My job is rough...

For the last few weeks, we have been mixing up our work experience.  It looks like our school may not open until May, and we have just been working on lesson plans and stuff to prepare for that opening date.  In the meantime, two of the teachers at another school went home.  This left an opportunity for Lisa and me to teach for a week.  I was able to teach kids how to play flag football, and they almost learned parts of the game.  I'm not much of an athlete, so I'm not sure that I am the best teacher for that subject, but the kids had fun and would scream "football," and "hike" at me when I saw them at different parts of the day.  It was a fun week, and a good learning experience for when we actually begin teaching.
Weekends are always fun for us.  Lisa, Andrew, Alix, Ryan and I typically spend the weekends together exploring and experiencing new things.  This last weekend, we all went to a hot springs not far from our apartment and soaked for a couple of hours.  It was probably the best hot springing experience of my life, and it only cost us $1.50 each.
This week was especially rough for us.  Lisa, Andrew, Ryan and I were asked if we would like to accommodate some 6th graders on their annual trip to Sun Moon Lake.  We joined because we felt it would create good relationships for the school.  What a rough trip!  The first day we had to go on a big bicycle ride and see a bunch of Taiwanese countryside and spend time with kids.  Then, we had to tour a paper factory and do some crafts.  Our next tour was of a wine factory (with 6th graders?  Really?!?).  That night we had to spend in a quaint little cottage that was stilted over a pond.  The grounds of our resort were expertly landscaped, and the scenery around us was incredible.  We spent that evening with one of our teachers, Leo, who encouraged us to each eat one chicken's worth of chicken legs and feet.  Have you done that?  It's like biting on your fingers and then tugging so that instead of just popping your knuckles you actually tear that part of your finger away.  You chew the meat away from the bones and then spit out the bones and go for the next finger until you've eaten your whole arm.
It only got worse for us on the second day.  We started our morning on a yacht away from the kids.  They took us out to a neat little place on the lake that afforded us great views and gave us time to relax.  Then we were all herded onto a gondola to travel to a high vantage point over the lake for an even better view.  As if our day hadn't been stressful enough, we enjoyed a tour of a Formosan village deep in a forest, where we viewed a demonstration of Formosan dance.  Then, to cap off our day's journey, we had to enjoy an amusement park.  This place was ridiculous.  There were no waiting lines, and yet the rides were more exhilarating than any rides I have been on back home.  The roller coaster lasted longer and was better than any roller coaster I have enjoyed before.  That evening, Leo invited Ryan and me to go to a hot springs with him to bathe for awhile.  It was pretty nude, and Ryan and I decided that it was a good way to bond with the locals.  Leo really looked out for us on the whole trip.  He gave us several gifts and just made sure that it was a fun trip all around for us.
The last day, we left for home and stopped at an earthquake museum and a natural museum.  Needless to say, we are relieved to be back at work and away from the stressful environment of 6th grade trip.  Today, it's finally back to our difficult labor at XingFu, preparing to someday teach kids English.

Worst case scenario, I'm a little behind on my blog

Blogging turns out to be time consuming, and I prefer to spend my time creating memories that should be put in a blog.  Anyway, last week I was able to actually teach kids at another one of the schools that our program operates.  Here are a few photos from that.

Boys learning how to make their dorm beds

All the students gathered for evening program

Lined up to make phone calls home.  

This is time consuming, and useless.

I guess it is important to make sure that your hair is dry before going to bed.  All the boys line up to blow dry their hair, and if it isn't perfectly dry they must do it again.

Tsunami Tschunami

Apparently, on the wake of a major earthquake in Japan, friends have made us aware we are on a Tsunami warning.  We are at the mouth of a major river that flows north into the Pacific, and the base of our building is just about right exactly at sea level.  In the event of a tsunami, it is very likely that it gets wet.  Fortunately for us, we are on the 22nd floor and I can't imagine any wave being high enough to make us wet.  Worst case scenario, the building collapses and we get buried alive with eels and octopi floating around us from the wave.  In that case, if you are reading this, I'm embarrassed for having mocked the dangers of a tsunami, and I take back all that I have written.  Though there is only about a third of the traffic heading toward the ocean below our building as the traffic traveling away from it, I don't think anyone else is really taking the warning seriously either.

We're almost accomplishing things that get us nearer to being ready to begin teaching our classes.  I need to learn to unicycle in the next month, as that is one of the classes I am teaching.  I imagine I'll be able to pick it up, and I practiced every other day this week.  I am a Level 1 unicyclist according to UnicyclingUSA.org.  I will also be teaching track and field classes, so it is a good thing I'm an athlete.  I need to develop some sort of curriculum for those classes, and that is what I have devoted a sliver of my time to this week. The remaining slivers were devoted to shadowing the teachers at already established schools.  It looks like a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to doing a similar program at XingFu camp (find this by typing 'XìngFú Elementary School, Linkou  Township, Taiwan' into Google Earth).  If you have bits of advice for a new teacher, you're welcome to share them.  I might take them seriously.  Our only real struggle is with fighting the school to hook us up with dependable Internet connections so that we can access the information needed to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  The folk at our school act real helpful, but they accomplish very little on our behalf.

Anyway, we're gonna spend Sabbath as a group with many of the staff from the group of four schools that AEH operates.  We are looking forward to that.
Anyway, this feels like quite an adequate length for a blog.  Want a picture or videos or something?

Here:

Our School is the white part of this building.  It is currently under construction, but looks every bit like the school that you've always wanted to attend.  Pretty cool building!

Kids enjoying dance class

Life's mostly a blast!

I still can't get over our nighttime view!

Bless their hearts!  

Preparing for lunch

It's been a fun start in Taipei.  Ryan and I have moved into an apartment with our friend, Andrew Corson.  Everything about it makes us feel classy.  I think I've already made it abundantly clear that I like our apartment.

We've been touring Taipei and the various schools to which our program sends students.  Of these schools, ours is the newest (still incomplete) and nicest.  Ryan, Lisa, myself and another girl named Leah will be working at this school under the supervision of Andrew and a gentleman named Dustin.  We have spent some time preparing to start the program there.

In the meantime, we have just been experimenting with various versions of delicious Taiwanese delicacies and settling into our new home.  Ryan and I purchased a very nice sound system so that we can rock out whenever we wanna.  And we purchased our new dishes and a few other of life's necessities today.  

I think this blog is very uninteresting.  I'd like to add some spice to it, but can't think of any way to do it.  Please don't share your advice in the way I should change it--I'll sort something out.  Let it suffice to say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself and the company that I am surrounded with.  I am settling in very comfortably and feel mostly, at home here.  

I'm relieved to have found a grocery store with Prego! God bless the Italians.

New Apartment

This is the entrance to our apartment.

The view from the second floor of our apartment.

We are on the 22nd floor of the 23 story building.

Ryan's room.

Lisa showing off the place.

Andrew in the foodless kitchen.

Bathtub in the lower floor bathroom.

Living area, with flat screen TV and a little stage area with a table that lowers into it to make one floor.