Taiwan Application Process

A few days ago I called the Taiwan ILP Representative to see if it was too late to apply for the group leaving at the end of June 2010.  She said that this was the perfect time to apply.  I then proceeded to ask her if she kept my application on file from a few months ago.  She had.  There are two parts to the application process.  First you do a bunch of paperwork and have to get accepted by ILP.  Then you do a bunch more paperwork, and make a video, which they send to the principals in Taiwan.  The people in Taiwan decided who will be hired for their schools.  The school in Taipei City picks about 15 teachers and the school in ? picks about 5.  Britta, the ILP Taiwan rep, said that I was still accepted to ILP.  Over the past couple of days, I have been doing lots of paperwork.  All I have to do now it the video.  It must be 10-12 minutes long and have two segments, one of me reading a story, the other of me teaching a simple task.  

For those of you who don't know, Taiwan is a little island off of China.

This is Taipei City.

A more rural part of Taiwan

I wouldn't mind spending the day here.

Can you keep a secret?

Recently, I have been seriously considering going to Taiwan to teach English.   Six months or a year, through ILP.

I went through the application process in May or June of '09.  Later, I received an answer that I was not to go, in January 2010 that is.

After over six months of putting the idea to rest, I find it consuming my thoughts and keeping me awake at night.  The only solution I can come up with, is that I resume the application process and go, unless I get another no.  That is the way it works between me and the big man upstairs.

Why is this a secret you ask?  Last time I was planning on going, my father had a cow.  Not his idea of me making a good decision.

So, it you could kindly not mention this to my father.  Thank you.

Rachel at 34 Weeks!

My sister is so gorgeous.  I was so happy that she and Perry came to visit for the holidays, as well as Blake.  They weren't originally going to come.  And they stayed for a whole two weeks.  Rachel's baby is growing so much in her belly.  I am so excited to visit them after the baby is born.

A Day at the Races

For Rachel and Perry's last day with us, we went to ride Go-Karts.  It was so much fun.

Me

Blake

Dad

Perry

Dad, Me

I am happy because I beat everyone.

We then rode on a different course.  We races against ourselves, to get our best personal times.

Perry

Me (10), Dad (6), Blake (4)

Perry

Me

Blake

Dad

Mom

Rachel wasn't allowed to race because of her pregnancy. So we played air hockey.

My game face and her's, so calm.

Desert Dash Moonlight Madness-New Years Eve

I ran my second 5k race, with a cold, in the cold, at night.  It was a trail run at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City.  Perry was my running buddy and stayed with me the whole time.  I am grateful to him for that.  I wanted to die.  This race was so hard.  It was full of very steep hills up and down.  So steep that I felt like I may tumble down or have to crawl to make it up.  Now that I know what to expect, I want to run this course again in the daytime.  My time was really bad, like 48 minutes.

 

Waiting for the race to start.  I look a little ruffled like a bird trying to stay warm.

Crossing the finish line.

Perry ran it with me.

I was really tired.

Happy Halloween!

I really wanted to dress up as something cute and creative for Halloween, and I wanted it to involve a tutu. I was given only one days notice for my ward's Halloween party however, and I didn't have enough time to create my "dream costume" (haha).  So I was an explorer.

On Halloween, my mom and I went to Old Navy and we found the cutest shirt for Nala.  She hated it.

Here is a video of her; watch her squeeze under the coffee table, haha:

When it rains, it pours...

After two months of searching, I landed a job.  A woman found me on a nannying website and contacted me.  She is a very nice LDS mother of four and her husband is a surgeon.  I was excited to meet her and she hired me on the spot.  She needs me about 8 hours a week, and her children are dolls.

That same day, my mom was sitting at a garage sale with her friend, and a man approached her.  He asked her if she knew a babysitter.  She gave him my contact information, and half an hour later I was meeting him and his family.  They hired me on the spot too.  I started the next evening with them.  The family immigrated from Romania about six years ago and have two young daughters.  Starting out they only need me about 12 hours a week, but towards the end of November, they will need me 25 to 30 hours a week, all in the evenings.

Two days later, I received a call from REI.  They hired me for a part-time Customer Service Position.  I am currently in the middle of the training.  I am really excited about this one.  The other employees are really nice, and this place has some good employee benefits and discounts.

This is the location I work at.

The day after that, the manager from DownEast Outfitters called me.  She offered me a temp job for this week.  A new store is going in, and she needed lots of help setting up the store.  I had no idea how much thought and creativity that goes into starting a store, not to mention the hard work.

I guess "when it rains, it pours."  I feel so blessed for these opportunities I have been given.