Dear friends,
To celebrate the new year, I went to Taipei (again). I was just there the weekend before to see Lang Lang play piano. I went with Kate and a friend from college, Chao-Wei.

When we got to Taipei, we walked around a lot because we got there super early. The outdoor concert started at 7pm; we got there at 6pm. It was also lightly raining in Taipei and it was much colder than Kaohsiung. The wind chill is not as awful as Iowa winter weather, but it was colder than the 70 degree weather in Kaohsiung. I borrowed Chia-Ling's coat because I didn't bring any real winter clothes because I thought this tiny little island wouldn't be cold. Well, I sure was proven wrong when I got a cold last month during the weather change. Anyway, thank you Chia-Ling for letting me borrow your coat; it kept me very warm =D.

When the concert started at 7pm, it was pretty cool because Kate, Chao-Wei, and I got pretty good spots considering we were so early. There were many famous singers at the concert, but I don't really remember their names. However, I did see S.H.E. sing several songs, this guy from Tainan who wore cool glasses (see pictures below), and I really wanted to see MayDay (Wu Yue Tian) sing, but they were last. We left our good spot in front of the concert early because we wanted to be near the MRT to beat the mad rush home after the fireworks. I was really grateful that did that because we got to where we were staying at 1:30am and not 2 or 3 am.

The Famous Singers at the Outdoor Concert (at least up until we left for a closer location near the MRT)...

Click to enlarge the pictures

The next day, I was very tired, but I had an excellent breakfast to start the New Year. Check it out:

We met up with some of Chao-Wei's friends in Taipei and we had lunch at Din Tai Feng. After lunch, we headed to the biggest night market in Taipei, Shi Lin Yie Shi. Lots of fun! You can see lots of photos in Taiwan Photo Set 27.

Dear friends,
On the same day that my students had the Christmas performance, I left for Taipei with my host family to see Lang Lang play piano. For those of you who do not know, Lang Lang was the piano player at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. You can read stories about him here from the New York Times.

When I saw him in concert the day after Christmas (December 26), I was amazed. He plays with such vigor and always with a smile! He moves his whole body to the music and always closes his eyes. It was very impressive. I played piano when I was growing up so I can appreciate his music as a fellow pianist, and boy, was I astounded. I kinda fell asleep during the slow movements, but I would quickly wake back up. I was very tired after weeks of not that much rest.

At the end of the concert, Lang Lang did TWO encores!! The audience was so surprised and we couldn't stop clapping. During the second encore, Scarlet and my host dad left to stand in line to get Lang Lang's signature. So, when Tai-Shia (my host mom) and I came out of the concert, Scarlet was already in line and I just took the place of my host dad. When we were waiting to get the signature, I realized I had nothing but a scrappy piece of paper for Lang Lang to sign.  When I approached the signing table, Lang Lang looked at me funny and asked me what this was in Chinese and I told him I didn't have anything else. He looked at me funny again and signed it. When I got out of line with Scarlet, we were some of the first people he signed, I snapped a few pictures of Lang Lang, then got back in line. Why you ask? Because my host mom bought me a program booklet for Lang Lang to sign properly. This time, though, I was at the very end and I had to kindly ask the security guards to even let me back in line. So, I got Lang Lang's signature TWICE! The picture above is Lang Lang's signature in the program booklet. The scrappy piece of paper just didn't make the cut =D.

When we got back to the Evergreen Hotel after the Lang Lang concert, Scarlet decided that we would visit the Evergreen Maritime Museum the next day. What a good decision that was because when we went to the museum we learned so much about ships, their history, and their operation. The museum director even gave us a personal tour of the museum! (See picture below).

After that, all of us  (Chia-Ling and my host family) went to Yang Ming Shan (Yang Ming Mountain) to hike. It was breathtaking and you can find pictures here in Taiwan Photo Set 26.

You'll find in the same photo album that I like to jump and take pictures a lot, especially if there's a bridge. Check out Scarlet and I jumping, teehee. Click to enlarge the photos.

Dear friends,
Winter is such a splendid time--making snowmen, putting frosting on cookies, having a feast with the family, and giving gifts. In celebration of the many different ways Americans spend their holiday season, I showed my kids pictures of what some Americans do during this time. I made a powerpoint that explained:
1) shopping and exchanging/giving gifts
2) decorating your house with lights
3) how families get together and eat lots of food
4) the many celebrations that happen in America (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, winter solstice, etc.) during the winter time
5) how some little children leave milk, cookies, and a letter out for Santa Claus
and 6) the many winter sports that people do (skiing, snowboarding, snowball fights, etc.)

To me, the holiday season is incomplete if I do not give gifts to people who are close to me to show my appreciation. For Chia-Ling, Ashley, and my host family, I made each of them a photo album (idea was given to me by Joyce from Ling Zhou Elementary School who gave me my own photo album! We have a surprise for Joyce and her family later this year...shhh! I can't say anything right now because she's reading this blog). Each album took about two hours to make, but I really enjoyed making them because these people really mean a lot to me. They have made my experience in Taiwan so special!

My school celebrated Christmas with an end of the year performance. In Taiwan, not many people are Christians, but they still celebrate Christmas. It is not as sensitive of an issue here as it is in the United States where some people may be offended if you celebrate Christmas and are not a Christian or introduce Christmas into the classroom. In any case, I did my best to let my kids understand the diverse ways Americans celebrate the winter season and get together with their families.

In regards to the end of the year performance, I was not originally planning to go to the performance because I got the day-off and was going to leave for Taipei with my host family. However, some kids let me in on a secret: they were going to surprise me with a performance...about me! So, I decided to check it out.

The surprise was:

The...

...BAND!

Click on the pictures above to enlarge.

During the Christmas performance, there were classes singing holiday songs in Chinese and there was even a kung fu performance by a second grader. The parent's association of our school also got up and performed a little dance right after the aboriginal student club performed a dance. At the end, there was a plethora of classes pretending to be rock bands. The very very last performance, though, was the surprise: The Shiela Band, performing "I am falling in love with you!" Talk about a surprise! The students were lip syncing to a song and it was so cute. It was such an honor to have a band named after me and the students really touched my heart. The performance was in front of the entire school (See picture above).

I am so thankful to have such a warm school and loving students. I have really developed a strong relationship with my students and the faculty at Hua Shan. I hope my students know how lucky I feel to be their teacher. They make me smile everyday =D.

You can find more pictures here in Taiwan Photo Album 25.

Dear friends,
I'm behind on my blogging because I've been so incredibly busy these past four weeks. On Sunday, December 21, the Bureau of Education organized a trip for all the ETAs (English Teaching Assistants), LETs (Local English Teachers), and host families of the ETAs to go to Ping Dong county (Sandimen) & Mei-Nung. If you remember, I have already been to both of those places so I showed my co-teachers and host family around.

From left, the family of my host mom's colleague (whose son also happens to be my student!), me, co-teacher Chia-Ling, and my host family

When we went to Sandimen, I rode a swing made by the aboriginals. Two people need to be in balance to pull the rope strings that swing the swing. It was pretty fun.

Here I am on the swing...

After we played with the swing, all of the ETAs, LETs, and host families went to make clay pottery. Last time I went to Meinung, I made a cup, remember? This time, I made a wall decoration (see picture below). I had my host family and co-teachers sign it. The top two holes are for stringing ribbon through so it will hang. The bottom hole is for me to hang a picture of my host family and co-teachers.

There are lots and lots of pictures of this trip here. Be sure to check it out!

Dear friends,
This past Saturday and Sunday, right after my 6th grade field trip (Wednesday-Friday), I went to Kending with my host family. You'll notice from my earlier posts that I went to Kending last Sunday; that time was with Joyce from Ling Zhou Elementary School. This time, I went with Tai-Shia, Chung-Shih, and Scarlet to Kending.

We stayed at the Cesar Hotel, the nicest resort in Kending. When we walked into the lobby, they had talking parrots, marble staircases, and a fully decorated Christmas Tree. You can find photos here.  The picture to the right is a view outside our hotel room.

DAY 1
We began our day by dropping our stuff off at the hotel. Afterwards, we took off on a bike ride to the Southern most point in Taiwan. Just two days ago, I already rode bikes with my 6th graders on their graduation field trip. I really like riding bikes so I enjoyed this immensely. We rode from the Cesar Hotel all the way to Oluanpi Park. Along the way, we passed Chuan Fan Shih (a huge rock, see pictures in this album), Banana Bay, and ShaTao. The most Southern point in Taiwan was marked by a huge stone marker (See below).

The stone marker at the most Southern tip of Taiwan (above)

When we were at the most Southern tip of Taiwan, two bikers stopped and gave Tai-shia beetlnut. In the picture to the left, you can see me chewing on beetlenut. Apparently you put a white powder on it and it tastes like cocaine. But, rest assured, beetlenut is legal in Taiwan and when you chew it and suck on the juice, you spit out this red colored pulp. It's rather yucky when you see a person's mouth all red, but lots of elderlypeople in Taiwan and some young people like to chew on beetlenut. After I stopped to try some of this beetlenut, which I found rather spicy, we headed back to Cesar Hotel with our bikes.

I was surprised, Scarlet was not tired at all! She rode with such vigor and enthusiasm =D. We rode for about 2 or 3 hours and it started to rain on our way back. But, the rain stopped and the sun came back out so we still had a great bike ride. Later, when we got back, we went to the private beach owned by the resort. It was absolutely beautiful! I was going to go for a swim in the ocean, but the waves were so strong the lifeguard did not allow anyone to go into the water. So, I swam in the swimming pool at the resort.

Later, my host family and I went to the night market in Kending after eating at the resort's buffet and visiting the game room. The night market was huge! It was the only night market in all of Kending, so maybe that's why it was so big. Many people were selling seashell decorations and I was considering purchasing one, but it was too expensive. After the night market, Tai-Shia and I went to see a live concert at an outdoor pub. It wasn't bad, but it was very noisy so we left and went back to the hotel to play Taiwanese Monopoly with Chung-Shih and Scarlet. It was already very late by then, so we went to bed soon after the game finished.

DAY 2
We woke up at 6:45am and headed to breakfast at about 7:15am. We set out to go hiking in the morning. We went to Kending National Forest and hiked Mountain Tachien. We went to Sheding Nature Park where we hiked the Major and Minor Gorge. Check out the gorge below.

We also saw lots of very colorful insects and huge spiders on the hike. See this album. Afterwards, we went to Hengchun to visit famous film spots from the movie, Cape No. 7. I already went to many of them last Sunday, so we went to Chateaux, the hotel where the movie was filmed. It was absolutely beautiful! The view of the beach was spectacular.

Please check out all the photos in this album: Taiwan Photo Set 23.

Later, on our way back to Kaohsiung, we stopped by Dapeng and saw the sports arena they're building. They're planning to turn this past military base into a hotel and sports place where you can fly airplanes, row boats, and do many things.

Now, I must tell you, after three days of playing and traveling around Taiwan with my 6th graders, I was exhausted by this fifth day of touring Kending. So, during the car rides from place to place, I was sleeping. I had so much fun with my host family and I was surprised I still had so much energy.

It must've been that fish soup we drank at the last restaurant we went to =D Haha.

Thank you, Tai-Shia, Chung-Shih, and Scarlet for taking me on this wonderful trip, filled with so many adventures! I look forward to the next two weekends with you guys when we go to Pingdong County and Taipei to see a piano concert!

All the teachers on the graduation field trip

Dear friends,
Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I went with all the 150 sixth graders from my school on their graduation field trip around the Western and Northern part of Taiwan. We went from Kaohsiung to Taichung, then Xin-zhu, then Taipei, Taoyuan, and finally returned to Kaohsiung. I took over 500+ photos, which I have split up into two albums--Taiwan Photo Set 22.A and Taiwan Photo Set 22.B. I hope you have time to take a look at the pictures because they are pretty good, especialy because Chia-Ling took some artistic shots of our trip.

Day 1
We set off from Hua Shan Elementary School at about 7:30am on Wednesday morning and on 4 tour buses carrying 150 students, 9 teachers, and 5 tour guides, we set off for our first destination: bike riding in Taichung (I don't know the exact name of the place we went to ride our bikes because it's in Chinese). The bike route was pretty level and somewhat short, but we the scenery was pretty cool because we crossed a huge bridge and rode through tunnels that used to be for railcars. You can see pictures of the bike ride in this album. After our bike ride, we hopped back on the bus and headed to an amusement park in Xin-zhu.

The amusement park was awesome! There were so many spectacular, and scary, rides. I rode the ride pictured to the right, whose horizontal track turns vertical 180 degrees and then drops you straight down into lots of upside down turns. Chia-Ling and I rode it twice! You would think I would be scared, but I wasn't because of the following story I'm going to tell you:

So, the teachers were all excited to ride the amusement park rides, but they were especially excited to ride the water park ride (pictured below). We put all our stuff down in the storage area and then got into the boat. Look at how happy we are =D.

The ride was so much fun. I'm sitting in the very front with Watson and we both have our hands up. It was exhilarating and we all got very wet.  After the ride, we got out to get our stuff, but when I looked around, my backpack was missing!

First off, let me tell you the backpack wasn't even mine. I borrowed it from Billy, my apartment mate. Secondly, I had everything in that backpack--Alien Resident Certificate Card, Health Insurance Card, ATM card, NT$4,500 dollars, MP3 player, Fulbright business cards, two jackets, an umbrella, and tissue. So, it was pretty valuable. Luckily, I gave my camera to one of the teachers who didn't ride the water ride so I still had my camera. But, I LOST THE BACKPACK that wasn't even mine and all my valuables! I was freaking out!

All the teachers immediately called the theme park managers, all tour guides, and told fellow students to look in bathrooms and trash cans for my backpack. When the teachers asked me to describe the backpack, I told them it was all black. That was only my guess because I couldn't quite remember what it looked like since I only had it in my possession for that morning (I borrowed the backpack only for the three day trip).

We searched for about an hour, students, teachers, and all tour guides (including some tour guides that weren't even part of our tour group!). Finally, Watson, one of the teachers I was with, receives a call from one of the other teachers, "We've found it." "Is there anything inside?" I ask.

"I don't know," says the teacher.

I run over to where they are and see the backpack. Wow. Everything is there.

"How did you find it?" I ask.

"Well, Tsui-Zhu [another teacher] and I thought the backpack must be nearby the water ride so we went around the little souvenir shops. Then, we saw a backpack laying on the floor in one of the shops. But, we didn't know if it was yours because the backpack was GRAY and BLACK. But, I recognized your umbrella sticking out of the side, Shiela, and knew it was yours!" exclaimed Chia-Ling.

Wow. I was SO incredibly lucky. Lots of students lost their items that day, but I was so lucky to have found my backpack with EVERYTHING inside. Apparently, somebody--probably a student--just grabbed the wrong bag and when they discovered it wasn't theirs, they probably just left it where they were. I'm SO surprised they did not steal anything. I thank my lucky stars for that.

So you can see why after two hours of frantic panicking, that incident made me fearless! I rode everything after that. I rode the ride that vertically drops off, the boat ride that swings back and forth, bumper cars, roller coasters, etc. You name it, I rode it. Let me tell you, I had the courage of a lion.

After the amusement park, we went to a hotel in the mountains of some place in-between Xin-zhu and Taipei (I don't know the name, sorry to disappoint. I'll try to find out later). Now, I felt okay after all the rides, a little dizzy, but still okay. Once I got in the car and we headed up the windy mountain roads and, oh dear, I threw up! Terrible, just terrible. A teacher throwing up before her students! Ha! So much for the courage of a lion, eh?

Anyway, the hotel in the mountains was pretty cool. The teachers, later that night, all got together and karaoked. I was terrible at singing, but I still sang because it was fun. We hit the sack at about 1am.

DAY 2
The next day, I woke up rather cold. There was no heater in the hotel and Chia-Ling (my co-teacher) and I suspected that we left one of the windows open. But, to this day, we will never know. Chia-Ling even wore gloves to go to bed!

Anyway, the next morning we got up at 7am and headed to Taipei at 7:30am. We went to the Taipei Zoo. I kept my bag very close to me throughout this excursion...

We saw all sorts of creatures, but the white rhinosaurus was everywhere! The picture to the right is a pretty good shot of the white rhino. We had a lot of fun at the zoo and the class I toured with was pretty photogenic so we took lots of photos. So many photos in fact, that we were late in meeting back up with the rest of the school. Oh well. When the other classes were waiting for us, they enjoyed McFlurries from McDonald's while we took pictures =D

See how photogenic this class I toured with is?

And then, I played with some of our students. My student is killing me with a blow-up sword...

After we spent about an hour and a half at the zoo, we went to the harbor. On the way to the harbor, we visited the house of Dr. Mackey, a Canadian minister who was famous for establishing a hospital in Taiwan. He was also famous for something else...Chia-Ling will have to fill me in on the story again. In the photo to the left is a picture of me and a teacher in front of a Dr. Mackey statue head.

The harbor was absolutely beautiful. But, I can't put anymore pictures of it on this blog because  there's already too many pictures. You'll just have to see the pictures yourself in this album.

When we went to the harbor in Taipei, which is called Danshui, we headed to "Old Street." There they sold lots of "Pi-Dan," or what literally translates into "leather eggs." The eggs are black, small, and the outer layer is very thick and leathery, hence the name. It tasted, different. Anyway, those eggs were very popular amongst the students and teachers; everybody bought a bag. After visiting old street and eating some dessert, we took a a boat to a nearby island (again, the name is in Chinese and my Chinese isn't that advanced).

Check out one of my students enjoying the boat ride to the left. The boat was pretty neat and we all got sprayed by the water (See pictures here). When we got to the harbor, there was an amazing bridge called "Lover's Bridge" that was for pedestrians only. It was huge and beautiful! Check out the architecture in the picture below.

The 6th graders in the picture above is the class I toured with the entire three days. Chia-Ling, Tsui-Zhu (another teacher), and I walked the bridge. It curved so beautifully. Since coming to Taiwan, every single bridge I've been on (two in total so far, hehe), I've jumped on. So, here's a shot of me jumping (see below). The other bridge I jumped on was in Sandimen's aboriginal park. You'll have to look for that picture in one of the photo albums.

Ta da! Me jumping on the bridge. There was also one more bridge on this island that I jumped on. I was jumping against the sunset. You'll have to find it yourself in this album =D.

After walking the bridge and boardwalk, we headed to a five-star hotel in Taoyuan, the Howard Hotel. It was amazing. They had a swimming pool, game room, sauna/jacuzzi, beautiful view above a reservoir, workout room, game room complete with a mini golf course for children, ping pong tables, pool tables, a nice restaurant and lots of other stuff. I was so exhausted from the day that I headed straight to bed at 10:30pm. Once my head hit the table, I fell asleep.

DAY 3
The next day, we went to yet another amusement park. This time, it was in Taoyuan. This amusement park is very special. It's called LeoFoo Village Theme Park and it is equivalent to the Disneyland of California. I think it's even better than the Disneyland in California, though. Granted, I haven't been to Disneyland in over 15 years, but this theme park was AMAZING!

There are four villages in this theme park--a safarii park, an arabic-like-Taj-Mahal theme park, a water park, and a Western cowboy and indians themed park. It was awesome. The teachers and I went to the safarri park first.

We rode a bicycle trolly above some of the animal cages and we also rode a small train.

The train ride took us very close to the tame animals. Look at how artistic this photo of Coach Pao is to the right. Chia-Ling took this picture. The animals came very close...

See Ms. Liu, my dean of student affairs, to the left and the ostrich running after us? We were very close to the animals. We later took a carnivorous bus ride to see the lions and tigers. It was a great safarii ride.

Later, I also rode a camel with a fellow teacher who was just as daring as me! See picture below.

In the photo above, we were just about to head into the Western Cowboy and Indian themed park. There, Chia-Ling and I rode a roller coaster ride called the Screaming Condor. It was pretty crazy because the ride was very very high and it twisted. We also rode something like the Tower of Doom back in Denver, a normal vertical drop with no twists and spirals. Lots of fun, but only some of the teachers joined us because the others were too scared =D.

At the end of the amusement park trip, about 1pm in the afternoon, we headed back to Kaohsiung. The four and a half hour ride back to Kaohsiung was very long. Our tour bus passed the time by singing KTV, all four and a half hours. Amazing, eh? The kids, teachers, and I sang for four hours straight, no sleeping!

When we got back we were all exhausted. We got back early, though. It was only 5:30pm!

The trip was so much fun. Thank you Hua Shan Elementary School and Principal Liu for inviting me to go. I got to know my 6th graders better and saw lots of Taiwan.

Below, you can see some artistic shots that Chia-Ling took on our trip. She's quite the photographer.

What a fun three days. But, the next day, I had to wake up at 8:30 to go to Kending with my host family! It was non-stop fun. I was jumping from one place to the next. I visited the North part of Taiwan and the next day, I visited the South part. Keep reading for my exciting adventures...

Dear friends,
I went to Sandimen Village, an aboriginal town in Pingdong County (Southern Taiwan) on Sunday. The aboriginals are famous for their artistic talent--singing, dancing, painting, and making crafts. They are characterized by darker skin and larger eyes. Up until this point, I thought there were only Han Chinese living in Taiwan. However, after seeing more and more aboriginals at my school and during this trip, I can begin to tell the difference between the two sets of people.

I went to Sandimen with Joyce, a co-worker from Ling Zhou Elementary School, her family, Kate, and Billy. We began the day by first heading to the Dragonfly Beads Art Studio, a particularly famous location in Taiwan because of its handmade beads. There are only a handful of these studios in all of Taiwan. The aboriginals use heat to melt the glass beads, which when cooled, are used to make jewelry. Each bead has a special meaning attached to it. One of their necklaces (pictured below) was used in the famous Taiwanese movie Cape No. 7. 

Above: The Pearl of Eternal Love (August)

There is a pearl for every single month. When we were at the Dragonfly Beads Art Studio, I decided to make the pearls pictured below for my family. I did not choose the pearls based on my family members' birth month, but instead chose the pearls based on aesthetics and meaning.

Top: The Pearl of Delicate Happiness (December)

Middle: The Pearl of Green Rich Harvest (March)

Bottom: The Pearl of Industrious Mind (November)

One of the artists helped me make the beads. She was part of the tribe, Paiwan, that specializes in making these glass beads. The population of the Paiwan is somewhat above 82,000. According to a brochure from the Bureau of Cultural, Park, Council of Indigenous Peoples, the Paiwan are the best at handicrafts. Apparently their expertise in handicrafts is a result of their heirarchical social structure; the nobles have a lot of time to refine their artistic skills because they do not participate in the daily-life productions. The Paiwan make a variety of objects, ranging from tools to architectural parts (i.e. wooden beams, pillars, etc.).

After making our beads, which took about 8 minutes to make and 40 minutes to cool, we headed to the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Culture Park. There, we saw the tribe members of Paiwan dance and light firecrackers. The costumes they wore were very beautiful and brightly colored. We took a bus to the indoor Naluwan Theater within the park and on the way, saw many beautiful scenic spots.

For more pictures of this cultural experience, please see this album: Taiwan Photo Set 19: Sandimen Village.

Dear friends,
My school, Hua Shan Elementary School, has a partnership with a local 7-11 that lets students buy slurpees at a discount as long as they speak English with the clerk. Me, Chia-Ling, & Ashley, all went to school today (a Saturday) to teach students and even some parents how to buy a slurpee in English. We played various games when teaching the dialog and new vocabulary words. The students were mostly from grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. When we arrived at 7-11, I stood next to the cashier and the students spoke English with me and then bought their slurpees with the "real" cashier.

Do you see me wearing the 7-11 uniform?

We did a little "cheers" and then played "7-Up, Heads Up" outside 7-11 before heading back to the school. It was a good activity for students to use English and it was a good day to drink a slurpee =D.

Dear friends,
Last Wednesday, I was invited to Ruei-Siang Senior High School to cook with thirty-nine high school students. This was the second high school I've been to since coming to Taiwan. The first high school I visited was Xiao Gang High School (please see previous posts), where I gave a Q&A session on American life. This time, I made steamed dumplings with the students. The high school not only invited four of us Fulbrighters (me, Billy, Vicky, and Nicki), but they also invited two Rotary foreign exchange students from America and Germany. It was neat to talk to all of these high school students about their experience and life in Taiwan. We also had lengthy conversations about American pop culture. Little did I know that the students were going to put on a singing show for us! One student, Amour (His name is actually "Mo," but the students like to call him "Amour" because it stands for "love" in French), sang a song from the famous Taiwanese movie Cape No. 7 with two other students.

Amour with two other students singing songs from Cape No. 7 (left), Vicky singing with Frank (right)

Afterwards, Vicky (another Fulbrighter) got up and sang "This Moment" by Kelly Clarkson with Frank. All of the students were so talented! I know this because after Vicky and Frank sang, the entire class of 39 students got up and sang traditional Taiwanese songs.

After their singing performances, I taught the students the Hokey-Pokey and Macarena. They were not shy at all! When I taught my elementary students in English Club the Hokey-Pokey and Macarena, they were running away because they did not want to be embarrassed. The high school students, though, were not afraid to shake their bootie =D Cooking and dancing with the high school students was a great way to end a day!

Dear friends,
On November 8, 2008, my school had a huge 10-year anniversary celebration. Many special guests were invited including councilmen, representatives from the Bureau of Education, other principals, previous teachers that taught at Hua Shan, and many others. My school prepared a special ceremony for this special event and Chia-Ling and I were the MCs (Masters of Ceremony).

Awards were given to teachers who had taught for ten years and to some special guests. Each grade did a performance that lasted about 5-10 minutes. The students and teachers worked really hard on the performances, practicing nearly two months before the actual ceremony. I made a video with clips from most of the performances. Hopefully this will give you a glimpse of how outstanding the kids are at Hua Shan. Here is what each grade did:
(In order of appearance)
Grade 2: Pom-pom dance
Grade 3: Hand-clapping dance
Grade 4: Fan dance, martial arts fight, & lion dance
Grade 1: Spongebob Squarepants "I love to take a bath" dance
Grade 5: "We will, we will rock you" dance, drum performance, & flag spectacle
Grade 6: Body combat dance
Yep, Hua Shan Elementary School students are pretty amazing.

After the ceremony, my school held the final "tug-of-war" competition among the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Tug-of-war is one of the competitions for the World Game. As I mentioned before in previous posts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan is hosting the 2009 World Games. So, to honor and have some fun with one of the sports, Hua Shan did its own tug-of-war competition.

Once tug-of-war finished, our school held a 100 meter race. I'm not too sure if it was 100 meters, but it was pretty short distance. The first graders were so cute because one kid lost his shoe when he ran and another kid who was in the lead waited for the others to catch-up so he could run with them--so adorable! For almost all the grades, I was the referee who yelled, "On you mark, get set, go!" I didn't fire the gun, though. A fellow teacher did that because I had my hands full with the megaphone.

It was an incredibly fun day. The kids worked so hard on the performance and did so well. I also bonded with my fellow teachers and co-workers because we've been doing so many activities together, from the korfball competition to the relay race to the anniversary celebration! I'm so glad I'm at Hua Shan Elementary School because I get along so well with my teachers, fellow administrators, and students. Hua Shan is a very friendly, warm, and fun environment. I am so lucky to be at this school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUA SHAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!

Check out more pictures, here!