Update

This week three of our classes will come to an end, so sad! Our three "clubs," two for adults and one for children, have run their courses, and have been among our funnest classes to teach... Anyways we'll be finishing with some exciting stuff, including a review game show. I made a batch of cookie dough and put it in the freezer (a trick I learned from someone in college, or rather their grandma), so hopefully I'll have time on Thursday to bake all my cookies and bring them to class!

Summer camp is starting to come together, though it's a little stressful at the moment. I'm feeling better about it now though. We had three meetings last week, two with the music team (teaching them the songs we've chosen and practicing them) who we will be joining in the mornings, and one with the leaders/organizational committee. It is a 5 day camp for Jr. High students that is being partly sponsored by the government. As for our part, we get two hours a morning to teach English and help the students prepare a short drama to perform on the last day. This is ok, except everyone has all these ideas of things they want us to teach, while admitting that the learners will for the most part be at a very basic level. So far the suggestions we've received to include in our English time are: character (honesty, integrity, respect, thankfulness) which they are being taught in Chinese; vocabulary and "some English phrase" related to their activities like games, rock climbing and hiking; developing a global perspective (the Kyoto protocol etc.); and Taiwan's ecology (in the form of plants and animals they might encounter while hiking). Anyways, hopefully we have curbed the suggestions for now. As Hope put it (in relation to the ecology one), if we have to learn the words first, we probably shouldn't teach it. Anyways, we still need some helpers for this camp.

Yesterday we went to Hualian, but unlike other days we caught the early train which leaves at 7:30am. We ended up walking quite a lot, but it was pretty fun. We had pancakes at McDonalds, and got to go to the Pakistani restaurant that is so good! Did some shopping (actually a lot of shopping) and then relaxed at Starbucks for awhile. We got home around 7:45pm.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to lately. Good bye and remember, if you're ever in Taiwan and you want to go to Starbucks, you should say "Wo yao chu Xin Ba Ke"