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!