BALLET

This past Tuesday (December 29^th) a high school ballet team came to my (Annalicia’s) school to perform for the students and to teach them a little bit about dance. The kids seemed to love it. I think one of their favorite parts was when one of the dancers picked up my principal and twirled him around. (You can see a picture of it below!)

Last night (December 30^th), Phil and I were able to go to these dancers’ community performance. It was really great, we thoroughly enjoyed it! We found out fast that things like music and dance are understood by everyone, regardless of what language a person speaks or what culture a person is used to. It was a refreshing experience! (There are pictures and video of the performance below.)

BANGS

Well, for the first time since fourth grade, I (Annalicia) have bangs! Although you might not see this as something newsworthy to put on a blog that’s intended to document things about Taiwan, it is actually applicable. Allow me to explain...the reason I decided to cut my hair in this way is because I was inspired by Taiwanese women...they have dang cute bangs here! :)

I spent about 23 USD to get my haircut and people here were kind of appalled. Apparently I went to one of the nicest/most expensive places in Douliu. I thought the experience was well worth the $23, though (especially considering the fact that a haircut at Cost Cutters in the U.S. can cost close to that once you add in the tip...there’s no tipping for haircuts here). I spent about 90 relaxing minutes hair salon/spa. In the first 45 minutes I was given coffee, my hair was shampooed and conditioned and I was given a head, neck and upper back massage. The rest of the time was spent cutting and styling my hair. Like I said, well worth the $23 to me!

CHRISTMAS AT WORK

We both had to be at school on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day...this was new for us. Although we’re used to getting Christmas off, being at work wasn’t bad at all. We definitely had some fun!

Annalicia’s Christmas at Work

My school had a lot of staff members wear Santa hats on Christmas Day. I was given a hat and coat and got to deliver candy to the Kindergartens, first and second graders. For some reason a lady I didn’t know (maybe a parent volunteer???) dressed up as the Easter Bunny and came with me...I’m not sure what that was about! :)

The whole school also watched a video my mom put together and sent to me from Cokato Elementary. It was of first grade classes showing off different things. A lot of what they were showing off (projects, songs, etc...) was Christmas stuff. My kids here loved it! The video was played over and over and over and over.......

I also received some cute gifts and cards and had a few classes come into my office and sing me some Christmas songs! My favorite gift was a few pieces of stationary paper wrapped up with one (obviously used) purple bobby pin and one packet of instant coffee. :) Here are some examples of what my Christmas card greetings were like (I took these from a few of my cards, word for word):

Card #1:
Here’s a Christmas card for you.
Dear = Anna
Hi! Anna.
My name is Katy.
Today is Christmas.
I wish have a nice day.
And...Merry x’mas.
Merry Christmas
your Student Katy 2009.12.25

Card #2:
Anna:
Merry Chirstmas
Happy New Year
I (drawing of a heart) You
by 6-5 Tiffany

Card #3:
For: Teacher Anna
Christmas!
From: Student Lovey 2-2

Phil’s Christmas at Work

On Christmas Day I had students wish me Merry Christmas and one class even sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. They sang it pretty well! I was supposed to have a class at 3:10 and when 3:25 rolled around and my class hadn’t shown up I went to look for them. I ended up running into one of my co-teachers and she told me that I didn’t have to run my class because there is a group performance. The group performance was a Christmas celebration and some student groups performed various things (dances, magic, cooking, and games).

Below are some cards I received. They definitely made me smile! The last one is my favorite.

Dear Teacher Phil:
Today is Merry Christmas. I’m in class 104. I’m Nora. I wish you can happy everytime. Merry Christmas! X’mas (Christmas)! Can you understand it?
By Nora

Hi! Phil (drawing of a heart) U!
Smile Happy Merry Christmas. It’s just for you! :)
Student Tina Lin 102

To: Phil teacher
Today is Christmas Merry Christmas

Phil
You are so handsome and your eyes are beautiful
You are a nice teacher
Merry Christmas
Yishin 302

Phil:
Hey~~~
You’re really a handsome man and you’re a kind teacher
Merry Christmas
Lancy
*always be happy*

Phil:
Today is Christmas day
I am ghost (a drawing of a ghost)
Merry Christmas
You are handsome
You are my good English teacher.
Lynn

Phil,
You are my good

I don’t know if the student forgot to add more or what. Annalicia thinks the student meant to put “You are my good teacher” or something like that. I, on the other hand, like to believe that the student meant to put “You are my god.” After all my experiences, is there any reason I wouldn’t believe that? :)

WINTER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION

The Taiwanese have a relatively small celebration in honor of the winter solstice. This year it was on December 22nd. People don’t get work off for it; instead they seem to bring the celebration (the traditional food, etc...) to work. If you’re interested in learning more about it, you can visit the link below.

http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1053&Itemid=157g

HIKING

On Sunday, December 20^th I (Annalicia) joined a few women I work with and two of their sons on a seven hour hike. We went with a hiking group to a place called Sun Moon Lake (about an hour and a half bus ride north of Douliu). I hadn’t been there yet, but it was beautiful. (Phil and I are planning on going there for a few days over Chinese New Year.)

There was a thick fog in the area the entire day, so the scenery on the hike wasn’t quite as beautiful as I think it could have been, but there were still a lot of great sights and the day was very fun! My favorite part was being in the bamboo forest...that was something that was totally new for me!

LET IT SNOW?

This snowman was put up last week outside the 7/11 close to our apartment. The 7/11s here seem to offer more things in celebration of many American holidays compared to other places in Taiwan. (For example, they had special Halloween treats and decorations during October.) So, it didn’t surprise us that they were doing things in celebration of Christmas. What did surprise us was the fact that they chose to put up a snowman holding a “Let It Snow” banner instead of Santa. A snowman? Let is snow...in Taiwan? Really? :)

I (Annalicia) have had the fun and interesting experience of explaining the Christmas holiday to my students. When we first got to Taiwan and people here were telling us some of the traditions of and stories behind their holidays, I remember doing a little bit of chuckling in my head. But now, after the roles have switched and I’m the one doing the telling, my perspective on what a “normal” holiday is, has completely changed.

Have you ever tried explaining the story of Santa to people (kids) who have hardly any background knowledge or experience with it? Well, if not, it’s a little more difficult than you may think. As the words “elves”, “magic sleigh”, “flying reindeer” are spilling out of your mouth, you start to fear that your audience is questioning your sanity! :)

Then, when the questions start rolling in (via an interpreter) like, “If he flies all around the world, why hasn’t he ever stopped at my house?” or “Don’t kids think it’s weird that Santa doesn’t care if people see him at malls before Christmas, but he doesn’t want anyone to see him on Christmas Eve?” you begin to see what used to be “normal” as very strange!

So, as you celebrate Christmas this week, I encourage you to see all the stories and traditions through the eyes of a second grader from Taiwan. I can assure you, regardless of what you’re going to be doing, they would see nothing as “normal”...everything would be unique and exciting!

Wishing you a fresh and lovely experience of our beautiful holiday! Merry Christmas!

ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE

We had another earthquake hit Taiwan on Saturday night. This one got our hearts pumping a little more than the last two. The tremors started small, but then got much bigger...we actually felt the building sway versus just shake. The whole thing lasted a lot longer than what we had experienced with the previous two...about 30 seconds. I guess that doesn't sound like a long period of time, but in the midst of the experience it felt long. At the time of the quake, we were in a movie theater. I think being in a public place made the experience a little more intense for us as well (compared to last time when we were in our apartment).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8422472.stm

KENTING

This past weekend, Phil and I and another foreign English teacher (Karin) traveled down to the southern tip of Taiwan to an area known as Kenting. Two foreign English teachers that we met at orientation live down there. So, we all stayed with them. Their names are Andi (Andrea) and Peter. Ironically they’re both from Minnesota and both went to Concordia in Moorhead while we were at NDSU. It’s a small world!

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend! The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. We started off our day on Saturday by renting scooters and doing some scenic driving.

(Peter and Karin)

(Andi, Myself, Karin)

After our drive, we went to Kenting National Forest and went on a hike. Peter ended up seeing one of his first grade students (whose English name is Ben) at the start of our hiking trail. Ben decided he was going to be our tour guide. He led our group throughout our entire hike, telling us stories in Chinese (that we couldn’t understand) the whole way! :) This kid was so cute! He’d often clap his hands to get us to hurry up, he’d let out big sighs when we didn’t take the paths he wanted to take and there were times he’d turn around and count us to make sure we were all there. It was a fun hike with some beautiful scenery. Before we left Kenting National Forest, we made sure to treat ourselves and Ben to some ice cream!

After our hike, we spent some time at the beach! Not to rub it in or anything, but how’s the weather back home?!?! :)

We spent Saturday evening at a beautiful hot springs resort. We had never been to anything like it before! There were pools of all different temperatures, ranging from very cold to extremely hot. There were pools of all different scents, colors and jet activity. There were even pools of tea to sit in and pools with fish to eat all the dead skin off your feet. It was very fun and extremely relaxing!

We spent Saturday night doing some traditional Taiwanese barbecuing back at Andi and Peter’s place. This is similar to grilling in the States, but the grills are much smaller and it’s a much more time consuming process...it’s definitely meant to be more of a social thing versus simply just a way to cook some food. (In one of the pictures below you might notice a red scooter...this was Phil's pride and joy throughout the weekend!)

We spent all of our time in Kenting on Sunday at the beach. It was a gorgeous day for swimming and relaxing!