First day of subbing

Today I subbed for the first time!  I had sat in on both Dan and Anth's classes but today was my first day teaching.  It was really fun!  The school was somewhat far away and somehow I didn't get lost getting there.  I was a little nervous at first because it was last minute and I had no idea what was going on in the class but I figured it out.  Its really interesting what the kids know and don't know.  My whole class could read pretty well but I could tell that about half of them didn't actually know what they were reading.  It reminds me of Italian class at SSC ... I could read and write it but when I studied abroad in Italy I couldn't speak a word. Teach the English they need for the test to get into college, and they can learn how to speak it when they get there. I'll be taking on a long term sub position in a few weeks which Im looking forward to.  It will be great to have guaranteed hours and I'll be able to get to know the class a little bit more.

On another note, my foot is getting better but Im still hobbling around a bit :(  at least I can put shoes on now and I managed to find ibuprofen at a pharmacy.  We've all been watching a lot of movies lately, so I'll give a few quick reviews:

The Road - dark and depressing about the end of the world, I am Legend was much better
Dear John - the notebook take two, you're better off watching titanic or the notebook again
Where the Wild Things Are - interesting take on the book but somewhat slow at times
The Back Up Plan - funny, but basically the same as all of J Lo's other movies
Gamer - awesome movie, pretty graphic violence though
Melinda and Melinda - unique storyline, good plot, a little bit longer than necessary

Tomorrow Im determined to look for a new beach (we always to go the same one) and do some more sightseeing (with as little walking as possible lol) around Kaohsiung.  This weekend we're finally going to Tainan which Im excited about and hopefully we'll check out the international university when we're there.

I have also updated the "Artwork" and "About Me" pages on the site!

Eventful happenings

Where to begin? When things get busy I'm awful at updating my blog, so I have quiet a few stories to tell :)  I am currently recovering from an injury I sustained this weekend when I stepped on a sea urchin.  This is possibly the worst thing you could encounter in the ocean other than a shark!  It was extremely painful and today is the first day I've been able to put any weight on my foot.  It has been healing faster than I though it would however and I think I should be fine in a few days.  Now, leading up to the sea urchin encounter is another adventure.  Dan and Anth had two house guests in addition to myself this past weekend, Ryan (here for awhile) and Courtney (visiting for a few days from Hong Kong). Ironically, their roommates moved out unexpectedly so we have all had plenty of room in the 3 bedroom apartment.

A group of us decided to take a little road trip to Hsiao Liuchiu.  It was about an hour and a half drive to Dongang where we took a 40 minute ferry to the island.  We spend the day snorkeling and then rode our bikes around for awhile exploring the rest of the island.  The scenery was awesome and there were a lot of interesting temples on the island.  We were having so much fun that it didn't occur to anyone that we didn't know when the last ferry was.  Dan and I thought this was pretty funny because we immediately realized there was little hope of getting off the island that night and I've been looking forward to camping since I've been here.  So we rented some tents and found a campground.  It all would have been a great weekend had I not gone back into the ocean ...

Last week I also went up to Maolin, an area north east of Kaohsiung in the mountains.  Many of the buildings and roads in this area were wiped out by typhoon Morakot last year but it is still very beautiful.  Surprisingly, I haven't gotten lost at all while driving around on my scooter!  Ryan and I accidentally got seperated while we were driving around but luckily I was able to navigate home by myself.  I just got a sim card for my cell phone so I wont have to worry about not being able to get in touch with people anymore.  And I get free incoming calls so feel free to give me a ring if you have a calling card!

I've been fortunate enough to see some great sunsets since I've been here.  I took this picture at the beach near Kaohsiung University.  I'll be uploading more pictures to an online album soon.

Asia is awesome

Today is only my second day in Taiwan and I've been having tons of fun!  Yesterday I went to one of Danielle's classes with her and then we got lunch and drove around the city on the scooters :)  Everyone here drives them, I'll probably rent one too because it's only about $1/day.  For now I've just been riding around on the back of everyone else's.   Kaohsiung is a pretty big city, and the pollution here is intense so a lot of people wear masks while they're riding around.

Dan and Anth have a friend visiting from Hawaii, Ryan and today we went hiking with Ana (one of their friends from home who convinced the group to come and teach here).  We went to Monkey Mountain, also know as Takao Hill (打狗山) which was pretty interesting.  The monkeys there are the Formosan Rock Macaque, which were unique to Taiwan until recently being introduced in Japan.  The mountain is a biological reserve for them and I was warned not to bring food on the trails because they will steal it from you!

This weekend we are all going to Tainan, another city nearby.  Danielle is going to check out one of the schools there because they have a great graduate program in counseling and it's free if you are living in Taiwan!  Dan and Anth have enjoyed it here so much that they are thinking of staying another year :D

Until later ... miss you guys!!


Read these notes directly at http://caitlinhorigan.blogspot.com/

Countdown to Taiwan

This will be my last weekend in the states!  I am both excited to go, and sad to leave :(  I will miss everyone tons!! But you are all welcome to visit me :)  Things have been pretty crazy this past week ... Flavia (my friend from Brazil that I visited while I was in South America) was in Boston for a few days and somehow I managed to move out of my apartment and take the GREs all in the same week.

Luckily, I started packing for my trip a few weeks ago so everything is still on schedule.  I'll have a week or two to get settled in Kaohsiung, and then starting May 25th I'll be taking over Anthony's classes for a month while he does some traveling around asia.  This will be a great way to get to know their school and decide if I want to work there for a year.

Soon my blog will have a new address.  You can always view it at the original address, but now it will also be accessible at www.caitlinhorigan.com.  You can also chat with me on skype, it's free and my username is aquacait.

Are you reading this as an imported note on facebook?  You can check out my blog directly to see more pictures, links, and updates at http://caitlinhorigan.blogspot.com.