Everyone Is Home in Changhua Again

The family is reunited! After 3 weeks of covering classes for my fellow teachers-in-formation, everyone is back home in Changhua and my schedule will go back to normal.
The biggest school update of this past week is that I had my 7 month appraisal with my manager which determines if I will receive a raise and the possibility of renewing my contract for a second year.  I won't discuss my wages because it isn't the most polite of conversational topics, but I will say that the appraisal meeting went in my favor, and I received the maximum raise possible at this point in my contract.  I was told that my "happiness makes for not only happy parents, but also a happy manager" which goes to show how far a positive attitude can get you.  It was nice to hear some positive feedback from my manager because, overall, feedback is not very common in this job (positive or negative).  The positive feedback led to the announcement that, should I be interested in a second year I would be welcomed with open arms.  I would love to stay in Taiwan for a second year because I love [most of] my students, my friends, and Taiwan itself.  Not to mention, the second year pay raise will give me a chance at saving a reasonable amount of money before moving back to the US, and one year is not enough time to truly explore this island.  The only concern I have at the moment is the fact that I need to head back to the states for a contract break at the end of August, and my time-off request will overlap a co-teacher's time off request, but with the help of cover teachers I am hoping this will not pose too great of a problem (if, however, it is a problem, I will have some major life decisions to make in the near future).
The other school update is that I taught my first demo lesson, which is a class where parents observe the initial introduction of the teacher with their children.  There is a lot of pressure on a demo lesson because, if the parents don't approve, or the students don't enjoy themselves, it hurts not only the school but the teacher's hours as well (because if they don't recruit students there will be no one for the class).  My demo lesson was for a Kindergarten class consisting of adorable 3-6 year-olds.  I have no response yet on the success rate of my lesson, but I would predict it went well, and I can't wait to start teaching these kids on a regular basis.
It was a fun week of teaching, but I was so grateful for the weekend (as always).  On Saturday, after 7 months of living in Changhua, I finally visited the Great Buddha of Baguashan during the daylight (I have been to Buddha a few times at night however) which is about a 5 minute scooter trip from my apartment.  The Great Buddha is 86 feet tall, and its interior is hollowed out so people can enter.  The somewhat ironic thing is that, Buddha and his temple are always closed when am there because it is night time, but the day I go during the day they are closed (presumably for religious purposes).  I'm just not destined to enter this landmark.  Following our afternoon with Buddha we went to the Saturday night market, which is, size-wise, the most impressive night market in Changhua, then ended our night in the theaters watching Oz the Great and Powerful.

Relaxing with the Great Buddha of Changhua

Today was a long day on a short amount of sleep, but it was definitely worth it.  We went out to a city called Xitou which is located in the mountains of Nantou county which was roughly 1.5 hours by bus from Taichung.  The trip included tacky souvenir shopping, a nature walk through a beautiful forest, an unimpressive visit to a tree called the Giant Tree, and a good amount of childish fun on a playground.

Enjoying a playground in Xitou

It's time for another of the unwelcome goodbye posts.  This week my friend Joseph returned home to Canada.  I met Joseph many months ago, and while we interacted at the Filipino Disco, and group restaurant nights, I wouldn't say I really knew him until Chinese New Year when he joined me in my scooter trip around Taiwan.  We had a lot of fun during that trip, but if I had to pick one moment that I will always think of when I think of Joseph, it would be on the first day of the trip when we stopped at a red-light and I said "My favorite thing about driving alone on a scooter is being able to sing as loudly as I want, and knowing no one can hear me", and his response was "I was doing the same thing! I was just singing 'Popular' (from Wicked)".  Knowing me and my musicals, anyone who is randomly serenading themselves with Broadway musicals is destined to be my friend forever.

Goodbye Joseph.  I'll miss you!