Beitou Hot Springs and Settling in to Teaching

This weekend I again made it to Taipei, except this time I had the company of my roommate Lyndsey so I didn't have to wander around alone. We went to check out the Beitou hot springs which are a little north of the city. You can get there on the subway, but it is pretty far out so the area is surrounded by the mountains. The sun was shining and it was about 75 degrees (I don't miss the snow at all!). We walked up the hill looking for a museum, and had a really nice view of the mountains. The museum was about the old bath houses in the area. Apparently this is where the kamikaze pilots would come meet their lovers for a last goodbye before their final mission.

We then went back down towards town where they have a public bathhouse. On the way we walked by one of the springs that feed the bathhouse, and stopped to put our feet in. The water was nice and warm and relaxing. Next we went into the bathhouse itself, which was like a little oasis off the streets. There were a bunch of different pools of different temperatures, some so hot I couldn't keep my feet in and some freezing cold. We found the middle ground and squeezed in between some old men.

View of the mountains from Beitou.

A tree growing out of the wall on the side of the road.

In the museum. I had to duck to get through all the doorways. They aren't used to tall people here.

I love the English translations on signs. People also wear clothes that have English on them, but it is complete nonsense.

Wading in the hot spring.

Gloria English school has 18 schools in the county, so I keep going to new areas. I taught at a school in Longtan, and nearby there is a gorgeous temple surrounded by a big lake and a park.

Longtan temple

View of temple through a grill on the bridge.

Entrance to the bridge.

Temple from across the water.

I have taught a lot more classes now, and it's getting more fun every time. I had a class last week with kids about 8-10, and afterwards one of them came up to me and said "teacher, because you are so very pretty can I take a picture with you?" I have this class again tonight and she will obviously be my favorite student. It's pretty easy to teach once you get the routine down, just a lot of reading, vocab, and games. The hardest part is thinking of fun games to play, so if you have any suggestions send them my way! I also taught some older kids. Teenagers are the hardest because they are all in that awkward phase where they are unsure of themselves and don't want to speak out loud in the class. So I spend a lot of time making them all stand up and answer individually. Not too fun for them, but otherwise it would be me speaking the ENTIRE class. I also got to sub the oldest class on Saturday. This is a class that has met since they were little, and are now all grown up, and the oldest kid is a freshman in college. The co-teacher was also my boss which made me extremely nervous before it started. But once the class began it was my favorite by far. The kids were funny and were willing to talk, and in contrast to the younger kids who sound like robots, you could really see their personalities. In every class of every age you teach a QA, and for this one I got to make up my own. The lesson topic was vacations, so I asked "Where would you go if you could time travel? What would you like to see?" There were some funny answers, including "I would like to go back in time and kill Confucius so that I wouldn't have to memorize all his quotes in school."

Although they don't really celebrate Christmas in Taiwan, next week all the classes will have Christmas parties. I get to bring in some music, they bring in candy and presents, and I think we just play games for the whole class. They have assigned some teachers to dress up like Santa Claus and go from class to class handing out candy. One of my classes is going to go down onto the streets and sing christmas carols, and they even have a little dance.