Yesterday turned out to be a pretty decent day. I have to admit that I've been taking a lot of time to myself, but not in an I'm-going-to-entirely-seclude-myself-from-everyone-around-me sort of way.
More like an I-need-time-to-digest-things sort of way. That's OK; We all need that kind of time and I certainly have never really been one to give that to myself.
I had so much fun in my first class yesterday. It was the play-dough class I was looking forward to.
We didn't play with clay again, but the co-teacher gave me the pictures from the last class.
Aren't they so adorable?
The peace sign is definitely these kids favorite thing to do in photos.
I think it's hilarious and takes me back to the '90s. You know, when I was their age and thought that the peace sign maneuver made me look cool in pictures.
We played a lot of games in that class again and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, because these kids are so young, it takes a lot of energy to keep up with them, which left me no energy for my last class.
We got through it OK, though, and I think I'll be better prepared next week for my regular class. I'm still trying to feel those kids out. There is Ken, who can easily be considered the class clown and gets in trouble the most. He tends to set off all the other boys into doing what they do best — being boys.
The girls are all so quiet and it's so hard to get them to be loud when it comes time to participate. Hopefully I'll find something they really like and I can convince them that it really is OK to speak loudly enough for people to hear you.
After class I went to Carrefour to buy groceries. I decided that it would be a good idea to have food on hand in case a typhoon does actually come rolling through, though I'm not convinced it will. I've also been less inclined to go out and find something to eat, so having something in the kitchen is probably a good plan.
I bought milk and let me tell you that's not easy here. I have no idea which milk is full fat and which is non-fat, but then you have to add on that, here in Asia, they like apple milk and yogurt milk and soybean milk (sugar added or not) and apple-soy milk. I think there were at least 10 kinds of milk at that store. I may have ended up with yogurt milk, but I'm not sure. All I know is the milk tasted a little sweeter than what I remember it.
I think I'm starting to get into the routine though. After Carrefour I made myself some dinner (if you can call a cheese and bell pepper omelet dinner) and then I did some yoga.
I truly believe what they say about exercise getting endorphines flowing. After my yoga workout last night I felt way better than I have in the past couple of days and I kind of felt motivated to do things.
The unfortunate part was it was already 12:30 a.m. by the time I was feeling motivated. I ended up staying up and reading about the Sotomayor hearing and about Obama appointing a new surgeon general. I miss reading the news all of the time. That's something else I will have to work into my daily routine.
At about 2 a.m. I decided it was time just to turn out the lights and force myself into bed. As I was exiting out of all my screens on my computer, my bed starting shaking. Like I told my dad, I felt like I was dizzy, as if I had stood up too fast, except I was sitting on my bed.
There was a 6.3-magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Taiwan (NNE of Haulien City). We could feel it all the way over here on the NNW side of the country.
That's something else I'm trying to adjust to. In the States, when something happens on the East Coast in the middle of the night, the West Coast doesn't hear about it for several hours. We felt it though.
A few of the others in the dorm felt it and we came out of our rooms to see if we weren't all imagining it. Then I started doing my research. If any of you know me, you know I like to know what's going on as soon as I can.
I always have crazy tidbits of knowledge like this. It's in my nature.
Earthquake aside, everyone is fine. There was no reported damage. We're lucky it was out in the sea and not on the island. That could have been really devastating.
Oddly enough, given that I didn't go to sleep until about 4 a.m., I still managed to wake up just after 11 a.m. I think that's pretty good given that I work nights. No need to wake up much earlier than that unless I have plans.
I think this may be the beginnings of a new routine. I did some more yoga this morning (I think I'm going to switch to day time yoga in order to avoid the night time restlessness) and now I'm ready to make things happen.
I think I'm going to go study some Chinese and to my lesson plans for the day.
So I promise, dear readers, that eventually I will work out this crazy schedule of mine and then I will post more regularly.
I have officially been in Taiwan for one month. It doesn't feel like it at all. Everything is still so new and different. Time flies in this country.
I started two new classes on Saturday. They went pretty well, although they could have been more exciting. They're both really small and all the kids are in junior high.
Remember that age? You're pre-pubescent or maybe early in the game of raging hormones. You hate everything and everyone most of the time. You certainly don't want some crazy foreigner who calls herself a teacher forcing words down your throat.
Actually, I find that kids here aren't nearly as bad as the ones at home. One of my nieces is that age and these kids are cake compared to her. I mean that with the greatest amount of love, of course.
But, they still don't really just warm up to you all that quickly here. I find that acting absolutely insane and like you just don't care how much of an idiot you look like generally does the trick. The kids get to make fun of me. I finally get something out of them. We all win.
It turns out both of these classes are in almost the exact same place in the book and they're about the same size. This makes my lesson planning for the day super easy. Of course it also means I'm practically on auto-pilot for the second class because it's like deja vu and all I can think about is what I'm going to get for dinner after class.
That said, both of my co-teachers seemed to really like me. They were both impressed that I managed to get through all of the material. I've learned early in the game to appreciate my co-teachers as much as possible. It kind of sucks being them. They get paid way less than me and have basically double the work. They see these kids twice a week while I see them once. Any material I don't cover, they have to cover in addition to the stuff they already have to get through.
I'm still working out my class flow, but so far I've managed to get everything I need to crammed into my two hours. I'm glad that, as far as I can tell at this point, things are going to go pretty well with my co-teachers. I've heard that can make or break a class.
Saturday went pretty well though and I can't ask for much better. But I ended up a little homesick once I realized I had been gone for a month. I was a little like, "Oh wow it's only been a month," coupled with, "Oh wow, it's already been a month."
Complicated I know. This is my brain all of the time.
Since I was feeling a little down I decided to spend my entire day in my room. I think it doesn't help that my sleep schedule has been really disjointed. I just slept and watched movies all day. Actually, it was nice to just not think about anything.
Even when I was at home my mind would go a mile a minute thinking about the future or tomorrow or that conversation I had four days ago. Now, being overseas, it's impossible to get my brain to stop and it's exhausting sometimes.
Honestly, going to class is like a break because at least my brain is only thinking about the one thing: How am I going to teach this class?
But my recuperation time is over and it's back to the daily grind. Luckily, I have that super fun class with the play-dough tonight so it should be a fun day.
So I found out Thursday at 9 p.m. that I had a summer camp starting Friday at 2 p.m.
It's a News Camp and it lasts three hours. That's pretty much all the information I was given.
After freaking out for a little bit, I decided just to print out a bunch of my old news articles and then some from that day's paper.
The kids were ages 11-15. Three weren't even Gloria students. The 15-year-old obviously didn't even want to be there. The 13-year-old girl was either his sister or his girlfriend, I can't decide. She hardly spoke any English and looked at me like a dear caught in headlights every time I asked her a question.
The other kid who isn't a Gloria student was a 13-year-old boy and he's absolutely brilliant. He could comprehend questions independently and he tried really hard to find the exact word in his vocabulary that would be best to fit his sentence. I had an 11-year-old kid who was also pretty brilliant. He's a Gloria kid and he comes from one of the poorer schools.
He's actually really sweet and we talked a lot after class. He asked me a few questions and I got to know him better. I told him that his English is really good and he said, "I don't think so but thanks."
It was adorable.
Another one of the kids was pretty close behind those two in his level of English and he seemed like a pretty upbeat kid. It seems that the last kid has mediocre English, but I think if I give him time and guidance that it will be OK.
My major problems:
1) The fact that the school gave me practically zero guidance on what they're expecting out of this class. They did, however, tell me that they want the kids to "put on" a "live news" show for their demo. What the heck does that even mean?
2) The 15-year-old guy (whose name is Silver by the way) obviously doesn't want to be there and I don't know how to make him want to be there. The girl that is practically attached to him is somewhere in between. She wants to be a good student (you can tell because she'll tap him if she realizes I'm looking at them and he's not paying attention), but she also wants to be cool like him.
How do I salvage this class?
Also, how do you put the NEWS in a way that an 11-year-old can comprehend it. Even native-English 11-year-old children would have trouble reading a newspaper and really understanding what's going on. What do these kids care if Ma Ying-jeou didn't go to Honduras because of a coup. They don't know what a coup is; they don't care about Honduras; and they probably don't even care about Ma Ying-jeou.
Actually, we did this one exercise where I gave them a fake headline and then they had to tell me all the questions they would ask if they were writing a story to fit it:
Ma Ying-jeou found dead.
One of the kids looked at me and was like "Really?!" It was so funny.
I explained it was fake and then those three super smart kids with the fantastic English were just spouting off great questions. It felt really good. I think I just need to get the energy up. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
After that class, these two high school boys came by Gloria to take a picture with me. Before class I went to 7/11 to pick up a couple of newspapers and something to drink. While I was there these boys stopped me and asked if I had time for them to ask me some questions.
Apparently their summer vacation homework is to ask people a bunch of questions in English. They had to tape record it (by the way, this kid had an AWESOME recorder) and take a picture with the person. They forgot their camera though, so they asked if they could come back after my class. It was strange, but also really funny. They asked really great questions though:
"Where are you from?"
"What is it like there?"
What do you miss most?"
"How do you feel about living in Taiwan?"
I had one more class today and it was so much fun. It was actually a sub for the second time in this class. We just played tons of review games, but it was cooler because I already knew most of the kids names. I'm jealous and I kind of want that class.
During break one of the girls came up and just started talking to me (just a normal conversation, which is really out of the ordinary for these kids). I was like, "Oooh, want to see what I learned!"
I started writing different Chinese characters on the board and they helped me with them. We had little mini-races and they corrected my stroke patterns. It's a lot of fun to learn with them. They think it's so awesome that I'm learning Chinese but also it shows them that I'm kind of in the same place as them. I know ZERO Chinese compared to the amount of English they know.
Oh, but Chinese-language accomplishment of the day:
I order tea at the tea shop just the way I like it using ONLY Chinese. They know English, but I decided it's my turn to practice and, since I see these guys something like five times a week, I may as well practice on them.
Me: "Wo yao yiga xiao bai lu cha. Yi tian tian tong. Yi tian tian bing." (I want a small cup of green tea. A little sugar. A little ice.)
As I was saying "a little ice" one of the guys was mimicking me because he knew exactly what I was going to say. The difference was this time it was in Chinese.
As the guy behind the register was typing in the order I just kind of looked at him...
Me: "So, did I say it right?"
Everyone behind the counter: "Yes!"
Me: "Yay!!!!!" (As I threw my hands in the air and jumped up and down.)
That was definitely a great end to the day. Now I have to go write my lesson plans for tomorrow because I have a class at 11 a.m.
Today was actually a really productive day.
Since I arrived, I just don't feel like I've been doing that much with myself. I think because I'm used to going to school and having two jobs all at the same time. One job that I only work four hours per day at is weird.
I went to lunch with Olenka, bought a yoga mat, did my laundry, went to the stationary store and the wet market and went to school. Then, after my classes, I even did yoga and I some of my Chinese homework. It was great to get so much done in one day again.
Here are some pictures from the day:
The wet market has veggies, fruit, fresh noodles, ready-made food and of course raw meat.
Don't you love when you see raw meat just hanging around at the stand right across from the fruit vendors?
It's OK though. This fruit makes walking passed all of that raw meat totally worth it.
Just a view from my walk back to the dorm from the market.
So much construction! Apparently Taoyuan is one of the fastest (THE fastest?) growing area in Taiwan. It's essentially a suburb of Taipei, so that honestly just makes sense to me.
After I got back form the market I decided to have a go at my very first dragonfruit. I had no clue what to expect. Actually, I didn't even know how to get into in the first place. I had to ask.
Me: Ummm, how do I eat this thing? Do I just cut it in half?
Danielle: I think you're supposed to peel it first.
This is what I ended up with. Ray insisted it tasted (and felt) like a kiwi. I can't really describe it. I kind of thought it would have a stronger flavor. Dragonfruit is kind of tame. It's good though.
Apparently there are something like five different species of mango in Taiwan?
Also, melons come in several crazy colors. From what I can tell, your regular pink watermelon only comes in gigantic sizes. But then there are regular-sized ones that I yellow like this.
It's still delicious.
As for my Chinese homework, Bobo said I have to write "I am American" in traditional Chinese over and over again. I'm also drilling myself on all of my new vocabulary (practice, homework, understand, don't understand, etc.)
"Wo shi meiguoren."
I subbed one class today and I started my first regular class today.
It looks like my main school is out in Dar-Chu which seems to be a poorer area. It's not terrible, I don't think. The school is kind of small, but the kids are super sweet.
I subbed a class of really young kids. They were probably all about 5 or 6 years old.
For review, we went over how to spell each of their names. When I first got here, Megan gave me this tub that had 15 different colors of play-dough in it. I gave each kid a little thing of play-dough and told them each to spell their names with it.
It was so adorable!
I didn't have my camera with me (go figure) but my co-teacher let me take pictures with her camera. She's going to e-mail them to me later, so I will post them then.
I told the co-teacher, Stacy, that I just learned to write a couple of Chinese characters today and I have to do them for homework. She was really excited about it and encouraged me to work on it during break.
I started writing them on the board and this little girl, Jade, came over and started helping me.
I told her I was trying to write the word "Wo," which is "I" and she just started writing away and I copied her stroke pattern. I know what the character looks like, but it's sometimes hard to remember which order to do everything in. Sometimes it just makes sense, but sometimes it doesn't really seem like it should matter. It all looks like the same character in the end.
Anyway, Jade and I spent the whole break writing, "Wo shi Mei Guo ren." (I am American.)
I kind of hope I can pick up that class when Dawn leaves. I think she's supposed to leave in a month or so anyway.
My class wasn't as fun, but it was mostly logistics and getting to know each other.
We didn't have a ton of time for games, but I started off class with the name game. I love playing the name game. We came up with some funny things to help remember, too.
Ken Kangaroo, Big Janice Jellyfish, Jacky Jacket, Edison Elephant, Ruby Rabbit, Alice Apple, Little Janice Jump, Sandy Sun, Aaron Apple Pie, Jim Gem, Sophia Snake.
I can already tell that Ken is going to be a little frustrating to work with. He sits right up at the front of class, but he's not very engaged. He spent the entire class drawing, tapping his feet, rocking back in his chair or burping.
It was gross.
He's not stupid by all means. He knew the answers to questions when I made him answer, he just doesn't exactly volunteer himself and he doesn't do his homework.
The rest of the kids are kind of quiet. I think that might have something to do with their last foreign teacher leaving without saying, "Bye."
I let them all ask questions about me and I told them where I'm from. I think I'll probably encourage more later, of course. Hopefully, once they get use to me, they will volunteer more participation and be a little louder.
I start my next regular class tomorrow. Hopefully it's fun!
Fourth of July in Taiwan was a little crazy.
I did mostly nothing during the day. Then I had two classes last night. They weren't very fun.
Megan let me borrow her scooter and I got myself all the way to Dar-Nan and back without getting lost or anything. I even went to the Taoyuan Night Market after I got off work so I could get some food.
There are these Pakistani guys there that everyone is always talking about. I found them all by myself (they kind of stick out...) and I got this really awesome chicken curry wrap.
It was glorious.
After I got home we went to the wine store and I totally broke my "only tea and juice" rule.
There was wine and then we all went out. The bar we went to had tons of little American flags hanging from the ceiling and there were a bunch of people. Margaritas were only $100NT and I knocked back a few too many. Oh well.
This led to a not so exciting Fifth of July, though it wasn't the worst ever. I basically slept all day and then sat in the living room and watched movies for the whole afternoon.
Ray and I went to Carrefour and I finally made myself buy some food for the house. I haven't been keeping food here because things tend to disappear. Not to mention it's almost always cheaper just to go and get it at a restaurant or street vendor.
That said, sometimes I don't want to change out of my pajamas and leave the comfort of my lovely, air-conditioned room. And it's nearly impossible to find a grilled cheese sandwich anywhere.
I bought raspberry preserves (yay!), some Nutella and some bread, so now I have breakfast type foods. And I bought cheese, so I can make all the cheese sandwiches I want!
Tomorrow, I'm going to make myself wake up at a decent time (10 a.m. maybe?) and I'm going to do laundry. Then I have Chinese and then classes way out at Dar-Chu.
I finally have one of my very own classes tomorrow night! Yay!
Hopefully the kids like me. It's a red book class so we should get to play lots of games. I'm really looking forward to it.
No, I didn't die. I think that could have been a step up though.
I hate when I'm just sick enough to be miserable, but not sick enough to really want to go to the doctor or to feel like I'm getting any better.
I've had this terrible cold. Normally I would just stick it out, instead I've been doing a lot of sleeping. I haven't really been on the Internet much at all. My poor computer is probably feeling neglected.
Wednesday was Canada Day, though, and given that more than half the people who live in the dorm are Canadian, there was celebrating to be done. This, however, cut into my sleep-and-get-better time.
It was fun though.
After we all got home from class, a bunch of us went up on the roof. It was set with music, ambient lighting (read white Christmas lights) and a million Canadian flags.
There was an attempt to sing the English and French versions of the Canadian anthem. It was pretty hilarious actually. How many drunk people does it take to remember how to speak French and then put it to the tune of Oh, Canada?
The day after Canada Day was terrible for nearly everyone. I stayed out in the humid night air too late, so my cold finally took over my body. Others had some of the worst hangovers of their lives.
The dorm was nice and quiet until late afternoon though. Then there was a lot of hustle and bustle to get to work.
Carly teaches at the school downstairs and doesn't need her scooter on Thursdays and offered to let me borrow it.
I drove for the very first time internationally. Driving a scooter in Taiwan was one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life. I was shaking the entire time.
But I got there. I didn't scratch or wreck the scooter. I didn't cause anyone else to get into an accident. I didn't get entirely lost.
Notice the modifier there.
I was scared to death to take a left turn. Let's just say they're complicated in Taiwan when you're on a scooter. It's terrifying. But eventually you have to take a left turn or you just don't get to where you want to go. I took the long way around we'll say. But I pretty much knew exactly where I was the entire time.
During my last class that evening, it starting pouring down rain. We were in a classroom on the first floor of the building and we could hear it pouring. It was ridiculous.
First thought in my head, of course, was, "Great, I finally get to drive a scooter by myself and now I have to drive it home in the rain."
I thought getting TO work was scary. Driving in the rain was terrible. But again, I made it. No bumps, scratches, accidents, etc.
I'm proud. Now I just need to learn my way around.
Unfortunately, driving home in the rain certainly did not help me any. I ate some left-over pizza when I got home and then went to bed. I ended up not going to work on Friday.
I called in to work and then went to 7-11 to buy noodles, ice cream, juice, tea and cough drops. I spent the entire day sleeping and watching movies. It was great.
I really think I just needed a relaxed day where I did absolutely nothing. I still sound like crap and I'm stuffed up, but I have more energy and I'm not as dizzy.
Now it's Independence Day. I sort of wish I had stayed home to have a red, white and blue Fourth of July complete with barbecue and fireworks. It's OK though, I'm sure there will be something going on here. I'm restricting myself to tea, juice and photography though.
Tonight I have two high school kid classes then the whole day off tomorrow. Hopefully I feel infinitely better by tomorrow and can go and do some traveling of sorts. It's a shame to be here and not go running around.
Monday and Tuesday, I finally start my own regular classes. Yay, something to look forward to!
