Off to Taipei

Saturday January 26, 2013 was quite a busy day.  I woke up at 8:00 to prepare to teach my 4th graders.  I have really struggled with getting through to them.  They are crazy and sometimes loud and disrespectful.  When I was teaching them on Thursday I noticed that they really had no concept of the word respect so we talked about it.  Then, on Saturday, we created a respect comic strip.  I hope that our various activities about respect help my students begin to understand exactly what respect is.  My class was over at 11:00.  I had to run upstairs to quickly get ready to go to Taipei.  We went on a branch temple trip today.  The bus left from Fengyuan at 11:30 in the morning.  The bus ride was about 3 hours long.  While we were on the bus I listened to music and we watch a movie...Johnny Lingo.  About halfway through our trip we stopped at a rest stop.  I got a corn dog, hash browns and strawberry ice cream.  It tasted different than those things would in america but it was still good.  

Then, we finally pulled into Taipei.  As we were driving into the city I could see Taipei 101.  It was so cool!  101 is the second tallest building in the world.  It was pretty cool.  The temple was beautiful!  I loved seeing a new temple and getting to go inside.  This really made me realize that the gospel is true no matter where you are.  :)  

Then, when we were done inside the temple, Calli, Sunny and I walked to a nearby memorial.  It was for a man named Chiang Kai-shek.  I am not a history person so I'm not exactly sure what he did....all I know is that it had to do with the government in Taiwan and the government in China but that's all I got for ya.  I really enjoyed it anyways.

As we were walking to the memorial we saw this sign.  Some of the signs just make me laugh.  Beware of falling coconut branches??.....ok....... :)  I will try to take pictures of more of the interesting signs that I see....they are everywhere.  :)

Then, after we went to the memorial we got back on the bus and we went to Taipei 101 to get dinner.  As I said earlier, Taipei 101 is the second tallest building in the world.  It was cool to go inside.  The first few floors has a mall and a food court.  I think the rest of it are businesses.  You can pay to go all the way to the top of the building but I didn't feel like spending that kind of money yesterday...

this is a picture that I took from the ground as I looked up at the building.  Cool huh?

For dinner I got KFC....I know...really Taiwanese.  :)  The thing that I got off of the menu wasn't the same as in america though.  I got a chicken wrap.  It had chicken, Doritos, and salsa wrapped in a tortilla.  It was surprisingly good.  I also got fries, a biscuit (which is different than in the states) and a Pepsi.  It was a good dinner!  

Then, after we were done with our food, we boarded the bus and headed back to Fengyuan.  I slept for almost the entire bus ride.  I was so tired.  The downside of sleeping for three hours on the bus was that I couldn't fall asleep that night...Oh well.  It was still a really good day!

Our Saturday Adventure

I had a pretty fun Saturday!  I really enjoyed myself.  It started pretty early...I had to teach 4th grade from 9 to 11 in the morning.  Only 2 of my students came...that was pretty fun.  :)  They have started their winter break so I'm hoping my classes will be a little more sparse....I'm not sure if they really will be though.  :)  Then I did some lesson planning for a couple hours.  After I was done with that we decided to go the pool.  Yes they have a pool here in Taiwan.  It was the coolest pool I have ever seen!  There are two big pools for lap swimming.  There is also a water slide but it was off while we were there.  The best part was the spa part.  There are 3 or 4 hot tubs and then, in the main pool part, there are all of these jets and spa stations.  Depending on which station you choose, the jets will shoot you in a different place on your body.  My favorite one was this one where you laid down and you were surrounded by bubbles.  My least favorite one was a room that you stood in and the water shot at you from every direction but the water was....COLD!!  I couldn't handle it!  I had a really good time.

and yes....they do require you to wear swim caps.  That was lots of fun.  :)

After swimming we rode our bikes back to our apartment and we got ready to go out to dinner.  Our plan was to go to a burger place in Taichung called Chubby's (or however you spell it)...if you have ever watched Boy Meets World this will sound familiar to you.  :)  We got really lucky with our train and bus tickets.  We really wanted to catch the bus that was at 17:40...I think.  That only gave us 13 minutes to walk to the bus station, get our ticket and get to the platform.  We booked it from our apartment, down the three flights of stairs, down the streets, up the stairs, over the train tracks, down the stairs and down the street to the train station in record time.  We also bought our tickets and got to the platform in about 13 minutes.  The second we got down the stairs we saw the train coming in.  PERFECT TIMING!  Then, when we got to Taichung we asked what bus we needed to take to get to the restaurant stop.  She said that we wanted bus 83 or 86 across the street.  We crossed that street and we immediately saw and 83 and flagged it down.  A strange thing here in Taiwan is that the buses don't stop at every stop.  You have to flag it down and hope that they see you.  We flagged it down and we got on just in time.  We didn't have to wait for transportation at all.  Then, our luck changed.  We got to the restaurant and they were closed.  :(  But no worries....we found a different hamburger place down the street from Chubby's.  It was really good!  I enjoyed myself.  The hamburgers were HUGE but still good.  We also got Coke with our meal along with fries and a salad.  SO GOOD!  I was the closest thing that I have had to American food since I have been here.  

Then we stopped at the big department store (mall) in Taichung.  It is called Sogo.  This department store is 18 floors high.  It's so strange.  I thought it would be a bunch of different stores like a mall is in america....Nope.  It wasn't like that.  It was separated by sections instead....the book section...the toy section...the baby section...etc.  I guess that is almost like stores but it was definitely different than what I was used to.  Then, after our shopping experience we decided to head home.  All in all...it was a pretty good day.

Gotta love Fridays!

So Friday was a pretty fun day.  I probably have too much fun with my kids...is that even possible?  Ok my kids do listen to me and they do know how to learn but I let them have some fun too.  :)  A couple days ago I was at the teacher store and I found this game called Uno Stacko.  It is basically Jenga except that it has colored blocks with numbers on it and you play it with some of the same rules you would when playing Uno. I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it.  I love playing games so I thought I might as well buy it.  However, I didn't realize that the only instructions on the box were written in Spanish and Portuguese.  Random right?  Especially in Taiwan....a predominately Chinese speaking country.  :)  Anyways...the teacher store gives the Berhan teachers a nice discount...about 50% off.  So instead of spending 300 NT (about 9 USD) I spent 160 NT (about 5 USD).  Not bad for a fun game.  I brought it to class on Friday so that my students could play it during their break.  They loved it!  They got so into it.  They especially loved the fact that I was teaching them a new game.

The little girl on the left is Angelina.  She is one of my favorites.  They are all adorable but she is just so precious.  The little girl that is taking a block from the tower is Peko.  She is pretty cute too.

Then, after we had our break time and we discussed our reading book we had our DVPE time.  We basically played some more for this part of our day.  :)  For our DVPE on Friday we played with balloons.  One thing that I learned about Taiwanese children is that their fine motor skills are really lacking.  They don't really play outside.  They aren't allowed to.  So...we have been encouraged to let them play and work on their fine motor skills.  We started the balloon activity by splitting up into two teams and just hitting the balloon up in the air and seeing how many times they could hit it before the balloon hit the ground.  They were surprisingly good at it.  So...we moved into relay-type activities.  They stayed in their teams but they had to do something with the balloon as they moved across the room and then it was the next person's turn until the whole team as finished.  I started out easy.  They just had to hit the ball up in the air as they moved to the other side of the room.  This was surprisingly hard for them.  Then, I got progressively harder.  My favorite one was that they had to get on their bellies and blow the balloon to the other side of the room.  Now you may be asking yourself....what does this have to do with verbalization practice?  Well....I must admit that I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to incorporate verbalization practice but I figured it out!  We talked about the terms hard, harder, hardest, easier and easiest.  We did a lot of comparison discussion. My students also did not know what the word "blow" meant so I taught that word to them as well.  I really enjoyed my class this Friday!

Fridays in my Basic Reading class is also prize day.  I have a clothespin chart in my classroom.  They each have a clothespin with their name on it.  There are four steps on this chart.  If they have been good they are on blue.  If they need to improve their behavior they move down to yellow.  If they continue to cause problems they move down to orange and they lose part of their break time.  Then, if they continue to cause problems they move down to red and they have to talk to the secretary.  If they were on blue all week they can pick from the prize box.  A lot of my students were on blue this week and I think more of my students will be on blue next week because they saw how cool the prize box was.  I started this program this week but I really think it is working....let's hope it keeps working.  :)

My kids

Well I am almost done with the third week of teaching.  I can't believe it!  It has gone by so fast!  I have been here for almost a month.  CRAZY!!  Anyways...my kids are great.  I am finally warming up to the idea of teaching them everyday and I think they are warming up to the idea of me being their teacher.  I think my favorite class is my basic reading class.  They are 7 and 8 years old and they are SO cute!  After class I go downstairs and they are waiting for their parents.  I hear a chorus of "teacher, teacher teacher!"  We have a lot of fun in that class.  During our break time I play Uno with them or they teach me how to make different origami things.  They are really good at it.  There was one student that I was a little worried about.  His name is Robbie.  He reminded me of a student that I had back when I was teaching first grade.  However, I started this new behavior plan and it has seemed to work on him.  The rule in our school is that you first get a warning.  Then, you have to miss part of your break.  After those two strikes you have to go talk to a secretary.  I created a visual for all of them.  They each have a clothespin with their name on it and if they break a rule they have to move their clip down.  I started this on Monday.  Both Monday and Wednesday Robbie had to move his clip.  On Wednesday he had to move his clip twice.  Yesterday he didn't have to move his clip!  This might seem like a small thing but it was HUGE to me!!  I am starting to love him!  

Then, I also teach a 5th grade class.  There are only 6 kids in my class.  It is so nice compared to the 28 kids I had to teach when I was student teaching.  They are pretty great also.  There is one trouble maker but he knows when it is time to work and when it is okay to be funny.  On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week the kids that go to elementary school had this HUGE test!  Their parents put so much pressure on them to do well it is insane.  So...I teach these kids on Wednesdays.  They came up to me at the beginning of class and said, "teacher we are done with our test!"  They were really excited.  So I let them talk about their test for awhile and I told them that if we could get all of our work done I would let them go outside for their breaktime as a reward for finishing their test.  They did a great job and we were able to go outside and play for a few minutes.  

Now to talk about my monstrous 4th graders.  They are very talkative and very crazy.  This class is my smallest class with only 5 kids but they are my hardest also.  I teach them on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday mornings.  On Tuesday they came in and they were CRAZY!!  I think it might have just been because they were stressed out about the tests they had been taking that day.  I hardly got anything done that day.  I let them talk about their test a little bit because I could tell it was on their minds.  Then, I tried to teach them language arts and English features and spelling words but they weren't having it.  They were talking over me like I wasn't even there.  It was so frustrating.  Then, after break we did our writing and then we were supposed to do our verbalization practice.  Our verbalization practice for this week is creating our dream city.  My fifth graders handled this activity so well.  We made a list of the things that they would want in their city and then they were supposed to come up and create their city on the board.  My fourth graders, on the other hand, could not handle it.  They were just being inappropriate with their city so I told them to sit down and write about their city instead.  They just could not handle the activity.  I had to have one of my students stay after class too because he was just not listening.  On Thursday I tried the activity again.  It went MUCH smoother and they actually acted as if they wanted to learn.  Now that the tests are over I think my students are more willing and ready to learn.  I hope they are like this for the rest of the semester.  :)

One of my 4th graders told me this joke yesterday and I thought it was worthy to post on here.

Q: What do you do if it is -60 degrees Celsius outside.

A: Stand in a corner because a corner is 90 degrees.

It took me a minute to figure it out but think about it.  It really is clever for a 4th grader.  :)

Then, on top of these classes, I also tutor a 12 year old boy named Sam on Monday and Friday nights.  He is SO quiet and it is hard to pull anything out of him.  For the first 15 minutes I quiz him on different spelling patterns.  This week we are working on the "ea" pattern like in the word "bread".  He stands at the board while I tell him words to spell.  After that we read a book.  We usually read a whole book during this 30 minute time period.  We choose relatively small books that he can get through in one sitting.  After he is done reading we take a 10 minute break.  2 hours is a LONG time to be sitting in one place.  Then, after that we do writing practice.  This is really hard for him.  I want to help him know how to write creatively but he says he doesn't understand any topic that I give him.  So....so far I have just had him write about the story we just read...I just don't know how to teach him how to write creatively.  Then, after all of this learning, we get to play a game.  We have played Monopoly and Guess Who and Uno.  This is the best part of the tutoring.  I really enjoy tutoring...I just wish he would open up and be more talkative.

It's my birthday!

So...tonight we had planned to take a bus to Fengjia.  There is a huge night market there.  We planned to meet a couple of the other teachers there along with their friends.  They were a little late so we explored the night market while we waited for them.  When they finally got there we walked to a Tibetan/Indian food place.  I was a little nervous when we walked in because I am not a fan of spicy foods and I'm not much of an adventurous eater.  Anyone who knows me should know that.  Anyways...I decided to try something new.  Callie, Sunny and I decided that we wanted to try a little bit of everything.  We each ordered something and then we planned on sharing it.  It was SO much food!  I ordered a curry dish.  I don't remember what it was called.  I just know that it had chicken in it and it was red.  I also ordered bread with it to put the curry on top of.  Sunny got another curry dish.  Hers was green.  She ordered rice to go with hers.  Then, Callie ordered chicken.  It tasted a lot like barbecue chicken.  All of that food was Indian.  Then we ordered these rolls from the Tibetan menu.  I was not a fan of them.  They had some weird egg stuff in them.  I was adventurous and tried all of the food!  I was definitely impressed with myself.  We had a lot of leftover food that we brought home.  

Then Callie, Sunny and I decided it was about time to leave so that we could catch our bus.  The last bus leaves Fengjia at 10.  It was already 9:15.  But Tawny said that they had one more thing to do.  I definitely was NOT expecting this.  Tawny got me a cake!  She got a candle and I blew it out while they sang Happy Birthday to me....in three different languages....English, Chinese, and Spanish.  :)  It was so unexpected.  I had no idea this was coming.  Sunny also bought me a cake earlier that day so I guess I will have A LOT of cake.  :)  I really love all of the people here.  They have made this place feel like home.  Then, as we left we saw a bus drive past us.  We ran to catch it and we made it just in time.  We were lucky.  We didn't want to have to wait until the next one.  The bus ride was about an hour long...while we were on the bus we played life.  It was pretty fun.  :)  And I guess that is the end of my birthday adventures.......for now anyways.  :)

We found a new park!

Today is Saturday in Taiwan.  On Saturdays I have to teach from 9 to 11 in the morning.  After that I can explore all I want.  I had a lot of lesson planning to do so I thought I would just stay in.  But no...it is more fun to go explore.  :)  Erin, Sunny and I walked to a local park that was pretty close by.  It was so fun to just get out of the apartment and walk around.  Since we live at the school it is possible to never leave.  Plus, we live on the fourth floor so when we come home we have to walk up 4 flights of stairs...not very tempting.  :)  Anyways...I decided to force myself to get out.  I needed a break from lesson planning anyways.  The park is only about 10 minutes from our house.  

There were these fun little exercise machines at the park.  Toys for kids AND adults?!?  GENIUS!  :)  It was fun messing around and acting like children.

Don't worry...we did our fair share of playing on the kid's toys as well.  :)  Sometimes it's just fun to act like a kid. 

There is also a maze at the park.  Don't worry....we were able to find our way through and when we got out of the maze we saw a really cool monument.  Don't worry we didn't spend too much time at the park.  We did go back home to work on our lesson plans....eventually.  :)

THE ROOF!

The fifth floor of our building is the roof.  I didn't just experience this...I knew it was up there from the first day that I got there.  However, I just never had the desire to check it out....I was a little worried about it....I am afraid of heights.  Anyways, Brendan, Erin, Sunny, Trisha, Kaitlyn, Nicole and I were all watching "The Help".  We had a nice, relaxing Sunday night.  Then, when the movie was over (around 10 at night) Kaitlyn insisted on showing me the roof.  :)  So...I decided it would be a good adventure.  It was nothing like I had pictured.  It was so beautiful!  As you look out you see the "skyline" of Fengyuan.  I had never experienced it like that.  Of course we took some pictures.

These pictures don't really do it justice but it really was so beautiful!  It was so calm and peaceful.  The city was quiet, there weren't any crazy drivers on the street.  It would definitely be a nice place to sit or read a book.  I enjoyed it!  

Other than that, it was a pretty average Sunday.  We started church at 9:30 today....instead of 12:30.....this is how it is going to be for the rest of the year...I like this schedule so much better.  I know this means I have to get up SUPER early!  We left for church around 8:15 this morning but the bus ride was much more enjoyable.  It wasn't too packed which is amazing for Taiwan!  We all got a seat on the bus for the entire 45 minute bus ride.  Coming home from church wasn't that bad either.  We had break the fast today so we left a little later than we usually will but the bus was still very empty when we left.  Also, I would like you to know that you are now talking to the music person for the primary.  I was not expecting this.  I was actually anticipating relief society or Sunday School teacher.  I am relieved that I am not a Sunday School teacher but I could have handled Relief Society.  :)  Oh well.  

I am a little overwhelmed with all that I have to do for school and trying to find food to feed myself with.  This just seems like an added source of stress.  I'm sure it will be fine once I get the hang of things.  Luckily the Primary president is another teacher here and she is AWESOME so I can talk to her about it whenever I want to.  I am really excited and a little nervous too.  I don't want to make it boring for them or anything.  They really don't waist any time handing out callings in this branch.  One of the other teachers here got called as the Primary First Counselor last Sunday (our very first week here).  We have so much to learn and so many things to do I hope we can handle this as well.  I guess we will find out.  :)  Until next time....happy Sunday from Taiwan!

Our grocery store adventure

So...for the last week we have been living off of toast, Ramen, and frozen chicken nuggets with the occasional trip to Le Chie's (Lee Chee's) for dumplings or Bing Sha for a smoothie.  We decided that Saturday would be a FANTASTIC day to do a little grocery shopping.  We started off the day at a local fast food restaurant.  I got a chicken burger that actually wasn't that bad.  I also ordered some dumplings to save for later.  Then, while we were waiting for our food to be done we got a Bing Sha.  It was definitely a good, filling meal and I got some stuff to save for dinner as well!  The total cost for that entire meal was 90 NT (less than 3 dollars).  SUCH A BARGAIN!

Callie, one of our roommates, recommended it to us and showed us where the restaurant was and I am definitely glad that she did!  :)  

Then, after we ate lunch, Callie walked us to the teacher store.  That is a store here that is PACKED with things that are perfect for teaching.  Berhan teachers get a discount as well.  :)  We didn't buy anything because I wasn't able to justify buying anything since I haven't gotten an actual salary yet but it was nice to see where it was.  There were literally boxes and boxes of stuff.  You could barely move through the isles because there was so much stuff everywhere!  That how a lot of Taiwan is....packed!  

This is the entrance to the store.  It's sort of hard to see but you can tell that there is stuff EVERYWHERE!

Then, after that adventure, Callie when home and Sunny and I headed on our way to go find a mart.  Luckily we knew how to get there (sort of).  GOOD NEWS!  We didn't get lost!  I was very proud of that.  

It is so different walking in to a store where the people don't speak English.  I have so much more sympathy for people that come to american and don't speak English.  It must be so difficult for them.  It was so funny.  The entire staff was following us around and watching us the entire time.  I'm sure it's because they just wanted to see what the americans were going to do next.  They just wanted to watch us make a fool of ourselves.  At one point I picked up a bag of dumplings and I must have looked a little confused because this lady came over and offered me a sample of the different kinds of dumplings.  They were really good and I did end up buying some.  We also got a sample of yogurt milk which I was not a fan of and Sunny tried Fermented milk......I don't think she knew what it was until she finished though...Anyways...we did finally make it through the store with a few things.  I bought a decent amount of stuff and I only spent $588.  Translated that would be about $20.  Not bad.  

Then, we had a long trek home with bags and backpacks full of stuff.  In this country they charge you if you want a bag so we just brought our own bags and backpacks and shoved everything in there.  It worked.  It's only $1 more but it's easier just to bring my own bags.  Well....I guess that is all for now.  I don't have much more to say about my adventure in Taiwan today.....it was a pretty good day now I have to decide between sleeping and working on lesson plans.  I choose sleeping.  :)

Is that an ice cream truck I hear??

Well...the answer to that question is...NO!  On the first day that we were here we heard Fur Elise coming from outside.  We had no idea what it was.  Then, we heard it again the next day.  The song has since changed from Fur Elise to a song that I do not recognize but it is definitely NOT an ice cream truck.  You would not want to get anything out of this truck.  :)  That melody is actually the sound of a garbage truck.  Garbage trucks come by every day (except for Tuesday or Wednesday....I can't remember which one).  It took some getting used too but it is starting to seem more normal.

And...as I am writing this post....I start to hear a woman shouting from a loud speaker.  Taiwan doesn't have a law against disturbing the peach I guess.  These people....although we can't understand what they are saying....are advertisements.  It was very interesting the first time that we heard one of them.  It is just very different from back home.  I'm not used to hearing advertisements for different things as we walk down the street.  I'm sure I will get used to it....I'm just not quite there yet.

I SURVIVED!

Well I have officially survived my first day of teaching!  My first class went alright...it was a beginning reading class.  For the most part, my kids are sweet hearts.  There is this one little boy that came in to class screaming and yelling.  I put a stop to that really fast.  Then, as he continued, I moved him to the corner of the room.  He was quiet once he had to sit in the corner.  The other kids in that class were just adorable!  The language barrier poses some challenges but I think I am going to like it here!  It will definitely hard but...in the long run...it will be worth it!  Then, after beginning reading, I had my fifth grade class.  They were amazing!  I love that class!  There is one boy that tried to be the class clown but I put a stop to that.  :)  At one point I asked them to write a 5 sentence story about what they like to do during their break time.  As soon as they got their stuff out and started writing they were silent!  It was amazing!  I loved it!  There are only 7 kids in that class which might have made the difference.  Although there are only 9 kids in my earlier class.  That's not too much of a number difference....I am looking forward to learning new things as each day passes and growing as a person.  This will definitely be a strengthening experience for me.  

After work Sunny, Kaitlyn, Nicole and I (the other new teachers) went down the street and got a Bing Sha.  That is an awesome smoothie that they sell here in Taiwan...and it's only a 5 minute walk from our apartment...that might get me into trouble! :)  I got a Pineapple one.  I also bought chicken there today for dinner.  Mom you would be proud of me.  It was definitely authentic Taiwanese cuisine.  I wasn't exactly sure what I ordered.  I told him "chicken".  Then he tried to communicate with me by using charades.  I had no idea what he was saying so I had Nicole come over to try and translate for me....she didn't really understand him either although she does know some Chinese.  So....as I watched him make my food he grabbed a whole chicken from his container, chopped it up and put it in the fryer.  I just hoped that I asked for the right thing.  It was actually decent.  I was impressed.  I guess I did order the right thing.  I have definitely been a more adventurous eater since I have been here and I keep trying new things EVERY DAY!  The problem is that we haven't really had time to go to Costco so we just buy meals at local restaurants and things like that.  Luckily they do have 7-Eleven and local grocery stores here but they are more expensive than Costco I guess.....7-Eleven does have some pretty good things though.  My favorite thing is a bag of frozen chicken (enough for one meal).  It is 28 NT or about 96 cents.  That's a pretty good deal for one meal!  I was really worried about the food here before I came.  Now I'm not so worried.  I think I will be just fine!  :)

Another thing about this place is that the mosquitoes are relentless.  I have gotten so many bug bites since I have been here.  I can't even believe it.  My ankle is so swollen that it hurts to walk on it.  That's probably partly because of the mosquito bites and partly because I was on my feet all day.  I tried to find mosquito repellent at the store but it is so expensive...especially since I'm not officially getting a salary yet.  Oh well.  Maybe the mosquitoes will run out of places to bite on me.  :)  Anyways....I will keep you posted as the days go on.  :)