Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookies!

Zach and I spent all Friday evening making Christmas cookies.... We made spritz cookies, Zach's favorite, listented to Christmas music, and took crazy pictures. We are missing not being home for Christmas, but at least we had a little "taste" of Christmas here.

Zach's scrumptious spritz cookies, and my kickin' candy cane cookies.

Zach caught me right in the middle of a hefty cough...

Check out our poinsettia... It's our mini Christmas tree.

The End....

Wishing you all a very, merry Christmas!

Pictures

Zach was ready for the typhoon










It was Zach's birthday package, but I even got something!










We went up 101 and here is the magnificent view. (101 is currently the tallest building in the world.)

My class trip to the zoo with all the poop art. Gotta love Taiwan and their fascination with poop.

10-10 Vacation (Green Island)

Taiwan's "independence day falls on October 10. Since we had missed out on our trip to Green Island earlier in the year due to a bully typhoon, we decided to go during this three-day weekend. So we left early on a less-than-high-speed train to Taidung. It was on this trip that we learned an important lesson about the Taiwanese travel industry - they're ruthless. Let me explain: Our tickets were "standing" tickets, which means that we had no seat reserved for the ride (something you won't really find in America). The full impact of this principle of business hit us when we realized that, since the standing tickets do not depend on the number of seats on the train, they never have to stop selling standing room tickets. They can pack us in those cars like cattle and we can't complain because we are getting what they told us we were getting - standing room (and nothing more, I can assure you). So, on our five hour train ride, we watched in horror as, at each stop, more travelers boarded and squished us into our small spots.
We had originally found a spot to sit (where you get on or off the train), but this spot wasn't so desirable when we realized that every 10-15 min. we'd have to get up and find a place to stand to let the new crowd on the train. So, that was a very long 5 1/2 hours. We eventually found a nook right behind a seat, where we squashed ourselves in. It was quite uncomfortable, but at least I wasn't standing.
But wait, our traveling wasn't over yet. We had an hour ferry ride ahead of us. This ferry ride made me never want to travel in Taiwan again. There wasn't a line to get on the ferry, but somehow we happened to be on the dock right where the ferry pulled up. As soon as they put the plank out, people were pushing and ramming each other to get on this silly ferry. As Zach said, "I could just pick up my feet and let the crowd carry me into the ferry." We almost saw an old man get knocked into the water. These people were crazy!
After a long hour of watching people throw up and having our fellow companions get sea sick, we finally made it only to know that in 36 hours we'd have to endure this whole trip again.
The actually travelling made the trip horrible, but the day and a half we were there was nice. Zach and I were able to rent a scooter and be the masters of our own destinies. It felt so good not having to wait for a subway or flag down a bus. We were able to drive wherever we wanted on this small island. God really answered our prayers by creating the perfect weather for us.
On the island we went snorkeling dressed like little dorks in our wet suits, life jackets, and masks. Luckily, we didn't get a picture of us. We also went geocaching (using a gps to find a location, it's kinda like a scavenger hunt that's already set up for you). We looked at 2 places, but weren't able to actually find the geocache. However, we did get to see some pretty awesome places on the island by going geocaching.
Saturday night our group went to a natural salt water hot springs. We looked like little mobsters with our water caps on sitting in hot tubs. (In Taiwan at any pool they make you where a water cap). It was quite relaxing, but neither Zach or I are fond of 100 plus degrees water or the salt. We kept dunking ourselves in the cold and then struggling to put our bodies into the hot water. After an hour of that, we were done and had a delightful scooter drive in the rain while in our swimming suits.
Our trip home wasn't as bad as the trip down, but we felt completely wiped out. The week of school following that trip definitely was a hard one. Vacations are fun, but they wipe you out!
Overall, we enjoyed getting out of the city. I've never valued the countryside as much as I do now. And hey, we even saw a John Deere tractor once we were out of the city. Oh yeah, and how I could I forget to add that we even saw a lighthouse.

Thoughts on Taiwan

We recently finished our first month of teaching, which also means that we both received our first paychecks. Because Sarah's school is an international school, she gets to keep her entire paycheck (except for tithe, of course). However, since my school is not international, I pay 10% and an additional 20% in tax to Taiwan (mot to mention tax in America too). That fact makes getting paid a whole lot less exciting. Such is life.

Having taught in public school in America, I was aware of some of the atrocities (students) that walk through the classroom door. I knew that the students I would encounter here would (in general) have better attitudes and be more interested in learning. "Great!" I thought, "Teaching will be much easier in Taiwan." Part of what makes teaching such a tough job is expending so much energy to make it interesting for the students only to find out that they don't care what you do - they hate it anyway. I thought teaching in Taiwan would eliminate that depressing aspect of teaching.

Well, it's true. Students do care more about their education in Taiwan. They care because their parents care and because they know it is the only way they are going to get ahead in life. Many of them want to get into American colleges, and they know grades are the biggest way they will accomplish that. So, I don't have to deal with the bad attitudes, or the missing homework, or the absent students. It's nice.

But even with all those positives, there is still something I miss. I don't even know how to explain it. There are so many times that I ask questions in class, and I hear a teacher's bane: crickets chirping. Everyone is attentive, but no one is willing to give a response. Some days, I feel like I am the only one who talks during the whole class period. It is a terribly unnerving feeling. It makes me feel alone - there are twenty students in my classroom, and yet, no one is there. It makes me feel frustrated. It derails my mind. It zaps all the energy that I had stored up to use for teaching that day. Sometimes, it is all I can do to push on with the rest of the lesson. It's almost worse than all the ways American students used to do the same thing to me. No matter what the students' attitudes were in the States, I never experienced this. Technically, I don't even know what this is. But, I do know that this week, for the first time since I have been in Taiwan, I missed my American students.

First Week of School

Zach and I both experienced our first week of teaching this last week. I didn't feel prepared, but things went ok for that first week. I was amazed the first day at how kind and respectful the students are here. During that first week I was able to do fun activities with the students and now have to worry about them getting out of hand.

One day I took them outside for science. They were supposed to find a plant or insect and observe it, writing down their observations. As I sat on a bench watching my students run all around the school looking for an object to observe, I thought, "These students are amazing." They were so excited to do this activity and were eager to share what they wrote or found out. I feel like I'm really going to like teaching here.

Currently, I have 15 students. Since this is an international school, I have Filippinos, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students. English is definitely our common language.

I do have a student who knows little English, and I feel like that will be difficult. I don't think he ever understands what I'm saying. The rest of my students speak English well.

Even though the students were great the first week, it was a hard week. I spent so much time before school began to organize my room, figure out my rules, etc.... that I didn't have much time to plan lessons. So after everyday of teaching, I'd usually be at school until at least 10:00 pm figuring out what I'd do for the next day. Once I can get a week ahead, I'll be a lot less stressed. All in all, it was a good week, and I don't dread going back to school on Monday.

Ghost Festival

The first week of school was busy, but Sarah and I have found some time to have fun. Last Thursday, we went to Keelung (pronounced Jee-lung) to check out the 2008 Mid-summer Ghost Festival. August is the seventh lunar month, during which the Chinese believe the "gates of hell" are opened and the ghosts of their relatives roam the earth. The month is filled with activities to appease their dead ancestors. For instance, they burn incense, set out food, and burn "ghost money" (fake money) in offering to them.

We got to Keelung at 5:00 and parked in a parking garage (because that is the only option over here if you don't own a scooter). The streets were crowded with people waiting for the parade to begin. We saw a four-story Mcdonald's packed with curious onlookers. Interestingly enough, there was a tiny statue of liberty right next to the McD's.


Anyway, the parade had many different vehicles, most blaring music (western and chinese) and all covered from bumper to bumper with lights. Many also had statues of the animals that mark the chinese years (rat, chicken, etc.). However, the floats and presentations seemed to repeat after a while and we decided to leave. The only problem is that our parking garage opened onto the parade route, so we had to wait until 9:30 before we could leave. Needless to say, neither of us really care to go back for another ghost festival.

Zach and I arrived in Taiwan about a week and a half ago. Since then, we've been catapulted into the Taiwanese lifestyle. There were so many changes and adaptations within the first few days, but we survived. (I believe all those long naps due to the jet lag helped out a little).
Zach is teaching at Taiwan Adventist Preparatory Academy, and I, Sarah, am teaching at Taiwan Adventist American School. We live on the compound of the elementary school on the side of the mountain about 10 minutes outside the huge city of Taipei. It's refreshing not living in the city. I see lots of people wearing masks over their mouths to eliminate some of the polluation that they breathe. I didn't realize the need for the masks until a few days ago when I was coughing due to the icky smog. So, we are so thankful to be living where we are.
This last week we spent most of our time trying to exchange our money, work in our classrooms, learn which busses take us where etc.... While traipsing around the city, we did find a 2nd hand store, much to our delight. I found a dress for only $4.00 I think I'm really going to like shopping here. We also had the privilege to go grocery shopping. We now know the character for vegetarians. (It's easy to remember, b/c it looks like a swastika). But besides that, we look for any English on the package or pictures. We've already made a few yucky purchases, but surprisingly they do have an American store. Of course, everything here is more expensive, but we indulged in buying pancake mix and syrup.
This last weekend we went on our teacher's retreat to a town at the bottom of the island called Kaohsiung. We stayed in a beautiful hotel room with a wonderful view of the ocean. Besides having to throw out TP in the trashcan instead of the toilet, it was a delightful experience.
On Sunday we went to an island which I believe is part of Kaohsiung. There we rented a tandem bike and biked through about 1/2 of the island. It was our first experience on a tandem bike. After hopping on an biking for about a block, I told Zach, "Maybe Taiwan isn't a great place to go on a tandem bike adventure." The streets are quite narrow, and the taxi drivers/scooters have little regard to traffic laws (I'm not actually sure how many traffic laws even exist). There were a few times when I was riding in the back where I stopped pedaling and tucked my head behind Zach hiding from the oncoming traffic. Zach and I did find a bike trail, which was much easier to maneuver. I absoluetly loved riding the bike.

We found many memorials along the way to take pictures at as well as a little seaside museum. Our last destination on the bike was a lighthouse. It wasn't a terrible walk, but after biking around I was exhausted. The view from the lighthouse was nice, but the breeze, oh the breeze. I would have stayed up there for hours if we didn't have to catch our ferry. (We realized we had little time to catch a ferry and walk all the way back to the hotel before our group left for the train station.) By the time we got back to the ferry which would take us close to our hotel, we were both exhausted and thirsty. We decided to wait buying anything to eat or drink until after the ferry, because Taiwan has such strict rules on food in public transporation. We weren't sure we could take anything on board with us. (We found out later we could have taken some ice-cream aboard.) Our ferry ride turned out to be a little longer than scheduled, b/c we were waiting for a big ship to come in. During this wait I was starting to feel sick. We decided on the way back that we'd stand on the deck outside to get a better view of the city and ocean, which in retrospect was a bad idea for me. It only made me feel worse. By the time we arrived at our port, I felt horrible. I just sat down once we got off the boat, but then a Taiwanese man came over wondering what was wrong. He pointed us to some chairs across the street. I tried to walk across the street, but quickly my vision became blurry. I knew I was going to faint soon if I didn't get any water or find a place to sit down. Zach had to help me the rest of the way before I collapsed in a chair. But after a little water and Oreos and time slouched over in my chair, I felt much better. I remember waking up and seeing all these Taiwanese people staring at me and for a split second wondering where I was and where Zach was. Zach and I both learned that we need to drink more water than we think we need while in this muggy, humid environment.
So that's been one of our more interesting experiences. We also did experience our first typhoon, but that was just a lot of wind, rain, and playing indoors for us. It wasn't a bad one. We both hope that if we get another one, it'll happen when school starts (which is in one week).
Until then..... I'm sure more adventures will arise.