Boracay!

I just got back from a week in Boracay. It is an island in the Philippines. I went with my friends Tiffany, Leigha, and Oriana. The beach was incredible and Boracay has a lot of western food and a good nightlife. We spent our time snorkeling, shopping, and lying on the beach. We had a great time but it really feels good to be back in Taiwan. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I walked onto the plane coming home (angry because the Philippines airport security took the lip gloss and lotion that I had brought back from the states). I was never so happy to hear people speaking Chinese! Not to mention that we were greeted with first class seats! It was totally unexpected, and just another sign that I was headed towards the right place :) Funny how things work out like that.

Happy Chinese New Year!

T

Friday was our Chinese New Year celebration at Noble. We had a traditional shopping day where each teacher sold fruit, cakes, candy, and snacks. Each child got paper "lucky money" in a red envelope and was able to buy five things. Their parents were there and walked them around to the different venders. I was in charge of the candy, so I was pretty busy! The kids had a great time and I think it is an idea I want to bring back to my future classroom in the states!

Field Trip To The Post Office!This week all the kindergarten students took a field trip to the post office. It was just your typical post office field trip, except it was in Taiwan, which made it exciting even for me! We got to see a mail carrier and the mailbox they use instead of the standard blue ones in the U.S. In Taiwan the mailboxes are red and green. Red if the mail is going outside of the city and green if it is local. We ALL had a blast and learned something new!

Meet Tucker!
Call me crazy, but I bought a dog this weekend. His name is Tucker and he is the cutest puppy ever. I got him from a vender on the street that was selling dogs for $200NT (about $6). A far cry from the $8,000NT I spent on Gracy! He is very sweet and well behaved and the vet says he is healthy. He LOVES to cuddle…with anyone…even the cat! He does a little bit of separation anxiety though. He cries so hard when I leave him alone that he often throws up.

Soooooo……he has been coming to school with me, everyday. The kids love him and are very gentle. Most of the time he sleeps through my lessons anyways. I am working on getting him used to his kennel but it is a slow process. Today he was in there for the afternoon and did fairly well. He was defiantly missed at school though. All the Chinese teachers tell me he is very “popular.” He and Gracy love to play together and are getting along well.

Pets Can Share Too!
Here is a funny story: I bought Tucker a bone for him to chew on and he loved it, unfortunately so did Gracy. How was I supposed to know that cats liked rawhide too??? Anyways, she kept taking it away from him when he wasn’t looking. Finally I came into the room to find the bone in two pieces, one for Tucker and one for Gracy. As a teacher, I was very proud of their ability to solve their own problems. LOL

Happy Holidays!

After two months of practice, we finally pulled off our Christmas show. My class sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town." Each song was complete with costumes and dancing. It was very cute. At the end of the show, Santa showed up in a sleigh above the school. He even brought presents for each of the students! They had a blast.

The morning after the Christmas show, I hopped on an 8:30am plane to Chicago. I am now home for two weeks! I have a horrible cold, but it is really nice to relax and spend Christmas at home. Happy holidays everyone!

Adam's Visit

So, Adam is amazing and flew all the way to Taiwan to visit me during his Thanksgiving break. We had a great time and got to spend the last weekend in Taipei. It was my first time actually seeing the sights there. We even saw the Taipei 101 which, right now, is the tallest building in the world! Alright, Taiwan :)

Culture Shock....Anyone????





Just a few random pictures to showcase some of the crazy things that you see in Taiwan. Last weekend we had an event called the Chiayi Race as a fundraiser for the local newspaper. It was basically a huge scavenger hunt that incuded finding things like a fat chef, three legged dog, dead insects, specific specific signs around the city, etc. (more pictures to come) Also, this week a lot of my kids had colds so we resorted to making them wear masks during class. I am not sure if it helped or not because the number of masked children kept getting bigger....by the end of the week, I was wearing one too!

Oh yeah, and yes, that is a five-legged cat.....