Bowling...whee..

I'm ba-a-a-ack... just thought I'd upload a few photos of our bowling tonight. We went out for my new co-worker, Autumn's, birthday. The bowling alley is also a pool hall and video game arcade, and I found this interesting game. "Hit, Hit Alaska". Hmmnnn...














Here I am, supposedly "hitting" Alaska. I guess I'm more of "leaning" on Alaska..













Here a few new friends: left to right: Coralee from France, Amy from North Carolina, Autumn from Colorado, and David from..somewhere. Illinois, maybe?

Autumn's my new co-worker at JacksonFive. She didn't come with ITPS. Coralee I met through Banner. She didn't come through ITPS either. Actually neither did David. He's just friends with us. Hmm.






WE all came with ITPS. ME (you know, in case you forgot..), Elizabeth from Illinois, BoBo (Bonita) from California but originally from Taiwan, and Vicki, from California but originally from Hong Kong.







That's it. I've nothing new to report except, I am an exceptionally terrible bowler. ok, zai jian! :)

Blah

well, I didn't exactly get my wisdom teeth removed today. My blood pressure dropped really low while the oral surgeon was working on yanking my top left one out, and I nearly passed out and gave them all a big scare. Instead of finishing the procedure, the dentist sent me to the ER for "observation" even though I felt perfectly fine (except for a numb mouth) about five minutes after all this happened.
So I spent a coupla hours in the China Medical hospital ER getting all kinds of screenings to figure out why my blood pressure dropped so low suddenly (it came back up), and I told them this happens even when I get my blood drawn. I think it's a vasovagal (?) reaction? I think that's what it's called. Where your body reacts by passing out when you see or experience anything bloody or medical-ish. I kept saying "I'm ok now, I'm ok now, REALLY, I'm ok" but they kept saying "no, no, it's procedure, you must stay". Blah.
So I still have my wisdom teeth (although, one is pretty loose and now that the local anesthetic has worn off is pretty sore too, and I can wiggle it! painfully). They will schedule another surgery for me under general anesthetic this time (the oral surgeon is afraid of me now, I think), and just take all four at once. But I have to do all kinds of screeings first for the general anesthesia and meet with the anesthesiologist. While I appreciate their thoroughness, it's all so mafang (bothersome) and I just want to give up altogether. But I will push through and get it done. Blah. that's what I've got to say today.

Of teeth, and puzzles

I saw the dentist this morning and scheduled my wisdom tooth pulling surgery for Friday at 3 pm. It sounds most unpleasant and I'm really REALLY REALLY REALLY not looking forward to it. I've been putting it off for several years for three reasons: 1.) I never had enough money; 2.) I never had enough time; and 3.) I'm afraid.
So now I have a month to recover and the surgery is mostly covered by my national health insurance and will only cost me NT 170 (which is around $5 USD and is RIDICULOUSLY cheap for having two wisdom teeth pulled), so I'm left only with excuse #3: I'm afraid. But I'm doing it anyway because in the words of my dentist (and two others before this one): "You MUST." Blah.
Apparently I'll be awake and under a local anasthetic and they have to saw my tooth out and it's really close to a nerve and I was told I might be numb in my chin and lip "indefinitely" if they nick the nerve on accident. AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH.... I think Thursday night will be mostly sleepless for me....
The dentist also said that although I need all four out, it's too risky to pull them all at the same time so they're doing one side at a time (two at a time), and since it will take "probably three weeks" to fully recover from one side, I will probably have to do the other side either at Chinese New year or next July. I'm one unHappy Sharon right now. :(
On a lighter note, I've rediscovered my fondness for puzzles. I'm currently doing two: an old world map 1000 piece puzzle and a Thomas Kinkade painting 1000 piece puzzle, both of which are buggers and I've made many mistakes already. It's fun. I put on some "Friends" on the Tv in the background and puzzle away. When I worked in the elder care home in Alaska before I came here, one of the residents was an avid puzzler. She also had Parkinson's and couldn't control her shaking but she still managed to complete about one (huge) puzzle a week. This is what she did ALL day except for meal and nap times, while the other residents watched CSI on Tv (not kidding - CSI and Monk were all they would watch. I made them switch to the Amazing Race on Sunday nights when I worked there and they would fall asleep. hrmpph.). Not surprisinginly, Pearl (the puzzl-er), was the sharpest of the bunch. The others forgot lots of things...often didn't know what was going on...and..occasionally tried to wander out into the woods somewhere looking for things that did not exist, but Pearl knew what was up pretty much all the time. I figured it was the years of puzzles that sharpened up her brain cells. She was amazing - she kept track of all her doctors appointments and medications and was known to call employees on their mistakes. I can't even keep track of my doctor's appointments now. Good for Pearl, I always thought.
So thanks to Pearl, I'm sharpening up my brain cells for when my day comes. :) and since I anticipate sitting in my house slurping pudding for the foreseeable future, I might as well be somewhat productive.
The new team is gone at camp this week so I have the house to myself. It's actually been a nice quiet break and I've done a lot of cleaning, puzzling, and a little bit of lesson planning *pats self of back*.
They are all going to Sun Moon Lake on an overnight retreat next week and I'm *hopefully* going as well, unless the tooths pain is unbearable. Then the week after that I'm going to the next youth camp and I think my workshop this year will be arts & crafts. Hmm... gotta think of something cool enough for junior highers to "make"...
Anyhow, not much new or exciting is going on here besides all that (which, puzzles and wisdom teeth aren't really that new or exciting), so just if you who read this could keep me in your prayers for Friday since I really am pretty nervous about it and I've had more than 3 dentists (and the internet) tell me it will be very painful. :(
Zai jian! Probably I won't post again until next week.

Whew *wiping forehead*...

.... it's seriously HOT around here! I don't remember it being quite this hot and humid last summer, but I suppose it probably was. I was probably just so excited to be somewhere warmer than Alaska that I didn't think too much about it. :)
Yesterday we putted around with the new team, and then I made lesson plans for my first week of school in August. My schedule in August will be mon-fri. 8 am - 5 pm, and it's pretty much class after class after class... lunch, then class after class after class...so I would like to be completedy prepped before August rolls around.
I had the best fried Dumplings ever for lunch today. Curry fried Dumplings. We each got 12 nice fat Dumplings for 60 NT (less than $2 US). I'm still amazed at how cheap and good the food here is. It's nice to see the new teachers appreciating it too. :)
I almost wish it would rain a little bit nowadays and cool things down a little (oo - better be careful what I wish for - watch us get a typhoon now that I said that.... )
It's almost 4th of July (not that it's any special day around here), but we are having a BBQ at the church (mostly for us foreigners....and any excuse for a BBQ is good :)
But I can't help but think what I'm missing out on in Alaska on the 4th .... Julie's barbecue chicken and steaks and salmon and corn and potato salad.... and nice sunny cool weather and playing wiffle ball.....
o-o-o-o-o..... but, although I have moments where I do miss little bits like that of Alaska, I am really quite content here.
AND I'M SOOO HAPPY that I don't have to work this afternoon! Or for any afternoon for the next MONTH! :) :) :) :) :)
Bumblebee time will come soon enough. And my new 1st year class will be the Dolphins, just for future reference as I'm sure I will be blogging about them shortly.
Ok, I'm out! Off to Starbucks I go....
Zai jian!

SCHOOL'S OUT!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!

Although, I should be careful about just how excited I am to have a one-month vacation because I've had three people ask me already, "Was your job that bad?" Haha...no really, I love working at JacksonFive and I absolutely love my Bumblebees, but after a year full of kids, kids, kids day after day, hours after hours, it's really really nice to have this BREAK!!
Yesterday was my last day of classes for the year, and even though I knew I was coming back, it was still a weird kind of a feeling. The kind of weird "everything's changing" feeling that I get when I move somewhere or change jobs or something. We just did a fun day, made some gifts for each other and teachers in class, and went to the park (it was soooo sooo HOT but the kids still had fun) to play, and then I cleaned up my desk, loaded up my prep stuff and books and binders to take home to get ready for classes in August, and drove away not to return for a month! yay meee....
*whew* I feel sooo tired and I haven't even done anything, really. The new ITPS team got here late late late Tuesday night and they also looked soo tired... Having the new teachers be here is fun because they can all share their adventures with us and they have this fresh outlook on Taiwan and we get to share our experience with them and stuff, and it makes me think over my last year here and how much I've learned.
Wow, I've come a long way! I took the new JacksonFive teacher I'll be working with, Autumn, out for a test scooter drive today and taught her how to "work" a scooter and she did great. It reminded me of when I learned to drive and how excited I was to get a scooter and be all independent. :) So many people were so helpful to me when I moved here and answerd all my questions and took time out to take me places and show me stuff, and I'd like to be that blessing to the new team too.
But, it's Taiwan summer-time which brings lots of heat and humidity, and being in go-go-go mode all the time is making me soo tired. They just went to the church for a dinner that I opted out of so I could get a little time to be just "me" and also to hang out with Jimmy later. I've been so busy and so has he, and we've not really gotten to spend much time to gether these past couple of weeks. I feel bad for him, since now that his finals are over and he has a little bit less stress, now I'm all caught up in the "new ITPS team" whirlwind of activity so we still don't have a lot of time to hang out together. :(
So my roomate Stephanie will move to California for school on the 14th of this month and then I will move into her room and also take over her scooter. It's sad to say goodbye to her as we've lived and worked together for a year (she also taught at JacksonFive), but happy for her. So two new ITPS girls will live with me and Amanda in a few weeks. Change is good, change is fun, but it also makes me realize how fast time is going. I can't believe it's already been a year.
I told my friends today that I de-activated my Facebook account over a month ago. Most of them hadn't even realized! So I guess my Facebook page wasn't that important after all. :) Sometimes I miss being on Facebook 'cause I can't "check up" on peoples lives, but really if they're my real friends I should email or call them to see what's up or if they're here I should be hanging out with them face to face. I don't know if I'll reactivate or not, but right now life goes on just fine without Facebook. It motivates me to blog more often so people can keep up with me, instead of assuming they'll keep up on my Facebook one-liner statuses.
Yah, so that's it for me lately. I'm hoping to get my wisdom teeth, at least a couple of 'em, pulled next week while everybody's at camp (I'll go to the next camp in three weeks), and maybe a couple of day trips with Jimmy if we can. Whew. I'm acually quite exhausted. I may have to take a nap now.
Jin tian, hen re! (Today, very hot!) Zai jian!

of co-teachers, Bumblebees and Koalas

My co-teacher, Teacher Tina, is not returning to JacksonFive next year. She lives kind of far away and has to take care of her mom. She's been the Bumblebee co-teacher for the last two years and has literally been with them (in the same room) for about 6 hours every day, 5 days a week. They're pretty attached. So we're making this ginormous cool card for her and we took a picture last week to put on the front. I took four pictures and it was like pulling teeth to get the boys to smile nicely without making a face *siggh* here they are:

ok, I did tell them they could make a silly face for one. This one was my fault.

This one would be ok, except you can't see about three of the kids because they're too short and are standing in the back (aggh, bad planning teacher Sharon!), and my Kyle only has his hands up (I guess he figured since somebody was standing in front of him he'd better try to get some part of him in the picture)

The girls are so cute and the boys are unmanageable. Seriously, I couldn't make them just smile nice. Well, it's test week for them so maybe they're a little off.

This one, even in it's weirdness, is the winner for the card. You can see all the kids, and...yeah, that's pretty much why.

This is one of my night classes, the Koalas. They're a little bit older, about 5th grade - junior high aged, with the oldest being Tommy on the left in black. He's 13.

When I started teaching this class it was a nightmare. They didn't know anything they were supposed to know at this level English class, some of them had attitude, and nobody would ever volunteer or do the conversation activities.

But now we have a lot of fun. They've come a looonnnng way. I'm really proud of them, actually.

My co-teacher for this class, Tr. Fanny, is also leaving next year so this will go in a card for her.

My Bumlebees are so cute. They've been making little "gifts" for teacher Tina at home and will sneak up to me with their hands cupped and whisper "look what I'm going to give Tr. Tina!" and it will be some little paper thing or note or something and I'll whisper back "it's amazing! she'll love it! go hide it until Wednesday" (our last day of class). This has happened about four times this week. They can't wait until Wednesday..and neither can I!

wheee ... vacation here I come! :)

Tonight we're having a good-bye party for my roomate Stephanie and couple of other people from our cell group who are leaving this summer. It's an 80's party so we're supposed to dress 80's ish. Well I was a tiny kid in the 80's and also I lived in Suriname.. how am I supposed to know..

but I did remember the big ol' T-shirts the older kids in school used to wear and they would bunch them up on one side and tie it with a scrunshie or a t-shirt clip made specially for this purpose. I inherited a big red t-shirt from a previous teacher that has a black outline of a guy with a mullet hair-do and sunglasses on the front and it says "Mullets rule! business in the front, party in the back". I sort of think mullets are 80's...maybe...anyway, I'll wear that and tie it on one side with a scrunchie and wear some big red earrings and my black and red Converse shoes and I should look sort of 80's. I think the other foreigners will be dressed in similar attire, but I'm interested to see what the Taiwanese people do. Should be fun, I'll post some pictures.

Well, I've gotta run. Zai jian!

Problems with Cell phones, Mold and Mildew, and Shower heads

I seem to have a problem with cell phones. I lost my cell phone after going to Jimmy's KTV (Karoke) party last weekend (I think it fell out of my pocket in the KTV room), and so now I'm using Jimmy's old cell phone as he now has a new iPhone he got for his birthday. It's a skinny, slipper little thing that's always jumping out of my hand.
So the other night I was sitting on my bed with my laptop and the phone RIGHT beside me. I KNEW it was there. I was checking my receipts against the winning numbers of the Taiwan receipt lottery (if you Google Taiwan Receipt Lottery, the first link should be for the tealit.com article about what it is along with the winning numbers. It's basically a way to keep businesses legal. All reciepts have numbers and ever two months they post winning numbers, you can win small amounts or very large amounts of cash. I haven't won anything yet, but I still diligenlty save my receipts and check every two months.) Well I had a mountain of receipts for the last two months that I was piling on my bed as I checked them. Then, when I had sadly confirmed that I hadn't won anything (again), I scooped them all up and dumped them in my trash can.
Later, I couldn't find my cell phone. I looked high and low, stripped my bed, I KNEW it had been there. I couldn't believe I'd lost a phone again.
So I went to the living room where my roomate Stephanie was watching Tv and asked her to please call my phone, so she did, and it rang - - from my purse! I was like how the..what the...HOW IS IT IN MY PURSE! I KNEW it had been on my bed! I thought I was going NUTS. I tore apart my purse and couldn't find it! I seriously thought I was going crazy or just really really tired.
Well, when I come in my room, I have a plastic stool right inside the door that I put my purse on. And under the stool, guess what - - the trash can.
So you guess where the phone was.
That's right, in the trash can, along with the huge pile of receipts I'd scooped up earlier that night.
Stephanie says "I'll keep this one between you and I" and walked away chuckling.
*palm to forehead* how Stupid am I!!!!

So I went to clean the bathroom yesterday. The new team of (mostly) girls is coming in a little over a week and will be staying here for a few days, so I thought I would make the bathroom really clean. Well, I bought some Mr. White and some gloves for the job. Mr. White is the local can of "anything" foamy cleaner that is very strong and noxious and totally terrible for your skin and lungs, but works magic.
I sprayed the tub and shower walls with Mr. White, left the bathroom to put on a face mask, and returned to scrub away. I scrubbed away the most mold and mildew I'd ever seen. When I sprayed it with the showr head after scrubbing it was like a wall of black. But it was lurking in the gray "stuff" between the tiles, so it was hard to see until I cleaned it. So nasty. I couldn't believe this is where I'd been coming to get "clean". Ew.
So I was all proud that I'd finished that noxious job, then I was so proud too that I'd bought this cool rotating massager jets thing showr head for only 39 NT on sale! (a little over a dollar). But it doesn't fit on our hose. PHOOEY! So now I have a showr had hanging out in my room irritating me when I look at it because I can't use it.
This post is rather boring, you can see my days of late haven't been too exciting. School ends soon and July should come with lots of fun things, new people, wisdom teeth removal, trips, and pictures. Stay posted.