More Taiwan Stuffs

Hey all- I guess it is probably that time again- and I should write in my blog.
WARNING: this may be a long and rather boring entry- so I don't blame you if you just want to see the pictures!
Things have been a bit crazy here! I just finished my second week of teaching and it is amazing to me how much energy it requires. I have a kindergarten class that is M-F for three hours- and I have two different second grade classes that alternate M-S. So I do have to work sat. mornings, but they are my little angel second graders and I really enjoy being with them. I guess I will just share a few thoughts about my teaching experience up to this point: First- it is different than I was expecting with the method we use to teach English- so that has been a challenge- and our director is in America for a month- so not much on the training. My AK (Afternoon Kindergarten) kids require a great deal of energy! I have them for three hours and we do an opening and closing with a lot of singing- which is fun- but I know I will be sick of 'Hello neighbor' by the end of six months! They are really cute kids and I will try to take some pictures with them this week and post them here. I love their chinglish- which is when they speak English like chinese. I will give you a few examples. When we do story time everyday- I don't read them the book at all- but just show them the pictures and ask them to tell me about it. We were reading the Berenstien Bears book- and we are trying to teach them emotions and things like that- and they have happy and sad down- but struggle with the rest. Sometimes they will say so-so if they can't think of other emotions like scared or annoyed. So Shayley was telling about the bears- and they always pull on my arms and say Teacha teacha- look at mama bear- she (and when they don't know anymore words- they start to make gestures and sound effects- like kcchhhh-prrrhhk-ahhhh) and it is really cute- and then she started to point out the flowers and their colors- and one of the flowers was drouping down- and she said this flower is happy- and this flower is sad. It was really cute! I love story time because they will often surprise me with some of the comparisons they come up with- and I love all of them circled around me- tugging on my arm to get my attention and tell me about the story!
My second graders are pretty smart. We can have pretty good conversations. I have had to be pretty stern in disciplining them this week- especially my bigger second grade class- but I think it will be better now that they know they can get away with whatever they want! I teach about 27 hours a week and then there is all the lesson planning and prep time on top of that.
Right now it is pouring rain and it is the beginning of typhoon season! Sometimes we will get typhoon days where school is canceled and the whole city shuts down because of the weather. I am really excited for those days! haha. Oh- I gave a talk in church my second sunday here- and this week I was set apart as the Young Women's President- and I am the only leader there. I have two young women- Angela and Rebecca. They are really cute girls and I am amazed at the love I already feel for them- and the excitement of teaching them and doing activities with them. They live in a different city so we may not be able to do activities every week- but I am excited. Angela is Taiwanese- but she lived with a host family in Australia for a couple of years and she has this really cute accent that is part Australian and part Chinglish. I love it. She is 17 and next year she is moving back to Aus to go to school at the U of Queensland in Brisbane (wink wink dad).
Are you all still reading? Way to go Tiger! I know there are other things I wanted to share with you- but I cannot think of them right now. Until next time- ta ta for now and don't consume any foul smelling Tofu!

This is Lindsay and I eating Mystery Ice Cream- I guessed that it was Taro and later found that I was right!Their ice cream is lighter than ours- they use less cream- it almost has the same consistency of freezer-burned ice cream- not one of their strong points here!

This is the chapel we meet in for church in Tai Chung


This is a great example of the Chinglish I have come to love here!

The people here really value white skin- so where we have cream to darken our skin- they have creams to whiten it!

The escalators have no steps! You can take your cart up and down each level! It is marvelously fun and exciting!

This was in a park Lindsay and I found on our way to the store so we stopped to explore it!

Bridge at the park

Cute little path to a small temple and shrine where you burn 'money' for your ancestors

This is the bridge of LOVE! Couple will come here and lock their hearts and throw away the key on the train tracks below! Young love is so sweet!

Some more Chinglish!