Having a Baby?

In Taiwan, when a new baby arrived, or people are getting married or people pass awa yeverybody at the work place have to give money to the person who is having a baby, or getting married or pass away. This money we call red or white envelop. We usually give from 600 to 1,500 NT it depesnds of the friendship.

This is the custom of Chinese culture, people give money to others. I think that is kind of showing some respect or help to others. However, sometimes, people give too much money, they will ending up wining the case. In other side, red and white envelops are like kind of deposit to your friends' account, when any of above situation happen to you, it is the time for your friend to pay back to you. These kinds of occations, family, friends, and other people have to give red or white envelops. If a work place of 150 people oh my! a person has to give a lot of money.

Sometimes, people will give you cakes, cookies or other present in return, too. One of my cooworkers gave me the above cake for her second born baby. This present will give to a people who gave her red envelop. It is a kind gift in return.

Lonely!

Yesterday David's office send him to Taipei with other two people. They need to go to fix computers. David will be in Taipei for 4 days, he will come back later in this week, I miss him very much. I am hopping he is ok. He is working very hard, he has to work Monday thrugh Sunday. I miss you, David!

My Office

This is my office at Sheng-Kung Girls high school. In Taiwan, 50 teachers shared one of office but each of us will have our own office table with small locker underneath. During the class time, teacher have to go to each classroom and give class. Unlike in United States of America, each high school teacher will have thier own classroom, the classroom is teacher's office. Students will have to come to the teacher's classroom and have a class. In other words, teacher don't have to move for each class. In Taiwan, the office can be very noisy and sometimes it can have a happy time, too.

Remembering My First Mother's Day

In just a few days, it will be may. May is the month of Mother's Day. I remembered five years ago, when I lived in Marta's house, David gave 12 red roses as a present of Mother's Day. At that time, I was still in Minnessota, St. Cloud. This year, I wish, he can gie me 100 red roses for Mother's Day like the above picture.

Leader Village Taroko (立德布洛灣山月村)

There are wonderful places here in Taiwan. In the mountain like Hwa - Lien city, there's a resort which is good for a vacation. The place is called Leader Village Taroko. You can do a lot of activities over there such as climbing the mountain, hiking, and you can see beauty of nature. Behind Village Taroko stands a peculiar cliff, named Moon Hill Rock, on which you can see the entire Bruwan plateau as well as the Liwu River running east through layers of mountains. I never been to hwa-Lien, I wish, I could go over there one day.

For the hotel reservation, call the followng number:

訂房專線:03-8610111

For driving and direction, you can see the address below:

地址 :972花蓮縣秀林鄉富世村231-1號

More pictures of Leader Village Taroko (立德布洛灣山月村)

Bora Bora Island (大 溪 地 Bora Bora 島)

David always send me nice e-mails and pictures about traveling. This time is Bora Bora Island (大 溪 地 Bora Bora 島). It is a peaceful and paradise place. It is located in the Caribbean, closer to Tahiti. Over there, you can see beautiful beaches and you can swim with naimals. Sounds good and great for a long and peaceful vacation. I wish I could go over there.

More pictures of Bora Bora Island (大 溪 地 Bora Bora 島)

有車沒車的人都要看本月 20 日開始 Be Aware!

Yesterday I got E-mail from David and he gave me information about traffic regulations in whole Taiwan. It started on April 20th, 2006, please be aware if you are driving or riding a scooter. If you pass the red light, you have to pay $900 NT not only for scooters but also for cars, too. If you pass the red light and turn lef, you have to pay $5,400 NT. If you are driving a car without seatbelt, you have to pay $1,500 NT. Please tell everyone...

Here are detais in chinese:

紅燈右轉三次就吊銷駕照 ............ 有 車 沒 車 的 人 都 要 看 本 月 2 0 日 開 始 ..... 再 提 醒 各 位 注 意 ! ! 殺 掉 這 封 信 你 將 會 後 悔 . ( 交通警察準備向全國違規人 , 徵收年終獎金 ) .

本月 2 0 日 起，開始 罰 / 搶錢 ㄌ . . . . 再 提醒各 位 注 意 ! ! 不管你是 騎機車 或者是 開汽車 的 ---請注意 !! 全 國 ( Taiwan ) 將 實 施 紅燈越 線 處 罰條例 ，凡 是在 等待 紅 燈 時 超 出 白 色 禁止越 線 者將 處 以 900 元 的 罰 金。 還 有 紅 燈 右 轉 --- $ 5 4 0 0 元 ( 這是目 前 交 通 警 察 的 重 點 工 作 之 一 ) 請 多 多 的 注 意，千 萬 別 一 個 不 小 心，而 就 賠上白 花 花 的 鈔 票 !! 大 家 不 要 和錢過不 去 .................... 注 意 喔 ! ! ! 本 月 2 0 日 起， 走路未靠右邊，罰 台 幣 600 元。 沒 有 車 的 人，通 知 一 下 有 車 族 吧！趕 快 通 知 你 的 親 朋 好 友 吧！ 最 好 印 一 張，放於 車 內 提 醒 自 己。 1. 闖紅燈 由 1 8 0 0 - 3 6 0 0 元， 調 為 3 6 0 0 - 7 2 0 0 元 !!!! 2. 超速 由 1 2 0 0 - 2 4 0 0 元， . 調為 6 0 0 0 + 每超 速 1 公里加罰 1 0 0 元 !!!! ! 若 限 速 6 0 ，你開 8 0，則 需 付 6 0 0 0 + ( 8 0 - 6 0 ) * 1 0 0 元。 3. 駕 駛 一般 道 路，未繫 安 全帶，調 為 1 5 0 0 元。 4. 6 ■ ■以 下兒童，單 獨 留 在 車 內，由 0 調為 3 0 0 0 元。 自求多 福 ㄌ !! [ 你唯 一 能 做 的 是 --- 用力 的 傳

Trip to Yu- Jing (玉井)

Yu-Jing (玉井)

Frut Farmer's House 果農之家

Tsengwen Reservoir Scenery Area (曾文水庫)

Joseph, the English teacher at Sheng-Kung Girl's High School, invited us to go to Frut farmer's house (果農之家) in Yu-Jing (玉井). They (Jojo, Joseph, Rich, and Rich's family) all meet at 9:30 A.M. at Sheng-Kung. David, Alan and I were leaving from Sigang. We drove about 40 minutes to our destination. It is 10 A.M. it was too early for our appointment. In the meantime, we went to the Yu-Jing's downtown to see what is the place good for. I was waiting for them at the Yu-Jing's police station. It is a big police station that I never seen before. After 40 minutes waiting, they are here, finally.

The first stop is 果農之家, Frut Framer's house. This place is a restaurant with a beautiful nature. It is a peaceful place with green trees, grass and green wide open spaces. I can see and heard birds singing and other kinds of animals were playing. Alan and Sara (Rich's daughter) were playing happily. After drinking a cup of coke and apple soda, it is time to go inside to have our lunch.

The restaurant is extremely big. It is just 11:30 A.M. and there's a lot of people eating over there already. The dishes are so special, because each plate is so colorful and it cooked with some fruits like mango, papaya, green melon, banana, raxapple, pinaple, fruit tea, and more. This place is so special and their dishes are so special too. I really enjoyed eating each course meal over there. I did not even think that fruits can be cooked as a meal.

After eating, we went to Tsengwen Reservoir Scenery Area (曾文水庫). I could see the water we drink. According to David and Joseph, the water of our city is getting less and less. We should save some water when we cook, drink or take shower. In this place, it is not only good for the nature but also it is good for the coconut ice cream. The coconut ice cream, is inside of a small brown coconut after eating it, you can bring the empty coconut home.

If I have visitors, I will bring them to these places. I will make them to taste delicious food of the Frut Farmer's House. It is a great place to relax and be with friends. Thanks Joseph for inviting us over there. We really enjoyed the lunch and the trip.

Junior One A and C

I am always happy to teach Junior Ones. However, Junior One A and C are always easier to deal with. Sometimes they make me angry and sometimes they make me laugh. I like Cathy, but she doesn't want me to take picture. She is very cuty little girl and she is a very good student. She is always working hard not only in my class but also in other classes, too. Anyways, I like all of them. Both classes are very special with a lot of sense of humor. They are all cute, creative and intelligent young girls.

My Senior Students Made It!

This morning, I got the news of my senior students who went to an university interview the past three weeks. They were so nervous for the interview. The came back and tell me what was happening during the interview.

Finally, last friday, they got the news that the university accepted them. They knew last night and they told me this morning. I am so happy for them because they worked so hard for it. I wish I could take photos to them and post into my blog.

Time Is Getting To The End

I am more frustrated than before. My time is getting closer. I need to finishing witing the plan for cultivating students and let my students to see if they like it or not. I am more streesed. After all these, I need a good rest with my family and forget about school.

Fu-Hwa (馥華)

This afternoon at 2:10 PM in our school, Sheng- Kung, we have a speech presentation of a story of a young lady named Fu-Hwa (馥華). The story of Forward is quiet interesting. She almost lost her life in a fire accident. After recovering, she is alive and since then, she became disable. She is seating in a wheel chair, she cannot walk or doing things by herself. More likely, she is dependent of her mother; however, the positive side of her is that she wants to be a writer in her future life. This young girl is intelligent. She uses wonderful Chinese phrases, better than myself.

Fu-Hwa communicates with her mother using a computer codes numbers. These codes numbers will automatically become in each letter of a chinese language. It is so amazing to see how a mother and her child became in one body, one person.

Her mother is amazing. After the fire accident, Fu-Hwa's mom quit her job and be with her, taking care of her all day long. She brings her to school, brings her to the physical therapy, brings her to the doctor, and brings her to her IEP class. More than that, her mother is her best friend. She gives her a shower, gives her to eat, changes her cloth, brushes her teeth and so on.

After being in the presentation, my tears fell down. I am a mother of one child, too. I know how difficult is for a mother to take care of her child even 24 hours a day. This story touched my heart. No matter what happen in our lives, we have to keep going and we have to fight for our future. Forward and many people in this world are giving us a good example. I think as a normal people, we have to value our lives, we have to appreciate our parents for giving us food, shelter and houseing. Also, we have to help people as much as we can, we cannot discriminate disable people for who they are. We are all human beings, and as human beings we have to respect each other, at the end we turned out we are all equal.

More Fu-Hwa's Story

Fu-Hwa's School

Fu-Hwa's tecnology

Fu-Hwa's Words

Häagen-Dazs Restaurant

The Taiwanese Häagen-Dazs restaurant offers these kind of dishes. The food look good but it might be expensive.

原燒

This morning, I was doing some research for my topic to cultivating talents. Surprisinly, I found a restuarant that I always wonder. It is call 原燒 . One day we were driving from to Tainan, the radio stattion was introducing this restaurant to the public. Alan got so excited about it because this restaurant has something special that everyone doesn't have. It has a baked ice cream. The person from the commercial said you can baked anything from meat to ice cream. Alan always wanted to go but we did not find the place. Now I know where it is, I cannot wait to tell Alan about it.

Häagen-Dazs

Today, I got two gift certificates from my credit card company. They gave me two gift certificates for Häagen-Dazs' ice cream. What is Häagen-Dazs? It is a very famous brand and expensive ice-cream which is sold here in Taiwan. All Taiwanese people would love to have it. I always thought this kind of ice cream is Turkish, but after searching on the net, I founf the true story of Häagen-Dazs. It originated from United States of America. It is very interesting to see how a small American family could have thier little bussiness and without knowing this small bussiness became very big and international.

Also, in Taipei, There are two Häagen-Dazs' resturants. The first resturant is called C'est Shelly. It is a Häagen-Dazs' chocolate hot pot. They will give you all kinds of fruits and you will cover it with hot chocolate. Each hot chocolate pot will cost $880 NT dollars. It is very expensive. I never been there, but I went to its home page, and I found interesting things about that restaurant.

The second resturant has the ice cream's name Häagen-Dazs. It is a typical tea time restaurant. you can order from small simple ice cream to more complicate desserts. Each plate look good and tasty.

My Cute J1E Students

These are my cute junior one E students. They could imagine a motorcycle and ride on it. They are beautiful, smart, and they have talents. Aren't they cute?

Delicious Cookies

This is one of the best cookies in Tai-Chung (台中). They have all kinds of cookies. The industry is close to She-Tou (社頭). It called Sheng-Tian Foods Co.,Ltd. (昇田御品有限公司), this place has the best Japanese and Chinese cookies. If you come to buy at the industry, they will give you 50% off. It is a good deal and the cookies are the best. It is not far away from Tainan city. I never been there but my grandmom often go to this place and buy cookies. I often got these black sugar honey cookies 黑糖麥芽餅 cookies from her. My son Alan loves these kind of cookies. You should try it, too.

University Interview Part II

This morning, when I was updating my blog, the senior three student who went to an university interview this past weekend came to see me. She went to Ha-Lien, Dong - Hwa University (東華大學). This senior three student was narrating her story. She was telling me what was happning in the interview, and how was the process. She was telling me with details. After hearing all her narration and what was happening, I think she could get into the university without any problem. She will tell me the results on Friday. Hopping she will get in. I will cross my fingers he, he...

I Got Lost On Saturday

I always got lost no matter where I go. This Saturday afternoon, I supposed to go to the concert for little kids which was held by one of the English teacher at Sheng Kung Girl's High School. Her son is performing this concert. Also, I was invited to go to our English dean's party. It is also a party for a little kids. However, none of these I showed up. I couldn't find places that I should go. I drove and drove all Saturday afternoon in a rainy day. I told my son Alan that we will go to a fun place and he will have a lot of fun. After driving and driving, my son got impatient. Finally, I arrived to unknown place, An-Ping (安平). It was horrible day, I got so frustrated, angry about all these situations.

花蓮瑞穗新開的溫泉渡假村

This morning, I got an e-mail from David. He send me nice pcitures of Hua-Lien (花蓮). After looking at them, I really want to go to Hua-Lien. We are so busy, We do not go anywhere and do things as family. I wish I could have more family pictures. When I was younger, I did not take a lot of pictures, now, I regret. I wich I could be young forever and have as same beauty as before, but that is impossible. Now, I wish I could take as much pictures as possible and go places that I haven't been.

花蓮瑞穗新開的溫泉渡假村 在國家公園內ㄠ
國內首座結合原始森林、處女溫泉、Villa別墅 的複合式頂級的休閒渡假園區 屆時非但可以在自然的森林中享受芬多精森林浴的洗禮，更可以體會全國最原始的碳酸氫鈉溫泉泡湯樂趣以及高級渡假Villa的尊貴住宿享受。對於喜愛親近大自然的遊客而言，將是一大福音。相信勢必在台灣、花東的旅遊業界中，掀起一陣不小的旋風。

The Story of The Last Supper

The Last Supper

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples asked Jesus, "Where would you like us to plan for you to eat the Passover feast?" Jesus replied to them, "Go into the city and you will find a man, and tell him that we would like to come to his house for Passover."
First of all, what is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and what is the Passover? These are actually the same things. The Jews celebrated the Passover ever since the time of Moses, when the Lord saved all the Israelite babies. This was when the Lord 'passed over' their houses, and they were kept safe. This is another big story your teacher will have to tell you another time.
During the time of the Passover celebrations the people didn't eat or have any bread in their homes with yeast in it. Yeast is what makes the bread all big and puffy. Without yeast the bread is flat, and that is called unleavened bread. Now back to the story.
The disciples did just as Jesus asked, and they found a place and got ready for the Passover.
The evening came, and Jesus and the twelve disciples sat to eat the meal. The disciples were eating quietly, they had a lot on their minds. They were worried because some people wanted to kill Jesus because he was getting so popular.
Jesus could see the disciples were worried. He said to them quietly, "I tell you the truth, one of you here will betray me." The disciples looked at each other in shock, and some of them asked Jesus, "It isn't me, is it Lord?"
Jesus replied, "The one who dips his bread into the bowl with me will betray me. I will die, just as it is written, but the man who betrays me will feel sorry forever.
Then Judas, with his head down spoke quietly to Jesus, "It isn't me, is it?" Jesus answered, "Yes, you are the one." Judas' head went down even lower, he had hoped that the other disciples had not heard what Jesus said. Luckily, they were paying more attention to Jesus breaking apart some bread.
He thanked God for the bread and shared it with the disciples and said, "Take this and eat it. Pretend this is my body which is given for you". Then he took a full cup, thanked God for it and said, "Pretend this is my blood, which will be poured out for many people so their sins may be forgiven." Then they all took a sip from the cup.
The meal continued after this, it was a long celebration. The disciples took their time, because they enjoyed talking with Jesus and asking Him questions. (Just like when you go out to eat with your parents and their friends, sometimes they seem to talk forever, and you just want to go home...).
After some time Jesus got up from the table and went to a different part of the room. He took off his everyday clothes, and put a large towel around him, making himself look like a servant. After that, he poured water into a large bowl and began to wash the disciples' feet. Then dried them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.
First of all, Jesus is like a King - but even greater than a king, He's the King of King's! By washing the disciples feet He was doing something that only a servant would do. This would be like if someone famous came to your house and started to clean your room, even getting down on their hands and knees to clean under your bed! It probably would never happen.
When it was Peter's turn to get his feet clean he said to Jesus, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You don't understand what I am doing, but you will later."
"No," said Peter, "you will never wash my feet." He said this because he didn't feel right having Jesus wash his feet. He knew Jesus was very special.
Jesus replied back to him, "If I don't wash your feet, you cannot be with me."
"Then, Lord," Peter replied, "don't just wash my feet but my hands and head too." Jesus then explained that He only needed to wash his feet; and that would make his whole body clean.
When Jesus had finished washing all of the disciples feet, he put his everyday clothes back on and returned to the table. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" Jesus asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and that is who I am. And now that I have washed your feet, you can also wash one another's feet."
This is an example of how you should treat others. You don't have to actually wash other people's feet, but by doing nice things to other's and acting like a servant for Jesus, that is what He wants you to do. If you do these things Jesus will bless you.

My Classroom

Today, I have only two junior classes F and H for entire day. Junior twos went to their field trip, so I do not have class for the entire afternoon. I had an opportunity to take the time and closer look closer at my classroom. Also, I had an opportunity to take pictures.

This is my classroom, it is located on the fouth floor of my office building. It is very convenient because when I have class, I just go upstairs, it is very close. During summer, I have a nice Air Condition. Unlike traditional classrooms where there's no air conditions. I am a lucky teacher and every Chinese teacher envy me because of air condition and a good teaching supplies such as computers, projectors, Cd players, DVD players, overheads, etc.

The Last Supper at Sheng Kung Girl's High School

Tonight it is the night where Jesus will get together with his people for the last supper. Our school, Sheng Kung is also doing the last supper for students who live in doorms. It started at 5:20 PM, Alan and I arrived earlier 4:20PM to help them to set up the tables, cups, chopsticks, napkins and more. There were a lot of food such as corn, tomatoes, chicken legs, bread, vegetables, mantow, guava, grape juice, and tea. It is a very simple dinner where Jesus shared with his friends. There were 12 teachers and 12 sisters who participated in this activity.

There are total 12 tables. Each table has 2 teachers, one sister and 5 students. It is a lot of fun. We have to follow whatever the counseling supervisor is saying. This is the time where teachers and sisters from each table will get the food. The priest will bless the food first whish is vegetables. After blessing vegetables, we got to eat them. Again, the priest will bless the food. After that, we had to all the food on our plates. We had only 15 minutes to finish the food in our plates.

It is so fun to see how people eat so fast. The bread is too dry and I need to drink a lot of water. Also, Alan could finish the food in his plate. He is a good boy but he forget sometimes the tables manners.

After the dinner we went to the mass. The mass is out an hour at Sheng Kung Girl's High School's chapel. The mass started at 7 PM and it ends at 8 PM. During the mass, I could see the principal and the priest wash 12 students' feet. It was my first time to see things like that. Even I was at catholic school and christian church and I never see things like that before. It was interesting to see it.

The activity is over, I drove 40 minutes back home. I am so tired and exausted but I had a lot of fun.