Ni hou ma?

Hello from hot Taichung! I've been here for over a month and I'm still transitioning into my new life.

However, I have started working, which has been a great blessing. I work at Season Arts kindergarten, which is an arts school for young children. The children at the school are ages 2 and up to 7 or 8, I believe. I work with the Flower Class and my kids are anywhere from 4-6 and they have one year of English completed already. There are about 20 kids in total and they are so cute. When I walk into the classroom in the mornings, they all say "Goood moorning Teecha Maari!" in this cute sing songy way. Our school is very strucutured with defined periods for every subject. For example we do phonics, game/activity and daily conversation for 40 minutes a week. I have lots of paper work, planning and reports to complete, but the resources are immense. An English speaking teacher from Canada directs our group and the school has tons of books, materials, art supplies and resources for us. In my classroom, there are 2 other Chinese teachers and 1 intern, so there is lots of help. I am creating a good, open communicative relationship with the chinese teachers and it's been a good experience, as we are still discovering each other's boundaries.

In addition to teaching the children about the English language, I am teaching them how to think in English, as well. Our school has themes that we follow quarterly. Plants is our current theme and they are surrounded by plants in art, PE, field trips, discussions, hands on experiements, music, etc. The theme is a big deal and apparently has earned the school international awards because of the integrated teaching approach. This week we are going to the Taichung Science Museum because they have a Botanical Garden. I love field trips because nearly all of the places we go to are new for me. Nearly all of the students are very well-behaved, eager to learn and follow the flow of the class.

I write weekly reports home to the parents and sometimes they respond with comments. The chinese teacher will read them to me on Monday. I can't wait. My Chinese teacher, Ruby told me that some of the children have been speaking more English at home. When the parents ask their kids where they learned this, some of them say "Teecha Maari". I was so excited to hear her say that! I nearly jumped out of my chair and hugged her.

I teach my Flower Class in the morning, then have a 2 hour lunch break and return to school to teach the bilingual class. These students are taught primarily in Chinese and get 30 minutes of English a day. Their English is fairly good, but they get bored easily. In my bilingual classes I am an entertainer, keeping their minds engaged for 30 minutes. (In comparison, my morning class understands a higher level of English, so a command like "put your chairs away" is quite simple. All of my commands in my bilingual classes must be interpreted by a Chinese teacher.) I sing lots of songs with them. This week, I nearly lost my voice singing the "hokey pokey" and roaring like various animals. However, the challenge is fun and for many of the children, they like the change in their daily routine, I think.

I've been driving a scooter for over one month. It's been an exhillerating and sometimes frightening experience. The rules to driving are very different here. The first few weeks, I felt road rage begin to creep into my head while on the road. So, I invented my own version of a video game to calm my nerves: Zen Grand Theft Auto. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Grand Theft Auto (or GTA), it's a driving video game where you can car jack people, use weapons, and score points for effectively driving while faced with obstacles. In my zen version of the game, when cars pull out in front of me (which happens on a daily basis) or another scooter turns into my path without looking first, I assess the situation with points, say 200 for example, then when I quickly, safely and sanely avoid them, I get additional points, maybe 500. My Zen GTA game saves me from much unneeded stress.

I also joined a yoga gym. For a good rate, I get unlimited yoga classes (with numerous disciplines), access to the sister gym right next door and we have some nice perks, like a steam room, sauna and 2 spas in the locker room. It's a huge franchise, so there are lots of people and it's quite a scene. They place club hip hop in the locker rooms and gym. But, the people watching is fabulous, the classes pretty good and I'm inspired to do yoga 3 or more times a week because there are so many different classes offered.

As I learn more about the culture of Taiwan, I find many differences quite interesting:

*The Taiwanese believe that you are one year old the day you are born (really it begins at conception), so it's hard to know how old children are sometimes. Also, sometimes ages change depending on Chinese New Year.

*On scooters, children don't have to wear helmets because it's illegal for children to ride scooters. So, if there is no law about children wearing helmets, then the police don't have to bust children on scooters. Lots of children and babies ride around on scooters; sometimes they wear helmets.

*Also on scooters, people enter the roadways, turning right, without even looking at the flow of traffic. Why? If they don't see you while turning, then they don't have to yield for you. It's not a law, just a practice.

*Cars also compete with scooters on the road. The other day, I was driving along in the scooter lane, on the right side of the road and a car sped up past me with his right turn blinker on and then braked very suddenly to turn at the intersection a few feet away. I almost ran right into him and car was so close to me that my instinct didn't even give me time to honk my horn, I just hit the brakes hard and prayed. Yes, my Zen GTA comes into play a lot with this strange notion.

*The wedding culture here is huge! They have lots of wedding cafes where you plan your wedding and a lot of money is involved. The Taiwanese believe that having a huge and impressive wedding, even if that means going bankrupt. Also, the wedding signifies an important part of the beginning of the couplese life culturally.

*This month is Ghost Month and it's a time to pay respect to your ancestors by having huge celebrations, with lots of tables filled with food-rice, beverages, candies, etc., and burning large amounts of paper money and incense. Taiwan is so populated and space is often available at a minimum, so some of these celebrations take place on the roads (leaving a little space for traffic). If you please your ancestors during this holiday, the ones that have gone to hell, will be happier, it is believed.

Life is interesting in Taiwan! Pictures are coming soon.

I have heard about the liquid terrorist attack and hope you aren't all impacted too much by the security backlash. Be well, happy and healthy! Miss you all!