From Batman to Bat Caves

Monday
 I celebrated Halloween with my students. Halloween is not a holiday that is celebrated in Taiwan. However, most English schools here do celebrate it, so my students got a little taste of Halloween. The Thursday before Halloween Teacher Tyler and I co-taught a science lesson to 5th and 6th grade. The students made predictions and then tested out which candy they thought would sink or float. Afterwards, they watched "The Haunted Mask" episode of Goosebumps. On Halloween I met with both classes. Both grades went through a very scary haunted house in the basement of our school created by the Chinese staff. It was the first haunted house I have ever been in and I was scared. Both classes also decorated pumpkins. It is very hard to find pumpkins in Taiwan, so the pumpkins we decorated were quite small (see picture). The students used hair dryers to to melt crayons on the pumpkins. The students really enjoyed the process of it. For the rest of class, we played bingo and other games to get in the Halloween spirit. It was Fried Chicken Monday that night. We watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and some other Halloween episodes to celebrate. 

Clockwise from the left: Three of my 3rd grade students in our "photo booth," the foreign teachers all dressed up, Teacher Tyler and I co-teaching a science lesson to our 5th/6th grade students, two of my 3rd grade students decorating our pumpkin, and my 3rd grade class on Halloween. 

Tyler and I protecting the streets of Taichung. 

Thursday
 I tend to go back to the same restaurants to eat every week. Josilin and I decided to once a week take turns picking out a new restaurant and trying it. Since getting back from South Korea, I have been craving Korean BBQ. This week was my pick, so I chose a Korean BBQ place close to our school. Everyone in my apartment building came out to eat. It obviously wasn't as authentic as the Korean BBQ I had in Korea, but it was still good. The restaurant was called Stand Up, and as you might guess you stood up around the barbeques. Our waitress was very friendly and helped us order and cook everything. It was a fun meal with friends.  

Friday
Every other Friday there is a diner that holds a pub quiz. Josilin, Tyler, and I go almost every time. We have gotten close to winning, but have never taken home the prize. This week I was feeling good, because the theme was the 90s. We did very well on a couple of rounds (Friends, toys and electronics, 90s cartoons), but did not do so well on some other rounds (sports). Scott was the only person on our team who knew much about sports. I did know about the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding incident (thanks Weird Al). The following is my only other not-so helpful contribution. 
Host: What basketball team did Muggsy Bogues play for?
Me: Was he on the Harlem Globetrotters? I am pretty sure he was on a Scooby-Doo episode with the Harlem Globetrotters. (He wasn't)
Scott: No, he wasn't on the Globetrotters.
Me: Did he play for the Bulls? I remember him playing with Michael Jordan in Space Jam. 
Scott: He did play with Michael Jordan in Space Jam, but not in real life. 

Scott got that question right, without any help from me. We were two points off from winning. We will get it one of these days! 

Saturday
Tyler, Josilin, and I scooted to see a cave. As Josilin says, "caves are the best part of nature." It was my first longer scooter ride, so I was a little nervous. It was not bad though. It was short enough to not be uncomfortable. We were unsure whether or not the cave was okay to go inside at first. There were signs around it in Chinese, which of course we could not read. Thanks to Google Translate, we deemed that it was okay to go inside the cave. The passage inside was very narrow. We could only go in one person at a time. The floor also filled with about an inch of water. So with the flashlight on our phones turned on, we went into the cave one at a time. We didn't get very far when Josilin told us to turn around and go back because she had seen a bat. We turned around and went back outside the cave. Because the cave was so narrow, Josilin was worried that the bat would fly into her face. We stood outside the cave for a little bit deciding what to do. Tyler decided to go first and we decided to try again. We did not get very far when Tyler told us to turn around, because he had seen a giant spider. He was worried the spider was going to crawl on him and lay eggs. Once again we left the cave. We stood outside the cave once again deciding what to do. A family came with some younger children. We tried to get them to go into the cave, so we could go behind them. Some people around our age also came and stood outside the cave with us. We tried to get them to go in. One of them had a very large flashlight. We tried to communicate through English and miming that we had seen a giant spider. They just laughed at us. 

Tyler inside the cave. 

Eventually we found out that there was an exit to the cave a little bit down the way. We decided to start at the exit. Two men, including the one with the big flashlight, went in first. We got farther than we did on the other side without seeing any creepy crawlies. The two men stopped at an intersection and said that they would not go any farther because they were wearing shoes. We discussed whether or not to continue on. I said that I would go first, because I had not gone first yet. I wasn't scared of bats or spiders. I didn't get very far, when I saw the hugest spider I had ever seen. It was at least 2-3 times bigger than a tarantula with a huge body (I think it might be called a Huntsman Spider. Look it up, it is terrifying.) I turned around. I told Josilin and Tyler I had seen a huge spider. They told me that they had already told me that earlier. I did not think it would be that big though. We left the cave and visited a nearby temple. I fell asleep early Saturday night from all the day's excitement. 

We have evidence we actually made it inside the cave. 

Gnomeo training dragons. 

Sunday
I did Fitness Marshall workout videos with Tyler and Michael. Then I went to lunch with Michael and Josilin. Every so often, Josilin will host a Sunday night dinner. I had volunteered to cook this time. Josilin made queso and I made quesadillas. Cooking can be a challenge in Taiwan for a variety of reasons. Most apartments do not have ovens. It is hard to find the ingredients that you need, and it is also expensive. It is much cheaper to just eat out. I hadn't cooked in awhile though, so I was looking forward to it. Michael, Jacob, and Tyler came over for dinner and it was fun to share that community building. Afterwards, Michael, Jacob, and I went to yoga. It was a fun weekend!