Easter Eggs

Happy Belated Easter Everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful time with families all gathered together and that you were able to remember the true meaning of the holiday. I know that it is not the true meaning of Easter but one thing that I look forward to every year at Easter time is seeing all the different kinds of eggs and how they are beautifully decorated, I gathered several examples of the beautiful artwork that people put onto their Easter eggs.

(Vienna)

(Ukraine)

(Ukraine again)

(Sorbian--not sure what that is?)

(Romania)

(Pysanky--I actually how to learned how to do this in 5th grade, I still have 3 or 4 eggs that I made)

(Poland)

(Pisanka)

(Hungary)

(German)

These next five are amazing, this guy carves out empty egg shells with drills, I think that they are super beautiful!

(Czech Republic)

(Croatia)

Just pretty with lots of fun colors.

Owl Preschool

Hey Everyone! Sorry it's been over a week since I last posted, but I write with a plea...tonight I got an e-mail from Yuling (my boss at Owl Preschool in Taiwan-for those who have forgotten or just may not know :D) and she needs two teachers for July 6-December 19. If you have been considering doing a internship you should really look at this one, it is such a huge learning experience, you get to travel, get paid, work with the most amazing/adorable kids ever, and have fun while doing it all. Please, please take a look at it and see if it wouldn't be something that you are interested in. If you are I am more than willing to answer questions, share pictures with you, and all of my lesson plans, etc. from my experience.

Here is a copy of Yuling's flyer (sorry I just copy and pasted it so it might look a little weird):
(and in case you miss it at the bottom, the website for the school is: http://owlpreschool.blogspot.com )

Owl Preschool

Teaching in Taiwan

( Two openings)

(July 6, 2009~ December 19, 2009)

We are pleased to offer a unique overseas teaching experience for students of LDS schools in Taiwan, Hualien.

Our Mission

We are here to provide opportunities for our students (age 3~6) to achieve their maximum learning potential by nurturing their confidence in our classrooms.

We are also here to provide a unique overseas working environment so that college students can discover the joy of teaching and Taiwanese culture. Requirements

There are some basic requirements that are necessary to apply for this position. Please do not apply if you cannot fulfill these requirements

1. Native English Speaker

Your first language must be English. If English is your second language, it should be just as fluent and clear as your first language. Remember you are applying for a position to teach young children. You are here to teach proper pronunciation, intonation and grammar. The market in Taiwan prefers the American phonetic system. However, don't panic if you are not American. If you are willing to sound a bit 'American' while teaching phonics and vocabulary, you'll do fine.

2. Must be able to sign a six-month contract

3. Must be patient, flexible, enthusiastic, energetic and personable. You should also have a good sense of humor and genuinely enjoy working with children.

4. Caring, loyal, honest, diligent. A willingness to work as part of a team to promote a spirit of learning.

5. Should have a lot of initiative and be very creative with the children.

6. Care for the education of their students.

7. A positive, professional attitude and a genuine desire to teach children.

8. Teach 4 hours per day, Monday through Friday.

Chinese language ability is not essential as you work with a Chinese Teacher in all classes. However, it would help to learn some basic Chinese phrases to get around.

If you are confident that you can pass all the requirements, we welcome your application.

---

School offers:
1. NT $30,000 per month, no tax (base payment or scholarship, not including optional extra tutoring hours at evening groups ($300~$500NT per hour payment US $1=NT $31~34).
2. Traveling insurance.

3.$500 US dollars airfare and train station pick up.

4. Visa application fee (US$100)

5. Free housing、transportation and a bank account.

6. Supportive Staff and a friendly, collaborative work environment.

7. For students, there are great opportunities to receive internship credit. Check with your advisor or an internship advisor at your University.

The websites relative:

http://owlpreschool.blogspot.com

http://www.yiqilai.net/

http://theparkerzarker.blogspot.com.

If you are interested in teaching at our preschool, please contact Yuling Lin at yulinglin215@hotmail.com

P.S. You don't know how tempted I was to just write back to Yuling and tell her that I would do it.

Go Toledo!!

So I'm not totally sure that I understand this article but Toledo was an All-American City Finalist..they will be competing against 32 other cities for the Top 10 spots! Whoever said that Toledo was worthless and didn't have any potential? Let's see you beat that Newport! (why yes I do have pride for my little town :D)



See the article here.

Update...

Well today was the Internship Showcase!! And despite having to get up at 6am (BOO!!), it was a lot of fun and I felt that our set-up was really good and we showed a lot of what was involved with our time in Taiwan (aka..not only working with the kids but our opportunities to travel, to spend time with the Sister Missionaries, volunteer at the local Tzu Chi college/university and other things we were able to do).
The time went pretty quickly and we had lots of fun, we were able to learn so much by looking at others booths and we had several people who seemed genuinely interested in the internship- they wrote down the information for the website and how to contact Yuling!!
Sadly though Natalie and I did not win :(...but we did find out when we were turning our stuff back in that we had been finalists for one of the bigger money prizes!! We're not exactly sure if that meant we were finalist of 75 or 2 but we still felt pretty good about ourselves and we have dubbed ourselves "the winners of the losers."
I don't have any pictures yet, but as soon as Natalie or Mom sends some to me I will post them (which means it could be awhile :D)
While there today we met a new friend, she was in the booth across the way from us and had worked last semester in an orphanage in Guatemala..it was cool to hear about her experiences and a little neat to see some of the things that we had happen that were in common..if you want to read about her take of the day you can go here.

Earth Hour

I subscribe to a blog called The Big Picture and this particular post came out on Monday, I thought that it was really amazing the way they showed through pictures the lights being turned off in certain spots of the world. It was really interesting to see what a difference turning off lights made in the area. I agree with some that just doing this once a year for an hour is not really going to make a difference, but it is a starting point and if we want it to make a difference then we should push it further, turn off our power for an hour a month, an hour a week, an hour a day--it's all up to US!


Check it out I think that it is really amazing... EARTH HOUR 2009

TV

Not everyone is always willing to admit it but we each have some TV shows that make it higher up in our list of favorites, sure we may not watch TV all that much but we still know certain shows and what's going on with them. I'm not any different, except I have no problem admitting that I like certain shows, I am a faithful watcher (through my computer that is) and am always excited to find out what will happen next week.







And you know, in case I still have any time left over after all of these other shows, there is always one of my favorites CSI: Miami!
So? What are your favorite shows?

I'm Alive!

Despite what some may have heard, I'm alive and starting to feel a lot better (aka not throwing up anymore and other things that will remain unmentioned :D)...YEAH!!!! And to prove how alive I really am, my friend Natalie and I are having a booth at BYU on Friday at their Internship Showcase, it's so people can come and find out about what kinds of internships are available. Those who are in the area should totally come check it out, Friday 9am-1pm at the WILK!



P.S. I'll be at booth #73!