Another penpal program!

This was what I drew on the board for my grade 8 girls class on Friday.
The good news that I mentioned a week ago and never told you is that my Grade 8 girls class is one of 10 that has been chosen to be part of a special project.
According to the iEARN news website:

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2005 INTERNATIONAL PEN PAL PROGRAM. World Environment Day
is the flagship environmental event of the United Nations, created in 1972 as a
worldwide event raising awareness about ways we can all protect our global
environment. This year, it will be held from June 1-5 in San Francisco,
California, making this the first time that the event has ever been hosted in
the U.S. The City of San Francisco is sponsoring an International Pen Pal
Program that will link 10 classrooms in San Francisco with 10 classrooms in
other cities around the world, commencing on April 21-22, and culminating on
June 1-5. All classrooms participating in the Pen Pal program will receive free,
full color materials and certificates for students recognizing their
participation in this global event.

Isn't that great?! I was pretty excited when my supervisor presented me with the opportunity, and I know the girls will do a great job and hopefully really enjoy it! (For those of you who don't know, I already have my grade 6 and 7 classes in a pen pal program with students in my friend Claire's classes in Indiana.)

Saturdays are for...working

I'm sitting in my dark office at 1:30pm on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon. I am wondering why. "Just leave!" I yell at myself. But I am a slave of the computer, I tell you. There are just so many parts of my life that involve a computer, and I really miss having one to call my own. (Well, technically I do have that laptop, but no internet access, so it doesn't count).

This morning I sort of taught my Saturday class. See, they were required to go to a memorial ceremony for a previous principal, which ended up going way over time, so I only had them for 45 minutes instead of two hours. They were completely lost, so we just did a worksheet and a game. Bad teacher. But I've been having good conversations with students recently, I think they are comfortable enough that they can start to open up. I love that.

And two items of note. Claire, college roommate and all-around wonderful gal, is coming to visit me in June / July for sure! She bought her tickets, and I have begun to do what I do best, plan travel excursions. We're going to stay in Taiwan, because it's cheaper and easier. I'm just utterly thrilled that she's able to come, I mean, come on! I haven't seen her since her wedding in August, and now we have ten whole days to catch up. YIPPEE!

Other news note: my Dalhousie application hit a slight snare with transcripts, but seems to be quickly repaired. I still am quite sure my summer Halifax plans will work out. They better, or I might just have to cry.

Students who like to chat, anticipating a visit from an old friend, a summer of study and silence, a twin sister waiting to watch the "Amazing Race Finale" with me, and a sunny Saturday afternoon. Life is good. I think I'll leave the office and go live it!

A small foray into deeper thought

I've been thinking through what I want this blog to be about. It's a bit all over the place, eh? Some family update, some photo blog, some personal journal, some cute links, some news, some thoughts. Anyone have opinions on what they like or don't like?

Lately, I've been doing a lot of pictures and personal stories. Which reminds me, one of my new favorite blogs, Visual Voice, had an interesting article on narcissitic bloggers! However, I do have strong views on external issues and politics, I just feel that sharing my sometimes not fully formed opinions in such a public forum makes me vulnerable. No one can argue with the cute story from work, but if I start talking hot topics that I don't fully understand, I might put my foot in my mouth.

But I recently read a troubling article on CNN about the Conservatives 'Day of Truth' in response to the 'Day of Silence'.

Irked by the success of the nationwide Day of Silence, which seeks to combat
anti-gay bias in schools, conservative activists are launching a counter-event
this week called the Day of Truth aimed at mobilizing students who believe
homosexuality is sinful.Participating students are being offered T-shirts with
the slogan "The Truth Cannot be Silenced" and cards to pass out to classmates
Thursday -- the day following the Day of Silence -- declaring their
unwillingness to condone "detrimental personal and social behavior."

The whole article was troubling. I shouldn't get into it here, but I strongly disagree with the whole idea of a 'Day of Truth'. Perhaps if it was followed by a day against hypocrisy. "Just say Materialism is a sin!" Day. Or how about "Rich people don't get to go heaven." Let's remember the log and speck of sand story!

Then, after reading that article, I found an Ignite blog post that was quoted on Johnny Baker's blog. It speaks better than I.

We are the fragrance of God in the world, the hint of God, the poetry and prose
of God, not the propositions of God. We are the questions not the answer, the
aroma not the substance. Let us turn away from the times we have tried to compel
others and turn back to the ancient call by which we live beautiful, Christ-like
lives in the world.

I hope I can be part of the sweet-smelling fragrance of God as described above, instead of someone who tries to preach "the truth."

Urgh

I went home for my lunch break in hopes of catching up on email and finishing my introspective Orchid blog post.

The first email I read was from Dalhousie admissions office, with one very frustrating sentence concluding that I would indeed need to send all my transcripts, even the schools I only attended as a letter of permission student.

Urgh.

I then spend the rest of lunch trying to remember (a.) what schools I took classes at (b.) my student id numbers (can't remember any, did I even get one for abu?) (c.) how on earth to order all those transcripts.

I came to no conclusions, and stalked back to the office with a scowl on my face. When I got to the gates, I realized how deep my frown was and how angry I must have looked, so I caught myself before I scared students.

All that to say, no orchid post until I get over my peevishness.

An Orchid

An Orchid...to be continued.

National Concert Hall

This is the foyer of the National Concert Hall, with me in the center. Kathleen and I went out Sunday night to see the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. It was a wonderful evening, a 200 voice choir, the symphony, and three soloists. The programe was Faure's Reguiem, along with other pieces like the Russian Easter Overture. It was such a different experience, I was shocked by the fact that the audience knew when to clap. Not one person in the audience, not even the many small children and young adults, clapped before the entire piece was over. Wowee!
It was a lovely night, and we plan to go more often. There are so many classical music performances here, there are multiple options each weekend. And it was only about $15 CND a ticket, for great seats.

And on the inside we have

For those of you who feel the need for some closure on the Cherimoya story - here is a picture of the inside. It lived up to my expectations, and it was, as Mark Twain said: "deliciousness itself." Tricky to peel and de-seed, but otherwise enjoyable and worth $5.

The real thing

Now those are really impractical shoes, and the socks are just too white.
Picture from the Art of the Geisha webpage.

My Version

Whatdya think? The newest fashion trend? If I could single handedly start a fad, this would be it. I always thought geishas looked so cool in their kimonos and socks stuck in flip flops, but I wished they would wear ones that weren't so starkly white. But last night at the Japanese store, Muji, I found these socks in all sorts of colours. I look the monochromatic look, because on first glance it looks like regular shoes, but wait! No, it's flip flop socks. Well, at least I think it's cool.

Shhhh

This t-shirt suits me, don't you think? There are only three problems: first, I hate t-shirts. Second, I feel like it's showing my hand to every passerby. Finally, it's stinkin expensive, because it's made by an environmentally conscious company, Howies.co.uk.

Forgive me...

I hope this is not too offensive to my American friends. It's not you, it's me. I'd love to have this t-shirt, if only it didn't cost 20 pounds! It's a British company, Howies, that does such a wonderful job of clarifying the concerns of many Canadian and Brits.

Just wait....

The exquisite joy of waiting.

This is supposed to be one of the most delicious fruits. We have yet to figure out a name for it, but according to Carolyn and Steph, it is a creamy fruit that tastes like a mix of mango and pineapple. Sounds heavenly.

Now, all I have to do is wait for this heavy, giant dome to ripen. Once it's soft I will see if it is a good specimen. None of my housemates have found a good example of this kind of fruit in Taipei, only in the south. I am really hoping, partly because it sounds so wonderful, and partly because I paid $125 NT for it ($5 CND).

Endless Succession

Would you believe I still don't have anything interesting to write about?! Sorry, life "continues on in an endless succession of busy nothings." I feel some pressure, too, because according to my handy blog site meter, I get about 10 times as many new visitors on Saturday than on other days. Ahh! Must be creative and intelligent. Nope, not going to happen. "Surely" you must be thinking to yourself, "Carole will be able to think of some small tidbit of information or story to redeem this meanering and meaningless post!"

Some tidbits:
* My grandmother and aunt's cat, Riley, died today. According to the group email and the obituary on our "Gilroy Family Site", his death appears to be from heart failure, while taking a leisurely stroll down his favorite country road. Therefore, we can all assume he died peacefully from old age and obeseity. R.I.P. Riley.
* My grad school application has been somewhat bogged down by my own stupidity. See, they asked for a list of all the school's I've attended, and I listed all 4. However, three of those I attended as a "Letter of Permission" student and had the classes listed on my Huntington transcript. But because I put them all on the application, Dal wants 4 transcripts, and there seems to be a deathly silence in the admissions office.
* I was tutoring my little tutee this evening, who is quite a little whirlwind. We were doing "wh diagraphs" and when we got to whale, she pointed to me and said "Whale Teacher!" Yup. That's me. Thankfully, I'm past the point of taking my grade 2's comments personally.

Kathleen enjoying our new indulgence, Kindori Ice Cream. Funny story, this cute little ice cream shop is about 10 feet off the alley we walk down multiple times a day to get to school. I've lived here 8 months and never walked down the street! I'm kicking myself now, because this a real find. It's the equivalent of Yogen Fruz, you choose your fruit, and they mix it fresh. About $2CND for a cone. Kathy and I have decided to try all the flavors, we have 28 to go. There are alot more fruits to choose from when you've got the tropical ones added in. Mulberry, red guava, pomegrante! I think it will become a daily detour on the way home, thank goodness it seems relatively healthy! 

Our one excursion on our luxuriously lazy long weekend. We went to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, one of the main Taipei attractions. Pretty, eh? 

"Seeing Double"

This is the picture we used on the power point presentation Saturday, for Kathy's part of the poem. It's not exactly a great picture, but oh well. You can see how cute the grade 2's are. Just multiple by 4 or 5 and you have a typical classroom.
Sorry there's been so many pictures over the last few days - I had so many from the weekend, I was trying to spread them out.
Today being the first day back at work after the long 'weekend' I'm still feeling a bit tired and grumpy, so I don't have much more to say. I had an exciting new project given to me at work, I'll explain it tommorrow. Nothing earthshattering, but I'm excited.

Step in Time

These are the Grade Ones doing choreographed aerobics to music. They're pretty cute, and it's funny to watch the military boot camp precision of Fu-Hsing.

My favorite part

This was the choir of Aboriginal children. They were marvelous. It took my breath away! I find it hard to pick words to describe it, so I recorded a sample with my camera. I'm trying to get it online to put a link to it on this blog, but it seems tricky. Anyone have tips on where I could upload a wav soundfile?

Cute Dragons

Another entertaining portion of the Anniversary celebration. These are some of the grade 3 and 4's doing a dragon dance.

Bell Tower Dedication

Well, yesterday was the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Fu-Hsing Private School.

The first activity of the day was the dedication of the new bell tower. Now, the bell tower has been there since I came in August, but the bells are new. They were imported from France, and were very expensive. Fu-Hsing can now say they have the tallest bell-tower in Taiwan. To celebrate, there were drummers, fireworks, dragon dancers, and balloons!

All eyes tuned!

It's hard to understand, but the school decided to keep the kindergardeners in class, instead of letting them join in the festivites. Some of the teachers tried to keep the kids in their chairs, working. But others stacked the tables next to the window so the kids could watch. They were fascinated.

Heh- Laugh at us!

We, the 'Foreign Teachers', were asked to do a brief presentation, and make it funny. The whole thing was a bit of a fiasco, I'm glad it's over. However, I found a quote on another blog that helped me have a better perspective of it:
It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. -Agatha Christie.

The carnival

It was one crazy bazaar. The rain was only drizzling, but people still felt the need to carry umbrellas and poke me in the head! I don't like crowds at all, but since they were all my students, I stuck around. Each class had their own food stall, and they got to keep the profits, so there were some very agressive salespeople. I felt that it was my obligation as a teacher to buy lots, so I did. The first time I didn't feel guilty 'wasting' money on small trinkets!

Funny Food!

Kathy, holding up two of the food products my students convinced me to buy. Funny shaped waffles, and some sort of rice triangle wrapped in banana leaves (which is still sitting in the fridge).

Fu-Hsing's Birthday

One little Taiwan tradition I quite like involves giving birthday gifts. We quickly discovered from our students that when it is someone's birthday, that person gives gifts to everyone else. We've heard that Taiwanese people plan their own big birthday parties, invite everyone and pay for it all! It's Fu-Hsing's 60th Anniversary on Saturday, April 2nd. They gave all the teachers gift bags with a massive souvenier book that's bigger than a yearbook. It also included a crystal heart clock, you can never have too many of those.
I'll put up all the pictures from the Anniversary Shindig tommorrow.

Amaroni's

Friday night we were invited out to a company dinner, intended to 'boost morale' I believe. Amaroni's is most-likely the nicest Italian restaurant in Taipei, quite authentic. I highly recommend it, next time you're in the Taipei area. The decor is very warm, with giant portraits, vintage Italian advertisements, and all kinds of chandeliers.

Venice or Taipei?

We had a lovely dinner at Amaroni's. Using my best rose-coloured glasses, it felt like dinner in Italy. It was a much smaller than the other parties we've been to at Amaronis, and I'll take any excuse to get dressed up! Of course, I felt so gross after dinner, because I'm not used to eating big, heavy meals here, and my stomach was shocked. Ah, the perils of fine dining.

By any other name

One thing I love about living in Taiwan is the absence of Wal-Mart. Consumer peace. So yesterday, I went to the bakery for my morning bread, got my orange juice from the guy doing the fresh-squeezed thing on the back of his truck, went to the coffee shop for my coffee, the clothing store for a new shirt, and the flower stall by the subway stop for a new bouquet. See, celebrate diversity! Down with Wal-Mart! But I'll by-pass the rant and just show you this lovely rose from my new bouquet. I am quite proud of this shot, I didn't have to do any edits (other than compensation for the florescent lights).

"Tiny"

It was a cold rainy night when I was walking to the gym, and passed this scene. I love how seriously the little girl is considering the puppies. I call it "Tiny" for PhotoFriday.

News of Note

*I forgot to apologize for not blogging on Monday. I was in the middle of reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" and everything else took a back seat. It was one of those all-consuming books, the kind that come along so rarely. I agreed to go to dinner with Kathy, but only if I could bring my book. I came home from work at my lunch break, just to read. And I sat it aside at the end of the last page with a small sigh, sad it was over. Mmm. The whole thing only lasted three days, but it was a real reminder of how much I love reading, and how silly it is to sit down to watch a movie instead! And I do recommend it, one of the most original books I've ever read. Of course it's orginal, how many legitimate works of fiction out there are seriously about time travel?

*I wanted to link to a fascinating article I found on an emerging church website. It's called "To clarify this 'journey'" and it does a very good job of explaining some of the driving forces in the desire for a different kind of 'church.' I personally felt that the author, Brother Maynard, hit on all the things I was having trouble categorizing, what specifically I am looking for in a church. Not that agree with all of it, but most of it.

* I am now off to face a grade 6 class, then grade 7 boys, and grade 8 boys. By the end I will likely loose all motivation and just stare at the board blankly. But after the hard Thursday afternoon comes the promise of the weekend, and this weekend is going to be a doozy!

Notes of News

* A year ago, we had just finished performing Love's Labour's Lost, at the little Charlbury Baptist Church in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, England. Can you imagine, less than a year ago and it seems like worlds away in so many different aspects. For those of you who don't know, I spent last spring, my final semester of university, studying abroad at Oxford University. (Well, sort of). My limited acting ability made me ideal for the minor role of Holofernes, the schoolmaster. Too bad I don't have my pictures, you could see production in all it's glory. Very fond memories.
* We just finished watching the first series of The Office. Hilarious. Really, truly funny. Which just makes the fact that NBC is making an american version all the more outrageous. It actually makes me laugh to think that they have the audacity to think they can copy it. Americans doing British comedy? As if. The whole reason the office works is the very British concept of humor used in it. Next the Americans will try to steal "Royal Canadian Air Farce" from the the Canadians. The United States has many wonderful forms of humor perfected, Adam Sandler and the Simpsons are two that come to mind. To each country their own. Enjoy the diversity and don't steal! (An interesting article from the CBC on why the new Office doesn't work.)
* I had fresh strawberries with milk pudding (a Taiwanese thing, I believe) for desert tonight. Yummy.