Don't I feel like a dinosaur?

I was right; yoga makes a world of difference.

Honestly, any sort of physical activity would have done it. I finally feel like I got up off my butt and did something good for myself. A quick 20-minute yoga workout is really all I needed, though tomorrow I think I'm going to add in a few extra poses to make it a good half-hour.

Today was pretty tame. I ate my omelet, did my yoga, and then I read forever before going to class. I've been reading a lot lately. I've decided that Catch-22 (and probably Joseph Heller's writing style in general) just isn't my kind of book and that's probably why I wasn't reading as much before.

But one of my roommates gave me this gigantic (700+ pages) book — The Persimmon Tree — three or four days ago and I'm already more than 300 pages in. I forgot how much I love leisurely reading.

I used to love books and words so much that I wrote a book when I was 10. I have no idea what happened to it. Now I write blogs. I suppose that's probably similar to whatever type of novel I was capable of writing as a 10-year-old country girl.

It's funny though because here I am with a gigantic novel reading in between classes and my kids tell me that they read books on the Internet. Don't I feel like a dinosaur?

It's funny how quickly and easily a kid can make you feel old. Sometimes I think about it and I'm like wow, I'm only like seven or eight years old that some of these kids. And then they come up with something that I don't even know — usually about the Internet or some crazy stationary thing I didn't know exist (kids here are obsessed with stationary).

In my head: "The Internet came out when I was like 10-years-old. Why don't I know this?"

Actually, I found this hilarious card a few days ago that said something like "When I was your age, we had to dial to get the Internet."

Do you remember how painful that was? Just think of how impatient children are in general and then sit them in front of a computer with dial-up Internet access. I space out way more quickly now that I'm in my twenties. I guess it was all so novel then that I was fascinated enough to have patience.

Of course, I'm not entirely behind the times. I'm just broke. Probably the one gadget I want more than anything else in the world is a Kindle. I want that more than a 12-year-old wants an iPod Touch (or an iPhone depending on the kid).

I would have a Kindle right now if it weren't for the fact that I decided to move to Taiwan. My parents were going to get me one for my graduation present. That money, instead, became my "Taiwan start-up fund."

Oh well, I suppose it was probably worth it.

Would you rather I call you or teach these kids?

Apparently I've been uber stressed out.

I'm sure it was the demo I had on Saturday, which is finally over.

I think someone from head office spoke to me everyday this week about this demo and I even had the hiring manager leave a message for me to call her while I was in the class that I have right before the demo.

Um, would you rather I call you or teach these kids?

I got through it though.

Although it still went super fast (I ended up with the same number of kids as my other News Camp demo) we managed to drag it out a little bit. I had to do give comments about each student to the parents. Although, I didn't realize I was going to have to do that in front of everyone.

Naturally I thought I would speak to each student and his or her parents one-on-one.

I tried to do the usual give a compliment and an area to work on.

A couple of the parents were actually really nice. One mom even told me that her son called her and asked her not to come because he was so embarrassed so she was just happy I managed to get him to speak in front of everyone.

After the demo I played scattergories with the kids using different sections of a newspaper as the categories (i.e. national, international, entertainment, sports). After watching that the parents commented to Anita that they think the kids really did actually learn a lot.

After all my classes I came home starving. The only thing I had eaten all day was an apple at 8 a.m. By the time I had returned to my apartment it was almost 7 p.m. Of course, despite my hunger, I managed to eat the tiniest bit of pasta and then I just wasn't hungry anymore.

The exhaustion was setting in.

I watched The Hangover and passed out waking up about an hour later when one of my roommates came home.

I still didn't end up going to sleep for the night until about 1 a.m. I find that a bit disappointing.

I was supposed to go to Yangmingshan to go hiking today but I opted to stay home to rest and read. I realized how stressed out I had been when I woke up and realized my body was as stiff as can be from clinching my muscles all night in my sleep. Obviously I wasn't well rested and definitely not rested enough to climb a mountain in this heat and humidity.

I probably would have been awake enough once I got to the mountain since it would have taken a couple of hours to get there, but I was just not in the mood to travel.

Instead I slept and read on and off all day until I decided I was hungry enough to make myself finally eat something besides the bowl of cereal I ate this morning while I contemplated whether or not to take the hike.

I went to Debbie's (the little American-ish diner nearby) and then Starbucks for some coffee. I still only ate half of my tuna melt and a couple of french fries.

My appetite has been strangely small lately. I honestly have no idea why.

I'm going to force myself to resume yoga tomorrow. I bought a ribbon and a couple of other accessories to make it a better workout. Hopefully I can get into a routine.

I'm also debating a hike up Tiger Head mountain a couple of times a week. It's close and a relatively easy hike (according to everyone else at least). I think would be nice to do in the morning time.

Besides, if I'm going to be hiking in the Chocolate Hills in The Philippines in a month I had better get in shape!

What's your temperature?

So it seems that I spoke too soon when I thought the H1N1 hype was beginning to fall off.

Five people have died in Taiwan and 47 severe cases have been reported. Of course in the grand scheme of things these numbers are small. Australia has reported more than 130 deaths, Malaysia more than 60 and Singapore more than 10.

Can anyone tell me why this thing hasn't been officially upgraded to pandemic? Isn't the definition of pandemic an epidemic that has spread across large distances such as an entire country or continent?

Last I checked, North America, Asia and Australia are all different continents.

At the same time, I don't really understand why people are going so crazy over this thing. Yes, it's a disease. Yes, people have died. But no one goes this nuts over the regular old "human" flu. As far as I can tell it still kills more people than the swine flu. I feel like it's more a fear of the unknown and therefore being blown out of proportion.

According to the Taiwan Department of Health (DOH, heh) a computer simulation estimates the disease will last in Taiwan for about 200 weeks because it is like to infect 30 percent of the population at about 30,000 people per week.

This is one of those moments where I ask, why would it stop after the 200 weeks? Whose to say I won't get the swine flu tomorrow and then again in two years (provided I'm here that long)? Will that last week of 30,000 people not pass it on to more people?

I suppose they're probably assuming that at that point we will have figured out how to beat this thing. There will be vaccinations galore and if need be we'll just start putting our children in big plastic bubbles.

Speaking of children, a student at one of our schools came to school Tuesday night and then was in quarantine at the hospital by the next morning with a confirmed case of H1N1.

Since then, our schools have taken to forcing hand sanitizer on us as we walk through the door. Which, I might add, we can't walk through the door until they check our temperature. I'm sure they're checking into the prospect of plastic bubbles at this moment.

Oh H1N1, I'm still not nearly as afraid of catching you as I am the pneumonic plague.

How can I be an effective teacher while I know so little about teaching?

I know that sometimes I talk to fast or I explain things in a complicated way but just let me do it. I will learn from my own mistakes (usually by the dumb-founded looks on my students' faces).

The past few days have been moments of learning.

After my super terrible demo for that News Camp last week, head office has been all over me to make sure that the one I have this Saturday goes better. Unfortunately, it's a little too much too late. I wish that had just told me up front what they were expecting.

They have quickly realized they shouldn't have given a solo act to a brand new teacher. I'm going out of my mind with all of the "feedback" I've been getting. Some of it really is helpful, but sometimes it is just a swift kick in the pants.

Have you ever just gotten too much feedback to the point that it irritates you a little and then you sort of shut down?

I know I'm not the best teacher ever and I certainly don't expect myself to be after only two months at it. But in knowing that I push myself to learn.

I want to be a good teacher. It's in my nature to want to be good at the things that I do.

I always ask people (other foreign teachers, my co-teachers) what I can do to be better. Sometimes they have great answers. Most of the time they aren't sure.

But now all of a sudden, head office has plenty of suggestions.

They observed my kindie class last night. There were plennty of suggestions after that. I was really nervous, mostly because I knew it would be terrible. I haven't observed a kindie class and it's only my third or fourth week in there. I haven't really figured it all out just yet.

In fact, I asked to observe a kindie class so I could get ideas but head office told me there isn't anyone to watch.

I'm sure you can see how this would beat up one's self-esteem. At lot of it just comes from the fact that I've always been kind of a natural at my jobs. I mean, food and beverage service is kind of a no-brainer, but I was really good at it. I was the kind of person that people came back asking for.

As a reporter I always got compliments with flying colors from editors and readers. Not that I never had anything to learn. I certainly learned constantly while in reporting and editing positions.

But now, it's ALL learning with no time to learn it. Then you add the fact that while I'm learning, I'm teaching. I have trouble understanding how I can be an effective teacher when sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.

What year is it?

I am craving some dumplings but I don't want to go to the night market because of all the traffic and because it's super windy out.

Unfortunately, that's the only place that I know has dumplings. Funny how before now I saw them all the time when I wasn't looking for them. I can't remember where though other than Dar-Nan.

I did all of my lesson plans for the week today. Now all I have to do is remember to actually take everything I need each day.

I have to give one test this week and I have a demo on Saturday for my last News Camp. I'm also starting a new class in Guei Shan on Wednesday.

Clutch. Shift gears.

Did you know that it is the year 98 in the ROC? I didn't know until I got a water bill the other day and the date said 98. It later occurred to me that's why the registration sticker on my license plate says 98.

Apparently the ROC calendar is called the Minguo Jiyuan (Minguo means "country of the people") and started in what would have been 1912 for the rest of us. This was just after the Xinhai revolution of 1911 which eventually (after two attempts to restore the Qing Dynasty and a period of military rule) led to the formation of the ROC.

Mainland China stopped using the calendar in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was formed.

Other information: The dates coincide with North Korea's Juche calendar (Kim Il-Song was born in 1912) and Japan's Taisho calendar which the country stopped using in 1926.

See the smallest things (like a $155NT water bill) can cause you to learn all kinds of interesting things.

Where have you been all day?

I feel like I got so much done today but it was also relaxing and fun.

I slept super late.

Then I ate breakfast and watched the Addams Family Values on HBO. Yes, HBO as if it had come out recently and not when I was seven years old. I still love it.

Then I actually did my laundry and cleaned my room.

Then Katie and I decided we needed to get out of the apartment and actually do something with our Sunday.

So we drove to Yinge.

Yinge is known for its pottery.

We got a little lost on the way back and ended up in Dasi. It's a super tiny town just with lots of farms just below the mountains.

It was beautiful.

Then we headed to Tai Mall in Nan-Kan where we spent two hours wasting time until seeing Inglorious Basterds.

There are all of these random doors to nowhere.

I also found English magazines. I bought Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. I really just wanted some girl magazines. Fashion. Sex. Health. More Fashion. Celebrities. It's all there... in English.

There is also this gigantic arcade. It was kind of sensory overload but I loved it.


Oh Taiwan.

How can I possibly make the demo longer?

Friday and today were the longest days ever.

I woke up and immediately started downloading music to use during my News Camp demo and then I went to Carrefour to buy some last minute props and decorations.

The demo was supposed to last an hour and ended up taking about 25-30 minutes. The head office wasn't happy, but honestly, I was glad it took that long.

I had my kids introduce themselves while I played the BBC World News theme song.

Then I used the Fox News theme song and the NBC theme song in between them reading the "news" stories they wrote and acting out the commercials they wrote.

All in all, it went quite smoothly. There weren't even any parents there until about halfway through.

Today I had to wake up so early. I was pretty dead for the first 15 minutes of my class and then my coffee kicked in.

Today wasn't bad. It was just long.

During my second news camp one of the ladies from head office came in to tell me my demo wasn't long enough so I need to find a way to make the one for this class longer. It's automatically going to be longer because there are more kids which means more self introductions and more stories to read.

I think I made her a little angry though because I essentially told her that I don't think the News Camp was very well thought out and that they didn't give us very much information about what they wanted the teachers to do or how we were going to do it.

I told her the truth, but I think it caught her by surprise. I probably shouldn't expect my Thanksgiving vacation time to get approved, huh?

When I got home tonight I was so exhausted but super hungry because all I had eaten all day was some bread and crackers and an apple. That's so not enough.

I grabbed something to eat and then sat down on the couch to watch TV and finally relax. I ended up falling asleep on the couch.

I've decided I'm definitely staying in tonight. I'm off to bed so I can wake up early to hopefully go do something fun and new tomorrow.

Some of the others were talking about going to Keelung. We'll see how that pans out.