First Day of School

Okay, technically, today is the second day. Yesterday was my first day at Guting. But yesterday I didn't get to teach (I mostly sat at my desk using a really slow computer to look up Christmas carols for the Christmas performances that I'm supposed to get started on now...obviously a big thing here). Today I did! I had three fourth grade classes that I co-taught with my LET (Local English Teacher), Stacia. And I realized that my picture is on a board outside, next to all the other photos. Official faculty member! I feel old...maybe also because I'm turning 22 tomorrow!

 

 

Guorong Pasta Dinner

There's only so much you can do with a gas stove and a hot plate, but we're learning. Slowly. Thinking of buying a toaster oven so that we can make more cookies. Real cookies, not just no bake cookies and broken cookie cobbler on the stove. My roomie Sarah was so sad when we burned some of the cookie dough. For a while our apartment smelled like burnt cookies. And burnt popcorn (different fiasco). For now though, there's always Mister Donut.

Honeymoon Beach

We (Guorong) went to Honeymoon Beach last weekend. No one was swimming - all were surfing. Next time we go, I'm renting a board so I can learn how to surf. Just being in the water for that day was such a relief. I don't think I ever want to live away from a coastline...

Ghost Festival: Curse of the 8th Floor

The Hungry Ghost Festival started last weekend. Already, we've had our first encounter...

Guorong A & B (my apartment group) went to see the new Bourne movie in a shopping department building. We bought our tickets on the 7th floor, then clamored back into the elevator and hit the button for floor 1. However, instead of going down, the elevator went up. And stopped - on floor 8. The doors rolled open to darkness. A red rope was linked from side to side, blocking the entrance. Someone screamed behind me. Fiona pulled me away from the door to where everyone was huddled in the back of the elevator. Then she dashed forward and hit close on the button panel. The elevator continued rising, this time to a normal department floor. We all breathed a sigh of relief, and then noticed that there wasn't even a button for floor 8...

The curse of the 8th floor continued, except this time is was our doing. Or at least, that of Sarah  and I. It was part of a prank within a prank. The first prank was this: Sarah, Charissa "Shizzle", and I brought Guorong B's couch up to the roof. Charissa and I went down to Guorong B to get them up to the roof. On our way back up, the elevator stopped on floor 8 - Fiona & Shizzle both screamed, backing away from the doors. Sarah had gone down the stairs in order to stop the elevator. Laughing, I led them up to the roof, where the couch was waiting for us.

Visiting Prospective Schools

We started visiting schools today. We eventually have to choose which school we'd prefer to teach at and (hopefully) get placed there for the year. Two of the schools we visited were here in Yilan and the other two were fairly far away, in Nanao county. The two schools in Nanao had aboriginal students, some of whom performed a song and dance for us:

The Trash Truck

The first time I heard it I thought it was an ice cream truck. I was sadly mistaken. Essentially, when you hear that little jingle, you grab your trash and run. At least,you do if you're as unaware of the time and unfamiliar with the system as we were...

Creating a Routine

This morning the rain let up so I went looking for a place that would be good for running. There's a track a couple blocks away, but the gate was locked. Two women were running along it though, so I figured there had to be a way in. In the process of circling the block, I came across a path alongside what I think is the Lanyang River. From there, I could see the hills rising all alongside the city and the river. In addition, beneath the path there were crops growing in the muddy shores of the river. I think I found the place for my morning runs.

I love this process of discovering new places and creating a routine in them. I might only be in this apartment for a month (we're assigned schools at the end of the month, and, if we aren't already in the apartment closest to our school, we have to move), but I might as well get comfortable in the meantime. The first photo is of the street the apartment is on, and the second is of the apartment itself. The rest are from my run along the river.

Finally, Taiwan!

It's 6:00 AM and there's a typhoon roaring outside. The fulbright schedule for the day has been canceled due to the weather, but I'm perfectly happy to have an extra day to rest up, even if that means being stuck indoors. Yesterday was a long day: I flew from San Francisco to Taipei on a thirteen hour flight and spent most of the subsequent hours talking to the other Fulbright ETAs, learning more about what to expect for the next year from the coordinators, moving into an apartment, and having a rush shopping spree so that the other ETAS and I could have some sheets, food, and water before the storm became worse. Whewww.

On the ride from the Taipei airport to Yilan city, we drove over (and under) some amazing hills. I loved that the road we were on did not twist and turn around the hills (thus inducing unpleasant nausea). Instead it rose over (or under) the hills, so there were some wonderful views.

 

My Thomas the train engine blanket is awesome ;-D