Into the Swing of Things Again

Although I've only been back in the Gem of Asia for less than a week now, it feels like I never left. Since getting here it has been meeting after meeting and countless tasks to complete in preparation for the school year to begin. Not to mention trying to regain my personal life here as well moving into the apartment off campus.

Yesterday the prefects arrived at school: all of the best students who will be sort of helpers to the dorm parents this year in the residence halls. It was really fun to go to school today to see them actually- it's always nice to see the prefect kids because generally they can do no wrong! The rest of the rascals show up on Wednesday night so we're all busy scrambling around getting ready for their arrival. I will be excited to see a lot of them as well which will make this week pretty exciting all around.

Today also served as my first big day as chair person of the math department this year. There was an hour and a half block of time allocated to department meetings this afternoon and of course I had to run it this year! It was a little intimidating since I'm not all that senior compared to the rest of my department seeing as how we all got hired at the same time last year (with the exception of the one new staff member this year). All in all though, I think it went really well. At least no one fell asleep during it!

Tomorrow starts another day of meetings about our accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) which should be loads of fun. Well, maybe it would be more fun watching paint dry but I guess it goes with the territory. Now for some beauty sleep to recharge these batteries! Lots to do this week still because classes start on Friday already...

A Clean Apartment

Nichole and I woke up early today and proceeded to power clean our tiny apartment. I can't even imagine people moving into a whole big house because our little apartment was enough work! Finally at 3 in the afternoon we were finished. Unfortunately, small apartments don't photograph well, but I tried my best:

Our living room/kitchen area from the view of the front/only door

Living room and a little glimpse of the stairs that lead up to Nichole's room and our loft/junk room

My room, freshly arranged and pretty darn clean still!

View from our balcony of our pool and courtyard/central shared garden. Everything green you can see in this picture basically is the courtyard of our apartment. It is pretty beautiful when you're walking through it, so hopefully I'll get some pictures down there soon!

Typhoon Scmyphoon

Today is Sunday, our first full day off of meetings and workshops since I got here, score! Nichole and I are planning on buckling down and really power cleaning our apartment and getting it all ready for the school year since the kiddos arrive on Wednesday.

One of our coworkers informed us yesterday that it was probably going to be a good day to do some fall cleaning too since there were typhoons headed right for us. Yes, the plural is correct in that case because in his words, "there are two typhoons coming together right over Taiwan and they're going to hit Sunday." Terrifying!

Last year we only had one littler typhoon and it was pretty scary as it was- just like a really bad storm at home with more wind and a LOT more rain. So I figured that two typhoons converging on Taiwan would be like the apocalypse. I also had no idea how a typhoon, with all of the intense wind, would feel like on the 10th floor! My guess was that it would be extra scary.

Funny enough though, I just woke up this morning to see sunny skies. It's possible that the storm is still coming and it will build throughout the day, but right now I think it's time for a nice scooter ride to get some last supplies for the apartment! Typhoon scmyphoon!

If the skies turn black and open up to pour down upon us, I will surely post a picture later. Or I'll just post some pictures of our clean (hopefully) and organized (keep your fingers crossed) apartment!

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...