Merry Christmas from Kenting!

Brenda and I playing in the water at Taichung, the bridge to Sansiatai Island, my finish at the school marathon and two boys who I meet on Sansiantai Island. Taichung and Sansiantai is on the Eastern Coast of Taiwan where I spent last weekend. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. Taiwan does not have this holiday season off so enjoy your time off!!!!

Warm Weather

December 8,2008 Good Morning! Sorry no pictures but I just heard that you all woke up to 2 inches of Snow on Sunday morning! Well, I just had to rub it in that I spent the day at the beach reading, and walking in the surf in just shorts and a tank top!!! Also last night Santa and his helpers were here in Kenting visiting the night market! It is sunny here on Monday morning an is about 68 right now. Have a great day!!!!

Salty Eggs/1000 Year Eggs/Skits/Dodge Ball/Chinese Lessons!

December 3,2008 Day 111 in Taiwan! WOW! What a world wind I have had the last three days! It is hard to believe that it is December already and that it is currently 88 degrees, sunny and I am getting ready to head to the beach for much needed down time to relax and read! This week has been testing at both schools so our schedule is totally different. Yesterday I went on a field trip with the 4th graders to a duck farm so to speak. The kids got to see the ducks and learned how to make salty duck eggs. For those like me who had no clue how to make salty duck eggs here is what I gather from watching and trying to figure out the Taiwan language/Chinese language. You take the duck egg and put it into a mixture of red clay mud, salt and water. Then you place them in a plastic bag which is in a box and seal the box. Next you store them in a dark place for 15 days, and after 15 days you was the duck egg off and then boil them, cool them off and then eat them. Yes they taste salty because I tried them on the field trip. Next they brought out the 1000 year duck egg! No it really is not a 1000 years old but more like 100 days. Of course I had them before and they wanted to make sure I tried them again so they could witness this event. They do look gross and discussing, but they were bland and had no distinct flavor. This morning both the branch school and main school did skits on sexual harassment and abuse which surprised me since their elementary school age kids. After the skits they had an afternoon of dodge ball competition between the two schools and grades. During that time a group of 3rd graders were teaching me Chinese. I had Chinese overload, however, the kids had a blast teaching me which is the most important.
The pictures are of the duck field trip, skits, dodge ball and my Chinese lessons.
In closing I like to wish MMS MUN kids good luck and good bye(zai jan!) to a very dear friend. OH MY!!! I just watched the most beautiful sunset at the beach unfortunately I did not have my camera to take pictures. Hopefully, there will be a next time!!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend in Tainan a blast!!!!

December 2,2008 Had the time of my life in Tainan Taiwan!!! Tainan means southern Taiwan where Taipei means Northern Taiwan and Taichung means middle Taiwan. Took the train to Tainan which was a new experience for me and fun. Saturday morning Theresa and I were shopping and we heard a familiar voice which was Emily who by luck we ran into in Tainan. This was a miracle considering that Tainan is the 4th largest city in Taiwan and the population is 756,859 people. We went on the tour bus and toured various sights in Tainan which were the Anping Fort, Koxinga Shrine, and Anping area where there is a tree house. I tried food that Tainan is known for which was the Oyster omelette, Elite Cake, and something which I do not know the name for but was delicious. Saturday night was a trip to the famous Flower Garden Night Market where I felt like a sardine in a can!

I have dedicated some of the pictures to my former students who know how I like to have fun! I am sure they will be able to figure out which pictures I mean! The rest are pictures of Tainan.