i taught my last normal class! i love this class so it was a good note to end on. we had a lot of fun and they all think i'm crazy
exams are done too. almost done grading!
#4. i gave them full credit for this one
We finally had our play - shakespeare's 12th night. it was so much fun!
they had really nice posters around campus. the playbills looked professional too
The play practices were craziness. 100 people running around yelling in chinese and us trying to figure out what to do. it miraculously came together the last week. it actually turned out really good and entertaining
the crew
the school hired a way good lighting and sound crew for the show. they went a little nutso with the strobes tho. the accents were hilarious! speaking clips to come
gettin my thesbian on
my quartet played well too. they played between and in the scenes. teaching them was a challenge with the language barrier!
ballet dancer dancing to the overture
The audience really enjoyed it and laughed alot. im glad cuz we put alot of work into it
our favorite students. we're trying to set these two up
when we left the other students were just finishing school (at 9 pm). singing "poor unfortunate souls" by Ursula
and i thought studying at byu sucked!
east asian cultural observation (ive heard it's the same with the japanese too.) they believe very strongly in groupwork. so, in a project, everyone's there all the time. even if there's no reason for them to be there.
that kills me! i hate being inefficient! and that's how the play went down
another observation - alot of people here dont actually listen to what you're saying. they only hear what they want to hear! it's like the dead people on the 6th sense.
that's why i usually e-mail my boss when i have a question - even though we share a desk hahaha. she doesn't listen!
somebody listen to me!!!!!!!!
our boss is hilarious though and is always running around frantically (asian sytle with baby steps)
charge!
i talked to the family history center in taipei and they said if i don't find the boat records i might have to wait til the resurrection to find grandpa ping. everybody do some searching for that boat!
i didn't do anything to celebrate easter. no chocolate no eggs no ham no nuttin. sad sad. and i didn't get to see jonah and maelo fight for eggs. bummer. can i get a play by play reenactment later?
little ding-dong science theme park. i already got enough lil dingdongs in my school to worry about
thursday i'm going to the Philippines and mainland china! gonna be fun. also stressful on a budget. no food exploration no souvenirs no acrobats. it's ok i'm sure this wont be the last time im in china.
fortunately, i found some places to stay on couchsurfing.com.
they must love duck dynasty here
I'm working on my chinese so that my trip will be a lil less stressful.
definitely should have learned more chinese
what's chinese for "don't run me off the road please!"
my students are taking my final exam this week. they have to write about personal mission statements, life paradigms, lasting happiness, and their purpose in life. easy shmeezy
that's soap in our bathroom!!! it disappeared the next day tho
i dont get this about my students. if they're good, we play games, watch videos, and leave early and stuff. if they're bad, i make them do boring book stuff
beer package at school. only for the well-behaved students
So WHY do they ever misbehave?
one of my student's names is neil. so we watched neil diamond. i showed all the students their celebrity twins
i'm a terrible teacher. i have only memorized about 1/4 of my student's names.
Also, if I see some of my students outside of my classroom, I don't even recognize them. it's not my fault - it's my memory!!! and they wear uniforms!!
Favorite quote by me and the other teacher upon walking into a classroom- "OK, students, raise your hand if we have taught you before." we had. twice.
Reminds me of the office when michael scott has to mark one of the 2 asian girls with a marker because he can't tell them apart
part of the mushroom detective series. that's a king mushroom riding a flying horse.
I can't believe my time here is coming to an end! i feel like i've been here for years.
it's because i've been so involved with the ward and community and food
cookies. aww look at the baby kangaroos!
there's a lil asian man that walks around in his boxers in our complex. he's like the size of a 5th grader!
kindergarten!
We went on a gandola ride in Taipei over the forest canopy. everything was hello kitty themed (feat. special guest baby panda!)
baby panda's at the zoo in taipei!
Another reason taiwan is awesome - HEALTHCARE! you walk in and walk out. then it costs you a fraction of what it costs in america.
I can never get enough glozelle. i love her obamacare series
Our government could never pull this kind of efficiency off. too messy. that's why it should stay out of our healthcare! just do what you're good at. like......
I walked in to the eye doctor's office (for the 3rd time), signed a paper, and the doctor immediately saw me
healthcare is in and out for everything. it's like going to 7-11. also, there's clinics everywhere.
taiwan is da bomb! all they gotta do is just make it not stink everywhere, stop talking so loud, and drive (and walk) like civilized people and a couple more things it'd be perfect.
this sunday in church i performed cello with the ward choir, sang in a quartet of byu ppl, and played the hymns.
mom taking me to all those lessons paid off.
had to include this pic for our favorite lil belly-dancer-turned-mormon-missionary Sister Nesbit
My favorite breakfast food of all time is this egg thing wrapped in a rice tortilla. we get them at a typical breakfast place like this
"beautiful and breakfast, beauty castle" breakfast chain
they have lots of places just for breakfast. what a waste of space for the other 20 hours!
all that jua bing aint make me beautiful it make me fat
i'm having a third graduation celebration! So I did my paperwork wrong and won't officially graduate til this month. how embarrassing
my path to graduation
I had a concert. It was interesting. asian performances are so informal.
with friends b4 the concert
anyways, they didnt give me a music stand so i had to read as much as I could from the music of the person in front of me
they also shoved me in the corner with no bowing space. thanks, guys.
I also played cello for 2 songs. i played a chinese song with the erhu teacher and a bach suite (so random)
i got to play with this guy. so cool
Our bishop and his family are so nice. they are all musical and hook me up with instruments. they have 7 kids, which is insanity for taiwan
bishop hu playing an instrument i've never seen before. sounds like a mini organ
I'm still piecing things together here in taiwan. people dont ever tell me things. i learned our school is really strict and conservative compared to other schools. here the teachers are meaner. poor kids.
me and one of the inmates. His shirt says new jersey!
here are the sort of things my students learn in class
boardwalk fries!
Here's a few more cultural observations.
# 1 - leopard print is for guys and not for girls
# 2 - hair is crazy
me snapping pixtures at church
# 3 - ill say it again - this place STANK! everywhere!
it looks like the undead are gathering around the trash
I had some frustrating things happen this week. like our boss randomly telling us to submit test grades (that we didn't have hahahahaha)
but how can you stay mad when you get to ride in this?
putting on a play where people don't understand what i'm saying is o so frustrating. i dont speak chinese and they only speak a lil english. its especially hard with the musical terms- they certainly don't speak italian!
i want another 10 minute chinese massage
they beat people with sticks. it was relaxing except when he was hitting me on the head
i love massages. i miss my weekly massages at byu
after a massage and ice cream wrap i felt like buddha
Hope you aint hungry cuz it's about to get delicious
This is a fun drink shop called coco's. they have tons of drink shops here. mostly tea tho
passion fruit with seeds, coconut jellies, and rice pearls. i love rice pearls
I don't know why there's a little happy loaf of bread on one of the student's lockers. but there is
Nobody takes pictures of food like i do. im an expert.
