Stars and City Lights

So, the interview was less like an interview and more like an orientation. I am going to be teaching once a week, Mondays, from 110 to 330. I will have three different sixth grade classes, each forty minutes. Should be a good experience. I have to make up my own curriculum and everything. But luckily, it is only one lesson plans for the three classes.

After the "interview" Carly, Cristelle and I went on a hike at Tiger Head. It was pretty nice. The trails are only about a ten minute drive from our house, so it is practically our backyard. There are loads of trails but we took one that circled around and gave some good views of the surrounding cities. Tiger Head is the highest point in Taoyuan County. It was a pretty nice day too, except pretty humid. But at least it wasn't too hot.

At the top of the trail there are a lot of stray dogs. Cristelle went to pet one and we almost had an entire pack of strays attack us. It wasn't quite as close as that, but she whipped them all into a frenzy and then ran ahead so I was the last one back. I was just waiting for fangs to sink into my calf. But thankfully, they ran off in the other direction and more and more dogs could be heard barking. It was crazy.

I had a subbing class at Tung An after that. It was "kindy". The kids were so cute. Two of the girls were hanging around with me during the break so I drew them on the whiteboard. They laughed as if they hadn't seen anything funnier. Haha. So cute!

For dinner a bunch of us went to BBQ again. Carly, Alex, Cristelle, Christine and a new guy, Matt. He is really nice - from Chicago. A little bit later, Amy, Mike and Mike came and met us. Then we went up to the Tiger Head lookout for stars and city lights. It was awesome. On the way to the lookout though, Carly, Cristelle, Alex and I got pulled over at a check point. We thought it was for drunk driving and since we hadn't even had a beer with dinner we weren't worried. But then they asked to see our ID's and I started to panic. I don't have a Taiwanese license so I gave him my California one. He asked if I spoke Chinese and I don't, so I think that is why I got off with nothing. But they told us to be careful because of the ghosts.

Last night was the end of Ghost Month (August). The Chinese people really are afraid of ghosts and believe in them. It's kind of crazy. They don't go swimming, or get wet and they don't really go out at night because of ghosts.

The city lights were awesome. That is one thing that there are loads of here. When the sun sets the cities really come alive. It seems like everyone is out in full force. And there are lights everywhere - signs, street lights, flashing lights, neon signs, cars, scooters. Every kind of light you can imagine is here in Taoyuan. It is pretty awesome to see!

Today I had my regular class at Wu Ling again. I LOVE that class! The kids are so fun and they love class. I taught them a new game tonight and they love it! At first they didn't want to play it and then they were BEGGING me to play it over and over! Haha. One of the kids, Jarry, is so cute. He sits right in front by all my stuff and so we talk a lot. He's definitely my favorite, but don't tell the others. :D

After class, one of the moms (two moms come every week) gave me a little treat. It was a bag of two pastries. Both were kind of weird but pretty good. I thought it was such a nice thing to do. It made me really feel like I'm teaching there, you know. It made my night!

I had a pretty hard time getting to the campus though. Haha. I scooted over and had no idea where I was going really. So I parked at a FamilyMart and then caught a cab the rest of the way. It was such a short cab. After class, I tried to walk back but I had NO idea how to get to where the scooter was. I walked both ways down the street and finally gave up after half an hour. Turns out if I had just walked about 15 more feet, literally, I would have seen the scooter. So annoying that I paid for a taxi because I didn't walk far enough one way and then turned around. Idiot...

But it should be a truth universally acknowledged that you haven't driven until you driven a scooter in Asia. It is a pretty unique experience. Weaving in and out of cars and people, is like playing dodgeball. But at the same time, as long as you are aware, I think driving a scooter is the safest way to go through Taoyuan. Driving a car and walking are pretty harrowing as well. You just have to be on guard all the time!