December

Wow, I didn't realize it's been so long since I updated this blog! I guess I am just so used to my life here that things don't seem so exciting to share. But that's not true! Things still shock and surprise me on a daily basis.

Lately, there has been an ever-increasing change in the sort of leggings and nylons that we see here in fashionable Taiwan. I still remember about two weeks ago when I noticed a girl wearing black leggings with stirrup feet with flat shoes--where you could obviously see that they are stirrup feet. I thought it was very strange, like why not just wear tights??? Why bother with the stirrup effect????? I guess I'm slow though, because this should have been an indication for the next big fad, which is knee high or thigh high leggings with stirrup feet worn with shoes where you can tell that they are obviously stirrup feet. This look is naturally complemented by wearing short shorts or a short skirt. I ask you--what is the point? And does this make any sense? As for myself, I am just now becoming comfortable with the thought of wearing leggings with things--so stirrup leggings are way far-fetched. I guess I'm behind the times, however, I never did think of myself as a slave to fashion. But I do think that there are a lot of things that we [eventually] think are good looking that we will look back on in a few years time and think "Oh my word, I looked so ridiculous" which is what I think may have happened after the 80's when perms went out of style as did STIRRUP PANTS.

I have posted a lot of new pictures this week, and I really hope that some people at least will take a look, because a lot of them are really great! Emily and I have been fortunate enough to see some beautiful places in the past month or so, so taking nice photos has been easy. I think this might be my favorite batch yet. We took a long drive into the mountains last weekend and were both a little intoxicated by the incredible sights. It was great to be in the mountains and fresh air! We went to a popular market it a town called Beipu and I finally bought a pointy straw hat which has been a dream of mine for years and years! I am really excited about it:)

I can't believe that it's Christmas next week! This month has flown by, I still feel shocked that it's already November, and now we are now nearly through December! We have been preparing like crazy at school for our Christmas Pageant, so I can't remember the last time we had a normal week of class. I have learned that event planning would be the worst job you could have in Taiwan, because people here are nuts. Everything is so unorganized. I have gotten to the point where I just turn off my opinions and ideas and smile during rehearsals because there is nothing else to do. It will be over tomorrow night at 9 and I will be SO HAPPY. Each class is doing a song and dance in another language, and the staff are doing a Japanese drumming routine (I don't know if routine is the right word), and it's going to be hilarious. I will hopefully be able to post a video.

Today Emily showed me the website engrish.com where you can see pictures of funny things in English. I really want to reccommend looking at the "signs/posters" part of the website because it it simply hilarious. There were a few that had us in tears laughing! One of the most fun things to do here is to read signs, or really anything in English--you are almost always sure to find something amusing. Please check it out.

We are going to the Philippines next Friday for a much needed break from school. I can't wait to be lying on the beach! I can't wait to visit the city of Cebu and stay at the very beautiful Santiago Bay Garden and Resort on Camotes. WhooooHooooo!

I would like to give a shout out to my cousins Grace, Laura and Rachel who will be coming to see me, and to my Aunt Mary, for making their trip to Taiwan possible! They are coming in March, and I am so excited! I can't wait to see you guys!

Until next time...

Timmy the Tooth

This evening Emily and I went to the dentist. I was a little nervous, just because I usually am when someone is examining me or using sharp tools near me. So here is how it went:

We found the place, which is amazing in and of itself. We waited approximately one and a half minutes, after filling out our new patient forms which required our name, phone number and address, and verification of our national health insurance card. No sooner had I sat in the waiting area than they called my name. The cleaning was very quick, but sort of unnerving to have two people looking over you, speaking Chinese, and laughing. When it was over the dentist told me that he saw a "black hole" and did I want to get it "repaired." So of course, my response was "is it going to hurt?" and he said "no, it's just a small one." Then he told me that he wouldn't even need to give me a shot. I was thinking "yeah right Dr. Chung (his real name), ain't happening." Then I said "I don't think so, I am a baby." Then he said, "Oh! Congratulations!" and then I said "Uh... no. I'M a baby." Then, after an awkward 30 seconds or so, I totally surprised myself by saying "ok," which I was not expecting to hear myself say at all. So I allowed Dr. Chung to drill into my tooth, and give me a filling, with no pain medicine or any time for emotional preparation on my part. HOLY MOLY. Some of you who are reading this probably can't believe it. True story. Apparantly I am growing up [finally]. And get this: IT DIDN'T HURT ONE BIT. 100% PAIN FREE.

The best part though, was that I was in that office for a total of 30 minutes, and the whole thing cost me $150NT which at the current exchange rate is $4.60USD.

This whole ordeal reminds me of the time I was tricked by my parents and my dear friend Carlos, who is a dentist, to have one of my wisdom teeth pulled out with local anesthetic only. This episode ended with me sobbing at the age of 18 and Carlos asking me to try not to scream so loudly because I was scaring his other patients. Hmmm. I have come a long way. I hope Carlos can read this, he would be so proud:)

I just hope my teeth don't fall out tomorrow.

P.S. I am spending New Years in the Philippines. Tickets have been purchased, and I am excited about getting a tan.

this is the day

I just want to make sure that everyone reads this sign.

Well, it's two days to my birthday, I have recieved several great packages in the mail--thanks for remembering me! I tell you what, care packages are the best thing that ever happened to this country. I am looking forward to my birthday, I can't help it--I love birthdays whether they're mine or not. But I'm turning 24??? Really?????? I think of what other people have accomplished by that age and it makes me feel a littly panicky. I still haven't even gotten a real job yet! I have had fake jobs my whole life so far! Anyway, I will try to be positive about it and not unreasonable. 24 is the new 21.

Today is that day I have every two weeks when I feel like I absolutely have to get out of here or I will go mad. Usually I love work and the kids and everything, but on these days I want to just hide in a cabinet somewhere. On days like this I secretly look at flights home... just to remind myself that I can't afford it right now anyway. But I have learned to recognize that it's just one day, every few weeks, and that there will be many more, but I will survive. It really doesn't help to know that my whole family will be getting together in Canyon Lake to celebrate Thanksgiving and I wont be there. And I still have to make a pie in my toaster oven which is actually really intimidating me for some reason. I have thought about it every day for at least a month.

Right now I can hear: the kittens pawing at my door in the hallway, scooters zooming by, the garbage truck playing its familiar music, a man speaking loudly in Chinese, and some strange and unidentifyable buzzing noise somewhere outside. As soon as I typed that everything went absolutely quiet so it's kind of freaking me out.

Anyway, even though I don't have much to say, I wanted to write something to keep the blog alive. Hope everyone out there is well and enjoying fall--my favorite time of year.

this is a long one....

During the day I have a lot of thoughts about what I would like to say about my teaching experiences, but by the time I get home my mind is too numb to recall those things. Tonight though, I have a little extra time so I am going to try.

I have so much fun with my kindergarten class. My co-teacher and I spend a lot of time laughing at them. They get in big trouble with our Taiwanese co-teacher for saying things like poo-poo, and bum-bum. She always tells us that so and so is in time out because they said a potty word, and the kid is just sitting there in a chair sulking. I forget what it was like to be a kid, when saying poo-poo was so terrible. Oh how things change! So it always makes me laugh, and Teacher Angela says I am so bad for laughing, but she laughs too. It really is funny. But seriously, a good part of my day is spend laughing AT my students. There was a really great moment a few weeks ago when we were playing musical chairs (the kids go BERSERK about that game) and it had been a really long week, I had't found anything humorous in a few days. I remember I was sitting there with my chin resting on the shelf in our classroom as I kept pushing "play" and "pause" on the cd player. Well the kids were running, and then I stopped the music and two kids went for the same seat, bounced off of each other, and landed with a thud on the floor. This event triggered something in my brain, I knew I needed to react to what I had just seen, and I looked up and made eye contact with Glenn and we both started laughing uncontrollably. I had to walk away and put my head down on my desk, I was crying with laughter--the kind that sort of makes you miserable because you just can't stop, the kind that makes you feel like a Cabbage Patch kid because your face is stuck in a laugh (Leah and Ashley, you know what I mean!!!). The best part is that you can laugh this way at three year olds, and they have no idea. They continue to be clueless. When I think back about it, it wasn't even that funny, but it was perfect for that moment in time.

Our students get in little tiffs too a lot, they fight over a lego or who is going to be "Teacher's Helper" for the day. It's incredible how angry they get then forget about it within seconds. A couple of days ago two of the kids were playing "alligators", and one of them ended up with a huge bite mark on his "bum-bum." Teacher Angela held him over her lap with his bottom out and an ice pack on it--it was so pitiful! How do you not laugh??!! Anyway, we don't play that game anymore. Another thing I have noticed, is that you can't take care of 8 three year olds for 8 hours a day and keep total control of them that whole time. You cannot, no matter how hard you try, keep perfect tabs on them. It's just not going to happen. That's why kids get bitten, and punched in the eye. It's especially hard when they speak Chinese. Glenn and I cannot summon the sort of fear and reverence that Teacher Angela can. But we can say that we are about to hit them or cut their hair and they smile and think we are telling them they are cute. Jokes on them! So we get away with saying a lot of things to amuse ourselves that we couldn't with English speaking kids.

Between lessons and activities, we usually get our students to look at books quietly. This helps them get used to reading books the way we do--from left to right. They do the opposite here. Anyway, this book reading thing is such a pain because it simply never works. It's amazing how quickly books turn into weapons to stab each other with and hit each other with, or to use as sleds. One day I was preparing my next lesson and looked up to see that all the kids were seated in a perfect line looking at their books, and not a PEEP was coming out of them. I went to get Glenn to see the magic that was taking place in our classroom, and he started looking around suspiciously and said "This is so weird, I wonder if a natural disaster is about to happen." It was really cool, and only lasted that one brief moment, I wonder if it will ever happen again...

Another problem with these kids, is that they are sick all of the time. I have finally trained them to cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze. After two weeks of almost constant time outs if they didnt, they have finally picked up the habit. I also give them tissues to put in their pocket every few hours so they don't just let their snot drip everywhere. I had to wipe some really thick green snot off the floor, and gagged. I literally gagged and almost threw up right there in the middle of class. It's incredible, and so disturbing, how much snot I see every single day. I did not know when I came here that it would be part of my job to blow their noses.

More news: we are teaching our class to sing Feliz Navidad for the upcoming Christmas pageant. They are doing well, but so far have only picked up the first line, which sounds more like "Fur-eees Nobby-Duck." Good grief. I guess it's really impressive that they are even doing that, and luckily we still have another 5 weeks to practice the song 20 times a day!! WhooHoo!! It's going to be funny though, and I got especially excited when I found a box of maracas in a cupboard:) All of the teachers are doing a drum routine for the pageant as well. This means that we all stand up with a huge drum in front of us and do this series of beats--authentic aboriginal style. Man is that going to be EMBARASSING. I will most definitely get a video of that one. I never thought I would be playing a huge drum in front of hundreds of people.

I do realize I am very lucky, because my job is so much fun. Our students have improved so so much since I first got here. We get a lot of thank you's from their parents as well saying that they are so impressed with how much they have learned. This is encouraging and exciting! They do learn so quickly, it's amazing.

One last kindergarted story, and this is the main reason why I like teaching... One day I was at my desk finishing up some preparations for class, and I was running a bit late and was a little flustered. Ryan (a cute kid with a big head who looks like Yoda) came up to me and started tapping me saying "Teacher. Teacher. TEACHER. TEACHER!!!" and finally I said "WHAT DO YOU WAAAAAAAANT???!!!" and he looked at me and smiled and said "Teacher Bethany, I love you!" This little thing made my eyes sting, and I picked him up and held him for a few minutes. Preparing for class didn't really seem so important. Gosh, that about killed me.

My elementary class is also fun these days. We have so much fun! They are all about 10 or 11 years old, and really self concious about the whole boy/girl/cootie thing, so I rip into them as much as possible and they secretly love it. They like me apparantly, even though I get mad at them somtimes, because they bring me donuts and candy and pictures they drew for me. They also say "Teacher's so funny" a few times a day. Even when I'm not trying to be, so that's strange. But I really like them. It's great to have power over them, and so satisfying to send them to the office. For a sort of anti-authority person like myself, it's funny that I get such a kick out of it. But their Chinese teachers hit them and punish them, so I'm not so bad compared to that, and they appreciate it. When it was time for their mid-terms, I was so nervous for them. They didn't do so well on the practice exam, so I was really worried. Parents take grades SO seriously here and they freak if their kid doesn't get perfect marks. I deal with multiple phone calls every day from parents that demand the most ridiculous things, and wonder why their kid isn't doing well. It's very taxing. But they are so smart, SO smart. The other day I had a really deep discussion with two of my students about Harry Potter. Only later did I realize what a lame-o I am for having book discussions with 10 year olds. But I can admit it. I like Harry Potter ok?

Overall, teaching has been great. I am so glad I decided to do it. Even though I get really homesick and overwhelmed somtimes, it all fades away at school when I get to spend time with these precious kids. And like Jack Handey said "The face of a child can say so much, especially the mouth part of the face."

On a non-teaching note, I am starting to feel a sense of actual permanence or stability in life. And this of course makes me feel like I should be leaving soon;) I have a cell phone, two pets, a scooter, a bank account, I'm on the National Health Insurance, I have a resident visa, I have joined the Gaelic team, I am traveling from and BACK to this place, I have a local cafe, I have a ROUTINE, I see the same people every day when I go running at the track, and Emily and I have a lot of couple friends (which is sometimes weird, but always enjoyable). So this is what it's like to live somewhere, I had forgotten.

So here I am in Taiwan, how strange is that? I miss loads of people back home and can't wait to see all of you!

Rugby and the Child-Whisperers

On Saturday night, Emily and I had another new and exciting experience in Taiwan. The Rugby World Cup Final was played here on cable tv at 3a.m. between England (the then current champoins) and South Africa. We invited some of our friends over for a pre-game party and then waited until 3a.m. to go to a pub to watch the rugby final (the most exciting thing about the party was that we finally got our ping pong table out and played for a long time on our roof--we have a great roof, and a great ping pong table and I love it with all of my heart). The majority of foreigners here are South African, which is interesting, and also cool. Two of our good friends at work are from S.A. and so they were really excited that we were joining them so late/early to watch the game. We went to a pub called "Alamo" which actually has a huge mural of the Alamo in one of the walls, and we watched the game along with hundreds of excited fans. Emily and I were two of four who were cheering enthusiastically for England, and truly believed that they would win. Alas, they did not. It was nice to see how excited they were, because judging by how crazy they were about winning, I would not want to be nearby if they lost. Yikes. It was lots of fun, we all had a merry time, and enjoyed ourselves... until we walked outside and greeted the coming dawn. Man was I tired.

Funny, but this made me miss Aggie football a lot. This one friend of ours, Mona, was telling us about the incredible rugby matches back home where 60,000 people show up sometimes and I was like, yeah big deal. I haven't been keeping up with how the Ags are doing, but from experience, maybe it's better not to check and just believe that they are playing well and winning all of their games. Whoop!

More news, Thanksgiving is coming up, and I am excited about cooking my first ever pumpkin pie... in a toaster oven. I already bought a teenie pie plate and can't wait for the magical day to arrive. We do have to work on Thanksgiving though so it will be a late meal. I am open to any suggestions for toaster-oven-friendly recipes that anyone might want to share with me:)

My brilliant co-teacher, Glenn, has come up with the best-ever term for our job description: Child-Whisperers. That's what we are. We can't understand them, they can't understand us, and yet we communicate, and they grow in size and they learn and we grow in pride of them and it's a beautiful part of the circle of life.

I posted some new pictures the other day so take a look.

meow mix

Here they are; Jet li (aka Jet, Jetson, Jumbo Jet) and Ziggy (aka Ziggster, Ziggs). They are cute, and no, Jet Li doesn't have a lazy eye... usually. Okay, sometimes he does. But only when he's really tired. Aren't they cute? Aren't they??? I am starting to like them. More pictures are to come soon, I am about to download 233 from the past couple of weeks, so that will take a while to get up and organized. But there are lots of the cats, which are cute. The other day I accidentally closed them into one of our spare bedrooms and then we couldn't find them. It reminded me of the time I closed my hamster in the pantry years ago and couldn't find her when she was in her ball (which Leah enjoyed rolling her down the hall in, in some sort of sadistic quasi-bowling game). Anyway, we were looking all over the place for them, and usually close the doors before we let them have the run of the place. It was funny. I asked them why they didn't answer when we were calling them, but they didn't really say much to that either. I have to admit, I am not really a pet person. I will continue to update the whole cat situation as the year goes on, and if anyone is interested in owning one or two cats in about a years time, I can probably sort that out for you. They are a very rare and expensive breed of cat native to Taiwan. Worth a lot of money. Lots. And you can have them for FREE. Poop scoop included. Let me know;)

we have cats now

It's true, I am not only a pet owner, but a cat owner. I did not see this day coming at all, in fact, it took me by complete surprise when I offered to take not one but two into my own home. I have never even liked cats even a little bit and here I am taking care of two little kittens. Feeding them, playing with them, and picking up their tiny little poops out of their litter box everyday. It's so weird! I like it though, and that is the really weird part. They are really funny little creatures, they are two brothers and just wrestle constantly with each other. We have a black one and a tabby one. They are both really cute and furry. Tonight we finally named them after a week of wondering what they should be called (this was a really stressful process for me because I feel completely inadequate in giving a name to something--it's kind of a big deal I think. Also because when I named my last pet, my hamster I had when I was 12, I never actually called it its name and just called it Hammy. So I'm still a little worried that I will just call them "Cat" or "Idiot"). ANYWAY, the black one is Ziggy because he's just really chilled out, and would probably just laze around all of the time if it wasn't for his brother who stalks and attacks him constantly. Ziggy does a good job fighting back though because he is a bit bigger than the other one. But usually if I get him alone he will fall asleep on my lap stretched out on his back and will stay that way for hours if I don't move. The tabby one we named Jet Li for his tendency to attack everything that moves and for being very extreme at fighting. I think he'd be an excellent Kung Fu fighter--but he'd probably be great at martial arts in general. Everything about Jet is intense. He never stops moving and attacking and scratching things with his razor sharp claws. I have scratched all over my hands from dealing with him. He's really sweet though, but he's got small cat sydrome sort of like my small girl syndrome. I like them both equally, and it's sort of fun to have little creatures to come home to that will just play around and entertain me. I am realizing that cats are very low maintenance and are ideal pets or substitues for actual children. My favorite thing to do with them is to put one of them under the blanket on my bed, and watch the other one attack the little lump as it moves around all over the place. They can do this for ages at a time, and yet they never figure it out.

Well I know some of you (i.e. Ashley and my Father) will be very disappointed in me for giving in and welcoming these little animals into a place where I live, and believe me, I am still struggling with self respect issues about it myself, but it hasn't been so bad yet. Wish me luck!

Yippie!

Emily and I just bought tickets to Thailand for January 25!

Gross

I just got home and opened up the fridge to get a snack, but what I found was a roach crawling around inside. How did it get there? How long was he in there? As I was trying to get someone else to come kill him, he crawled out of the egg tray, over the top of the door and around the side back into a dark shadow. Dirty little bugger. They have such nerve.

Two months ago I probably would have needed to be rushed to the hospital and would have spent at least 10-12 days on bedrest, but today I was pretty calm about it. I am surprised (and proud) to learn that nothing really shocks me anymore, and I can have such a confrontation with a roach without having instant heart failure. I am a success story. Yay me!

However, I'm not really all that excited that I don't mind roaches anymore, because when I sit here and think about it, I still feel that they are the most disgusting and repulsive things that walk the earth. And the fact that I see so many that they don't bother me is really sad. I can't believe that I saw a roach in my refrigerator and didn't have an appropriate reaction.

Well that's enough about roaches.

The Big Trip

So our Moon Festival holiday started out with Emily's birthday party, which was a huge success. Mostly because her sister made some really great fajitas, guacamole and salsa, and her bro in law made really great margaritas from scratch, no mix was used!! Incredible! It was great, my mouth was so happy:)

We got off to a bit of a rough start on Saturday; Emily and I went out in search of our rental car, but couldn't find the place. People don't bother to use signs here so it's impossible to find anything, and it's all in Chinese. Really frustrating. And it was raining on us as we drove the scooter around. So after almost two hours we gave up. She and Shaun went back out and finally got a car, and we left the city around 3. We drove up through Taipei and then down the east coast of the island on a very scenic road that goes just along the sea. It was beautiful except that it was raining. We also had to stop for two hours while a backhoe cleared the road from a huge rockslide that happened. It was really scary because we were just on this cliff with huge rocks hanging over the road. (On our way home in the daylight we saw where lots of huge rockslides had happened because of the rain, and there were places where huge chunks of the road had just fallen off the cliff into the ocean below. It was sobering because we weren't able to see that when we were driving down during the night. Yikes.) We finally made it to a town called Hualien and found our hostel which was a really beautiful place surrounded by fields, palm trees and banana trees, right at the foot of some mountains with waterfalls in the distance. Wowie, it was pretty.

Sunday we drove through Taroko Gorge, which is one the most amazing things I have ever seen. Emily even said it was better than the Grand Canyon (I have not been there yet). It was raining so we didn't get to hike as much as we wanted to, but we still got to see a lot of great scenery and took many many photos. Because it was raining there were tons of waterfalls everywhere--it was so breathtaking! That night we stayed with the friends of the man we stayed with the night before. They decided to take us out that night to see an aboriginal dance and also to eat some dumplings. They were great! They didn't speak much English but were completely enthralled with us. They bought us food and souveniers, and the husband even did some Chinese caligraphy on a rock for each of us with our name on it! It was a really cool gift and we definitely appreciated their kindness and enthusiasm. They just didn't want us to leave the next day, so they took pictures of us outside of their house and then made us stay while they made a cd for each of us with the pictures. It was kind of funny but so so nice of them:) They were great, I will never forget them. How unexpected that we got to stay at their house because we hadn't even planned on staying another night there! I'm really glad we did.

Monday we drove to a twon called Yilan where there are a lot of hot springs. We stayed at a really weird hotel there and bathed in the hot water. We got some great street food for dinner and walked through the streets for a while. The next day it finally stopped raining! It was amazing, after almost a week of rain it stopped the day we had to go home! So we packed up and headed back to the city. We stopped in a little town called Ping Lin at a tea museum to do a tasting and to buy some tea. There was a very beautiful river that went through the town and all you could see were hills covered in tea farms. It was a beautiful place and I would really like to go back there. We then dropped Angela and Shaun off in Taipei since they were flying out that evening, and we drove back to Hsinchu. Emily had the very bright idea that we eat at Fridays for lunch so we indulged ourselves and LOVED LIFE. I had a normal hamburger with normal meat and normal fries. I was in Heaven. That afternoon Sam and I drove the scooter down to the beach about 15 minutes away and walked around a little bit. The beach near us is not that amazing, but a little farther down it is very nice, so we are going there this weekend.

It was a great break and we all had a super time. I can't wait to see more of Taiwan! I can't believe how much there is to see here on such a small little island. I am in the process of uploading almost 200 pictures, and they are definitely worth checking out. Lots of cool stuff. i had some difficulties with my computer but Sam sorted it out after I nearly chucked the thing out the window. Anyway, problem solved and photos are on the way...

Moon Festival Holiday!

Well today we are off to Taroko Gorge for a night, and then will be driving up the east coast until Tuesday. I'm really excited about the trip, and we are about to go pick up our rental car. On the voyage I am joined by Emily of course, Sam, Angela and Shaun. A good group of people.

Yesterday was Emily's birthday so we had a party for her on our roof, and almost all of our 15 friends came for the occasion. It was a really nice sunny day yesterday which we haven't seen in a few weeks, so it was a perfect day for a birthday party!

I know that I promised to post pictures about 2 weeks ago and haven't had the time, but hopefully I will be able to do a big post after this trip of everything for the past couple of weeks. I am really excited about the pictures I'm about to take!!!

Take care and thanks for your emails, cards and comments on my blog!!

Nothing to say really...

This has been a pretty uneventful week here on the island. It's gone by quickly though so that is GRRRREAT! We can tell that the weather is starting to cool off a bit so that is very exciting. We are a little worried about how we will survive the winter in our concrete house that holds in the heat and cold and does not have a heater. I hear it's pretty miserable, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there (and probably complain about it too). Right now all that is on my mind is, " Six hours until the weekend!" and also "What might I find in my food today?" and "I wonder if the donut shop is still open?"

We leave for Taipei in the morning and are excited to explore the city. We will meet up with Angela and Shaun sometime tomorrow at our hotel-- they are in the air right now!! Really excited to see that Taipei 101 and go to a jazz festival during the day!

The highlight of my week was something imaginary:
On our walk home from work one night there was an ambulance stopped in the street with its lights flashing and sirens blaring. There was absolutely noone around. As we walked by we saw that the bed was inside of it, so I dared Emily to get in and lay there until the paramedics came back. I thought how funny it would be to just watch as they brought down someone who actually needed the ambulance to find Emily lying there. I bet it would be really funny, especially because everything Asians do it funnier for some reason. Of course Emily didn't do it, but I still laugh just thinking about it. I really don't know why, but it's such a funny image to me. Oh dear.

Well I know that all my fans out there were probably dying to know what I have been up to--I've gotten lots of emails asking me to update my blog. Right. This blog makes me feel a bit narcissistic.

Highlights From the Weekend...

Friday Emily and I had dinner at our favorite Thai place. So good. We tried really hard not to talk about school but it works it's way into most conversations. We both had a long and trying week. We were so tired that we couldn't even name all the 7 continents or remember the name of the "debatable 8th." Wow.

Saturday we hopped on the scooter and went off in search of "Green Lake" which was named in one of our books as a prime touristy spot. We drove out of the city into the hills where we could smell grass and trees and not so much pollution. We stopped a few times to look at some neat temples and an interesting grave yard. At one of the temples we were able to see for a really long way and got some good pictures of the city. We followed the directions to Green Lake but it was nowhere to be found. We drove around where it was supposed to be and were so puzzled that it wasn't there. There was even a hotel called "Lakeview Hotel" and a restaurant with a big deck. Finally we saw a sign that said "No Swimming" overlooking a big grassy field. Then it hit us--THIS IS THE LAKE!!! Apparantly the lake had some "sedimentation problems" a couple of years ago so now it just looks like a big overgrown field. We assume they meant to name it "Green Grass Lake." But even though the whole lake thing didn't turn out we saw some really neat stuff and had a great time scootering around seeing new things in our city.

That night our friends had a bbq out on their roof which was a lot of fun. We got to see the mountains that surround our city that we don't usually get to see because of the smog. The mountains are pretty big and it's hard to believe that they are there because there are usually clouds covering them.

Yao Ming made an appearance to Hsinchu this weekend. He ran some workshop for kids at a gym where our friends work out so they got to see him and wish him a happy birthday:) They said that there wasn't much of a crowd even though Yao is a pretty big deal over here (no pun intended).

Well the weekend was not long enough. Here I am back at school with a bad case of the Mondays. Next weekend we will be staying in Taipei when Angela and Shaun (Emily's sister and bro-in-law) get here, and Sam gets here on Monday! Whooooooo!!!!!!

I will post pictures of our weekend soon including some really great shots of the "lake."

HOORAY FOR THE WEEKEND

In all my days I have never needed a weekend more than today. Spending seven hours a day with eight three year olds then another hour and a half with eleven ten year olds is really not what I envisioned myself doing when I was younger. I'm pretty sure I lost my mind a bit this week. I love my kids but I do not miss them when the day is over...

Phrases I say at least 30 times a day:

-Be quiet!
-Be quiet NOW!
-BEEEEE QUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEET!
-Sit down!
-Sit down NOW!
-IF YOU DONT SIT DOWN YOU ARE GOING TO TIME OUT!
-Go to time out.
-Go to time out NOW!
-Go sit outside.
-Stop crying.
-Stop picking your nose!
-GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF YOUR NOSE!
-Keep eating.
-Put your hand on your spoon!
-Go get a tissue.
-No running.
-Sit still.
-Pay attention!
-Get your hand out of your pants!
-Pull up your pants!
-Put on your shoes!
-Flush the toilet!
-Dry your hands!
-Color inside of the lines.
-No pushing!
-No hitting!
-No hitting Teachers!
-I don't understand Chinese!

You get the idea. No wonder I've lost my voice. They have become like my children, we see them more than their parents do. I am so glad it's the weekend.

Earthquake

Last night I woke up to the unsettling feeling of my bed rocking all over the place--the first earthquake I have felt since being here. I read a news report that said it lasted 30 seconds--that's a long time!!!!. It was scary because it was so long. Taiwan has earthquakes pretty often, they say about 200 per month, but you can't usually feel them becasue they're just tremors. There was a big one last December that killed 2 people, and in 1998 that killed over 2000. I have lots of respect for the earth's power to totally demolish me. Anyway, found a an article about it this morning, take a look:

earthquake

Octopus Balls

No Dad, not genitalia. See photo 9 of my "Around Town" album, which you can get to through my link "Photos" to the right of this paragraph. At least I don't think I have been eating the balls of an octopus... oh geez. Besides, I don't eat them, it was just that one time when I decided they are not for me hence the weight loss because they are served often.

Hope that clears things up.

Time Zones

Time is not real, it is a man-made concept to measure light and dark. I don't get it. It seems like the more I travel the less I am able to comprehend time differences! I am always calculating in my head what time it is in other countries to know if people are awake there so I can call them (my skype name is "thisisbethany"). Anyway, it does my head in on a daily basis.

Right before I came out to Taiwan I had a funny conversation with my mom and sister, we were talking about what Emily might be doing since she was already here. Lydia said; "I just don't get it... so if the world ends on Wednesday does that mean that Emily dies first?" Very good question. This morning I had a message from Emily's dad that said "Did tomorrow make it there alright?" It's sort of funny to joke about. I wonder if it affects the way you age if you go back and forth in time often enough through traveling--no because time doesn't really exist.

Well I am obviously delirious, it is past my usual bedtime of 9:30.

Taiwan = Jenny Craig

Apparantly I have lost 7 pounds in the last three weeks. Wowie. All that tofu and fish and octopus balls have really paid off!

All my students are sick right now. My classroom is a breeding ground for all sorts of germs at the moment. Here kids go to school if they have a fever--no biggie. Coughing, sneezing, snot flying in all directions. It is so gross. Guess who else is sick? That's right, Teacher Bethany. We have put masks on most of the kids so I look around me and wonder if I am actually working at a hospital now. I don't get it, but oh well because TODAY IS PAY DAY!! I MADE IT!!

I am teaching an elementary class now with 11 little 10 year olds. I think they think I'm cool, but they keep drawing pictures of me like an old granny with glasses, a bun and very fat. They say "It's you teacher!" I really hope that's not how they see me. We are at work now from 8:30 until after 6 (I am lucky though because some teachers aren't done until 8!!) so it seems like a really long day of taking care of and teaching children. I'm starting to wonder why people even have kids... but then again, if you live in Taiwan it's nice because you can just send them to school until 10pm. Sad actually.

Emily and I are planning our trip to Thailand and Vietnam at the beginning of February. It's Chinece New Year so everyone travels and we have to plan ahead. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!! We really want to go to Cambodia and Laos as well during that holiday so we are hoping we have time to see everything.

We have a four day holiday coming up in September while Sam and Emily's sister and brother in law are here. We are either going to Orchid Island south of Taiwan, or to Taroko Gorge which is in Taiwan not far from here. I'm very excited to see more of Taiwan! Whooo!

We also have plans to go on a casino cruise ship that goes to a Japanese island--but that's just a weekend trip, sounds like fun... I think??? A lot of people do the cruise for visa runs if they don't have an Ailen Residency Visa like we do. So those are our travel plans for the next few months. Very excited as that is the main reason I'm here.

Anydangway, I am going to take a nap, which is another great benefit of this lovely job--my kids have a mandatory nap from 12-2 at which time Teacher Bethany usually joins in, and then I will prepare lessons. I still can't believe I am a teacher, who am I kidding???!!!!!!

Scooter Driving 202

Since I have been here nearly three weeks, and in that time I have gained significant experience on my scooter since my first post, I have prepared another lesson in Scooter Driving:

-If there is something stopped in the middle of the road, it is your responsibility to go around it. This includes swerving into the opposite lane of traffic to avoid the roadblock--the other cars will stop.
-To avoid catching the sun wear shirtless sleves, you can find these many places, and in many fashionable patterns to match every outfit.
-If you are wearing a skirt just ride "side-saddle."
-When it is rainging, do not drive on the painted lines on the road, your scooter will slip out from under you.
-Exhaust pipes are hot, do not touch them, and do not bump into them on other scooters while driving/riding.
-Adults are required to wear helmets while driving/riding scooters, children are not. It is perfectly acceptable to not put a helmet on your child or infant.
-Dogs are good scooter passengers.
-Wear your jacket backwards to lessen drag.
-Two-person scooters easily seat up to five people--the more the merrier.
-Honk to let people know you are coming.
-Green lights: drive quickly through light.
-Yellow lights: drive very quickly through light.
-Red lights: drive extremely quickly through light and blare horn.
-No one has a right of way, they have a "right of space." So you have the right to be wherever you are and do whatever you want.
-Driving in Taiwan is just one constant game of chicken, surely the other person will stop??
-It is not okay to get mad at someone who cut you off, they have the right to do that.
-It is okay to park in the middle of the road to run into a store and get a drink. This is also true for cars.
-There are no sidewalks in Taiwan, vendors, cars, trucks, carts, scooters, bikes, dogs, and pedestrians all share the road to do what they need to do. The road is also where you park. This is a very interesting dynamic on two lane streets.

So there it is. More tips. I'm sure there are more to come as time goes by.

Here is a quote by me to Emily one night on the scooter. I won't give details, but just know that it was a really hilarious situation and we both nearly wet our pants...

"Were you wondering when we were going to stop? Me too, I had no idea."

Taxi

Cabs are very convenient here, and cheap. If you don't feel like scootering, walking or bike riding, take a cab... very nice for long distances. Emily and I took a cab to the bus station this weekend and when the driver pulled into a parking lot to let us out he nearly drove off the side of the streed into a huge ditch where they were doing construction. If you find yourself in a situation like this stay calm. The driver will most likely get out, chuck your bag out of the trunk onto the pavement, mutter some strange things under his breath and drive away without looking at you. This happened to us. We were standing there with our money out but he just completely ignored us and drove away. I guess cab drivers feel that when they nearly kill the passengers, they should not be required to pay. We appreciated his thoughtfulness!!

Taichung

Emily and I are headed to Taichung to visit the Spinellas this weekend. Hsinchu (the city where we live) is about half way between Taipei and Taichung. We are leaving tomorrow straight after work. They invited us out for the weekend and we have been looking forward to it all week!! I have heard that it's a really neat city to visit, and during my phone call with Mr. Spinella this afternoon I learned that they have a Chilis there! Whoohoo! I bet I will have some great stories to share after this weekend and lots of pics! Until then... Stay classy San Diego...


Oh yeah, one more thing. Got a message from my cousin Grace and she said that she and my cousins Laura and Rachel have talked about coming to see me for their spring break. So all day long I have been really excited just thinking about it. I hope you guys come!!! We'd have the best time!!

INTERNET OK!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT!! I NOW HAVE THE INTERNET AT MY APARTMENT!!!

This might not seem like a big deal, but I was literally losing my mind over the issue. The sweet girl that is in charge of "dorm life" at my school had a guy come out to our place who knew NOTHING about Macs but after an hour he said "Ok it's fixed." I spent the next 5 minutes jumping up and down the hallway saying thank you thank you thank you. I also invited him to come visit in Texas--hope that's ok Mom and Dad!! I wanted to take him to dinner and buy him flowers but he acted really awkward when I suggested it.

Anyway, I have the internet which is HUGE in my life as I can now feel like I am in contact with the rest of the world.

take me out to the ball game!!!

I just want to say that I hope I can adequatly describe my first experience at a baseball game in Taiwan. I think it was my favorite thing here so far:) The Taiwanese love their baseball...

So a few of us from work went to a baseball game here in Hsinchu--the baseball stadium is about a 5 minute scooter ride from our apartment!! Tickets for the outfield cost about $3, but its actually really close because the stadium isn't that big. You can bring your own beer/peanuts/snickers bar to the stadium--so cool!! Well we walked in, and were looking for a spot to sit and we saw that one of the players in the outfield had the name "Gonzalez" on his back--the only one we could read because all the rest were in Chinese. Apparantly he's pretty big time over here. So we picked his team to win! It was the Bears vs. the Elephants. Since Gonzalez played for the Bears, that was our team.

The stadium was just pulsating with chants, one of which was to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" which I really got a kick out of. All the people in the stands had these noise maker things that you clap together, and lots of people had whistles and horns. There are horn routines that they know... one guy does a set of hoots, then everyone else copies him. The announcer is really into it too and gets really excited. Of course it's all in Chinese so it sounds really funny to me. It's great!

I have never been more into a game before in my life. We cheered for Gonzalez until we were hoarse. They have a chant for every player at bat and his was "GONZO! GONZO! GO! GO! GO!" which is really fun to yell over and over again. Every time he was in the outfield we would yell for him. He was only about 30 feet away because the stadium is so small. Then Emily and I had the bright idea that he might know Spanish, so we started yelling "Vamonos Gozales!!!!!" and that really got his attention. So much so that he walked over to us DURING THE GAME and we had a chat!!!!!!!!!! He asked us where we are from, what we are doing, what city we are in (he's a busy guy and can't keep track). Gonzo is a very nice man originally from Puerto Rico who now lives in San Diego. He is here for another 2 days. Loves playing for Tawian, the pay is good. It was brilliant!! All these kids swarmed over to where we were sitting to tell him that they love him, but he didn't seem too interested in talking to them. So for the rest of the game he kept turning around to chat with us. I WAS SO EXCITED. We taught all those kids a chant too and they were absolutely beside themselves when Gonzo turned around and tipped his hat at us!!!

I loved it, I can't wait to go again. I have never cheered so much or jumped up and down so much in my life at any other game. It was so much fun. Two of our co-workers had never been to a baseball game before so it was a great first experience for them.

I will post the photos I took of the game soon so you can check out the photographic evidence. I was really excited while writing this so sorry about the gramatical errors!!

Lost in Translation

Yesterday I wrote about the little girl who cried all day... well today our Taiwanese teacher, Angela, told us that "why" in Chinese means bad. So all day we would ask her "Why are you crying?" and so she thought we were telling her she was bad. She went home and told her parents that we don't like her and we told her she was bad over and over again. I think that's one of the funniest things that I've ever heard. Hahahahahahaha. I keep bursting into laughter every time I think about it.
So her parents and Angela explained that we were just trying to make her feel better. Today, since she is still crying, I say "What is wrong?" instead of "Why are you crying?". Oh my dear soul.

MY ADDRESS

If anyone wants to send me anything (letters, postcards, chocolate, pictures of your kids, Christmas cards, Etc.) here's where you send it:

Bethany Wallace
c/o American Eagle School
No. 76 Sec. 2
Dongda Rd.
Hsin-Chu City
Taiwan 30054

Looking forward to getting lots of mail now... HA!! :)

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands

This week has flown by! Teaching has gotten easier and I don't feel as stupid as I did last week. I am starting to discipline kids now if they don't pay attention--it's actually kind of fun to be authoritative, but it's hard for me to take it seriously. Come on, they're three!! They should be playing!! It's kind of a weird balance teaching kids this young because they still need to be taken care of and they need some compassion but their parents expect teachers to maintain a pretty strict class so they learn a lot. I'm still getting used to that.

Today we have had 4 of our kids crying off and on, which is actually the first time any of them have surprisingly enough. One little girl cried the entire class but still participated, so she was just sitting there sniffling away and every once in a while a little sob would sneak out. It was hilarious because she still answered questions and it sounded so funny--you know how it sounds when you try to talk but you're crying?? She was very unhappy but she knew that she still had to do everything. It was really comical to watch. We have a Taiwanese teacher named Angela (she's so helpful and wonderful!!) who enforces the rules most of the time and helps explain things for us. My co-teacher Glenn and I share the teaching load so I actually only teach every other day. The days when I'm not teaching I just sort of help control the class.

Right, so those oven mits I mentioned earlier are for grip on the scooter. But it seems like they would just make your hands really sweaty and defeat the purpose. I'm not getting any for my scooter--they look stupid.

Emily and I went to FE 21 last night which is the big mall here. It's sort of like a miniature version of Harrods but Asian. It was really overwhelming how much stuff they have (Lyd--they have a great shop just for Hello Kitty and it's extremely high quality and expensive!!!), and not much if it is familiar. As we browsed through some cosmetics we noticed that they sell WHITENING LOTION. So it actually makes your skin lighter. In the US we sell tanning lotion here they sell whitenint lotion. As Emily said; "No one is happy just as they are." It is interesting because people will wear long pants and long sleeves when it's hot as blazes outside so they don't catch the sun.

Last night when I went into the kitchen to get water to brush my teeth I saw a massive roach trot accross the floor and under a cabinet--it was too fat to run. Such vile creatures. I haven't seen many besides that, only a few small ones here and there. As long as they stay in the kitchen and out of me room, and especially off of my while I'm sleeping, then I might survive the year.

While we were walking home yesterday we stopped by a stand where a man was selling sugar cane and he gave us some for free! It was really good too! People are so nice here, especially if you are foreign. We get waved at and people say hi to us all the time. I'm a somebody in Taiwan... (Ellie, no one has told me I look like a supermodel yet which is relly shocking).

We are going bowling with our co-workers tonight which should be exciting, I have been looking forward to it all week.

Well I think that's all I have to say today, looking forward to the weekend!!!

In response to Aunt Mary's Email...

Kids here do go to school year round, they have about two weeks off in the winter and two in the summer. I don't teach on the weekends, but I'm not sure if they go to classes elsewhere. Lots of students go to Chinese school during the morning and English during the afternoon. Some kids go to bilingual schools so it isn't separate. The school where I teach is just for English. I teach at a private school so parents pay somewhere aroung $1500 US per month per child to send their three year olds to be taught by me!!! Unbelieveable. They don't have to start school at three although parents want their kids to be the smartest so they send them as early as possible. We have a class here for two year olds!! I'm not sure what their parents do but this city is where they make a lot of electronics and computer stuff so I'm guessing a lot of them are involved with that. My students are at school from 9am until 4pm, and lots of kids have piano or some other lessons after that. My students don't read or write yet, but they do speak a lot of Chinese (from the sound of it) and a fair amount of English already. Most of the students I am teaching were in the class before this one so they know their colors, shapes, ABC's and basic stuff like that.

The really horrible looking wound in the latest photo album I added was Emily's. She got too close to the exhaust pipe on our scooter and just melted part of her leg off... very painful looking eh? It's actually a really common thing here I guess because everyone is like "Oh yeah, that kills!"

Hope this answers all your questions and please ask more!!

Some Observations

Teaching three year olds all day is really tiring! Last night Emily and I feel asleep at 8:30 while watching a dvd--I hope I'm not that useless all year! We went to eat at a good Thai place last night that my friends Allison and Taylor recommended, I got a really really good Thai currey for only 160NT which is about $5!! I will definitely be eating there again soon. I am really happy that we have been able to find so many great places to eat in such a short time because food is very important to me, and liking the food is a plus! It's amazing how inexpensive eating out is here.

Okay, I meant to mention this before because it is so funny: garbage trucks tend to run in the late evening, and you know they are coming because they blare all sorts of music. Kind of like an ice cream truck with the volume as high as possible, you really can't miss it. So a garbage truck went by the other day, and I couldn't believe it but it was playing "Fur Elise"--the ice cream truck version and only the first part of the song OVER AND OVER VERY LOUDLY. That is weird to me.

Most Taiwanese and some foreigners wear masks over their faces I am guessing to keep out the pollution? Does that really work? It just looks scary to me, like everyone is infected with some deadly virus. I am starting to wonder if I should get one too but I just can't bring myself to buy one. Emily got a really nice plaid printed one yesterday but it sort of suffocated her, I tried to warn her that it was a bad idea. Anyway, they make them out of cloth so you see all sorts of prints; teddy bears, polka dots, Burberry you name it. So strange.

Also, on a lot of scooters you will see people wearing what looks like big oven mits on their hands. I am still very puzzled about what they are for. My only guess is that when it rains it keeps your hands dry for gripping purposes??? I will find out and get back to you on this.

I notice strange things everyday and laugh to myself thinking "where the heck am I?"

Our snack this morning was a runny porridge looking substance with tiny minnows floating around in it. They still had their eyes and everything and looked really disappointed by their fate. Needless to say, I didn't eat it.

Well my break is almost over and it's time to go to lunch. I am a little nervous about what I will find in my food today...

Photos

Thanks to some help from my friend Barrett (thank you so so much!!), I now can share my photos with the world!! My photo website is:

www.flickr.com/photos/bethanyjoywallace/

I will probably be adding lots of photos so get ready!

Ni Hao!!

Emily and I are sitting in the computer lab at school during our break. Today was my first day to work with my co-teacher Glenn (the kids pronounce it Grin). He just got here from South Africa and has some experience teaching which is really good because I'm still totally clueless.

Lunch was rice, pork with carrots, cabbage with tiny little shrimps hidden in it which was really shocking when I discovered them, and guava. Everything was a bit dodgy except for the guava which was very nice. I love the fruit here, its so fresh and so ripe! There are lots of good places to eat, we had really nice sushi the first night I was here, and the pizza hut was great! But sometimes I'm not so sure about the food, at school it isn't the best. Emily and I were laughing the other day because once you eat this food for several meals in a row your taste buds go into shock. I was eating a rice cake and literally couldn't tell if I liked it or not. I couldn't tell if it was sweet or salty!! So I think it will take some time to get used to the food. So far half the time I don't know what I'm eating and I don't know whether or not I even like it.

Today I learned how to say bathroom in Chinese, it sounds just like "meow meow" but with an "n" so it's "neow neow". Until now I wondered why my kids were meowing at me at random times. Ohhhh, they need to go the toilet. Seriously, I have been saying things like "No, we aren't playing animals right now, we are coloring." Wow, language barriers are funny. I am learning words and phrases very slowly. I now know how to say what my name is (Bethany), bathroom (neow neow), and "I want an egg pancake". Egg pancakes are very good and I recommend them highly. Just say "Done bing" and they will figure out what you want. Tasty.

Well I am still trying to figure out how to get photos on here, I want to just put a link up or something. Help me. I hope to get that all organized soon so I can stop thinking about it.

Until next time.....

me and a mango coco and big melons

IMG_4377
Originally uploaded by bethany11906

my students so far

IMG_4391
Originally uploaded by bethany11906

Yoyo, Ryan, Karen, Yui, Mia and Kanon

They are all three years old and very smart!!

Scooter Driving 101

Today I went for my first scooter drive. Going against all advice we have received, I started out my scooter driving experience with someone on the back (Emily), in heavy traffic going through downtown, and while it was raining constantly. We followed our lovely South African flatmates (Helga and Barbara) through the crowded streets and I am really happy to say that WE LIVED!!! The whole drive lasted about 2 hours as we stopped off in various shops and to have a bite to eat at Mos Burger. It was actually really really fun and exciting and I can't wait to go back out... I laughed the whole time.

Here are some rules I observed:

1. Traffic lights- green means go, red means go, yellow means go
2. Never look behind you or check your side mirrors, it's better to take your chances with what the people behind you are doing that risk the people in front of you stopping suddenly while you are looking elsewhere
3. It is okay to drive down the wrong side of the street
4. It is okay to suddenly stop and reverse in the middle of the road
5. Parking-it is okay to block people in so they can't move their scooter
6. If you get pulled over, play dumb
7. Weaving dangerously in and out of cars, busses and other scooters is necessary
8. If you want to turn left you have to go around the entire perimeter of the intersection until you get to the road you want to go down
9. No right on red, but if you want to, you can turn right on red

Now you too can drive a scooter in Taiwan!!!