Ok, maybe I am crazy..

Let's go through a week in the life of Marisa...well Monday through Friday mainly:

I try to wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 and leave for school between 7:00 and 7:30. I don't really have to be to school until 8:30, but I like getting there early, I'm more productive and I enjoy having the office to myself for awhile.

I always teach Monday-Friday 9:00am - 12:00pm
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I teach 2:00pm-4:00pm and 4:40-6:10pm
Tuesdays I have my afternoons off starting at 2:oopm
Everyday I have 12:00-2:00pm as a break and planning period, but there's usually meetings going on during that time too.

So this doesn't seem to bad, a full schedule, but doable. Is this enough for Marisa? No.
I also teach hours at Joy, our sister school, downtown.
Tuesday - 6:40-8:40
Thursday - 7:40-8:40
Friday - 7:40-8:40 (this is a newly added class)
Tuesday's is ok since I have the whole afternoon off anyways.
Thursdays and Fridays I chose teaching the later time so I actually have time to get from Uncle Sam to Joy. So even though there's a break from when I finish at Uncle Sam at 6:10 to when I teach at Joy at 7:40, there's taking the bus, eating dinner, and planning the class.

So a normal work week for me is
29 teaching hours at Uncle Sam
4 teaching hours at Joy
21 prep/commuting hours at Uncle Sam and Joy

On top of that I have my online class for my Master's at Wayne State, and I have a test coming up so I should be studying :P and I'm trying to fit in some more Chinese learning on the weekends! So if my posts are infrequent which I know they are, it's because by the time I get to the weekend to actually have time to write stuff -- I'm too damn tired!! hehe. Guess I'm officially a workaholic...am I crazy?? I hope not!

Memories

Newspaper clippings related to Taiwan and/or Middle America

62

Letters, notes, or cards

44

(plus some that probably got thrown out on accident)

Staying connected to what's going on back home, especially with my family

Priceless

Every week my grandmother writes me a letter and includes any clippings she finds when she reads the paper. I look forward to her letters every week, it's probably the only reason I check my mailbox (except for bills, but that's not fun!). I love getting mail, and I think she knows that. Despite the fact that I'm horrible at responding, she continues to write me. She did this 5 years ago too, the first time I lived in Taiwan, and I knew she'd do it again when I decided to return to Taiwan to teach. I can't seem to throw them away, they live in a box with other cards I've recieved, ticket stubs and random memories I've collected in Taiwan so far. And this box will continue to grow over the next 12 months. Life would be no fun without memories and without grandmothers who send weekly letters to Taiwan with the Nebraska weather report! Priceless!

(5 minutes after this was posted I found 2 more letters and 3 more clippings :)

Resolution...

Things haven't been the best recently. Not bad necessarily, just a lot of work and not much fun. It's getting to the point where I'm almost tempted to come home instead of try and tough it out. Today though, I decided that before I make any drastic moves, I'm going to attempt to visit one new place every weekend. Just some simple Saturday or Sunday day trip, most likely somewhere in Taipei city. I keep saying that I've seen all the tourist places, but I know there's plenty more I haven't seen yet. And I think getting out of the house (and out of Sanxia) will give me more energy during the week.

Today I went to a BBQ with some Uncle Sam teachers, at a co-workers house in the mountains. After lots (and lots) of food, we played with water balloons (pictures soon hopefully), and then went to another house and sang some Karaoke. It was a lot of fun and has me motivated to go out more. I get to Friday and the end of my week I'm just so tired I don't want to leave my comfy bed again until Monday morning. So I'm attempting to change that, and we'll see if that helps how I'm feeling during the rest of the week. Plus it'll give me interesting stuff to post every week (and I will attempt to post every week!)

Dance Time

I teach extra hours at Joy Language School, and I usually get there at least an hour early so I can plan my lesson. Most of the time there's other kids there doing some private study or working on homework and things for class. Two of my students where there one day and when they're there I don't get any work done! So I pulled out my camera and we had some fun!

My new class

I've been asked to teach some older classes.  G level classes they're called.  It's Elementary kids that usually go to a Chinese elementary school then come to Uncle Sam afterwards for English classes.  I originally started with one class from 4:30-6:00 (which is considered overtime :D) and for the first 3 weeks there were only 3 students.  Now that the new semester has started it's up to 16 students, most of which are brand new to English classes.  I have some pictures of the 3 boys I had in the beginning, and I'm hoping to get some more pictures next week at the birthday party of the rest of the class.  It's a loud, rowdy class, but it's fun that way!

My boys - Peter, Leo and Hubert

Leo - the wildest one

Hubert - the smartest of the three but he gets silly sometimes

Peter - he's the newest, but most determined

My new home!

I decided I wanted to live by myself this year, so around August 15th I moved to my new apartment :D

Living room, with a very small couch.

Looking from my front door - kitchen on the left, bedrooms on the right

Little bar/sitting area looking between the kitchen and bedrooms

Spare bedroom - everyone's invited for a visit!

Closet space in my bedroom - there's so much room!

Kitchen with door to laundry room

Huge shoe closet!

Bathroom with plenty of counter space just for me

Say Cheese

We have a new class of babies at Uncle Sam, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take some pictures.  Enjoy the cuteness!!

Home Sweet Home

Sorry I've been on vacation for about a month it seems.  I went back to the states from July 22-Aug 2 and had a great time.  Now I'm back in the swing of things at work.  Signed a new contract with the same school.  They asked me to stay and I liked that idea more than going to a brand new school and starting all over.  So one more year at Uncle Sam.  I have had some moments of homesickness because I miss the people I got to spend 10 days with, but I also love my kids, so it gets tough.

I drove a car (and rode in many) for the first time in a year!

Sisters!

Lots of shots!

Lots of karaoke - something that is hugely popular in Taiwan.

 

I love my sister!

I was cold in Nebraska in July!

The best bro-in-law

Sisters and best friends!

Played a whole lot of Guitar Hero

My brother.

Best friend ever!!

Fun times!