"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls."

Now that all of the teachers who did not resign have gone back home, and all of the teachers who have resigned for next year are back in their home country enjoying a two month break, it is only us new teachers here. Well-- actually there are two teachers left from last school year that will stay to teach through July and two girls who are training through Cornel have joined us. The girls training will go to teach in China later this month. The people here, and the girls I am with, always make me feel very important and beautiful. The compliments still happen at random and all throughout the day. The Taiwanese people always ask to take photos of us, sometimes they sneak up out of no where just to snap a photo without us paying any attention.

The first actual week of school went very well, though everyday was different and a little better than the last. My 2nd-4th grade Summer students are all visitors to Cornel, meaning they have not actually gone through Cornel, so their English is much lower than what a Cornel 2nd-4th grader would know. I quickly realized on day one that the majority of what I had planned would not be attainable. Wednesday was better because I now had plans for what they could actually accomplish, however I was still having trouble filling 2.5 hours on just a set of 10 vocabulary words. It wasn't until after my second day that I was informed that grammar and phonics should be incorporated for a half hour each! Needless to say Thursday was the best day!

Friday I went on a field trip to Chung-she Flower Garden. It was beautiful! I was the only English teacher going, but I didn't mind that they spoke Mandarin the majority of the time. The students and the staff are respectful enough to que me in every now and then and the rest I just observed and read body/facial expressions. When we arrived, we all dispersed to different tables to start the BBQin'! Luckily I was placed with two of the older Korean boys who apparently were very good with cooking meat and using the two different grills at our table.  We continued to cook and eat for almost an hour, I was stuffed! The students spent 20-30 minutes playing, then they were called back to the tables to finish any food left, majority being meat. They are not allowed to waste the food, the students at my table were even playing 'scissors, paper, stone' to see who had to eat what pieces left. The garden was delightful, though the kids were more interested in running around, I made sure to get some great photos.

My 7th grade class only meets twice a week. The class is small, only 6 students, but I really like it. Surprisingly, they are the most shy students I have met. The class is aimed at getting the students confidence up, getting them to speak in public, share opinions, and be willing to talk with foreigners! It is a challenge to get them to speak, but I am proud to say I have been successful! We read an article about a man whose visa expired in Taiwan and since he did not have enough money to leave the country, he decided to build a raft from logs and Styrofoam and sail to Japan. He claimed to be inspired by the movie The Life of Pi. He didn't make it, if you were wondering. The students really enjoyed that story. I had them create their own alternative ending and change the title. It was a great topic, and their creativity and artistic ability was jaw-dropping. At the end of every class the students stand up and say "Thank you, Teacher Kalee." :-)

After moving in Sunday, making my first trip to the grocery store, trying out our exquisite pool, and surviving my first week of teaching, it was really nice to get to see the other girls who don't live at the Palace for the 4th of July! We had a small celebration consisting of burgers, chips, dumplings, and a couple adult beverages.  It is a great feeling to be apart of something like this. A group of strangers from all over the U.S. that came together and formed relationships and collaborated so quickly. I still have many times I stop to appreciate it all and almost don't believe it's real. The night continued on with games, conversations, and songs. Singing, or karaoke, seems to be quite popular here and it's rubbed off on all of us.

Friday night we went out to celebrate one of the girls' 22nd birthday. Cassie (bday girl) is the 2nd youngest of the group, Kelly (my roommate) is the youngest and will be 22 in March. We went out to a dance club. --Actually, as of 3 years ago, dance clubs are the only kinds of bars you can find in Taichung. There was a very bad fire in a pub style bar where 9 people died and 12 were injured, so now regulations have changed and you cannot find any pub style bars around Taichung.-- Before the club, we ate at a very well decorated vegetarian restaurant where we all sat on the floor to eat, no shoes allowed there either. The club was $300NT so about $9 to get in, but then unlimited, free drinks all night! Later that night, a few of us met some other foreigners. They were from Canada, kindergarten teachers as well, and have lived in Taiwan for over 5 years!

Today, we went to Sun Moon Lake. It is the largest body of water in Taiwan and is named one of thirteen Natural scenic areas in Taiwan! Many mountains, hiking trails, temples, and other tourist attractions surround the lake, including an amusement park! Swimming in not allowed in the lake except for once a year during a 3-km Swimming Carnival around Mid-Autumn. The lake is a holy ground for the Thao tribe and due to a dam breaking many years ago, some temples have been removed.
 Cassie, Katie & I
We were all supposed to meet at the bus station to take a 2-2.5 hour bus ride to the lake. When it came time to board, only three of us were there so we knew we had to be in the wrong bus spot. (We've come to realize that sometimes the taxi drivers do not know where they are going-- happened twice now.) Only one of the new teachers have a phone and it was not one of us. When we finally got a payphone handy, I saw 4 of the girls on a bus drive by. The three of us thought we could chase it down, that did not work out for us. Luckily, a nice, friendly old man said he would get us to the lake. He led us to a taxi driver who would take us for $1000NT ($30). We took the offer! It only took us 50 minutes to get there. We arrived first and by some miracle all 15 of us found each other, even with 5 different forms of transportation getting us to the lake.

Half of the girls wanted to hike and see the temples, the other half wanted to take the cable car ride and go to the amusement park. We did all go on the boat tour. I wanted to do the cable cars, see a few shows, and do the park so I did that. The cable car ride was simple enough, but the view was spectacular. The park had a few roller coasters and other thrill rides, then we quickly saw a show were they danced. The whole park had a Mayan theme. The bus ride back took almost three hours!

 Beef and noodle soup

Sun Moon as a storm was coming in.
Work week 2 begins tomorrow! --Thanks for reading--

FYI; The bug repellent has been working, when I put it on three times a day. I had to get indoor shoes for work, the hard marble was killing my poor high arched feet. Elevators do not have sensors here, so we have to be very careful not to be in the way when they shut.

BTW; The trash man here plays a song loud through the streets when he comes by. I think they do this so trash doesn't sit outside for all the giant bugs to get to. However, the music sounds like an ice cream truck, and I've noticed my intake of ice cream has drastically increased.