Happy Thanksgiving!

So, I may be in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, and I may have had to work on both days that most Americans get off work, but at least I got to eat some turkey. And talk about it, a lot, in my 感恩節 lesson plan.

I was actually lucky enough to have two Thanksgivings. The first was last Saturday night; we met an American woman at a bar a few weeks back, and she was kind enough to invite us to her own American Thanksgiving at her apartment. So we enjoyed a Costco turkey, homemade pumpkin pie, and lots of other traditional American Thanksgiving food (including mashed sweet potatoes, provided by Apartment C) in the company of several English cram school teachers from the US and Canada.

The second Thanksgiving took place on Thanksgiving night and was held by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in Kaohsiung, which is basically the American consulate/embassy (but due to Taiwan's ambiguous political status, it cannot officially be called that). So, the chief of AIT hosted this event for Fulbrighters, our Taiwanese co-teachers, and some other Americans living and working in Kaohsiung. It was more than we could have ever hoped for on Thanksgiving in a foreign country. There was turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, cookies, cranberry sauce... and it was all fantastic. And thankfully for me (and all of you), my fantastic co-teacher Amy brought her camera and sent me all the pictures she took. And Taiwanese people love to photograph food. So, some photos from my first Thanksgiving away from home, care of Amy.

Homemade dinner, probably in the largest domestic oven in southern Taiwan... which would be average size in the U.S.


Pumpkin pie... straight from Costco!

A lot of the Fulbrighters and our co-teachers, with Mason (deputy chief of AIT):

Amy, Susan, and me, with the host (chief of AIT-Kaohsiung, or whatever you call it):

Note my insistence on wearing a sweater, even though it certainly wasn't cold enough to do so. The good news is, it was as low as 65 the other day! I hope these "cold fronts" come with more frequency from now on. (It's back to 78 today.)

Third place!

So, the past few weeks, I've been spending a lot of time (in class, between classes, after class) working with a group of seven fifth graders for Fu Xing's entry into the Kaohsiung City Reader's Theater competition. Susan and I auditioned and selected the team members together, while I was solely responsible for writing a 5-minute original script. Considering I had no idea what "Reader's Theater" even was, let alone what an appropriate script would entail, it was a bit of a challenge. Last year's English teacher prepared them for months before the competition and was able to arrange multiple practices a day, and the students earned second place. Susan and I found out about it a week before the registration deadline (less than a month ago) and, both being new to Fu Xing, had no idea how to go about... anything.

Anyway, long story short, we pulled it together. The competition took place today, and I'm happy to say that my students got third place in their division! (Groups were divided by school size.) And I think they had a good time with it, too. Special thanks to Glennie for getting the ball rolling with my creativity. Here's an excerpt from our conversation on November 5th:

me: i need a creative idea for a kid's play

Glennie: how are you?

can you base it on a book?

me: that kids who can't really speak english could pull off

8:26 PM should be original

Glennie: winnie the pooh?

ah

me: it's 7 kids

and there's no acting, just.. dramatic reading

Glennie: you have to write it?

me: previous winners have included a lot of kids speaking in groups and singing

yes

Glennie: hmm

when do you need it by

8:27 PM me: tonight.

well i have to have a solid idea tonight

we submit our registration tomorrow for the contest

which includes the kids' names and the title/subject

8:28 PM Glennie: ok, right now all i'm coming up wiht is having masks

of two different colors (two groups of three) who don't like each other for one reason or another

me: hahah

Glennie: and one little kid in a white mask who makes them see that they are pretty when they mix (i.e. red and blue groups make purple) or something

So, with that in mind, here I present to you the final rehearsal of Fu Xing Primary School's "Blue, Yellow, and Red," starring Annie as the Narrator, Marvin and Gavin as Red, Lily and David as Blue, and Dennis and Christina as Yellow. I was way too nervous to film during the actual performance, and I'm way too impatient to wait for the official recording, so the final rehearsal (with mistakes and prop mishaps and all) is what you get. But trust me, you'll get the idea.



And here's a picture of Susan, me, and the Fu Xing Reader's Theater team after the performance.

PS: This post was supposed to go up Wednesday night, after the competition took place Wednesday afternoon, but the video took an eternity to upload, so you're not seeing it until now. Sorry!

PPS: Mom, did I ever thank you for this shirt? If not... thanks. I like it. I wear it a lot. Like to Reader's Theater competitions.

Written with a broken heart

I don't really know how to talk about it, how to write about it, but it's something that you all will ask about at some point, so it's best for me to answer your question before you even ask.

Three weeks ago today, we adopted two young puppies, Sonic and Milo. They had been strays, but they'd had their first round of vaccinations, and we were seeing the vet regularly. After about a week and a half, Sonic started to lose his appetite, and got a pretty severe cough. We brought him into the vet, who told us that Sonic had canine distemper and would likely die.

Canine distemper is a disease uncommon in the US because most dogs have been vaccinated against it and vaccinated mothers provide their puppies with enough immunization to get them through the early months. Taiwan, however, has a high population of stray dogs, and many Taiwanese don't follow the vaccination protocol for the dogs they do choose to raise. Thus, these highly preventable, highly fatal diseases still have a high occurrence in the population.

We contacted the woman from whom we'd adopted the boys right away, and a week ago she picked Sonic up to stay at a veterinary hospital for treatment. I visited him every day, but after the first few days, he began to quickly deteriorate. And this morning, three weeks after we adopted him, Sonic was unable to stand, eat, or control his own muscles. With incredible sadness but full knowledge that it was the right thing to do, we had to let him go.

I'll always remember Sonic. He was paper-trained within a week (Milo still hasn't figured it out). He liked to chew on anything; if our shoes weren't around, he went for the kitchen wall. His eyes were always bright, unlike any other dog I've seen before-- we fondly called him "Asian eyes." He was a handsome dog who had a lot of energy, but until the day he lost muscle control, he would climb into my lap and fall asleep in minutes. I'll always remember Sonic.

There is nothing we could have done about the canine distemper, and in fact it's still likely that Milo will start showing symptoms any day now. All we can do is hope for Milo, and be glad that Sonic at least knew some love, comfort, and a sense of home before he died.

I will always remember Sonic.

Yet another reason I'm glad I bought a Slingbox

I may have to stay up until 1am to watch kickoff, and it may have a pretty slow buffering process, but at least I can watch the 125th Harvard-yale game, live, from my bed, in Taiwan.

Also, every time I hear the words "great football weather," "cold, windy day," and "below freezing," I feel a little less jealous of all my friends back in Cambridge this weekend.

And, I just heard the band play. Aw.

A little slice of home

So, you know how those fake-vintage shirts have become really popular lately? "Iowa City 4-H State Finalists 2003," "Chippewa Little League All Stars," "San Jose High Varsity Soccer," etc. Well, they are particularly popular in Taiwan. I get the feeling they're mostly made in Asian countries, from the bizarre diction and spelling used.

Anyway, yesterday in class, one of my fourth grade students was wearing one of these shirts. I almost didn't notice, but when she came up to do the speaking part of her midterm, my jaw almost dropped. Later, after the test, I just had to get a picture.

Why?


I mean, it's not spelled perfectly, but Tredyffrin-Easttown was the only word I ever got wrong in 5th grade spelling. Bizarre, eh?

As your holiday season approaches...

Hanshin department store has started putting up Christmas decorations, so I thought it would be fun to write up a list of some days I'll be working this year that you won't be.

I will be working on...

• November 27th, 8am-4pm
• November 28th, 8am-12pm
  
• December 24th, 8am-12pm
  
• December 25th, 8am-4pm
  
• December 31st, 8am-12pm
• January 1st, 8am-4pm
  

And so on and so forth. I figure this is about the time people start complaining about only getting off work a few days for Christmas, or having to work the day after Thanksgiving... or bragging about all their vacation days... Anyway, I'm probably not the person to go to for any of this.

Then again, I will be off from January 21st to February 11th. Krakow, here I come!

Culturally Confounded in Taiwan: Chapter 3

This one sort of goes along the lines of getting free stuff. But it doesn't.

I'm sitting in the classroom right now during lunch break. All the students are in their homerooms, either eating or settling in for an afternoon nap. A small girl just came in and said to me (in Chinese), "Today is my birthday. Here is juice for you." I replied with a confused "Happy birthday" in English and Chinese as she walked out the door.

So now I'm sitting here with papaya juice on my desk that some child gave me for her birthday. I feel a little bad. First I was disappointed to have my birthday on a Saturday because it meant no adorable 4th grade chorus of "Happy Birthday" in class, but now that I realize I might have had to provide treats for everyone on my birthday, maybe it was for the better.

This is not the first time this has happened, either. I've also gotten candy and mooncakes from students on their birthdays. I vaguely remember parents baking brownies or cupcakes or something for kids to bring in on their birthdays back in elementary school, but buying papaya juice for the whole faculty? This one's new to me.

My two excuses

So, the secret's out. Time to disclose what I've been busy with the past few weeks. But first, let me explain how it all started.

A few weeks ago, my roommate Dani was getting her bike out to run an errand. I was chatting with her while she was getting ready to head out. I told her about how I don't like using my bike as much in this traffic, and that I was (and am) thinking about getting an electric bike, or a kit to make my bike electric. Dani was half-interested in, half-amused by my rambling. I then said, "It's okay, it's just something I'm fixated on right now. That, and... how would you feel if I got a small, contained pet in my room? Like a flying squirrel or chinchilla?"

Dani laughed, said she didn't really care what I did, and then said, "What I really want is a dog." As a chinchilla was the most interesting, cuddly, still-containable pet I could come up with because I thought a dog was out of the question, I was excited by her response. So we talked. And we plotted. And we asked our roommates. I asked our guard whether dogs were allowed in the building, and he answered, "不要吵就可以啦!"

We had all the green lights we needed. So I started searching and email local animal shelters (in Chinese!) about adopting dogs. About a week and three trips to 左營 later, Sonic and Milo had entered our lives.

Dani and I adopted two stray puppies (sort of for my birthday) from an animal shelter here in Kaohsiung. They are mixed breeds, brothers, about two or three months old. We named one Sonic, because he is a little ball of energy like our favorite video game hedgehog. We considered some obvious corresponding names (Knuckles, Doc(tor Robotnik), and Tails)... but somehow, ended up with Milo.

If you're concerned, veterinary care is very inexpensive in Taiwan and we can more than afford it. And though it's complicated, I'm planning on taking them with me when I leave Taiwan.

And now, some pictures.

First, my birthday lunch at T.G.I.Friday's.


And now, PUPPIES! Everybody loves puppies.

First day home, Sonic likes chewing on my sock.

Dani cuddles the tiny, calm Milo while Sonic watches, desperate for attention.

Sonic finds the attention he seeks. In my lap.

Now, the boys are growing up. Milo is more energetic, and Sonic and I have enjoyed several naps together on the couch. Milo finishes his dinner first and stands vigilant over Sonic, waiting for him to lose interest and leave his bowl unattended.

They are sweet, smart boys who are about 90% paper-trained after less than two weeks. Their vaccines aren't complete until Christmas, so for now they have to be apartment dogs and can't go outside. But they were officially introduced to my Fulbright peers last night, so now they can be officially introduced to you.

A Landmark Occasion

Today in Kaohsiung, for the first time since I got here three and a half months ago, the temperature went below 80 degrees. All the way down to 66 degrees. Fahrenheit.

Kids are wearing ski vests over their gym uniforms. We didn't turn the fans on in class. I didn't sweat walking to the bus stop.

Of course, the same weather in New England would bring out lots of pasty skin revealed by shorts and tank tops, but here, I'm really excited that I can finally wear long pants and not want to die.

Here's to hoping this lasts!

Long weekend #2: Kenting

I've been neglecting the blog lately. I have two excuses, but I won't bother to tell you about them. Instead, I'll do a mostly-pictures update of my second weekend trip when Jon was here. We went to Kenting, which is on the southern tip of Taiwan. The setting of "Cape No. 7," Kenting is the Taiwanese resort town. Except we stayed in a small inn, not a huge resort, so much of the weekend was spent figuring out how to get around and what we were supposed to be doing. Regardless, Kenting was a beautiful place to be, and thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend (remember what I said about how getting advice from locals was a necessity?), we did end up at some good restaurants and on an excellent snorkelling excursion.

And now, some pictures.

Jon overlooks the main Kenting beach:

A view of the landscape on the east coast of Taiwan:

The Pacific Ocean. Look really hard, can you see California?

A nice trip to the national aquarium:



And a great snorkeling trip by the nuclear power plant. Seriously. Once you swim through a few yards of trash, you get to an amazingly diverse and beautiful coral reef:
(our snorkel-guide had an underwater camera. Phew.)

I still have some other Jon pictures and stories, but they are smaller. This will probably be my last in the "Jon summary" series, as I'm getting way behind on blogging on actual current events. But I hope you've enjoyed these stories. All this and more could be yours, if you visit Taiwan, too!

Taipei: Kaohsiung of the north?

Now, back to those Jon stories. It may seem like there are a lot, but he was here for over two weeks, and this post will mark the end of week one. Granted, my getting sunburned on 10-10 meant that I got my usual sunburn-induced cold/cough in week two, so activity was substantially reduced.

Anyway, I will come out and say it, Taipei is not my favorite city. Though Kaohsiung is supposed to be more dense, Taipei feels more crowded with more traffic and scarier-looking stray dogs. The biggest lesson that I learned from going to Taipei with Jon is that, in Taiwan, it is really necessary to get advice from a local on where to go and what to do. For the times when we just wanted to wander and find things, we inevitably got lost and ended up eating McDonald's because it's all we could find. When we found something online or in a travel book, we ended up disappointed and not sure if we were in the right place.

But the three places that were heavily recommended by friends, the Palace Museum, the Taipei Zoo, and the Shihlin Night Market, were definitely successful ventures. The Palace Museum is a collection of everything from art to ceramics to old letters that were taken from the Mainland during the communist revolution. No pictures were allowed, but it was definitely a tourist-friendly and worthwhile trip.

The Taipei Zoo is at the end of one subway line, far outside center city; it's a sprawling zoo with plenty of different landscapes to accommodate almost every animal. A favorite exhibit was the koalas, though the pictures didn't come out great through the glass:

And then there were the elephants, that Jon's college roommate Benny apparently took care of for a summer:

And that big furry bear that Jon really, really wanted to take home:

We also went to the top of Taipei 101, seeing the whole city from 101 floors up:

Of course, going to Taipei 101 with a physics major was a little different. He was way more interested in the damper that kept the building steady. Here he is, posing with the "damper baby," with the big damper in the background:

The Shihlin night market was also a successful trip, with more food and people than we could ever take in:

And finally, a nice picture of one of those great monuments that we never meant to see while getting lost on our way to somewhere else:

And though I have hundreds of other pictures from the Taipei weekend, it's time to move on to week 2. Look forward to it!