long time

Ok, it has been forever and I reaally apologize for my lack of updates as of late. Things have been insane here with trying to prepare for classes to begin (starting day= Wednesday!!!) and I have had a hard time forcing myself to sit down to do battle with this severely handicapped laptop. I am going to try to respond to all of your lovely emails that I haven't gotten around to answering sometime in the next week, so please excuse me for now and know I loooove you and if this computer was nicer to me I would have responded ages ago.

Things with me are going well, just very very busy! I am finally understanding what it means to ..ahem.. work! (hello 8 to 5!) and the resulting exhaustion. I spent the past week and a half at the school preparing lesson plans, observing classes and doing all things school related. On top of the 10 classes of little ones I'll be teaching, I'll also have 6 classes of 3rd graders, two 7th grades, one 8th and one 9th and two 10th! The junior high classes will be the class English and the Arts which I have naively decided I could create on my own with completely new lesson plans and some idealistic vision of liberating the creative spirit within each highly focused and rigid student. haaaa. This is the first year that the school is having a 10th grade as a part of their move to extend the school to include a highschool and I was told just this past week that I will be teaching the 10th grade Speech and Debate Class........ ok, speech and debate.....hmmm well remember that time I loved public speaking in front of millions or that other time that I won the state debate championship for a brilliant closing statement on why chocolate marshmallow tastycakes are far superior to peanutbutter tastycakes? right. So in other words I can't believe I have to teach this class, without a book!, planning the entire curriculum on my own in less than a week! It's cruel! I'm trying my best to remember back to 9th grade speech class with mrs. whatsherface? and all the awkward activities and speeches we had to give. Naturally, I'm forcing everyone to make a collage/poster that describes themself to present an autobiographical speech (Kelly, this is how we first met, right?). I tried to drink coffee in the morning for the first time today as a way of possibly tackling the massive amount of work on my plate, but I ended up being TOO wired. What I long for is a tall cold Rockstar to kick me in the pants after lunch and naptime (yes even the teachers bring pillows to put their heads down on their desks). Julia snapped a few excellent shots of my face smushed against a very cozy textbook this past week since I decided I am definitely suupper into Taiwan if it means naptime for life. Really this is something I think should be brought back home... it might be why Asia is taking over the world.. that or the fact that for grade 9 the school day lasts from 7am to 9pm officially before the kids go home for homework! Imagine!

Ok, on other more exciting fronts I've made a few friends besides the girls I live and work with. It's nice to have each other around, and especially nice when you can have someone knock on your door each morning making sure you get up to go to work with them each day, but still I'm sure it will be a bit much after awhile being around the same people. Most of them have lived abroad either in the States, UK or Canada for large portions of their lives so they are pretty eager to have Westerns to hang out with (and of course dance with!). It's definitely so much easier having someone to show you around, take you to new places and order food at restaurants for you when they speak Chinese! My friend Chie hooked me up with the cellphone people to get me connected without all the proper documents and a few of the girls were able to bargain down the prices for us to get into some club this weekend as well. I'm wondering what I'll be able to bring to these friendships as payback? I mean, the benefits of having an American friend who sticks out is...? I'm really disappointed that one of the girls, I've hung out with the most, Kate, is heading back to the UK next week where she works as an interpreter for the rest of the year.. boo! We are expecting quite a late night out to say goodbye on Saturday,that has to beat this last Saturday night of dancing until.... again I'll repeat that walking out of a club in the Taipei morning heat and sun is maayybe the worst thing ever.

Lastly, maybe the best thing that I've done since I've been here happened a week ago Sunday. A guy living in Taipei who also went to McGill let me know about this hike thing he goes on every Sunday. With LOTS of reservations I pushed myself to go, thinking "hey, a hike in Taiwan's forests with a few of his friends, can't be TOO bad". So I arrive at the meeting spot to find an evergrowing number of people, some SERIOUS hikers and oh wait runners, cause this is a race of sorts! Turns out the group was the local chain of this club the HashHouseHarriers who are located all over the world and pretty much act out the whole hound/fox chase thing but with one person going again and creating a trail of flour and symbols in some pretty harsh terrain/mountains/streams/crawling spaces/you name it and the rest of the group trying to follow the trail and track him or her down. I think some guy talking to me then mentioned he trains 5 days a week?! So I somehow make it onto the bus to the unknown location on some mountain somewhere an hour outside the city and was pretty much sure I was using up all my energy being nervous (and trying not to look it) and just walking from the bus to the starting area! By this point I had met quite a few nice people, lots of them men well out of college but really into an underlying fraternity feeling and so I pumped myself up just enough to embark on what would definitely tbe he hardest physical activity I have ever done evverrr. really ever, I can't say it enough. Fine, Jackie your spinning class was really up there and had it been in the midday sun with wet running shoes it may have taken the cake! The whole thing was absolutely breathtaking though. WIthin the first 10 minutes I was winding my way on some steep, slim and slippery path when I looked to my right and saw a yellow and black spider the size of my HAND and then just as a few of us passed a HUGE grey snake moved out of the way and slithered up a nearby tree. Besides being terrified, it was gorgeous and the trail continued on, past a modest churchhouse, through the grounds of somekind of beautiful temple, through streams, alongside farmers with huge round hats working in their fields and their families yelling the equivalent to "GO!" in Chinese. I would have stopped and cried it was so awesome, cause well that's me, but I was too busy trying to keep up because if you got lost by yourself you were pretty much screwed! And so yes I was running far more than I could have ever imagined! At one point there was a swimming hole a few people stopped to take a dip in and I'm pretty sure that the blister that was forming on the back of my heal is infected due to the stinging sensation the water caused. Once back on the trail I pushed myself serriously the hardest ever and broke ahead of some of the women I had been with most of the time, and found myself with a group of only Chinese speaking men who I occasionally gave looks of "kill me now" to as we made the last neverending hike straight up and then down another area. When I got back to the start all I could say was "wow so I'm so happy I'm still alive" to the guys that had finished beforehand and were already cracking open the celebratory beers. Half an hour later I had recovered enough to join in the festivities and the rest of the afternoon/night turned into a college party and a slightly hazy dinner at a roadside traditional Taiwanese restaurant where I remember some kind of fried minnow looking fish that was reaally tasty and then of course lots of toasting with Taiwan Beer. Let's just say Monday morning 8:30am having to go in to the office was reason enough for me to say I'll be sticking to the water next time I go.

Anyways that is all for now, tomorrow morning the foreign teachers get showcased on stage in front of the entire faculty and staff and you KNOW I still haven't decided what to wear. Real quick before I send my emails out: Mom & Dad hope your weekend in New Orleans was great and Meg hope you are feeling better and relaxing in Aruba!!! Trish, hope the summer is winding down ok and have an amazing first day of Senior year!!! Laura, an impressive email is headed your way, and I'm thinking of you darling. My Montreal girls and philly loves, this week I missed you soooo much, I put up lots of photos and made people hear so many stories that I think my roommates will be sick of you soon. You will be getting seriously detailed updates soon! Josh- technology rocks and so do you. I can't tell you how much it meant to hear your voice! thanks for the call and try to view the slideshow CD! Jer- your email was the happiest ray of sunshine on a particularly sweaty no-like-Taiwan day. Know what would make it even better? a mix cd of original so nervous material!
h
ahah I'm sorry to try to squish it all in like that...how much did that remind you of yearbook messages and shoutouts?? In which case K(eep) I(n) T(ouch) and Never Change! Math class was awesome together, have a good summer and see you after vacation.

I received a few emails this week asking whether or not I had survived my first full week of work since.. well, ever.. and because I really didn't get back in touch with most people I assume many of you thought the twelve and thirteen year old girls had left me recovering in a coma.. which is only partly true! This time last week as I was writing my blog I honestly wasn't so sure I would make it, or that I was even really cut out for this teaching thing. I'm happy to say that the rest of the week went sooo much better. Not that I can take all the credit... Miss Avril Lavigne, Canadian musical genuis, was officially my savior. During the week, besides English classes and arts and crafts, I decided that we would practice and perfect Avril's "Happy Ending" song for the final show on Friday in front of the parents and entire camp. Thankfully, the girls approved my choice and I was even able to convice most of them to move while singing! I also discovered my cheerleading potential when I wrote a brilliant class cheer to be performed during the show as well. ("We are class 8, we are so great..." original!). I knew that in part the final show was a competition so I spent every spare moment drilling the song, cheer and dance moves into the girls. Many a dream that week was filled with Avril's voice running through my mind. At last Friday came! The girls were "so high" all day, an expression they use to mean beyond happy and excited here. Perhaps the highlight of the day came the last time we practiced before the show began. We had just come back from lunch and like the mean super competitive teacher I apparently am, I demanded they practice the entire routine once more. The girls were absolutely beaming and singing sooo loud, even the quiet ones, when they suddenly broke out into a new dance move they had choreographed during lunch. It was so awesome and I was so moved that naturally I started tearing up at the end after we all collapsed from being out of breath! haha ...I got a couple "I love you"'s and rushed with hugs which might have been one of the sweetest moments of my life yet. The icing on the cake was the fact that we were by far the best performance during the show and ended up winning!! Afterwards I was able to meet the girls' parents that had come and had to pretend to be a reserved and responsible teacher after having made my song and dance debut in Taiwan with the girls (which by the way many of them had caught on VIDEOTAPE. ) Oh and did I mention that while on stage my skirt may have accidentally become caught up and came dangerously close to giving an inappropriate view to my boss and the school president sitting in the front row. The other teachers assured me that I averted disaster but not until many cracks were made about that the real reason my class might have won.

After the camp was over I stayed to help my TA clean up the classroom and stayed so late I missed the bus home with the other teachers, so I ended up taking a ride home with my boss on a motorcyle! It was absolutely beautiful seeing Taiwan that way. The camp was located up in this area called Bali that is by a river and lot of moutains so it was super gorgeous ride and tons of fun. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I wore a helmet and we didn't go too fast! Louise had traveled up to the school that way the week before and we both agreed that getting a skooter would be soo much fun.. too bad driving it, especially with the traffic here, would not be.

In order to recover from the crazy week, Julia and I went out on Saturday night and danced til 8am when the club closed the next day! Emerging from a club when it is that sunny, hot and grossly humid in Taipei is brutal!

Today I went to the school I'll be teaching at in the fall to observe some classes and meet a few of the students I'll be teaching. Oh my goodness.... they were sooooo small and sooo cute. The head teachers asked that I come up with a name other than Ms. Kathleen because the other Kathleen has been there for a while and it might be a bit too confusing around the office and for the students. It was quite bizarre having to think of what else to go by... Ms. Kathy was definitely out, so I picked Ms. Katie, the closest thing to my roots as Katie-do and a special homage to a certain best friend :) (BTW Katie, I'm listening to our summer track as I write this!) I was really impressed with the English capabilities of some of the little kids at the school. One little girl even said "Why does class have to be over so fast?" at the end. I melted! Tomorrow I'm going back to see a few more classes and hopefully I'll be just as excited then as well.

It's been awhile since I've talked to most people or written any personal emails back but I'm hoping all is well with you all. I was feeling a bit homesick and Montrealsick tonight when I went for a walk for dinner and so I've been thinking about all of you, looking at pictures and wishing I was there, or you guys were here. Anyway I love and miss you! Hope your week is going well!

case of the mondays

This is the third time I've tried to post about my first day of teaching due to a ridiculously slow and annoying computer, so my account of today may or may not be more dramatic and pessimistic than the actual events that occurred.
Today was the first day of a 1 week English camp that I'm working at in a private school in a really beautiful area north of Taipei City. I made the hour and half commute this morning on maayybee 4 hours of restless sleep involving dreams of Taiwan, teaching, and friends and family from home which caused me to be only slightly homesick and a little unenthusiastic about having 22 twelve and thirteen year old girls stare at me for 6 hours like I was the most insane person they had ever seen. Before that, the first hour was spent in an opening ceremony where they sat like sweet angels in awe whispering questions to me like "How old are you?...22? soo young, soo nice Teacher. He your boyfriend (to every male staff member ages 16-50)?" Naturally I thought I was the Divinely Chosen teacher that had been blessed with girls that would hang on every perfectly understandable English word that flowed forth from my lips....ahem all teachers forgive my ignorance.
My first blunder was asking the girls to stand in a circle to play a "name game" involving making up your own silly action to help us remember each other's names. After explaining the concept for 10 minutes, making myself look like a fool, attempting to encourage the first 3 girls to give it a try, and many Chinese protests I could not understand, I realized that it was hopeless and that looking silly for a 12 or 13 year old Taiwanese girl is worse than 10 pages of homework. "Let's have fun, right?" I said... 20 pairs of eyes stared at me blankly (the two that I knew grasped the idea rolled their eyes). The next couple of hours we went through the coursebook doing lessons which was apparently less painful as they occasionally participated and tried to get ahead in the written exercises in the book by hiding their pencils in their hands and filling in answers when they thought I wasn't looking.
After lunch and naptime (yes naptime here is huuuge. even the gym I'm joining has a nap room!) we had the most serious and calculated arts and crafts session I've ever seen. The task was to make a flag for this imaginary State each group will be creating over the course of the week. Brainstorming ideas to put on the flag was like pulling teeth. In the end most of them ended up being versions of their favorite Japanese animation character. I'm rethinking my special interest group topic of "English and the Arts" for the Fall with the course description I wrote as "a chance to use your own creativity... release your inner artist!" hahaha silly hippie Westerner I am. Truthfully they ended up being gorgeous and I was impressed with the colors and attention to detail.
Finally the last activity of the day was learning phrases and slang for songs. The song list we were given included Nirvana, Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani's "Holla Back Girl." I tried to pick an Avril Lavigne song with as few curse words as possible since going over some of the lyrics would involve going into territory I wasn't prepared to do for my first day. Most likely never has a more in depth and imaginative explanation of Avril's "So Much for my Happy Ending" song been given. The background I gave for the song: "You see, she's upset because they had good times together. He held her hand on a walk on the beach one time. He left for America the night before they were going to get he married. It was not a happy ending." Finally I saw a few sparks of genuine interest and the girls actually started to sing! Of course I tried to take it too far by telling them to stand up to sing louder and even suggesting that they - gasp- move while they sang! Grab a pencil- use it was a microphone! I took the one girl tapping her foot as a victory.
A 100 person jammed packed bus ride and 2 bleeding and blistered heels later, I am home still covered in paint and awaiting day 2. I'm hoping tomorrow I will be able to better determine whether the girls are confused, shy, bored, being "fresh" as we say in Philly or some mix of all four.
Don't worry- every day won't be given in such detail!
Right now it's pretty quiet around the house since the other Kathleen is in Bali and Singapore for vacation and Louise is up at the same school, Sacred Heart, overnight for a different type of course. Julia and I have been occupying ourselves with some American comfort food and a night out dancing until 5am this past weekend. Once again I'll reiterate how bizarre it is to go out here. The night involved a performance by Taiwanese rappers, a choreographed boy band and lastly a Taiwanese R&B ballad star. This time we definitely weren't the only Westerners in the place-- there were 10-15 gorgeous but rhythm-lacking models 6 foot and taller with big time rollers. Apparently "Taipei is so hot right now."