Marshal Hotel Taichung

... I decided to take them. We meet from 8-10PM on Thursday night after teaching all day. Going to these lessons puts things into perspective of what my own students go through. Many are in school all day, 7AM-7PM or later. When they are in class I expect them to be well behaved and listen but I sometimes forget that they don't get time to play. When we go to Chinese we sometimes get a little talkative and I can tell that our teacher gets ...

... s too, and I decided to have our own SMU Alumni weekend in Taiwan! On Friday at school since we have many of the same SMU t-shirts. We wore matching outfits. The students really liked that! haha Then right after school we went to a teachers apartment and had wine and pizza! It was a fun night. On Saturday night we went out to a Mexican restaurant similar to one in Winona, Tequila's, and drank some Coronas. We then went to a bar, Frog Family, and played some darts and hung ...

... working later into the evenings. Because the students have Chinese school in the morning it pushes their English classes later into the evenings. I will be teaching my 3rd graders from 5-7 three days a week. Could you imagine being that age and having to be in school all day until 7 and then go home and do both Chinese and English school homework! Crazy!! No wonder the Asians are passing up Americans! They work their butts off at the age of 10!! <br><br>I ...

... was up to the parents standards. The parents expect their students papers to be completely marked. Each piece of work my have a grade on it and each problem must have a check mark or an X on it. After grading something it is a little overwhelming so it takes a little getting used to. Also as far as homework the parents expect their kids to be doing a lot of work. I assign 3 pieces of homework a night for my 3rd graders. I haven't had this yet but they have ...

... at the resort enjoying its tree house feel and its many hot tubs, personal and public. They also had a small pool where you put your feet in and tiny fish nibble the dead skin off you feet. This was extremely tickling and hard to bear at first but as you get used to it, it feels rather satisfying. I must have had a lot of dead skin cells because they were flocking (if that is what fish do) to my feet!! Tania too! Enjoy the pictures of our tree house hotel. <br><br>

... with a family in a local village and experience some of the culture that is not found in the big cities or the beaches. The tour is not booked yet, but is looking like a very strong possibility. We will then be returning to Taipei on February 7. There was a slight problem when I purchased my tickets with my credit union back home in Racine. There was concern about a large ...

... and very surprised to see my favorite team here on the opposite side of the world. They could've shown a Michigan football game. They could have easily had the Notre Dame Fighting Irish or the Ohio State Buckeyes. Nope, rather, they elected to go with the Wisconsin Badgers! It definitely made me feel great and I watched the rest of the fourth quarter before I headed to school. A little piece of home right here in Taiwan.

... given to men. Additionally, I noticed that most Taiwanese, whether you were an adult or a very young child, had a camera and was constantly taking pictures. You could not go anywhere without spotting someone posing for a photograph. Some sat in small patches of flowers, some stood next to the pond, while others even took time to ask the American tourists to join them in the photograph. It was definitely a fun experience. On our way ...

... my roommates, entered the apartment all bent out of shape. He had left for school early in hopes of getting some work done before the day began. However, he came in and stated, "There is no way I am going to school today. The water out there in the streets is up to my ankles. I took three different routes to school and all of them are flooded out." He was obviously rather upset to the ...

... summer enrichment program at Union Grove Elementary. I was in charge of watching over 3-4 youngsters on such epic field trips that included the Milwaukee Public Museum, Discovery World, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and even the Shedd Aquarium. It is an area of the teaching profession that I am very qualified in, and I took full advantage of the chaperoning requirement of the Summer Camp. The first field trip of the summer involved a "Field Day" at the ...