A Day in the Life

I've been wanting to do this since getting here, but I wanted to wait until I was in a somewhat normal routine. I wouldn't really call my life right now normal though. Everyday brings new challenges, adventures and learning opportunities. Even the little things like trying different kinds of tea or learning a new word in Chinese are so fun and new. I feel like I haven't had a day here where I haven't done something different or exciting and I hope that the rest of my time here continues to be that way.

Since I have had lots of people asking about what my days are like. And since I've also had lots of people asking me if I ever actually do any work over here (the answer is yes, quite a bit of work actually). I wanted to do a post like this one.

These pictures are from Thursday July 25th.

Rise and shine! This was a morning when I actually got to sleep in too. I get up at 6am a lot of mornings to skype with family and friends back home. 

6:50 Checking to see if my laundry had tried from the night before. The view off the balcony isn't so bad either. 

6:52 Making/packing breakfast 

7:10 Heading downstairs for school

7:15 On my bike ready to ride to school. I have a scooter but it is currently broken, so I have to use my bike until I can get my scooter fixed after pay day. 

7:25 On the road. This street was ridiculously empty at the time I took this, it was a very rare occurrence because usually the roads are packed.  

 7:35 Almost to school!

7:45 Arrived at the workroom at school

7:50 Making coffee. It is a necessity and yes I know I'm an addict. 

7:55-8:50 Plan/prep time. This is my time to get everything ready for the morning lessons

8:50-9:10 Outdoor play with the kiddos 

9:15 Arrival and getting settled in the classroom

9:20 Snack

9:35-10:00 Morning circle and lesson

10:00-10:30 Small group lesson/center time. Today for small groups we were talking about noses and what they do. I had my students make animal nose masks. 

10:30-11:00 Library time. 

11:00-12:00 Prep time

12:00-2:30 Lunch and prep/break time. 

I always use some of this time to chat with people from home because it is late at night there, so there is always someone on the computer

This particular day I also used this time to make a robot out of paper. His arms actually move and everything and he can pick up that little square thing. Yup, I know I'm awesome. You don't even have to tell me. :)

2:30-4:00 Lesson time/Snack/Go home. We did a cool lesson today about different smells. I found this picture more entertaining though. 

4:00-5:00 Plan/prep. I am only scheduled to stay until 4:00, but I hardly leave school until at least 4:30 or 5:00

5:00 Biking home

The rest of my night is spent trying to cool off from the sauna that is Taiwan, eating dinner (preferably off of the street), drinking tea, going on adventures in my neighborhood, going to fruit markets/Carefore/the Blue Store, attempting to run in the park (though it is an obstacle course at night because everyone and their mother is outside because it is too hot during the day to do anything physical), reading, watching movies, making weird things with Angela, planning weekend trips and staying up way too late. 

And then my wonderful life starts all over again.