Miss Russia

I love my students (most of the time:) You know, they are no different then the children at home. Full of surprises and bursting with engergy. As I have tried to teach my students my name they CAN NOT get it. I don't know what it is about Rachelle, but they can not say it! Instead of getting Rachelle, I get Miss Russia.


It is actually really cute and I like it a lot. All of the other teachers now call me Russia. It took me a while to get used to and actually respond, but now I feel like I am in trouble if I hear Rachelle. I have never really had a nicname that stuck before so this is really fun.

This blog is dedicated to the copy machine. Ok, so I have been a kindergarten teacher which in it's description means using the copy machine ALOT! I know how to run that thing and I know how to fix the many jams that happened way too often. When it came to a copy machine, I thought I was a pro. However, here in Taiwan when the thing decides to beak down and gives me directions in CHINESE I feel hopeless! Yes, I can buy a train ticket to another city, I can go to the grocery store, I can even order a meal. But when the copy machine gives me directions I have no idea what to do!

The Rain....

Last Saturday night we had a friend that was getting baptized and we wanted to go. We got directions to the LDS church here in town and headed out. Well. somehow we missed it and went WAY too far. Of course it started to rain really hard and we got soaked. We decided to pull over for a minute and see if it would get better, but it just kept getting worse. We had a fun game of "Down By The Banks"

Oh, the stairs!!!

Our first hike...

July 18th
Wow, these "mountains" are beautiful. It's so weird to be in the city with very few trees around and then all of a sudden be in surrounded with trees and creatures. One of the secretaries at our school, Gloria, took us on our first hike. Can I just say that it was SO hot! I am a pretty fast hiker, but man, it was so hot that we took it quite slow. This hike had tons of stairs and tons of spiders.


We hiked up to this place that the Taiwan people come to in the morning to exercise. They use these giant hula hoops to work out with. They are really heavy and wide and they really do work! They also have these wires hanging between trees that they do something like pull-ups. If you go in the morning you can see a bunch of people just hula-hooping away.

LET IT RAIN!!!
Monsoon season has begun and the rain comes down! Every afternoon at about 4:00 p.m. the sky gets grey and the rain come, and it comes hard. This was the first day I experienced the rain and I was pretty excited. I am now used to it, but I love rain so it has been really fun. We have had a few instances of dancing on the roof in the rain and that is very refreshing! Nothing like dancing in the warm rain to get a smile on my face or make me giggle. July 7th (ish)

Well, I have never had quite a 4th of July like this before. It sure was different then the Provo parade and dinner with the cousins. How I missed you all! Of course they don't observe the 4th here in Taiwan so we had our first day of teaching on this day (that was an experience in it's self).



We celebrated by going to a movie and eating at KFC. Can't get more American than that, right? I was so excited to see that the movie English with Chinese flashing accross the bottom, I could understad it! We then went home and roasted marshmallows on the stove. It's kindof sad that a marshmallow could taste so good! I made every one signs for their door with red, white, and blue stars. I just needed to see those colors! I can deffinately say that I am proud to me an American!

This is a Temple near by. Wow, it is so colorful and has so many details. It is beautiful.

I found a treat that I love. I don't know what it is called yet, but it is like a waffle with custard in the middle. Yum! However, to get to this little place I have to walk through a place called "Stinky Tofu Alley" and that is not a good experience(although you have to do it once). It smells SO So bad. Back on this street where I get this good treat they so many cute shoe stores, but I am a giant here and they don't carry shoes my size! So, basically it is shoe heaven and I can't buy any :(.

This is "down town". We have to ride through a tunnel called the Tunnel Of Death to get here. It only takes about five minutes to get there on bike and it is quite exciting! There is a lot of shopping and a lot of people. I love how colorful it is. It is so bright at night that I often forget that it really is dark.

This is by the train station a few blocks away from my school. It gets dark really early, about 7:00. We have to cross over the train tracks and walk through this part of town to get to the bus stop.

My first meal! I had a great experience going to this place around the corner from me. I had yummy fried rice and dumplings. And yes, there are no forks!

This is my new home! I live on the 4th floor of this building (the Lanugage School). I am going to get a great workout just climbing these stairs every day. I love my roommates and the people that I am working with. They are so much fun and we get along great.

The McDonalds has 3 stories!!!!! Yum