Week in Review

What a busy time of year! Teachers all feel the same way when we get to the end of a semester - exhausted! It has been such a busy week and I barely was home to blog about anything so here is my week in review.

First, the temperatures have dropped enough that I can actually wear a long-sleeved shirt during the day. Woohoo! On Friday night it was cool enough for me to wear a light jacket for my bike ride home. We are talking 60's baby! Love it!

As we head toward our winter break, KAS is celebrating the holiday season by playing Christmas music instead of the usual song they play to switch classes. It was a bit of a shock when they started playing the music on Monday. Would they even allow that in the states anymore? Every day is a new song and it's funny because I'd say most students at KAS don't celebrate Christmas.

Later in the week the high school music students put on a little concert in the courtyard. They performed both holiday and non holiday songs. What a nice way to spend some time at the end of a school day. There is an incredible amount of talent in this school!

 Can you believe how green and lush everything is? There are many plants that begin flowering at this time of year because it's a bit cooler. The lotus flowers on Lotus Pond began flowering this week! Beautiful!

On Thursday I decided to get a little holiday shopping done. My friends and family know that I dislike shopping and the prospect of going to a mall at any time of year is not my fave, especially during the holidays. Well, Christmas in Taiwan is more of a time to decorate than an actual holiday so going to the Hanshin mall after school on Thursday was pretty easy. 

 This is the Hanshin Arena adjacent to the mall. 

The mall entrance is all decked out with Christmas decorations and Christmas music is blaring away. It's a massive mall with multiple floors but I was heading to the food court/grocery area down on the ground floor. I was on a hunt for specific items to bring back with me to the states. As far as any shopping goes, this was a painless version.

On Friday evening, KAS held their annual winter concert. Wow! It was held at a local convention center/hotel not far from the school. (Next year we get to have this concert in our new school). All of the elementary students performed from the elementary orchestra to Pre-K and all classes in between. They were adorable and so talented. There is nothing like a group of children singing to lift your Christmas spirit.

Then the middle and high school students took the stage - baroque strong ensemble, quintets, trios, vocal groups, solo acts and different grades performed. I was SO impressed! One young sophomore violinist was spectacular. I would pay money to see her perform at any concert hall.

Yesterday I took the high-speed train up to Taipei with another teacher, a coach and eight 6th grade girls. We headed up into the mountains outside of Taipei to play in a softball tournament at TES (Taipei European School). I hadn't taken the high-speed train before so I was excited about that, even if we didn't get to see much of Taipei.

The train is amazing and so fast. It would take 5-6 hours to drive up to Taipei but we got there in just over 90 minutes. It costs about $45 USD so it's the perfect way to get to Taipei for the day.

I didn't get to see much of the city because we got out of the train station and immediately boarded a bus that took us up into the mountains outside of Taipei. We knew it was going to be a bit cooler in this area than in Kaohsiung and we were prepared but not as well as we should have been. The temperatures were in the low to mid 50's all day. I know, that's not cold in terms of New England in winter but we were outside the entire day and by the time we got back on the bus to take us to the train, we were all chilled to the bone. It was cloudy and incredibly windy and there was no building to escape to or provide any type of shelter. Brrr! It was the first time I was cold in this country.

This is TES. This school has about 1500 students from over 50 different countries. They are located south of the city and it's a hike up into the mountains to get to this location.

The girls lost their first game but won the second with a score of 18 to 12. We were so excited! What a fun group of young ladies to spend the day with. That's coach LuLu on the left. She is a medical student at the local university.

I wasn't feeling great on Friday night and realized that I was coming down with something. I'm so lucky that I haven't caught anything since I've been here, even when my classroom sounds like a hospital ward. The day outside in the colder temps sent me right over the edge so today I'm staying in, nursing myself back to health because the next final week before winter break is a crazy one. I have a very sore throat and laryngitis (I sound like Barry "Can't get enough of your love, babe" White). If I am going to be sick, I'm glad it's a few days before my trip home so I'll be recovered by the time I get on that plane on the 22nd.

Happy Last Week of School before Winter Vacation!!!!