Dear friends,
These past few weeks have been extraordinarily busy. I went to Taipei two weekends ago for the Fulbright Farewell party for Dr. Wu and all of us Fulbrighters. Dr. Wu Jing-Jyi has been with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange for nearly 20 years. He has contributed a lot to Taiwan's art and culture scene. Without his advancements for the arts in Taiwan, there would be no Cloud Gate Dance Troupe in Taiwan. When he retires, he will be directing a creative research center in his name.

At the start line. We're in lane 2

Dear friends,
I competed in the annual Dragon Boat Festival race this past Monday and Tuesday. Right after two full work days filming our Kaohsiung project over the weekend, I was exhausted when it came around to finally competing in our dragon boat. We practiced a total of four times, about an hour each time, and were ready to  be as quick as lightning--although, we've never had a full practice with everyone there. You may remember my earlier post about dragon boating here. You should probably read about our dragon boating experience in the previous post so you can grasp my full experience.

Some of our teammates posing for a picture before we row (I'm in the first row, left)

Competing at night. All races were held at around 8pm

Everyone smiling for the camera after our first race

Our logo for our T-shirts drawn by a Fulbrighter

After singing the 'Hokey Pokey'

Dear friends,
You may have thought all of us Fulbrighters would have had a weekend of rest after our trip to eastern Taiwan, right? Well, wrong. The weekend right after we went white-water rafting, all of us had to film a video about learning English. This video is our group project as Kaohsiung Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. It is a children's video complete with vocabulary, sentence patterns, subtitles, and energetic actors who can sing and dance.

Shana & Nicki reading their scripts with cashier Vicki

Getting ready to sing 'If You're Happy and You Know It...'

Rehearsing on the simulated airplane environment wth our scripts

Cooling off

Dear friends,
I just got back from a 3-day trip to Kending, Taiwan. From previous posts, you already know I've been to Kending twice. This third trip to Kending was still terrific because I was able to still see many new things.

On the first day, we went to the Aquatic Marine Museum. There, we saw lots of beautiful fish, sharks, and we even got to see a beluga show! You'll see pictures in this album: Taiwan Photo Set 29. During the beluga show, if you answered questions about belugas correctly, you were given an opportunity to be kissed and professionally photographed with a beluga for free. Of course, I couldn't answer any of the questions in Chinese, but I was lucky enough to be given a free photo pass by an elderly women who answered a question correctly and was leaving the show early. Quite an experience! When I put on the life jacket and pet the beluga, the beluga felt squishy and soft. I was a bit nervous when the beluga came to kiss me on the cheek and I was hoping it couldn't tell I was nervous. Anyway, it was fun.

The mid-year conference was different from the orientation conference in September because we actually got two days to explore Taiwan instead of sitting in a conference room all day. During those two days, we hiked in Kending National Park and saw two caves, orchids, and several unique trees. Pictured in the photo above is a tree whose roots grow vertically--really amazing! We also saw a tree that was wrapped in vines. The vines knotted themselves to keep from squeezing the tree to death, according to our tour guide. You can find the picture of the tree in this album link.

The Fulbrighters took several group shots and I'll post two of them here. You may not recognize me because I'm wearing glasses. One of my contacts ripped and I had to take it out so I wore glasses the entire weekend. I thought I was so smart because I actually brought an extra pair of contacts with me to Kending. Unfortunately, when I opened up one of the new contact lens packets, it was empty! There was no contact in there...so much for my luck, eh?

In this picture, I'm in the middle, popping the peace sign...

In addition to going to the Marine Museum and Kending National Park, we visited a beach and observed egrets. On the last day, each grantee and group of ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) presented on their experience in Taiwan so far.

Dear friends,
My first week at school (last week) was so incredibly fun, exciting, busy, and full of adventures that it's hard to distill just a few of those memorable moments down into a blog entry. But, here we go!

On Monday (Sept. 8, 2008)
In the morning, I went to English Village at Ling Zhou Elementary School (not the elementary school I teach at) to finish up last minute activities for English Village. As you may recall, English Village is a program that was launched by the Kaohsiung Bureau of Education to create simulated environments (e.g. hotel, airport, supermarket) where students can practice their English with foreigners.

For example, a post office where students can play with the environment and speak.

The Fulbright English Teaching Assistants created station games in addition to a dialog station at English Village to help the students practice more English. English Villages, or simulated environments, were built in many Kaohsiung Elementary Schools. However, we are only running three English Villages this semester. Fifth graders from all over Kaohsiung go to one English Village once a year. We prepared for English Village on Monday, but it does not officially start until Tuesday (Sept. 9). On Monday, I just finished up last minute touch-ups to the station games to get ready for Tuesday's opening ceremony and full run through of English Village. Though, every Monday I will spend the morning at Ling Zhou English Village. In the afternoon, I go to my school, Hua Shan Elementary School by walking from Ling Zhou Elementary school to the MRT, take the MRT to the last station on the red line (Xiao Gang), and then bike to my school for about 15 minutes, depending on traffic.

When I got to my school on Monday afternoon, I  brought Moon Cake for all the staff and faculty for the Mid-Autumn moon Festival. I was already introduced to the staff last Tuesday, but I introduced myself to my classes and began teaching today.

Teaching was so wonderful. The kids are so cute and they love to play games! They can pronounce my name pretty well because it sounds like the Chinese word for "Greece"---Xi La. Ashley & Jia-Ling are very good teachers and I've already learned a lot about how to plan for classes and what to go over first in class.

For my introduction for the rest of the week, I used pictures to show my students where I am from in the United States and I made a name card for myself. All the students "oohed" and "ahhed" when they saw the beautiful mountain pictures of Colorado! When I taught this week, I also made a poster of "American Culture" vs. "Chinese Culture" to help my students understand some differences. The examples I went over this week were:
American Culture: Calendar starts on Sunday & American students do not take naps during the day at school
Chinese culture: Calendar starts on Monday & Chinese students take naps during the day at school

It was so cute because when I told the students that American students don't take naps during the day, they were so surprised and thought that the American students must fall asleep in class! They were all very intrigued by the differences.

I later went home by bike, MRT, and bus (I call that my "triathalon commute back home"). Travel to and from my school takes about an hour. I absolutely love my school, though, so the commute is worth it.


On Tuesday (Sept. 9, 2008)
English Village started on Tuesday morning at Ling Zhou Elementary School and it was rather difficult because some of the logistics were not planned out. The kids had a lot of fun, though. It was good that we had this run through because we figured out some of the problems with the games and the rotation to different stations at English Village. I was exhausted after that two hour English Village session at Ling Zhou. Then, I commuted to my school, Hua Shan Elementary School, in the afternoon.

At Hua Shan, I met the principal, the staff, and the faculty. They are all very friendly and fun. They kept on teasing each other about how shy they were to talk to me, a foreigner. However, when Friday came along, I noticed that if I spoke Chinese, my teachers were very talkative! I told them that my Chinese is like their English, "still learning." So, I told them to don't be afraid to talk to me, because as long as they speak slowly, I will understand, and I will do the same.

Hua Shan Elementary School has been so welcoming. They've already given me a bike, moon cake, "Beauty" tea, a temporary helmet (because my permanent helmet is being decorated by my classes as a gift), free lunch, lunch bowls and chopsticks, and more mooncake. They are even going to make a display case for me at the school to show all the students and parents. I already designed it so when it's up at school, I'll take a picture to show you. They're calling my display case, "Shiela's Column". It sounds like a "column" from a newspaper, but it's actually my display case  =D. After I taught three classes on Tuesday, I played basketball with the basketball team after school.

Basketball with the Hua Shan co-ed basketball team was SO MUCH FUN! The kids are quite good and the coach told me they were number one in Kaohsiung a few years ago and took fifth place in all of Taiwan Elementary School Basketball 5 years ago! While I was not that good, the kids cheered me every single time I got a basket. At the end of practice, the girls did their team cheer and the boys did their team cheer. Their cheers were so cool! The girls's cheer goes like this: "Hua Shan--clap, clap--Hua Shan,--clap, clap--Hua--Shan--Guo--Xiao--clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap... (repeat)" The clapping is rather difficult, but it sounds really cool. The boys cheer is different and I don't remember it. When I asked my "sports class" (yes, I have a sports class...) what the boys cheer was, none of them wanted to tell me because they were too shy. The reason they were shy was because the boy's cheer is like a war cry. They say "Hexia!" and then say something else while contorting their faces into an intense competitive look.  It's very cool.

While I enjoyed the girl's and boy's basketball practice, I do not think I can go every Tuesday afternoon because I am so tired after going. I love practicing with the kids, though. I'll try to go at least once every month. It's hard because on Monday and Wednesday, I have Chinese class in the evening and Tuesday is the only day I get off to study Chinese. Plus, it's the only time I can lesson plan for my meetings on Wednesday morning with Ashley and Jia-Ling. I will have to time manage if I want to go to basketball practice.

On Wednesday (Sept. 10, 2008)
On Wednesday morning, I was introduced to all the students at their flag raising ceremony. It was so hot on Wednesday and the kids had to sit outside. I gave a little speech and said hello to everyone.

After the flag ceremony, I taught my three classes for the day. Just to give you a snapshot of the classes I co-teach, let me tell you which grades I co-teach and on what days. On Mondays, I co-teach one fifth grade class and two fourth grade classes. On Tuesdays, I co-teach two fifth grade classes and one sixth grade class. On Wednesday, I co-teach first graders, a sixth grade class, and a fifth grade class. On Thursday, I co-teach two fourth grade classes, a third grade class, and a sixth grade class. Finally, on Friday, I co-teach English Club with Ashley and co-teach second graders, and two sixth grade classes. It's a very busy week. But, if you think this is busy, just wait 'till next week when I add my Chinese classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. My schedule will be booked with Monday being the busiest where I travel to three different locations (Ling Zhou in the morning, Hua Shan in the afternoon, and San Min Elementary School in the evening for Chinese classes).

On Thursday (Sept. 11, 2008) & On Friday (Sept. 12, 2008)
These were my most relaxing days. I lesson planned, taught my classes, and chatted with fellow teachers. Walking down the halls, students would say, "Hello Shiela Lao Shi" (Chinese for "Hello Teacher Shiela"). I kind of felt like a celebrity because I kept on waving my hand, smiling, and saying "Hello" back. My students are so excited that it makes me so excited and happy to be at my school. I really love my school. Also, check out the very nice welcome letter the principal wrote about me at the end of this blog.

Later Friday evening, I met my host family. It turns out that they live near Hua Shan Elementary school where I teach! Isn't that amazing?! My host mom Tai-Shia, my host dad Chung-Shih, and my cute little host sister Scarlet (9 yrs.) are so funny, curious, and talkative--just like me! You can check out photos here. When they announced the host family and Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistant) pairing, my host family and I couldn't stop talking to each other because we had so much to say; we were so excited. Well, we immediately made plans for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival weekend. Mid-Autumn Moon Festival falls on Sunday, but we spent the whole weekend together.

On Saturday
My host family took me to Pineapple Mountain, a little mountain near Chengqing Hu (Crystal Clear Lake). We hiked up the little mountain and saw the pineapple fields. Did you know pineapples grow in the ground? I didn't know that; I thought they grew on trees. Anyway, let me tell you, this hike was very windy. It was windy because a typhoon was coming! We went hiking in typhoon weather.

Look at how windy it was up on Pineapple Mountain!

Later that evening, we barbecued and ate lots of moon cakes. A fellow teacher at school told me that the reason why barbecuing now occurs in Taiwan is because a very popular television commercial showed people barbecuing with soy sauce and ever since then, people wanted to cook this special way on Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. I don't know if this is true, but it's very interesting. I only stayed for some of the barbecue because it was a fellow English Teaching Assistant (ETA) and Local English Teacher (LET)'s birthday so I went to celebrate with them later that evening.

On Sunday
It rained a lot and the wind howled so loudly, some of my apartment mates could not sleep. Despite the rain, my host family picked me and two of my apartment mates up and drove us to Chung-Shih (host dad's) grandparent's house for homemade hot pot! The dinner was so incredibly delicious! Check out the photos here.

I ate so much moon cake this week. The Bureau of Education also sent each of the 12 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants a huge box of moon cake, so I've been eating one a day...quite a lot! I could write more because I left a lot out, but I think this is enough for one post. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next update!


This is my school website where you can find the Principal's post below:
http://www.hshanps.kh.edu.tw/show.php?index=1

席拉！華山的四海一家~ Welcome Shiela to Huashan 作者 weitow | 10 九月, 2008 | read_nums (1)        海上生明月，天崖共此時！       

        一到中秋季節，月餅和月亮就自然成為我們生活與感受的焦點。今年的中秋前夕，很多華山人都有個共同的感受：沒想到，今年的第一口月餅，竟然是來自Shiela小姐－這位遠從美國來做客的朋友手中。

      Shiela小 姐－華山的外籍英語客座教師，經意願選填而到本校，擔任為期一年的學童英語課協同教師，是一位美麗大方又親切近人的好女孩。她是高雄市政府教育局，透過與 國際學術交流基金會的合作，由該機構引薦美國「傅爾．布萊特」獎學金得獎青年，而來台擔任學童英語協同教學的一位外籍教師。

      華山奉高市教育局之命，於去年設置英語村，以提供更有利於學童學習英語的教學環境，自開放教學以來，倍受師生歡迎與喜愛，使用率居高不下。但本校並不以此為滿足，總希望本校的學童英語教學能繼續有所突破。

       這學年度，Shiela小姐加入華山人行列，成為本校刺激學童提昇學習英語的第三劑強心針。

       第一劑強心針，來自於本校五年級的謝興泰小朋友。他在今（97）年暑假期間，報名參加英國劍橋英檢，通過第11及檢測，相當於國內英檢中的高級檢測，這項傲人的成就，讓他10歲通過這項檢測的事蹟，成為東亞第一人的新紀錄。

       第二劑強心針，來自於本校甫從英國修完教育哲學博士返校服務的王嘉陵老師。嘉陵師在考取公費出國留學之前，已獲得國內教育博士學位，秉於自我成長與進修的信念，考取公費留學而遠赴英國求學三年，其各項英語能力自不在話下，相對的，她的英語教學專業，更是本校特別倚重的。

       而Shiela小 姐，雖是額外且意外的成為本校英語教學的第三劑強心針，但令人敬佩的，是她並未絲毫的以過客心境而減低對華山的投入，很用心也很主動的融入這個大家庭。即 便她僅能說一些簡單的國語，且大部分表達都需要使用她自己的母語－英語，但熱情有增無減。不但很快的贏得全校同仁的認同，且非常受到學童的歡迎。

       Shiela小姐在9月2日向本校報到後，依合約規範休假，開學第二週起正式到本校任職。第一天的正式上班，她帶來一大盒甫出爐的月餅，宴請本校同仁。吃月餅不稀奇，唯有每年的第一口月餅才讓人驚艷，尤其是那份來自千里之外的外國友人的真情，不但讓人非常感動，而且有一份特別的感受。 

      一盒月餅讓彼此成為一家人，一份熱誠讓學習更提昇。

      這一年裡，因於本校英語教學三劑強心劑的投入，華山全體師生會擁有真實且難忘的四海一家（We are the world）新體驗。因此，華山人要張臂歡迎Shiela小姐來華山，也要奮力提昇全校師生的英語學習。

Dear friends,
Last weekend, I went to Taipei with all twelve Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. We went on the High Speed Railway (HSR) that was just built a few years ago.

The HSR only takes about an hour and a half to get from Kaohsiung to Taipei. When I arrived, I checked into a hotel and later toured the Chang Kai Shek Memorial. You can find pictures here. The conference was a lot of fun and I met a lot of  different researchers. Some were doing research on identity, China-Taiwan politics, mental illness, Buddhism and Chinese medicine. My hope is that when I travel around Taiwan, I can visit all the researchers and the researchers will visit me in Kaohsiung.

After the conference, I visited the National Palace Museum with Shana & Billy,  fellow Fulbright ETAs. We also visited Taipei 101 (we didn't have enough time to go up, though). I did a lot in those short 3 days. The photo album is just a snapshot of Taipei. I am sure I am going to go back there soon.

Dear friends,
This past weekend, I went to Guan Yin Shan (name literally translates into a female saint's mountain) and Chengqing Hu (Crystal Clear Lake) with one of the local English teachers, Patty. You can find the photo album that corresponds with this post here. The hike up Guan Yin Shan had lots of steep stairs and we only made it halfway because we were meeting Patty's daughters and husband for lunch. On one side of the mountain was a rope we could use to climb up. It was kind of like a beginner's course in rock climbing--pretty fun.

Kate climbing the rope

After we climbed up Guan Yin Shan, Patty took us to eat Sushi Bar. It was very delicious and with our stomachs full, we headed to Crystal Clear Lake (Chengqing Hu). We saw a bee farm, a nine-cornered bridge, and a 7-level pagoda there. You'll see all of these pictures in Taiwan Photo Album 5. We also saw a really interesting fish in the aquarium at Crystal Clear Lake. The fish looked like it had a brain.

Anyway, this is Shiela reporting that it has been yet another grand adventure in Taiwan. Tune in next time to hear about the Fulbright Conference in Taipei that happens this weekend.

Dear friends,
Since arriving in Taiwan, we have been featured in several news stories. I've pasted one with a picture of me below. Here are other news stories:
http://news.e2.com.tw/big5/2008-8/8452118.htm
http://times.hinet.net/times/article.do?newsid=1688858&option=latest
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/aug/19/today-education1.htm

美國傅爾布萊特青年得獎人 來台教英文

自由時報 /  2008/08/19

〔記者李開菊／高雄報導〕為使英文教學從小扎根，教育局今年度特別和學術交流基金會合作，聘請12位美國傅爾布萊特青年得獎人抵高擔任小學協同英語教師，將以1年的時間，與小學生親身「接觸」，給予英語環境，讓小朋友的英文自然琅琅上口，不再「只學不敢說」。

教 育局表示，目前台灣僅高雄市與宜蘭縣和學術交流基金會合作，聘請美國傅爾布萊特青年得獎人擔任小學協同英語教師；高雄市將12人分配至有設置英語村的12 所國小服務，昨天教育局安排他們與本地英語教師相見歡，希望他們漸漸融入台灣高雄的生活；教育局長蔡清華熱烈歡迎12位美籍教師到來。

此外，搭配教育局規劃的「英語村遊學體驗營」，也將安排國小五年級學生至英語村，與這群美籍教師實地互動與學習，他們並將協助編著英語教學教材、辦理教學觀摩及成果展演等。

初抵寶島，外籍教師對高雄市的愛河、柴山、高雄港、旗津、六合夜市等美景及小吃非常嚮往，希望有機會趕快體驗一番。

Dear friends,
After a week of silence, I am happy to announce that I finally got Internet installed in my apartment. I am staying with three other people in our spacious 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment complete with kitchen, living room, laundry room, basic furnishings, and a balcony. The apartment (pictures to come)  is quite comfortable despite the occasional cockroach that pops up. Our apartment is right across the street from the South gate of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center. This is an excellent location because it is near Normal University where I can take Chinese classes. There are also lots of events, fairs, festivals, and activities that happen in the Cultural Center. For instance, every morning and evening I see Tai Chi classes and aerobic dance classes taking place in the Cultural Center. I hope to join one of these Tai Chi classes in the Cultural Center when I have a more concrete idea of what my schedule will look like. My current schedule is pretty relaxed; I take the bus to San Min Elementary School every morning and sit the whole day participating in orientation activities. Do not be fooled, though. Things have only just quieted down for us Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs). Everyday of last week was jampacked with activities. From applying for our Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) to waddling in the water at Qijin island, the Fulbright Program Coordinators kept us extraordinarily busy. Let me recap some of the highlights of last week when I did not have Internet.

When I first arrived, I stayed in the Hotel Kingdom with a fellow Fulbrighter. Since this fellow Fulbrighter and I were arriving a day before everyone else, we walked the city. My first impressions were:
1) There are a ton of scooters in Taiwan,
2) Taiwan's stoplights have a timer on them so you know how long you have to wait for the red light (pretty nice),
3) Aforementioned scooters do not pay attention to aforementioned stoplights, making crossing the street extremely crazy,
4) People love to stare at foreigners (well, they don't like to stare at me all that much because they think I'm a local. Then, they hear me speak and they laugh because my Chinese is "ma-ma-hu-hu" (so-so) and are impressed by my Caucasian friends who speak better Mandarin than I. It's a rather funny situation.),
5) There are palm trees lining the streets, and
6) There's a 7-11 convenience store almost every two blocks! At the 7-11, you can pay your utility bill, buy a SIM card (pre-paid phone card) for your cell phone, get hot dogs, umbrellas, etc. The function of the 7-11s here in Taiwan are much more versatile than in the United States.

The night I arrived, I had dinner with just our Program Coordinators (see pictures in Photo Set 1: Arrival & Settling In) and we went to the Taiwanese Film Archive.  The next day, I met all the other Kaohsiung ETA Fulbrighters. Most of them had a layover in Taipei before coming to Kaohsiung so they were able to chat and get to know one another. On that day (the 2nd day I arrived), our program coordinators took us on an AMAZING shopping excursion.

We all loaded up onto this huge tour bus and went to IKEA and Carrefour (a large supermarket) to buy stuff for our apartments. There are twelve of us Fulbright ETAs and three apartments; four people live in each apartment. Two of the apartments are near each other and are in the same security-guarded complex (that's my apartment, Apartment A, and Apartment B). Apartment C is about two blocks from where we live. We all loaded up into this tour bus and went shopping for four people and an apartment. You'll see pictures of us fooling around in IKEA (sitting at desks) here. After buying all this stuff, we moved into our apartments and were utterly exhausted the rest of the night.

The next day, we rested and took a boat tour on the "Love River" and went to Qijin island. It was incredibly fun and I got to see much of Taiwan. On the boat tour, I saw the Hong Kong Navy (I'm not too sure why it was there), and an oil rig. When we arrived at Qijin, a group of us decided to hike to the top of the lighthouse on Qijin island. The lighthouse was closed, but the scenic overlooks were absolutely beautiful. I had yummy barbecued squid for dinner later that day at Qijin. There was also a Taiwanese boy band playing in the open space at Qijin island. You'll see in the pictures a group dancing and holding a boat on top of their heads.

During the next few days, we applied for our ARCs (Alien Resident Certificate) visited Xiziwan Beach, visited English Village (a place where 5th graders and other students can come practice prearranged English dialogs), and ate/shopped at the night markets (specifically Liuhe Yeshi and Zhong Xiao).

Xiziwan Beach was very windy when we went, but the restaurant there was excellent. I've been eating some amazing food here in Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is a seaport so there's lots and lots of seafood--my favorite!

In Kaohsiung, the government has been spending lots of money on establishing "English Village" sites. These are places where students can go to practice specific English dialogs. Since Kaohsiung, Taiwan will be hosting the 2009 World Games, the government wants the students to be able to interact with English speakers and introduce to them the city's history and people. However, the sites are not exclusively geared toward this goal. The English Village sites have over 20 environments (i.e. hotel, grocery store, airport, bank, post office, etc.) where Taiwanese children can practice conversational English. The English Village we went to in Ling Zhou was housed in a huge building with four levels. The ETAs will be participating in English Village a few hours each week in addition to teaching English at a specific school.

After visiting both Xiziwan Beach and one of the English Villages, the next memorable outing was at the night markets! I really like the night markets because I can practice bargaining. I got a wallet here for NT$150, which is a little over US$4. The food at the night markets were amazing. They had fish balls, barbecued squid (like the kind I ate at Qijin), bubble tea (which I never tasted until coming to Taiwan), and other assorted seafood. Liuhe Yeshi is the tourist night market and Zhong Xiao is a night market by where we live.

We've been very busy these past few weeks and now that I have Internet, I'll be updating much more frequently. This weekend, I planned a day trip for all of us Fulbrighters to go to Lotus Lake (Lianchitan) to visit Confucius Temple (Kong Miao), Spring and Autumn Pavilions (ChunQiu Ge), and the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (Longhu Ta). It should be amazing and I hope the weather will be nice.

The weather so far has been very very humid and hot. I think it's a little more intense than Hong Kong. Kaohsiung is past the Tropic of Cancer so I wouldn't expect it to be cooler. I was very worried about the humidity damaging my clothes, but I bought so many water absorbers for my drawers and closet that I think I'm fine. My apartment also bought a dehumidifier to help dry our clothes in the laundry room.  If you come visit me, though, be ready to get drenched in sweat from the hot and wet climate.

So far, I am loving Taiwan and am so excited to meet the Local English Teachers (LETs). We meet them next week and depending on who we choose, we will go to their school. The Fulbright ETAs will all be teaching at elementary schools because our Kaohsiung group is the pilot group; the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange wants to be sure that the program is successful before moving it to the middle school level. It has been so much fun and I can't wait to begin the year, meet my kids, and mix with the locals!