Travel is the Only Thing You Buy that Makes You Richer.

Just as I had predicted, completing blogs weekly would only last for so long.


On the other hand, there is quite a lot to share. 






After 11 weeks we finally received our ARC, Alien Resident Cards, which means we are now legal to live and work in Taiwan. We also have a bank account set up. Still waiting on health insurance. An abundance amount of patience is definitely a trait one must have to teach and travel. :)
 
We get a four day weekend for a Taiwan Government Holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival, coming up in two weeks. Four other girls and I booked a short trip to the Philippines. The flight is just over an hour and the round trip tickets were cheaper than most tickets you buy flying state to state in the U.S. I am very excited. I hope to snorkel! However, because of the four day weekend, we have to work the previous Saturday. 



The "old" teachers have returned from there two month visit back to their home states/countries. We all went to eat at a BBQ joint called Joe John's. Joe John's has to be some of the best food I've had here! They had broccoli, corn, green peppers, mushrooms wrapped in pork, another veggie similar to green beans also wrapped in pork all BBQ'd {very light BBQ :)}as cabobs. Sounds simple, but it was delicious! Then we tried some frozen mango at Costco, not even close to fresh mango. :( Till Next Season, Mango!
Some BIG news: I drove my first scooter. I am still waiting on getting my scooter (aka health insurance). However, in the mean time, I am borrowing a former teacher's old scooter. I Love Scooting! It's so quick, smart, cheap, fun, and exhilarating to me. I am considering getting one in the states, although I would quickly get a ticket considering here I can drive how and where I want. I have slowly been learning my way around. For me, landmarks work better than the street signs that all seem to start with H, X, or Z. 


I went to my first thrift shop, found a purse and a top, 50 NT each! Tried an egg tart on our way back from a night market, where we had tried a tea egg. A tea egg is an egg hard boiled in tea. They love their tea here, I unfortunately taste soap no matter what flavor I try.





Finally made it back to the Jade Market. This is a market just for selling authentic jewelry, art, and sculptures by the Taiwanese. I have been wanting to return since my first week here. It seems to be the best place for souvenirs and gifts. As I finished bargaining for a jade ring I had my eyes on, I was persuaded by the same women to buy a chess set for 500NT ($15). Now it seems like a random purchase, however when she pulled it out to show me I had two great memories come into mind. When I was much, much younger I was taught how to play chess in my uncle's apartment in Denver. I also used to play house with the chess pieces at an even younger age. Along with the ring and chess set, I bought two bracelets and three pairs of earrings. 



Three other great restaurants we've tried. KiKi: Thai Restuarant, a bit spicy for me, but it was very good. Le Blu Dor, which serves German beer and delicious food. And, Early Bird, which is a complete foreign joint, but when they play football on the t.v., serve a special on wings on Wednesday and Tequila on Tuesday's it stands to show they know what American's want. We ate there the night before Jodi and Erin left for the teaching adventure in China.




My walls are still pretty bare in my room, but I am very proud of my travel wall I decorated.


 



The BIGGEST news of all is I FINALLY started teaching MY 3rd grade class!!!! :-D First, I have to say I am blessed. My kids are so smart! Currently, I teach 16 students for three hours on Monday and another 4 for one hour after that. On Tuesday I teach the same 4 kids again for two hours. Wednesday I teach all 20 for three hours and after I teach a Grad Class. Thursday's I teach a Public Speaking class. Friday I only teach the Grad Class. This will most likely be changing again, but not by much. My teaching doesn't begin until 1:50 P.M. on Monday and Wednesday. 5 P.M. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Needless to say, I will need a day hobby. Although, as much free time as I seem to have I am actually enjoying spending many hours planning and prepping.

I have not taken any pictures of my students yet, nor my classroom because it is a work in progress. I am stoked to create my own classroom, my own behavior management system, my own rules, expectations, assignments, etc. We have four rules in my class; Courtesy, Always prepared, Respect, and Effort, acronym C.A.R.E. because my 3rd grade Stars CARE! This is something I am reinforcing daily with my Stars, by the end of the year they'll have reviewed, discussed, and practiced these rules so many times that they'll have no choice but to continue to apply them to their daily lives! Fingers crossed. They have individual goals, as well as a classroom reward of a party when their class jar is filled. I had the students vote on an attention getter, so when I say "Macaroni and Cheese," they say, "Everybody Freeze." It works amazingly. They got through the testing required in the first week of school and now we are getting into the real meat of the curriculum. Again, I've only been at it with them for three days, there is much more to come. I can not even think of the correct word to describe just how happy and perfect it feels when I am with these kids. As much as I loved my Summer Unicorn's and my Kindergarten Little Critter's, this is exactly where my talents can best be used and it excites me to such an extreme that it's just begun! 

I'll end my rant.   

Thanks for reading! - K

"The Best Part of Beauty is that which No Picture can Express."

HAPPY 2 MONTHS IN TAIWAN ! 

Well I have tried stinky tofu folks, and I am not a fan. As horrible as it smells, just like a dirty baby's diaper, surprisingly some of the girls like it. I, however, could not get it down and had to slyly spit it out into a napkin. A stroll through the night market on any given evening will always have it's surprises. We ran into a stand which consisted of large male 'members' being served at your choice of ice cream, corn dog, doughnut, or soap. We also found an alley way fortune teller where my roommate Kelly had her love fortune told. Fortune telling is a fairly common practice here, it's actually recommended as part of the Taiwan experience.

Great news: Finally had our first payday! Hip hip hooray!!

Bad news: I am the last one to have a scooter -_-

Over the weekend, the majority of us teachers joined Uncle Michael and his wife for a 2 hour bus ride North to New Taipei, the Capitol of Taiwan. We left at 6 in the morning and stopped at a temple on the way out of town. We recieved Tao, pronounced 'dao,' which means "the way" or "the path." In English this is referred to as Taoism, related closely with Confucianism and Zen Buddhism. We kneeled while we took our bows, said the words, became blessed by The Master and were given the Three Treasures of Tao. The second treasure is the Tao ancient saying, which consists of five words. We are only permitted to speak the words inside of a temple. We can not share them with anyone who has not recieved Tao or speak them outside of the temple. We should think of these words in time of need, much like a prayer to God. Almost anyone can recieve Tao, but only ONCE in your life can you recieve it.
The temple was beautiful inside. In the front of the room sat three large, mostly golden, statues of ancient Tao leaders. Bright colors, candles, incense all filled the room. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed. Afterwards, we were congratulated and given instructions to weave a ball with 5 different colors and to place a bell inside. The 5 colors and the bell is for luck and remembrance of Tao.

A few of us were extremely tired on the bus and had hoped to sleep comfortably for at least an hour. Not the case. Apparently we were on a karaoke bus.  The entire drive to Taipei consisted of unnecessary loud Taiwanese women and men singing songs that we of course could not understand. I mean unbearbly loud, it was miserable. The karaoke did not stop there, we also endured it on our bus ride home. This was when we decided, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We enthusiastically sang, "My Girl," "Pretty Woman," "Can't Take my Eyes off of You," and "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You." Only then did we realized we encouraged them to continue singing. Many Taiwanese came to thank us, shake our hand, and record us singing. Quite the experience.

We finally arrived at Jingtong Train Station, were we got to spend an hour eating lunch, walking over a "love bridge" and gift shops. For lunch we had a banana, a seaweed wrap with rice, tofu, corn and some kind of seafood meat inside and a pancake with bean stuffing. The drink was a prune tea, not good at all. At the gift shops I picked out some souvenirs and post cards for family. The Jingtong rail way tracks are the actual tracks left from the coal mining days. Because of this, many people were taking photos on the tracks before the train came.

The train sped on by and we jumped on to take it to our next destination. It was here we walked over the coal miners dedication bridge, which reminded me of a book I once read called, Dragon's Gate. (Great book for upper elementary students.) In this area there were lots of people sending off giant lantern, this got my attention. Erin and I paid 100NT to decorate our own lantern and sent it off into the sky. Each color represented something different. For example, pink was luck in happiness, blue was luck in transportation, there was also one for luck in studying. We chose white, luck for the future.

We ventured to our main destination, the Shifen Waterfall. The Shifen Waterfall is the broadest waterfall in Taiwan, 132 feet. We found many elegant and grade statues throughout the hiking area around the waterfall. While we were here there was a woman who continually attempted to speak to me in Chinese. I finally had it translated and she was telling me I was beautiful. She also wanted a picture with me. The funny part, for the picture she grabbed my waist with one hand and put her other hand on my shoulder. It felt like an engagement photo.

Our last stop was a beautiful lantern night market in New Taipei. (The actual Lantern Festival takes place after the Chinese New Year, it is one of several festivals in Taiwan.) We had one hour to eat dinner and look around. After being blessed in Tao we are not supposed to eat meat for 24 hours. The menu was all in Chinese, (usually there is an English one to look at) but we were pointed to the vegetarian meals and we ordered blindly. I was not surprised 4 out of 5 meals showed up as tofu. We did not finish all of the food, so we boxed the rest up and gave it to a homeless man who was sitting near the front of the market. I could see in his reaction that he was more than grateful for the food. It was a very heart warming moment.

Back in Taichung:
For the past two nights the moon has been more visibly clear than I have seen in many many years. I could not help but stop and stare.
In the night market, I had my first American style bacon cheese burger at an adorable little place called Rabbit Rabbit. I also had my first pedicure which was 90 minutes long!
 


I meant a young Taiwanese man with pretty good English named Sam last week. We went to a great Japanese restaurant where we had a hot pot among other things for dinner. Hot pots are very popular here and are found many places. Basically they have water, soy sauce, and the food you have chosen simmering in a metal pan on a small fire at your table. Very fresh and tasty! Later we went to see my first movie in Taiwan. We went to see Elysium with Matt Damon. Luckily for me, the movies remain in English and have Chinese subtitles. It's unfortunate for the Taiwanese that have to read every movie they want to go see. Sam has been teaching me some Chinese as well which is a great bonus to the friendship. I have learned how to say, "I have a younger sister." "Can you dance?" "I like to shop." "I love my grandma."
The wonderful Chinese staff put on a great surprise pot luck birthday party for our boss Susan. She turned 28. This is her first year as the "principal" of Cornel. Everyone brought a dish. After the surprise and the singing we ate it all! The Chinese staff put great thought into her birthday. They played a video which had a recorded message from her parents in South Africa, former teachers, and her sister. Quite the tear jerker.

Uncle Michael invited the Shang An girls to play the Nan Men girls in a game of volleyball. As a member of the Nan Men Campus I can say that we took a horrible beating by Shang An. It was still a great time. We mixed up the teams and even invited other people into our game which made the day even better.

Fun facts:
Corn is the ONLY vegetable you will find in the canned isle.
The night clubs have major themes, if you abide by the themes you can get in for free, including free drinks. However, smoking is still allowed inside :-(

Taiwan's histororical/original name was Formosa, meaning beautiful island. The name was given by the Portuguese.

It is the year 102 in Taiwan. In 1912 Taiwan was established as the  people's Republic of China, ROC.
Valentine's Day in Taiwan is the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which happened to be August 13th this year. Also called Tanabata or the Qixi Festival.
Taiwanese are born at 1 years old not 0 as we are. They have birth dates, BUT they do not add a number to their age until Chinese New Year. Therefore, everyone gets a year older at the same time. 

Thanks for reading -K

"To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude."

Kenting, Taiwan 

This weekend I headed south to Kenting with the 5 girls I worked with at the ShangAn campus AND 4 of the amazing Chinese staff; Glory, Patricia, ChiaChi, and Maureen. It took us a little over 3 hours to get to Kaohsiung (2nd largest city in Taiwan), and from there we took a taxi to our hotel in Kenting.

Saying the Chinese staff is amazing does not do justice for what I am implying, so I will give a few examples. First arriving in Taiwan I brought $700 U.S. dollars AKA $18,800 NT. Our first paycheck is not until August 8, so for 7 weeks I have lived in another country and done all of these amazing things off of that money, however I was down to my last $5oo NT ($15) when this trip was planned. Glory let me borrow the money I would need for Kenting and any of the activities I wanted to do! They also rented scooters through the hotel and offered to drive us so we were able to see multiple beaches, the night market, and have a few adult beverages.
 

We arrived at our adorable hotel called, Seeds of Heart. Like most things in Taiwan, it was brightly colored and had its cute decorations. We were right across from the ocean and of course we had a 7 Eleven next to us.

We scooted to a beach that was much less rocky than the one across from us. The waves were some of the biggest I have ever seen in all my travels to oceans.  All of the beaches were incredibly packed with people. The weekend we went was actually the last weekend most Taiwanese people would be allowed to go because of their belief in Ghost Month. 



Ghost month, also known as Hungry Ghost Festival begins on the 15th night of the 7th lunar month. Just as many other Taiwanese holidays and festivals, the time of the Ghost month is based off the lunar calendar.  The belief is that the realm of Heaven and Hell are opened and that ghosts and spirits from the lower realms come out to visit the living. Taiwanese will cook elaborate meals and set it out at empty seats to feed their dead ancestors, then they will have to eat all of the food that remains. The belief is based from Buddhism and is meant to help relieve any suffering from the ghosts. The festivals will be taken outside of the house, but many shops and markets will close to make room for the spirits. Chiachi and Maureen told us this and many other traditions / forbidden activities that happen during this month. Such as, not going to the beach. Going to the beach would be considered very dangerous because the lower realm spirits may try to take you.  

Back to the beach, we all played around in the water as we waited for our turn on the jet ski's and the "banana boat," which is basically tubing with multiple people. Michelle and I jumped onto a jet ski, he made sure we had a dead grip on his chest, then he took off. The waves were HUGE and we were jumping, diving, turning into them. I was screaming, laughing, smiling uncontrollably. I felt so alive! We were dropped off on the banana boat, a few minutes later Katie and Rhonda joined us and we took off on our next rush. Katie had a waterproof camera, which took some great photos, including some from when she flew off the back of the banana boat!

As we took the jet ski ride in, we were mortified to hear that two people had been swept out to sea by the waves. One was found quickly, placed on a stretcher and rushed to the ambulance. The other man unfortunately did not survive. 

Before we prepared for the night, we took some pictures of the sunset. It was quiet at this time, peaceful, and more beautiful then any photo could capture.

 

We scooted down to the night market which had a variety of games, shops, and food of all different assortments. We even passed a place that Glory called a "Lady Boy" club, which would be like a drag queen bar in America. For food, I tried a bit of everything. An 'authentic cooked' sweet sausage, shrimp that was so fresh I could taste the ocean, a fried Oreo, corn dog, and cheesy potatoes. I played a game with Maureen and Rhonda where we had to shoot darts at water balloons. The other girls played basketball or a 'shooting' range. I didn't have money to buy anything really, but there are some amazing market treasures down in Kenting.

Saturday we spent out last couple hours on a different beach. The waves were much more calm when we arrived, but they picked up by noon. We were able to swim for about 45 minutes, until the lifeguards had us stay near the shoreline. Good call on their part, because the waves would knock us over even on the shoreline!  Most of the Asian men were wearing speedos, which is a definite change from back home. I also saw three different couples wearing matching board shorts, too cute. We did all the things you should do on a beach, play in the sand, lay out, enjoy the shade of a beach umbrella, people watch, etc.  


 






We made it home around 10:30 P.M. after a delicious dinner in Kaohsiung and many embarrassing shared stories on the bus ride in. I am extremely grateful to have been put at the ShangAn campus and now the NanMen campus, because now I have a strong bond with ShangAn girls and soon to be NanMen. :-) Truly Blessed in so many ways!   

I will go back to Kenting not only for the beaches, the shopping, and the people. I still have to go to Kenting National Park where the southernmost tip of Taiwan, the Eluanbi Lighthouse, is located!

Fun Facts:

-Teaching kindergarten is actually illegal in Taiwan. Were told the owner of our school has great connections.

-Gas is 35 NT, which would be $1.17 a gallon in the states.

-Taiwanese believe that ice cream and other cold beverages shrink a woman's womb and make periods more painful. This is why they drink so many hot/warm beverages. 

-Two classes, different campuses, have had to cancel school for a week because two or more students have gotten the hand, foot, mouth disease.

- Taiwanese continue you to be fascinated with us foreigners. As a group we were asked to have a picture  taken five times. Two other times I was singled out and asked. The creepiest is when we we know their snapping photos, but they don't ask.
-Father's day is August 8. But NO mother's day, so they use the American Mother's Day in May.

-Dairy products are some of the most expensive food you can buy.
-The food goes bad quickly, but that's also because they are not loaded with preservatives.

-They use real sugar which is good, but they sweeten the oddest foods like mayo or peanut butter. 

 
First time I really got to see the stars in Taiwan. :-)  --Thanks for reading  -K

 

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."

I'm FINALLY in my real Taiwan home! :-)

I spent my last day at the Shang An Campus with my Unicorn class, along with T. Michelle's Rainbows and Sparkles class, at the National Museum of Natural Science.

We went into the Life Science exhibit, which included dinosaurs, fossils, and an extreme look into the human body.
It was rather depressing reading their insights on our decaying bodies after the age of 25, they also had a world population clock which sky-rocketed in the 2 minutes I watched it.


I had wondered if smokers lungs were any different than air polluted lungs, my question was answered there as well.

T. Michelle, T. Glory & I :-)









We then went to the Space IMAX theater, where we watched "SeaRex" on a screen that encircled around the entire seating. The chairs reclined almost completely horizontal which was nice. The show was all in Chinese so I made up my own dialogue :-)

It was overall one of my best days in Taiwan. I woke up happy, the sun was shining, and then my kids made me feel so loved as they rushed out to say goodbye to me. I almost made it out without crying, but like that 90s pop star once said, almost doesn't count.

I went for mango shaved ice one last time with the Palace girls. Finished packing, ate at a delicious 100NT ($3) joint across the street from the Palace, then we watched Monster's University which was surprisingly great!

Saturday, Uncle Michael helped my move my suitcases and my bike over to my new apartment where I will be living at the remainder of my time here with Kelly. Uncle Michael is the full time Taiwanese helper of all the Cornel staff. We call him Uncle because he really treats us all like family. He's the one who fixes our broken AC when it goes out in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday, fixes our bikes when the chain falls off, fixes anything really... drives us to places when we don't have a scooter, sets us up with activities outside of school like volleyball or bowling, plays water-sports with the kids, and many more things I haven't even had to ask him for. He showed me a scooter yesterday that I may get, but I am trying to knock down the price from 12000NT to 10500NT. He is a genuine, caring man. We are lucky to have him.

Saturday I spent all day scrubbing and cleaning my room and my FIRST own bathroom!! I am very excited to have my own bathroom. I spent a few hours scrubbing the floors, walls, toilet, tub, trashcan, and sink. I enjoyed the fresh start and now it really feels like mine!

Our apartment is AMAZING and quite spacious for two people. We live on the 9th floor, and we are 5-10 minute bike ride to Nan Men, the campus I work at now. We live a few blocks away from a university, which is nice because there is a track we can use to run! One downside, our apartment does not have filtered water so we have to buy gallons. We do have to use a key fob to get up the elevator, just as in the Palace. We keep our shoes outside of our door as well. The apartment is completely furnished when we move in. Surprisingly, we have really nice living room furniture.The T.V. doesn't work (though I can't recall ever watching T.V. here). We have ceramic tile in all of the rooms. A dining room/hallway area with a small two person table. Off of the dining room to one side is my bathroom, the other side is the kitchen. Our kitchen does not have a lot of storage for food, our fridge is half the size of a regular fridge and there is not much cupboard space. Off of the kitchen is our patio, it is spacious as well. Our washer and dryer are out there as well as the beautiful view of Taichung city and mountains!

                                                                  Sunrise at the apartment.

Down the hall there are four rooms. Kelly's room is larger than mine, she has a twin bed, a desk, and her bathroom is connected to her room. My room has a queen size bed, a miniature patio (as of now it's filthy), and just enough space for me to get around comfortably. We have a spare bedroom with a twin bed, a desk, book shelves, and countless things that have been left by previous teachers. Then we have a dressing room. The dressing room is quite unique. Kelly and I each have our own "closet" and drawers, though there is more than we need. The room has a big mirror and a chair too. It is basically our dressing quarters. Unusual, but neat.

After the move and all the cleaning, Saturday night I was ready to have some fun! Kelly, Brittany, and I went out to XCube. Foreigners are a hit here. It would seem like we are famous. We didn't pay to get in or anything else that night. We were pulled onto the dance stage within minutes of being there, the crowd holds out their hands to us, mimic our dance moves, and we encourage the Taiwanese girls to join us. We met many great people. Two we met were Gina and Vicki, both Taiwanese with very good English, we are making future plans with them.


A HUGE difference about the girls here versus the girls back home: here, the girls want to meet, dance, share, love, enjoy new people. Back home girls compete for a meaningless guys attention, call each other names on the dance floor, stick to their group of friends and don't enjoy those around them. It's things like this that make me never want to leave.




I started teaching "Little Critters," which is Old Jangban, 4-5 year olds. I will teach them for 5 weeks. Devastating because after 2 days they had stolen my heart. It was a bit stressful to get thrown into this class with no observation, no conversation about it, nothing really to prep me for it. There are 12 students, 4 are girls. My Chinese teacher is Teacher Tonya. She probably thinks I'm an idiot since I have been winging it these first days.
After playing outside the students have to change their shirts and get their hair blow dried because they are soaked in sweat.


The kids listen very well, they are engulfed in what I say to them and their memory is very impressive. We spend a lot of time singing songs, reading books, doing crafts, did I mention singing songs? The actual curriculum starts next week, so this week we are reviewing colors, shapes, and learning about baby animals. There are so many personalities in the classroom. In two days I think I've gotten about 30 hugs. 2/3 being from the same little girl Lisa.







I will say they serve an amazing lunch at Nan Men. We are given three different choices, and even some fried food. Today they had dragon fruit, BUT that doesn't beat Shang An having mango!

Fun Facts:
There is NO DIET soda, anywhere on the entire island of Taiwan.
Burping is considered a sign of good digestion, not something to excuse.
The giant skyscraper buildings being built in Taichung will host up to 5 families in the entire building!
Ghost Month starts next week!
--Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave questions below if you have any! -K