I want to have you to arrangement in my heart

Some more genius Taiwanese culture for you....

You are a flower to me

Hold on to me, don't go with air.

Words to live by.

Snowman Song

I hope you can handle the cuteness, because sometimes I can't. The song goes...

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman

Once there was a snowman TALL TALL TALL

In the sun he melted, melted, melted

In the sun he melted, SMALL SMALL SMALL

Ghost Month

The seventh month of the lunar calender is ghost month, a time when the ghosts come up out of the ground and haunt the island of Taiwan for a month. There are many superstitions associated with the month, for example you are not supposed to swim or the ghosts will drown you. I have heard that this is an old tradition designed for protection because the ocean currents are especially strong in the summer. I tried my luck and went swimming this month and somehow survived. One of my co-teachers suggested that maybe I am too tall for the ghosts to drown.

On the 14th day of the month people give offerings to the ghosts and burn paper money outside their homes and businesses. I did not know about this tradition so I was confused when I walked down the street and saw table after table of food and drinks with incense sticks. Even McDonalds had an alter outside, which was a funny contrast between old tradition and the modern world. The tables also had a strange mix of foods. Some had very traditional snacks and some had bags of lays potato chips with a stick on incense coming out of it.

The alter outside the Gloria school

Paper money being burned outside Gloria

I'm kind of a big deal

One of the things I will miss most about Taiwan is the celebrity status I have based off of being a foreigner. White people can get away with almost anything here. Rules do not apply, and usually people will be extra nice to us. I have stopped noticing when crowds of people stare at me, and it is not unusually for random people to stop me on the street and tell me I'm beautiful. Really, how will my ego handle a return to a land where I am normal?

Yesterday I went to get my hair cut with my roommate Katie. Our Taiwanese friend Viola came along to help us and serve as translator. Basically I wanted to make sure the hair dresser didn't get confused and think I wanted a buzz cut. A hair cut in Taiwan is a magical thing. I paid about 15US dollars, and the cut involves a 20 minute head massage while they wash your hair and then a shoulder massage once back in the chair.

The people in the salon were fascinated with both us and our hair. By the end of my haircut there was an audience of 5 people sitting around watching and asking Viola lots and lots of questions about us. At one point one of the guys held up a lock of my hair to his head because he wanted to dye it to match.

Bubble Tea

The Taiwanese often have interesting taste in food, and often these tastes involve weird jellies and goos of strange consistencies. Sometimes these scare me away, but one of my co-teachers recently gave me the most delicious drink. It was a passion fruit green tea. The black circles are the crunchy passion fruit seeds, and at the bottom are tapioca balls and some weird jelly strips. Looks a little crazy, but it was very refreshing.

Garbage Beach

Taiwan is an island, and a pretty small one at that. Most of the big cities are located in a line along the west coast, meaning at any time you are probably not too far from the ocean (or the Taiwan Straight). I have been here for 9 months, but the only times I have been to the beach have been in the south or up near Taipei. I had heard of a beach close by, but it was always referred to as 'garbage beach' which is not a very inviting name.

Last Saturday me and my roommates decided to take an adventure to this beach and see what it was all about. A lot of my roommates drove scooters, but those of us without transportation hopped in a cab and a general idea of where we were going. We had a piece of paper with a few key words in Chinese like 'beach' and pointed in the direction we wanted to go. By some miracle we ended up in the right spot and were able to find our friends.

Garbage beach turned out to be really nice, and I didn't see a single piece of trash in the sand or water. We had a really nice day there, ending with a camp fire and some seafood at a local restaurant.

Our directions

Meeting up outside 7-11

Garbage beach - not so dirty!

Katie, Me, and Kim on the beach at sunset

My roommate Matt let me style his hair before posing for picture.

My roommate Dom after building a rockin fire

Tibet Exhibit

Last weekend I went into Taipei with two of my co-teachers and my new roommate Ryan to check out an exhibit on Tibet that was happening at the National Palace museum. The National Palace Museum is the one that holds all the treasures Chiang Kai Shek stole from China when he came to Taiwan, so it is really famous and has very impressive pieces.

It just so happens that Ryan is studying Tibetan and is a Buddhist, so it was an extremely educational visit. He was able to explain all the pieces we saw, and we all got into some pretty interesting conversations on religion. Afterwards we made a short trip to an Aboriginal museum and park across the street for some more learning.

Viola was our tour guide.

Me, Viola, Linda, and Ryan outside the National Palace Museum.

Outside the exhibit. I couldn't take pictures of the amazing stuff inside.

In the Aboriginal park. Taiwanese Aboriginals are closely related to the native people of most Pacific Islands, the Philippines, Madagascar, New Zealand, etc. There are very few left in Taiwan and it seems to be a similar relationship to the one we have with Native Americans.

In the Aboriginal museum.

My Tyra inspired shot. Every trip needs at least one.

Songs and Rhymes Camp

For 3 weeks I have been teaching songs and rhymes to little kids for 3 hours a day. The song book if full of some really fun classics like 'Found a Peanut', 'The Ants Go Marching', 'Kookaburra', and 'Ring Around the Rosie'. And then there are a few more questionable choices. For example for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to throw in Abba's 'I Have a Dream', 'I Will Follow Him' from Sister Act, and 'Edelweiss' from The Sound of Music. Just why they thought kids would enjoy this I will never know. But one song definitely stood out in my mind in terms of horrible judgement - on the first day I was expected to have the kids listen to and sing a song called 'Donna Donna'. Here is a cover of it:

Donna Donna

It has terribly depressing lyrics, and I recently found out was an old Yiddish song written about Jews in the Holocaust. Although it is a pretty song, it's not exactly what you want to teach small Taiwanese kids for 30 minutes.

My first week of camp was pretty much a nightmare. I had two boys who at the beginning of each class were best friends, but by the end of class would be screaming at each other and swearing in Chinese. Most days I had to pull them off each other as they tried to throw punches, and almost every class ended with one of them in tears. I learned that it is very hard to mediate angry little boys when you don't know what they are saying or even fighting about. This was the first time I have ever yelled in class, and I learned what my angry teacher voice sounds like.

Luckily the second week was as different as could be. I had the cutest little kids who would do anything I said and loved every single thing I had them do. The class was so much fun, and I think I really taught them some important life lessons - like how to play duck duck goose. This week was great again with very enthusiastic and fun kids.

Because I don't have the energy to sing and dance for 3 hours straight I figured out some crafts we could do that would relate to the songs. On the day I had to teach 'this little pig goes to market...' we made finger puppets. One day we made sock puppets and had them sing. And one day we made noise makers out of empty soda cans and some beans.

We also played a lot of games. I played every variation of musical chairs I could think of. "Ok this time when I stop the music you have to stand on the chairs." "Ok this time you have to hop on one foot until the music starts again." "Ok this time say the alphabet backwards while you pat your head and spin in circles and wiggle your butt." So maybe I didn't really do that last one, but you get the point.

Overall it was a lot of fun but very exhausting. I have one more camp next week - COOKING CAMP. I can't cook to save my life and I informed my boss of that, but I think they are really desperate to fill the spot. Hopefully I will not catch anything on fire or cut off any body parts!

Week 2 - Some of my campers and their sock puppets

I brought in a jump rope and taught them 'Cinderella dressed in yellow...'

Playing a ball game like hot potato

Kids with their piggy finger puppets

Me in teacher mode.

Week 3 - My class with their finger puppets

This kid was super smart but way crazy. He drove me nuts and made me laugh all at the same time.

I told them to be cool. They succeeded.

These two are sisters. And so freaking cute.

My one students finger puppets were super creative. Look at the dog with his little poo!

Cement Slides

All the parks in Taiwan have playgrounds like in the US, but there are a few major differences. The one that always baffles me is the cement slide, which does not look comfortable. But I tried one, and my butt was fine!

Sexy Nightwear

This is scandalous...

Death Floor

As you may know, and as my mom has so often points out, many buildings in the US lack a 13th floor because of superstition. In Mandarin speaking countries there is a similar omission: the 4th floor. In Chinese 4 and death are the same word just with different tones, so it is unappealing to say I live on the death floor. In hospitals especially the floors go right from 3rd to 5th. In addition, the 5th floor is often the baby floor because it is better to bring new life on the real 4th floor than to have the really sick people be cursed.

Lots of Balls

I think a lot of our lessons were written by non-native English speakers, and sometimes they end up with some ridiculous stories. For example, today my roommate Katie has to teach this lesson about Lisa's balls. Try teaching that with a straight face.

In all classes to induce the right response we ask questions like "Is Sue tall? Is she? Is she?" This is intended to avoid an answer like "Yes it do." So today maybe Katie can ask "Does Lisa have big blue balls? Does she? Does she?"

Drama Camp

This month I am teaching summer camps to kids at Gloria during the day. I am doing 3 weeks of songs and rhymes, and last week I put on a drama camp. This sounds kind of ridiculous as I have never taken part in any form of drama, but really what it came down to was me simplifying some plays and having my kids go wild. I did the true story of the three little pigs, Snow White, Goldilocks, and some fables with sock puppets. The last day I let the kids make up their own play. The story was about a zoo where the animals revolt against the mean zoo boss. Obviously the charge is headed by a king robot. Here are some pictures of their cuteness.

Everyday I had them make props for the play. They got very into it and were really creative.

Some of the kids before Snow White. The girl on the right is Snow White. Her mom watched the entire camp from the window and would come in at break time to give her daughter lectures on how to act better and to fix her costumes. The boy in the middle is the hunter - he has a quiver with arrows on his back. The boy on the left is the price. He has a sword and shield.

This girl was the 7 dwarfs. She had a face plate for each one.

Anna the turtle in the Zoo Fight (the play I let them make up).

Willy the Zoo Boss in jail.

No zoo is complete without a king robot.

Stuart the pet lion in the made up play.

One day I made my kids do a photo shoot. I think this was 'I found stinky tofu under my bed'.

Gondola, Danshui, and Shida

Yesterday I went to Taipei with two of my Taiwanese co-teachers and my roommate Katie. We started the day at a gondola outside the city that goes between mountain peaks. It is a nice escape from the craziness and crowds of Taiwan, and has a gorgeous view of both the mountains and the city while you are surrounded by trees. After the gondola we headed to Danshui, a spot where a river meets the ocean. There is a boardwalk packed with people and shops, and there are tons of food stands and restaurants. I even saw a street performer making a Bart Simpson puppet dance to Play That Funky Music Whiteboy. After Danshui we headed to the Shida night market and did some serious shopping.

On the train with my co-teachers Linda and Viola

Linda and Viola on the gondola

Me, Linda, Katie, and Viola at a restaurant in Danshui. Apparently it is very traditional to pose in these windows facing the water.

I have been resisting a lot of the fashion since I got here, but I now realize a long shirt and leggings is the most comfortable thing ever and plan on making the most of it. This is my best Taiwanese pose.

Would you like some rock sugar burns a chicken?

Nice view in Danshui. Look at all the shui!

Giant sized ice cream in Danshui.

They are delicate ladies.