Update (with pictures)

So I've finally had some time to update. It's been very busy the past week, just getting into the hang of things and figuring out what works and what doesn't. At first it was a little daunting because I have some pretty unruly kids and figuring out how to fill a whole class time took some work. But things seem to be getting into routine now which makes me pretty happy and comfortable.

Here's how a regular week goes for me now:
Up by 7:30, at school around 8ish. I head to class around 8:50 to get the kids and get their stuff put away. 4 classes in the morning and then lunch at 12 down in the basement where the kitchen is located. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have from 12:00-2:00 for lunch/lesson planning and whatever else. On Tuesdays from 1-2 there's a staff meeting and on Thursdays from 1:10 till about 1:30 there's a mini workshop where one of the teachers (foreign or chinese) demonstrates how they'd teach a certain subject or class. Then from 2:00-4:00 there's 3 classes and I'm finished for the day on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Just recently though, on Mondays from 6:40-8:40pm and Wednesdays from 5:00-6:00 I teach at Joy Language School. A sister school maybe, of Uncle Sam. Joy is just a cram school though, which means, it's school after school :P Kids go to their regular everyday school like ours and then afterwards come to Joy for extra classes. Some cram schools have classes in all subjects like Math, Chinese, Science. Joy I think is just specifically English. I taught at Joy on Monday and it was pretty nice. I had had a bad morning and horrible night sleep along with a tiny cold things were just adding up and then being with the little kids that don't want to listen...it was a pretty bad day for me and when I had first gotten to school in the morning that's when I found out I had to teach at Joy...no warning or notice or anything, so I was pretty upset. When it finally came time to teach though, it went really well and it was nice to have kids that actually listen to you :P it was actually fun. Most of those kids I taught on Monday were 10-11 years old and we got to play some games that were fun. I really like that M-F 8:00-4:00 I get to be with the little kids and then Monday and Wednesday evenings I get to be with an older group, it gives me some variety.

This coming Monday is PTA day for the little kids, so that's a bit nerve racking because in the morning the parents will be in the room watching me teach, so I don't know how the kids will act then, but I'm glad it's on Monday so I can get it over with. Then on Tuesday we get to go to the zoo!!! And you know what that means!! PICTURES!! It's my class (K1) and Patricks class (also K1) and the toddlers!!! I'm so excited because #1 - it's the zoo (be jealous Megan!) and #2 - I get to be with the little kids in a fun setting and #3 - I can bring my camera and get some cool pictures I hope. So be checking up end of next week.

And speaking of pictures I have a few. I took some pictures around the apartment.
The first one is my bedroom, well my bed and the window. I'm standing right in front of the door and to the right of the photo would be my closet.
Picture number two is the kitchen. I'm sitting on the couch in the living room, and you can see the fridge and the little counter area that divides the living room and kitchen. Small area but it works. If you look and see the doorway there that leads to the little "room" that has the washing machine and where we hang our clothes to dry, which if you have a very good eye, you can see Gretchens socks hanging there :P
Next picture is part of the living room. I'm sitting on the couch still (very lazy sorry) and to the left of the fan is the entrance to Gretchens room, the doorway behind the fan is my room and the door on the other side of the bookshelf is to the bathroom. We're watching The Green Mile on Gretchens laptop :P

I took a picture of the outside of the buildings but it was on my phone so I don't have one to post yet..maybe this weekend I'll get more motivation to take more pictures :D

Sunday I hung out with my friend Vickie in Danshui, which is on the northern part of Taipei. We went there because supposedly a lot of foriegners like to go there. It's pretty cool, a couple of streets with tons of shops and a lot of the shops have trinkets and things and some stores have aborigione themes, which will makes good gifts at Christmas time, so I plan on going back. It's located right next to a river, I'm not sure if the river is also called Danshui or not, but I took a picture. They do a lot of fishing here and people take boats to get across to the other side. Don't ask me the name of the mountain, Vickie told me but I forgot. It had been raining earlier in the day so it was very cloudy, but it was still nice.

This is Vickie, she was a classmate of mine last time I was here in Taiwan. I was so excited to see her and she was excited to see me, to the point where she didn't finish her homework (don't worry I yelled at her for that lol). We meet up at 3:00, got to Danshui around 4:00 and didn't leave till about 7:00. We ate a ton of food, or at least I did because she kept buying stuff for me to eat. Danshui, literally translated means "fish ball" which is a food they're famous for, the food Vickey has in the picture. She explained it as fish and other stuff all mixed together and made into a ball. The ones we ate here are fried and put on a stick, but later we went to a more sit down eating place and had a soup that had the same thing in them only not fried. It's pretty good, doesn't really taste that fishy.

Anyways, I'm having a good time. Work is work, but also a lot of fun. At least more fun then if I'd be working in an office pushing papers or writing computer code :P On the weekends I'm really lazy with occasionally spurts of motivation to go out and do stuff. This weekend I think will be pretty lazy since I'm still feeling a little sick and Gretchen's sick too. But on Sunday I think I'm having lunch with Angela and her family, which will be a lot of fun.

More later!!

Marisa