daily life...

It's suddenly quite cool here in Taiwan, I think the temperature is in the mid teens, and while I do feel a little chilly, being acclimatized and all, it seems like I'm sill wearing a lot less than the people around me. I haven't busted out the turtlenecks and winter parkas quite yet.

Today is Tuesday, and I like Tuesdays because they're pretty relaxed. I have two advanced English classes in the morning (two hours each) and then I usually stay at the school for lunch since the school provides the food. Last year I got the idea to have a free chat time at lunch and invite my students to come eat with me. It's been going pretty well so far, and today I had some girls who are writing the script for an English drama competition later in the semester. I get things like that sometimes, but most often they just want to talk and find out why I came to Taiwan and what my life is like here.

In an hour or so, I'll head to Chinese class/dinner/tutoring/fellowship with Ivan and Christine and their four adorable girls. Getting to know this family is definitely a highlight of my week, and has been a highlight of my time here. I'm thinking of taking a Chinese proficiency test next semester. I was originally going to take it this weekend, but I want to take the intermediate level rather than the basic, and I'm not quite ready for it. On the test website, you can take practice tests and in the listening section for the basic I got 46/50. But on the intermediate my score was only 39. Since listening is my strongest area, I know I really need to brush up on my characters and reading before April when I plan to take the test (it's a joint listening and reading test).

Time is going by really fast, but I'm glad November is not going to be as hectic as October was, I'm looking forward to ETA (the annual English teaching conference), as well as a wedding or three.