Ali Shan, and a New Class

Sat & Sun Sept 1 & 2
This weekend was the trip to Ali Shan that teacher Emily planned. It was so much fun. I agreed to go a couple of weeks ago, and forgot about it until Friday when Emily reminded me at school. So Friday was laundry and packing day.
In addition to Emily and myself, there were Sam and Candy from school and some other of Emily’s friends. We met at Emily’s house at 4:15am Saturday. From there we cabbed to the bus station. The bus was amazing. The seats were better than lazy-boys. Each one reclined fully and had an attached tv set. We found out on the way home that there was also a game system built in. On the way there, though, we all just slept. It was a 3 hour trip to Chiayi, where we had breakfast at McD’s and caught another bus to the train station in another city.
Two hours on the train and one Gravol later, we arrived at Fen Chi Hu, which is a really cute little village. We wandered around the village for a while. Our guide was apparently telling the group things about the local produce and what life is like in the area. I understood nothing. We had lunch there and saw a bunch of shops and things. I successfully bought nothing, except for lunch, which I didn’t particularly like.
While we were in town, we stopped at a Nature Preserve type of place. There were pretty trees and a big wooden deck thingy. There was an amazing view. It looks really good in the group shots we took there.
From Fen Chi Hu, I had the scariest bus ride of my life. We went super fast on all of these really narrow mountain roads, with sheer drops to the sides. It didn’t help that there were 10 people in a 7 seat van. And we all know how comfortable I am when there are more people than seats. Anyway, I obviously didn’t die and I didn’t even get sick, although it was touch and go for a bit.
The minute we walked onto the compound, the owner took a liking to Sam. He kept calling him a handsome guy and offering him alcohol. It was this brutal 60% stuff called Kinmen. It tastes like rubbing alcohol and burning. After Sam had a glass, he and the guy, whose name, I think, was Yaba, made me have one. I asked for a little bit, got maybe ½ a shot and my head started spinning.
After getting me drunk, they showed us to our rooms. I got to sleep in a treehouse!! After we took our things to our rooms, we immediately had to change into "water playing clothes". I threw on my suit and a pair of shorts and I was good to go. We met the other tour groups and all went together. When Emily said we’d be playing in the water, I had no idea that she meant we were going upstreaming. Basically this means that you’re in a river, with rapids, and you walk upstream against the current. For Sam and I this wasn’t a problem. Water is easy for us. For 15 Taiwanese students, most of whom are afraid of water, this was a horrifying
experience. It took forever. The actual upstreaming was really fun and I love any excuse to be in the water. But there was a lot of waiting while the guides strung the rope across and the others took their turns. And like the song says, the waiting is the hardest part.
When we got back from the river, everyone cleaned up and we all went to dinner. We made this traditional rice ball mash stuff in a hollowed out log with bamboo paddles (Ali Shan) . There are 2 people and you take turns mashing the rice. But the paddles are heavy and the rice is sticky, so it’s really hard. Then when it’s sufficiently mashed you use chopsticks and roll a ball of rice around them. Then you dip your rice ball in chopped up peanuts and drizzle honey on it. It was actually really tasty. Then the rest of dinner was mostly bbq’d things. Including pig, which they raised on the property about 20 feet from my cabin.
After dinner there was 3 hours of traditional dancing, in the traditional costumes. It was pretty cool. It started raining right at the beginning, so we were doing this awesome circle dance in the rain. At one point the boys were given bows and arrows to dance with. Then the arrows were lit on fire and they shot them into the fire pit in the center (at least that was the idea. Only Sam’s arrow actually made it). So then we were dancing around a roaring fire, in the rain, in traditional aboriginal costumes. My only problem was that it went on forever. And I didn’t understand a word that was being said. My attention started to wander and I was actually relieved when it ended.
There were no more planned activities after the dancing, but we planned our own. Yaba kept offering Sam alcohol (and only Sam) but he didn’t want to drink alone, so we all stayed sober. We played modified pictionary/charades. When we ran out of clues for the game, we switched to Truth or Dare, which degenerated into just Dare. It was really funny. At around midnight we headed to bed and were up in the morning for breakfast at 8. We were the first ones there and everyone else started staggering in around 8:20 or so. After breakfast we had to pack up our stuff, clear out our rooms and get ready to go on a hike.
Because of the rain the night before, we had to wear rubber boots and helmets. For a hike in the mountains. I was glad for the boots, but the helmet was a little ridiculous. For the first half of the hike, our group was at the front of the line directly behind one of the guides. It was a good pace. Not fast enough to make me out of breath, but constantly moving. So we get to the halfway point and wait for the rest of the group to catch up. We waited for about 5 minutes and the guide hollered back to the end guide and there was no response. So he had to go back and get them. It took 20 minutes for the rest of the group to catch us. Then they decided that we were going too fast, so we had to go at the end. This is the leg of the hike that most of the pictures came from because I’d walk 3 steps and wait for 10 minutes to walk 3 more steps. Luckily the view was amazing, because otherwise I’d have been really bored.
After the hike, I took a cold shower in one of the public bathrooms (because we’d already checked out of our rooms) and changed into my dress from Saturday. Then we had lunch, took a couple of pictures with Yaba and started the trip home. Anticipating another rocky train ride, I took a Gravol before we left. We missed the train, so we had to take a bus instead. It was
actually shorter than the train ride. In spite of being super sleepy from the Gravol, I couldn’t sleep on the bus. When we got out to catch the other bus from Chiang yi we stopped for dinner at a "famous" turkey rice restaurant. It was good (and cheap). Then we caught the luxury bus for the rest of the trip home. I made it in at about 12, but because I fell asleep on the lux-bus, I couldn’t get to sleep for ages.
All of my pics from this trip will be in an album called Ali Shan. But I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to post them, yet. There are a lot.

Mon Sept 3
Today was a long day. I am so sore and tired from the weekend. I have bruises on top of bruises on top of sore muscles. It’s a good kind of sore, though. Trouble is, I had no patience for the kids. And there were 3 more new ones. So I’m up to 15 three year olds, who don’t speak English. I think it would be easier to herd cats. They seem like mostly good kids. There aren’t really any trouble makers, although there are a couple space cases. And one undid my pants today. Memo to self; avoid drawstrings in the future.
To make my day even better, I couldn’t get my ARC (Alien Residence Card). Technically, I was supposed to get it on Friday, but it wasn’t ready. So I go to the office on my lunch break and it’s still not ready. And, they have no idea when it will be ready.
At the end of my lunch, I had a meeting in the main office and they want me to teach an adult class. Which I’m fine with. It’s only 6 hours a week and it’ll be nice to have a little extra cash. What I’m not ok with is the fact that it starts tomorrow! But I can hear my bed calling me and I can no longer resist.

Tues Sept 4th
Today was much better than yesterday. I had more sleep. My body wasn’t as sore. My kids were not possessed by satan. And I taught my first adult class. It was a little awkward at first. Their English is good, but not great. I’m really glad I’m actually getting to teach grammar now. We covered possessive pronouns and ‘s or s’. It was all very exciting. And my students think I’m crazy for liking baseball, because it is a man’s sport and I am a girl (their words, not mine).
My kids were really good today, mostly. We’re at the point, though, where I am constantly getting molested. They maul me every chance they get. And if one of them is sitting in my lap, they all want to. It’s cute up to a point, and then it just hurts. Somehow they keep hitting my bruises from the weekend, so I’m not healing at all. But I love that they love me, and wouldn’t change it for the world.
Had dinner at the veggie buffet with K and D. Didn’t really have time for any fun shenanigans, what with prepping a lesson and all. Did manage to get a load of laundry thrown in, though. Ah the excitement of living abroad.

Thurs Sept 6th
Pay Day!!!! Gotta love getting paid. Especially when it’s in cash. It’s just for this pay period, because I need my ARC to open a bank account and it’s still not ready. Hopefully it’ll be there when I go tomorrow.
Taught my second class tonight. It went well. I did get asked to slow down my speaking a little. Which makes sense, except that I thought I was speaking slowly. It seems like a good group, though. And they don’t seem to be afraid of me, which is nice.
Speaking of being afraid, my kids were super funny today. My roommate Thaddaeus came to see me at play time and the kids were terrified of him. And it’s understandable cuz he’s a big guy. He’s, like 6'5 and played football in college. And he’s black. He’s an absolute sweetheart, though. But they wouldn't go anywhere near him. Even when he sat down. The closest they came was when I was holding them, then a couple of them said hello.
So it’s starting to cool down a little. Last night it was actually cool enough for me to go to sleep with my window open, instead of in the AC. Of course, I’m a moron and didn’t think to close the screen, so now I am covered in mosquito bites. I itch so much. Last night it was so bad that I woke up just before 3am and had to spray myself with Off and pop a Benadryl before I could sleep again. Needless to say I am exhausted.