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.