Famous in Taiwan

While it occasionally sounds like my life in Taiwan is a fairy tale (and in many aspects it is), this week I was reminded that this is the real world, and sometimes things are stressful.  This week was filled to the brim with stress at school (and I was repeatedly reminded reminded of how wonderful my friends are at relieving that stress).  The main stress hanging over my head for the entire week was the fear of my first presentation which occurred during my CE15 (mid-level English class around 12-14 years old) on Friday.  In Shane School a presentation lesson occurs at the end of each term (a term lasts 24-25 lessons) and is an opportunity to prove to the students, parents, and manager how effective the class, school, and teacher are.  A presentation is a 30 minute long window in which 5 or more activities should be used to summarize what the students have learned and how their English abilities have developed during the term (and of course, if a student's abilities have not improved the parents are less likely to enroll their students in a following term).  I would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to observe a presentation lesson before having one of my own, but unlike many teachers I did not have this luxury.  While I have not received the feedback from my presentation, my self assessment is that the worrying and over-preparation I did paid off with a successful presentation with a good parental turn out, high participation rates, and behaved students. What a relief!  Too bad I have to spend this week worrying and planning for two more presentations (but then I should have a month or so of freedom).
I have completed one of the items in my Taiwan to-do list (though I know I will repeat this trip many more times over the next year) I finally went to visit the statue of Buddha on Baguashan (this landmark is known as 'The Big Buddha' and is located approximately 20-30 minutes walking distance from my house), which I was originally told was the largest Buddha in Taiwan, but I believe that is a former (or entirely false) title because my research does not seem to support the claim.  I like to compare my 'first encounters' with locations and foods in Taiwan with how I feel other foreigner's 'first encounters' went, and I feel that my trip to Buddha was completely unique in the fact that the trip began at 1am, and involved toasting Buddha at the base of the temple staircase with Heineken beers.  I also added and (and completed) 'ride the High Speed Rail (train)' to my to do list.
One of the remarkable aspects of the "teacher life" in Taiwan is the fact that we are a novelty to the majority of the people we interact with each day.  Many Taiwanese people have a fascination with foreigners, sometimes to the point that they engage us in [limited] conversations on the streets/buses/subways/etc. and (though it is less common) some ask us to pose for pictures.  One of the most interesting (and comical) experiences for me is when our group poses for pictures, and behind whoever is taking the photograph is a group of Asians taking taking our group picture for their own archive.  I think that makes us local celebrities.
This weekend I went on a trip to the second largest (and most modern) city in Taiwan: Kaohsiung, this is where the 'celebrity status' was most apparent (though, we did make a spectacle of ourselves on more than one occasion).  This weekend Kaohsiung hosted their annual gay pride festival, and what began as a plan to watch the parade became the spontaneous decision to walk in the parade (which was a two-hour ordeal which took us around a large square of the city).  During the parade we were in countless pictures and videos with fellow allies of the gay community.  Much of the walk was spent talking to the Taiwanese people around us, and serenading them with our acapella version of countless showtunes and classic 80's songs.

The crew at Kaohsiung Gay Pride Festival

There does not appear to be as harsh of a stigma against homosexuality in Taiwan.  One of the best moments on Saturday (the day of the parade) was on the walk home when we were over a mile from the festivities and walking to our hostel through a night market and a woman who barely spoke English pointed out our rainbow flags showed her support [for us and] the gay community. 

Today was spent further exploring Kaohsiung.  The day began with a walk to the old British Consulate where we enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea and got our first great view of the harbor.  The port of Kaohsiung is the largest harbor in Taiwan.  We later traveled through this harbor (by way of ferry) to the island of Cijin (a small island with a day-market and a lovely beach).

The harbor of Kaohsiung (including Kaohsiung's tallest building: Tuntex Sky Tower) 

One of the aspects of Taiwanese economy that I find most interesting is the Taiwan lottery system.  In Taiwan there used to be a problem with businesses failing to report all of their sales on tax forms as a way to either save money or receive more money from the government (it was particularly easy for small businesses and street vendors to get away with this).  Taiwan changed this in one of the most original manners I could imagine, by implementing a lottery system in which each receipt printed is eligible to win.  Each time something is purchased in Taiwan you are given a receipt (which may sound normal for the states as well, but think back on how many times you have thrown away your receipt or asked for it not two be printed) and each receipt is printed with its own lottery numbers.  Once every two month a new set of winning lottery numbers are released and everyone searches through all of the receipts they have collected to see if their numbers match.  A winning ticket can be worth 200NT (about $7) to 10,000,000NT (about $341,000).  I currently have a bag full of various receipts from 7Eleven/Family Mart/tea stores/etc. waiting for the next lottery number announcement.