There's Jenny and Joanna, the stars of our film, with their moms behind them.

So, life has returned to normal in Taiwan now that everything is DONE.  My grad schools accepted me, and I finished applying to scholarships, so I'm back to enjoying my life teaching, eating, working out, and hanging out with good company. 

Also, all the filming at school is finally done.  The Education Bureau sent a professional filming crew to every school that has an English  Village (it's basically a simulated environment that allows students to practice practical English, like buying a movie ticket in a place that looks like a movie theater) and wanted every school to introduce how they use it.  To see pics from the filming, click here.

Our fearless and wonderful Principal being interviewed for the English Village film.

Then, even more exciting, Zuo Ying Elementary got chosen by Business Weekly as one of the top 100 Elementary Schools in Taiwan!  Thus, the school had to create another video to introduce itself and its unique characteristics.  And it's online!  Click here to watch it, and please do because you should vote for it!  It's in Mandarin and Taiwanese, but the storyline is REALLY cool.  It's about a grandmother and grandson going to ask Confucius about which school is the best for the son.  Answer: Of course, Zuo Ying Elementary.

To vote, you will need to register your email and have some knowledge of Chinese, but if you really want to vote and are serious about it, I will be more than happy to guide you (cause that's how much I want my school to be in the top 10 list!).

After three sleepless nights of mosquitoes buzzing and worries of waking up with accumulating more mosquito bites, I went all out and purchased a net, electric racket that shocks them, and a device that emits an odor to ward off mosquitoes. 

An American mosquito bite just itches, but a Taiwan mosquito bite itches, burns, and swells up.  Taiwan mosquitoes are not only more poisonous, but they're also smarter!  They don't come out when there's light because I even tried sleeping with the light on. 

I'm back in Kaohsiung for round two!  And I'm super excited!  I have two great news:

Great News # 1: I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!  I got into Columbia and NYU Teachers College.  I found out during my time in Hong Kong and found out about NYU when I came back to Taiwan.

Great News # 2: I HAD A GREAT FIRST FULL WEEK OF WORK!!  My co-teacher and I came up with such great lessons for our third and sixth graders.  After learning the colors, the kids drew their own monsters. Each group received a big sheet of poster paper, and they had to listen in order to know how many heads, arms, legs, bodies the monster had.  Then, the students would have to ask, “What color is it [referring to the body part]?”  The monsters turned out really nice and became great decorations for the classroom’s walls.  

I also really like the “Related Words” game that we played with the sixth graders because it made them think about all the English words they learned.  Some students (my favorites) came up with some really “creative” words that were related to the central idea we gave them.  For example, for “going on a picnic,” one of the groups had the words kissing, boyfriend, and girlfriend on their white board.  However, I was sad that they erased it when they presented their list to the class.

Since I was leaving for Beijing tomorrow, I decided to go to this doctor that my host sister recommended because my ankle still hurt after spraining it two weeks ago.  So, I went, and all the doctor did was nod, asked me what I was doing in Taiwan, and then told me to take my medicine three times a day.  Then, he sent me to his assistant who gave me a hot towel treatment and massage.  This was when it got interesting. 

After around five minutes, the assistant suddenly started to talk to me, and the first thing he said was, "You have a very optimistic personality.  I know by feeling the bone in your leg," in Chinese of course.  And the rest of the conversation was like this:

Assistant (A): You're not very athletic.  You're more of a literary person. 
Billy (B): Very true.  I do like words.
A: You're also a very step-by-step individual. 
B: Wow...very true. 
A: You're also very focused. 
Kelly (friend who took me to the doctor): So, can you also tell his future?
A: Well, the bone in the leg only tells one's personality. 

This type of practice is called 摸骨 (Mo Gu - "Mo" means to feel and "Gu" mean bone), and it's an ancient Chinese tradition. 

I didn't learn much about how my ankle was doing with this doctor's visit,  but I'm thinking maybe next time I should injure another part of my body and get another reading.  

Today was the last day of the first semester.  Some ETAs have already left for their vacations, but the remaining ETAs in Kaohsiung went out to TGIF for dinner to celebrate.  I can't believe that the halfway point is already here.  How time flies when you're having fun.  I'm going to miss my kiddies so much, but I also desperately need some substantial vacation time.  So, I'm really looking forward to my trip to Beijing and Hong Kong.  I can't wait to experience cold weather again.  I leave for Beijing this Wednesday (1/21) and will be there until 1/28.  Then, I will be in Hong Kong from 1/29 until 2/8.  School starts again on 2/10. 

Click here to read about my winter vacation in Beijing and Hong Kong.

2009         HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!         2009

DECEMBER CRAZINESS
I have taken another hiatus from blogging, but now that December is over and I am finally finishing up my grad school applications, I am back.  So, why was December so crazy, you ask?  It was a month filled with events - wrapping up season one of "Brother and Sister Mango," hosting the school's annual sports day with my coteacher, getting evaluated by Fulbright,  and organizing a Christmas musical in four days for the school.  I really enjoyed switching costumes every week: from Brother Mango to sports announcer to Santa Claus. 

Despite such a hectic schedule at school, I did have some relaxing events during my off time.  There were birthday parties, and Chris Castro, the director of AIT in Kaohsiung, even invited us to have an early Christmas dinner over at his house.  A hotel's kitchen staff came over to his place and prepared us a wonderfully delicious meal.  Then, at the request of Chris's mother, we sang the "Twelve Days of Christmas."  I can't believe we didn't get any days off for the holiday season.  So after working on Christmas, the twelve fulbrighters in Kaohsiung had a nice dinner together and watched "This Christmas" because we already

watched "Love Actually" (in case you were wondering).

WELCOMING 2009
A couple days before New Years Eve, our host sister, Joyce, came over to celebrate the New Years with us in Chinese style.  She made beef noodle soup, and then we made new year signs and received red envelopes from her.  On New Years Eve, the deans and some teachers at my

school all went out to an Italian restaurant for lunch when school ended.  Then, I went home, crashed, and was thankful that the four-day weekend finally arrived.  And at around 8ish at night, Dan, Katie, some teaching assistants from Katie's school, and I went to Kaohsiung's Dream Mall to snag a good spot to watch the fireworks spectacular.  I normally would  refuse to participate in such an activity cause I just don't see the point in waiting for four hours for a show that only lasts

four minutes, but I am suppose to make the most of my time in Taiwan, so what the heck.  I had a good time meeting the teaching assistants and listening to Taiwanese pop.

MID-YEAR CONFERENCE
Recently, all the ETAs in Kaohsiung went down to Kenting for Fulbright's three day Mid-Year Conference to reconvene with all the other Fulbrighters in Taiwan.  We stayed at the luxorious,

five star Caesar Park Hotel.  Below is the view of the hotel from my balcony.  We went to the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aqaurium (海生館) the first day.  Then, we went for a "nice" hike at the Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園) for six hours.  Everyone else was hiking, but I was limping up and down the trails (considering I just got off crutches).  On the last day, we had a full day of presentations in which everyone had to report on the progress they've made. All in all, the conference was very nice and relaxing.  I love talking with the other grantees and the fact that I'm apart of this larger network.  During this conference, I even met one grantee who's beginning his research this month and is from New York City.

I went on a weekend trip to Kenting (墾丁), an area even more south than Kaohsiung (where I live), last weekend with my host family and a group of faculty/staff from Taiping Elementary School.  My host mom, Liu Ming, used to work at Taiping Elementary School and still has very close friends there, so they travel a lot together.  Kenting is now very famous in Taiwan because it is where Cape No. 7, the movie that is sweeping Taiwan right now, is filmed. 

We visited all the sites where the movie was filmed, which meant a lot of beach scenes because Kenting is also known for its beaches.  And now I know why.  They are so incredibly beautiful and inviting.  If it weren't for the weather, I would have totally jumped into the water.  I'm turning into such a wimp; it is only 61 degrees in Taiwan right now and I'm wearing sweaters and jackets. For some odd reason, 61 degrees feel awfully like 40 degrees here.

Besides visiting the sites, we also did a lot of others things as well, like eating a whole lotta seafood.  I mean, we were by the ocean.  Almost every meal consisted of seafood, but luckily, good seafood.

We also went to a hot springs!  It's basically a place with many mini jacuzzis that massage different parts of your body.  Also, the water is supposedly from the mountain and is not chlorinated (which is troublesome, but I try not to think about it and focus on the positive).  The hot springs we went to had this really cool jacuzzi just for your feet, and in it, there were many schools of fish.  The fish would nibble at your feet and eat away the dead skin.  I felt a little discomfort at first, but I got use to it and learned to endure the pain.  And apparently, I have a lot of dead skin on my feet because whenever I put my feet in the waters, it would attract many schools of fish away from the other people in the jacuzzi. 

I had a great time with my host family and everyone from Taiping Elementary, and I'm thankful that they invited me to go to Kenting with them.  I have such an amazingly cute 2 year old host brother, whom I gave an English name to during this weekend getaway.  His English name is now Gunther!  And if you ever meet him, you'll think that it's an appropriate name for him as well.  He loves to play with race cars and ask the same question repeatedly until he receives an answer. 

For more pictures from Kenting, please click here.

So, the staff at Zuo Ying Elementary finally finished filming "Brother and Sister Mango" this past Monday.  We had to finish it in one day because the costumes were mad expensive to rent.  Unfortunately, Jenny and I couldn't find mango costumes, but we found the next best thing - pineapples and carrots (we at least tried to get the same color scheme). 

I will put up the completed video as soon as possible, but for now, enjoy the pictures.  Filming "Brother and Sister Mango" was a lot of fun and the finished product is truly well-done and entertaining.  Chi Yi, a tech savvy administrative assistant at Zuo Ying Elementary, did an impeccable job editing.  She stayed up till 3 am multiple nights getting it ready! 

During the filming process, I was surprised to discover a dentist chair in the nurse's office at my school and subsequently learned that all schools in Taiwan have a dentist chair.  Taiwanese students apparently get their dental check ups in school.

I really had a lot of fun with this project and hope that we will have more episodes.  I'm considering an episode on deodorant and body spray.  I mean, the kids don't smell bad, but deodorant or Axe body spray may enhance a couple of lives here and there.  

For pictures from "Brother and Sister Mango," please click here.

Instead of staff workshop last week, the teachers and I went on a field trip with one class of Grade 4 students around Zuo Ying's historical sites.  It is currently the 2008 Kaohsiung Zuoying Wannian Folklore Festival, so students who attend schools in the Zuo Ying District are now taking guided tours and visiting all the historically preserved architecture in Zuo Ying because there are lots of them around Zuo Ying.  So, we saw lots of old architectural styles and old temples. 

(This is a historically preserved house, which shows a traditional architectural style known as Sanheyuan (三合院).  There would be three sides and a big front yard.)

(The largest temple in Zuo Ying.)

I learned that the reason why there are so many temples around the area where I teach is because Zuo Ying used to be the equivalent of the "wild west" when Taiwan was developing and lots of inauspicious events occurred.  Therefore, temples were built - lots of them - In order to console and comfort the people living in Zuo Ying at that time. 

During the tour, I even had the opportunity to try something called Lingjiao (菱角), a water chestnut, for the very first time.  The nut has the coolest shell that I had ever seen.  It's like a bull's horns.  Before Zuo Ying became modernized, it used to be famous for Lingjiao, now its Lingjiao comes from Tainan, south of Taiwan. 

Halfway into the tour, the teachers and I decided that's we've seen enough history of Zuo Ying and decided to have an afternoon snack instead.  They treated me to some small delicacies that I've never had and even some that I've been avoiding, like stinky tofu.  It turns out that I don't like it and, contrary to popular opinion, you can taste the stink.  Besides stinky tofu, everything else tasted great!  I especially liked the pig's blood (which tastes much better and looks a lot more appetizing than it actually sounds).

For more pictures from this event, please click here.

(You can't really see it, but for Thanksgiving week, Jenny and I had the Grade 4 students write what they were thankful for on tiny post-its.  Then we reassembled the post-its to have it spell "Happy Thanksgiving!" underneath our black board.)

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, thank you Phillip, Amanda and Chris - our Fulbright coordinators - for placing me at Zuo Ying Elementary for my Fulbright term.  I absolutely love my school!

Reasons why I love Zuo Ying Elementary (not in any particular ranking):

-I just think the campus is beautiful!  It's not too new and it's not too old.  My school has a lot of trees and almost resembles a small forest.  Even though I'm a city boy, I do love mother nature to a certain extent, and the school's scenery is just the perfect amount. 

-Jenny, who's an EXCELLENT co-teacher.  We're more than just co-teachers; we're friends, and we both share a penchant for spontaneity.

-The school administration and other teachers.  I love the fact that I have a staff/teacher workshop where I can interact with the school's faculty.  And I think Zuo Ying has the most fun and loving principal, deans, teachers, and administrators ever.  Even though I'm new and have only been in their school for like 4 months, they've already inducted me into their family.  Moreover, the school functions like a family too, which is even more spectacular.  Everyone helps each other out and are nice to each other - the way a school should be. 

-The students.  Honestly, I think they are truly the best.  They're just so....out-of-the-box and quirky, and I love it!   How could you not love having students named Bruce, Wewe, Weener, and Oscar?  Oddly enough, the name fits their personalities!  I love calling Oscar in a British accent.  Also, how could you not think it's precious when a sixth grader turns to a third grader and asks him how to say "cute" in English and have the third grader respond, "Are you insane?  Do you know I'm only in the third grade?" in Chinese? 

So even though I need to travel farther than some ETAs and sometimes need to stay later, it's okay cause my school makes me happy and I truly enjoy my time there.