This week was a full week of teaching and I spent another weekend in Toufen, with my friend, Mariah.All this week, I taught in the clinic situation, with grades 3-6. On Wednesday, we held English club, and decided that our production for this semester would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We have about 37 kids to fit into this production, but I believe it will be a lot of fun, especially to see the little kids dancing around and singing the Oompa Loopma parts.
On Thursday night, I met my friend, Karin, and we went to an event held by Oriented. Oriented is a social-networking organization for professionals around the world. Most major cities have an Oriented organization, and the last Thursday of the month, they hold an Happy Hour to give members a chance to network. I met a few people and exchanged information. I'm hoping by participating in these types of events, I can create a network of friends here in Taiwan.
On Friday, I climbed on a bus again to visit Mariah. I met her at her school because she was having Parents' Night, or Open House. It was interesting because her students do not see many foreigners, so they were fascinated that there were two! Afterwards, we went to Hsinshu and went to a few pubs where foreigners are known to hang out. It was a lot of fun and we ran into a few people we had met last weekend.
Saturday, we woke up, put on our bathing suits and went to a beach in Jhunan. The beach was amazing. The beach is on the Taiwan Straits, and theoretically, you could swim to China, but we decided against that. We sat in the water and watched the wind surfers for awhile. Then we hiked back to town, and met up with Mariah's co-teacher, Angel. This weekend had a bigger purpose than getting away from the hustle and bustle of Taipei. We were organizing supplies to deliver to needy families throughout Miaoli County. After we finished, Maraih and I went to a local night market.
Sunday morning, Angel and 6 other volunteers picked Mariah and I up in a van loaded with supplies and we headed off for Nanjhuang. We delivered supplies to about 8-10 families, who were all very appreciative of everything they received. It was very humbling to experience, but I am so glad I had the oppportunity to participate.
On Wednesday, I received my first care-package from America. My parents were kind enough to send me deoderant, a few t-shirts I had left behind, a Downy fabric softener ball, and best of all, a picture of my whole family. It's wonderful to have some small comforts from home, but it does take quite awhile for things to arrive. My package took about 2 weeks for it to arrive and a letter from my grandparents took about a week. It's a great feeling to see your name on a piece of mail that isn't a bill and has no Chinese writing on it :-)
I hope this blog keeps everyone interested in my adventures, and feel free to leave comments! Until next time!
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