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???!!!!!!