Toilets, Concerts, Buddhas & Miracles

It's been a busy week. A busy, fun week.

On Thursday, after classes, Erin and I took the HSR to Taipei to see Linkin Park, Hoobastank, and All American Rejects in concert. Even though the typhoon had passed, it was still somewhat rainy. Because we taught our classes until 4pm, and the concert started at 6pm -- with the travel time including two taxis, and the High Speed Rail -- we got there at 6:20pm...just making the end of the set for All American Rejects. But it was ok, since I wasn't that familiar with their music (I stopped listening to music in the 90s...). :P

Hoobastank was awesome. Linkin Park was amazing; I absolutely loved them. The energy from the crowd was palpable. They donated most of the money from their ticket sales to help the victims of the typhoon here. It was a great concert in all.Notice everyone is wearing ponchos...if it wasn't for the acid rain, I probably wouldn't care that it was a little wet.

On Friday, my friend Nathaniel and Michelle made it to Feng Yuan. Nathaniel and Michelle had been backpacking around the Philippines for a week, then they came out to Taiwan where they will spend a total of three weeks, then back to the Philippines for a few more days.

I would love to be able do that. But right now, I'm happy where I'm at. It was good to see Nathaniel again. I hadn't seen him in almost three years.
On Saturday, I took Nathaniel and Michelle to the pink temple and we attempted to find the 5 God Tree...we only made it to the temple. We decided to lock up our bikes and walk up the temple, which is pretty large. I'm always amazed at the view from up there...the temple is nestled into the hillside, which is overlooking the city. It's beautiful.

We went down, and when we got to our bikes, we realized I gave Michelle the wrong key to the bike lock...so Nathaniel took the locked bike on the back of his bike, and I took Michelle on the back of my bike. lol. My legs got quite a workout.

Then we, and Sarah, Lindsay, Wendy, Sunny (fellow teachers), Joanne, and Angus (Joanne's brother), decided to go to Lukang, the historical harbor town. I love how quaint it is, and I never get tired of walking down the old brick streets, stopping to read the plaques.

Sunny, Nathaniel, and Joanne looking at a street seller's goods.

After Lukang, we stopped in Taichung to eat at Modern Toilet. Ah, it never fails to make me laugh. Cute little poo everywhere.

Michelle and her toilet!

Sarah, washing her hands in the "sink." The chairs to the tables were made out of toilets too.

On Sunday after church, we went farther south to Chuanghua to see the large Buddha. I realize I travel very strangely. I usually have a vague idea where I’m going, then just figure out things as I go along. Most of the time, this process gets me lost. This time it worked out for me, as there were many maps at every major intersection.

The Buddha was pretty cool, not as large as the one in Hong Kong, but still pretty impressive. You could see him from a far distance, above the city, partially hidden in the mountainous trees.

Early Monday morning, at 7am, before classes, Wendy, Michelle, Nathaniel and I decided to try to find that elusive 5 God Tree again. The beginning of the journey was fine. I had previously asked Molly how to get there…but I think I misinterpreted the directions. We got a little lost, and it turned out to be just a really nice bike ride in the mountains. Then we decided to stop, and go along a path that was only about four feet wide, with brush on one side, and a drop-off on the other.

Leading the way, I decided (now in hindsight, stupidly), to try to bike up a particularly steep portion, when I realized I probably couldn’t make it, I second guessed myself, then tried to reach the ground by taking my feet off the petals, then not being able to because of my short, stubby legs….I could feel myself falling toward the edge. I knew if I tried to regain my balance, I would probably keep stumbling and fall off the edge. So I decided to aim for the ground instead.

My last thought was, “This is probably going to hurt.”

Luckily, it didn’t. I just got a few scratches. My bike somehow landed upside-down, and teetered on the very edge. Everything from my bike basket ended up on the ground near the river 10 feet below, but Nathaniel was able to retrieve them.

I honestly feel like it was a miracle I didn’t go over the edge. We went back to our bikes, and AGAIN realized we had the wrong keys to the wrong bike lock…so this time, Nathaniel carried Wendy on the back of his bike, and again, I took Michelle on the back of my bike. I believe someone wise once said that Experience is recognizing the same mistake you made before, as you are doing it again...lol. I think it fit this situation. My legs will be pure muscle by the time their vacation is over.

Later, we used a scooter to go back into the mountains and, with the correct key (again, I’m really sorry Shannon for taking your bike and making you worry!) made it down safely. I made it in time to shower and get ready for my classes that day, too.

Tae Kwon Do class has been extremely fun lately. I was supposed to take a test today, but I wasn’t able to make it, since on Tuesdays I teach a writing class from 7pm to 9pm. But I feel that it was a good thing, since I don’t feel confident on my new material yet. I learned two new forms in the last week.

This week is also my last week for Summer Chinese classes. Fall semester starts in September, so I’ll get at least a week break. This Saturday, I’m heading over to Hualien where I’ll meet up with Nathaniel and Michelle as they continue their adventures in Taiwan. It will be nice to have a four-day break from classes. Hopefully, I’ll meet up with one of my old Writing Class student who is going to school now in Hualien. It should be a good week.

Last Sunday, with the typhoon winds still howling, I went to make dumplings with Joanne and her family. Her younger brother Angus was there, her dad, and her grandma. Her grandma speaks mainly Taiwanese, a little Chinese, and very little English. I speak no Taiwanese, barely any Chinese, and only English...it was so much fun to be able to be a part of it.

Her house reminded me a little of our house in Kahului. It was very cozy, and even though the wind was howling and the rain was pouring outside, inside it felt very calm. We made a lot of dumplings, and ate a lot of dumplings. I felt bad, since I'm not a perfectionist, and there is a specific way to make the dumplings...well, at least fold it. My dumplings were the ugly ones.

I've decided I need to cook more. Every Sunday, I am going to try to make something...in bulk, so during the week, I can just pull it out of the freezer, warm it up or cook it, and eat it. Yesterday, it was so nice to be able to just pull out the dumplings and boil them and eat them with some edemame and tofu.

Tonight, Erin and I had Tuna Tofu Miso burgers...and they were delicious. I definitely want to try out new recipies...but during the week, it's just so hard to find time between classes, teaching and other things I try to fit into the day.

Typhoon Morakot

**www.etaiwannews.com

In Thai, Morakot means "emerald."

It was the first Typhoon this season to make landfall on Taiwan.

It reached a Category 3 before smashing into the Eastern side of Taiwan.

It has created the biggest flooding in 50 years.

Southern Taiwan got 80 inches of rain on Friday and Saturday.

It has caused an estimated NT$800 million in agricultural damages (25 Million USD).

Several people are missing, mainly from rural villages.

1 million people in China have been evacuated from the coastlines.We thought it would be a mild typhoon, mild winds. But it wasn't the wind that caused the most damage, it was the rain. Mudslides, flooding. Still today, even as the typhoon has passed, it is raining and windy -- almost with more strength than when it was "technically" a typhoon. It's now considered a Tropical Storm because the winds aren't strong enough. But it hasn't stopped raining. And church was canceled today.

Somehow, saying, "Be careful what you wish for," sounds trite. We needed the rain to fill our reservoirs. There were concerns about water rationing in some areas. We just didn't need all the rain to come at once.

Prayer, Answered

Yep. Typhoon Days don't come much better than when they fall on Fridays. For some odd reason, Typhoon Days always seem to fall on Fridays, creating those much-desired 3-day weekends...we must've done something right in a past life to get this. ^_^

When Sue, one of the secretaries, came up stairs to deliver us the news that we wouldn't have school tomorrow, I nearly hugged her. Unexpected and overwhelming joy in finding we didn't have to teach tomorrow led us roommates to dance giddily around our room like schoolgirls.

Being able to spend the day playing my guitar, drawing, reading a good book and catching up on homework, sounds absolutely fantastic right now. Tomorrow is going to be a good day. ^_^ From what I've been hearing, the storm has been recently downgraded to only a Category 2 tomorrow, so hopefully there'll be minimal damage.

Apparently Taiwan is somewhat in a near-drought state, so this rain will be very good for it.

Father's Day in Taiwan is happening this weekend, August 8th. The number 8 in Chinese is Ba (first tone), and the Chinese word for Father is Ba Ba (first tones), so the date 8/8 is like saying Ba Ba. I think it's a cute way to say Father's Day. ^_^ Hopefully all the families will just stay in and enjoy the long weekend together.

Prayer to the Typhoon Gods

We haven't had any typhoons cancel school yet this semester. This same time last year, we already had two days canceled. We've had a few typhoons pass over the island, just none that were big enough to cancel school. My kids tell me it's terrible to wish for a typhoon to hit Taiwan. Typhoons do cause a fair amount of damage due to flooding. But, it's hard to get over the initial excitement of the possibility of having a day of school canceled, just like having a snow day.

Right now, it's pouring. The typhoon, even though it won't hit hard until Friday, will be a small one (or so tells our students).

This morning, though, was beautiful. Clear blue skies.

Wendy (a new teacher) and I went biking before classes. I took her to the temple in the mountains, past the water wheel, down the bike path. I had forgotten how much I love that area of town.


Instead of the concrete-city-like atmosphere, it's much more rural. Biking in that area always reminded me of the tiny roads in Alaska. Unlike in the States, most kids here never get to experience having front lawns or backyards to play in. They do sometimes have a roof top where they put swings, or a sidewalk area to play in (which is usually blocked by scooters and cars). One of my old students, Jennica (about 4/5 years old) lives right next to Berhan, and I often see her just sitting on a chair on the concrete sidewalk, right next to the road, watching scooters and cars pass (with her incomparable happy smile on her face, just tickled to be watching people). It's definitely interesting.
Rice Fields, right off the bike path.
Incense burner at the top of the temple.

But, out in the more rural areas, where the farmers make their living off wide-open spaces utilized for farming, it's a lot more peaceful. More open. More air to breathe.

When Molly and I were training for the marathon, we tried for find as many places to run as we could around the city. This meant we basically just ran around roads for hours, just to fill up our time and be less bored than running on the bike path. Molly was much more adventurous than I was, and she would always tell me about other things she discovered. She's the one that told me about this temple.

Next week, I want to find the 5 God Tree. Or the 5 Tree God. That one sounds fun. ^_^

1st Grade

I only get to teach my first grades until August 28th. Quite honestly, when I first learned I was going to be teaching this class instead of my normal (for the past year) Afternoon Kindergarten, I threw a tantrum. It was quite embarrassing, actually. I acted like a spoiled little 2 year old just because, as Kindergarten Head Teacher, I had assumed I would get to teach my kindergartners... That's what I get for assuming. ^_^

But now, after teaching this class 15 hours a week, I love them. And I'll be sad to see them go. I have Jack, Keith, Tim, Dawson, Amy, Fiona, and Natasha in this class. This is the strangest class ever...they actually want to learn! Whenever I give the option, they always opt for the "more homework" option. They are absolutely brilliant. I used to teach Keith's little sister (Sharlene) and Jack's little sister (Eve) in Afternoon Kindergarten, so it's pretty funny to see the same faces (except for the gender), and similarities in personalities. Or complete opposites. lol. Keith and Sharlene are so funny. ^_^
(*Amy, Dawson in the front. Keith and Tim in the back. Jack in the FAR back ^_^)

Many of them never had a banana split sundae before, so today, I treated them to make our own. I sugared them up quite a bit...which leads to another thing about this class. After attending my class for 3 hours a day, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they have to attend another class, Miss Shannon's class, for another 2 hours. So I'm very sorry Shannon. The extra sugar probably didn't help.
This is Jack, Eve's older brother, scarfing down his food.
Dawson and Tim. Dawson was sick today, so he couldn't eat anything cold. So he just ate a lot bananas and chocolate. Tim is the biggest sweetheart ever.Ah, Natasha. She's my Hermione. She is absolutely brilliant and always has her hand up in the air before everyone else. Her little sister, Fiona is in the class too (but didn't want her picture taken)...and I must say, it's tough having siblings in the same class.Keith is incredibly smart. He rivals Natasha to be the best in the class. They constantly fight to be the fastest, and best student in the class. So funny. So different than his sister, who is more funny-strange. lol. But she's growing out of that phase.

I only have three more weeks with this class. I still don't know what my schedule will be like for Fall Semester, but I hope it'll be just more of the same: adorable little kids.

Breaking Inertia

It was a very hot day yesterday.

The hottest day of the year so far, actually. With the humidity, the temperature felt well over 100 degrees. Yesterday, Shannon, Erin and I decided to bike to Taichung, the larger neighboring city. A lot of people told us it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Most people ride their scooter or ride the bus to get to Taichung. We wanted to see how long it took us to bike there.

By train, it takes 15 minutes.

By bus, it takes roughly 40 minutes.

By bike, it took us 55 minutes. And that was going at a leisurely pace. We weren't trying to rush or try to do it as fast as we could; we just wanted to get there.
Granted, it was mostly downhill to get there. But, still. Not much different than by going by bus.Because we got there a few hours ahead of schedule (we were expecting it to take us about 2 1/2 hours), we ate a delicious lunch at a Sushi Express.
And stumbled upon a "Music Festival: Taiwan Super-Star" thingie, which turned out to be a belly-dancing competition.
It was really fun to watch. A couple of contestants from Taipei befriended us and asked Erin to video-tape their performance (which I thought was great, very professional ^_^). Man, that boy could shake his hips! His partner was absolutely beautiful.
There were 9 groups competing, and three judges. The judges were actually teachers of different schools and professionals (I guess). It was a lot of fun to see the community show their support for the contestants, which consisted mostly of middle-aged women (mom, I could totally see you doing this! hehe ^_^).

In this culture where there is an obsession with being skinny, and where you can't be fat AND beautiful at the same time, it was nice to see belly-dancers with actual bellies showing them off to the world, and not being ashamed. It makes me want to take belly-dancing lessons. Or Tahitian dancing when I get back to the islands. ^_^

**I tried to post a video on here, but for some reason it wouldn't upload (wasting the hours I hope it was...even though it said "uploading video"). So I'll just have to post it again later. ^_^


On Comfort

Humans rarely change on their own. It usually takes some level of discomfort to change. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have always settled for "eh, it's good enough" because it takes work to change, it takes being uncomfortable to change. Doing what's familiar to me is comfortable. And I like comfort. Why should I strive for something when I know it will probably be uncomfortable until I have achieved it? And there's never a guarantee that I'll achieve what I set out to do. But I change because I know that if I stay in the same place, doing the same thing I always do, I will eventually be uncomfortable again, and by then it will be even harder, even more painful for me to change. I only change to avoid pain. Even though change usually means pain.

And the only way to get over that pain and get back to homeostasis, back to being comfortable and to be happy with "good enough," is to get through that pain as quickly as possible. To not let the change overwhelm me.

For me, it's always been hard to break inertia, to get going again. When I'm at rest, I like to stay at rest. AND it's very painful for me to get going once I'm used to being lazy. I end up longing for the days where I could waste away my life, doing nothing. Ironically -- although I longed for those days -- I always felt worthless and slightly guilty about secretly enjoying sloth so much.

However, sometimes, after I have gone through the initial pain of breaking inertia (which seemed to have taken a good three years for me), it's been hard for me to stop. I worry that I can't fit in all I want to do in life in my short lifespan. Planning ahead only makes me realize I only have a few short years in between my life goal deadlines I have placed for myself.

I need to change my way of thinking.

Acceptance is empowering. Change is inevitable. I want thrive on change, I want to seek out uncomfortable situations to make me change, to help me change. To give me opportunities to change. If I don't achieve everything, it's alright. I don't need to do everything I set out to do, I just need to enjoy where I am, but never get comfortable enough to stop wanting to do things, to see things, to discover things.

I want to regain that sense of wonder.

Rainy Season

A year has already past since I first came out here. I have already celebrated two Fourth of July's out here in Taiwan. It honestly doesn't feel like a year. We get new teachers every six months with the changing semesters. But with each passing semester, I find myself losing that awe that first enveloped even the simplest activities out here. I find myself already becoming complacent in discovering hidden treasures around town. I have settled into somewhat of a routine...and I'm not sure if I like it.

Maybe it's because I'm trying to integrate more into the community. Maybe I'm starting to pass the point of being just a "visitor" and a "resident." I have never been this involved in any community I've lived in before. Right now, I'm taking Chinese Language Classes at Tunghai University (in another city, so I have to commute 45 minutes each way by scooter), Tae Kwon Do classes and Tai Chi classes, in addition to teaching. I love keeping busy. But, also by keeping busy, I don't have as much time to just explore the city and the country, to just to be in a place.

One of my favorite things to do here was, because I didn't have my time filled up, to try to discover things by myself. New hiking trails, biking trails, etc. Or just to bike around the city, observing every day life. But I rarely do that anymore. I stick to the hiking trails I know and the bike paths I'm used to because my time has to be more structured.

I need to rediscover the awe.

I am very happy I stayed out here this long. It helped me rediscover my passions, helped me discover new passions, helped me reorganize my goals in life, and to just enjoy life in general. I am glad to make plans after I leave here. Knowing that I am, in fact, leaving after these last six months has made me appreciate what Taiwan has to offer again. I'm starting to feel the same way as I did when I first came out here, because I know that my time here is limited.

It's been a good year.

Thailand

Thailand was beautiful. We traveled around Chiang Mai and the southern islands in Thailand.

We went on a two day trek in Chiang Mai, going white water rafting, riding elephants, and spending the night with a Hill Tribe. The views from the village were amazing, especially since it's the rainy season in Thailand. We were able to see the rain clouds come in over the mountains, and since we didn't have electricity, we spent the night around a fire playing games with our trekking group.



We tried to do the entire country in a week...which was impossible. I honestly wished I had a month or so to really travel around Southeast Asia. We only had one week in between semesters, so we left on a Saturday, and returned on a Saturday. We spent about half the week in Northern Thailand, then the rest of the week in Southern Thailand.

We didn't care too much for Phuket (which felt more a place for young people at "Spring Break"), so we took a boat to a Phi Phi Island and the islands South of Thailand. It was beautiful. Absolutely breath-taking. The water was so clear you could see the fish below. On our last day there, we took a long boat around the islands and visited coves, beaches and went snorkling. It was one of the most peaceful places I've been to.



We didn't stay at any hostels that cost more than $9 USD a night. Most were around $5, and were very cute. I had to get used to the haggling process...it's a part of their culture, but since everything was so cheap anyways, I felt bad trying to get things for even cheaper.

Time is flying by. We are already two weeks into the new school semester here. I'm still the Kindergarten/Upper Elementary Head teacher, but currently not teaching any kindergarten classes. It's a good opportunity for me to learn new teaching skills, since now I teach children from 7-8 years old (1st grade), 11-13 years old (6th grade), and 16-17 year olds (My Writing/ Conversation Class). It's a wide spread, but I think it'll be ok. In the Fall, I'll take on Kindergarten class and drop my 1st grade class.

I recently got a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do and hope to be able to continue taking classes. I still attend my Tai Chi class on Fridays, and just started my Chinese Language classes in the neighboring city.

After coming back from Thailand, I realized I think I'm done with traveling...at least for a while. This last year has been amazing. And tiring. In a way, I almost wish I didn't travel as much as I have, but then saved up money to be able to travel for a few months at the end of my teaching contract. It was just too hard to only be able to visit a country for 3-4 days at a time. But I wouldn't have traded any of this for anything.

I enjoy having a six month contract for the sole fact that it gives me enough time to enjoy where I'm at, but it's constant enough for me to reassess my goals and to make plans for the future. I still find it funny that I had to travel to a foreign country to heal my soul.

But this experience has also given me the traveling bug...I want to visit South America and Europe next...someday...when I have money ^_^ For now, I'm happy just living, teaching and learning here in Taiwan.