There's been a massive delay in updating. Apparently starting back at school after a long break really stinks and it zaps all of your time and energy. Nonetheless, I have time today, since on Tuesdays I don't teach anything until 1:40, but am still required to be at school starting at 8:00. Ha.

This is what I look like after 4 hours of sitting at my desk. Doing nothing... I mean, doing lots of work...

So break came and went. I spent 4 nights with my housemates in Thailand at the beginning. After two bus rides, a 3 hour plane ride, 7 hours in the Bangkok airport, and another 2 hour plane ride, we finally arrived in Phuket, Thailand. After minor readjustment to our living situation, we settled in to enjoy the warm weather, beaches, elephants and crazy amounts of tourists. We completed our goal of riding elephants, which, other than going to lie on the beach the whole time, was our main objective. It's semi-upsetting to see all these elephants without knowing how they're treated or their lifestyle (I did some reading before heading there, and was unsure about how I felt in regards to the whole situation), and while I wouldn't like to support the industry on a regular basis, it was something I enjoyed.

So so excited to be going to Thailand!

The start of our very long layover in Bangkok airport.

Looking a little more tired, but you know, still excited and all that jazz.

Real pad thai. Serious stuff.

Look, ma! I'm on an elephant!

My elephant rides off into the distance.

Jeannie and Katie looking cozy on their elephant.

The area that we went, Patong Beach, was intensely touristy. Like, overly so. It was also full of... how shall I put it... woman who were inclined to use their bodies for extra money. It surprised me (although, I'm not sure why) how much it upset me. The cycle of not having the money, the background or the support to continue in education, to pursue something that would be less detrimental, both mentally and physically. These girls were gorgeous, but there was something that made them so old. It was mostly in their faces. But just seeing them put themselves in the position of being... handled... by these foreign guys really made my stomach turn.

Pretty sunset at Patong Beach.

Anyway, Katie and I returned home after 4 nights and she headed off to Hong Kong and Beijing. I, however, met up with my mom, who had gotten into Taipei that evening! It was great to see her, and so nice to have her experience what I've been trying to get across in words, pictures, and countless (grumpy) ichat dates. We spent a few days in Taipei, wandering around finding knitting stores, looking at flower markets and sampling hot pot.

Orchids at this amazingly huge flower market in Taipei.

Then, on Monday we headed to Hanoi, Veitnam. I'd be the first to admit that I don't know as much about Vietnam as I probably should. Senior year American History was a long time ago, and I do think my awareness has grown since then. Not to mention that I've become exponentially more interested after visiting the place. Hanoi was... cold. And slightly depressing. It seemed very gray and run-down, maybe it was the weather, but it just seemed sort of... sad.

So thaaat's why they have no power in Hanoi. Just kidding. Maybe.

However, there were some cool things in Hanoi. We saw Ho Chi Minh's body (yes, the real one), which was creepy and cool and morbid. You couldn't bring in cameras, so I'll just have to remember it. There were 4 guards surrounding the case, and apparently their their 24 hours. The Russians also supposedly come once a year to check on the body, as well. Neat.

Ho Chi Minh's body is in there. For real. His honest to goodness dead body. Freaky.

Ho Chi Minh's house from a distance.

Tet (Vietnam's New Year) started on the same day as Chinese New Year this year (Feb. 4). It's good luck to buy kumquat, peach and apricot trees. Now imagine 3 huge trees on the back of someone's scooter. It's that intense.

We also saw his house and offices, complete with pictures of other communist leaders. Traveling on, we saw the One Pillar Pagoda, a famous Buddhist pagoda built originally in 1049. Story goes that the Emperor Ly Thai Tong was wife-less and childless. He had a dream that Buddha handed him a son while seated on a lotus flower. Following that dream, the Emperor married and his wife bore a son. Therefore, he erected the pagoda in honor. Not only is the pagoda in the middle of a lotus pond, it itself looks like a lotus, balanced on one stem.

One Pillar Pagoda. Standing on... one pillar...

Next up was the Temple of Literature, which was founded in 1070 as a temple to Confucius. In 1076, the first university was established within the temple. Of course, like many things in Vietnam, the temple was partially destroyed during French ruling, so only part of it is original.

Looking out from the temple.

Decorations for the new year.

Offerings.

She just couldn't resist touching these new year decorations.

Other highlights in Hanoi included a water puppet show (puppeteers stand in waist high water behind a set and move puppets which are attached on long poles), a cylco (Vietnamese rickshaw) ride throughout the city, and a trip to Halong Bay. The Bay was incredible, tons of limestone pillars of various sizes in the water. It's one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

Closeup of the puppets. All the stories were told by this band and three singers. They were all traditional Vietnamese folktales

Fairies. Obviously.

The puppeteers.

Halong Bay.

More of the Bay.

Me and Mom on our own private boat.

A cave in the Bay. The lights aren't natural... obviously...

More cave.

After 3 cold days in Hanoi, we headed south to Ho Chi Minh City (which will now be referred to as HCMC for my sanity). Not only was it much warmer in the south, it also seems to have opened it's arms to the wide world of tourism. It's caters much more to foreigner, it seems, especially in the area of our hotel. I think I liked HCMC more, but I'm not sure if that was because of the weather or the fact that it was more of a city.

Decorated for the new year. This city went all out.

The first full day there we went to the Củ Chi Tunnels, the network of underground tunnels that the NLF guerrillas lived in during the "conflict." The system was intense, including sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a hospital. It was semi-surreal to see bomb craters caused by bombs dropped by Americans who were searching out the tunnels. Not to mention all the booby traps that were used to capture the American soldiers who could, in fact, fit into the tiny tunnels.

An afternoon tour of the city completed our day, including a trip to the Reunification Palace, which just used to be the president's house until Vietnam was "reunified." The strangest part of that visit was the museum in the base of the palace, which glorified the "liberation" of the south from Americans. It's amazing how things can be twisted.

Reunification Palace.

Mom in her cyclo.

A trip to the Mekong Delta took up another day. We were really far out there- for the first time I felt like I was in the jungle. The Delta was one of the primary places for the conflict between teh guerrillas and the U.S. navy. We took a boat to a small island (turtle island, I think? The islands were all named after animals) and visited a "coconut candy factory" (which consisted of a family making coconut candy in a large sack). From there we took a horse-drawn cart through the very very small town to see a traditional music performance and sample some Vietnamese fruit. Finally, we took a small boat back to our larger one. It was incredible. I also took a bath in bug spray since I had been throughly freaked out about malaria. In that setting, it was probably the best idea.

On the Delta. Note the hat- it will be featured prominently in the future.

That's a lot of coconuts...

Working hard, or hardly working?

Cutting the candy.

Cutting it into even smaller, bite-sized pieces.

The back-roads, er, water-ways of the island.

Rocking the cone-head look.

Captain, my captain...

The last day in HCMC was spent shopping and... going to a spa. Which, after running around like a crazy person for a week, was really incredible. We headed back to Taipei the following Monday.

My mom's last 5 days in Taipei were spent visiting Taipei 101 and the palace museum. She also traveled to Yilan with me for New Year's Eve, which (sorry mom!) included microwave dinners that we bought at the grocery store, since everything was (understandably) closed. We watched the fireworks from my balcony, and although we we went to bed at 12:30, they continued through the night. And have continued for the past 2 weeks. All hail the year of the Rat. Sadly, my mom left on Saturday and I headed back to my cold, non-heated, lacking warm toilet-seat (one of the many luxuries of our Taipei hotel) apartment.

Since the end of break, I've been back to work, attempting to motivate myself a little more in school. I'm also realizing that I really want to take this time to travel, both around Asia, but around Taiwan more. I'm here, this is my time. Last weekend, Katie, Jeannie, Ben and Luke (former Fulbrighters), Jasper (a newly made friend) and I went to RuiSui, a town south of Hualien, to visit the hot springs there for the night. And slept (some of us better than others) on tatami mats in a Japanese-style guest house there. The next day, I went with the boys to Dong-Ao, an Aboriginal village, and spent the afternoon eating (entirely too much food), dancing and singing karaoke. It was an amazing atmosphere- everyone was so incredibly nice and inviting. It really inspired me to take more opportunities here.

And now, that brings us to the school week. I've been sitting on my computer in the teachers' office for the past 3 hours (doing work, I swear), as I wait for lunch and then my class. We start teaching at a co-school two days a week starting in March, and then for the whole month of April. I went to Tong-Le (my co-school) yesterday, and I'm so incredibly excited about having a new place that I can't explain it. It's a bigger school and I have a crazier schedule, but I'm looking forward to something different.

Just returned from a whirlwind tour of Asia (or parts of it) - Thailand and Vietnam, to be exact. I'm in Taipei currently with my mom, heading to Yilan for a visit tomorrow to celebrate lunar New Year. More of an update will come (complete with pictures from a new camera) when I get back to my laptop.

So the holidays came and went here in Taiwan. It was somewhat strange- things were decorated, if almost overly so, but nothing stopped for observance. I was supposed to teach on Christmas, but my one class was canceled for a school-wide rehearsal (we're going to watch The Grinch-darn), so I was able to go to my housemate's school to see their Christmas event. Probably the only time I'll be able to judge a song contest when half of the grades sang "Yesterday" by the Beatles and the other half sang "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles.

Jeannie's school decorated for the occasion.

This was probably the only Christmas I'll have where everything is open on Christmas day.

Obviously, Da Vinci cram school which occupies our building was decorated.

Jeannie, Jenny, Katie and I opened our presents from out families on Christmas eve, since we weren't sure when we'd all be together on Christmas day, and the thought of opening presents by ourselves was too unbearable. It turns out that we spent Christmas (day) night together anyway making a gingerbread house before the rest of the group came over, but it was nice to have some Christmas before the fact.

Hard at work. This was greatly appreciated later that night when our friends ate the roof off.

How else would I celebrate Christmas? Banana pineapple juice, a tiny present, a pink panther balloon animal and my ever-present scooter helmet, obviously!

My school has an end-of-semester event every year, with each class doing a performance. This year, since the elections are coming up, many politicians attended the event, as well as families and administrators. My dean "asked" me if I wanted to be part of it ("Kate, we've put you in the program"), and I ended up singing "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" by myself, accompanied by the music teacher on the piano. Yet another time I missed not having Measure 4 Measure here- if the girls were here, we could have just sung all together. Nonetheless, the performance went well. I think it's the only time I'll ever see people swaying their hands back and forth to a Christmas carol. Maybe they think that's what we do. I almost expected someone to whip out a lighter. Or at least a cellphone.

That night (Friday), Katie, Dale, Michelle and I took of for the south of the island, by way of north. Leaving on a 9PM train to Taipei, we then took a train that left Taipei at 11:30 and arrived in Kaohsiung at 5:30AM. One of the most uncomfortable rides in my life, but we didn't want to take a day traveling. It was then a 2 hour and 45 minute bus ride to Kenting, the beach town at the very south of Taiwan. We arrived around 8:30 and were ushered to a hostel by the first people who met us off the bus. The next few days were spent scooting around the south, stopping at small beaches, parks and hikes. New Years Eve was spent at a bar in Kenting city proper (we eventually moved to a BEAUTIFUL hotel- complete with hot tub on balcony overlooking the ocean- after Michelle found a cockroach under her pillow), which was good fun. We headed back north on the Wednesday after new years, which meant I missed school on Monday (Tuesday they had off for the holiday).

One of the lakes on one of our "hikes." They sometimes use this word loosely. "Hikes" can sometimes be paved, flat paths, as this one was.

Tired, but happy to be in Kenting on the first day.

One of the many beaches we stopped at. Apparently, that big blue stick belonged to someone. Who knew?

The Eluanbi lighthouse. Built in 1888. The only armed lighthouse in the world, complete with a trench around it. All this to keep out the local tribes that used to invade. Apparently, it was also bombed a great deal during Japanese rule.

Of COURSE you dance on the beach. That is, if you don't go swimming. Katie and Dale faced the waters, but since the wind was strong, and I wore my jacket all weekend (Kenting is supposedly really warm and nice in the summer), I decided to skip the swim.

Natural fire. From the ground. People were popping popcorn on it-some more successfully than others.

All of Kenting is a National park, but we went hiking in the "real" park part. The terrain was incredibly diverse- everything from steep cliffs to hanging Banyan trees to caves. This was one of the caves.


Just follow the flowers to...

A blooming field! Despite the fact that I wore my jacket constantly, Kenting is warmer than the rest of the island. So, even though it is "winter," there were still some blooms.

Friday I went to a (last minute) press conference at Jenny's school for the English Village- an all-English environment that we're helping to create. Students from around the county will eventually visit on school trips, but for now we're just working on the curriculum. Anyway, the press conference was scheduled because we've received money from this foundation, so the school wanted to make it public. It was all in Chinese, I understood very little, and in typical fashion, we found out plans had changed, and expectations were different. Sometimes it's frustrating to be working on a project and have things suddenly changed without warning. It definitely reminds you how little control you have, and while I'm definitely getting better with flexibility, it is still something that takes getting used to.

2 weeks until our real break. Thailand for a week with my housemates, then my mom visits and we head to Vietnam for a week, then back to Taiwan for a week. Until then it's just pushing my students through finals...

FYI: I have fixed the commenting so now you are able to comment even if you don't have a blogger account. Just to let you know in case you want to leave a note. :)