Happy Halloween!

Just a quick update from Taiwan….
It is Halloween weekend so we have been really busy lately preparing for everything. Tomorrow night the school is throwing a party for all the kids at a local shopping mall. There will be games and we are putting on a play. I am playing a fairy, it should be fun!
Overall, my kids are doing well, they are improving everyday. Last week they began speaking in short sentences. I can’t believe how fast they are picking up English. It is amazing what young children can do. Here is an interesting story: One of my parents was only letting her daughter watch English DVDs at home but one day a Chinese program was on TV. She said that her daughter came to her crying and when her mother asked her what was wrong she said that she couldn’t understand the program. Her mother told me that she will let her watch Chinese shows at home from now on. The children are at school speaking English for so much time out of the day that it is important for them to keep up with their Chinese at home. This just goes to show how fine the balance is when children are learning two languages at the same time.
Well, that's all I have for now, I will post more Halloween pictures after this weekend. I am so glad that people are reading my blog and leaving comments….I just wish I could figure out how to write back!

Best Vacation Ever!!!!!















Kenting!!!!!

Finally, I have found time to post something! I have been so busy. This past weekend we had five days off of school. Friday and Tuesday (today) are both national holidays and the government decided last week to give us Monday off as well. The only catch is that we need to work on Saturday. It will be weird seeing kids come to school on a Saturday but it gave us a long weekend so I am not complaining.

I spent the weekend in Kenting, a city in the south of Taiwan. Two girls my age just got here from Canada a few weeks ago, their names are Oriana and Leigha. I went with them and my friend Tiffany, a girl I met when I first got here. Tiffany is from Canada as well. Actually Oriana, Leigha, and Tiffany are all from Ottawa but only Oriana and Leigha knew each other beforehand.

We had a blast! The first night we stayed in a tiny hotel above a surf shop. It was called Hotel California which I thought was funny. The other nights we camped in a small campground just outside the city. Unlike American camping, you don’t reserve a site; you simply cram your tent in anywhere it can fit. It cost 100NT per person which is close to $3 dollars US. We had breakfast each morning at a western style restaurant and spent the nights at the night market. I bought some beautiful jewelry and ate more ice cream that I usually do in a month. We had dinner twice at a Thai restaurant where we each ordered a dish and shared the food. The first night I ordered mixed vegetables which were good and the second night I ordered a dish called Drunkeness which was beef, cashews, and a brown sauce. It was sooooo good.

The coastline in Kenting is amazing. The water is a clear blue and there are large rocks coming out of the water. It really was a great weekend. I will be sad to go back to work tomorrow.