OOOO how I enjoyed the news from the Governement of Taiwan today that our Moon Festival Holiday will now be a 5 day weekend---yes that is right! So now instead of having Friday and Tuesday off, now we get Monday--WONDERFUL!!! Bummer is we might have to work on that following Saturday :(....That's the price you have to pay when you want to enjoy time with your wonderful friends!!! Can't wait for BBQ, Pijio, "Sexy Back," Photos, and much much more..... My kids are pretty much amazing..Thursday was teachers day and I got an amazing sunflower a mug and 500NT to [View Full Entry]

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The children at Wun-Hua Elementary have to be some of the greatest ones I have had yet in a class-I still can't decide if I enjoy them so much because they can't correct me when I teach them something wrong, like many smart a$$es like to do when I am teaching at home...or the simple fact that they enjoy learning and want to learn. I can sing, dance, laugh, cry..ok so not all of the listed---but I can do many silly things to get my kids' attention and get them focused on learning English-we have had some pretty halarious "Telephone" [View Full Entry]

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I have now had some pretty weird encounters with the stray dogs of Taiwan! The other night as I was scooting out my gates of my peaceful Villa and as I was going around the corner - passing a grassy knoll area, I was chased down by a pack of stray dogs. Now you may think these were large fearstly beasts, but NO, they were small little punks---who SCARED the crap out of me---"bark bark, run run, snarl snarl' the image plays over in my head everytime i turn that corner....I have learned to lay on the horn-sending out a [View Full Entry]

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As I now enter into my first offical month in Taiwan I am pretty proud of myself for slowly evolving into a Local. I sometimes burp in public and don't say excuse me, I find myself wanting to pick my nose in public, but I have yet not evolved with that custom, I look forward to nap time in the middle of the day, and I have officially purchased a mask, helmet, and rain coat, to accompany me in my scooter adventures and I will admit I look pretty cute---ha I drink about three green tea's a day and a [View Full Entry]

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Well, my first successful train ride took place this weekend and couldn't have been more happier! I was a little nervous though on Friday after school, my one teacher who was supposed to give me a ride was having a little dispute with another one of our co-teachers. They are both really friendly, the one who is closer to my age is a new teacher, so we together are working on this co-teaching experience, the other one who is a little older has an issue with helping us out..never wanting to do extra work we need to do for the [View Full Entry]

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and I am now heading off to see my friends---god help me as i venture on the train by myself-most know I had a hard enough time in Germany with someone with me, now by myself--yikes!! Ok well I just finished my last class of the day and it went ok. I say ok because I am not for sure if my students really understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, but I can see that they react well to gestural movements and love to do memory and repetition games--total plus! The kids enjoyed the pig noises I [View Full Entry]

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When I first arrived to Taiwan over two weeks ago I kept asking myself why I just didn't stay home and teach in a small town in Iowa. I would have been in my own comfort zone, culture zone, and with my own close group of friends. The culture is so much different here in Taiwan than the U.S. and Germany for that matter. I never had this big of culture shock when I lived in Germany maybe because I lived and taught on an U.S. army base. The first few days passed and I began to hang out with a [View Full Entry]

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