!  That's a good price for something so delicious.

MMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week, I had a few of my classes observed by a British manager from the Shane Headquarters in Taipei along with my Taiwanese manager who works directly with me at my school.  I was excited to receive feedback from the British manager.  He gave me some good pointers.  Somehow he did not think the boys were wild in my class I call the "wild boys" class.  Was he blind or does he see much wilder boys on a regular basis while observing classes?!

I went to dinner on Friday with my Taiwanese school manager last night.  She said she was excited to have a girls' night with me :)  She took me a fancy restaurant in Hsinchu.  This reminded me of my meals working in corporate America.  Haha.  Anyway, she has been a manager at the school for 11 years so she had some great things to say about teaching in general.  First, she said you will always have highs and lows in teaching.  Her job, along with the rest of the support at the school, is to be sure the teachers never fall too low.  Also, a teacher must make their own teaching style.  They can observe other teachers for good ideas but they should not try to be like them.  A teacher will become exhausted over time if they are not using their own personality and style in the classroom.  She did not give me direct feedback on my actual teaching.  She said she will do this around the 6 month mark.  She insisted it would only confuse me to give me so many suggestions right now.  I have to admit I was thankful for this!  I think the feedback from the British manager is plenty to focus on for now.

That's a fancy salad! I think it might take flight soon.

These are the funny things she said about me personally!  First, she always had a good feeling about me ever since she knew my star sign (I am assuming she means a Gemini).  All of the other Gemini foreign teacher she has worked with have had kind spirits.  I have never had someone refer to my star sign so seriously but I am glad it gave her high hopes for me!  Then, she told me she was quite nervous about me working with the not-so-perfect children in the classroom.  Most teachers come in with an authoritative, powerful, 'I am the great teacher and all the students must listen to me' attitude.  She said I was so elegant!  I don't know if it was my Southern charm that creates this elegance in me or maybe it's the many years and probably lots of money my parents spent on ballet lessons or perhaps this is the mysterious "casual elegance".... Anyway, she said I was handling the students pretty darn well for my elegant personality.  She also said everyone that has observed me teach as well as the TA's all think it is apparent and obvious that I am teaching because I care about the individual students.  I really do care about my students!!!!  I think my students know that, too ;)  As a side note, James and I have discussed regularly that in all the research we did about teaching English in Taiwan, we never read about anyone finding their job difficult.  We both find this job quite difficult right now!  Not that difficult and challenging is a bad thing, I am just saying....

James had a lovely 32nd birthday!!!!!!!!!!! He had to work in the morning (lame!!!!) but his school manager and TAs surprised him with a chocolate banana cake.  That's one way to make a teacher happy about doing a Saturday morning Demonstration.  One of the TAs also had two oversized birthday cards.  The students signed the cards.  There are the cutest notes and hand drawn pictures in the cards.  James returned home to find a birthday hat, balloons and a new poncho for his scooter from his elegant wife.  (I love having a cheap store right next to our apartment!)  We enjoyed a very chill day.  James picked the dumpling restaurant for his birthday lunch.  Then, we ran a ton of errands and enjoyed a dinner at home after James took a nap. A full week of teaching will wear you out! So... James bought some new contacts.  We walked into an optical store (which there is one on every block around here), James handed an employee a box of his contacts, the employee found the contacts, and we bought the contacts.  This took about one minute!!!!!!!!!!  A box of contacts (6 contacts) cost $13 USD.  Wow.  This was a ton easier than going to the eye doctor to get a prescription (even though you know your prescription has not changed...), dealing with insurance to get your contacts or glasses, and paying for vision insurance with every paycheck.  Taiwan really does revolve around convenience and efficiency for living.

 

The crew at James' school.  I am still jealous they don't wear shoes at his school!

 

James shamelessly giving his students lessons about his upcoming birthday.  A few of his students brought him treats ;)

 

Birthday surprises from me!

 

James' birthday cards from his students.

 

If you can zoom in and read these, they are so cute and sweet.  Teacha James is the best!

A panda at the Taipei zoo had a cub!  It's all over the news here.  The cub is the first panda ever born in Taiwan.  Every time I see the cub, I can barely handle the cuteness!!!!  James and I plan to go see the little panda at some point in the future.  http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/2013/08/14/Baby-Panda-born-at-Taipei-Zoo-meets-mom-for-the-first-time/2901376515325/#!/1/ The videos of the cub on the link are addictive...beware...you can't stop watching the cute panda!



AWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week one of my school days ended with a pleasant surprise.  A mother of one of my very shy, sweet female student brought some homemade pita-like bread (or maybe more like naan) to share with the teachers.  As she offered me a bite, the mother stated the bread had no egg or dairy.  I told her that's how I eat.  She was so excited!  She had never met a foreigner who didn't eat meat. Her whole family eats vegan for religious purposes (Buddhist).   Well, it turned out that the bread was cooked by my student.  The mother sent two pieces of bread home with me so I could share with James.  It was delicious and still warm. My student cooks on a regular basis and wants to open her own restaurant one day.  My student doesn't like to learn English since she has to speak in class.  I hope she at least likes her teacher though!  Anyway, the mother wants to introduce James and I to her favorite restaurants.  Maybe one day we'll be invited over for a meal cooked by my student :)

James decided to use his birthday gift money to buy a book of very detailed maps around our area of Taiwan.  Although the book is in Chinese, it is quite helpful to match road names to google maps to find trails. He picked out a trail in the neighboring mountains for a Sunday adventure.  Well, we got to the trail.  A group of Taiwanese men just walked off the trail.  It turned out the trail was about 200m long.  One of the guys spoke English quite well.  He did not know what trail we were looking for.

 

We were determined to find the trail from this map!

As we started a trek back down the road to find the trail, we saw a bunch of people walking up a hill so we followed them. We ended up at a persimmon and lime orchard that included a family campground.  The views were great!

 

I can't imagine having the job to individually bag each persimmon! 

 

 

Limes

 

 

That's the campground below.

 

Look!  It's a 32 year old!

Next, we followed a brown sign that included the Chinese character for "mountain." This was a must learn Chinese character for us! At some point while driving up the mountain, we decided to stop and park the scooter.  We started hiking up the mountain.  A guy stopped his car and asked us if we wanted a ride.  Ha.  We found out the cars were going to the "Café in the Clouds."  For some reason we had to pay $7 USD per person to enter the gates.  We decided to keep following the road up.  After an hour of hiking up, this mysteriously appeared. 

How random!  We had not seen a car on the road for the last half hour.  Unfortunately, we were in a cloud so we did not have much of a view. However, we found a random trail after that and enjoyed a few minutes on the dirt before turning around.

 

The last character means "mountain."  Don't ask me about the rest of the characters though!

During our hike, we had a heart to heart conversation from a question James' mom asked him on his birthday.  "Are you glad you moved to Taiwan?" Are we glad?  Well...that's too difficult to answer.  Do we regret coming to Taiwan? No.  Living and teaching in Taiwan is definitely a character building experience.  Are things easy here?  No!  Is literally everything challenging and forces you to be brave and face fears?  Yes. Did we come here only dependent on God and each other?  Yes.  Are we having some incredible experiences enjoying the mountains and cold springs?  Yes.  So, we don't really have an answer to that loaded question!

After the hike, we found a lovely cold spring to rinse off in.  Oddly we were cold! We found a thermometer that read 26 degrees Celsius.  So, we were cold at 80 degrees Farenheit?! When we returned back to Hsinchu City, the thermometer read 39 degrees Celsius or almost 100 degrees Celsius.  Wow!

Happy Birthday to James!  I think he enjoyed the weekend and his many sweet birthday treats...like eating cake and coffee for breakfast :)