The Imperial Palace (a.k.a my new place)

 Big ol' bed with balcony outside the window

 Living room with 2nd balcony. Interested visitors take note of the couch :)

 Holy smokes, my very first private kitchen! 

 And my very own washing machine! Note: Still no dryers in Asia

And there's me in the bathroom.  

My dorm-suite is on the campus where I teach, a small foreign affairs university.  So my new home is only about a 3 minute walk from where I teach.  Can't beat that convenience! 


Feeling so fortunate (and somewhat undeserving) of my new abode.  On the downside, my baggage got delayed on the way here.  I'm getting by with 2 pairs of clothes and borrowed camera supplies.  Yikes!  

Transition - My 2nd Year Teaching Abroad

I've lived in a few types of communities,  1.  raised in the suburbs of metro-Atlanta  2.  studied in the college town of Athens, GA (University of Georgia)  3.  and taught English in the rural township of Nan Ao, Taiwan.

Tomorrow I'm moving to a new community--the epically crowded, notoriously polluted city of Beijing, China! I'm so pumped!  Family and friends, any tips on adapting and thriving in a big ol' metropolis?

My teaching post is also changing drastically, transitioning from high-needs elementary kids to ambitious university students.  I'm really excited to be working with adults again (I did so briefly in college).  Beijing here I come!

Too all family and friends--I love and miss you already!  Message me if you want to plan a video-chat date (Google's works best for me).  

"They ain't worth no fifty dollars."

Part of my "expat rhythm" includes calling my parents every Sunday night.  Tonight, as my dad was reading an except from Blood Meridian (an unusually intellectual moment for us for sure lol), an earthquake shook my room!  Sometimes the East and West in my life collide in a most exhilarating fashion!  

Mr. Yang, a special education teacher in Nan Ao, gave me a rare glimpse into his garden!  This man pours his heart and soul into the natural environment surrounding his home.  I wish I had a picture of the interior of his house--I don't even think there was a couch.  All of his energy goes outside! 

Mr. Yang vacationed in Bali, Indonesia once and the trip made a really big impression on him, inspiring the garden's design and plant variety.  Bali is a really popular vacation spot for Taiwanese people.  It's like what the Caribbean is to America.    

 And, of course, I was with my gal pals, Monica and Sandhya!  We spent the afternoon eating fresh fruit and listening to gamelan, traditional Balinese music. 

 I think I must go to the magical land called Bali...although I'm somewhat fearful post-Eat, Pray, Love explosion.

I placed 5th in a Dragon Boat Race!

OK, so there were only 5 teams. And we looked nothing like the ferocious competitors above. But we were neck and neck with 4th and had a good time! In this video, courtesy of Maria (a fellow Yilan ETA), I'm the 4th person back on the right. 

Dragon Boat Racing is like British rowing except...
a. paddles are free
b. rowers twist the body and do not pull the paddle beyond the hip (our form is totally off)
c. rowing is done to the beat of an awesome drum at the head of the boat
d. competitions have been around for over 2000 years! (The Brits have only been doing it for about 300)

It was an exciting, hilarious and sunny day with my Yilan family, and a nice upper body workout.

How to Enjoy Durian

1. Select your spiky mass and proudly take up to the cashier.
2. Have the cashier help you crack it open. Together, admire the sunny innards. He or she will neatly place the fruit's inner pods into a plastic bag.
3. Pop your durian pods in the freezer.
4. Wait a few hours.
5. Remove from freezer and enjoy a custard, ice cream like treat (free of that distinct durian odor)!

Glove Puppetry, way cooler than you think

Every other Wednesday, all the ETA's get together in Yilan for a workshop. Last week's workshop was on traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry. Before the dawn of television, Taiwanese people flocked to public puppet shows for entertainment. These shows have all the slapstick comedy found in Western puppetry, but overall are more serious dramas. The puppets act out small details like tying their shoes! It reminded me of the puppetry in Being John Malkovich...lol

A 5th grader named Andy taught me some puppet moves like walking, running and spinning. He was a supportive and bubbly teacher. When I asked him, "How old are you?" he said "12 o'clock."

Awwwwww

Jenn and Stew find the pu bu / 瀑布 / waterfall

 After yet another typhoon, the sun returns to Yilan County!  I took a Sunday bike ride with Jenny (one of the 2 other ETA's/English Teaching Assistants living in Nan Ao).  We rode to Jin Yue, one of the 7 other villages in Nan Ao Township.

Nan Ao's fresh air, beautiful scenery and minimal traffic really compliment the road bike.  I've been going on rides 6 days a week.  Although rainy days require a bit more motivation...  

We found the Jin Yue waterfall!  Lots of people were jumping off the waterfall around the back to the right and swimming.  

I'm totally afraid of heights so I just played in the water and climbed on the rocks.    

Shout out to my Nan Ao sister, Jenny.  Her awesome blog definitely motivated me to start doing this.  We worked on our storybooks together.  Check out this traditional story from the Ao Hua village of Nan Ao.     

A Story of the Tree at Ao Hua

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Dream Weaver storybook

This is a story from Bi Hou village, whose people are members of the Atayal tribe. The story is traditionally told through song and dance, but I had fun bringing it to print!

The illustrations are by a 6th grader that lives in Luodong (a 30 minute train ride away). Fantastic, no?  

The storybook is in English, but also includes Mandarin and the Atayal language.  The speaker icons don't work via slideshare.net, but I can email you the powerpoint if you want to learn a few Mandarin and/or Atayal words :-)

An aquatic Kenting weekend

  

So I went to Kenting (at the southern tip of Taiwan)!  Visited this guy!  He's a Fulbright researcher (rather than English teacher).  He did this.  Painted abstractions of Kenting's coral reef that incorporate ideas from traditional Chinese medicine.  AND it's on display at Kenting's aquarium.  SO COOL.   

I wandered around the aquarium and took too many pictures of the jelly fish, as per usual. 

There was a giant squid sculpture outside. It was metallic and beautiful. I took a picture with it.  I also went snorkeling and met up with some other lovely researchers.  An aquatic and fun weekend!