Blogs from Taichung, Taiwan, Asia - page 4

Hello all! Just wanted to give you a few photos to view of the Cornel Christmas/Thanksgiving Party. Although neither holiday is widely accepted in Taiwan - the main religion here is Buddism - as a way to completly immerse the students into American culture, holidays that are celebrated in America are also adapted. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day and held a party for all the students. The day was filled with activities, such as a "Pilgrim and Native American hat making" project, a reading paralleled with a reenactment of the First Thanksgiving, and finally ending in a Thanksgiving feast of Turkey and corn soup with showing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The students, although not quite understanding the significance of the holiday, every year look forward to this day, as it is also a break ... read more

Hello all! I know it's been awhile since my last update. It's just been a wild and crazy week so far! We've started our summer program at Cornel school, I'm incharge of 11 wonderful 4th graders as well as the 8th and 9th grade graduates program. Between setting up the classroom, discovering the ins and outs of the curriculum, and trying to figure a routine that works, let's just say this past week has been a frenzy! The first day of school went well. I love all the students I have, all with wonderful personalities. Setting ground rules has been a bit tough. They also attend Chinese School everyday, so it's understandable that at times they need a little break from memorization and notes to play a game (educational of course!). The students I have are ... read more

Miaoli is a county on the west coast of Taiwan that is full of beautiful mountains and parks. I have a good friend here, who, luckily for me, dreams of being a travel guide. So when she asked me if I wanted to go look at the flowers in Miaoli, I had no idea what I was in for. Our small group became four when two other Taiwanese teachers decided to join us and off we went. Up the small roads that wind around the mountain. Our first stop? A park that features an old train bridge with beautiful ruins. The park has some amazing views, and long hikes down to a supposed waterfall. I say supposed because we kept walking downhill, and could never quite get there. After a stop for some black stinky tofu ... read more

I'm so tired right now. Not surprising I guess, considering I had about 3 hours of sleep on Friday night. The train ride wasn't too bad- I had a really hard time finding the area where they sell tickets and ended up walking up and down stairs, and all around the station for about 25 minutes with that huge backpack on. I was sweaty and my back was hurting and people were laughing at me. Not fun. Finally when I found the ticket office, they couldn't speak any English or understand the piece of paper I gave them with "Yuanlin" written on it. Finally someone in line stepped forward and shouted out the name of my destination in Chinese and I paid for my ticket. I made it to the train just in time for it ... read more

so i've started work, and it's really difficult. i come home every monday absolutely exhausted after teaching seven periods straight and ending on my abominable ps3 class. so far, i'm two for two on migraines on mondays. hopefully that'll get better. being said, you still couldn't pay me enough to go back to hess. there's absolutely no comparison between ps3 and treehouse. i will never go back to six year olds. never. i missed the last half day of work today. vic came to me during fourth period, right before lunch, saying that the legal department needed my passport and, oh yeah, the actually did need a health check. so i had to go out and find a hospital that wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg and could do an x-ray and bloodwork on ... read more