In pictures

One of my favorite ways to waste time on the interweb is the BBC's Day in pictures. We have less than two months left in Taiwan, and it's going to be a whirlwind with little time to blog. So, I've decided to compile my own album of daily (or almost daily) pictures that reflect everyday life here, with brief commentary. Check it out!

Happy Earth Day!

This was a fun-filled, busy week with lots of special classes and activities. In particular, we taught Earth Day lessons with 4th and 6th grade. In 6th grade we started with a mind map, brainstorming what we can do for the Earth, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many ideas they came up with and could express in English. Then we listened to "3 Rs" by Jack Johnson and tried to fill in some of the lyrics. I think it's a really great song because not only does it teach reduce, reuse, recycle, but it also has a lot of repetition and incorporates multiplication!

4B had class on April 22, so I thought it would be fun to supplement their textbook's unit on Earth Day ("We can turn off the lights. We can plant trees. ...") by actually planting a tree. The school gardener kindly let us use a spot behind their classroom, and I brought a fig tree (the most easily transportable by scooter). It was drizzling a little bit and the kids had fun digging in the mud. Recently I also planted a small vegetable garden (eggplants, tomatoes, Thai basil) with Russ and the neighborhood children by our apartments. The kids were so into it that we had to do rock paper scissors to see who got to plant what. The work went quickly with so many hands, and it was so encouraging to see that these kids had had intimate experiences with plants before, because their parents grow vegetables and flowers -- every little bit of land is used here and there are so many roadside gardens. Hopefully they will keep this mentality with them for a long long time.

Here's the evidence...

... that we scootered through Taroko Gorge! Last weekend comprised a scooter adventure. First, we visited Nanao, where Julia kindly lent us her scooter so we wandered around town, chilling on the beach and the wharf. Nanao is such a small town that in one day I already recognized people we encountered earlier. (Not that this isn't a common phenomenon anyways -- thanks to English village and teaching at a couple different schools, I seem to recognize kids everywhere we go...) After a peaceful stay we took the train south to Hualien, where we rented a scooter and headed to Taroko National Park. Driving was intense but it was nice to have the flexibility to stop wherever and explore. The worst part was sharing the narrow winding road - sometimes with only one lane - with massive tour buses full of sightseers. The best part was the view... well worth each and every bus. This should give you an idea:

Once we got to Tiansiang, we hiked up to the Huoran Pavilion amid the sound of thousands upon thousands of caterpillars munching on leaves. These azaleas were a welcome sight at the top, as were the views of the valley below. The next morning we hiked the Lyushuei-Heliou trail, spotting a gigantic fuzzy caterpillar and a yellow striped reptile, as well as several brightly colored dragonflies, butterflies and other insects. Lastly, we made it through the Tunnel of Nine Turns trail, marveling at the marble gorge and the geologic forces that formed it, before impending rain pushed us to drive back to Hualien. That was a scooter adventure in and of itself. (Photo credit: Russ Thompson)