Chapter 16

Chapter 15 and 16 novels are both new this week! Enjoy...

Monday, October 5th

Where to start….I just don’t know.

Today I had to get after my 7A class a little bit because they are such TIME WASTERS. They love to get me off on tangents so we don’t get anything done or have any homework….especially ALEX…(now I understand what every high school teacher goes through...please forgive me PV faculty).I think Alex may have ADHD, seriously! Hanna and I have been trying to diagnose him…among other things, he is super hyper-active, he can’t sit still, he can hardly concentrate in class, he’s a bit socially awkward, he has no concept of time or organization (always late, never does his homework), and he continually touches the other students, yet he hates to be touched himself. I never realized until today that teaching is more than just teaching a certain subject, but rather, handling all the emotional and social needs that come with each and every student. Ai yi yi….

Well, boot camp is going rather smoothly, and us teachers are training the kids quite nicely….I say training because I really don’t know how much teaching I ever get done with the little SPE’s. I’m still working on building boundaries, but today in kitchen we were talking about what tastes good and what tastes bad. All the sudden, the kids started chanting, “Gooda, NO…Good, YES!” Haha, I asked the students who taught them that and they all replied, “Teacher Tabbi.” Ha, I just giggled to myself, if they don’t learn anything at all, at least they know not to add an ‘a’ to the end of every word that conveys whether something is good (that is very common here in Taiwan).

On the topic of ‘training’ the children….the kids figured out rather quickly that in order to do well in class and to get rewarded, they must mimic teacher, only problem is….they don’t know exactly what to mimic and what not to mimic. Whenever we line up at a door, they repeat, “Teacher may I sit down please. Yes you may.” Haha, at first I thought, how rude, they are mocking me, and then I realized they had no idea what they were doing, they were just following teacher’s commands. After two months of learning however, many of them quickly understand and some of them are actually mocking me, ha….it’s still cute though, I can’t help but smile. In fact, taking matters once step further, instead of mocking; many of the kids try to help teacher (that’s me) out. In class, when the kids get a little rowdy, Jimmy and Scott turn to the other students, “Be quiet, Don’t Touch, Fold Your Arms!” haha….and just when I thought they weren’t picking up any English—they always seem to surprise me!

Tuesday, October 6th

Today I learned a new Chinese word; ‘koo’! It means to cry. Jimmy, Minnie, and I were all in kitchen, making ourselves some yummy ‘koooolaid’ when the kids started shouting, “Teacher! You said Chinese…NO CHINESE!” No matter what I said to try and explain that Koolaid is a drink, it wasn’t working, so instead of making Koolaid, we made punch (BTW, it was rather disgusting….it was all crystallized and tasted about 100 years old )!

Us teachers went to Max and Vivian’s for dinner tonight (we like to name our favorite places here because really, we have no idea what the Chinese name is)….it’s a yummy Tepanyaki restaurant….black peppered beef, garlic cabbage, bean sprouts, and rice, prepared right before you, nothings better! You can’t get a $3 dollar meal like that back in the states….oh Samuri 21….I fear that upon my return home, I will be sorely disappointed.

Wednesday, October 7th

Why are kids so darn cute? Jimmy and Scott make me feel like a queen. Lately, whenever we enter kitchen, the two boys gather around my chair and hold out their hands, showing me to my seat as if I’m the greatest teacher ever….they make me feel so special! They won’t sit down until I sit down first! I tried to capture the moment on my camera, but it doesn’t do justice….we’ll see if I can get a good video.

Cheerleaders die hard! Today in gym I was doing handstands, cartwheels, round offs….all that good stuff. The kids just eat it up. I all taught them how to do handstands….against the wall of course, but handstands nonetheless; we’re off to a great start! Only one casualty…Tim got decked with Kerry’s foot as Kerry was flippin’ around doing cartwheels, I’m envisioning a black eye this upcoming week.

Thursday, October 8th

The kids went crazy in opening exercises today. They love playing ‘Down by the Banks,’ so when they’re good, Tabbi, Sam, and I will let them circle up to play the crazy game….it’s quite the event. At first, the kids hated getting ‘out’, but now they love it because they just play, play, and play! Well, today it was total chaos and all the kids decided to dog pile ME when they got out of the game. It was the dominoes effect all over again, but 10x better….child after child, piling up on Teacher Tanier. Oh the little ones….I feel we are really bonding now, wouldn’t you say?

Friday, October 9th

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD! I love you! Thanks for all the love and support you’ve showed me throughout the years! Because of you, I had the best childhood, the best adolescence, and so far, a great start to adulthood…..to the BEST parents in the world…..here’s to another 26 years (It is 26, right?)!

KENTING WEEKEND! Every since I arrived in Taiwan, everyone has raved about going to the south—going to Kenting really, Taiwan’s tropical paradise, I’m goin’ to the beach, YAY, Tabbi and I did it! Lisa, our friend from Feng Yuen, had a couple extra spots with her group who was heading down for the weekend, so she invited us to join in the fun!

After work, Tabbi and I booked it outta school and rode down to the train station to catch the train to Kaohsiung (our half-way point) where we would stay with our good friend Charles. The train to Kaohsiung is about a three hour ride. We met Lisa on the train and we met Charles when we reached our destination. He took us back to his place (again, just a small room with a little bathroom, and mini fridge) where he had clean towels neatly folded and sleeping mats prepared just for us, so nice! He kept saying, “This night is so special to me, I’ve never had so many foreigners stay with me before!” We just kept laughing.

Oh my, it was so funny, we were all chillin’ in Charles’ apartment, getting ready for bed and what not…Charles went to take a shower…when he came out, he was in nothing but his little whitey tighty boxers. Haha. Tabbi and I started busting up laughing….I could not help myself, I felt like a little school girl giggling so much. At first, I’m not quite sure whether he understood exactly what we were laughing at, but he quickly caught on and put on some shorts….haha, I’m laughing as I’m writing this it was so funny! I had to bury my head in my backpack at the moment—I was laughing because Tabbi was laughing, and Tabbi was laughing because I was laughing; we just couldn’t hold it in. I find it so interesting too, because within the Asian culture, most people are very conservative, and so I wonder what he was thinking….I think he’s been watching too much American TV and too many American movies! Well, after chit-chatting and laughing into the wee hours of the night, we finally went to bed…the mats on the tile floor were surprisingly….dare I say, comfortable!?!

Saturday, October 10th

10.10….Taiwan’s Birthday—Horary for Holidays! We woke up early, around 7:30 am to meet the other Feng Yuen girls who were taking the high speed rail to Kaohsiung. After meeting outside the train station, we found a rather cheap taxi service to drive us the rest of the way (about two hours) to Kenting. We had a group of 11 people, so we got a pretty good deal, but we had to split up into two different cars. Tabbi and I, along with our new friend Charlene, had to squeeze into a seat built for two (I know, not the safest…but then again, I’m in Taiwan…they ride with four people on a scooter, without helmets, thinking all is well, but heaven forbid you stand on a chair, you could fall)! Thank goodness for Asian’s and their petite little bodies….we made it work.

The ride to Kenting was beautiful. We drove along the shore line for quite some time before arriving to our hostel! My first hostel, I had no idea what to expect, but it wasn’t too bad. We basically had the whole building to ourselves. Tabbi and I had our own room, and some of the other peeps shared. We all had a communal bathroom. The place: The Surf Shack….very quaint and fitting for a beach trip! After dropping our bags and changing into our suits, our taxi drivers took us to a little local establishment were we could engage in some fine snorkeling and other beach activities (Did our taxi drivers seriously wait for us to drop our bags at the hostel and then drive us to the beach??? Yes. Would that happen in America? Most likely, NOT)!

1. Snorkeling: We arrived at the shop and got fitted for full-blown wet suits—I felt as though I were going scuba diving, oh I wish. We then got our goggles, snorkels, wet boots, and life jackets—the ones with the crouch strap might I add….childhood memories began to flood my mind, gotta love that strap! We all piled into the back of this truck/van and headed down to the beach. On our walk down to the beach, I saw the cutest little dog. He was decked out in his gear too….he was wearing pink goggles and a bright yellow jacket—the Asians love their dogs! Seriously, sometimes I think the dogs are treated better than the children. Alright, that’s a slight exaggeration, and joke, but….I mean, how often do you see dogs wearing life jackets in America? How about scooter helmets? Sunglasses? See where I’m going with this…

Well, we had a fun time snorkeling, but as much as I hate to admit it, snorkeling in Hawaii is better! There, I said it, but it’s true. In Hawaii, the fish are better…bigger and more colorful, brighter and prettier….that’s not to say there isn’t great scuba diving or snorkeling in Asia, but at our specific spot, it didn’t stand a chance to Turtle Bay. Nonetheless, it was still amazing. Our guides gave us some bread to feed to the fish…we had schools upon schools of fish swarming around us…it was sweet!

2. Water weenie: Included in our day adventure was a little water weenie excursion! Alright, so I have to admit, I’m a little afraid of the deep, dark ocean….not knowing what’s underneath me just seems to freak me out, but put some high adventure water weenie in the picture and I just can’t resist! I was all over the place! For some odd reason, I felt that my wet suit would protect me from any dangerous creature lurking beneath me in the ocean water. We had fun thrashing around, and no worries, we wore helmets!

3. Scooters: Well, well, well….who knew foreigners couldn’t rent scooters anymore (so I guess I need some international license or something?)….Kenting is such a small, beachfront getaway that there are no buses or transportation systems put in place….only scooter rentals. Luckily Charles, Kelly, and Charlene, our Taiwanese friends, saved the day. We were quite sneaky—instead of renting six scooters at one rental shop, which is what we needed, Charles, Kelly, and Charlene rented three scooters at one shop, and three more at another shop….we totally worked the system… bad? Eh! Only in Taiwan.

4. Beach: The day just kept getting better. We found a little beach, set down some towels, and enjoyed listening to the wave’s crash on the shore. It was a bit overcast, so not too hot. I’d say the weather was perfect for relaxing because I totally fell asleep! The beach was different then expected…it wasn’t exactly white sand, in fact, it was a little rocky, and the beaches, for the most part, seemed to span only a short distance (then again, we only visited one beach, but that was the impression I got).

At the beach, some peeps played in the water while others beached it on the sand. We did have a pretty sweet running long jump contest. I was sure to lose. I mean, I was competing against Charles, a boy—need I say more, Sarah, she’s probably six feet tall, and Lindsay, who is also a good three inches taller than me….well, well, well….I guess height isn’t the only factor that determines a good long jumper! I came in second! Guess who was first? Yes….Charles in Charge! What a fun new beach game!

5. Dinner/Night Market: So we heard about this great little Thai restaurant off the main street in Kenting. We went to eat, thinking we’d get in right away because the restaurant’s placed back in this little alley, but no, we waited for three hours!!!! Three hours for nothing! Tabbi and I shared the Singapore curry….it came out looking like boney Chicken stew….luckily we had some chips and salsa for an appetizer, which were divine (haven’t had those for four awaited months).

Alright, so during our three hour dinner wait we hit up the night market. It was so cool; at night the main street in Kenting turns into this market full of food vendors and cheap goods. The vendors really just came out of the woodwork. As we walked up and down the streets of the market, I think just about everyone grabbed a snack….we were all starving waiting for dinner—good thing since dinner wasn’t too impressive.

6. Nighty Night: After dinner we all jumped on our scoots and headed to our hostel about 15 minutes outside of Kenting. As I said before, it was cute and quaint. I only have one complaint….no cockroaches in the bathroom please…flying cockroaches that is!!!

Sunday, October 11th

Kenting continued…As much as we all wanted to sleep in from the day before, we woke up early to get a good start on the day….this weekend was the best for our long journey to Kenting because our branch was watching the conference broadcast this weekend—something that we can easily watch on the internet at home.

1. Eluanbi Lighthouse: We drove to the most southern tip of Taiwan and hiked up to this lighthouse that was built in the 1800’s. The lighthouse was pretty sweet because at the time, it was only one of the few fortified lighthouses in the world. The lighthouse was built with a moat, cannons, and soldiers to protect it from invading aborigines. After touring around the lighthouse, we took a walk down to the beach. We jumped off the wood plank and onto the big rocks that ran right into the ocean….sweet landscape=sweet pics.

2. Kenting National Forest: We took the scooters up through Kenting’s National Forest…I felt like I was coasting on a roadster winding back and forth through the mountains of Colorado or something (alright, so I’ve never done that, but I could only imagine). The wind was blowing through my hair and the weather was perfect….I loved being outside and enjoying all the beauty around me. When we got to the top of the mountain, we hopped off the scoots and went hiking through the forest. We hiked through some fun, old coral caves….I stepped in a puddle of gunk….munched on some pumpkin seeds….had a snake cross my path….and had a great ole’ time.

3. Lunch: We went to Amy’s Cucina for lunch and had some real American food. Tabbi and I shared a great green salad and some chicken pesto chicken. I ate it all up---even the raw onions (mom, I’m turning into you….and I love it!) While we were eating, our chairs started shaking, and then the tables…another earthquake! Me, Tabbi, and Lisa immediately dropped our food to our plate, we were a little panicked. Meanwhile, Charles was chomping on a bone from his fried chicken….the quake didn’t even phase him, nor anyone else in the restaurant. Everyone just kept working as usual.

So, as we were leaving the restaurant, Tabbi and I saw the cutest little boy, couldn’t have been over two years old. He was chowin’ down his food, in squat position—hilarious! Here us American’s practice the squat for months before we get it down, and this two year old boy assumes the position so naturally….nature or nuture? Hum, it’s up for debate!

4. On the road again: Kenting was a short trip, but a fun one nonetheless. We took a taxi back to Kaohsiung (ironically enough we had the same taxi drivers), and watched the movie Hairspray to pass by the time. I’d never see the flick, but it was light and hearty for the drive. Our driver was so nice to let us watch the musical, which was all in English….no Chinese subtitles! After arriving in Kaohsiung, Tabbi and l left the other teachers and Charles, we boarded a train back to Changhua and walked through our front door around 11:00 p.m. Being so tired from the busy weekend, I hopped in the shower and hit the sack….