Merry Christmas from school!

All I want for Christmas is you, baby! Christmastime is here! Have a holly jolly Christmas! Woooo!

If you can't tell, Christmas is my favorite holiday, so it was very exciting to celebrate in Taiwan where I became the unofficial ambassador of holiday spirit. This is, in part, because of my great love of Christmas. This is also, in part, because Christmas is really not a big deal in Taiwan at all. Everyone goes to work and school on Christmas as if it were nothing. You can find fake Christmas trees and decorations at the stationary stores and in the one mall in the county they were playing Christmas music over the loudspeaker. Many Taiwanese who are Christian go to church on Christmas eve, but on the whole it is definitely not celebrated to the extent that an American or European Christmas is. Therefore, I took it upon myself to hype Christmas as much as possible, because I think it is such a quintessential part of our culture, whether you like the included commericialism or not.

To bring in the Christmas spirit, all of my 20 classes had at least one lesson dedicated to the topic. At the suggestion of my co-teacher Cathy, every class listened to "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. This was a perfect segue into discussing all of the Christmas references the song makes: stockings by the fireplace, St. Nick and the North Pole, mistletoe, etc. At San Sing Jr. High we also watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 cartoon version) in all of the eighth grade classes. In English clubs we played Christmas bingo. Key awkward points in the lessons came whenever the movie mentioned the Grinch's dog Max (my co-teacher's name is also Max...) and when I explained mistletoe to my students and then the boys and girls (8th graders, mind you) asked for a kiss from Jill Teacher. I also made gingerbread cookies and fudge to share with all of the teachers at both schools, so they could experience some traditional Christmas foods. While making cookies 7 at a time in a convection roaster is not ideal, the excitement on their faces when they found out I had made the cookies for them was really great!

Obviously the best part of celebrating a holiday in a foreign country, though, is not what you bring but what you can observe. I already mentioned that Christmas isn't as readily observed as it is in America, but that is not to say that some people won't still decorate for the holiday. As a "Christmas present" to me, my English club at Xin Zhong asked Cathy to make me come late to class. When I got there they had drawn a Christmas mural on the chalkboard. Xin Zhong also, unlike San Sing, had every homeroom decorate a Christmas tree. Some were small, others were large. Everyone had cards tied to them with the students names and (I think...) wishes. They also had the most random assortment of ornaments and garlands that I have ever seen. Amongst Santa Claus ornaments and traditional balls were Frankenstein heads, Easter eggs and jack-o-lantern garlands. This also seemed to be completely normal, so I had to be very careful in talking about the trees in front of my co-workers. There is just something so endearing about the all-holiday tree, though, and the apparent normalcy of such an idea that made Christmas in Taiwan so worthwhile.

As for myself, I celebrated the holiday following my usual Thursday schedule. Over lunch, though, I went to the orphanage for a small service and a feast of Mexican food. Nell, Jamie, Jamie's boyfriend Dan and I went to Christmas Eve service at the local Catholic church (same hymns, different language). And a bunch of us did Christmas dinner together at a local Japanese barbeque restaurant. The 16 of us also arranged a gift exchange and had our own Christmas party that started in my apartment, wandered up to the roof and then down to the bar below our apartment. It was nice to be able to spend time with our make-shift family of Fulbrighters, as we couldn't be home to celebrate. And though we were missing Mary who went home to celebrate in America, our Fulbright family was able to put together a great time full of laughs (Brittany's mom led the dancing!). That being said, I'm looking forward to Christmas next year with my real family!

View from My Window

I spent another great (and busy!) weekend in Luodong. Friday Faith, Mary and I went to the National Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble concert in Yilan. It was a great performance, featuring Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

I taught my third class for the Talented English Program at Guo Hua Junior High School in the morning (we made pancakes and scallion pancakes), and in the afternoon Faith, Brittany and I went for a walk in the park. We joined Nell and Mandi for dinner at the Thai restaurant, and then went to Luodong Senior High School to see Adam's concert. He sang a beautiful solo in Chinese and Taiwanese, alongside elementary and junior high students currently studying piano, violin and pipa.

This morning, Faith, Nell, Brittany and I went to the orphanage for church and to help with the babies. We met Debbie for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant and had dou hua for dessert next door. And after a short nap, we struck up the festivities again to watch Home Alone, eat hot pot and make scallion pancakes.

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from this weekend, so instead I figured I would share this collection that I have taken over the past few months. My apartment building, Guan Tian Xia, is the tallest in Luodong. The name means "View of the world," and, in fact, our view of the world from the apartment is incredible. We are located on the corner of the building: one side overlooks the sports park (nicest park in Taiwan), while the other side looks out on ride fields. In all directions you can see the mountains in the distance, and, if you look carefully, you can also pick out other local landmarks like the temple with the giant golden land god on top of it. Additionally, the sky is so incredible -- sometimes very clear, othertimes with brooding clouds -- that I've just had to take pictures. So now, enjoy some of the sights that I get to see every day!

From the top: view of rice paddies from my bedroom window; clouds as the sun sets; the mountains on a clear day; looking down at the field across the street (note the foot prints from the farmer planting seeds); overlooking the park on a clear day; a view of the park on a rainy day; another view of the rice paddies.

Up Yangmingshan and Back Down

Beth's parents came to visit the over Thanksgiving, and joined us the weekend before for the dinner sponsored by the American Institute in Taiwan (essentially the American embassy) for Fulbright scholars. On Saturday, I set off with Beth and her mom up Yangmingshan. Beautiful weather and incredible scenery! (Note the Chinese characters engraved in the rock that have been mossed over.)

We took a bus up the mountain and hiked for a little bit at a waterfall. What is impressive about national parks in Taiwan is the access. People were climbing right up in, on and around these very slippery rocks right next to the waterfall. In America, that would have been roped off, for sure!

It was also pretty interesting that on nearly every flat surface, you would find an old person sleeping. We spotted this lovely pavilion amongst the trees, but as we got closer, we found that an old lady had camped out underneath it. With most, it was unclear if these were temporary shelters as they enjoyed the peace of nature, or semi-permanent encampments of a number of homeless people. I'm inclined to guess the first, as it was such a common picnic spot, but it was still very strange to walk up to a public area that felt as though it belonged to someone.

Then we followed a trail past these beautiful vantage points and arbors.

The views were really stupendous! And even though it was November, the weather was quite warm and pleasant. I think it really added to the whole day!

After walking down the trail, we arrived at the "Flower Clock." I had been particularly interested in finding it after discovering a sign that pointed the way, and when we got there it turned out to, indeed, be a large clock made of flowers. Still pretty cool, though!

Then, after hiking and exploring the park for quite a while, we walked down a hill and to the end of a drive just because it looked pretty, only to find the first house that Chiang Kai'shek lived in when he originally came to Taiwan. It was gated and seemed abandoned although possibly under renovations. It is currently part of an artists' residency complex.

And here is probably the gem of this weekend: we went to a club on Friday night but when we got there, it was closed. We couldn't figure out why, but met some people who told us that the police were in there and that it would open shortly. In the meantime we decided to go for a walk. When we got outside, all of the empty police cars were right there, so we decided to take a picture with the police cars. So after we caused what can only be assumed to be a scene, we turned around and realized that there was a police officer sitting in the car in front of us! Yikes!

Taipei Zoo and Advanced English Class

Brittany and I had a chance to go to Taipei Zoo in November with a group of kids from Guo Hua Junior High School in Luodong. The students are part of an advanced English class for gifted students that meets on Saturdays. In addition to the trip, I am actually teaching three classes to these students -- last week, today and next week! They are a great group of middle schoolers and getting to know them has been a blast! Last week we "studied" Christmas (they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas), this week we made salsa and next week we're comparing American and Taiwanese pancakes.
So back to the zoo, we had a pretty cool trip. It was a beautiful day (high 20s in November!) and the zoo is very nice. They had to write reports about endangered animals, which was the main focus, but we saw a whole bunch of different exhibits.

One of the coolest was a butterfly garden. Not only were the butterflies all over, but they could be very easily induced to landing on people by holding out a finger.

It was also beautifully landscaped with increidble flowers. The whole exhibit though smelled faintly of slightly rotten fruit, as huge chunks of pineapple were placed on posts for the butterflies to feed on.

What makes Taipei zoo really interesting, though, is the huge dedication to poop. I've never seen anything like it! Between the McDonalds and a bathroom, there was this display which included a poop climb-through statue and smaller poop statues decorated to look like other things. I found the double poop ice cream cone particularly funny!

The students found it funny that Britt and I wanted pictures in front of the poop statue. I told them it was for my mom.

New meaning to "giraffe poop!"

The students found this in one of the vending machines and were laughing and joking in Chinese. Brittany and I asked them to explain, expecting it to be some obscure Chinese humor, but they had just mislabeled the prices, saying that you could get the item "on sale" for more than the original cost. It turns out we also got that joke...

But this is my favorite picture of all. Right as we were about to leave, headed for the exit (after having bought a poop purse in the gift shop, obviously!), we came across this sign. It was hanging over a bathroom. It might be hard to see, but on the right there is definitely text that says "Gather your feces." So I don't think that's a misinterpretaton of the English, it's just a weird thing to say!

The Taiwanese Life

I've actually been a terrible blogger lately (surprise, surprise!) and have not been very good at updating, despite the constant reminder on my Google calendar to post at least once a week. I've even tried to be better at bringing my camera places, but life has been busy here! So the next few posts will be pictures from the past month or so.

This entry (with all pictures borrowed from friends!) is entitled "The Taiwanese Life" because it highlights my scooter and a KTV party.

First, this picture is from Bonnie's visit to Yilan from Taipei (she is another Fulbright grantee doing research on mental health stigma) for our Thanksgiving party. When I picked her up at the bus station, it was only the second time she had ever ridden on a scooter, so we had to commemorate the event with pictures! Note: This photo really only shows an adapted Taiwanese life. If I were truly living a Taiwanese life, my scooter would double as family mini van with at least three kids and the family dog also squeezing on for a ride. No lie.

Next: KTV.

KTV (karaoke) is a huge phenomenon in Asia, as I understand, and Taiwan is certainly no exception! A bunch of teachers from one of my schools (三星國忠） got together for this party last week. Peter (on the right, holding the blue microphone) has been doing his military service in literacy promotion at the school, but he will be done in another week. So what better way to say goodbye than with gut-wrenching love songs set to hideous music videos from the 80s and 90s? (Actually, there is quite a large range of music, but those videos are the best!)
Angus made sure to keep the flow of English songs pumping (I believe we are singing "A Whole New World" in this picture...), but I quickly found that it was actually great practice to read along with the Chinese songs! I even learned a few new characters from listening and trying to sing along! (The only curveball is when a Taiwanese song comes on. The characters are the same, but the pronunciation is veryyyy different!)

All in all, though, it was a very fun time! For some reason, though, the men seemed to end up singing a lot of the female parts, and often sang duets together. I think they just really love to sing!

The Home of God's Love

Last weekend Brittany and I went to a wedding with Mary at a restaurant near Guan Tian Xia where we met Debbie, a local English teacher. She invited us to go to church with her the next Sunday (today) and help at the adjoining orphanage. Curious (past Fulbrighters have volunteered at the orphanage), we said yes. And that brings us to today.

We met Debbie bright and early outside of our apartment. After a beautiful drive through the country side, we arrived at the church and orphanage. Actually, the church services are held in the orphanage's multi-purpose room. We followed Debbie through a door and into a living room with babies, well, everywhere. There are currently 19 babies in the home, to be exact. Some are awaiting adoption, while others will grow up at the orphanage because their mothers didn't consent for them to be adopted. Either way, everyone there was so dedicated to these children.

I was surprised to enter the kitchen and see a slew of American faces. One couple was there with their daughter who had been adopted two years ago from the orphanage. On Tuesday, they will take home a beautiful baby boy, as well. Another family of four was there not to adopt, but to volunteer. Earlier in the fall when the orphanage was overwhelmed with 25 babies, they fostered two at their home. The children, Abigail (5) and River (7), compassionately played with the babies and spoke of one of the foster babies as though she were a little sister. "Look! She's on her knees! All by herself! She's never done that before!" River excitedly showed his mom, as Grayson, the baby, started to pull herself up on a leg of the counter.

So, it was overall just a pretty awesome experience. We'd bounce from kid to kid, keeping the walkers out of trouble and everyone from crying. I ended up with one little boy, Gao, by the end because he wouldn't stop fussing. After some rocking he fell asleep in my arms just in time for the 11 o'clock feeding. I couldn't wake him up, but Judy, the nurse, advised that sometimes he'll eat in his sleep. She said he's a failure to thrive baby, but if you hold him right he'll eat. And I got him to take the whole bottle while sleeping! (I also tried to burp him while sleeping, but ended up just holding his head in my hand as he continued to sleep sitting up.)

I think the experience was so interesting, because it was a very different view of adoption than I've ever had before. I've only ever known people who were adopted or wanted to adopt. But here, I got to see the other side -- the behind the scenes of adoption. The mass organization necessary to care for so many babies didn't diminish the love and attention each one had. Records were carefully kept about who had eaten how much and when and that their diapers were changed. And even the family adopting a child still pitched in at the orphanage. But I think the collage on the door spoke the biggest volumes. This is a small scale orphanage...only about 220 adoptions in several decades. But there were pictures of Christmases, birthdays and high school graduations. Those families remember the orphanage and are remembered at the orphanage. So instead of a stepping stone between families, it is really a community. For those who are not adopted, Judy said, many in college will come back on weekends just to hang out. This is the family they have grown up in. How amazing that potentially very sad situations have turned into such a positive community!