Lin-Kou Homestay

Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat today.  I think all the fun and excitement has finally gotten to me.  Hopefully, I don’t end up as bad as Jim and lose my voice!  Fortunately, I was able to sleep in and get some additional rest throughout the day. 

I did attend a Rotary Club luncheon today with Mrs. Cheng who also goes by Jennifer.  The luncheon was a gathering of many Rotary Clubs from around New Taipei City.  It was a huge party!  I had no idea what I was getting into when they told me about the luncheon, but there were musical and dance performances and lots of delicious food and drink.  The gentlemen at the table kept offering up cheers to me and rest of the table.  I got the best compliment today – I was told that I use chopsticks very well!  I don’t think I’m very good, but I guess after eating every meal with them you become better.  Either it is that or the expectations for Americans using chopsticks is low!  Everyone was so gracious and welcoming to me.  I am still so amazed at the kindness of the Taiwanese people.  Whenever I am out eating, people always fill my glass and plate without even asking.   

I was still feeling off after the luncheon so I took nap.  I feel bad that I am sleeping so much but I need it and hope that rest will cure me. 

The Chengs took me to dinner at Ding Tai Fung and we had their shrimp & vegetable, pork and fish soup dumplings.  I am in love!  Benny – you were so right.  The place is amazing.  The funniest part is after being seated the server brought me a fork…just in case.  I am pleased to say I did not need to use it. The Chengs are so loving.  I thanked them profusely for dinner and they replied you are family.  Every person I have met in Taiwan is so kind and generous and it’s not an act.  I just can’t see many Americans being so welcoming. 

I am calling it an early night.  Tomorrow, Jackie #2 and I will be taking an incursion with her host family.

Xiufeng High School & Lin-Kou

 

This morning I continued with my routine of waking up early and blogging.  I can see now how people get into this.  It’s fun but very time consuming.  Several of our hosts from Shuangxi High School came over the B&B to have breakfast with us before we left.  I am very sad to leave our Shuangxi friends, but I know a new adventure awaits us.  When we packed our bags in the car and our hosts were waving goodbye to us, we all got incredibly sad.  We all bonded so quickly with all our Shuangxi family that is hard to leave. 

Our Shuangxi Family!

When we arrived at Xiufeng students were already in the computer lab working on their presentations that they would be giving later in the day.  We were also assigned to present to the students and teachers our observations of the Social Studies Camp and give some feedback on the English portion of the student’s presentations.  Additionally, we also surveyed the room to see the students’ progress on their presentations.  Students were required to give a 15 minute presentation on what they learned over the three day period.  I was fascinated by the fact that the students did not receive any type of rubric for the presentations but yet, they all seemed to know what to do.  However, just like American teenagers in a computer lab some were on Facebook and others were playing video games. 

The student presentations were amazing!  The students’ use of powerpoint and special effects were much better than my students.  Every presentation was creative in its own way.  One of my favorite’s and the winning one (they won 4,000NT) incorporated a skit about each of the places we went to. 

Student skit from Yehliu Geopark

Check out this video from one of thes sudent presentations at Xiufeng High School.

My other favorite presentation of the day was from Kai and his group.  Kai is an extremely quiet and focused student.  We spoke a few times over the course of the three days and I just adored him.  When is it was his group’s turn to present, he grabbed the microphone and turned into Mr. Chou!!  He is a little professor!  He had the audience wrapped around his finger.  After his presentation I told him I was so impressed and that his new nickname is the little professor!  Kai told me it was his honor.  I really just want to bring him back home with me, but Kai is off to college to study plant science.  My bet is that he will be a professor in 5 or 6 years. 

Jackie #2, Kai, and me

Lastly, Jim, Kelly, Jackie and I (yes, there are two Jackie’s.  As Alice likes to call us, Jacki #1 and Jackie #2) gave our observations of the three days.  We were all so impressed with the students’ focus during the three days, behavior and maturity during the field trips, engagement with the material and their presentations.  The principal then presented us each with a beautiful book of student pictures of Xiufeng High School.  I can’t wait to share it with my students about education and life in Taiwan.  Before we left, we took a ton of pictures with the various groups, students and individual students. 

Our rides were waiting outside Xiufeng to take us to our first homestays.  Jackie #2 and I were headed to the town of Lin-Kou.  My host family in Lin-Ko is incredible.  I already feel like a part of the family.  I was skeptical after such a warm welcome in Shuangxi that anyone could compare, but the Cheng’s were hugging me as soon as I walked in the door.  The Cheng family has a daughter Jocelin who is a student at Lin-Ko High School.  Mrs. Cheng and Jocelin took me to dinner at the Rose House, a nearby tea house where she proceeded to by me a tea mug.  The Taiwanese are so generous that I am going to have to buy another suitcase just to bring back all the gifts they have given me!

One of the coolest things that I have seen thus far is the parking garage by the Cheng’s home.  

Check this out! What an efficient use of space in a populous city!

Xiufeng High School & National Palace Museum

Kelly eating her breakfast dumpling & Andrew

Today is day two of our Social Studies Camp with students from the New Taipei City School District.  We were supposed to meet Andrew at the train station at 8am but Jim made us late and stressed out our conscientious host, Andrew (a history teacher at Shuangxi High School) who will all hope will be one of the Taiwanese teachers to come visit us in January of 2013. Since we missed the train, we had some time to kill so we walked around the market in front of the Shuangxi train station and bought some fruit and breakfast dumplings.  We were so involved with our purchase of breakfast dumplings that we almost missed the train again!  Poor Andrew….we stress him out so much!  He is a wonderful teacher and so caring to us and his students.  We finally made it to Xiufeng High School a few minutes late (again!).  Mr. Chou, a history teacher at one of the prestigious all-boys high schools in New Taipei City was lecturing on Museums:  A Hidden Gem of Knowledge in preparation for our visit to the National Palace Museum.  Mr. Chou is incredible!!!  His enthusiasm and passion is contagious and even though I couldn’t understand what he was staying I could tell what he was talking about by his intonation and gestures.  I would listen to another one of his lectures in Chinese any day!  Unfortunately I am unable to post a video of Mr. Chou, but you'll have trust me on this one!  Here's a picture though. 

At the first break in Mr. Chou’s lecture, Huang Chiung Hui, an administrator for Xiufeng High School, our version of an Assistant Principal, took us on a tour of the school.  Today was the final day of examinations for the students.  We were able to stop by the teacher’s lounge and see the distribution of exams and even some students preparing for their upcoming exam later in the day.  They had a study period prior to their exams in their classrooms.  In almost every classroom, the students were seated at their desk reading and studying quietly.  Several classrooms were very excited to see us as we walked by and waved.  We were interested to know if they have SOL-like testing and they do have a national exam at the end of their high school years.  I still can’t quite figure out the entirety of the process, but do know that students take entrance exams to get into high school and their score on that exam determines which high schools they can attend.  For instance, if a student does not score well enough on the exam they may not be able to go to their neighbor school and may have to live away from home. 

As I mentioned in my last post, the high schools in Taipei are like mini-college campuses and beautifully kept.  We learned that schools here there are no custodians and students are responsible for keeping their school clean.  Rod and Patty, I think you need to look in to this!  We also saw several signs against bullying.  Unfortunately it seems bullying in school in a universal problem. 

After our tour, we had lunch at school and then boarded a bus for the National Palace Museum which houses almost 700,000 ancient artifacts from Chinese history.   The museum can only display 6,000 artifacts at a time and even with rotating the displays every 3 months, it would take someone 12 years to see all of the artifacts!  Several of the most famous pieces are the Jadeite Cabbage with Insects and the Ting Ware Ceramic Pillow in the Shape of a Child.  The pieces are very small, but pretty spectacular when you see them up close.  It is very cool to see relics from the Ming and Qing Dynasties that I taught in World History 2.  Mr. Chou led the students are around the museum and shared detailed stories with them about the history and uses of the relics we viewed.  It was interesting that most of the boys were fascinated by Mr. Chou’s words and the artifacts, while many of the girls and some of the boys were more interested in talking to each other or us.  To be fair, many of the students had already been to the museum several times, so it would be like us going to the Air & Space Museum or something. 

We took the train back to Shuangxi and when we arrived at our B&B, Alice and all of our hosts for the past four days were there to have dinner with us.  Even Jim’s new best friends were there but unfortunately Jim lost his voice at the museum so his night was much more subdued that I am sure he wanted.  Francis bought us all rice farmer hats and Jack brought Kelly and I bread that has ham and cheese baked into it.  It is so delicious!  Jack drove Kelly and I from the airport the night we arrived and had a loaf of that bread in the car that he offered us.  Kelly and I practically ate the entire loaf that night he picked us up.  It was so thoughtful that he remembered how much we loved that bread and brought us some.  I know we are going to continue to have such wonderful experiences here, but everyone here in Shuangxi has set the bar so high, I don’t know how it can get much better.   I have never met more thoughtful and caring people.

We had a great time laughing, eating and becoming Facebook friends over dinner.  Unfortunately, we have to pack up tonight since we will be leaving Shuangxi in the morning.  I called it an early night and came upstairs to start packing only to starting re-packing my suitcase to find a cockroach!!!  And he was not small.  Yeekkkkk!!  Needless to say, I then spend an hour emptying my suitcase and repacking it to ensure there were no more bugs of any type in any of my bags.  I only found one more.  Traveling is an adventure!!!

Xiufeng High School, Yehliu Geopark & Yilan Hot Springs

Today we began a three-day Social Studies Camp with students from several high schools at Xiufeng High School.  It is an impressive campus.  The senior high schools here in Taiwan look like mini-college campuses.  They are typically five story buildings with dormitories and open-air courtyards, so students walk to and from classes outside.  Xiufeng is very impressive with a huge library and a beautiful auditorium where we started our day.  The first day of our seminar included two lectures where they reviewed geography and geology concepts and the methods and tools of fieldwork.  For example, students reviewed the various types of erosion from wind, sand, and water and the resulting rock formations that we would be seeing at Yehliu Geopark.  Students were then instructed on how to use the compass and GPS to navigate around the park.  The students are in various groups and each of the us were assigned to accompany a group around the park as they studied, measured, and documented the various geological formations at the park.  Some of the students, Jimmy and Jiang especially, were very talkative and excited to practice their English speaking with me and other teachers.  Others were shy and would offer one to two word answers to my questions.  I look forward to continuing to work with them over the next two days.  At Yehliu, we saw mushroom rock, pot holes, fossils, and my favorite, the Queen’s head which looks like Queen Nefertiti from Egypt.  I can’t even tell you how hot it was today.  I used to be adamant that umbrellas were only for rain, but I am a convert now.  My umbrella saved my life today!  I would have melted if it wasn’t for my umbrella.  I will no longer be a naysayer in the power of an umbrella to protect me from powerful UVA rays and provide shade!

I also learned some more interested tidbits about the educational system today.  Many teachers use microphones when giving lectures either in a classroom setting or in an auditorium like we were in today.  Additionally, many students often call their teachers by the first names.  I know Shannon and Leah would like that! ;)  Lastly, I thought this was very interesting – students only get 1 hour a week to participate in clubs since school runs from 8am to 5pm.  We also learned that most schools do not have the extensive offering of school sports like we do.

After the field trip, Alice picked us up and took us to the Yilan hot springs.  Alice is the most gracious person ever.  Alice is the principal at Shuangxi High School and she has taken such great care of us, making sure we are fed, having a great time and doing okay at all times.  We decided to start calling her Adorable Alice, because she is so kind and caring to all of us.  The hot springs were so relaxing after a long day in the sun and on our feet.  I’ll just say this, we did the hot springs like the Taiwanese do the hot springs.  Our day wouldn’t be complete without another delicious meal!  Alice took us to a local restaurant with the most amazing green onion dish, fried spicy squid, fried shrimp, local rice and meat bowl to name just a few.   Of course, I took more pictures of the food.  I’m finding I need to do this, one, because half the time I don’t know the name of what we are eating because our hosts have just taken care of providing us with the best meals possible, and two, I want to remember all of our delicious meals! 

Again, I am exhausted and we have another day of the social studies seminar tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will be going to the National Palace Museum and then Alice is arranging dinner and a karaoke party for us since we will be leaving Shuangxi and heading to our first host family on Friday evening. 

Wu Sheng Buddhist Monastery, Fulong Beach & Miaokou Night Market

I know I am already overusing the word amazing, but today was truly amazing and special.  Several of our hosts from Shuangxi High School took us to the Wu Sheng Buddhist Monastery on Ling Jiou Mountain this morning where we received a warm welcome and a special tour and mediation experience. 

Before embarking on our tour we learned about Master Hsin Tao who founded the temple after coming to the mountain in 1983.  He is also well-known for establishing the Museum of World Religions which Kelly and I hope to go to later in our trip.  After our introduction to Master Tao, Buddhism and the monastery we began our tour led by a monk and Wang Shu- Hua, a guide with the monastery.  At the end of our tour, Wang Shu-Hua gave us her card and told us to call her by her American name, Emily.  Many of the Taiwanese people we have met here have American names in addition to their Chinese name.  While we were in the car driving up to the mountain, Shirley, an English teacher from Shuangxi high school gave us each Taiwanese nicknames.  Mine is Xiao Jay, which means “Little Jacki.” 

The scenery was incredible up on the mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean as you can see by the pictures.  It was so peaceful.  I can see how Master Tao spent two years in the Lotus Cave fasting (except the fasting part - that is true strength and devotion).  Our guides showed us how to pray to Buddha at the Main Hall (Lotus World) which had a white jade Buddha from Burma and an open air deck with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.  After our visit to the Main Hall we were taken to Founders Hall, where we had the opportunity to meditate drink from two natural springs that flow into the Hall that have “water of compassion” and “life-long water.”  I’m pretty certain that most people and non-Buddhists such as myself do not get to enter that room let alone meditate in it.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to experience a Buddhist meditation exercise in such a sacred place.  I can’t stop talking about the experience and feel like this will be one of the most memorable moments of the trip. 

After our meditation, we had a vegetarian lunch at the monastery.  Again, the food was delicious!  I especially enjoyed the dragon fruit.  Before we left, Wang Shu-Hua gave us some tranquility bracelets.  I know I keep saying this over and over again, but everyone we have encountered has been so gracious to us.  We all feel so spoiled and honored to be here.  The Taiwanese have been so hospitable to us. 

Our hosts never have a minute unplanned for us and every experience we have had has been truly amazing.  Next, we were off to Fulong Beach.  We were able to spend about 2 ½ hours there relaxing and enjoying the Pacific Ocean.  It was nice to get off our feet and just spent some time with each other before our next planned activity.   We all feel like we have been here for two weeks since we have done so much in only 2 days.

After cleaning up from the beach, we headed out to Keelung to the Miaokou night market.  When they say pictures speak a thousand words, here’s the proof.  My words will not do this justice!  I think we ate something every 10 feet! Here's what I remember we ate:  oyster omelet, fried squid (all different kinds), noodles and cuttlefish soup, cabbage dumplings, fried spicy chicken and pao pao ice.  I know Taiwan is known for their night markets, so I am looking forward to checking out some more near Taipei City.  At about 8:30pm all the excitement of our day’s adventures (and the sun too) had gotten the best of so we headed home.  What another amazing day in Taiwan! 

Perspectives on Education

After taking some time to reflect on our experiences on Monday at Shuangxi High School, so many things come mind about education and teaching in the U.S. and Taiwan.  It was interesting (and comforting, in a way) to know that many Taiwanese teachers struggle with the same issues we do – motivating reluctant students, covering all course material before exams, getting students to read, and engaging students in their learning.  The history teachers we spoke to at Shuangxi teach history to their students for 50 minutes, 2 times a week.   And we thought we didn’t have enough time to covering all the content!  In high school, Taiwanese students study World History in 9^th and 11^th grades, Taiwanese and Chinese history in 11^th grade and in 12^th grade they do a seminar in history that covers globalization, history of science, civil society and cultural history, and policy.  The Taiwanese teachers were also very interested in that we taught “social studies,” while they considered their content area “history.”  I also found that there are conflicts within educators in Taiwan over the teaching of Taiwanese and Chinese history and the infusion of politics between the KMT and DPP in Taiwanese history curriculum.  There are also conflicting views of Chiang-Kai Shek which affects the way in which they teach Taiwanese history. 

Also, after hearing my students complain about their school day, I can’t wait to tell them that Taiwanese students go to school from 8am to 5pm and many of them live at dormitories at the school (even many of the teachers too)!  Tomorrow, we are off to another high school to meet with more teachers. 

Shuangxi High School, Welcome Dinner, and Sky lanterns

Feeling a little jet-lagged today, but of course our Taiwanese showed us a great time again!  This morning started off with a tour of the local town we are staying in, Shuangxi.  Jack, one of our hosts took us to the local market, to the elementary school and some parks and later on a lighthouse before we met teachers and students at the Shuangxi junior and senior high school.  We even stopped by the local temple and were offered tea and snacks by the temple caretaker.

Shuangxi high school is preparing for exams, however we were fortunate to see several classes and speak with numerous English and history teachers.  We each shared aspects of our social studies curriculums.

 Next, we all headed to a Welcome Dinner hosted by the New Taipei City Department of Education.  Our hosts again were so gracious and the food was delicious!  After dinner, Alice, another one of our hosts, took us to release sky lanterns.  What an amazing experience!  My lantern was red for health and peace and I wished for health for my mom, a Stanley Cup for the Caps, a successful trip in Taiwan, and a Go Rebels! 

I am exhausted now and am looking forward to a good night’s sleep and hopefully no jet-lag tomorrow!

We've arrived!!

We finally arrived after over 20 hours of travel!  We started in at Washington Dulles International Airport on Saturday morning, arrived in Seoul, South Korea at 4pm Sunday afternoon and reached our final destination of Taipei, Taiwan at 9:45pm on Sunday night. We were warmly greeted by our Taiwanese hosts and taken to the Bed and Breakfast (www.shminsu.com) were several us are staying for a few days.  Upon arriving at the B&B, they had a welcome meal for us.  Mind you, it is 12:30am Taiwan time but our hosts wanted to welcome us with food and drink.  Our spread including bamboo sprouts, salmon, noodles, salad, omelet, mangos and bananas.  All of it was so delicious!  Already, they are such gracious hosts and I can tell it’s going to be a wonderful experience.  Tomorrow, we will be heading to the senior high school and meeting with English teachers.  I am so looking forward to meeting more of the teachers and people here, and experiencing the culture. 

I have already had delicious Asian cuisine even before we arrived in Taiwan.  On Korean Air, I had Bibimbap, which is rice, with vegetables, beef, spicy chili paste and sesame oil.  Then in the Seoul airport, I had a cold Asian noodles in a spicy broth (pictured above).  I am so excited about experiencing more traditional Asian and Taiwanese cuisine!