Teachers' Day

I've missed a few days, because the middle of the week is just so jammed full of stuff. This week, the main event was Teachers' Day, oh happy day!

On Wednesday, we went to a morning assembly, where Kathy and I, as new (less than 7 years) teachers presented bouquets to experienced (more than 30 years) teachers. Then the class leaders presented all of us with sunflowers on behalf of the students. The ceremony ended with an incredible Chinese Opera / Acrobatic performance. I took pictures and will put them up tommorrow. It was so intriguing, with choreographed fighting, tumbling, weird screechy music, and elaborate costumes. Sadly, only Kathy and I got to go, so all the other foreign teachers missed out on the experience.

Then the rest of the day was full of cute kids saying thank you and cards and gifts. It was so encouraging. After teachers' day I suddenly begin to think I could be a teacher for life! Amazing what positive reinforcement will do. I realized that all my previous jobs had no positive reinforcement, and it suprises me how much I love working in a supportive and encouraging environment. Of course, expensive chocolate, cookies, and Italian lavendar gift sets are wonderful to recieve, but I think the cards meant the most. They were from some of my students who are quieter in class, and who remind me so much of me at that age. It makes me very happy to think I can be a supportive, encouraging figure for them.

. Defining Teacher Moment

Tonight in afterschool class I made a kid cry. Andy, this cute little grade one boy who always comes up to hug my thighs before class, sobbing uncontrollable. Oh, the guilt!

It was entirely neccessary, but I'm just hoping he's not scarred for life. Earlier in the class, another boy, Handy, had hit the girl next to him, so I moved him up to the front to sit in a row by himself. Later, Andy hit the boy next to him, so I had to do the same thing, for consistency.

But Andy didn't want to go. I told him everyone was waiting for him, explained again why he had to move, and then started counting down 10 to 1. Around 6 his eyes started to get really red and I thought to myself "Oh no!" By 2 he moved, with the tears starting to fall. He sat at his new desk, put his head on his arms and bawled. He stopped after five minutes or so. Hopefully it was just wanting attention. I hope.

Earthquake Drill

Last week we had two classes cancelled so that the students could do an earthquake drill. It involved all the classes going down to the courtyard, and squishing into rows. They sat on the ground and put their school bags or backpacks over their heads. Ready! Bring on the earthquake. (=

Compagnie Maguy Marin

So, Kathleen and I took great enjoyment out of creating our very own Fall 2005 perfomance series. One thing I love about living in Taipei, I can't imagine it being an simpler to go to the theatre.


Every month there is a small booklet distributed that lists every theatre, dance, music performance of any sort, with an english description and prices. Then we take that booklet to the desk at the Eslite bookstore right across the street from the school, show them which performances we want, pick our seats, and get our tickets. Almost all the performances are at either the National Concert Hall or the National Theatre, which are conviniently right beside each other - a short bus or taxi ride from our apartment.

There is such incredible variety, I guess because Taipei is a key stop on the 'Asian' tours of all these different companies and performers. You can find a symphony performance or recital pretty much any night of the week. The tough part is choosing.

So, Kathy and I started our 'season' with the Compagnie Maguy Marin's performance of "Umwelt." We knew nothing about it, only the name, and the picture above, and that it was dance. So we bought tickets.

It was most certainly, the oddest performance I've ever been to. It only lasted one hour, no intermission, and it was the same thing the whole time.

There were a series of mirrors on the stage, that shook and made shaking metal noises. There were three electric guitars laying on stage, with a string 'playing' them as it wound from one bobbin to another. It was an hour of schreeching electic guitar noises, wind, and bending metal. The noise got to me, as it was supposed to, I guess.

Then, the dancers in different patterns and repitions would move around the mirrors, performing actions of daily life. For an hour. Then it was over. It was definitely more of a performance than dance. I read after that it was inspired by Samuel Beckett which made more sense, because it definitely reminded me of that kind of odd intentional meaninglessness.

The review in the Taipei Times said: "Considered one of France's most celebrated choreographers -- and certainly one of the most cerebral working today -- Marin's work is structured, intense and multi-layered, as the performers repeat scenes or motifs again and again as if they are trapped in some form of purgatory."

Anyway, we paid quite a bit for the priviledge of watching an hour of purgatory, and I left with a pounding headache because of the noise. However, after trying to pretend to be very intelligent and discuss it over coffee after, we decided it was worth the money, because it certainly made us think, which very few things do in our days of easy entertainment. Kathy is afraid that the days of singing and dancing are over, and that instead we are all going to have to deal with cerebral performances all the time. However, our next performance for the season is the Spanish Ballet's performance of Flamenco Carmen. So she should be okay!

Finally

At last, a true salad! This was almost comparable to a salad from Pete's.
It was Gorganzalo cheese, apple slices, candied walnuts, yellow peppers and raspberry vinagrette.

It was an expensive luxury, Kathleen and I went to the cutest little French Patisserie, which I believe is named Ille. We had the mushroom soup, the peach water, our main course and dessert and coffee with real warmed cream. It was a delicious meal, and made even better by the fact that we accidently got two desserts each! We didn't think dessert was included, so we both ordered on of the beautiful little cakes from the front display, only to recieve them and a few moments later a creme brulee each. Kathy wasn't sure she could do it, but I relished the challenge of a delicious French lunch with two desserts.

Playing Around

Kathy did not feel like participating in the family tradition of taking photographs while waiting in restaurants for food (ref. to Gilroy Family Site!). However, she did eventually agree on the condition that it be an artsy one. So a couple glow filters and an illustration later, my camera produced this shot.

Me at Ille

Cute

Well, I have no sleeping kittens to photograph (my favorite subjects). So I thought I'd substitute sleeping puppies, which are in greater supply. This is one of the principal's puppies, either Angel or Charlie, after the girls took them out to play hard.

Where does the week go?

Well, it feels like the end of the week. Friday's are only three Grade One classes in the morning, so Kathy and I mentally treat them like the weekend.

THe internet's broken at the apartment, and the school internet is refusing to post pictures. I'm tired of playing with it. Maybe tommorrow.

Did you know that I wake up every morning at 6:03 am? Isn't that odd. I set my alarm for 7:20, just in case one day my internal alarm shuts off. It's actually nice, though, I get to roll over and doze for 45 minutes or so - it feels just like a weekend. Then I get up, have a nice breakfast and read for a half an hour before I actually have to get ready. I could get used to this. It does require me going to bed really early, usually 9:30. Still, for this teacher stage of my life - it works.

The bell tower

The Fu-Hsing bell tower. Largest bell tower in Taiwan. (The only one I've seen, so I'm not sure how big of a deal that really is!) I really appreciate being at a private school that seems to be so well-run, and so supported by the parents.

On another note, today was a great day for penpals. I got Claire's envelope of pen pal letters from INdiana, and it's always so much fun to give out the first set of letters. I also got an email from a teacher in Merrilville, Indiana who wants to also be pen pals with my class. The reason is, I had to exclude one of my grade 6 classes from the pen pals. But then I realized that they were my best class and I didn't want them to miss out on the experience. So I started looking around on line for other advertisements, and found them a gifted grade 6 classroom to write to. So all 6 of my grade 6 and 7 classes have Indiana penpals (this means I only have to make one powerpoint- instead of, say, an INdiana powerpoint and an Ohio powerpoint).

I'm quite interested to see what the difference will be between the gifted students in Merrilville and the 'normal' students in Elletsville letters will be!

Fu-Hsing

Ahh. Such a pretty school. This is the new half, which is currently Grades k-5. The old half is grades 6-9, and our office. In the middle is the construction on the new, new building, which looks just like this one and should be finished in the next few months. Then the old building will be torn down, the junior high will change to the new building and the elemtary will go to the new-new building. They are then planning a third, identical building, which will eventually be a high school. It's a pretty giant undertaking, and it will be a very impressive series of identical buildings and walkways and belltowers when finished.

Photographers

We were on our way to lunch, but the sky was so blue we had to stop for pictures. I think people passing thought we were funny, standing in the street taking pictures of the bell tower.

Inadvisable

Whew, just finished another Grade One after school class.
Imagine a class of 17 little grade one kids, who have a vocabulary of about 100 English words.
They've been in school since 7:30 - they'll leave after 10 and 1/2 hours - so they're, shall we say, squirrely.
Now, try, in English, to convince these children to sit in a desk, quietly, without touching anything or talking or moving.
It's like the ultimate challenge. It definitely drives me crazy, but I have not snapped yet. I will not let them crack me! Only twenty some classes to go.

Mid-Autumn Festival

So, we didn't feel like the traditional b.b.q., pomelos and mooncakes. Greek food just sounded so much better! It was just like the Friendly Greek at home, and the owners were so friendly to us, they gave us all free dessert. Nothing says "happy mid-autumn festival" like Greek food!

Really Laughing

This is the one of us really laughing, after the owners brought out their dancing cow toy.

Full Moon

This is the view from outide our apartment of the very bright moon behind the ever-changing colourful Taipei 101. Best I could do on night mode with no tripod.

Taipei 101 and Moon

What happens when you don't hold the camera still. (=

Happy Moon Festival!

Well, it's that time of year again - Mid-Autunm or Moon Festival. Last year we had a day off, this year it's a Sunday. Pooh. I felt like boycotting Moon Festival in protest. However, the moon was too bright, the night too magical, and heh, it's a holiday, a good time to celebrate!

So five of us went out for dinner. We stopped on the way to take pictures of the very bright moon behind a very rainbow Taipei 101. Our dinner was at this incredible little Greek restuarant. The owners were so sweet (they gave us all free dessert)! It was just like the Friendly Greek, and we all adore Greek food. We just kept saying "This is SO good."

So I'll put the photos up tommorrow.

One last thing - I was wondering if anyone can tell me whether the moon in North America is in the same stage as Taiwans? My mind does not comprehend that whole planet orbital thing. So look outside tonight, and let me know if the moon is the brightest its been all year. You could try to explain to me why, but I doubt I'd understand!

Not for the faint of heart...

Just for those of you who have no daily contact with disgusting insects, here is one of our friendly cockroaches. Well, he is the wrong side up - they do that when they die. And if you look closely, you'll notice he's lying in a pool of cockroach-killer spray. We find it's best to douse the cockroach fully in the spray just to be sure.

They are usally about 1-2 inches long, but it's those really long feeler thingys that get to me. Gives me the shivers!

A Weekend of Sorts

It's been a busy weekend, finishing up my Gender/Development paper. Pretty good, compared to my other papers, I believe. At least it's a lot more of my unique thoughts and a lot less of my overdependence on other author's quotes. (Kathy writes the same way I do. We realized it's because of the way we were taught to write research papers with ABeka. The whole reliance on notecards from high school transferred to our reliance on source quotes in university. Oh well, it got us good grades even if it didn't teach us to think for ourselves).

Yesterday was the first Saturday class. On the good news side, all of the wonderful students from last year signed up again this year. On the bad news side, all those students told their friends, so I went from 17 students last semester to 31 this semester. Still, I'll enjoy teaching the class, but it won't be as cohesive of a class. And I'm flattered that all my kids enjoy the class so much. THere's a sneaky little voice in the back of my head that says they like it because it's fun, we play games, and I don't yell at them in Chinese. Even if that is the case, that's not so bad.

A real post

I've realized that it's been a while since I've written a real post. Here goes.

Fu-Hsing remains, in my estimation, the best school in Taiwan! I've been so excited to get back to my classes and see all my students. I'm certainly lucky - I have mostly all the same students, so there's not too many names to learn. And I still have the top ten percent of the students, so classes are generally easy to run because almost all my students have a good grasp of English. I'm definitely a Junior High teacher at heart, grade 7 and 8s are my favorites. I'm getting into the swing of Grade 1, but it's a little bit too much like babysitting. Crowd control for 42 little munckins is not my forte. I've been roped into teaching a Grade 1 after-school class, which is insult to injury, because it comes at the end of a very long day of teaching. I'm starting my Grade 7-8 Saturday Club Writing Class this weekend, which I'm pumped about. That was by far my favorite class last year, and I'm so excited all the kids signed up for it again this year. I'm doing a bit of tutoring as well, trying to get all the extra income I can.

The apartment is wonderful, it's just like we chose to live together! Each night people bring their dinner home and we sit around the living room watching Friends DVDs and sharing the internet. No cockroaches since I put out the traps I bought in Canada. It's swell.

My life is pretty much limited to work and going back to the apartment. Oh, with trips to the gym in between. Last weekend, I bought enough food to spend the entire 48 hours at home - reading, lesson planning and writing my paper.

It's not a very exciting life, but it's very satisfying. Having such wonderful students almost tricks me into thinking I want to be a teacher long-term. Then I remember that I have the top 10 percent at one of the top schools in Taiwan, where parents push their kids and theres lots of overachievers. Somehow I think teaching in North America might turn out differently.

Garden View

I haven't had time to take any pictures in Taiwan yet, so I'm still going through my ones from this summer. This week is especially crazy - I'm trying to do all my curriculum and lesson planning in one go (yes, I had planned to do it this summer - but well, things change!), as well as finish my Gender and Development paper (I have a good chunck of it done - now it's mostly editing).

So this picture is of one of the beautiful statues in the Halifax Public Gardens. Aww.

Mount St. Vincent View

This was the view from the hill that Mt. St. Vincent University sits on. I had to climb the hill everynight to get from the bus stop to the dorm. It made me glad Huntington was on flat Indiana land. Anyway, this is the Halifax Container Port in the Bedford Basin, which would be what Mom and Dad would have a view of if they move to Bedford (a suburb of Halifax). One morning I was walking down the hill, and this huge container ship thingy was pulling it - called the "Kuala Lumpur Express." It reminded me of Chinese New Year, and I was once again amazed at how small the world is.

Pretty Taiwanese flowers

Too busy to blog - so why don't you just stop to enjoy the flowers.

Kathy

Last weekend, our school's principal Dr. Lee, invited all of us to a welcome dinner. The group pictures I put up a few days ago were taken inside Dr. Lee's apartment in the country. So we went to her apartment, then she took us to one of her favorite restaurants, called A Place. It was incredible, it looked just like it was taken from the Italian side and dropped in the field in Taoyuan. The food was incredible, Italian with a Taiwanese twist. A lovely treat.

"A Place"

The outdoor patio at "A Place."

Inside of "A Place"

Amber and Puppy

Dr. Lee has two new puppies, very small and very cute. Kathleen and I are not 'dog people' so a pat on the head and a "oh, so cute!" sufficed. However, some of the other teachers were in second heaven with two puppies to play with.

Ikea fun and excitement

This is the chair / bed that I bought when Claire came to visit. I couldn't get it put together with a regular screwdriver, so this summer I bought the fancy/cheap electric screwdriver from Wal-Mart. I still think that Ikea made a mistake, some of the holes were definitely too small, and I had to redrill them. Still, after an hour or two I had a lovely chair to relax on.

update

I realized that I forgot to give a little update on my current emotional and mental state.
Long story short, I'm really happy to be back in Taiwan. Life is good.
I was certainly anxious about leaving my idyllic life in Halifax, but I didn't really have to worry. My job is incredible - I am so lucky to have found such an excellent position on my first try. I have incredibly supportive supervisors, friendly Taiwanese co-workers, and really super students. Every day I'm relatively excited to go to school. I feel like I have a job that makes a difference and means something.
And in what must truly be a benevolent act of God, the weather has been moderate the last few days. It's still sunny and warm, over 30 Celsius and 80% plus humidity, but there's been an unusual cool breeze that makes the air seem fresher and the weather seem much more manageable.
The house situation is ten times better. Right now it's Friday night around midnight. Last fall, I would be sitting on the couch by myself, home alone watching a movie. Tonight, the six of us are all sitting around, listening to cds (alternating "Canadian" and "American" - East Coast music or hip hop), and chatting. It feels like the days of college dorms, only a few years beyond. And as one of my favorite quotes goes: "Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world."

New Group of Teachers

The 'foreign' teaching staff at Fu-Hsing is quite different this year:
Kathy's doing Travel
I'm teaching Advanced English (Dr. Lee is standing between us.)
Sitting:
Amber from Wisconsin teaches Drame
Jason from Washington teaches PE and lives at school, literally.
Stephanie from Ottawa is back and teaches Newspaper
Demetra is from Arizona and teaches Movies.
Corinne, not pictured, is from California, and teaches Remedial English.
It's a great group, it makes a big difference in morale to have a happy work and home situation.

The Administration

These are all the great people I get to work with and for at Fu-Hsing. They make my job so enjoyable, I've never had such a supportive workplace.
Dr. Lee, standing. Sitting: Dorcas, David, Phoebe, and Rachel.

Sunflower

These are some flower shots I took on my last walk through the Public Gardens, the evening before I left Halifax.

fall flowers

fall flower

bloom

center

My first view of the Rockies

Well, I finally made it to Canada's west coast. Took me long enough. The Rockies were beautiful from the plane window. I did think it odd that I saw the Himalayas, Andes, and Alps before the Rockies!

Vancouver Skyline

This is the Vancouver skyline. Since I had such a short time there (less than 24 hours) I decided to swallow my pride and just take a tour. I got to see the downtown, Stanley Park, Granville Island, Yaletown, etc. It took up the entire afternoon.

Lighthouse

That Rock Person Thingy

Dominion Hotel

After trapising around the city for a few hours, it was time to find my hotel, which was right downtown. I had debated forking out tons of money for a 'real hotel', because I had no desire to stay in another hostel, however I found the Dominion Hotel on hostelworld.com and decided to give it a try. It cost $70 a night! A lot more than a hostel. Still, I was attracted to it, because the description said that each room was unique and decorated by a different local artist.

When I checked in, the reception and hallways seemed scarily rundown. I think it used to be a halfway house. Anyway, the actual hotel was much nicer, and I had to read all the different bios outside each door. I got a room designed by Vicky Alexander, and it had circular cut-outs of sky on white walls, with black curtians, a white duvet, etc. And my own washroom attached, definitely better than a hostel. Full cable on the tv, and I was entirely happy with my $70 purchase.

Gastown

So, I had never been to Vancouver before and it was just pure luck the hotel I choose was right downtown. The area, Gastown, was actually really nice, with cobblestone streets and hanging plants. This is the famous steam clock, which is special because its old and it uses steam to run. I have to admit, I felt somewhat ambivalent about it. The crowds of tourists staring at it dampened my enthusiasm.

Dinner View

To end my very short time in Vancouver, I had a relaxing dinner at a new little restaurant in Gastown, called the Black Frog. They had only been open a week, and the service was great, food tasty and prices resonable.

I had my choice of tables, and sat by the open windows, looking out over the Vancouver harbour and this, the Canada Place thingy. The sunset was gorgeous, and it was nice to just sit, stare and think about transitioning between here and there.

Black Frog

These were the fresh flowers on my table at the Black Frog. I alternated staring at the view and taking pictures of the flowers!

Barrage coming...

Goodmorning! I had a lovely relaxing weekend, I got 7 pages written for my Filipina Migrant Workers paper. We also had a big Welcome shindig hosted by our principal Dr. Lee. I have lots of photos to put up, and I'll post a bunch during my lunch break today. Get ready!

Survived it

We survived Typhoon Talim. Actually it didn't seem that bad, we got off work an hour early, it came at night, and was pretty much over in the morning. We still got our typhoon day though, and I unpacked everything, reorganized my room, and put together my IKEA chair. It was a very nice bonding typhoon night, with the rain and the wind storming, the six of us girls sat around the living room eating chocolate and watching dvds. The living situation is a great improvement over last year, and the apartment feels like home.
This morning I had my three grade 1 classes, and they are very cute! They seem to be so earnest and loving. The grade 1s are the only ones that changes, otherwise I have nearly all the same students. Thank goodness! Otherwise I'd have 400 new names to learn.
I meant to put up my Vancouver photos, but the internet is down at the apartment (Noooo!) So you'll have to wait. I have come down with a massive sinus cold - must be something to do with the air / humidity / snotty-nosed children.