And the school goes to...

Greetings friends!

I finally found out last Friday what school I will be teaching in for the rest of the year. That morning started off with everyone buzzing with anticipation and excitement. Normally, our mornings begin at 9AM with a (relatively) silent hour of reading our assigned book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” However, that day was an exception—hardly anyone was reading their book and instead busily chatting with their neighbors as different school representatives filed into the classroom. After brief presentations introducing ourselves, the big reveal was finally about to come! In a rather dramatic fashion, Iris opened up the envelope that contained one individual’s school placement and read it aloud, Academy Award style. Luckily, I was called first, so I didn’t have to wait too long. I’ve been placed in SanHo Elementary, which has approximately 900 students! I’ll be working with 3 local English teachers teaching 1^st-3^rd grade.  One of the most prominent features of SanHo is its focus on the arts and language—the school was decorated with  an array of students’ impressive artwork. My school placement also determines where I will be living for the remainder of the year. I'll be living in Fengyuan, a more suburban area of Taichung. At the reveal ceremony, I got the chance to meet one of my co-teachers, Christine, and the dean, Crystal. They were both very welcoming and friendly, and I'm so excited to join them at SanHo and start teaching!

(From left to right) Iris, our Taichung coordinator; Dr. Liao, our academic counselor; Crystal, the dean of SanHo; Christine, one of my co-teachers.

This past Saturday, Iris took the Hello Kitty Scooter Gang (HKSG) and I biking on a very scenic trail in Fengyuan. The bike ride started off really nicely, a soft breeze brushing by us, as we admired the beautiful sites. 10 minutes in, however, a downpour of rain hit us. Although many of us initially took shelter under a bridge, we finally decided to keep peddling ahead, despite the rain.  We ended up getting pretty soaked, but the rain stopped after about 20 minutes, so we eventually dried albeit feeling a bit sticky. Regardless of the rain, it was really fun and it felt good to engage in physical activity again (although I ended up being the slowest one again)! I’m hoping since I will be living in Fengyuan, I will get to bike a lot! Later, we stopped by the night market in Fengyuan. A few of us stopped to get some noodles and this delicious mango shaved ice dessert. To this day, I still think of that mango shaved ice. I think we deserved a sweet treat, especially after our 24 km bike ride!

Our group loves jumping photos. This is right before I landed and just fell to the ground. Obviously, I need more practice with jumping photos.

The group jumping photo. Why do I always look so scared?!

Joyce and I can't wait to eat the mango shaved ice!

Last week, one of the ETAs, Diane, and I also traveled to Taipei to visit her Taiwanese friend, Kevin. The morning started off pretty darn early—about 6 AM, since we bought tickets for the 7:20AM train. It was about a 2 hour train ride and they ran out of seats, so we would have to stand for the duration of the train ride. For the first hour, Diane and I were able to sit on the floor and chat (we sat near the bathrooms, so perhaps not the most delightful place to sit, but since nevertheless, somewhere to sit). As more people piled in, we ended up having to stand for the duration of the trip. When we finally arrived in Taipei, we were greeted by Kevin at the train station. Kevin was gracious enough to show us around Taipei and took us to Tamsui, a district of Taipei near the water. There, we went to the day market and bought some street food. I finally tried stinky tofu, although I am admittedly not the biggest fan of it. Diane and I also went floppy hat shopping, since the sun was pretty darn bright. The floppy hat has turned out to be a pretty good investment, and has helped it out quite a bit since then! Later, we biked along the waterfront, and wound up touring Fort San Domingo. All in all, it was a pretty great trip!

At Fort San Domingo

Picture right before trying the stinky tofu!

The HKSG also went to sing some karaoke last Sunday at a place appropriately named Party World. Karaoke here is no joke-- Party World's interior was super fancy and grand, similar to a swanky hotel. We had our own private room (which was nice considering I was one of the rather tone deaf singers) and a buffet! Throughout the karaoke, we had some breakout stars and boy, did we sing our hearts out! 4 hours of nonstop singing in fact, with everything from Britney to the Backstreet Boys to TLC to Michael Jackson. Okay, so maybe the karaoke place didn't have the most up to date American tunes, but it was great fun nonetheless!

Till next time!

Chia