Life on the the 10th Floor

So I don't know if I mentioned this at all, but my apartment this year is a true Taiwanese apartment. I consider it to be authentic for a few reasons:

1. We have a courtyard with a pool, pagoda, fish in a pond, circular Chinese-style doorways, and lantern lit pathways through a garden.

2. There is no real shower, just a shower head on one wall of the bathroom so you get literally every surface of the bathroom soaked when you shower.

3. We live on the 10th floor. Every apartment building is super tall in Taiwan!

I happen to think the lights of the city are beautiful from our balcony but unfortunately my camera doesn't do night shots too well. This was the least blurry of all of them:

And when we organize a little more I'll take some pictures of the actual apartment to post here.

Round 2 Here We Go!

Well, I'm back in Taiwan again! It is the very beginning of my second year teaching at the same boarding school in Taichung, Taiwan as I was at last year. The plane touched down in Taipei last night and I hit the ground running; no stopping anytime soon as far as I can tell!

Today we had the first day of orientation meetings for staff and I got to meet all of the new teachers for the first time. There are a lot this year and it seems like they are a pretty good crew. We made a Carefore (like the French version of Wamart or Target) run this afternoon with some coworkers in one of the school vans and got the essentials for our new apartment. Shelves, mops, brooms....all stuff that doesn't fit on a scooter!

Unfortunately we walked into our apartment this year to find it dirty and cluttered with things that the previous tenants (our coworkers/"friends" from last year) didn't bother to pack or throw away. So it has been somewhat of a stressful arrival since I can't really unpack my things before I get rid of the filth and excess crap first. We also have nonstop meetings and other obligations right up until we have to start teaching so it is a little intense right now. And of course the real reason I'm here, I have to start teaching a week from today.

On top of that, I am the mathematics department chair this year. Last year when I agreed to the new position I wasn't all that concerned with the extra work load it would bring. However, just in one short day's time being back I am starting to realize just how much responsibility and extra work it will be for me this year. I guess I might have to grow up a little more and go out with friends less. Lucky for me I am living with a good friend of mine this year, Nichole, who is also a first year department chair for Social Studies. We are in the same boat and I think we'll have a lot of fun figuring it out together.

Right now it sort of feels like there are not enough hours in the day (especially when you are jet-lagged and can't accomplish much when you are awake anyway) so at this rate the year will fly by! But in the end, it will all get done because it always does so I'm trying to just take it task at a time and keep perspective. I'm just excited to see the students now since they will be arriving so soon and it will be a good reminder as to why I'm half-way around the world teaching!

When we get things cleaned up a little more I will take pictures of our apartment to post. Stay tuned!

Taiwan is the Most Beautiful Country in the World

Today was an epic, awesome, beautiful day of relaxation: a perfect Sunday! I woke up and had breakfast with the kids, one of the perks (?) of living in a boarding school. At noon, three coworkers and I took off on our scooters for the waterfall that we know about up in the mountains. I had never been there so I was very excited. I had no idea what was in store for me.

After about 35 minutes on the scooter, driving around switchbacks and up steep climbs through some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, we reached our lunch spot. Not only is the food/tea absolutely delicious up there, but the view is breathtaking to say the least.

Perched on the edge of a mountain- nice lunch spot!

Fresh apple tea and some taro, a staple of Taiwan food.

After that, we drove back down the mountain a little bit and parked our scooters. We came to a river bed after hiking down for five to ten minutes. Then another twenty minutes of somewhat strenuous walking/hiking up the river bed over large boulders, we came upon a scene from a movie. I never thought things like this existed anywhere but the silver screen to be honest. The pictures do not do this place justice either, too beautiful and peaceful and relaxing to capture on camera.

Getting to the waterfall.

So pretty.

My friend Chris jumping off. I did not do such a thing: I love having the use of my legs and don't particularly want to die. He didn't actually die, but I'm just saying.

After scrambling over large rocks in 90 degree weather for a while, a dip in cool river water is probably the best reward. It is days like today that make me realize how lucky I am to live in a country like Taiwan: I'm starting to seriously believe it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I've never seen anything else like it yet. I love it.

Gotta love a staff that hikes to waterfalls together on the weekends.

Graduation 2011

This past weekend was graduation: seniors walked across the stage, cried a little bit, and gave their speeches of farewell and encouragement. It made me think of my own high school graduation a lot and how long ago that seems. I think it's safe to say I have changed and grown a lot as a person since then, 5 years ago now. However, I did truly feel like a teacher as I was giving some students final tidbits of advice and guidance for college in the States. It's scary to think we just release these kids into the real world now :)

Not seniors, my junior Algebra 2 students Minnie and Teresa, but so adorable in their little dress uniforms I just had to get a picture with them on graduation day.

Maggie, class of 2011. Didn't teach her but you can see we were obviously still pretty close!

Faculty had to wear the robs just like at college/university graduation ceremonies. It felt oddly familiar seeing as how I just graduated from UWL about a year ago...

Wrapping up the School Year

It is somewhat of a surreal sensation to know that in less than a week and a half, all students will be going home and classes will have ended for the year. It seems like just last week that I first landed at Taipei International Airport and was getting ready for the school year to start.

In the past year, I feel as if I have learned more than I have ever learned in any other calendar year of my life. Not only did I make it through my first year teaching, with all of it's natural ups and downs, but I moved to a foreign country without knowing a soul there and figured everything out on my own. It is an understatement to say that I've learned life lessons this year.

As the year draws to a close however, I am realizing more and more that I am going to miss my students this summer. That's how you know you're a teacher apparently! In all seriousness, we send so much time with them here, seeing as how we all live under the same roof, that it will be strange to be away from all of them for so long. I'm sure we could all use the break from each other, but I'm also oddly getting excited for next year to start already...I think that's a good sign! :)

Great Weekend: Great Weather, Food, and Company

This was one of the last weekends I have left completely to myself in Taiwan for the year. Next weekend we have graduation on Saturday and the weekend after that the students leave on Saturday at noon. It has gone so fast and the end is literally right around the corner- when did that happen?!

Good thing this weekend was fairly epic as far as fun and relaxation goes. The weekend started off great with my friend Rachel's art show opening party on Friday night. That night also turned out to be a late one because a few of us girls decided to check out a new nightclub in Taichung and ended up staying out dancing all night (it was worth being tired the next day because it was ridiculously fun).

Saturday was a lazy day, for obvious reasons. By the time evening time rolled around, we all headed over to the art museum area to attend the annual Food and Music Festival. I didn't really listen to the music but I ate a lot of good food! Then the night again took a turn and we went dancing at the same nightclub AGAIN but with a bigger group of friends. It was again, lots of fun as you can imagine.

Today, Sunday, has been more productive than the rest of my weekend. Laundry, cleaning, planning for the week, and lying on the roof sunning since it is 85 with bright blue skies here. It is weekends like this that make me realize how amazing my life is living abroad, but also how good of friends I have found here. I consider myself a very lucky girl to have found such a great bunch of coworkers in this school.

Now one more week of teaching before finals testing!

My Inability to Identify and Buy a Mango

The saga of my mango search continues. If you read one of my previous blog posts, you would know that I started this quest about a week ago, knowing that mangos are in season in Taiwan. I went to a fresh fruit market and came back with a papaya instead (you can see a picture below).

Yesterday I decided to give it another shot. This time I had to come back with a mango, right? Wrong. I went to the fresh fruit market and looked around a little more this time. Finally I came across a bin of fruit that I was convinced were mangos. I picked one up and sniffed it: sure spelled like mango. Bought three and hopped back on my scooter to bring my "mangos" home.

As soon as I got home, I youtubed how to cut up a mango and sure enough, the fruit the man was holding in the video looked vastly different from the one I had picked up. An impostor fruit again! I cut it up anyway and just had some for breakfast (SORT of tastes like a mango, but not the texture), but was still curious as to what I had come home with.

After 30 minutes of google searching phrases like "exotic fruits inex" and "things that taste like a mango but aren't," I still have no idea what it is. If google doesn't know what it is, does anyone??? I picked up some crazy Taiwanese fruit I think...