Week 8

This week I decided to start having lunch with various homeroom classes. It has been fun so far. I've learned about people's families, been asked a multitude of personal questions, sang, and had to determine if I thought their teacher was handsome. One class showed me their baby pictures and told me about their families in English. In this class one of the boys sang part of the song "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. He was pretty good and was prompted to sing because he had asked me a question about her. In two other classes I was asked by the students if I thought their homeroom teacher (male) was handsome or if I liked them. Since the teachers were still in the classroom it was a little awkward but I evaded the question quite successfully in my opinion by responding with either "I think you (the boy asking the question) are more handsome!" or "I like him just as much as I like all of you (in reference to the class)!" this was clearly not the answer they were looking for but it worked. In another class they asked if I sang or liked to sing and when I responded with a yes I was asked and expected to sing for the class. Being completely caught unaware and blanking on songs to sing I decided to sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and made the students join me.

One night while buying dinner (rou gen mien) I was questioned about my nationality per usual since I confuse people by looking like I should speak perfect Chinese and then being completely baffled by the menu since I am in all respects illiterate. After having the words explained to me the woman cooking my food asked me if I were Japanese. When I responded with a negative she said she was wondering since I have such white teeth. I wanted to die laughing but I kept it inside and told her thank you for thinking I have such white teeth and then left when I received my food. So if you have white teeth it means you're Japanese!

Friday was host family night when we met our host families for the first time. My family includes Grace my mom and Denny her son who will be my host brother. He brought along his roommate too so I met Johnny as well. They are very nice and sweet. Grace teaches at an elementary school in Suao. Both Denny and Johnny are 2nd year students at Yilan University studying chemistry.

My host family

(Denny, me, Grace)

Everyone

(Johnny is Denny's roommate)

On Saturday I went to a bbq hosted by Amy's family. She is Jessica's LET and it was a community barbeque where the whole neighborhood gets together and celebrates for the Moon Festival. There are raffles and prizes to be won as well. Amy's family prepared a lot of food for us to eat and were very welcoming.

Jessica and Amy (her LET)

(look at that food!)

Excited about the food

Amy and her husband

All the girls

(Monica, Me, Jessica, Kim)

For your entertainment purposes:

This is my scooter it's a silver 100cc SYM Mio. I'm in my humongous helmet and raincoat which I have since realized is too short. I should have bought an XXL instead of just an XL. I'm considered tall here!

Week 7

This week I began my staff conversation classes and had my first real English Club meeting. In English club I played the Cha Cha Slide and taught it to the students but I think the speed of the directions makes it hard for them to understand. So I just end up modeling everything in the song and my students follow a few beats behind. But when it comes to the cha cha real slow part I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing myself. So I just told them to dance around whatever way that they would like but those directions were not enough for them.

I've also started my staff conversation classes at Fu-Shing. There are two classes in the first one we discuss various topics such as countries we want to travel to and holidays. The other is more serious and we read articles that I choose from NYTimes online. I love the New York Times online!

On Friday we went to Toucheng (a city near the beach in Yilan County) for the Chang-Gu or Grappling with the Ghosts. About 2-3 weeks after we arrived in Taiwan Ghost Month started. For Taiwanese people they believe that this is the month (on the lunar calendar it's July I think) when the ghosts of people who have died all come out. I've seen people burning paper (I think it is supposed to represent money) in large metal containers on the street. Also many store owners prepare offerings of food and incense for their ghost brothers that are placed in the front of their stores. People are very superstitious during this month and avoid doing a lot of traveling, going to the beach (they believe the ghosts may drag you down and drown you), getting married, and making large purchases such as cars/houses. At the end of the month there is a large celebration where teams compete to cut down the flag at the top of this structure made of wood and bamboo. This celebration and competition only happens in two places in Taiwan and I happen to live close enough that I could go see it. At one point this festival was suspended for a few years because some people were killed when attempting to climb the pole. In this competition 12 teams attempt to climb up a pole greased with pig fat to reach the top and cut off the flag. The first person to do this will have good luck for the year. I think the reason that this competition is done is to pay homage to the ghosts and send them back to where they came from. There are many sacrifices made to the ghosts at this festival. We saw whole pigs that were used as offerings. I asked my LETs about this and some other Taiwanese people and learned that only men are allowed to climb the pole and go in closer to see the competition. Apparently women are not good luck or considered "clean". We decided to stay until one team had made it to the first platform because it was so late (the competition started around midnight) and it was much slower than we had anticipated. For more information about this festival you can go here!

Chang-Gu

(big pole things covered in pig fat/oil/grease)

Pretty Lanterns

the whole group

(Jessica, Gabe, Kim, Monica, Nikka, Me, Ian, Eric)

Bonfire

(burning paper)

holding some paper offerings

(Kim, Eric, Ian, Jessica)

Pig Sacrifices

Fireworks!

(look it's a smiley face)

On Saturday I went to see Waterfalls in Jiaosi which is about a 10 min train ride away with Jodi and Eric. Instead of hiking it was climbing stairs to the 3 different waterfalls. It was beautiful!

Waterfall #1

(Jodi, Me, Eric)

Waterfall #2

Being random

On a rock below Waterfall #2

(classic pose)

Waterfall #3

(top half)

Waterfall #3

(bottom half)

Week 6

I can't believe how much time flies. As I was posting this I realized that this is the 6th week that I have been in Taiwan. In some ways I think that I have adjusted quickly probably because I can speak Mandarin and understand a lot of what is going on around me or what people are saying to me. However, I still miss home, family, and friends.

My students this week at Fu-Shing are now pretty used to seeing me around now. I've had a few students come to the office to introduce themselves and talk to me. One student in particular only says 2 sentences. "Hello Deborah" and then "Goodbye Deborah". Everytime I see him it's the same too lines and I reply with "Hi Tony" and when I attempt to ask him any more questions he says his second line "Goodbye Deborah" and walks away. Poor kid I must confuse him with the additional English.

I started taking Chinese classes this week in the attempt to become literate. I've also been taking home Chinese menus from restaurants so I can learn to read them. My ultimate goal is to be able to read signs and menus. I'm well on my way now since I've learned the names for different types of meat and fruits. I may not know how it is cooked but I know what meat is in that dish or what fruit is in that tea drink.

This is my first week of really scootering around. It has been interesting... I drive pretty slowly and stay far to the right so the fast scooters can zoom past me. I'm pretty good at balancing so that's a plus. Unfortunately this week has been extremely rainy. Driving in the rain is NOT fun and you need a good raincoat which has been added to my shopping list for the week. My poncho is a little too square and does not cover my arms or legs completely. I've been told that Yilan county is the rainiest place in Taiwan which is why many of the old people have attached a small windshield with windshield wipers to the front of their scooters. I've considered it as a possible investment but was told that only old people have it. It would keep the wind from hitting my face and make sure that no bugs hit my face while I'm driving. However, its definitely not cool. (pictures to be coming soon)

I had my first KTV (karaoke) experience this weekend. The English songs were limited and not current hits so our group belted out some classics like "Oops I Did it Again", "As Long as You Love Me", "Fergalicious", and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Eric looking for songs, Jessica and Monica already singing

We really wanted to sing these songs more than once

(confused about how to use the remote)

Rockin' out to some song

Kim and I

Taipei Orientation

This weekend we had our whole Fulbright orientation in Taipei. We met the rest of the Fulbright grantees, the scholars and Kaohsiung ETAs. Most of the day was spent with people talking about who they are and what they are doing here which means LOTS and LOTS of powerpoints. I think people here love powerpoints they even use them frequently in class when teaching. I've already made a whole bunch. But in other news we stayed in a really awesome and cute hotel, ate lots of good food that we didn't have to pay for, had multiple awesome coffee breaks during our day with wonderful snacks provided by Vivian, went clubbing, and were generally treated like royalty. On Friday night the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE - they are in charge of us basically) and the American Institute of Taiwan (the equivalent to the American embassy here) hosted a reception for us. There was food and drink aplenty and much hobnobbing. I think I seriously lack skills in that department because I ended up cornered by a few people for most of the night and did not really work the room. Oh well, there go my dreams for being a politician....

Our entrance table

(there is a mini fridge, safe, pot to boil water, and selections of coffee and tea)

My roommates for the weekend

(our reflection and the city outside)

Super comfy beds

(I wanted to take the whole bed home with me!)

At the Fish House

(we decided that we wanted to eat here because they had swings for chairs)

Nikka & Jessica

Kelly, Kim, and me

(we could look at the front window and wave at people passing by)

Breakfast Buffet

(it's so pretty you could get bread, xifan (like congee without stuff in it), eggs, fruit, drinks, it was pretty sweet)

My beautifully lit breakfast

(we got up early just to eat breakfast there every day)

Orientation begins!

(we were excited....)

Introductions

lunch at some restaurant

(I got the fish and it was in a creamy sauce - it was ok Western style food)

Vivian!

(she is part of the FSE staff that we hang out with whenever we go to Taipei)

Look at the stock of alcohol for the reception

(someone's excited...)

My favorite girls

(l-f: back row - Monica, Jessica, Nikka, Kelly & Kim, Kristen, and me)

Girls with Ian

(Ian is the son of Dr. H our academic adviser)

Kristen!

(She is a member of the Kaohsiung group but we met in the airport. Too bad she isn't in Yilan.)

Roomies with Dr. Chen

(he is the director of the Fulbright FSE in Taiwan)

Eric

(he's our buddy that lives in Yilan and gives us rides on his scooter)

Kim

Taking home some of the leftovers...

(we like wine)

Drinking our wine before going clubbing

(Me, Jessica, Kelly - she is our life adviser in Yilan and takes care of our day to day living - we love her!)

Week 5

After my first day of teaching I think I quickly adjusted to the routine at Fu-Shing Junior High. However, since I am working at two schools I had another first day, Thursday, at Shin-Jhong. Its taken more adjustment to get used to the new environment and different school culture. Shin-Jhong is a significantly smaller school with only 3 classes per grade in comparison to Fu-Shing with 25+ classes per grade.

So what am I doing here exactly? Teaching English! My required course load each week is 20 hours of classes and around 35 hours per week of time in school. In Fu-Shing I am teaching 4 - 7th grade classes (here it is called grade 1), 3 - 8th grade classes, 1 English Club, and 2 Staff conversation classes (although so far no one has signed up except for one person so we'll see if that actually happens). My English classes at Fu-Shing are the extra English class (they have English usually 4 times a week but my class is their 5th one) so there is no coursebook and I get to teach whatever I feel like teaching. This can be a good and bad thing but I think it is mostly good because the topics can be more fun and random.

As for Shin-Jhong I will be teaching 3 classes of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. Since I will be teaching the regular English classes I think our schedule and topics may be more restricted. However, I feel that the smallness of the school means I can get to know all the students better. So far I've noticed really energetic and loud classes and then some pretty calm quiet classes.

This week I have been generally introducing myself to all the students using a game similar to 2 truths and a lie. However, I have changed it into 10 statements about myself and students have to guess if they are true or false. In some classes the students have asked me questions to try and figure out the answer. These have led to some funny questions and answers in general.

One universally hard statement for them to answer is one where I say I am from the United States of America. Almost all the students guess that it is false. They do not believe that I am from the USA because I look like them. I take their unbelief as an opportunity to let them know that even if I look similar to them I was born in the US and it is possible to be Chinese American. One group of students tried to guess and asked me where my parents were from. I answered Taiwan and then they asked about my grandparents to which I replied China. This thoroughly confused them all and they still guessed false... I am pretty sure that they were complaining in Chinese that my family history was too complicated.

One popular question has been "How old are you?" and the guesses have ranged from 11-32. I attempted to explain how 11 would be younger than their current age but they just stared blankly at me during the explanation. Another one is "Do you have a boyfriend?" a question that I reply with a question at times like "Do you think I have a boyfriend?" or an emphatic "Yes, I have 10 boyfriends!!" and students look suitably shocked or surprised. However, one student in Fu-Shing shocked me with his answer once. He said "I met your boyfriend at the tea shop." Being confused at this response since I do not have a boyfriend I asked him for the name of my "boyfriend" and the response was Kevin (one of my fellow ETAs teaching in Taiwan). So now apparently to this class/student Kevin is my boyfriend.

Another statement I made was "I like green milk tea." and I was surprised by the directness of the following questions I was asked.

1.) Do you like milk?

2.) Do you like green tea?

My LET and I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing at the students desperation to find out the answer in this simple activity.

On another note I wanted to leave you all with some funny statements that our LETs (local English teachers) said during training. I forgot to add it earlier but reading a fellow ETAs blog I was reminded of the ridiculousness of the statements and couldn't resist sharing. Here are some for you to enjoy!

"You know, she is a conservative woman, but naturally, there is a fire in her..."

(this was said in reference to Lotus one of the teachers on the Academic Advisory Panel who is a really sweet middle-aged lady)

In a lesson planning session where we were brainstorming for a birthday party. One of the LETs suggested that we add as presents sexy underwear and male strippers for Lotus. The other LET in our group then suggested that Dr. H (our academic advisor) be the stripper and that we should include a whip as a present.

- this was particularly hilarious since the LETs saying this would not strike you as people who would EVER say something like that sexual.

Another group presented their plan for Hello Kitty's birthday. The previous day we had to make a lesson plan using rates for a hotel room and looking at the amenities each suite included to practice using authentic materials aka realia.

"What is Hello Kitty going to get for her birthday? It was something we talked about yesterday.... a hotel room with her boyfriend!"