folkgame friday

what do intimidating army trucks, two small children in a giant bubble, and mr. chung's whirligigs have in common? gaoshu elementary school & its folkgame friday!! gaoshu elementary school is also known as "the children's folkgame school." i don't know who uses that name, what exactly it entails, or whether other schools in taiwan bear such enchanting and honorable titles, but i do know that it sets us apart as a school that knows how to PLAY. our school is always fun, as you'd expect a children's folkgame school to be: there are oversized, 3-dimensional wooden block puzzles (Chinese wood knots) in 10+ levels of difficulty, complex mazes painted on the asphalt, metal ring challenges, and a full-time folkgame teacher. there's even a room meticulously painted with glow-in-the-dark constellations... maybe not a folkgame, but definitely playful.

the folkgame friday concept: a full morning devoted to folkgames and children. the motivation: as far as i could gather, to boost morale among children affected by typhoon morakot. on this particular day, busloads of children from local schools arrived bright and early, and were treated to a morning of games, endless twisted balloon shapes, and a fantastic magic show. folkgames: a truly inclusive category of fun.












rows and rows of tables were set up with a fascinating range of games: tangrams, handheld boards with holes and rolling balls, mazes to trace via mirror reflection, fishing poles with multiple pendulums to coordinate, NT's to balance on NT's (NT = Taiwan New Dollar), and more. kids were lined up at every table waiting to play games, earn stamps, and redeem those stamps at the frenzied balloon table.












photos: shu-shu's dancing grasshoppers at gaoshu elementary; the Father of the Nation enjoys a magic show; mr. chung's folkgame art; folkgame friday visitors (top honors for head covering on the left, aboriginal kids on the right dominate in the uniform category); folkgames (tangrams, NT balancing, and star line); the scene at the balloon table; eileen laoshi with xiao pengyou & octopus; balloon kids & papercuts

introducing mr. chung & sarah!

these are my co-teachers, mr. chung and sarah. mr. chung is also our principal's name, so unless i'm talking to mike, i call my principal "mr. chung" and my co-teacher "edward." when i'm talking to mike, who enjoys a challenge, they are both "mr. chung." sarah goes by "sarah." i now go by "ms. eileen," "ingwen laoshi," and "eileen laoshi." laoshi means teacher.

sarah has taught english at our school for many years, and she was my very first contact in taiwan. she has 2 beautiful children (dada and eva) whom she regularly speaks to in hakka, mandarin, and english; her husband (ah-leen) has a bicycle shop in the nearby town of meinong; and we hit it off from the start. this year, sarah has dual responsibilities as homeroom (math and chinese) and 4th grade english teacher. sarah advocates a phonics-based approach to english language instruction, and she has a very clear and relaxed way of reaching the children. she is excited that i'm here, because she wants to see what exciting new methods i can bring to the "hello, darbie!" english curriculum. so far, she's been most impressed with my dynamic flashcard illustrations.

this is edward's first year teaching english, and 3rd year as a teacher. he loves art, fashion, taiwanese religion, and mariah carey. when our principal, mr. chung, asked edward to arrange decorations for last week's folkgame friday, edward came through with a major flourish. for a week straight, he knocked himself out creating an elaborate and astonishingly beautiful wall of oversized paper cuts. edward and i are working together to learn the ropes of teaching "hello, darbie!" english to our eleven 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade classes.

photos: edward and sarah in front of shun sian gong temple; meinong's historic guang chin sheng paper umbrella workshop; eva; edward and his impressive art

kaohsiung loves harvey wallbanger

harvey wallbanger is a drink: vodka + o.j. + galliano. galliano is an herbal italian liqueur that mike & i mistakenly thought our american friends would enjoy. kaohsiung is a taiwanese city that has very refined tastes, and features harvey wallbangers on all of its finest drink menus. several taiwan-based english teachers and i met in kaohsiung on saturday, and enjoyed some of the city's finest scenery, wildlife, and of course, nightlife. part 1 (day) consisted of my second attempt at monkey mountain. this time, we saw monkeys. plenty of them-- and they fiercely defended their reputation for being crazy by lunging, hissing, and baring their teeth at us. but they also suckled, swung, and nit-picked, which was adorable.

part 2 (night) consisted of visiting the 77th floor of 85, taipei 101's rival structure which i prefer to call "the transformer building." the second half of part 2 put the spotlight on ROXY band at blue fantasy live music bar. OUTSTANDING! this clip doesn't do the band full justice, but it does give a taste of their raw talent and pure chemistry onstage. and hopefully, it also helps you to picture this amazing duo doing metal covers, a rock'n'roll cover of "come together," and lady gaga's "poker face" (the female singer snuck in back to put on sunglasses and get glow sticks... pure diva!).



photos: 85 from monkey mountain; simian friends; pingtungers at 85 (peter, anna, vince, andi, john, me); night at the ROXY

eurasian fantasy part 2

before i can move on to present life and times (i.e. gaoshu elementary school: taiwan's one and only children's folkgame school and proud host of pingtung county's folkgame friday), i need to bring closure to a very special episode in my personal history: my trip to the motherland, *EURASIA*. specifically, turkey! where shirley and kemal were married on 9.5.09. my head started to spin as soon as arabic graphics appeared on the in-flight map and our plane oriented itself (and us) towards Mecca. my flight pattern, for those interested, took me from taipei to hong kong (1+ hr), hong kong to doha (qatar-- 8.5 hrs), and doha to istanbul (4+ hrs).

mike and i experienced a very happy reunion in istanbul, the land of the blue mosque, the hagia sophia, topkapi palace, and kebaps. the one slight (!) cloud was the rapid realization that my bridesmaid dress was still in mike's closet back in nyc. and the wedding was 5 days away. we decided to keep this news a secret, and to trust in DHL and kaz, mike's dear and trustworthy friend. on with the sightseeing!

istanbul is so many things at once. past/ present, religious/ secular, modern/ traditional, europe/ asia, meat on a stick/ meat inside a vegetable, pastry layered with cheese/ pastry layered with honeyed pistachios, fish sandwiches from boats/ leeches in jars from fruit vendors. we tried to consume as many of these facets as possible in 3 days. thanks to adam carr's fine recommendations, we knew to kick our tour off with a commuter ferry across the bosphorus, crossing from european istanbul to asian istanbul. we went to asia looking for a restroom, and departed 2 hours later having unwittingly ordered a ramadan-sized kebap feast. needless to say, we loved istanbuller asia. we visited the blue mosque (built by sultan ahmed ~500 years ago; intended to upstage the hagia sophia), the hagia sophia (originally a byzantine church built ~1500 years ago; converted into a mosque ~600 years ago by mehmet the conqueror), and topkapi palace (home to ottoman sultans during a 400-year period; on view are pieces of john the baptist's arm and strands from the prophet mohammed's beard).

i was most captivated by the arabic calligraphy, the intricate metalwork, and being immersed in islam once again. mike loved all of these things as well, especially the minarets' call to prayer. but his main preoccupation was this hagia sophia mosaic depicting a prophet with extremely wavy hair.

fast forward to thursday and our flight from istanbul to bodrum. leaving istanbul so soon felt tragic, but we dealt with imminent departure by consuming as much borek, doner kebap, and insanely tart fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice as possible in the final hours.

bodrum is one hour from istanbul by plane. the flight takes you over countless ancient greek and roman ruins and deposits you on a beautiful peninsula jutting into the aegean sea. the suspense of the missing bridesmaid dress reached a happy conclusion on friday morning, the day before shirley & kemal's wedding, with the anticlimactic appearance of a teeny tiny dhl package in our golturkburku hotel room. teshukur, kaz, kaan, and dhl! we spent 2 days immersing ourselves in aegean holiday rituals and enjoying the company of wedding guests and old friends.

shirley and kemal's wedding was on a beautiful hillside overlooking bodrum proper. shirley looked unbelievably beautiful, and the feather in her hair was beyond icing on the cake. kemal never stopped grinning. i was honored to give my newly married friends a special tribute toast, and i did my best to show love for my dear friends while embarrassing shirley as discreetly as possible.

the poolside reception was everything one could dream of-- 10 random turkish ladies celebrating with us all night long from an overhead balcony, a phenomenal display of congratulatory fireworks, kanye & estelle's "american boy," and 1/2 of the wedding guests going in the pool... including the bride, groom, and bridesmaids. of course. serefe, tootie & kemal!

photos: mecca orientation; subway mosaic depicting istanbul's golden horn & european halves; outside and inside the blue mosque & hagia sophia (epic scaffolding); islamic ornamentation inside topkapi palace & hagia sophia; wavy-haired feat of tiling; shirley marrying kemal in bodrum; handsome mike & eileen & the infamous dress; soggy bridal party (shirley, tina, erica, me, kim)

*LIV*

i have a niece, and her name is LIV! my big brother eric and his wife/my sister kate had their baby girl on 9/12/09, and in my opinion she looks a lot like her fantastically handsome big brother riley:

i celebrated her birth with a joyful bike ride to my most special place, gaoshu's rice road... there, i found a small shrine tucked away among the bananas. i took it as a good sign, and a blessing on my beautiful new female family member. i also found a long, winding path made of stones, next to a field of ripening rice. i want to dedicate this message to baby liv, wishing her a long, happy, and peaceful road, well-protected and joyful in her journey through life. welcome!

FET's in kaohsiung

some overdue help with commonly used acronyms first:
R.O.C. = republic of china (not to be confused with P.R.C., aka mainland china), or taiwan. one of the 4 asian tigers; a democratic state; holds no seat in the UN but keeps trying (except for this year-- president ma is more than a little reunification-minded); is not recognized as an independent country by the US but maintains diplomatic relations with 23 countries including gambia, vatican city, haiti and others...

F.E.T. = foreign english teacher, like me and the numerous others hired by the taiwanese to support and enrich english programs in public schools around the country

MOE= ministry of ed

adora from penghu recently realized just how easily she could get to kaohsiung from penghu by air. so she came over to visit marcia in kaohsiung, and we had a grand old reunion. you can see us on top of kaohsiung's enormous dream mall, the largest mall in taiwan. 10 stories. many exciting and wonderful themes, such as urban elite, japanese-style fashion, joyful entertainment (7-11 included, of course), and joyful ferris wheel. here we are next to joyful ferris wheel, each of us taking a photo with our own extended arm. despite my great fear of heights, i rode the wheel and did not panic too severely.

our fun day in kaohsiung also included the sweatiest 30 minutes of my life on monkey mountain, a popular natural attraction where people go to see crazed wild monkeys. we did not see any monkeys, as our mission was quickly aborted due to excessive sweatiness, but we did enjoy the wind tunnel. this tunnel links sun yat sen university's campus to monkey mountain by burrowing under another mountain, and a cool wind constantly blows through the tunnel. any form of wind is truly a gift from the gods, here in the dank subtropics.

my taiwanese sisters are about to head back to university, so after kaohsiung, john & i headed over to pingtung city to kick off their departure with another awesome night of ktv with the sisters & their breakdancing posse . i serenaded everyone with my newly appointed theme song, michael jackson's "you are not alone" and my new favorite, loo guang jeong's "doya doya." ktv aside, the most brilliant moment in the evening was john's departure on his new "jog" 55 cc scooter. the scooter may be small, but john is definitely not playing when it comes to helmets. i called him robocop and then nearly fell down laughing as he rode off into the night. john has finally achieved his scooter dream... and my dream of having a friend with a robot head!

photos: pingtung john, me, adora & marcia beside kaohsiung's joyful ferris wheel; myself, adora, marcia & mitzi in the wind tunnel; pingtung robocop

1st day

i'm back from the phenomenal land of turkey! less than 12 hours after returning, i had my first day of school. i played a game called "the pizza game" with today's 3rd and 6th grade classes. the game involved students asking "yes/no" questions about their new american teacher's likes and dislikes, adding toppings to a class pizza, and taking slices away from the class pizza. top questions included "do you like money?" (no), "do you like handsome boys?" (yes), and "do you like me?" (yes). the last time i saw the children, they went out of their way to avoid ANY contact with freaky foreign teacher-- no eye, no physical, no verbal... today was a different story. the english classroom felt like the most popular attraction in a zoo, with throngs of children peering in the windows, piling in between classes, following me around the building, and loudly reporting "eileen laoshi!" sightings. and then hiding when my camera appeared. many differences between taiwanese and american school days: for starters, the children clean the school from top to bottom (starting 2 days before the school year starts, and then 30 minutes before each school day begins). and they also serve lunch, as seen above. best part of lunch today: the vegetarian (aka pork-less) option. and of course the adorable lunch ladies.