Hong Kong Trip

Hey everybody. I just realized October is nearing an end and I have yet to blog...oops. This month I had a bit of free time to take a vacation to Hong Kong. I went to visit a couple of friends who are former teachers here at CMS. One is Michelle Cavalli, who now teaches 2nd grade at the elementary school of Hong Kong International School. The other is Mike Kersten, who teaches history, humanities and a service course at the high school.

The trip was a great chance to get away and relax for a bit. Honestly the hightlights for me were just being able to hang out and play cards. A couple of activities we did include looking at some scenic temples and statues, walking around the central part of Hong Kong, going to Michelle's 2nd grade classroom, and eating at several American restaurants.

I don't have a whole lot to say about it and have not uploaded any pictures yet to my computer. Maybe I'll have some good ones to post.

Some cultural things of note:

1. People drive on the left hand side of the road, this comes from the heavy British influence.

2. Recycling is not popular in Hong Kong. Here in Taiwan, we recycle everything, even trash at McDonald's. In HK, I did not see anything at all for recycling.

3. One of the most interesting sites I saw was a statue outside of one of the banks. Hong Kong is famous for 4 or 5 of its banks, and outside one of them were two statues of lions. The lions had holes and gashes in them, and Michelle told us that these wear bullet holes from WWII, when the Japanese had come. I thought it was wonderful that the city chose to keep the same monuments on display at that the public can walk by today and see damage from fighting that happened over 60 years ago.

4. I saw the skyline several times, including some of the buildings that were used to shoot the new Batman movie (I would have to go back and watch to be sure which ones I saw). Anyway, I guess the filming of it caused a bit of a stir because of problems with lighting and usage of these buildings. I don't know if it was a huge deal or not, but was informed it was a little troublesome for the city.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll blog more later to talk about the track and field day we just had here at CMS.

Taiwan Mission Video and Typhoon

First, I want to let you know about a new link on my page, that I think is very exciting. In the links column I have added a connection to a new You Tube video, of the mission work being done here in Taiwan. Josh Lange, from LCMS World Mission, came out here last spring and video taped a lot of ministries that are happening here at CMS and in Chia Yi. He also interviewed me and a couple of other missionaries who serve as teachers at the school.

Over the last couple of months he put all of this together into an informational video, and it is now up on the internet. Josh did an outstanding job on this video and I would highly recommend that all of you watch it. It is a great chance to see some footage of what is happening here, meet some of my fellow missionaries and get to hear about the wonderful ways God is working in the mission field of Taiwan.

In addition to this link, I added the LCMS World Mission blog to my "other blogs" column. This blog is well organized and has tons of information, pictures, and videos about mission work being done all over the world. Also, fellow Taiwan missionary Kevin Foley has a new blog that is up and running. Check that out to get more perspectives on the mission work being done here at CMS. It is under the "Taiwan blogs" section.

Finally, today is Monday, but it is a no school day. Hooray! Everyone loves a day off, right? We are currently in the middle of a typhoon and the winds and rain were strong enough for the government to call off school. Actually here in Chia Yi it is not nearly as dangerous as being along the coast, but none the less I'll probably make a lazy day of it and stay inside. It allows me to catch up on my blogging, email, school work, and get some much needed rest.

But while I am thankful, it is dangerous for some out there, so please pray for the safety of those here on the island who are in the path of danger.

Feet Eating Fish

Here are some picture from the school trip that I took back in August. First are 2 pictures of those fish that eat the dead skin off of people's feet. (see previous post for more information).




I also will include a picture of Kevin and I holding our artwork that we created. One of the stops on the trip was to a traditional arts interactive museum. Here we made incense and Taiwanese traditional tops. The tops use a string and you throw the top toward the ground and then yank the string back, to make it spin.



At the museum we painted tops to make our own design. Mine is made with the theme of a sunset.

Of Typhoons, Holidays, and Football

Hey readers, I just have a couple of short times that I wanted to blog about, as nothing major or super interesting has happened lately.

First, we are in the middle of a typhoon this weekend. It started, I believe, on Friday evening, and has continued through Sunday night now. On Friday the winds started to really pick up. You can especially see it when you look up at the giant palm trees on campus and the branches sway back and forth. Some even fall off.

Now I don't want to exaggerate, this is not the biggest typhoon I have been in. Also, in Chia Yi, we are in the middle of the island and are protected on the east by mountains. So for me this is more of a giant wind and rain storm, but nothing dangerous or scary. However, it has rained pretty much straight from Friday evening until now (Sunday night). So it has regulated me to a lot of indoor activities with movies and card games, along with a wet ride to church on the scooter this morning.

In addition to being a typhoon, today is Moon Festival in Taiwan, and in China. Moon Festival is typically celebrated with family getting together and recently having BBQ as a big family meal. It kind of has the family feel of Thanksgiving in America, and it is a major holiday here in Taiwan.

In fact, it is one of only three holidays that we get a vacation day for during the first semester. But alas, the Taiwan education system is not quite like the American one. Normally if this day was on a weekday, we would get a day off of school, however, since the holiday is on a Sunday we don't have to come to school. So, there is no need for a vacation day, since every one can celebrate on Sunday. This brings the first semester count for vacation days (other than weekends) down to 2 days...October 10th and Januray 1st. But hey, Happy Moon Festival everyone!!!

Finally, I do need to bring attention to my readers that Iowa beat Iowa State this weekend in football. Go Hawks!!!!! I was not able to watch the game, but gather it was pretty ugly. I did listen to the first half on the radio through an Internet website, but decided at 1:30 that the game wasn't too exciting and that I REALLY needed sleep. But it was wonderful to wake up and check the headlines. So a good game. Iowa is 3-0 and I can cheer Iowa State on the rest of the year!

Laughint Out Loud

This week is the first week of the new semester, and it has been such a joy to meet my new students and to get back in the full time swing of things. Like every year the first week is spent getting to know the kids and talking about rules and expectations for the class. I have 8 different classes this year, so it made for a rather boring week of teaching.

I would like to use this blog to tell about one more thing from the school trip a week and a half ago. Our hotel had a decent sized swimming and hot tub area that we had access to as guests of the hotel. One feature of this complex was a small pool where fish could come and eat dead skin off of your feet.

What you did was sit on the side and stick your legs into the knee-high pool. The pool is filled with small fish that come up and pick dead skin from your feet. Often there would be about 5 or 6 of these little creatures around each foot. The idea is that this will be healthy for your feet as it helps to clean them and make them more beautiful. I personally thought it was a little strange, but definitely had to try it out.

When I stuck my feet in the pool it did not hurt so much as tickle. I remember being unable to hold back laughter for the first 5 minutes while these fish "ate" at my feet. After a little bit I got used to the feeling and could control the laughter. It was actually sort of relaxing after adjusting, but more than anything it was just a unique experience.

I'll post a picture at a later time!

Gimme those eggs!

It's been awhile since I have had a cultural experience in which I made a total fool of myself, but I had one happen recently and wanted to share about it.

To me, many cross-cultural mishaps occor when people assume things, or are unable to explain things because of language barriers or cultural differences. This is true for both serious offenses and funny social mishaps. Sometimes we don't stop to think about a situation, but get caught up in the moment and assume that we have certain rights or that a situation must be the way that we see it. This is the background for what I find to be a quite humorous and humbling story a couple of days ago on the school trip.

Every year before the first week of school, the CMS faculty takes a school trip to some location in Taiwan. Thes school hires a company to drive us around and set up sight seeing excursions in the places that we visit. It is a wonderful time to get to know my fellow Taiwanese co-workers and many of their families. It is also a good chance to see a new part of the island and have a quick 3 day vacation before school starts the following week.

On these trips we usually stop at fancy traditional Chinese restaurants where the meals are served family style and are set meals in which every table gets the same food. On the first day of the trip we stopped for lunch at a restaurant just like this. Now, these restaurants are sometimes hit and miss. Don't get me wrong, my Taiwanese co-workers seem to love each and every dish that is brought out, but not all of the dishes appeal the American teacher portion of the faculty. In fact, while our Taiwanese counter parts are stuffing themselves and getting doggy bags, I am sometimes just scrapping by to be satisfied until I can get a snack at the next rest stop. So as I sat down with my fellow American teachers to eat lunch, I was a liitle worried about what delacacies would be coming my way.

All 9 of us Americans ended up sitting together at a table, and we began discussing what would be served. A couple of things were already sitting on the table, including a dish of eggs that looked absolutely delicious. Eggs are a great food because for the most part they taste the same in all cultures. I mean an egg is an egg and provided their are no srange sauces on them, they are easy to enjoy. Thus we knew we had one dish to look forward to.

Our hope was soon to fade however. Within less than a minute of sitting down a man came back and snatched the egg from our table. He walked quickly with it over to his table, where he was seated with several other men. We were in a state of shock over why our eggs were stolen and how we could get them back.

It was decided that we should go over and talk to the person who took them, so I went and approached the table to ask about the egg. At this point my mind was a little confused and my Chinese seemed to fail me, because about all I could say as please give us eggs. I was unable to communicate what had happened or why it had happened. I stood there for a little bit, and the man looked confused but eventually he got up and went to the main counter. It seemed like he would be getting us our eggs that he took.

So, I sat back down and we continued our conversation, trying to unravel what exactly had just happened. Within in a few minutes, the waitress came by and put a new plate of eggs on our table, and we were satisfied. In fact the eggs ended up being very delicious.

As the meal wound down, we wanted to see if we could get another egg dish because it was that good. So Kevin went to talk to one of the teachers we knew and asked him to get us eggs, but he kind of joked around but didn't seem like he would get us anything. Then, we saw the man who had taken our eggs in the first place, and Kevin went to talk to him. He said that we wanted another plate of eggs, and the man eventually went up to the counter again and we soon received our second helping.

At this point we were feeling pretty good about the meal and the wonderful eggs that we had the chance to eat. We saw some other teachers and looked at some other tables and wanted to know if they too had enjoyed the eggs in the set meal. I found a couple of teachers in the English department and inquired to them about the eggs, and they had no idea what I was talking about. They had not gotten any egss. As I looked around at more tables, I did not see a single faculty table with eggs on them.

I eventually decided to go talk to the man who had taken our eggs. I spoke to him a second time and asked him more about the eggs and who he was. I soon discovered that he was a tour guide and that he was sitting on the table with all of our bus drivers. I asked him if the eggs were only for their table and he said, yes!!! He informed me that there were not supposed to be any eggs for the teachers from the school. At this point I began to feel rather embarrassed and I apologized for our requesting of the eggs. He kind of laughed and said it was ok, but I still felt bad.

We had assumed that the eggs were for us, and that this man was just taking them because he wanted some more eggs. I felt bad for going and talking to him and asking him to get us something that was not rightfully ours: more eggs. I did not take the time to consider that he was probably intimidated to speak to a group of foreigners using Chinese. He probably did not feel he could explain the situation so he just took the eggs.

On top of that, we asked for a second helping of that which was not ours, and received it. Again going back to cultural miscommunications because of things that cannot be communicated and because people think they have certain rights.

Thankfully, the tour guide (Kay-wan), was a good sport and laughed about it. In fact, Kevin and I ran into him later that night in the hotel and played some cards and had a beer with him. It was fun and we all laughed about the eggs.

On top of all of that, when we went to the restaurant on the third day of the trip (yes it was the same one, but we had a different set meal), he came up to our table and gave us another plate of eggs. He held his finger over his mouth, saying "ssshhhhh", but had a smile when he gave them to us.

So yes, we got our eggs...and a little bit of humble pie, along with a story.

Brown Bagging It

The past three years, I have spent nearly all of my meals eating something that someone has prepared for more...in other words I never cook. People back home would always ask me about this and be surprised that I usually ate out. And it's that I NEVER cooked, but the times I did were so few and far between that they don't really count.

So meals in Taiwan have typically looked like this: a doughnut or prepackaged pastry for breakfast, the school lunch that is delivered to my office, and then going out to supper at a restaurant.

Let me justify myself. Going out in Taiwan is a little bit more economical than in America, so I never really have felt bad about this, plus it is a nice way to socialize. In addition the school lunch is under $1 per day, so it is impossible to argue the dollars and cents about that one. And breakfast...hmmm, breakfast. I never ate breakfast during college or my first 2 years in Taiwan, so I figured prepackaged pastries was a step up from nothing, right?

Now that I have totally justified my laziness, I want to share that I am turning over a new leaf. I have decided to cook my own breakfast before going to school. I am going to make eggs, toast, and have some fruit, in addition to other things that I might be able to figure out throughout the year. I am also planning on bringing a sack lunch most days to school. I have been making sandwhiches, both ham and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly. In addition to the sandwhich I pack some fruits and vegetables.

I came to this conclusion after realizing that I was sick of eating the school lunch, which is always rice, meat, and some vegetables. It's not that it is terrible, and in fact there are some times when I enjoy it. However, I have mostly grown tired of eating it and want to have sandwhiches and fresh fruit, which is more similar to what I used to pack during my days of student teaching.

I have one week down of packing lunches and have started week two. So far so delicious. Now if I would ever start to cook on my own in the evenings...

The First Week Back

Well my first week back has come and gone. I always love returning to Taiwan after being gone for awhile. There is so much excitement as I look forward to the new school year and it seems everyone is full of energy, which is a stark contrast to the end of June when most of the missionaries and teachers are running on fumes.

One of my favorite things about coming back is seeing all of my former students walking around campus. When I see them or a group of them, we usually both get big smiles on our faces and say hi or wave.

I love seeing them and saying hi, or stopping to chat for a little bit. I try desparately to remember all of their names, which I am not always able to do. Sometimes I'll have to tell them to wait while I think for a second. I must say that for the most part I am pretty good at it. The Lord has blessed me with the ability to rememeber my students names fairly well, and it is something that I appreciate having as a teacher.

I ask them about their summer, and they inevetiable ask if I had a chance to go back to America, and then act so amazed when I tell them that I did. There is the feeling that yes I am not there teacher anymore, but it's ok to say hi and chat, and it's just fun to see them.

In addition to chatting with my former students, I have also been teaching 3 classes of 7th graders. I see each class once a day, giving me 15 teaching hours for the week. It's really not too shabby! Some of my classes have been a little bit...energetic...and we have been working on routines and basic classroom expectations. I have seen some improvement and will continue to press on in hopes of laying a strong foundation for the rest of the year.

Back on the island...

Well I made it back to Taiwan without any major problems. My plane did sit on the runway for an hour and a half in Detroit (this was due to a computer malfunction, so thankfully they did take the time to fix it). However, we actually gained quite a bit of time flying over the ocean and ended up landing 10 minutes earlier than scheduled.

These past couple of days I have been trying to adjust my body to the new time zone, clean my desk and room, teach classes and exercise. For teaching, I have 3 7th grade classes everyday. We are learning basic English such as colors, numbers and simple verbs such as give, take, and stand. The trick is that we are also teaching past tense with these words and the students have had a difficult time picking up the past tense.

The excercise is to get back in to the habbit and to help shed some of the pounds I put on while back in the States. I love being home and eating all of the delicious American food that is harder to come by in Taiwan. Unfortunately, I like it a little too much and usually put on some excess weight. This summer it was 8 pounds, which is less than last year, but still will be nice to lose in the coming weeks.

Signing off for now!!!

Back in the States...but returning very soon

Well, I know that the last post talks about me just returning from China, and that was obviously quite awhile ago. In the mean time after that post, I finished up the semester and made my way back to America. I have been hanging out here in the U.S. for the last four weeks. On Friday, I'll return Taiwan for a fourth year of teaching at Concordia Middle School.

The end of the semester was intense. I rushed and pushed to finish all of grading, while at the same time working on online courses for my English as a Second Language certification. Honestly, the classes consumed my time for much of the second semester and I have resolved to do a better job this year of time management and not bitting off more than I can chew. I will have one more semester of online classes, and in December will have completed course work for an ELL certification.

The summer has been great so far. I have had chances to see nearly all of my family, hang out with my friends from college, and even go to Camp Okoboji for 2 weeks. Monday I just came back from a Wolfram family reunion, in which we observed my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.

In these last few days I plan on relaxing, packing, and spending some time with my parents and sister's family.

Ok, that's all for now.

Back From China

Hey everybody! Last weekend I had a three-day weekend and had the chance to travel to Shanghai China. This is my first chance traveling to the mainland, and it was a good experience.

I went with Kevin, who had some friends that are teaching at the International School in Shanghai. We stayed with them for the weekend, so that helped with expenses. The first evening when we arrived, we all went out for drinks. It had been awhile since I did that and it was a good time. We played some darts later in the evening, and it took me back to my college days, playing darts with Kevin, Tom, and Geoff at Minksy's in Ames. Good times!

The next day we went to the older part of Shanghai that has been redone as a shopping district. You go there and walk around at different shops and try to bargain for some goods. The highlight was bargaining for fake Rolex's.

They sell knock-off Rolex' that are really cheap, but look like the real thing. To do this, we often went into some back alley's that were people's houses. Inside they had the watches that they would then try to sell. Obviously they try to rip people off, but if you know what you are doing you can drop the price quite a bit.

I was there with Kevin, and Joel (his friend who teaches at the school). We kept negotiating, knowing that we were buying cheap watches and not wanting to spend a lot of money.

In the course of the bargaining, I was holding a couple of watches and the lady knocked one of them out of my hands. It was an accident, but the watch fell to the ground. It did not break, but it did stop running and thus needed to be fixed. This is how cheap these watches are. She did not make me pay for it, but they weren't happy. I figured it was her fault, plus they sell such poorly made watches, that it was not my problem.

We went to a couple of different places and eventually we did buy some watches for a pretty good deal, but mine broke in a bout 10 minutes. I think the problem might be with the battery, so I am going to get it checked out here in Taiwan. I guess it's probably fitting given that I broke one. Outside of the watches, I also bought a couple of propaganda posters from the Communist governments led by Mao, and some DVDs, including Growing Pains Season 1.

Outside of bargaining, we also had a chance to go to the downtown area and walk around at some of the modern buildings, including the famous Pearl Tower. That was pretty fun as well, and me and Kevin had some good adventures trying to figure out how to cross the rive. We eventually wound up on a ferry. It began to rain and we got soaked as we walked around, but the whole experience made for a good story.

Hopefully I'll have time to put up another blog on the China trip.

Back to School, Debate, and Basketball

I know it's been awhile since I blogged. Things have gotten quite busy, but I did want to give a littel bit of an update on how things are going.

I am not sure if I wrote about it, but this semester I have officially become a student again. I am taking online courses to work for my ELL endorsement to teach English Language Learners. I am learning quite a bit about teaching ELLs and being able to draw on experiences from the past few years. At the same time it has increased my workload, in addition to the Bible Studies and regular teaching. So, I can always use some prayers for a bit more strength, energy, and discernment in time management.

Other highlights from the month so far include the English Debate contest here at CMS. I was the chairperson for 1st and Championship Round. This contest is a wonderful opportunity for students to practice English, critical thinking, and learn to work as a team. It was entertaining to watch all of the debates. I might be having a more in depth post concerning debate at a later time.

I also have increased my basketball playing the last couple of weeks. For much of the time last semester I spent more time lifting weights and running, but honestly there is no subsitute for ballin'. I love getting out there playing defense, rebounding, and just competing. Furthermore I usually play with students, so it is a wonderful chance to build relationships.

I think one reason I had quit for awhile was that I had problems twisting and rolling ankles when I played. I think I got sick of being injured. As I go out to play more, I am extra careful to tie my shoes nice and tight. As the rainy season approaches, I am going to try to play as much as I can over the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of basketball, March Madness is fast approaching. As I like to say, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Well, that might be a small exageration, but I do really love it. Unfortunately my beloved Hawkeyes will not be making an appearance this year, but Drake will be representing the state. I plan on watching as many games as possible on my computer through CBS on Demand (a free way of watching all of the games that I recommend for anyone who loves college basketball, check it out on the Internet).

Well, I know this is kind of quick, and not very in depth, but I hope to post more some other time.

Peace!

Uncle Ho, Water Puppets, and Dog

I think this will be my last entry about my experiences in Vietnam. If you have any more questions or would like me to write more, please post a comment asking a question, or shoot me an email. I'd be happy to write more.

I wanted to enclose a picture of me and a bust of Ho Chi Minh. One thing that was definitely evident in Vietnam was the country's and people's respect for this man. I saw his picture or busts of him many places, especially at the college. The people of Vietnam affectionately refer to him as "Uncle Ho". As I understood it, he is viewed as the most important figure in creating the country, held in the same respects as most Americans would view George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.



This picture was taken in the main hall of the college where I helped with the English conference. You can see the bust of Uncle Ho and then in the back the red banner with the communist symbol (the hammer and sickle) and the star. There was another set up exactly like this in the college's main theater/performance stage. They had a talent show the night after the conference. It was in celebration of the upcoming Tet Festival, and many students sang songs and danced. They even had us Americans go up there and sing a couple of songs.

A lot of the music incorporated keyboards and synthesizers. Before the show started, I looked up at the stage at the red banner with the communist symbols, as I listened to the synethized music. I felt like I was in Rocky IV, hearing "Hearts on Fire" as they showed Ivan Drago training. It was really interesting.

I also wanted to share a little bit about a puppet show I went to. Vietnam is famous for it's water puppets, which originated in the country. The show involves puppets that rise above the water, but are connected to long poles that remain under water. These poles are controlled by puppeteers who are behind a backdrop. Meanwhile there is a band that is playing music and narrators tell a story. The whole thing was in Vietnamese, but was really enjoyable nonetheless. It was neat to watch how the puppets moved along the water and the different ways that they interacted with the water and the other characters.


Here's a scene from the water puppet show.


Finally, in Vietnam I had the chance to try some new food. That's right, for the first time I ate dog. I remember before coming to Taiwan, asking people if they would eat dog if given the chance. Well, I haven't ever seen it in Taiwan, but in Vietnam it is pretty common. Now, I wasn't looking to eat at a dog buffett or anything like that, but James did buy some for some of us to try.

To me it tasted a bit like sausage but it was pretty grissely (sp?...fatty). Part of that might have been how it was prepared. It was cut into small cubes, and I only wanted to eat one piece. It was mostly a mental thing, because if I didn't know it was dog, I might have eaten more. So it didn't taste bad, but it was more the fact that I was actually eating a dog.


Dog for carry-out



Here I am ready to eat a piece of dog.


Well I hope you have enjoyed Vietnam stories. I'll try to move the focus back to Taiwan now.

Health, Trash, and Propaganda

Hey everyone. First I want to share a joy with you all. I am finally feeling fully recovered. I had a pretty nasty bout with the flu or something like it for over a week. However this past week I felt fully recovered. Praise God! I was reflecting about how much I take my health for granted, and that it isn't until I am sick that I truly appreciate the health and abilities that God has given me. So I am really thankful for my health.

For the rest of this blog I want to spend a bit more time explaining some things from Vietnam. I'll start with trash. I am curious to learn about different daily routines for the people living in the countries I visit. I know it's not necessarily the most exciting thing to write about, but I do find it interesting to learn about how people live in different parts of the world. So I am going to explain a little about the trash collection in Vietnam.

I guess in America, it doesn't seem like anything special. We put our trash in bags, roll-out the dumpster and man driving a big truck comes around and takes it far away from us. Well in Vietnam, it's not too different, except they just throw the trash on the curb. I saw it bagged, but also just lying spread out along the street. I was told people leave their trash on the streets at night and then someone comes around collects it early in the morning. Again this doesn't seem too fascinating. However it was just interesting walking around Hanoi seeing trash lying in the streets, and then being informed that this was the system put in place.



Trash collection in Vietnam

Of course both systems are a contrast to Taiwan. In Taiwan the big garbage truck comes around in the evening, playing a very loud, repetive tune. Upon hearing the sound, people run out of their homes and toss their bags into the truck as it slowly rolls by. It often reminds me of an ice cream truck for adults. The tune is very similar sounding to one that an ice cream truck might play, and wherever it is heard, people run to try and catch it.


Not the ice cream truck...it's the trash man!

Finally I did want to share a little bit more about proganda. I had written earlier about propaganda posters. Another common site in Hanoi was posters commemorating events in Vietnam's history. One of particular note was the poster celebrating the shooting down of American jets in the 1970's.


Remembering the jet that was shot down.

Several posters similar to this hung around a scenic lake in Hanoi. The area is kind of set up like a park where you can stroll and enjoy being by the lake. These and other posters hang up, remembering that jets had crashed into that very lake.

I don't want anyone to be confused about the treatment of Americans in Vietnam. I had no problems at all, and I felt safe and accepted by the people their. Many places took American currency, and the people were friendly to me. So it's nothing personal, but it is the government celebrating their past victories.

As I understood it, the war with America was just a small portion of many conflicts that Vietnam has had over its history. In fact, for some the war became a source of profit. Near my hotel there were a couple of stores that were propaganda stores. They sold old propaganda posters that were from the war. They had authentic prints, re-prints, and even t-shirts, mugs, and shot glasses. I bought a couple of smaller prints of posters from the war. One is a picture of an American plane shooting at a school child, and the Vietnamese message talks about the atraucities fo the American enemy. The second poster I bought was promoting the greatness of the communist party. I thought both were fascinating, and I hope someday to be able to use them in a history classroom of mine.

Finally, I also had the chance to visit the Hanoi Hilton, which is the POW prison that held American soldiers during the Vietnam war. Much of the museum is dedicated to the time when the French controlled the prison. At this time, they used it to keep Vietnamese prisoner. The prison showed models of how the prisoners would be chained up, starved, and it even had a guillotine that was used for executions. All of this was to show the horrible conditions for the Vietnamese when the French were in control.


Conditions during French control



Michael, beware of the guillotine!

Of course the other part of the museum showed highlights from when it was used in the Vietnam War. This was the POW prison where John McCain was held. They had an air force pilot's suit, that was supposedly his. They also had a couple of pictures of him, one of which spelled his name "Mc. John Cain". We got a kick out of that.


John McCain's Suit


In addition to McCain's stuff, the Vietnamese showed the luxurious life that American prisoners enjoyed during their stay. There were no pictures of starving soldiers, interrogations, or rough conditions. Instead, all of the men were healthy and smiling. They showed pictures of the soldiers playing basketball, worshipping at a church, even cooking a Christmas dinner. These were the only types of pictures they had to describe the prison when the Vietnamese controlled it.

I was about ready to go out and rob an old lady, so I could leave my hotel for the resort that is Vietnamese prison. :)

McWhat?

One main goal of my trip to Vietnam was to help lead a workshop for prospective English teachers at a local university about 3 hours north of Hanoi. James, my old roommate from my first 2 years in Taiwan, is currently serving at this university and helped set everything up to make the trip and the English workshop a reality.

My part of the workshop was to co-lead a session on teachers observing other teachers. As part of the workshop I designed an opening ice breaker activity that would get the group comfortable and segway into our discussion about observation. For the ice breaker, I showed a picture on a powerpoint, but only left it up for about 1 second. Obviously it was not enough time to see everything in the picture, so I would then tell the partipants to discuss with each other what they saw. After we shared ideas, I would show the same picture, this time for a couple of seconds. After that discusion I would put the picture up for good and we would look at what it really was.

For the ice breaker I chose 3 different pictures that we could talk about. One a picture of Ha Long Bay, which is a very scenic and famous place in Vietnam. It would be something the students would immediately relate to.




Pictures from Ha Long Bay when I went later that week.



Another (and the last picture for the ice breaker) was a man looking through a magnifying glass, as if intently studying something. This picture was used as a segway to our session, as we discussed what it is like to be overanylzed or how one feels if someone is watching their every move. One goal of the workshop was to make students understand that this was not the goal of teacher observations, rather they can help us grow as professionals.

Those were my last two pictures for the ice breaker, and everything went fine. My first picture, however did not have the result I intended.

I wanted to pick something that would be eye catching, and yet easy to recognize for people from any culture. So I decided that I should think of something I have found in common in all of the places I have traveled, and I settled on McDonald's. That's right I have seen those Golden Arches (under whose employment I slaved many hours of my life away, ha!) in many different countries, all with similar menus, but each restaurant with something distict or unique for that country or area. Regardless of where, you can always see Ronald McDonald and his bright outfit smiling for the customers.

All of this was true, until I went to Vietnam. You see, as I found out, there is no McDonald's in Vietnam. The government would not let the business set up shop in their country. So the picture I selected of Ronald and his friends was completely foreign to all of the students in my workshop. The photo featured Ronald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, and another McDonald's character. When I asked the students to describe what they saw I got responses like:

"4 people"
"A man with stripes"
"Bright colors"
"A clown"

But not a single person could identify the anyone from the McDonald's picture. A Malaysian teacher who helped in one of my workshops pointed out that, "We have a cultural misunderstanding here."

I could not have agreed more, and was completely surprised that none of the students had heard of McDonald's in Vietnam. It was the first country I have found that does not have a McDonald's.

I thought that was an interesting story from the trip.

Back from Vietnam

Well earlier this week I returned from my trip to Vietnam. I went with some of the other foreign teachers here at CMS. We helped out with an English Teaching Conference, and also had sometime to relax and go sight seeing. Over the next week or two, I would like to use my blog to reflect and share some aspects of my trip, mainly cultural things I noticed.


Vietnam's Flag

Honestly, throughout the time I was continually looking for signs that made it a socialist country. I was not sure what to look for, and I only have a foreigner/tourist perspective. A couple of things I did find.

First, we were asked to register every place that we stayed. Most of my time was spent in the capital, Hanoi. When we got to the hotel we had to give passport information for the government. Our workshop was actually in Phu Tao, which is about 3 hours from Hanoi. Our hotel in Phu Tao also required us to register ourselves, including passport information.

Another thing I noticed was propaganda poster in Hanoi. Here's an example of one. It is telling the city that 2 children is the perfect size for a family.


There were many other posters and signs up in the city. I need to get a couple of pictures from other teachers that went, and then I can post another picture or two.

Alright that's it for now. I'll save more for a later time.

End of the Semester and Winter School

Well, here I am sitting on the weekend after we just finished the semester. It went extremely quick, and as any teacher knows the last couple of weeks are much more intense as grades are being compiled. The next 2 weeks start something called Winter School.

Winter School is "non-mandatory/mandatory" school for students. This is kind of like open practices or summer gym sessions for basketball players in America. You don't have to attend, and the coach cannot make you...but everyone still does and knows that unless they have a great excuse they need to be there.

The same is true of this school time in Taiwan. The government does not allow schools to have mandatory school during these next 2 weeks, but nearly every Middle and High School has a Winter School time. On top of that all of the students still come to class, even though they are not required. Taiwan also has a summer school time that is similar to this, and here's how most schools approach the situation. Maybe they send a letter home that says something like this:



Dear Joe Tenth Grader,

We will be starting winter school for the next 2 weeks. As you know you do not have to come. During Winter School we will continue in the curriculum and our physics class will be analyzing Chapters 8-10 of the textbook. If you choose not to attend please catch up on your own so you can continue next semester.

Have a good break,

Jane Physics Teacher



Now...letters like this are probably not written and I threw in a little saracasm, but the general idea is the same. Classes continue as they normally would and if a student misses class they will have to make up all the work their classmates did. Parents also like to have their kids in school because they don't get a break from work, and would rather have their kids studying then home alone playing games.

So during Winter School I will have the same schedule as the first semester. Andrew and I are not too keen on the idea of winter school. We fully believe our students' lives already revolve around studying and could use a break, so we decided to show movies during this time. It will give them a chance to relax and also the movies are in English, so it is a chance to practice some listening. Plus it is no prep work or grading for me :) The exception to this is my Advanced English class, who will be working on a fun project invovling Shakespeare. I know...I know..the words "fun" and "Shakespeare" do not go together, but I think the students really will enjoy it. I can write about that at a different time.

During the second week I will going to Vietnam on a mission trip. The school approved the trip and thus are excusing me from the second week of teaching. Andrew will be around to finish showing the movies and I will have a substitute for a couple of classes.

I'll write more about Vietnam in a future post.

Christmas Skits and Pictures

One more post. I would like to post a couple of Christmas pictures and also some links for those of you interested in seeing more. First the pictures come from one of the skits that I helped with this year. Every year the school asks the foreign teachers to perform a skit for the Christmas Worship. This year Emilie helped to create a skit based on High School Musical, a Disney Channel Movie that many students at CMS love! In the play I played the part of Ryan Evans, and was made my dancing debut. Believe me, my dancing wasn' pretty, but it was all in good fun. I think the kids loved the play and pray that they understood the message. So here are a couple of pictures from the performance.


This is Noel and I in the middle of our dance. She coreographed the dance based on what was actually done in the movie. It took me some practice to get it down, but in the end it was quite fun to perform.



This picture is of the entire cast for our play. All of us teach at Concordia Middle School. The cast is as follows: Emilie, Ray, Noel, Me, Molly, Kevin, Michelle, Andrew (left to right).


If you are interested in seeing more from Christmas, our coordinator here in Taiwan (Matt Wasmund) does a good job of taking pictures and posting them on the Internet. Check out his personal website at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattwasmund

There are several albums for Christmas activities. Feel free to check them out and ask me any questions if you have them.

Enjoy, don't laugh too hard.

Christmas Caroling

I wanted to write a little bit more about our Christmas celebrations from this past year. One of my highlights is always Christmas caroling. This year I went twice, once for the Friday Night Bible Study Christmas Party (the Friday before Christmas) and the second was with the CMS students that live on campus (on Christmas Eve). I always love the chance to work up and down the streets with the students and fellow teachers singing favorite Christmas songs. I would like to quickly share a couple of quick stories from the two activities.

First, during the Friday Night Bible Study time, I was leading a group with an 8th grade student accompanying me. This was pretty exciting because this student has been helping with guitar off and on this semester and continues to improve at it. It is nice to see him taking ownership and interest in helping us lead songs at Friday Night Bible Study. As we were heading back to church, a lady rushed up to me and told me to stop at small shop. Upon arriving at the shop, I found that was a store that sold ghost money. Ghost money used in Taiwanese folk religion to offer a sacrifice to local gods, in hopes of ensuring better luck in the future. The lady brought out here baby and wanted to listen to us sing songs. Immediately I decided to sing Silent Night, which is the only song that we have a Chinese verse for. The lady and her child seemed to really enjoy the music, and I pray that it can be a witness to the love that God offers them in Christ Jesus.

The second caroling experience was with the students who live at school. On Christmas Eve we all met at 8:30pm and split into 3 groups. We then went to different streets near the school to go sing Christmas Carols. One highlight from this actually came the day prior to our caroling. I went to a local tea stand to buy a green tea (my usual) and the owner asked if we would be coming around the next day to sing Christmas songs. I was really touched that he remembered and was anticipating our arrival. I told him that we would, and he was excited. He knew that Christmas was approaching and that we would be out celebrating and singing. I praise God that things like Christmas caroling can make such a strong impact. It is just one simple way to share the love of God with others.