Die In Your Arms

Today was our last day at the University. The students planned a little party for us, many games and taste testing included. It was so fun. They are great kids, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to help them improve their English...and corrupt their minds of what American culture really is like.

Two GREAT items of business today:

1. The body of the spider was found. How it died, I am unsure. But I am definitely pleased and able to teach without looking to that corner of the room every five seconds.

2. The cute pregnant lady from the juice stand at the night market was back at work tonight! When she saw me she got so smiley and pointed to her no longer pregnant belly indicating she had had her baby. So then I asked the boss if she had a picture of the baby that I could see. He pointed to some that had been placed on the wall since the last time I'd been there (last Friday-gasp!) and then he started to ask if the baby looked more like him, or more like her. And then it hit me. They're married! Ashley and I were slightly overjoyed. Ok, I guess that was three items of greatness.

Same Mistakes

"Teacher, SPIDER!"

That is not an uncommon thing said during class, while pointing to the wall behind me. The spider in question is never bigger than your average house spider (is that a thing? I'm sure you all know what type of spider I'm talking about).

"Oh, a spider?" I said, as I turned around to check the wall. I couldn't even see a spider, that's how small it probably was. "I can't see it," I said. But that's when it happened. It crawled out from behind the poster hanging on the wall. It was huge. Probably the size of most of the kid's hands. In my unexpected shock I screamed and jumped backwards a few feet.

This made half of the class scream with me, and half of them laugh at me. I could not let this thing roam freely in the classroom. It needed to be killed. By this time it had continued up the wall behind another hanging piece of butcher paper. I ran and grabbed the broom, hoping that it would be strong enough to kill that creature when whacked with it.

It took a few times of almost lifting the paper up high enough for all of us (me and 18 six-year-olds) to be brave enough to see it again. When we finally lifted it up, that thing ran straight down the wall, to the exact spot where I usually stand when teaching the music lesson on Mondays. Oh it was so gross. It could crawl right from the wall to the table, then onto the bottom part of the white board where you put the markers like it was its job. Didn't even have to make stretch. We were all screaming again as we watched this new development. And during the chaos we lost the exact location of it, but we knew the general area.

Once it was found again, I tried my hardest to kill it from an awkward angle, with all those 18 kids standing in the most inconvenient spots around me and the spider. And I was scared to death. Usually I am alright with killing the bugs. Ashley and I made a deal. She cooks and cleans, and I kill the bugs (we both think we got the better end) but spiders of that size are definitely a different story. I was shaking in my bare feet. But alas, I was not able to get it. It ran away. So maybe we will meet again. Hopefully not.

To [possibly] be continued...

More Than This

Saturday we took what is most likely my last trip into Taipei. We were finally able to go to the temple, we did LOTS of walking, did some shopping, and decided on an impulse to go up the 101.

Every one was out and about playing at the Sun Yut-sen Memorial. So fun.

Don't mind our baptized, greasy, frizzy, been-in-the-sweating-hot-humidity-all-day, now in the wind hair.

What You Know

Ok, when did it suddenly become May 25th? Do you know what this means...?
This means that I have exactly one month left in Taiwan. One month. This is crazy. And frankly kind of sad.

But on the upside--in one month I will be doing the following:



Along with a stop, or three, in Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok. So Stoked.

More of You

This end-of-school-beginning-of-summer time always makes me crave London. Maybe because the three times I've been have either been within 60 hours of the last day of school, or actually during the last day of school. Especially all of this Queen's Jubilee talk, 10 years ago from next week we accidentally attended her Golden Jubilee. Best. Thing. Ever.

Even when Maddy threw up in the middle of the Piccadilly Circus T.I.G.Fridays in front of hundreds of celebration goers and messed up her beautifully butterfly-painted face from Harrods. Which is what that little  7-year-old was most upset about.

Oh how yummy does Pret-A-Manger sound right now? Or a nap in Hyde Park? Harry Potter? What about a stroll through Nottingham? Or around Kensington Gardens? A simple ride on The Tube? Shopping in Chelsea? Or people watching along the Thames? A Cadbury bar?

Don't even get me started on the Olympics.

Lesson from Asia: #5

When helping out with the missionaries' weekly English class, you may pick up a few things. Such as:

How to not teach an English class.
A small amount of Chinese.
And two new male suitors.

Wild Honey

I'm probably not supposed to have favorites...but I do.

Legacy

This weekend was spent on a little island about 3 hours away from us here in Hualien. In English it is called Green Island. Why? You guessed it. It is quite green. It was beautiful and fun, and we definitely had some adventures...once I got over that sea-sickness set back.

Yeah, that thing was HUGE!

Taking our anti-sea sick meds. Apparently Ashley is having a hard time.

Postcards from Italy- A Cover

Yesterday was our four month anniversary. I spent it sick in bed. Ashley was so kind though and brought me banana mango juice and pork fried rice for dinner. (Can you tell that we love it?)

But today is another special day. Yes, there are only four months until my birthday, but that is not it. A year ago from today I left for Uganda, and for six weeks that unexpectedly changed my life. 

Like most people, my life in the last year did not go at all the way I had planned. And this next year is already looking to be that way as well. But I wouldn't change it for anything. I have seriously loved every single minute of it, especially the fact that I've basically lived out of a bag since I packed up for Namengo. 

Cherokee Rose

Merry Cinco de Mayo everyone! If you weren't aware, today was my favorite holiday. As much as I wish I could be at home celebrating with my sisters, wearing our sombreros, speaking our limited, very limited Spanish, making my mother either cook us Mexican food, or buy some for us. And being annoying all at the same time. I'm not home, I'm in Taiwan. We spent our morning at a wedding, which was so "Asian," I loved it. Including the dress change, and heart shaped balloons. We then headed to Country Mother's for a burrito. Yes, you read that, burrito. The missionaries have been telling us to go there since day one, about a month ago we finally found its location, and have hit it up numerous times. Apple crisp? Salad? American food? You betcha, dream come true. There's been a lot of that lately, but what wasn't a dream come true was spending the rest of the day in bed trying to make this cold go away. My lack of an immune system does not do well when all of these kids get sick.

Maybe we even accidentally matched today...

And good luck to my dad today competing in the St. George IronMan! I hate biking to the store here, let alone swimming 2.4 miles, then riding 112, and then running a marathon. Sheesh.