Catch Up

Friday, I had two more regular classes to teach. Both are at Chen Kung. Alex, Matt and I scooted over in a little scooter gang. Matt is terrified of driving here so it was pretty hilarious. Both my classes on Friday are Gloria English so they are adorable. They are a little older than the kindy classes but still really young. It was fun. And the class goes so quickly because it is only and hour and a half. After class, Matt and I scooted home and I almost killed him because I forgot he didn't really know where he was going. So I made a quick left turn and he kept going straight. He then had to do a u turn in the middle of a street and that is much easier said than done. But he made it, so no harm no foul. Haha. That night a bunch of us went to dinner Vigorous. And Cristelle's friend came to visit. He is working in the Philippines.

Saturday, I had two more regular classes to teach. They are both older kids. The classes were at Nan Kan. The only bad thing is that my first class is over at 1210 and my second one doesn't start until 6pm. So that is kind of a bummer. At least the school isn't too far. And I ran into Chrissy so we grabbed lunch before I headed back home.

Saturday night, the whole gang went out for Jen's going away party. I am really going to miss her! She and I got to be pretty good friends really quickly - we have a lot in common. So, obviously, I was pretty sad to see her go. We went to Mimi House again (a popular spot). This time was more fun, solely because I know more people better. It was a really fun night!

Sunday, a lot of people felt like death (haha) so it was a pretty low key day. Alex, Cooper (Cristelle's friend) and I drove up to the Tiger Head lookout. It was pretty awesome. Cooper bought some betel nut. It is a nut wrapped in a leaf that you chew. It is supposed to relax you. But it is pretty nasty. It turns your mouth red and you have to spit out the juices so it looks like you are spitting out blood. Nasty.

After we were up there for a while, we decided to continue up the mountain rather than just go back down. It was cool. There is just a winding, one lane road that keeps going up the mountain. Lots of great views from up there too. It was a nice little joy ride on the scooters. On the way back down we stopped at a shrine to some martyrs. It is a Japanese style shrine and beautiful. It was all made out of wood and was so peaceful. We wandered around there for a little while.

Sunday night, Alex, Cristelle, Cooper, Matt and I went to the night market. It was cool. I hadn't really walked around one much yet so it was fun. We got some dumplings, lots of fruit, BBQ, and Cooper got some chicken feet. But he couldn't bring himself to eat them. Haha. Matt and I also got an Asian hotdog. Haha. It was a hot dog with a rice 'bun'. Freaky. And they put lots of ginger and soy sauce and chili pepper sauce. It was surprisingly good, but we were both worried about the affect it would have on our bodies. Haha.

Monday, I had my first Outside Gloria classes at the elementary school. Oh man. What a rough day. The actual classes were great but I got totally lost. Instead of being 10 minutes early, I was three minutes late. So I walked into class dripping sweat because you can't wear shorts or tank tops, and it's on the fifth floor. Also, in my second class, I bent down to pick up a ball and my pants ripped. Haha. Thankfully you couldn't tell and I had long shirt on anyway, but oh man. I'm sure I turned bright red.

I had to go right from outside class to home, grab some lunch, and then head out again for an observation at Wu Ling and then a regular class. Both of those were fine and passed without much to note. But when I was done, I was so happy. For dinner, we went to Vigorous again for a final farewell to Jen. Lots of people turned up again so it was fun. And I got Jen's scooter! So that was the only plus to her leaving.

After dinner, a bunch of us went to the park and played catch phrase. It was super fun. We played a bunch of rounds, and they were still playing when I left. I can't stay up so late!

Yesterday I had my two classes at Tung An. One of my co-teachers is Kay. She is so great. And she was asking me what I was doing for the long weekend - it is the Moon Festival this weekend so no school on Saturday or Monday. I told her I wasn't sure but I was going to be sticking around. So she invited me to her family's celebration. I'm pretty excited to go! Should be pretty interesting at the least, but I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun too!

Last night I finally went on a run. I signed up for that half marathon if you'll remember and I haven't done much training. But last night I ran 4.5 miles so that at least was encouraging. I'll be able to run more. Haha. After my run I met Amy, Josh and Matt in the park. We were just sitting around talking and then Carson and Dustin showed up. They're both really great. Then we started playing categories - all of them geography. We did African countries, capital cities of countries, and South American countries. It was pretty fun. I like that we can sit around and do that.

Today I have a subbing class at Dar Nan for Josh P (familiar face). He is still on vacation with Kristen. It seems like they have been gone forever!

Today marks five weeks that I have been here. That is crazy! It feels like I just got here yesterday. But at the same time it feels like I've been here forever! Sometimes when I'm driving along I think to myself "I live in Asia." That is so freaky. But it has been such and awesome experience so far.

I miss you all!!