My absolutely favorite picture. Just look at their expressions...priceless

Cindy, Annie, Joshua, Ethan, Jiiimmmmyyyy ( He has the cutest little stutter ever, one of these days I gotta get it on video.)

September 16, 2008 You can't get me!

Close call but I think she is safe. 

Trying to dodge Joshua from attacking me. These kids just don't tap you and tell you that you are out they seriously go full throttle at you until you are pinned down to the ground. I love it. 
Don't ask, I just look like I'm scarring the crap out of Annie. 
I'm protecting my little chickens. 
Cindy tagging Annie while Ethan just laughs hysterically in the corner. 
yi, er, sun, run! 
Yes Jimmy and I got out. 
Off to gym we go singing a song down the stairs. 
Silly kids... they catch on way to fast to my goofiness. 
My helpers who are cleaning up after kitchen
This would be the "loving Fish" picture that I sporadically came up with. Look how studious my students are. I taught them well. 

Mrs. Jane the cook lady! 
Cindy in Yellow, my favorite color. 
Glass noodles. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention, I only eat with chopsticks over here, I can't remember the last time I used silverware. 

Ha Ha today in gym we played tag. It was a better turn out then I thought. I was having so much fun playing with the kids. I mostly got it on video but Melissa did capture some pictures. The very last activity everyday is art. On the board it said "Loving fish"... yeah your guess is exactly what my guess was as to what in the heck that means. I knew I had to just wing this one. So we drew a big heart with different kinds of fish in it. And when I was drawing my picture for the kids to see, they were making fun of me cause I couldn't draw fish such as dolphins. They are 4-6 year olds and they drew 10 times better then me. You just gotta laugh though. Hey I teach them English they teach me how to draw. Its a win/win situation. 

Also, I got a picture of our lunch today. Our cook Jane, she is such a great cook. Sometimes the food isn't all that great. But for the most part I really enjoy it. I love her, she is such a sweet lady with great fashion taste. I just wish she spoke English. From what Sherry tells us she loves to cook for us and just in general. We are lucky to have her. Cause I know at the other school, they don't even get free lunch like us! 

September 13, 2008 - 1st Typhoon

We are fully armored for this Typhoon! 

I convinced Britta to get these muffins and she did, mmmm they looked so so tasty and they smelt pretty good. They had chocolate chips in them. But they were the most decieving things ever. They were nasty. Me and britta both had one and we immediatly took them straight down to our kitchen and found the chocolate syrup which was by far the sweestest thing we had in our kitchen and dumped it all over our muffin and then heated it up. It helped it a little but it wasn't the greatest tasting thing. We just looked like desperate little kiddies. 
"These girls must be from another planet." 
The rain outside our apartment. 
This is when it was really coming down! 

All throughout the night Britta and my rooms are right by a glass door that leads to the balcony and all we could here was banging on the door from the strong and forceful wind. It was so loud. Holy cow I wanted to shoot my self. But this all mean that we were in for a big treat, yes my 1st Typhoon. It rained all day today, and rained and rained. We had no food, everything was shut down and we had no clue what to do. So out of no where we all thought Carefour. It's a sweet grocery/department store like 20 min away from us. 

There was only one way to getting there and that was riding our bikes. I had never seen rain like this in my entire life. It was so much fun. In our apartment we have a corner that is just filled with rain attire. And as you can tell i got the best outfit. Instead of a simple large poncho I got the track and field suit with the sweet hood and plastic cover to cover my eyes. You can call me space woman, maroon woman, or even Sexy Woman...We'll stick with the third one. :) 

So we're driving through the streets trying to not get blown off of our bikes and trying not to get hit by the cars. It was thrilling. We got to Carefour and we seriously looked like wet dogs. People were giving us the stare down! But right when we got there we went snack wild a We kind of lost track of time and realized we had been there for three hours. It was awesome. We somehow kept loosing each other and seriously it was a madhouse. There were people everywhere. But boy did we get some good food, oreos, chip ahoy, ritz crackers and ritz crackers with cream filling in it and bread. That is what my basket was filled with. Call me fatty, but it was well worth my money I must say. 

Miss the "C", Miss the "C" not???

Missing me? The BIG C-OURT! 

So being over here, seeming that I'm not getting mail nor much emails more or so im pretty much just out of the "loop" of everything that is going on back in the states. So I want people to write me a comment only if they miss me? And as to why they miss me! :) It will be fun... uhhh maybe... well for me at least!!!! Thanks! 

September 12, 2008 "Zaijian"

Rony and Me! 

My 4th graders 

BLOW BLOW BLOW... HARDER HARDER.... QUICKUHLY QUICKUHLY (as they would say it)
Using their brilliant minds on how to strategize this game. 
ANNIE BANANIE 
MEGGIE

Megan and Annie getting ready to compete. 

The pictures don't do justice as of how hard it was raining! 

Time to sing... who is our next contestant.... Miss Britta and .... she couldn't say my name... then I told her and she said... "Awww Corny" 


So I heard some bad new today. Rony one of my students whose in 4 grade will be leaving us as of today. Short notice eh? I was sad, even though I didn't really get to know her because she was very quiet and shy. But she came up to me in class and asked me to write her a letter. It was the cutest thing. I told her if she ever wanted to come to America she is always welcomed at my house or better yet if she ever needed anything she could email me and I would send her things. She seemed a little concerned. She asked me if I would be here next year and I told her no. She seemed a little sad. I will Miss you my dear Rony :) 

In afternoon Spe's during shop Melissa came up with this brilliant on brilliant idea. She made the kids blow marbles back and forth using a straw. They loved this game as you can in the pictures. If you haven't noticed you kind of have to be very creative and wing a lot of things to keep these kids content and talking English... it's all about them speaking! 

When we arrived home it was raining again. We were warned that there was going to be a Typhoon! Its going to be my very first typhoon. ohhhhhhh scary. But when we arrived home we had a surprise awaiting for us. There was huge tent with a bunch of people eating. And Ktv (kereokee). With a Japenese girl in a gold dress as the hostess. It was so entertaining to listen to people sing. and before i knew it me and Britta were on stage singing "You are my little sunshine" I can't believe Britta talked me into this. It was pathetic, but we got it on tape. It was really funny. Out of no where we had people lining the stage waving there hands at us. It was so much fun. But there is still no way I would ever do this back in the states. Sorry everybody!  

We came to find out that this whole party thing was for the New Moon celebrations. They have BBQ under tents and as family and friends. IT was a great night and better yet it all happened right in front of our door step. 

September 10, 2008

Singing the Itsy Bittsy Spider

Sherry our Coordinator

Peter Pan Minnie
Captain Hook Joe
Tinker bell Ella
Peter Pan #2 Tim

Our kids just love us way to much.... they look bored as heck... ha ha! I mean it is 9:00 in the morning for these youngens. We will blame it on the earliness. :) The four solo pictures of the children are our morning Spe's that we have every morning. They are my favorite class to teach spe's to. Mainly because they are the smartest class. They are catching on so fast and you can actually have normal conversations with them. Minus Joe. Joe just screams whenever he wants so something or just cries. When Joe first started out with the program his sister had to come to all the classes with us. And then his sister stopped coming and he was glued to his mom's hip. Everytime Joe's mom would leave he would just cry and cry. 

Joe is slowly getting used to the program he does tend to copy whatever you say so he can get a token. But now Joe can say I don't know now and thats about it. But now Tim, Minnie and Ella are starting to be very rude to him because he never sings when he is suppose to, he doesn't understand when he needs to talk or when he is not suppose to speak and he says no to everything.  Its hard to balance it all out with out the kids getting frustrated or made fun of. 

But what the morning kids do love is acting out Peter Pan, we got them hooked. Thats all we do after we do "drama" which is reading a book to them. We read Peter Pan one day and ever since they want to play peter pan. Hmmm I'm not quite sure if thats such a good idea after all. Because they all fight over who is Peter pan and then they always pick on joe telling him that he is hook. And yes I am always Wendy, and Ella is usually Tinker bell. She plays a great Tinker bell sprinkling her "foam pads" (pixie dust) at me so I can fly! 

The other set of pictures are in afternoon Spe's. We have about 20-25 students a day. This is the craziest part of the day. Taming all these wild lions is not the easiest thing to do on the planet, especially when your only speaking English to them. But someway or another it works out amazingly great. Its actually not that hard, yes it can be a little tiring but what I have really noticed is that it gives me a chance to not think about my self for once and my sorrows and worries. I think about them, and helping and playing with them. It's the best feeling coming home after work and thinking wow, I don't think I ever thought about this or that. I was completely happy through out the whole day! 

September 9, 2008 Rumor has it....

So today was actually quite funny! We were doing show and tell in my 2A class, and I decided to tell them about my family and that I love to take pictures. I have this one random picture of Neils that I took with a fish eye camera and its the sweetest picture that I think I have ever taken. So I showed my students the pictures of my family and the picture of Neils. I had previously told them that I had a boyfriend, and the whole class freaked out because not only did I have a boyfriend but they thought he was black. All the girls especially freaked out and said, "Teacher why do you like black guys? He is so black, and look at you, you have such white skin and he is black, his skin is so dark." etc etc. It was hilarious. I had to explain in the summer time  when we are in the sun at the pool our skin changes colors. It goes darker or it turns red. And yes when I got back from G.I. I was a little burnt and they were so confused as of why I looked so different. It was such an entertaining day. ha ha ha. I wish I could've gotten it on camera. 

September 7, 2008 Goodbye!

So sad, it has all come to an end. Bye Bye! 

In the train where we stood fro 4 hours. Good thing I had my awesome book. 
The sun is going down as it says it's goodbye's to us. 
Of course me asleep, just not on Darren's shoulder this time. 
Apparently the dog is even famous here in Taiwan. It was a pretty dang cute dog I do have to admit. 

The mighty fine crew

Our favorite place that we just so happened to end up every time it rained. 
"Hi"
This photographer and his wife thought Britta and I were celebrities and we had nothing to argue... thats the way we like it. 
I'm alive in the volcano! "Sooooo cool! I love the rippling water. 

The arch that we finally found! What a great escapade! 

Macro... gotta love it. 
What can I say I love the sand, and I love Green Island. 
Hello my world! 
Hummmmmmm........

P.S I found Burt's bees chap stick on the top of this mountain, and you better believe that i picked it up and slapped it on my luscious lips. It was a blessing in disguise. 
Our groupies! 
Back bending it up. 
On top of the mountain, you better believe I love you this much and all the beauty around!

The dancing and burning of the money around the temple. 

The ash.






"Scream little girl" Holy chaoticness! 




Wow, last night was the best sleep I had ever had in such a long time. I fell in love with the blankets we each had. They were so cozy and soft. We woke up and decided to go straight to the coral reef. It was so awesome we saw so many different kinds of fish. I love snorkeling, and the ocean wow it was like taking a warm bath. The water could have not been any more clearer. After a while I made my way to the shore to lay on the not so soft sand. The sun was beating on my body while I was trying to soak in as much sun as possible. It was so nice just to lay there and relax my mind that likes to constantly be at a battle with my heart. I did get some sun, I did accomplish one thing thats for sure. We then wanted to find our way to the arch that was by sleeping beauty it was crazy how we had to get there, we hiked down a mountain and around all these huge black rocks with the waves splashing up against the rocks. But we found the Arch it was sooo big and sooo cool! We hung out there for the remaining of the time. We wrote in the sand, played in the water, and I got stuck in the mini volcano. :) I'm just a wittle girl. We were running a little late. We booked it back to the hostel showered, ran to the ferry station got our ticket and missed the ferry so we had to wait a whole other hour before we could aboard. Immediately when we got one I was passed out, go figure! I was so comatose! We found a taxi driver and rushed to the train station and we missed our train so we had to take a later one. 

 We had to stand for 4 hours and then we got to sit for the other 2 hours. But basically me and Melissa just sat in the middle of the aisle and read our books. We arrived in Kaishong the 2nd largest city in Taiwan and caught another train to changhua. We arrived at 11:30 and right when we got off we heard such loud popping noises. So we followed the noise on our bikes and it led us to a huge parade that last seriously for 45 min of just firework after firework. We were right underneath them, we were right next to where they were lighting the fireworks off. The whole street was covered in fireworks. It was crazy and pandemoniac! I have never seen anything like this in my entire life. It was so so awesome! Britta and I met an American girl and she was telling us that its a celebration of a new moon. They had this guy that was dressed all funny spinning in circles doing some goofy moves while holding a "Prayer wheel" then there where these guys holding this little house thing, im not quite sure what it was, something with buddha. Because they went to one of the many temples and where doing a dance thing and burning money all over the place. 

This celebration was wild, I loved it. I will never experience this ever again.  I really have enjoyed seeing the Taiwanese culture, it is very fascinating. We didn't get home until like 1:00 a.m. It was totally worth it, oh and don't worry I got so many videos of it. To bad I can't post them on my blog because it wont let me! Ahhhh! oh well!