Lantern Festival - Part 1

Today, marks the start of the Lantern Festival. That means lots of locals and foreigners going to the same place. Big crowds!!! It also means that I will hear fireworks from 5pm-10pm, again at 12am, and again at 2am. I don't plan on getting much sleep because the fireworks wake me up and shake the building. Enjoy the pics!

Week 1 - English Club

Today was our first day of English Club for the semester. The students created personalized bookmarks, filled out an interest survey, and watched 2 video examples for their semester performance. The interest survey results will be used in a family feud game for a future class. Their performance for the School Fair will come from Do, Re, Mi (The Sound of Music) and In The Jungle. The kids seem really excited and I look forward to working with this very energetic group of kids. Enjoy the photos!

Below are some videos showing some of the kids getting into it!

2nd Semester Dialogue

Here is a video that we showed the students. This is what they will be learning this semester.

Worship Day - School Staff Field Trip

Our school has a Worship Day each year. In previous years, they would stand at the front gate of the school. Not sure what kind of worship would take part, but I do know that this year they wanted to do something different. So, they got a bus for us and took us to Yilan. Yilan is on the East side of Taiwan.  It used to take 2 hours to get there, but they built a tunnel and not it takes only 30-45min. There was a disco ball with working lights on the bus along with karaoke. I was surprised to hear that one of my many directors could sing quite well.
We toured a museum, went to a temple, had coffee at Mr. Browns, and stopped at a souvenir bread shop on the way home. We had lunch a small restaurant located down the street from the museum.  The people here at 10 course meals almost everyday! I was full after the first 5 dishes. Yes, I tried everything, but the squid. I was being very brave!!! I have quickly learned that I am not a seafood person. 
It was a very tiring day, but I'm glad that we went. It was a great way to fellowship. It started raining so a lot of pictures have rain spots. Sorry! Enjoy the photos!

Danshui Area

After cold weather and lots of rain, the sun magically appeared on a Saturday. The weather was great! I decided to take a trip out to Danshui, which is on the red line via Taipei Metro. It took me about an hour to get there, but it was a nice ride. I was able to see some different areas of Taiwan because the metro took us through tunnels and out in the open. The water was very calm. I noticed on the metro that a lot of people were looking at me. It was weird! I just smiled, said hello, and acknowledge that I saw them by nodding my head. They looked at me from head to toe, but paid special attention to my hair. One kid even got on the metro, pointed at me, and said "black!" I just smiled and laughed because that wasn't the first time that has happened. It is amazing how many people here that have NEVER seen a black person before. I love how they try to sneak and take your picture. I will take the picture with them if they would just ask or gesture. I guess I will work on that with them while I'm here. The line to ride the ferry was super long so I didn't even attempt to get on it. I will try again when it stops raining so much. Enjoy the pictures!

In-Service Video

We had to send in our video for teacher in-service so that others could see our school, learn about our responsibilities, and learn about our students.  Here is a video about the duties given to me during the 1st semester at Bin Jiang Elementary. Of course, I had to be silly. I was second to last in presenting during our 3 day stay in Taichung. Enjoy!

Diagnosis

I just got out of the hospital and am thankful that I only had to stay overnight. Basically, they did an old school EKG (the one with the suction cups and not leads), chest x-ray, blood work, venography, and CT scan in 1 day. I was admitted at 4pm and discharged at 4pm the next day. I have a double compression in my left leg that has been causing the swelling. I am on bed rest for 2 days and will get the treatment taken care of when I return to the States.  I had fun confusing the hospital staff when they talking to me in Chinese. Because I have worked in the medical field before and have been to the doctor for this condition several times over the past 13 yrs, I already knew the questions being asked and the order to answer them. Naturally, they assumed I understood Chinese. When they began to tell me what they were doing  I would stop them and say to them in Chinese that I didn't understand. They would continue to talk to me in Chinese and I would stop and say to them that I didn't know in Chinese. Again, they would talk to me in Chinese and I finally told them that I didn't understand, I was American, and that I speak English. They quickly realized that I only know how to be polite and say that I didn't understand in Chinese. I guess I better get my book out and work on some more lessons. I plan on going back to teach some of their staff some simple English phrases that they can use because they heavily rely on 2 ladies that REALLY need a vacation. I will post pictures of my scan when I get to work on Monday.