Bonding in Chinese

We were told 2 days ago that the main high school at Taiwan Adventist College known as Taiwan Adventist Academy was having some bonding time with their teachers and they wanted Taiwan Adventist International School (US) to join. This meant that we woke up really early and were doing calisthenics at 8:15 this morning. After that we divided into 2 teams, A and B. The first game we played is a combination of Tag and paper, rocks scissors, except we had Bear, fish and mosquito. Each team chose which to pick and whoever lost would have to run and not get caught. After this game, we played a game where everyone lined up and attached themselves to a person in front of them. At the front is a hen who is protecting her chicks (Us) from an eagle. We had to run around, but it was a lot of fun. Some other games we played was line up on a log and no one could put their feet on the ground. Because of this, we had to "trust" everyone. We also did the fall and be caught by our team.

Overall the day was a lot of fun, but we still have a lot to do to begin the new year. It was somewhat confusing because nearly everything was in chinese except what was translated to us, which did not happen all the time. It was fun being with the other teachers though. I am certain that the description of the games we played makes very little sense, but it is time for dinner.

Schedules

I have been working on the schools schedule for the past 3 days. It has been difficult because we have 4 different tracks of students. There are the group of students who are taking all american high school classes, the group taking most american high school classes except math, an 8th grade class and a group of students who need to do some ESL before they begin their classes. I sort of got the schedules done today. I will be teaching a math class (I have no idea what the students need so I have to wait until they arrive to plan), a biology class, a chemistry class and an 8th grade science class. I am worried about the biology and chemistry lab because I am not exactly trained in these subjects. I am excited about the chemistry, but the biology has me worried. Please pray the students don't hurt themselves.

Starfruit Juice

I love this stuff! They serve it in the college cafe once in a while. For some reason, they don't give you cups... you drink it from a bowl. Weird, but it tastes the same!

Arrival at school

Originally written on 8/22/08

Well we made it. It was a long trip, but we are finally getting settled. We stayed in Taipei overnight to get our health exams. We had a chance to see a little of the city. It's pretty cool. We went up to the top of Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world. It was a really nice view. (Which I suppose is pretty obvious.) We were lucky, because the air was really clear that day. Normally I think it's really smoggy and the visibility isn't too great, but we could see for miles. The entire city is surrounded by mountains. It's really beautiful.

Yesterday (Thursday) we took the high speed rail to a city closer to the school. This thing goes up to 190 mph, but it doesn't seem like it. It's really modern and a very smooth ride. It turns a 2-3 hour drive into a 40 minute ride. Then we were picked up by Jeremy, our Principal, and Donald the Business Manager for a 1 1/2 hour ride to the school. We arrived around 5:00 pm. They gave us a tour of the school then took us to our apartment. We are staying in this place for 2 weeks until our permanent place becomes available.

Our apartment is interesting. The shower is the whole bathroom. In other words, it's not partitioned off with a tub, and curtain. The center of the floor just has a drain in it. We have a fridge, and maybe a stove (I need to investigate more when we have time). The beds feel quite similar to what I would imagine sleeping on a box spring would be like - ridiculously hard. We put a comforter under the sheet which made it a bit better. Still not quite as luxurious as our own bed. But I guess we aren't here for luxury

We've been eating some very interesting food. Last night we ate at the college cafe. We had seaweed, and some other sea plant thing. (which wasn't that great), noodles and a few other assorted items. - Very different from what we're used to! This morning we had sandwiches for breakfast along with chocolate covered bread and some sort of blended rice soup. (thick, smooth, and pretty gross). This afternoon our director took us out to a vegetarian restaurant. The food looked pretty odd, but tasted good. Neither of us has gotten sick yet despite the fact that we are eating raw veggies regularly.

I hitched a ride on a scooter today, which was pretty awesome. (No, this was not random hitchhiking, but from a staff member at the other high school on campus - Taiwan Adventist Academy) Heather and I are going to be buying one within a few days as we are a 10 minute drive from campus. Right now, someone has to cart us around, which is a pain for both us and them.

The landscape here is incredibly beautiful. We are surrounded be lush green mountains that usually have clouds hanging around them. It rains pretty much every afternoon during the rainy season, so there is tons of really green vegetation everywhere. It's hot right now. It gets up to 95 or 100 with high humidity, so it feels pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Luckily, we have AC in our bedroom, so it's much better while we're sleeping.

We finally made it!

Originally written on Wed. Aug 20

We left my parents house at 2:30 pm Monday. We arrived at our hotel in Taipei at 9:00 am Wednesday. (Which is 9:00 pm Tuesday eastern standard time) Needless to say, it was a really long trip. We can't complain though. On the flight from LA to Taipei we had an entire four seat row to ourselves so we could stretch out a bit. We were able to get a bit of sleep on the plane. Here's a few interesting things that happened:

In LAX they made us weigh our carry on bags. 7 kg limit - 17 and 15 kg bags. Sitting on the floor of the airport we did some switching around and checked one of them (our 5th free checked bag!)

Our LAX-TPE plane had a tire change while we were in it. (yes, we were still on the ground) This put us in Taipei 1 1/2 hours late.

We are staying in Taipei tonight to get our health exams tomorrow, then it's off on the high speed rail (190 mph) to our home for the next year, Yuchich Township.

We took the fastest elevator in the world up 90 stories in 30 seconds to the top of Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world. (508 meters high) Needless to say it was a really nice view!

We had dinner tonight at a coffee shop. Heather had ice cream on a Belgian waffle (the perfect meal for a diabetic!). I had a veggie sub complete with slices of hard boiled egg, peanut butter and mustard. Interesting. It tasted better than it sounds.

We managed to stay up until 8:00 pm tonight. (that's 8:00 am as far as our bodies are concerned) zzzzzzz...

In Taiwan

We have arrived and we are finally getting over our exhaustion. I am presently sitting in the elementary school using the internet. We would have posted sooner, but we have had a hard time finding internet.

We arrived in Taipei a few hours later because the airplane needed a new tire, but we got all of our baggage and had no trouble getting through customs. Robert gave us two options, either go directly to the school or spend a day in Taipei and get our health screening out of the way. (In Taiwan, to teach, you have to get a health check) We would be able to stay the night in Taipei and get some rest. We stayed the night in Taipei and got to do some site seeing. We went to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. We did not do much more than that, because we were absolutely exhausted.

We got our health screening out of the way and then headed to our school. It was really hard because there was just the two of us and we had 3 big bags, 2 small bags, a backpack, a camera bag and a guitar to carry, but we made it.

It is really pretty here. We will try to post pictures soon. I hope everyone is well.

Nearly there

Ever 5 minutes Phil asks me to "come check the weight on this" to see if we have gone over the 50 pound limit. So far, they have been below. We are nearly there. It is currently 1:39 AM on August 18.

A Truly Magnificent Cake

Our church family presented us with a true work of art at potluck last week. Custom made by the finest master bakers in the greater Taunton area, this thing is was amazing! We had to recreate it for this photo because it was not only cool to look at, but delicious too! (The original consisted of whole cakes.)

Weddings and other such stuff

As the last post suggests, we are sitting around thinking only about going to Taiwan. Luckily it is not that case at all. Phil's brother is getting married tomorrow and "we" have been helping them out. Phil is a groomsmen and I am the official fish care taker/cupcake carrier. It has been nice to not have to think about packing and I am looking forward to trying to not kill the fish or massacre the cupcakes. I will be locating pet centers in the area, just in case and they have stacked the cupcakes in ridiculously nice cupcake holders, so I am not worried. We will put up some pictures when we get a chance. Although, here is a picture of the rehearsal dinner, well of Phil and me at the rehearsal dinner.

Last few days

Phil and I are trying to not think about going to Taiwan. Don't get us wrong, we are excited to go but... Well, Robyn Davidson puts it well in her book, Tracks. She writes,

"There are some moments in life that are like pivots around which your existence turns - small intuitive flashes, when you know you are on the right track. I watched a pale dawn streak the cliffs with Day - glo and realized this was one of them. It was a moment of pure, uncomplicated confidence - and lasted about ten seconds.

"Diggity [her dog] wriggled out of my arms and looked at me, head cocked, piglet ears flying. I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back. It's all very well, to set off on a train with no money telling yourself that you're really quite a brave and adventurous person, and you'll deal capably with things as they happen, but when you actually arrive at the other end with no one to meet and nowhere to go and nothing to sustain you but a lunatic idea that even you have no real faith in, it suddenly appears much more attractive to be at home on the kindly Queensland coast, discussing plans and sipping gins on the verandah with friends, and making unending lists of lists which thrown away, and reading books about camels." (Robyn Davidson, Tracks, Pantheon Books, 1980. p. 19.)

While we do have a better plan than she does, we are at the moment where we are wondering if we have just had a lunatic idea, as she puts it. Well, we will find out shortly!

Texas

So far, the weather in Texas has reached a 100 ever since we got here. Here is a picture in the shade of my parents thermometer! Enjoy!

Visas

After 2 trips to Boston, 3 phone calls to the Taiwan economic and cultural center, many phone calls to Taiwan and one intensive week of waiting, we have our 60 day visitor visas! We are officially going!

How to post a comment

We want to hear from you! Let us know you were here, and what you think. Here's a quick tutorial on posting comments on our blog.

1. View the post -> click on the post's title (In this case "How to post a comment")
2. Read other people's intelligent, witty and clever comments.
3. Click "Post a Comment"
4. Come up with your own insightful or humorous remarks and type them in the "Leave Your Comment" box.
5. Choose your identity
   
• If you have a google id, sign in (or if not, you can sign up)
• or select "Name/URL" and enter your name
• We don't recommend using anonymous because we won't know who you are!
6. Click "Publish Your Comment"
7. You're done! Thanks for commenting!
   

Texas

So far I have:

1. Eaten at El Gallo 2 times
2. Eaten at Chuy's 1 time
3. Eaten at The Salt Lick 1 time
4. Done absolutely nothing (many times)
5. Ran at Town Lake (1 time so far)
6. Seen my cousin's adorable children (2 times)
7. Been to one wedding
8. Had to worry about driving through tornadoes (1 time)
9. Realized why I still love Texas

We are having a much needed vacation in Austin, TX. I am happy because we have eaten really good food and we are not worrying about anything on our to do list. (I have no idea how to cross off things on our to do list, but I will be doing that shortly.) Also, we will add pictures from our trip to Texas and our move as soon as Phil finds something to put the pictures from the camera onto to the computer. Also, pray for our visas. They still have not come in yet.

Our stuff in the storage unit

We spent a lot of time trying to fit all of our belongings in a 5 ft x 5 ft by 10 ft storage unit. Here are some pictures of what it looked like the last time we saw it! Enjoy!