The Modern Toilet

We went to a resturant on Saturday called the Modern Toilet. Here is a picture of the whole set up with a bathtub for a table, toilets for the seats and a shower head for no apparent reason.

Close up of the seats. Pretty cute!

The covering on the tables was just a big piece of clear plastic.

Here are the gold glitter sinks right outside the bathrooms!

It was a little weird to wash my hands inside of a toilet!!

I'm still learning how to post pictures. I wanted this one to be on the top but you have to load them backwards and I always forget!

You get a free ice cream when you order a bigger meal. This would be a mini squatter, which is found in all the girls' bathrooms here. I haven't used one yet. But, now that I've eaten ice cream out of one I don't think I will try it any time soon.

I couldn't keep from laughing hysterically when I saw this. Yes, it is a urinal. However, it is in the hallway as a decoration with little rocks inside!

I took this one so you could see the shape of the dishes better. Everything comes in a toilet! You can see the pink one better than the black ones in the pictures.

This was the first time I have eaten Chinese food and loved it! We just asked what kind of meat it was and pretty much hoped for something good seeing as the menu was in Chinese. I got something with pork.

Whenever you eat out everything comes with a little rice bowl, cabbage, and a small bowl of weird soup, which is more like a broth.

This is my favorite picture! Yet, another decoration of two gold glitter toilets and a urinal in the hallway!

My First Grade Class

These are my first graders! I love teaching this class. Starting left to right Jacqueline, Sabrina, Daniel, Cheryl, in the middle is my little show off Brian, Benson, Luden and Jacky is hiding behind the mask thing.

Benson is definitley the class clown!

My sweet and incredibly smart girls who always freak out if I try to put them in groups with the boys.

McDonald's

I never thought I would see a 3 story McDonald's! It's right in the middle of downtown Feng Yuan. I will never forget my first time there right after we arrived. I was ordering, which is already stressfull seeing as I don't speak Chinese, surrounded by about 50 Chinese people. As I lifted up my tray my drink fell off and spilled all over the floor! So, I'm standing there with "stupid American" stamped to my forehead. I was so embarassed.

This is a pretty good shot of downtown Feng Yuan. The traffic is scary at times! To get downtown we have to ride our bikes through this tunnel that is known as the "tunnel of death." Mostly because it is very narrow and scooters also go through it. So, I'll be riding with a scooter on my tail the whole way!

Bike Ride in Feng Yuan

I got caught with my mouth full! Mom, you would love this ice cream we found. It is hard to describe. But, its more like shaved ice cream. It isn't crunchy, but it is really light and fluffy like snow. Its really creamy and full of flavor and almost looks like silk. I wish I could bring some home for you guys!

This is me and my roommates. We went on a bike ride on Saturday somewhere in Feng Yuan. It was beautiful. These pictures don't give a great impression of it. We rode about 10 miles.

Quint, this one is for you! I know you love scenery shots so I attempted to get one. I'm still learning how to use my camera. It wasn't until I got home I realized I had a scenery button.

This is the first time I have ever seen star fruit in it's natural habitat. It was so interesting to see it just hanging off a tree!

This is where we were supposed to cross a bridge and go through a tunnel. But, it had been raining for 4 days so it was closed. We will definitely try again in a few weeks.

Cute Girls!

The most interesting thing happened on our way home from church on Sunday. I've been told that most Taiwanese people have never seen foreigners and would give a big reaction to seeing one. Even at the stop lights people will stare or say "I--yoa!" The little kids here say that all the time. It is the same as saying "Oh Man" or "what are you doin'!" So, we were on the bus heading home and we sat next to this group of girls. We started talking and then some missionaries happen to get on the bus. The girls did speak some English, but the missionaries helped translate. The girls were really sweet! They told me I was so beautiful! I usually think the same thing about all the Asian girls I see here. They are gorgeous! I guess when you aren't used to seeing something it is more attractive. They asked to have a picture taken with us. The missionaries took their phone number down so hopefully they will contact them. I've only been here 3 weeks and already had a missionary experience!

FYI, in the picture the girls aren't making the peace sign. I noticed even my kindergartners do that in pictures. It means either "what's up," "hang ten," or "awesome."

Temple Trip to Taipei

Taipei, Taiwan Temple

This is a picture right next to the temple with my roommate Ashley.

Here is the best shot I could get of the entire temple.

Temple grounds with Ashley, me, Lindsey, Mikaela, and Jordan.

This is a picture at the entrance to the temple with my roommate Sarah.

We had to take a 2-hour bus ride from Feng Yuan to Taipei. Afterwards we all went to Costco. If you think Costco is busy on Saturday's in the States try the only Costco in Taiwan with a population of 23 million! It was packed!! You couldn't move without bumping into someone! It was so much fun!! There are two floors and when you first come in you have to ride a flat escalator, with your cart, to the top floor. There are some sort of grooves on the escalator which keep the cart from moving at all. Then you have to go down another flat escalator to the bottom floor to get all the food. Although, it was worth the wait to get some famous Costco pizza! Pizza has never tasted so good in my entire life!

Teaching in Taiwan

This isn't the best picture of me, but I thought it was an okay shot of singing with the kids!

This is my homeroom class. There are four different groups of about seven kids. We rotate them every half hour so we teach about 27-30 kids. I have the dolphin group so I keep track of their tokens and progress reports with the parents.

These are a few of my favorite kids. They have some of the weirdest names. The secretaries just make up English names for them. The first boy on the left is King and the last one is Jellen.

By the way, the fanny pack is not making a come back or anything. We give out tokens to the kids when they speak correctly. I'm the gym teacher so I have to have my hands free.

I know this looks pretty weird! This is opening with the little kids. We are singing "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree," a favorite of the kids. Whenever we get to the part when the crocodile eats the monkey, all the kids jump on me! They are so cute!

Streets of Taiwan

This is a back view of some housing. Every Taiwanese house has a laundry room with these bars on them so their clothes will dry. Not very many people have dryers. Sometimes they use it for storage.

Here in Taiwan nobody really obeys traffic laws. A red light doesn't mean a thing. People will just stop, look and go whenever they want. It can be pretty scary. I've almost been hit about 20 times now. It scared me at first but now I think its so much fun to be out and about.

I had to get a picture of this! Check out the three tires on the back!

This is one of our favorite resturants, Le Chie. There are always tons of scooters parked on the street, sidewalks, and anywhere they will fit.

My Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

We went out to dinner at a Japanese resturant for my birthday on Thursday. These are all the teachers accept the only guy who came with us.

This is a picture of the Aladdin casino down the street from the school. We were on our way out to dinner for my birthday.

The Whole Apartment

Here are some other pictures of the top floor we all live on. The bathrooms are pretty much the same here, but public bathrooms are different. I will take a picture of one later. The second picture is our laundry room. Pretty weird! That whole back is open air. Almost every Chinese home has a back room with bars around the laundry room because nobody has a dryer. The last picture is our community kitchen. I personally don't really like it, but we have a water machine which is my favorite part because you can't drink the water here.

Where I live!

Everyone has been asking to see pictures of where I live. The first one is my bedroom/vanity area. I moved my wardrobe so it is a little more closed off. The second picture is obviously my bed. And the third is an overall view of the room. My side is the left, back corner. I have three other roommates named Ashley, Sarah, and Heather who is a head teacher from last semester.