"The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone."

Exciting news! My Valentine story WILL be published in the February issue of Rainbow Time :-)

I also signed up to teach a Public Speaking Class starting in September.

HAPPY ONE MONTH of living in TAIWAN!

Since this is my last week in the Nantun District of Taichung, I have been working on really exploring the area I am currently living in. This area has so much to offer. We are within walking distance of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Natural Science, which includes the Botanical Gardens, a Science Center, a Global Environmental Hall, a Life Science Hall, Human Cultures, and an IMAX. We are also near People's park, many nice hotels and malls. I would say we are downtown in the city, but there seems to be more than one downtown in Taichung.

Taiwan does have its touch of America in it. We have quite a few McDonalds, Starbucks, and Coldstone. I have also seen a KFC and a Subway here and there. You will also see a few cartoon characters that are "American," or at least so I think- Snoopy, Looney Toons, and Mickey Mouse are huge. 
Taiwanese youth seems to be going through- or still is in - a boy band phase. This is fine by me. They love Backstreet Boys. I have seen their old music videos being played in the superstores more than once. They also have their own Asian Boy bands who have some pretty catchy tunes. Especially Only U. If you watch, please wait for the chorus. One downfall to the topic of music here, I have no idea what hits are coming out back home. We can hear tons of English songs, but nothing newer than 2012.

If you are interested in the climate of Taiwan this is a great website to check out. The use Celsius with an average low of 13C in January and February which turns to about 55F. The average highest is 33C in July and August, which is about 94F. 

On Friday after school a small group of us went to the Feng Jia night market. I had been once before, but I was so overwhelmed with how big it was and the amount of distractions that I did not purchase anything. This time I bought a pair of shoes, a pair of royal blue shorts, and a must buy shirt featuring an elephant.
It's odd that outside of the night markets a lot of the shops and places to eat on the streets will open and close when it best suits them. There are times you will stop somewhere in the middle of the day and they've decided to close up shop.  You will never have trouble finding an open 7/11 or a tea shop, that is 100% guaranteed.

We have an ongoing joke among us "white" girls. Whenever we see another foreigner, and because it is somewhat rare, someone in the group shouts out, "Unicorn!" 

Later that same evening Katie, Cassie and I met a few of the other girls down at Hotel One. Supposedly the tallest building in Taichung. We chose this place because it is said to have an amazing view and live music. However the main reason was because of Jeff.  Jeff was also hired at the UNI fair where the majority of us were hired. I met him at the fair just after we had both been offered jobs. He arrived with a group of 10 other teachers (most from the Midwest- even one from Iowa) just over a week ago. So we worked on joining our groups.  You could REALLY see the difference in our groups based on just comfort of being in Taiwan. We have been here for a month now and they were on their 8th day.  We were dancing and conversing with locals and other people outside of our group. They were sitting down and sticking to themselves, just as we may have been.  BUT I do think I am in a very confident, beautiful group of girls that just love to dance and meet people. So I feel blessed :-)
 

On Saturday we celebrated our One Month Living in Taiwan!! Angela, Cassie, Katie and I had a lovely brunch at a place called Mocha Jane's Coffee House. It reminded me of a Panera. We had a wonderful conversation of future endeavors. Where we will visit this year, where we will teach next year, etc. I hope to visit Angela in South Africa someday. There is also a 5k marathon on the Great Wall of China that I hope to do in May.


We then walked to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. There were a lot of sections where no photography was allowed. One artist I took an interest in was Paul Chiang, he specializes in spiritual art. Art is something difficult to put into words, but I will say that art is as big of a focal point to the Taiwanese as protecting the environment. One painting was called "After the Extinction of the Bees." It was a dead, rotted Sunflower inside with cobwebs, out the window (what I took as looking into the past) were beautiful flourished Sunflowers. Quite sad. It also made me remember that I have seen bees being taken care of twice in different areas of Taichung. This countries effort to DO SOMETHING about the environment is noticeable.

On the walk home I purchased my first fruit market mango. I ate half of it today. If I could bring one thing back to America to share with everyone, it would be the taste of Taiwan mangoes!

I have tried to use a mask to block some of the city fumes. It is entirely too hot to wear, but I will try again.














Sunday, the Palace girls and I took a cab to see the giant Laughing Buddha that is famous in Taichung. After we enjoyed him and the surrounding sights we walked to the Botanical Gardens, which is apart of the National Museum of Natural Science. Then we walked through the featured outdoor exhibit which is all about how "Art is good for you." Before stopping at home we had an amazing dinner at Nu Pasta.

Two notable mentions. Some of the Taiwanese, especially girls, get very, very excited to just say 'Hello' to an American. They perk up, wave their hands very quickly, say hello and then giggle, smile and usually turn to talk about it with someone they are with. Also the Taiwanese don't start doing things till later in the day. Both Saturday and Sunday around 3 o'clock all of the sudden it was packed with people everywhere we went. Not sure why this is.




Currently I am reading two books, White Oleander and A Storm of Swords.  --Thanks for reading--XX-K

"Wherever I Go, I Speak Of You With Love."

Typhoon season is here! They officially announced the start of typhoon season on Tuesday. By the end of school on Wednesday, Katie and I were riding our bikes home in a down pour of rain, luckily the wind hadn't picked up too badly by then. It was more fun than scary at that point, we were laughing and having a good time all the way home. We were soaked to the bone of course, but it was a great excuse for a night in.

< --satellite photo of the typhoon just before it really hit.

The next day however, I did not have such a great adventure on my bicycle. I made a trip to the grocery store, Carrefour, on my own. For those who know me really well know that directions are not my strong suit, but I made it. The thrill came after getting my groceries. I had bought milk (not quite the same as back home, little creamier), cranberry juice, eggs (smaller, darker yoke), grapes, apples (some of the best I've had), bananas, beef (a little chewy, pork is the better meat here), bread, cream cheese, crackers, yogurt (haven't found the right kind yet), and toilet paper. All that I bought for $770NT or $23 in the U.S. Now remember my form of transportation is a bike. Needless to say, I had my first, second, and third encounter of an almost crash accident all in the short bike ride home from Carrefour.


Pulled over to get a picture with this construction worker ;-)                                      -- >

The blame is partially my own fault, I should have thought more carefully about what I could carry. However, partial blame also has to go to the chaotic driving situations of Taiwan. There are many intersections without stop lights/signs. Cars, SUVs, or scooters will honk and then go right on through, sometimes they won't even honk. Taiwanese have not been driving as many years as we have in the states and no one is required to take a driver's ed course here. In just 3 weeks I have seen a vast amount of people and things riding on scooters around town. I have seen big dogs and little dogs, moms with babies strapped to themselves, dads with a toddler standing between his legs, sometimes even two kids. I have seen couples in love, girls in stilettos, men in bare feet, women and men in dress suits, people who carry suitcases, brooms, food dishes, propane tanks, you name it.  You do have to wear a helmet while scooting and a majority of people will wear a mask to block some of the fumes, something I still need to get! I have also seen umbrellas attached to bikes/scooters to block the sun. Most women will even put on sweaters backwards to block the sun as well. To add on, there is a ton of construction going on everyday. There are at least five skyscrapers going up in our area right now, the roads are either being swept or drilled into. People will pull over, put their hazards on and just leave their cars- not even in a parking spot. You have to be on full alert.
My artwork of what I see on a typical bike ride.

The Typhoon really hit on Friday night and early Saturday morning, continued into Saturday day and was finished by 4 P.M. Since it was the weekend we did not have a "Typhoon Day," AKA no school. The government will make the call on whether or not there is a "Typhoon Day," and almost everything in the city will shut down. My city, Taichung is surrounded by mountains so were we live was protected fairly well from the typhoon. Around the coast lines more than 2,000 people had to be evacuated into central Taiwan. To me, it just seemed to be a very heavy rainstorm with strong winds, nothing you would want to get stuck in, but not scary. The river did swell up quite drastically. I was amazed that within 6 hours of the typhoon passing it had gone back down to it's original level.

Over the weekend, typhoon and all, a few of us went to LUVstock. LUVstock is put on once a year it is claimed to be "Central Taiwan's Biggest Independent Art/Music Gathering." On Friday night, only four of us went, but since the typhoon was heading our way, we were among the few to show up. We had a great time meeting other foreigners, dancing to music, and walking around the site. LUVstock is held at a place called 'The Refuge,' which is an abandoned amusement park. It was captivating to see and climb into some of the old rides, like teacups and a pirate ship.

When I asked for a hula hoop and was presented one I was ecstatic! Hula hooping is a hobby a few friends of mine back home got me in to. I really enjoyed getting to do something I loved so much back home in my new home. Not only that, but they were all amazed at what I could do with the hoop when really my skill level is not that high. We left very late, or very early depending on how you look at it, in the pouring rain. As we ran into the cab, soaking wet, the poor car driver yelled out "My Car!!" We felt pretty bad.

We returned on Saturday with a few more girls. There were many more people now that the storm had passed, and the best part, live music! They had a variety of bands, some were so-so, others were exceptional! We danced all night, had some really good BBQ, and met more foreigners (most being from Canada and almost all were teachers).  The highlight of my weekend at LUVstock was watching the fire show. A woman stepped up, lit a hula hoop on fire and began a jaw-dropping, intriguing, yet elegant performance. She used every part of her body to hula hoop. She even took her shoes off, laid on her back and hooped with her feet!
It is unusual, yet quite amazing to live in a place where the majority of people are happy with their lives. I am finding it true that when those around you are happy, truly happy, they lift your spirit and build onto your own greatness. They are not concerned with petty things, they encourage you to enjoy every moment of your life and take in as much as you can. 

Taiwan is a place where people love you and want you to enjoy being yourself. They want to learn and grow, to share their experiences, and inspire. At least that has been my experience thus far-- I feel very appreciated here.

I wrote a story for the school magazine, Rainbow Time, it is a Valentine's Day story. I don't know if it will be published yet, but I used my nephew's name as the main character. :-)

My dreams have never been more vivid or as frequent, than since I have arrived in Taiwan. Dreams of home, dreams of resigning, dreams of adventures, dreams of family and friends, some sad, though most are good.

I am really enjoying teaching my Unicorn class, as well as my 7th grade grad class. Today I found out that next week will be my last week with them. (Yes, another change. I'm sure there will be more.) It is bittersweet since I am looking forward to getting closer to my own 3rd grade class. Before I do get my 3rd graders I will teach the upper kindergarten class, Old Jangban. Their class name is "Little Critters" and their teacher for the school year is Sarah, my mentor from before coming to Taiwan.

When I showed my students a video on YouTube about confidence, there was a young blonde white woman in the video and they asked if it was me. Made me laugh that they think a lot of "white" people look alike when you hear those same stereotypes from "whites" about Asians.

An amazing article written by an incredible women I thought I would share ----> Date a Girl Who Travels


At LUVstock, I was told by a foreign man from Canada whose been here 6 years now, "You'll want to leave after two years. Don't stay any longer. If you do you'll find it impossible to leave." 

-- I love hearing that people are enjoying my blog. If there is anything you want to read about that I haven't hit yet feel free to leave a comment asking anything. -- Thanks for reading!

"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. 

"Travel brings power and love back into your life." -Rumi

The quote I found for this blog entry is one of my new favorites.

Taichung is a much cleaner city then I would have guessed, as far as trash goes. It is surprising because you can never find public trash cans. Recycling is very big here, they will even charge you $3NT for each plastic bag you need. Also, every receipt you get after a purchase is a lottery ticket. You just enter the code online and you could win. Haven't entered any yet but that's only because I don't know that website.

There are tons of dogs here. The smaller ones are very nicely groomed and are always being carried by their owner. There are also bigger dogs that seem to just roam the streets (even wild dogs up in the mountains).
I am finally getting used to going barefoot in school, the hardest thing to get used to is not flushing any toilet paper, to be honest I forget more often then not.

 These shoes are gorgeous!

The 3 Chinese lessons we had were a bit helpful, but not much if we don't take the time to study outside of class. The phrase "Do you speak English?" I put to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," which helped all of the girls remember. The phrases I use the most have been, "Hello. How much? I am a teacher. I am American. I'm sorry/Excuse me. How cute."

 Year of the snake, also the year I was born!

Few fun facts; Baseball is the biggest sport in Taiwan. Here, we English teachers, are getting paid the same as what the doctors get paid. When Taiwanese women have babies, they buy presents for other people. The insects are huge, spiders with bodies as big as your fist and cockroaches the size of your index finger. (I've seen the roaches, not the spiders...yet). I haven't seen a single insect bite me, however I have about 15 bites on my legs. :-( There are 7/11's on every block it seems. Beautiful temples, parks, and schools all over the place as well.

A group of us went to a 90 min yoga class on Thursday. It was held in a small intimate room, very peaceful and serene. The instructor was Canadian so he spoke English, which was nice. He was caught off guard by the group we came with and said we were a "Caucasian invasion." Haha. I hope to go again with a much smaller group, it felt great to calm my mind from how fast paced this first week has been.

Friday night we went to KTV, a karaoke bar where you can rent out a room with your friends for 3 or 4 hours. The room had its own bathroom, couches, tables. You were allowed to bring in your own drinks and it also included a buffet upstairs with ice cream! In the room, there was a huge screen that played the videos of the songs requested by anyone in the room. We had 27 people in there.

A group of the Asian teachers came out as well, it was really fun to see them singing songs in Chinese and having a good time. I sang, Shania Twain, "That Don't Impress Me Much." Later on I requested 'Poker Face' by Lady Gaga, let me just say that Lady Gaga was a HUGE hit. Another artist that had everyone up on tables and couches was Backstreet Boys, that made me feel right at home!

Saturday, rise and shine. I woke up, took a short bike ride to the train station with a few of the girls, hopped on and took the train right outside of town. ChiMing (local friend) was taking us hiking up on the DaKeng Mountain. It was only 1.5 miles to the top of the mountain, it felt like 5. ChiMing said the trail we did was only a level 2 out of 5. There are log steps most of the way up to the top, a few times the logs seemed to be going up at a 60 degree angle.

The view cannot be captured in a photo.

Every once in awhile there was a place to sit and rest, or better yet, have tea. There are many natives that will hike up the mountain with pots, burners, and all the necessities for tea and snacks. They will haul it all up to spend a morning or afternoon up on DaKeng. Twice we were invited in by the older natives who were having tea and fruit. They played the harmonica for us and we conversed as best as we could.

After the long trek down the mountain we had a feast of all sorts of food. I have tried many things without knowing what it is I am eating, only once have I run into something bad so it's usually worth the risk. We met another great group of Taiwanese students who had just graduated college.

Later that night, Kelly, Laura, and I went salsa dancing with ChiMing and his friends for his last night in Taiwan. I am not the best salsa dancer, but it was so much fun. I did notice that I danced better with some men more than others. I think the ones who were stronger and more confident in their leads were the ones I did much better with. The Asian women here are so beautiful and they look so young (maybe it's the pale skin). It was an exhilarating night, but I was more than thrilled to crawl into bed after such an eventful weekend.

 Kelly and ChiMing 

Sunday, America Day in Taiwan, we finally moved out of the hotel! For one month I will be living in the Palace, then I will move to my apartment with Kelly. The Palace is gorgeous. The pool is basically a huge grotto and we are close to tons nice restaurants and shopping centers. I pay 5000 NT per month, which is $166 in the US.  We will have other small bills as well, security, cable, internet, and electricity. We do have a washer, although we have to hang clothes to dry. There is AC in every room and two patios. The trash has to be taken out daily so we don't get maggots or any other bugs. Having my own room and not living out of a suitcase makes it seem much more real that I am permenatly here. They say it takes about 3-6 weeks for homesickness to kick in. I will say it's almost impossible to get in touch with anyone back home with the time difference and it has been quite frustrating. I do think the week in the hotel helped us ease into this drastict change in our life, plus we were all able to form bonds now that we are split up into two campuses.

View from my apartment!
Tomorrow is the first day of teaching my 2nd-4th grade class, as well as my 7th grade prep class. I think I have a bit of first day jitters too. It is Summer School for them, however unlike back home where Summer school is a form of punishment for not doing well throughout the school year, here the kids go to get a head start on the upcoming year.

Coming back home to teach will be so different. Here we get a two hour lunch break every day which they provide, 10 hours of paid prep time per week, they buy most any resources you need, there are field trips quite frequently, plus they really trust you as an educator to do want you feel is best for your class. -- Thanks for reading-- I'll do my best to keep up as teaching begins!