gettin in the grooooooove

This week has been....just fine!  I think this has been the first week that was just normal.  So I guess that means we are finally getting in the groove of living & working in Taiwan?

It is Friday morning and I have few minutes before getting lunch and heading to work so I figured I would write something.  It seems I always think about writing a blog, then Rachel writes one, so I decide to wait till the next time to write, then Rachel writes one, then I decide to wait till the next time to write, then Rachel writes one....  You get the point.  I am not as good a blogger as my wife ;-)

I am getting much more comfortable at work.  It has been a wild beginning for me with LOTS of hours and no other teachers to look to for direction, etc.  Every class felt like an experiment with me trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.  It still kind of feels that way, but now I have at least a few things that I know work well and can always fall back on.  All my classes are pretty good - except one.  I have one class that is always crazy.  It is my largest class, 17 students, and they are all 7-8 years old.  It is also my longest class.  2 hours, 4 days per week.  Luckily it is my first class of the day so I look forward to getting through that class and having an 'easier' rest of the day.  They can just get so crazy!  And their attention spans are much shorter than the rest of my classes.  I think it has to do with the size of the class.  Lots of distractions for all the students.  I need to be the most prepared for this class because if I don't have a plan of what to do, they go bonkers.  And I don't want to turn in to the Angry Teacher from Taiwan picture Rachel posted the other week :-)  I do have to put on my calm costume for this class though...

Not a whole lot else to report other than its hot.  I seem to be dealing with the heat pretty well though, I just can't run as fast or as hard when doing any speed workouts.  Oh - and I just discovered a small 'group' on Facebook that get together for some longer runs / trail runs around the Taipei area and will be joining one weekend soon.  Pretty excited about that.

A few random things:

Rachel and I went to 7-11 to buy some drinks after a weekday trail run (love my weekday trail runs!) and when checking out the clerk indicated for me to put my hand in a box and draw a number.  Kinda weird, but it is some promotion with Angry Birds and I saved 25% off our drinks.  Draw a number from the box.  It seemed really cheesy, reminded me of a Family Guy episode.  "You can take the boat, or the mystery prize in the box" (for the Family Guy fans out there).  And did you know in Taiwan there are more 7-11 stores per square km than anywhere else in the world?  

We save all of our receipts here.  Everybody does.  There is a 'receipt lottery' sponsored by the government.  Every two months, numbers are drawn and you have the chance to win anywhere from $200NT - $10,000,000NT.  A good motivation to hold on to those receipts.  It apparently was started to promote 'above the table' transactions by businesses.  Patrons will want their receipts so businesses must provide them.  All so the gov't gets their taxes.  Makes sense.  http://www.tealit.com/article_categories.php?section=living&article=lottery  And if anybody was wondering, we didn't win last month.

My school is very new, just two years old.  Why we only have a squatter toilet in the bathroom is beyond me.  Most places we have been (unless it is out in the country somewhere) have normal sit down toilets.  And if you don't know what I am talking about, here it is:

I paid $100NT for a haircut the other week.  That is $3.33 USD - I thought Great Clips was cheap!  My hair was much shorter than I have ever got it cut before, but it grows back.  I am happy to find cheap hair cut places.  

That's all for now.  Heading up to Taipei to meet a friend from college who is in town for a few days.  He has been working on a project in Malaysia and has been wanting to come hike some Taiwanese Mountains.  Till next time!