Don't go diving in Australia, there are sharks

Apologies first for not keeping up with this blog very well.  I feel as though this is the first weekend I have had to sit down and wrap my head around the events in my life.  These past couple of weeks have been filled with school work, grad school work, volleyball tournaments, and scuba certification classes.  While I am thrilled I have accomplished so much in such a short time, I need a break!  ASAP!

School here is moving along as usual.  In celebration of Halloween (and we are probably one of the only schools in Taiwan who celebrate it because we are an American school) the Student Council sponsored a scary movie night.  I never thought I would be in charge of/chaperone a night where over 100 teenagers get together at school, turn all the lights off and watch The Ring and Paranormal Activity, but I did.  The whole time I was thinking "This would never fly in the states," and "I hope I don't scream out loud!" :)  Other than that event, school has been just like school everywhere else...too much work and not enough time to complete it all.

Last weekend I took my Volleyball girls to our tournament at another American school just on the outskirts of Kaohsiung.  I am proud to say my 6th graders got a solid 4th place out of 4 teams.  They are amazing, I know...they were more worried with having time to play on the playground than hitting the ball.  Just imagine orange cones with arms...that would be 75% of my team.  Oh well...my competitive spirit had to be suppressed.  Softball is coming up next, these girls, from what I have been told are natural athletes, which will be a welcome change.

Keith and Zach at the dive center

The Hostel

Now on to the good stuff.  Over the past 3 weekends I have been going down to Kenting getting my scuba certification.  I am now officially open water certified!  I can go diving anywhere in the world, but as my mother told me, "Don't go diving in Australia right now, they are having problems with sharks."  It took 3 LONG days to accomplish this.  I completed the course with Zach and Keith, no one else wanted to come along, I don't understand why this was the coolest thing I have done so far in my life.  We started the first day diving in the pool at the center.  There we just got comfortable with the equipment, skills, strategies and survival techniques incase something were to go wrong.

The Scuba site

We spent the night in a hostel at the dive center, which was my first hostel experience.  Different yet, tons of fun.  The next day we took our first dive in the ocean.  It was amazing.  There is a whole new world (thanks Little Mermaid) down there.  The reefs and fish were mind blowing.  I knew this is something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  After cleaning the equipment, we headed back to Kaohsiung on a diving high ready to get our last dives in the next weekend.  The last dives went flawlessly, our instructor even told us we were his best students!  Now I have my PADI card and can go diving wherever I want (except Australia because mom says so) .  While it was a lot of work, it was such a great accomplishment.

All the equipment 

Now I am about to put on my swim suit and my flippy floppies and head to the beach.  It is a beautiful, sunny day that can simply not be wasted.

Spending the holiday in "style"

The beautiful Island

This weekend was 10/10, the Taiwanese independence day.  Since I am sure you can all assume I love a good independence day, after all the fireworks are for me, I was super excited for my extra day off school and weekend trip to Green Island.  From the time we planned this trip, all I heard from others who had been was how great this place was, how beautiful and relaxing this trip was going to be and what a good time we are going to have.  I can agree to 1.5 out of the 3 statements.  We had a good time and I think it is beautiful but this weekend could be considered a disaster!

The infamous boat

To start off, I totally overslept, missed the train with everyone and was forced to, on my own, make my way to the east side of the island by train and boat.  The train was full and the only seat I could get was standing room only...so I stood by the bathroom for 2+ hours to get to Taitung.  Once in Taitung I had to get to the boat to take me to Green Island.  The only issue was I had to get to the boat from the train station in 15 minutes or I would miss the last boat out for the night...Jennifer in her wonderful Chinese told the cab driver this and I was off for the scariest cab ride of my life!  My life was literally flashing before my eyes, but I made it!  The boat ride was interesting to say the least...they have barf bags at every chair and many people (like half the boat) needed to use it.  Gross!  I just put in my iPod and went to sleep hoping not to catch the bug.

John, Jennifer and I

Once I arrived to Green Island, I was greeted by my wonderful friends on scooters, we were so Taiwanese and had to ride with 3 on a scooter ;)  Not to mention the fact that I brought the rain with me.  From the time I got there until the time I left it was a downpour.  We were not going to let that stop us though!  We rode around the island getting pelted with rain, soaking wet, trying to do everything.

For dinner Saturday night we had a traditional Taiwanese barbecue...don't get your hopes up, this was complete with chicken heart, pigs blood, fish pancakes, and numerous other things which I don't even know what they are.  I stuck with the chicken (I think).  Later that night we went to these natural hot springs Saturday night expecting to have a perfect relaxing time, it was FREEZING and of course we picked the only hot spring that was not hot.  Our clothes were soaking wet by the time we left we were miserable.  We ended up in a pool by ourselves...at first we thought no one wanted to be around the Americans...but it turns out that was the only hot spring that was lukewarm...we were the stupid ones who did not put two and two together and move to the ones where everyone else was.

Hotsprings

After leaving the hotspring, we rode home in the downpour on the scooters, jumped in hot showers and went to sleep on the brick hard mattresses.  Upon waking up in the morning, we unanimously decided over breakfast to cut the trip short and head back to Kaohsiung.  After rearranging all of the tickets, we rode around on the island in the scooters trying to see as much as we could, after all at this point my hands had been pruned for about 24 hours so what was a little more water?  The island really was as beautiful as people said.  Absolutely breathtaking in some places.  I really can not wait to visit in nicer conditions.

7 hours later, 1 boat ride (where no one got sick, score), a train ride (where we all got seats) we made it back safe and sound!  Despite everything, I had a great time.  The people I was with made it all worth it.  They are incredible, positive, up-beat and just a ton of fun to be around.  I am so blessed.

What is ya'll in Chinese

Arriving at the HSR station

I don't know if this is just true for the US and Taiwan, or if this statement can be applied to everywhere, but based on personal experience, things are so much better down south.  We all know in America there  might not be as much to do in the south compared to the north, but life is run at a slower pace and people are MUCH friendlier.  After spending this past weekend in Taipei (in the north of Taiwan) I have come to realize the same is true for here as well.

Taipei 101

Picking up the goods

Larissa, Lori, Keith, Bruce and I went on an adventure up to Taipei this Saturday.  Larissa's boyfriend teaches at the Taipei American School and was having a party, so what better reason to head up there and do a little sight seeing/partying?!?!  We got on the high speed rail Saturday morning to begin our hour and a half trip up there.  The train was really nice, kinda made you feel like you were flying.  Once we arrived we had lunch, went shopping for beer and decided to do some exploring.  We ended up at Taipei 101 (the world's 2nd tallest building).  Since we were in this major city, Lori and I of course wanted to go shopping, so we let Keith and Bruce head off on their own and we were in search of the Japanese version of Old Navy called Uniqlo.  What a disappointment.  Not only was it so hard to find, all they had in the store were jackets...seriously...it does not get below 60 here, why would you need a jacket?  Not only that, is was SO crowded, I was miserable.  We did find a bunch of cool sites to look at, like the street performers, it was just not the same as Kaohsiung.  We left the store, met back up with the guys, and headed a little disappointed to the party.

Street preformer

Upon arriving at the party, there were already teachers from Taipei American School there.  We tried to be the southern friendly people that we are, after all we are just one big happy family at our school...we even have family game night together.

Clue on family game night

The people here were just different.  Now I know that everyone is supposed to be different, that is what makes the world go round, but they were just not friendly.  Most of them did not know each other and they teach together!  People there thought we were teachers at TAS.  I am not used to situations like that.

The fast pace of the city, not the nicest people, and an environment where people are more worried about themselves than building relationships really makes me appreciate living in the south once again.  There is something to be said for the good ol southern hospitality which you can not get anywhere else.

I wonder if there is a Chinese word for ya'll?

Life is hard ;)

Angel, Me, and Larissa on the beach!

This weekend was the Taiwan Moon Festival.  In celebration, we got a day off of school which us teachers took as an excuse to get out of the city and take a nice trip to the beach.  Friday night I laid low and got some well needed rest.   Saturday morning 7 of us took off to Baisha beach on the southern tip of the island.  Man was it beautiful!  The water was crystal clear with spectacular coral reefs all around, just waiting to be explored.  So, of course we did.  We also were able to lay on the beach and enjoy some tropical beverages, eat yummy food and do a little dancing on the patio.  It was like being at a resort except we were staying in tents.  This had to be one of the best camping experiences I have had.  Then to make life better, we got back on Sunday, saw fireworks being set off around the city and experienced the celebration of the moon festival.  Monday, since I did not have work, it seemed like the perfect day to get to the gym then head to    the beach around here.  I mean what else do people do on their days off work...seriously!

I know, I know, I have such a HARD life!

The Campsite

Beautiful Sunset

The camping Resort at Night

 

Since the weekend was so painful ;) my friend Lori and I decided to get pedicures after school.  We walked to our favorite massage place, only to find out they did not have any open spots.  Having a little spa treatment on our minds, we decided to find a place by our selves.  Haha, this was fun!  After trying 2 or three spots we see a sign that in clear English says pedicure, so we head into that store.  After getting a somewhat uncomfortable welcome, we manage to get across what we wanted, no one here spoke English, and we were led to a spot in the room.  The people in the place were all laughing and talking to each other, clearly about us, but we did not care.  We were about to be in heaven.  After about 20 minutes of the best pedicure of my life it hit me...we were in an all male store.  This is why everyone was laughing and looking at us funny.  There was no nail polish to pick out, they did not even take the polish off our toes, but man, let me tell you, my feet have never felt so soft and smooth.  It is like a babies bottom.  Despite the questionable magazines on the rack and the old men staring it was AMAZING.  This man spent about an hour on each of our feet and then we were given back massages.  This playing the "I only speak English" card was perfect.  I have never been happier to not be able to communicate in my life.  

After this weekend I am officially Taiwanese

First I want to apologize for the delay in post.  I have been so busy, when I finally make it home, I just crash.  I am about to start my 4th week of teaching and have now been in Kaohsiung for a month.  While that does not seem that long, I feel like it has been forever.  I don't know if that is a good thing or bad, I am going with good.  I have made such great friends here the transition has been super easy.

This weekend though, I think I can now consider myself an official resident in Taiwan.  After a stressful week of work with the typhoon hitting and more rain than I have ever seen (not really but I just wanted to make it seem really bad for dramatic impact) and meet the teacher open house ON A FRIDAY we decided to do what we do best and have happy hour.  I was overjoyed to find out not only did the place we chose have a salad (that is all I have wanted for the past week) but it was also Jack Daniels night...SCORE!  After indulging in a couple of jack and diets, and eating a decent salad we decided to head out to the local night market for a little late night gaming.  Just picture the state fair on crack...that is what the night market reminds me of.  There are rows upon rows of food, clothes, knick knacks, toys and games.  You have to literally push your way through the crowd but it is so much fun!

At the night market the food is not the same as our wonderful state fairs in the states.  You can not get a Krispy Kreme burger here but you can get pigs knuckles, pig butt, pig heart, fried squid, hot pots, shaved ice, bubble tea and the infamous STINKY TOFU.  The product lives up to its name.  The stinky tofu smell engulfs the night market, think of sewage or rotten garbage...basically what it smells like.  Despite the smell, it seems like everyone who is native to Taiwan or really south east Asia loves this food.  With all of the hype, and the liquid courage, I decided to try it.  Being still a little chicken, I convinced John (a fellow new teacher at KAS) to try it with me.  We bought the tofu and even had the guy put a little cabbage and hot sauce on it, got our pieces and engaged in eating possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth.  It was all I could do not to spit it out in the masses.  I think it took me about 5 minutes to force it down my throat.  Wet cat food has to taste better than this.

But, even though I will never try it again...I feel like I can finally fit in in Taiwan after eating the stinky tofu.

Don't Ever Think People Are Not Good At Heart

Wow, I have probably had the most heart warming day yet.  After an amazing day at school, and finally feeling like I have had a break through with my students, I walked out to the pedal on my bike no longer being attached...poor Betsy she got sick.  Not only did that happen, but a thunderstorm was brewing.  Lightening flashing and thunder rumbling.  In my head I was thinking "Great!  Just my luck, who else would this happen to?"  Thankfully my wonderful apartment mate Larissa, who speaks Chinese was riding home with me.  We went to the security guards at school, they all tried to help put it back on with no luck but directed us to a scooter shop around the corner.  After walking the bike over to the scooter shop, through the crazy traffic, we were told they only fix scooters, not bikes...no bueno!

Larissa went on her way since it was storming, and I went back to school.  The security guards called my a cab while they continued trying to fix my bike for me.  They don't speak english, I don't speak Chinese but we communicated with smiles and hand gestures.  Once the taxi arrived and we managed to fit Betsy into the truck, I got a sweet message from Larissa saying the security guards at our apartment want to look at the bike before I try to take it to a bike shop.  Needless to say, the wonderful door man not only got his hands dirty fixing my bike, he was my hero for the day, but he also made me promise I would take it to another bike shop to make sure it was safe to ride.

After having all of these people take time out of their day to help me put back on my pedal, it really warmed my heart.  These people did this because they are nice, kind people.  They were not asking for anything in return, just being a good neighbor.  This is what life is all about.  If more people were to do this, help people out how much happier would we all be?  Take today to do something nice for someone else...it really goes a LONG way!  Just the little things can turn a bad day into something good and a good day into something great.

Now, I get to ride my sweet Betsy around the Love River with friends and enjoy the joyous view!

First week of school...SUCCESS

I am done with my first full week of teaching and as far as I can tell it was a success.  It is totally different than teaching in the states.  The students are amazing!  They do everything I say without question, everyone has their homework complete, they don't talk and they are excited to learn.  It is more work than I ever though it would be.  Probably one of my hardest first weeks to get used to.

The language difference is interesting.  I have found that they all just no their heads even if they don't understand so I really have to be observant, which can be difficult for me :)  I think I am going to love it.  Next week the students are going to have their first dance and I can not wait to chaperone.  It starts at 6:30 and is over by 9:00, not a bad job to have.

I am getting used to everything around here and even gaining an appreciation for tofu...who would have thought that could taste good?  I am craving a good ol American cheeseburger though.