Random Adventures!

Since I haven't posted recently...for a week...this post will be a series of short anecdotes or explanations of what I've been up to and things I've experienced.

Today, for an activity all of the classes participated in an Amazing Race where each teacher was in a location and had a task for the students to perform before they could move on the next task. Each task was designed with a school subject or American culture in mind such as English class or Driver's Ed. Mine was Dance class. I had taught the Electric Slide and the Macarena in my class as had some other teachers, along with the Chicken Dance. So, the only other thing that came to mind was the HOKEY POKEY! Because each group got to each station at a different time throughout an hour and a half, I had the opportunity to do the Hokey Pokey at least 30 times. Seriously. Keeping my energy up in order to encourage all the different levels of students overcome shyness and language challenges was exhausting, but so fun! That's really what its all about. (See what I did there?)

As some of you may know, the restrooms work a little bit differently here. They normally will have the Western toilet that we are used to, but they also have a 'Squatty Potty' or five. Essentially, its a toilet except in the ground. Metaphorically, a western toilet is the above ground pool in your backyard, where a squatty potty is in the ground. Got it? Sometimes there is a bar on the wall for you to hold on to and brace yourself with, but other times you just gotta hope your thighs don't give out. Well, I had managed to avoid the Squatty Potty knowing the time would come when I wouldn't have a choice. Would you like to know the circumstance where this choice was taken from me? Well I'm going to tell you. It was on a MOVING TRAIN. Yup. My first time using a Squatty Potty was on a train ride. I couldn't very well hold it as it was a four-ish hour ride so I had to bite the bullet. I was surprisingly successful. I'm going to stop this story right here though before I reach the realm of too much information. In conclusion, I'm no longer afraid of the squatty potty but it does make me appreciate the convenience of a western toilet and good thigh muscles. 


I don't know if I have a friendly face or what the deal is but when my roommates and I here in Taiwan go somewhere I'm the one who get approached by the kids. I'm going to guesstimate they were around ten to thirteen. The first time was in a store. The roommates were wandering about looking at school supplies so I found a comfy couch. A girl who was there with her friends approached me holding her phone and said something in Chinese. Since I don't know Chinese, I smiled at her and said Hello. Not put off one bit, she then, in excellent English, asked to take a picture with me. Anyone who knows me can easily guess my answer. Of course! So we took our picture and afterwards I was able to chat with the girl and her friends. I was impressed with how well they knew English and with how confident they were! I would say they were about on the same level as the students I am teaching. The second time was in a food court at a festival. I was waiting for my food and two boys approached me and asked where I was from. I was able to talk to them about the festival and they thought it was way cool that I was there teaching English. They weren't quite as proficient but since I've gotten used to speaking more slowly, we were able to communicate. They are just so excited that you are there because they don't see a lot of  'foreigners.'


Last evening, a buddy and I hiked on the Path of the Immortals. It's a lot of stairs on the hill right behind the University but because of those stairs you get a great view of Taipei. We planned to be there to watch the sunset around six. We ended up hanging out up there playing cribbage, drinking wine, and taking pictures of the city lights for quite a bit longer. I've noticed that some of the most memorable things you can do while travelling aren't the touristy things but rather the little things that you could do at home, just in a unique location. Great company doesn't hurt either! Even getting attacked by the giant cicadas (a beetle-y looking insect) on the way back couldn't bring me down. 


Several other highlights of this last week include and thirty minute massage by a blind individual for $10 USD (its sounds sort of sketchy but its a real thing here and its really popular). It was spectacular! 
I went to Xingting Temple and Longshan Temple to experience a little native religion. The structures themselves are beautiful, ornate and absolutely stunning.
A group of the teachers went to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. He was basically the president of China until the communist party defeated the nationalists and he and his government were forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949.  Wow! I sounded like a person who likes and is knowledgeable about history. To be honest, I looked it up on Wikipedia. But in the bottom of the memorial was an art exhibition of Salvador Dali's work. It was so intensely awesome and profound. Then we fed the fish in the pond outside the memorial and it was so juvenile it was perfect. 
My students took me on the Maokong Gondola where we got a car with a glass floor. It was a great view and the height was thrilling! We stopped for tea on the top of the mountain and then went back down and headed to the zoo. At the zoo, I had the pleasure of enjoying Pandas, Koalas and in the nocturnal animal building there were even hamsters and guinea pigs. The most humorous part for me as a Midwesterner was when I saw they had raccoons! 

Tonight we're planning on going to the Dark Knight Rises at an IMAX theatre. We've made sure it will be in English and as with most American films that are shown here, there will also be Chinese subtitles. All of the teachers here are aware of the tragedy that occurred in Colorado at this film's premiere and some have used it as an discussion opportunity in their class. The solutions they have offered such as "ban all guns" have been an opportunity to explore cultural differences. It does make it difficult to encourage them to come to America and tell them that its 'perfectly safe.' But things like this happen and it doesn't mean that we should live in fear of 'what if.'  My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be in that theatre. I know this isn't a very good note to end on and there's enough talk about it in America but I wanted to mention it.

Other plans for this week include karaoke (which I'm so pumped for!), more night markets, and some hiking! This is a effervescent and magical place and coming home in less than a week will certainly be bittersweet!


Since this blog is about me being a teacher I suppose I should comment on that a little bit more. One of the requirements was that we have to present a skit on Greek Mythology on the last class day in front of everyone. My class chose Sophocles' story of Oedipus. For any one who knows the story, its a great one isn't it? haha. Today they made their props and costume pieces out of cardboard and aluminum foil! We're having a great time getting to know about each other and our cultures!

Love you all and thanks for checking up on me :)

B