Tomb Sweeping Weekend

Can I just start by saying, I am absolutely exhausted, vacations are fun, but they often lack the element of relaxation which is planned into them.  This week was a short work week, followed by a 4-day weekend due to Tomb Sweeping Day and Children's Day.  Tomb Sweeping Day is, exactly as it sounds, a day in which people go to sweep out their family tombs.  During the celebration families will gather outside to worship their ancestors with food and money offerings, and clean, though, with the increased popularity of cremation it appears the prominence of cleaning has lessened with younger generations.

For the holiday several friends and I made the ambitious plan to visit the mountains and the beaches.  Thursday morning we caught a train to Chiayi, a relatively small city (which takes 30-minutes to walk across) in south-western Taiwan known for wind music (though we didn't see anything musical while we were there).  There is honestly not much to be seen in the city, but regardless, we spent an enjoyable day sightseeing and geocaching.  My favorite place in Chiayi was the sun-shooting temple which is a 62 meter high round tower which represents the aboriginal myth of the moon's creation.  Many years ago there were two suns in our sky, one much bigger than the one which lights our sky today.  The suns rotated around the earth at all hours of the day, and therefore was never in darkness.  The plants dried out, and food was scarce, and the people decided that one sun must be killed in order for the people to continue living, so three men set out on a journey to the sun, and each man brought with him a baby boy and a bag of seeds.  The seeds were to plant trees along the way to provide food for the journey back, and the babies were because it was destined to be a long journey which the men would not complete in their lifespan.  As predicted, the men died of old age along the journey, but by this time the babies had grown into young men, and came to the cave of the sun (the bigger of the two suns), and they shot it.  The sun began to bleed and its molten blood killed one of the men, but the other two survived and journeyed back to their village.  Both suns can still be seen today, but so much size and light has left the attacked sun that it is now no more than a faint light in the night sky which we now refer to as the moon.  After assuring the sun had been properly taken care of we continued on with our journeying by walking around the Lantan Reservoir, grabbing dinner at a Szechuan restaurant (where we started the longest running meme of the trip, which involved repeatedly informing each other about the location of the Kung Pao Squid), and finishing the night with a youthful trip to the arcade where I showed off my lack of video game prowess.  

The group at the Sun-Shooting Tower

I have mixed feelings about the next three days of the trip, because overall I have a positive recollection of most of the things that happened, but experiencing them wasn't as much fun as it could have been.  Friday morning we took a bus trip to the top of Alishan (Ali Mountain) for a nature walk in the pouring rain.  Ali Mountain is best known as a location to watch the sunrise, but our timing didn't allow us to be there, so I will need to return to the mountain top on another weekend.  We slid around like fools in our rain ponchos and booties on a steam train, walked through the woods (and got lost temporarily), and froze in our soaked clothes for the rest of the trip back to Chiayi.  The start of the rain on Friday was the start of a cold, soggy weekend.  That night we caught a local (slow) train to Kaohsiung which is about two hours south of Chiayi so we could catch a bus to the southern tip of the island (Kenting).  Unfortunately for us, a lying taxi driver told us we had missed the last bus south and we would have to take a group shuttle to get there (which was, in all fairness, our alternative plan and was estimated to be the same price).  After two hours of stop-and-go price negotiations between us and the driver (that includes the time we took to go get dinner, and the time he made us wait until the final train had arrived and left so he could attempt to gain more passengers) we got into the shuttle and began our two-hour drive to Kenting.  Kenting is best known for its beaches, and due to the music festival being hosted this weekend, it is the Taiwanese equivalent of a Spring Break location (loud music, alcohol, counting swimsuits as entire outfits, the works.  Unfortunately, after having spent a day soaked on a mountain, and ruffled on trains and shuttles, walking through a Spring Break crowd carrying all of our luggage was less than ideal.  Eventually we settled down in a campground near Baishawan (which is a white sand beach featured in the movie Life of Pi near the end of the movie).  We put our tents up literally minutes before it began raining, soon we found ourselves sitting in our tents, waiting out the heavy rain.  The rain protection on my tent began to slip, and soon tent started taking in water, so I decided to go out (half-dressed, in a combination of tank top and swimsuit bottoms) to re-peg the tent, which inspired my tent mate to join me in the rain and to run to the campsite bar, where, low-and-behold, we discovered the majority of our group had already gone to wait-out the storm.  So there we sat, almost until sunrise, (me in a state of relative undress, which was the most comical aspect of the day), until the rain finally slowed and I was able to dry out the tent a bit and finally sleep.  Looking back on it, I would say we overbooked this day in our schedules, that was a crazy (and long) day.

Saturday was meant to be a day of relaxation.  We all slept in then spent the day swimming (and getting tossed around by) the beach.  I love a good day on the beach, but I'd say the sea did not love our company this day.  She (being the waves) stole several important (and not-recovered) items from us which, affected the overall mood of the group.  One thing that I learned about Taiwanese culture during this is that the Taiwanese people believe when you undergo a material loss, it allows you to not undergo an accident (so at least our group should be healthy for a while). 

Lastly, we come to Sunday, the travel day.  We spent about 9 hours in transit today, which has left me uninterested in sitting in a train again anytime soon.  The first two hours of travel were spent in a 16-person karaoke shuttle bus which was half-filled with Taiwanese girls.  The girls, after realizing the karaoke selection did not include English songs, silenced the TV, played all of the English songs on their smart phones and passed us the microphones to serenade them.  It was the most unique travel experience I've ever had.  Then, after a subway journey, two entertaining local train journeys, and 7 hours of sitting, we finally arrived back in Changhua, were I sat down at the computer, and proceeded to spill my memories of the weekend (but I suppose you already knew that part of my day).

The end of the first leg of our journey, with our karaoke buddies

I love adventures, I love holidays, I love my friends, and I love Taiwan, but right now I love my bed and the inside of my eyelids.  Goodnight!

Happy Easter

Overall, I would say this is the least traditional Easter I have ever had.  That is what happens when you live in a primarily non-Christian country.  It may not have been a sunrise church service, or a day with the family, but for the first time in I couldn't tell you how many years, I did eat a chocolate egg to celebrate the holiday (because apparently I like chocolate now, which makes no sense to me).

Happy Easter from the crew at the Filipino disco

Without a doubt, the most memorable moment of this week was on Wednesday morning when Taiwan underwent the biggest earthquake it has experienced since my arrival.  I have been around for several little quakes, and I know this one wasn't too big because I have seen the consequences of the high-scale quakes, but this one was measured at 6.1 with an epicenter in Nantou county (which is next to Changhua County).  I was in my Chinese lesson (which takes place outside at a coffee house) at the time of the earthquake, and it was unnerving to see how much the buildings can sway.  Thankfully there were not many major damages caused, though some collapsed ceilings and cracks were reported.  My apartment was unaffected.
My work week was relatively uneventful, so let's skip to the weekend.  Saturday was spent on the scooter, exploring the wonders of Taichung's geocaching scene.  It appears I have gotten yet another group of people hooked on my hobby, and we wandered all over Taichung trying to find these treasures (though we only managed to find 3).  Sunday was also spent in Taichung, but this time it was at the Filipino disco instead of on the road.  I believe I've mentioned the Filipino disco before, but can I just comment again on how much fun it is.  Usually when you picture dancing, there is the mental image of late nights and lots of alcohol, but the Filipino disco is open from 2pm-7pm on Sundays, so the aforementioned atmosphere doesn't fit as well, which is ideal for me.

We found the cache in Dali!

Exciting update about last week's post, my time-off request for late-August/early-September has been approved which means that I will be able to make a short trip home at that time.  I love Taiwan, but I really look forward to seeing everyone back home as well!
My extra thoughts this week are based on a song that we learned in my Chinese class on Friday.  First of all, I really think songs are a brilliant way to teach, and I say this because they are one of the easiest ways for me to learn (I acknowledge that learning styles are not universal, so it will not work for everyone, but for those who have a memory for lyrics, just recalling the tune brings sentences to your tongue).  This week we learned a song which is cholk-full of useful phrases for anyone who is not fluent in Chinese.  The song is somewhat of a joke song, because it follows a group of friends who don't have much knowledge of the language.  Curious about the words? here you go (enjoy your new found Chinese knowledge, I can't seem to get it out of my head):

Duibuqi, wode Zhongwen bu hao - I'm sorry, my Chinese is not good.
Duibuqi, duibuqi, wo bu zhidao ni shuo shenme - I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what you are saying.
Duibuqi, wode Zhongwen bu hao - I'm sorry, my Chinese is not good.
Duibuqi, duibuqi, wo zhi xiang gen ni dang pengyou - I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I only want to be your friend.

Hello, ni hao ma? Nide Yingwen hao haoting - Hello, how are you? Your English is very good sounding.
Ni shi Meiguoren ma? Bing bushi Meiguoren - Are you American? I'm definitely not American.
Wo shi yiwei Yinguo shenshi - I am an English gentleman.

Ruguo ni zhuanxin ting, ni hui liaojie wo - If you pay attention you can understand me.

Huanying guanglin, limian zuo - Welcome, come inside.
Xiansheng, ni yao chi shenme? - Mr., what do you want to eat?
Wo yao shuijiao.  Ni hen lei shi bushi - I want to sleep.  Are you very tired?
Wo bulei.  Wo duzi hen e - I'm not tired.  My stomach is hungry.
Wo xiang yao chi shuijiao.  Qing ni kuaidian zuo - I would like to eat dumplings.  Give them to me quickly.

Meguanxi.  Wode Zhongwen jinbu le - It's alright.  My Chinese has improved.
Meguanxi, meguanxi.  Wo hai yao gen ni dang pengyou - It's alright I still want to be your friend.

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!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

7 months?! I've been here for 7 month already? I feel like I just got here, but today it was pointed out to me that I am one of the 'veterans' of the group.  I've been here longer than most of the people I spent the weekend with, and that was a weird realization.
No surprise, but the holidays of the week: St. Patty's Day and the ever-so-important Pi Day were barely acknowledged in Taiwan (the latter was not even acknowledged by me, which I am ashamed about!).  Sometimes it can be a little weird living in a different culture's set of holidays.
This week seemed incredibly hectic, which I assume is because I taught more cover classes than my own classes.  Being the cover teacher for someone else's can be much more stressful than teaching your regular classes, first-and-foremost because it involves walking into the unexpected.  On any given day, when I plan my lessons I know who my students are, what they will respond well to, what they already know, etc..  For a cover lesson I don't have that comfort, however, when I cover a class there is a greater chance that everything I do will be viewed as new, fun, and exciting to the students.  This week the classes I covered went really well because of that!
Nothing new happened this weekend, you've read all these adventures before.  The thing that was fun and new was the fact that I got to bring other people around for their first times.  On Saturday I brought some of the guys geocaching in Taichung, which began at the previously photographed military tank cache.  We attempted two other geocaches during our adventure, but were unsuccessful in both.  It is really unfortunate, but it appears that geocaching has not been highly popular in a few years (at least in my area) so a lot of the caches have gone missing and no one has been watching them to notice.  It was still a fun excuse to scoot around Taichung though (and an even better excuse to get dinner at Bollywood, and I will never say no to Indian food).

'Secret Military Reserves' cache in Taichung

Today the weather was perfect so we all got out our bicycles and wandered Changhua that way.  We had a lovely afternoon of bowling and arcade games, and finished up with burgers for dinner.  If it weren't for the surroundings, I would swear that nothing about today was Taiwanese at all.  

My thought of the week is going to sound very random, but it is inspired by the fact that I had my first real salad in Taiwan this evening.  Don't get me wrong, I'd say I've had more fruits and vegetables than ever here, but salads don't appear to be as common, presumably because they don't involve cooking.  Anyway, what I find interesting about salads here is the fact that I can get 1000 Island Dressing everywhere in Taiwan.  There are probably 4 different salad dressings that I have seen here and 1000 Island is one of them, yet back in the states, it is slowly being weeded out of restaurants for not being as popular.  It was one of the things I originally predicted I would miss when I moved here (which is why I was sent a bottle of it for Christmas), but it is definitely not in short supply.  In general there are a lot of things that we expect won't be here when we plan to move, which is silly on our parts because this is a fully developed country.  Why shouldn't there be the same types of stores here? The same things to buy? With that being said, the fact that there is KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino's, etc. never ceases to surprise me (but I completely expected to see McDonald's), because these are things that I did not imagine would be as appreciated in Asia as they are in the states (and all western countries).

Song Lyrics are Funny

I've heard many people complaining about having lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings, but, as I've mentioned before, we don't adjust our clocks for daylight savings time here.  I am, however, joining you in losing that hour of sleep, it is just a personal choice, not a country-wide choice.  I had forgotten how bad my procrastination tendencies can be, but tonight has been a good reminder, since I have sat here all night avoiding my "homework" as well as my blog.  What's this? Homework? Yes, even though I am a teacher, I am still given assignments.  This current assignment was to write a children's story at the level of one of my classes, to help model creative writing for the students.  The problem with this, in my mind, is that modeling writing for foreign language students almost always limits their creativity (since they take the sample's grammar, and word order, and replace a minimal number of words in it until it can pass as "their own").  I'm a little confused about the purpose this story I have written, because I have already done my writing workshop with all of my classes (and some of my students have produced some amazing stories without having had anything to), but it feels great to be done with that assignment.
This week was hectic at work, partially because one of my co-workers was on vacation and there were lots of schedule changes and substitute teachers to cover his classes, partially because there were lots of side assignments, but mainly because I had my second observation with Shane Head Office.  On Tuesday I was observed teaching my CE01 class, and it went really well.  I was told by my observer that I am a thorough planner (which is interesting since in most things I am very spontaneous), very knowledgeable about what is happening and what could have happened, engaging,  and all-around a good teacher!  It's always nice to get positive feedback.
This weekend was wonderful, but in words it will just sound like a normal 48 hours.  On Saturday a few of us teachers went on a 4-5-hour "hike".  It wasn't the traditional type of hike that involves lot of trails and nature, though it was intended to be like that (though it did involve a mountain, so that is a start).  After walking up the road into the mountain we never managed to leave the road, and before we knew it we had walked the expressway straight into the neighboring city.

Off on a hike with Buddha

After our hike it was time for some food, so we caught a train and went to the Feng Chia night market in Taichung.  This night market was unique compared to the other night markets I have been to because instead of being off-the-beaten-path in a field or parking lot, this night market took over a daytime shopping district.  Behind all of the street vendors were stores to visit as well.

The Feng Chia night market in Taichung

Today was also low-key.  We spend all day singing karaoke at the Holiday KTV.  We must have gone at the right time because we were given the VIP suite, which was a lot of fun because the room was huge.  The exciting realization of the day at KTV was that in the song selection is "The Phantom of the Opera", so I was a happy camper.

Thought of the night: song lyrics are funny.  This week I was sitting in my room when outside my room I heard the David Guetta rap song "Sexy Bitch" slowly approaching.  The accompanying fireworks quickly signaled my attention to the fact that there was a parade out my window, and sure enough I looked down to see cars, percussion, dancers, and dragon costumes, and I thought to myself "Why is this religious parade marching to 'Sexy Bitch'".  The assumed answer is that whoever selected the song did not actually know its meaning, they only knew that they liked the beat.  It made me start to worry about the meaning of all the Chinese songs I have come to like here.

228 and Lantern Festival

Oh, the puns I could use to describe this week...I would say I had some truly illuminating moments, there were definitely some bright spots in my week, some moments where I felt enlightened by the culture of Taiwan, and felt that I was beginning to shine.  Ok, alright, I'm done with the bad puns, they only existed to set the scene for lantern festival which began this week.  Lantern Festival occurs on the 15th day of the lunar new year, and marks the end of Chinese New Year (which is a 2-week long holiday).  I think the typical mental image painted when someone says 'Lantern Festival' is of thousands of sky lanterns being released, and while this is a part of the holiday, it is not the main spectacle.  In Taiwan the main release of sky lanterns occurs in the Pingxi district of Taipei on the 24th of February, and, since I had not realized this detail sooner, I missed it!  However, instead of releasing lanterns, many cities throughout the country host a lantern art festival, and this year the main event was hosted in Hsinchu (just under a 1.5 train ride north of Changhua), and I did make it out to see that.  Hundreds, probably thousands of large lanterns have been created to display various animals, people, places, etc..  The most common themes in the lanterns were zodiac signs (particularly snakes to represent the new year), Taiwanese/Chinese culture (including calligraphy, religion, and pop culture), and animals.

The 'centerpiece' of the lantern festival this year is a multicolored, rotating snake to represent the new year.

As well as visiting the Lantern Festival in Hsinchu, most of our daytime hours were spent sightseeing, particularly at the glass art (aka gl'art).  The museum showed the history of glass-making, and displayed glass designs (like dinnerware, vases, and sculptures) from around the world.

Being sill at the old gate of Hsinchu.

Among the other Taiwanese festivals which occur around this time of year is the Yanshui Fireworks Festival in Tainan.  If you aren't in the mood to release sky lanterns, or view art lanterns, you have the option of heading south to Tainan to get stung by fireworks in the hive of bees.  The hive of bees is considered to be one of the most dangerous festivals in the world, and consists of shooting bottle rockets into crowds of people who are not only willing to get hit by the fireworks, but are often trying to get hit because it is considered to bring good luck during the new year.  Before you judge me for partaking in such a reckless activity, you should know I didn't make it to this festival either, but I really wish I had, so hopefully you will have some awesome reactions for me next year!

I really enjoy working, but I have to say that having short weeks of teaching is the best! This week was one of those short weeks because February 28th in Taiwan is a national day-off in memory of the 228 Incident.  The 228 Incident began as an uprising against the government which was countered by killing thousands of Taiwanese citizens, and eventually led to the Taiwan independence movement.  While my day didn't involve much commemoration of Taiwan's history, it did involve friends and monkeys.  I went on a mini scooter-adventure to monkey mountain in Ershui which is about a hour away from Changhua.  It is always nice to get out of the cities in Taiwan, I loved the fresh air and all the monkeys (though I still really don't love climbing the staircases to get up the mountain).

A couple of monkeys.

Wish me luck for the next couple of weeks! I have a busy week of covering hours for my co-teachers, being observed by head-office, and my 7-month appraisal!

Kind of a Boring Week

Oh dear, I worry that nothing will be able to live up to last week, there were so many stories, and pictures, and adventures, and now I am back to my normal life again (well, as normal as my life in Taiwan can be).
I'd be lying if I said this was a particularly fun week.  I'm pretty sure all I did was work, but I suppose that is the result of having had a 6-day work week.  In Taiwan it is fairly common that, when a holiday day-off is granted that it is made-up during a weekend, and this weekend is when we made up our Chinese New Year vacation.  I've had jobs where I've worked 7 days in a week before, but something about teaching 6 days is so much more exhausting.
I'm searching my memory, trying to think of something amazing to tell you this week, but  I'm drawing a blank, unless you care about the fact that I filed my Taiwanese taxes, but since that is as exciting as American taxes, I can't imagine you do (though, the mile-marker-moment of the week was that I wrote in Chinese (a little bit) on an official government form).
This weekend was very short...Last night the gang and I went out for a joint birthday party at a gay bar in Taichung.  For all the times you guys have probably heard me sing, I think last night was the first time I sang karaoke on a stage, so that was fun.  Then today, after an uneventful day of lounging and cleaning, we went out for massages (it is not going to be a fun transition back to reality when I have to remember that massages are not reasonably priced in the states).
I don't even have an interesting fact of the week, I think I'm really slipping here.  My fact of the week is just a silly observation which most people know holds is one of my hobbies: fishing.  I currently live on an island, which means there is access to water everywhere, so why have I discovered indoor "fishing ponds".  There are areas mid-city here in Taiwan where you can walk into a warehouse-style building with a swimming pool, instead of spending all day on a boat or pier, and kick back with your fishing pole.  A customer will pay by the hour to catch as many shrimp as they can, and then they can grill their catches in the in-site grills (which most of these pools have).  I understand that this may be cheap, and safe, but it still does baffle me in a location where the ocean and sea are so close (regardless, it is something I hope I get to try while I am in Taiwan, mainly since I've never caught a shrimp before).