Tempus Taichung Hotel

... Day Teacher Ashley" on all his papers. It was great. Then on Tuesday he wasn't being quite as good and I was telling him how impressed I was with his behavior on Monday. His response was, "But teachers it was Teacher's Day" and he looked at me like I was stupid. I asked him, "Can you only behave for me on Teacher's Day?" and his response was, "Yes!" haha Well he at least I got one day of good behavior out of him! <br><br>This week marked the first issue with my scooter....flat ...

... rapidly. This week we found out that on of our 4th grade students has it. So the school has started to take precautionary measures. I showed up to school one morning to find out I had to get my temperature taken. If our temp was too high, you would get sent home for the day. They now take temps of everyone that walks in the front gate, students, teachers, and parents. Our kindergartners get their temps taken 2-3 times a day because they are there all day. Some students and ...

... and strong winds. On Friday the rain had stopped so we went out looking for something to do. We were going to go to the Art Museum but it was closed....everything was closed except for the 7-11's and the movie theater! Since nothing was opened we headed home to relax. When we were out and about we saw many trees uprooted, scooters tipped over, power lines down and tree branches scattered about. On Friday night we went to a teachers apartment for a game ...

... and the new friends, I will also be sleeping on a regular mattress! Right now we sleep on more of a box spring, as I&#8217;ve mentioned before, and I have to often play tug-of-war with Ben for the covers at night so that my ever so growing body isn&#8217;t exposed to the fan, which Ben must keep on high as we sleep. Going off to training also means that we are embarking on ...

... we are headed out of Taichung! We are going to go and see some monkeys and then go to a place called Sun Moon Lake. As long as the weather holds off and it doesn't rain it should be beautiful. We will be taking a train out of the city and then spending the night at Sun Moon Lake. It will be a nice relaxing weekend before starting teaching on Monday! <br><br>I will write more after the trip! <br><br>Until then.....love ya and miss ya!

... are anxious and impatient, foreigners who are applying for the first time, elderly folks who are just happy to be there, and young teenagers who are either celebrating as though they won the lottery, or crying like their future husband left them at the chapel. Oh, the drama of the DMV! The Taiwanese driver's test consists of three parts: the physical examination, the written examination, and a mock road course that is held in a giant shed ...

... bus we rode in was one of a kind. A typical American charter bus would be nothing more than nice seats and possibly a bathroom in the back. However, the Taiwanese know how to travel in style! Not only were there plush seating arrangements with lots of leg room, there was fancy curtains on the windows, lots of televisions sets for the "in-flight movie" (a possibly boot-legged copy of Will Smith's Hancock), and even karaoke! It was nicer than ...

... and I even had to sit a student at the "Sad Duck Table" because he threw a pencil at another child. On the way out, he refused to give me a "high five." I can honestly say that, for the first time in my adult life, a seven year old hurt my feelings! I can already tell that it's going to be a difficult battle with these students over the next few weeks involving classroom discipline. I just hope I am up to the task, cause those 7 year olds can be quite intimidating...

... to each of them (I bought a chocolate bar at the local 7-11 for Iris. She thanked me for the gift, so I'm hopeful that we both started the year off on the right foot). The students are often in the rooms before the teachers are at Cornel. Some arrive at school very early, while others are dropped off as soon as class begins. Many students take a long vacation from English school and return on August 4 (when many Chinese schools resume from ...

... shower in the mornings in Taichung, and feel absolutely disguisting after riding on a scooter for 3 minutes). In addition, the humidity is not as thick, so it felt absolutely fantastic to cruise on a moped with a cool, clean breeze blowing through your helmet visor. When we got to our starting position, we all pulled out the ultimate hiker's weapon: mosquito repellent. A lot of people bought some repellent from the local store that wore ...