Greetings from the Island!

Alright, so I know my blog isn't that funny, and I know that it is ALL writing, and... it can be somewhat boring!!!! .....but, this is the easiest way to update everyone, and I am wanting to keep a journal of my Taiwan experience. That being said, here is another LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG entry with ZERO pictures. I'm gonna try to get on a schedule of just posting the boring stuff once a week (I'm sure it will get shorter as the time goes by), and hopefully soon, when things slow down I can post some picks of Taiwan and all the little quirks they have here!

End of Week Two:

Alright, so I know my blog isn't that funny, and I know that it is ALL writing, and... it can be somewhat boring!!!! .....but, this is the easiest way to update everyone, and I am wanting to keep a journal of my Taiwan experience. That being said, here is another LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG entry with ZERO pictures. I'm gonna try to get on a schedule of just posting the boring stuff once a week (I'm sure it will get shorter as the time goes by), and hopefully soon, when things slow down I can post some picks of Taiwan and all the little quirks they have here!

End of Week Two:

Thursday, July 3rd

Well well well, my second day of teaching wasn’t so bad! In my second grade class, Hank is really testing me to see what he can get away with. He flipped off another kid and I had to put him in time out. He pretended to be oh so innocent, but all the kids know what they’re doing. I’m going to have to make a seating chart for that kid—he can’t sit next to any of the other boys because he gets them all riled up. All the teachers have told me to go in the classroom strict with the children, so I’m doing my best. Let’s just say I’m not going for the ‘nicest teacher’ award right now, ha.

This week went by kind of slow so we were all happy to have Friday come. We were going to go to a Night Market, but then our new friend, Manti (from church) called and invited Hanna, Tabbi, and I to Ershuei with him and some friends Saturday morning. They wanted to leave at 6:45 AM….can you say, EARLY….I don’t think I’ve gotten up that early since my banking class last fall semester, and even then I was still half a sleep. Us girls decided to stay in for the night so we could get adequate sleep before our adventure to who knows where (I can’t even pronounce Ershuei, but it’s a bit south of Changhua).

Saturday, July 4th

Happy 4th of July! We woke up early to get ready for our excursion with the Asians….what an adventure. There were about 10 of us all together. We took the train to Ershuei, about a 20-30 minute ride. When we arrived we rented bikes and rode around the country. It was so beautiful. I really enjoyed it. We saw sugar cane, bettle nut, cocnut, rice, lycee...all sorts of trees.

Going anywhere outdoors is so fun with the Asians. They stop every five minutes to take a break, I love it! …and they take tons of pictures, as I’m sure you already know. I didn’t even have to get everyone together for a picture, Aisha took care of that for me. Aisha is another girl we met from a different ward. She is so sweet! Her American name is really Annie but she thinks its too common so she changed it to Aisha, which stands for ‘Annie is Sweet Happy Angel.’ Aisha and Manti speak English very well and they are fun to talk to. They are so good to us dumb Americans when it comes to any cultural thing. P.S. We also went to the monkey zoo, but unfortunately, we didn't see any monkeys. We did see big rino beetles...they are almost as big as my palm and a little squirmy...ya, I held one....freak me out! After the beetles I used my first squatter, haha...no worries, I was prepared with kleenex.

After riding around for a few hours we stopped in town to get lunch. We had some really good fried noodles, you could even smell the charcoal on them, Yum! We also had clam soup, which is doable, but as with many things, something fishy was floating in my soup….I don’t ask, I just eat….PIG INTESTINES! Wow, so super chewy on the outside, slimy and gooey on the inside, not my fav! Ha, it’s great trying all these new things; I’m still alive so all is well. I just wonder what the Asians think when they come to America and eat our food. I know they do love American Steak! It’s funny, a lot of food looks good here, but when you taste it, the smell or texture is just horrible.

When we got back from Ershuei, Rebeckah had prepared a nice 4th of July ‘American’ meal for us! She made potato salad, green salad, BBQ pork, baked beans, toast….all the good stuff. I was in heaven. We also had some guests for dinner, George, Grace, and Kitty. Kitty is one of my second graders and George and Grace are her parents—they speak very good English. George and his family lived in Arizona for many years, I believe he was going to school there. We had a little magic show with our dinner and a real good time.

After dinner I went to my first ‘real’ night market…not the big ones that I’ve heard about, but it was still pretty big. People were everywhere…vendors were everywhere….food (there’s always food), arcade games, clothes, you know….all the stuff I keep talking about. I wish I hadn’t eaten so much for dinner so I could have tried some yummy stuff. I didn’t skimp on my mango Bing Sha though, it was great! I also tried a Taiwanese donut, basically like a scone, not too sweet. The Tai people don’t really like sweet things.

Sunday, July 5th

We woke up and went to the Chinese ward today. I think I mentioned that it’s not too far from our house. It was interesting….I couldn’t understand a thing, but there were a few people who could interrupt for us. Us girls are trying to decide which ward to go. The English branch is far away, but it would be nice to actually communicate with some other ‘white’ people every once in awhile. However, the Chinese ward is close, and I can practice my Chinese….we shall see. Everyone is so inviting as usual. After church I came home and got to take my first real nap—it felt great!