My first scooter experience!

Yesterday was awesome. I got my first (of which I hope to have many) scooter experience!

So I have to do a telephone test with the students once a month. That requires me to stay at school a little bit longer while I wait for the students to go home, where I then call them and give them a telephone test. Weird, yes, but the parents want something that isn't face to face.

Ok, so after the phone test yesterday, a teacher offers to give me a ride home. ON A SCOOTER!!!! Woohoo! It was AWESOME!! It was as if I was riding backseat in a fighter plane! We dodged traffic, pedestrians, and scooters, we ran red lights, we were so close to other vehicles that I thought we were Blue Angel pilots... it was great! I even got to wear a nifty helmet!

As Mei says, scooters are like ants in Taipei. They're everywhere. They creep up to the front of the line at red lights, they swarm cars like ants going for the kill, and they drive all over: in the correct lane, in the WRONG lane, even on the sidewalk... it's anarchy. Complete anarachy. But apparently they know what they're doing...

In summary: I can't wait to get my own! Muhaha!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival/Teacher's Day!

Hello!

I'm at my family's home in Longtan (for those who want to know, Longtan is about 45 mins. South of Taipei), and they have dsl, and it's down time while my family entertains, so here I am, checking some e-mail and posting to the blog. Woo!

On the yummy front: I got a gift box of moon cakes for Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival day from the school, and one of the mom's gave me a honey cake for Teacher's day (both fall on the same day).

I'm pretty much over my cold now, yay! Boo needing to blow my nose all the time! So Monday was a quiet day at school, since today is a holiday, some of my kindergarten kids were absent because they were visiting family on an extended weekend. After class ended, I hopped on the MRT to Sun Yatsen memorial hall to meet my aunt, so I could spend today with the family. She was a little late picking me up and it took us forever to get back because everyone was out on the streets!! Apparently on Mid-Autumn Eve everyone bbqs till the wee hours of the morning since the next day is a holiday and you can sleep in. So everyone was in a rush after work to get to their respective bbq-ing locations (including us).

My family lives in a place where the basement is basically a shared underground parking garage, with a main gate in front and everyone has their own little garages down below connected to your house above, so you can mingle with all the neighbors from your garage. A typhoon was passing to the north of Taiwan, which meant, *gasp,* heavy rain all day Monday, so one of the neighbors set up his bbq next to his garage, out of the rain. Which was convient, because then everyone could just walk from their garage, show up with meat and not have to go outside, but towards the end of the night, everyone was teary eyed because the garage was filled with smoke! Hmm... But it was fun, there was way too much food like any good Asian gathering.

Today my Grandpa ordered pizza from Dominos for lunch, tasted pretty much like pizza from back home. And tonight I get home cooked curry chicken, which I can't wait for! Except right now he's playing mah-jong with the neighbors, so who knows when he'll cook, if he does. If he's winning, then we might just eat left overs. :)

Did some shopping with my Aunt and Grandma and at a Taiwan scaled down version of Costco, got a bag to take to work that's easier to access than my backpack (I didn't like keeping my wallet out from when I got off the bus to when I got on the train, but it was a big hassle to have put in the backpack, put backpack back on, walk five minutes, get it out of backpack, put it back in, go 15 min on the train, then get it back out to send my magnetic pass through the exit gate, then out 5 min later for the bus again...I think you get the point). We got some live crabs, the Chinese won't let go of their desire for fresh meat, so even at a big indoor supermarket they still have big fish tanks and ice bins filled with live fish/seafood (think Ranch 99 if you've ever been in the States).

That's about all the excitement from here. It's nice to see my family, and I'm sure I will be seeing more of them. Hope this blog finds you happy and healthy!

Update.

Hello! I know, it's been a week since my last post, I'm such a slacker! Well, not really, I've been working hard, so I haven't had much time to make it down to the ol' internet cafe.

So on Saturday we went to the hot springs, which was fun, it was an hour bus ride up to the mountains. We had a great hot pot lunch of marinated pork, shrimp, mushrooms, radish soup, rusty Taiwan beer, and some veggies. It was really good, and I'm glad I stuck to Orange Fanta as my bev. selections!

Then it was off to the hot springs experience. Basically you strip down, and you can either soak in a personal room, or in a public room (boys and girl separate). We opted for private rooms. So basically, it's like a mini room with hooks for your stuff, and then a big cement tub with the hot spring water rushing in through a tube. And the faint aroma of sulfur, cuz you know, it's a hot spring coming from the earth. The water is super hot, and you can't soak for more than half an hour max. The water felt really good, I saw where they have the panic button if you're about to pass out, or on you way down from passing out. Jerry was throwing water balloons at some of the whities in our group over their door. I'm glad I didn't get hit!!

After that, we split from the rest of the group to check out Taipei 101. Like Andrew said, everything is super big. Or, rather, HUGE. The architecture is really nice, and I loved the book store, they have every book imaginable! It was awesome! And the grocery store in the basement was also exciting, it had Cheese Puffs and Tostitos salsa! WOOO! And I ate lunch at Subway. Yeah American food! And for dessert was ice cream, they give you two massive towers of flavor, and you can pick two different kinds. I tried green tea and swiss chocolate. Both delicious, but so much. Way too much.

Work has been good, I made some of my bushiban kids cry when I sent them to Ted, I feel so bad making kids cry! It's such a horrible feeling! But they're starting to respect and listen to me more, which is good. We had English songs and chants yesterday, which means we sang a song from the "wee sing" song book. Which was cool, because I had a wee sing book and tape when I was little! Does anyone else have a wee sing memory? Mine is hickory, dickory, dock.
We sung an international hello song. Too bad I can't sing it for you now! :)

I started coming down with a cold on Sunday, boo, and I was throwing up Monday morning, but I had the lesson manual, so I talked to my boss, and I told him I could come in, but wouldn't last the whole day. He said ok, I'll take you to the Dr. when I get in. Well that was a miserable day, because I was full blown in a cold by then, head throbbing, back aching, the feeling of puking ever present. I stole one of the kids nap beds and slept for most of the day until Jenny, the accts. lady, finally had time to take me to the Dr. He was nice, spoke English really well, gave me some stuff and said "well, this will help, but I leave you now to suffer, you'll be fine in three days." And he gave me some antiobiotics just in case it didn't. I slept all day Tuesday. My aunt found our apt. and brought me some food, which was nice of her. (And we get the 28th off for the Moon Festival day, so she's going to come pick me up on Monday after work and take me back to Lungtan to spend Tuesday with the family.)

Oh, and Sunday was trying the 617 bus, turns out it goes to Xijuang, which is near where we work, but not quite. But the bus route showed us that a ten minute walk away from the main street and our place is a cool little water park and lake. And a Swensen's! Something to check out!!! With the poop commute (1.45 hrs) we are looking into moving closer, but probably not till Nov.

Went back to work on Wed. I'm fine now, except for a cough once in a while and I still need to blow my nose a few times a day. But i didn't have to pay for the dr. or the meds! Yeah nice boss!

Other than that, nothing too exciting, besides trying to guess what the weather is going to be like in the next half hour... sunny or raining? The kids are respecting me more, which is nice. This weekend will be a quiet one, working on lesson plans and cleaning. Can't wait till I get paid on the 11th! Sweet sweet money!!! Hope you are all doing good...

A 'beware' list of taiwan

Greetings;

Mei and I are both recovering from colds. So the fact that we are extremely broke until October 5th (or 11th, depending on our PAAAAAYDAAAAAAYS!) and can't really go exploring is tempered by the fact that we need to be doing nothing, anyway. And I know just the place to recover: a smoke-infested internet cafe! Oh wait...
So I originally wrote this list to Todd. But since you ALL want to come to Taiwan to visit (ha ha?), I thought I'd share it with you all.

1. Beware of the roads. When crossing streets, just walk with confidence... those cars and scooters that LOOK like they are going to hit you will deftly move around you. Unless they don't see you, in which case you swear profusely.
2. Beware of the sidewalks. Be sure to look down now and then (plenty of stray dogs = plenty of stray crap) and keep your head on a swivel (scooters think the sidewalk is their domain, too).
3. Beware of the weather. Bring an umbrella EVERYWHERE. Trust me.
4. Pollution. (Smokey internet cafes, bad exhausts on cars, scooters, and buses, and in some (most?) places, bad pollution in general). Just expect your cleaniless level to be knocked down a few levels.
5. Anticipate with glee the train and bus system. Pretty much comes like clockwork.. once you can figure it out, you're golden.
6. Be ready to try new types of meat. For instance, pig head and pig intestines are pretty good, as I've mentioned on this blog...
7. Get your fill of 7-11's now, becuase they are NOWHERE to be found (HA).
8. Likewise for Burger Kings, KFC's, Pizza Huts, and Starbucks.
9. Get ready to see a LOT of Taipei 101. You can't miss it.
10. Be ready for the greatness that is Pearl Milk Ice Tea. Muhahaha. :)

Take care, everyone!

They do things big at Taipei 101!

So yesterday me and Mei went to two places: hot springs and Taipei 101. I'm nearly out of time here, so I'll tell you briefly about 101.

First of all, it's freaking huge. You can't miss it: it's the tallest building in the world. And the crazy part, the part that makes me continuously say, "What the heck were they thinking?"??? It's surrounded by building that are maybe 15, 20 stories tall. At most. This building? Is freaking 100 stories tall, plus the top (I think) that makes it about 115? It's freaking HUGE compared to everything else. It literally (pun intended) towers above everything else. I continuously ask: WHY?? WHY??? It's not like New York City, where EVERY building is monstrously large... but no, it's like Grand Teton. Flat flat flat BAM!!! Huge building. It's crazy. But on the bright side, it's a great compass for Taipei. "Where am I? Oh, Taipei 101 is there, so I must be..."

Yesterday we went there after we went to the hot springs with some fellow whities (very soothing, by the way). It's not yet open; we think it opens at the end of December, or something like that (I'm looking forward to a) the view, and b) the fastest elevators in the world. But, there's a (surprise) huge shopping mall next door that we were able to go to. Mei posted from a very cool Sony store... they have all sorts of nifty stores. We also went into a (surprise) HUGE book store, that had more English titles than a typical Barnes and Noble (not to mention all of the Chinese books that they had as well...).

There was a supermarket on the basement. Guess which adjective I will use to describe it? Yeah, it was huge. Surprise. They literally had everything there. Cheese? GLORIOUS! Milk? GLORIOUS! Pickles, olives, all things that are foreign to us in most Chinese food items, are there! Happy days, happy days, oh globalism, happy days.

And there had to be about 8 million food vending places at the basement, too. I went with instant noodles in a cup that was bigger than my head. Was I shocked? Hardly. Come to Taipei 101.. where EVERYTHING is big. (I have a cool shot of the bowl next to a Corona. It makes the Corona look like it's a mini-beer).

Out of time... just wanted to thank all of you for writing emails; I am sorry I have gotten a bit late recently in replying, I have been bogged down. But I appreciate hearing from you all. Thanks!!

Blogging from Taipei 101

Hey Everyone!

I'm online for free at Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world!) We're at the Sony store in the shopping mall part of the store, and I thought it would be awesome to post from a laptop that I will probably never buy (it's a super expensive, super fancy VAIO). Yay free internet, tallest building in the world, and exploring!

We went to the hot springs today, will post more later!

WOOO!

A quick greeting!

Greetings from wet Taiwan. Like Mei said, there's nothing predictable about the weather here. You turn around for two seconds, and it changes from being bright and sunny to having torrential downpours. Combined with the traffic, you certainly are on your toes here in Taiwan!

I just wanted to write a quick blog saying that indeed, I am alive and kicking, mainly because I got a job that will be paying me soon. It's heaven compared to my old job: 10 students per class (a first grade and a second grade), with an average of 2.5 hours teaching per day. That number will 'jump' to 3.5 a day after I get my third grade class (with 6 students) next week. Ah, heaven. The classes are pre-planned AND there's a disciplinarian in the class with me! Ah, it's nice, so so nice. But I'll tell you more about my job next time... I have time for just a quick hello. So: hello! Look for many email replies on sunday. Take care...

Musings (from bus rides and teaching)

Hello all!

I have 20 minutes left at the internet cafe, so the length of this post will depend on how fast i can type.

From my bus rides: There are two kinds of bus drivers, the ones that take their sweet time so that no matter what time you get on, you'll get to where you're going whenever the bus driver feels like stepping on the gas pedal (which means you'll be late). Or, there's the maniac bus driver that will get you to your destination early, even if you're running late. Which is great, except when you're standing on the bus, and everytime he brakes/accelerates, you go crashing into the people standing next to you. And they always honk at anything that moves or doesn't move in their lane. FUN! For the past three days, I have seen a Grandpa and his little grandson get on the bus in the mornings. It's so sweet that the grandpa takes the little boy to school every morning on the bus. I just thought that was nice. Buses in the US should have Bee TV, which is on every bus here, and it shows cartoons! Yeah! And they're hilarious, even though they don't have any dialogue!

From teaching: Moms here hold a lot of sway. One boy was sobbing in class today because his mom told him that if I wrote anything bad in his communication book, he would get spanked. And of course, he was misbehaving this morning. FYI: a communication book is basically a daily progress report that EVERY parent in my class takes seriously and reads diligently. One mom asked my Chinese speaking assistant to say sorry to me because her son talks so much in class. (I'm always checking off the "talks to much" bubble for him.) I feel bad for making five year olds cry, but I'm not going to lie so they can be little punks in my class! Lesson plans are fun to make when everything is laid out for you, and I love teaching math to five year olds, because I know how to explain it! i.e. today's math lesson was circling which object was shorter, taller, the same... Woo easy!

Other than that, nothing too exciting to report. I haven't been late to work this week, woohoo figuring out the right bus to take! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself for Friday.

I think we are really going to the hot springs and going out to dinner with my aunt on Saturday. She's super cool, yelled at me for waiting two weeks to tell her I was in the country, then called me last night asking if I wanted her to take us apt. hunting closer to work and that if anyone was picking on me at work, I should tell her, and she would call and yell at them for me in Chinese. Yay family! The hot springs are with Jerry (the job placement guy) and other whities. His girlfriend's aunt owns a hot springs resort, and they're going to have a bbq for us! Woo free food and hot springs! We just have to pay for our bus ride!

On the weather front: A small typhoon rolled over the country in the beginning of the week causing some more flooding. And for the past few days, it's been sunny in the morning, then downpour from 12pm-4pm, then drizzle and cloudiness for the rest of the evening. Make up your mind, Taiwan weather! I'm never leaving the house again w/o my umbrella!!!!

My first week on the Job!! (This is going to be uber long!)

Hello all!

Wow, so much to tell, and no idea where to start.... I guess from Monday, maybe start with some background?

So Ted, my boss, is a super nice/cool guy. He just happens to own the school/teach some of the bushiban classes/has a 6 month old son at home. So he's also super busy. And with the way the Asian culture is, he also has to constantly be talking to parents because they are super involved with their children's education and are very critical of the education received, which is awesome, but can be uber annoying.

Monday: First day of work! I was supposed to meet Jerry at the Taipei train station at 7:30am, and I wasn't sure how much traffic there would be in the morning, so I got on the bus at 6:30am, giving myself an hour to get to the train station. It only took 30 minutes. Which was cool, I guess, at least I was early, right? So I got the English paper, read, paced back and forth, and called Jerry a few times because he was 15 minutes late. So I was a little anxious. A quick three stop train ride later, and we're in Shulin, where my school is. Then a five minute bus ride, and we're at the school! WooHoo!!! At 8:15, 15 minutes early, but all good. Ted was late, and my kids (ha, MY kids?!) eat breakfast from 8:30-9am, so I really don't start until 9am. I teach Kindergarten. For those who know me, STOP laughing now. I've actually been doing ok, although I can see that patience will definitely need some working.

Ted says today we'll work with the kids to make them "respect my authority" (his words, i swear) and to get to know them as individuals. No real lesson plans for Monday. So we'll do "Mei says" (instead of Simon says), make them line up outside the classroom, follow me around the school, and other respect my authority stuff. And then he'll help me pick out a story and I'll do storytime with them until lunch. Except that while I'm doing Mei Says, he gets pulled away by a parent, and then one of the landlords, and then somebody else, so the rest of the day was me coming up with stuff to figure out how much English the kids know (which is a fair amount, they're only allowed to speak English in the school, and they're four/five, so they pick up quick), and keep them entertained and respecting my authority. It was interesting. The kids get snack time at 4pm, which is when I'm supposed to be off, but Ted arranged a meet and greet at 7pm so the parents would know who the new teacher is. So I just stayed with the kids whose parents come late, until 7pm. (As a side note, the people here are really paranoid about their kids learning proper, Asian-accent free English, so my name at school is spelled May, and I don't know Chinese. Ted was saying he hired an ABC (American born Chinese) a few years ago and two parents took the their kids out of the school because they didn't like that at all, even though the person spoke English like any other person from the states. And some of the parents have commented that I look mixed, or like i could be taiwanese, and everyone working at the school says, no, she's a full whitie)

Anywho, the parent-teacher meet and greet was ok, had 12 moms staring at me and I had to pretend like I had no idea what they were saying and wait for Ted to translate. I started laughing one time when one of the moms said something hilarious, I just had to look away. One of the moms asked how I was going to deal with the boys (I'm coming to that in a little bit). I laughed, and said lots of patience and discipline. Apparently that was a good answer. Score one for Mei! Ted took me home afterwards because the drive is pretty direct and short, he's gonna see if there's a commuter bus that goes straight from Neihu to Shulin, because the route I'm taking now is pretty round about and takes anywhere from an hour to 1h45m.

I'm supposed to have a 2.5 hour lunch, but I've been serving the kids their food, which is fine, because then I get a free lunch, and it's home cooked Chinese food! Delicious! They have an "Auntie" who cleans the school and prepares all the food. These kids eat pretty good! I got watermelon and sticky rice yesterday, quite yummy. Then it's nap time for them from 12:30-2:30, which is my time to either take a nap upstairs where the big people beds are, or prepare stuff, or do whatever i want.

Ted kept saying all week that he was going to sit down with me and start making lesson plans, but it never happened. He just constantly has someone calling him or coming to the school for him, or he's teaching. So I was just making up stuff for the week, and it actually went ok. They know the alphabet and numbers, and they know some basic vocab. We just got in the Calvert stuff, which is a company that prepares lesson plans for home school kids in the states. So I took the lesson manual home for this weekend, and I'm just going to do lesson plans on my own. I think if I wait for Ted, the school year will be over. The kids have a pretty full schedule, and everything is supposed to be pretty mapped out. Everyday they have phonics, reading, and English (like our English class at home). And then depending on the day, there is also Chinese class to learn how to read and write Chinese, art (both with another teacher, thank god!), math, science, brain power engine (which is spatial and logic learning), computer time, and English songs and chants.

I have 13 kids, one that goes home at 12:30 after lunch. I feel bad, because she was a late addition, so she doesn't have her Calvert kit, and won't for another few weeks. (which means she doesn't have her own books, just photocopies of the pages, and no personal box of crayons/pencils/art stuff). They have lots of energy, so sometimes the class gets out of control, and I have to line them up against the wall with their hands on their head and yell at them. Which sucks, cuz I feel bad being mean, but at the same time, I need to have discipline in the class room. Of the seven boys I have, almost all of them act out and are pains constantly. Except for three, Vincent, Eric, and Jack, who actually listen to me without being threatened. I'm sure you will hear lots of complaining about: Alan, Sam, John-John, and Ga-Ga. I am always sending them out of the classroom, and yesterday Ted said I could send them to him and he'll spank them if need be. Poor John-John got sent up to him in the afternoon and came back sobbing. Poor guy. If only he had listened to me.....

My bushiban on Wed. and Fri. nights are ok, except that the ages range from 10-13, and they understand less English than my kinders. And the lessons they have are of sentences, and when to use don't/doesn't and other grammar stuff like that. But when I yell at them, only three of them understand what I'm saying, and the rest just wait until someone tells them what's going on in Chinese. But they're not supposed to speak Chinese, so I constantly have to ask if they're in English class or Chinese class. Sort of a Catch-22 situation. They're good kids, just can't understand what I'm saying. Ted hopes for progress in this area. I hope so too.

Eventful stuff that happened: On Wednesday, I found out that the bus route I take to the train station has two different routes. I found this out because I got on the one that doesn't go to the end of the line, which is the Taipei train station. The one that I got on takes a slightly different route, and turns around a few stops short of the train station. I fell asleep for about 15 minutes, and when I woke up, I started panicking because nothing looked familiar. Then it was 7:55am, and the bus passed the Grand Hotel, in the direction towards Neihu. So I asked the lady where the bus was going, and she said "oh, it's going to Neihu." Oh crap, says I. So I get off at the next stop, and then take a taxi ride to the train station, then finally get to the school at 9am. You may be asking why I didn't just have the taxi go straight to the school, and I say because Taipei traffic at that time would have taken us just as long. And I gave Andrew my cell phone so he could keep in touch with Jerry for his interviews, so I couldn't let Ted know that I was going to be late. Whoops. Yay for Andrew having a cell phone now!!!

On Thursday the bus got to the train station at 8:01, so I thought I had missed the 8am train the Shulin, so I had to wait for the 8:15am, making me 15 minutes late. (Ted had previously said that there was an 8am train that went towards Shulin that I could take)

Yesterday, I got to the train station at 7:56am, thinking, yay, I can make the 8am! Turns out the 8am and 8:10am trains go to Kaoshiung, which is the southern end of Taiwan, and don't stop in Shulin. D'oh! So it was the 8:15am train for me again! I talked to Ted, he said it was ok if I came in later than 8:30, he doesn't want me to get up uber early every day, which I thought was pretty cool of him, but I'm still going to try and make the 7:53 train, just cuz it's nice to have some downtime to prep and play with the kids before class starts.

So that sums up my week. We were thinking of going to the hot springs with Jerry and other whities, but the heavy rain has sort of put a damper on that (haha?), I'm sure we'll get to go some time. Thus, this weekend will be lesson plans, laundry, clean up messy apt., and SLEEP! I *heart* sleep!

Thanks to everyone who's been thinking good thoughts and giving us great tips! I love the comments and the e-mails I've been getting, keep them coming! Hopefully it won't be a week again that I post new stories.

Last time I said that for the next post, I hoped to say...

I got a job and a cell phone. And I did both.

First things first. I discovered the true reasons why I am actually LOSING weight while being over here, despite devouring the food as if I just stumbled home after being lost in the woods for a week. One, is the humidity. I sweat away all my fat (and water, grr). Number two, the RAIN washes the fat away, too! It's true! These last two days it has been raining cats and dogs. Last night... remember how I was crying about the typhoon that hit when I first came here? It was raining as hard... or HARDER... than that. Absolutely unbelievable. The only thing that was missing was the wind. Lightning was striking everywhere, at less than a mile away from us (lighting.. one one tho- KABOOOOOM!!!!) I felt like I was in Baghdad; the 'explosions' were that loud. I seriously had this thought: "Well, the Chinese have decided to attack Taiwan afterall." It was absolutely incredible. Sleeping was a joke. Impossible. Maybe I'll take a nap today... after walking home, taking a shower, and drying off from the continuous rain. It's supposed to rain throughout the weekend. Nuts.

Ok, back to the job search. So finding a job isn't the hard part. I'm white, and there are tons of teaching positions. It's finding one that I am happy with. I, like Mei, went with Jerry to help get me a job. Ok, so in summary, I had an interview with this one place, but they lowered my salary despite Jerry's repeating with them before we came "This is what he wants, are you SURE you can give it, are you SURE, are you SURE," etc. So we leave, and I have a few more interviews. One only wanted part time teachers because they were new (despite their agreeing on the phone to what Jerry asked for), and one where a hyperactive teacher goes buck-wild with the students (but pays really, really well. Oh, but the PARENTS are in the back of the clas watching you.) Anyway, the next day the original school (not the one with the parents in the back, but the place that had my salary lowered even though jerry said are you SURE... etc) calls back and we negotiate more, and we get what we want. Life is good.. we go to sign a contract and there are a few more provisions that we want to fix, so Jerry and Vickie go home to rewrite the contract and I'll sign it on monday. Some perks of the job: good pay while working from 1:00-6:30 every day, teaching only 3 1/2 hours a day and spending the other 2 hours as eye-candy for the parents. Oh, and the lessons are scripted. Yeah, I can do that. But they might try and work me with lots of extra stuff that I didn't agree to... we'll see. Anyway, in the morning, which I have free every day, I have the choice of having another teaching gig to make more money or maybe take a Mandarin class. But then Jerry asked if I would recruit for him, so I think I'll do that AND maybe take a class, so I can make money in my spare time AND try to take a class. But I have no time for a class now... we have too long of a commute. I'll wrorry about that if/when we eventually move. For now, Mei will have to be my unpaid teacher. I hope she doesn't quit in frustration! :)

Some highlights of my job search. Me and Jerry stop by at a food shop place (definitely not a restaurant) and get some wantons the other day. Before they come, we get meat. "What's this, I ask?" He responds nonchalantly, "Pig intestines and pig head. Try it, it's good." And they were good. But... the idea of pig head and intestines... had the texture of squid.

So in theory I have a job (or two). Exciting. Being a recruiter will make me some $, too. So if they fire me.. I can just work from home! Joy!

And I have a cell phone now. Mei let me borrow hers, but then she was late one day and her boss called. After being worried sick about her for the next couple of hours (Jerry finally called after we thought maybe she did what WE almost did, which was to take the wrong train to a city 2 and a half hours away, non-stop..), I decided then and there that I needed my own phone. So I got a used phone. If you want my #, give me an email.

That's all from wet and wild Taiwan for now. I THINK I have a job... I'm happy and sad at the same time to be working again. :) Tkae care all...

Update

The roles have been reversed, I see. Now, it is not I who has the job and Mei who is jobless, but rather, it is I who am jobless and Mei who is working!

So that job that I had... it went something like this. 50 kids in a class, make my own lesson plan, plus those conversational classes (also with 50 students) who don't really care about learning English. Including making the lesson plans, that comes out to, oh... 40 hours a week, at least, which isn't paid for. I now am working with the guy who placed Mei for a better contract (less hours for the same cash, and with (much) fewer students). I also can work extra hours (i.e. more than 24 a week) for even more money. He's been a real help; however, now I am experiencing jobless anxiety, not because I don't think I can get a job, but because I want to know that I'll be paid in October so I can pay rent, buy enough food to live, etc. Ha.

But things are going well. I'm looking forward to working (again), and potentially working overtime to make even more money. Money money money! I hear some people say they want to visit: AWESOME. That would be so awesome.

Once we get settled, we're really looking forward to leaving our home and traveling on the weekends. This guy who is helping us, Jerry, is saying how you can travel down to towns in the south that are resort towns; you can scuba, rent jet skis, etc, and it costs only ~$NT 300 to get there (~$10 US) by train. Niiiice. This weekend Jerry (the guy who is helping us) is getting the Americans/whities together to go to some local hot springs where he has connections through his girlfriend, all we have to do is pay ~120 for total bus fare (~$4) to get there. I can't wait! It'll be good to not only relax, but to meet some more expatriots as well. And besides these places, I am looking forward to just picking random places on a map and saying, "Let's go there!"

But for now I am jobless... awaiting a job, but not worried. Not yet. I'll hopefully report soon with a job, and/or to post that I have a phone (which I don't yet).

I just had to post this...

So quick update:

Andrew and I are officially lots poorer after a day of shopping today, we went to the nine floor shopping mall down the street from us, which has a supermarket in the basement. List of stuff: Matress pad since the matress has a tatami mat as the top, light blanket since before we didn't have anything to cover us, bowls, chopsticks, Andrew got lots of food (ok, not that much, but I'm sure that once he gets his first paycheck, it will be a lot), and I'm still looking for new work outfits.

That's just background. Here's what I had to post about: So to use a credit card here, your signature has to match exactly what's on the back of your card. So to buy the matress pad and blankie, I used my credit card, and the way the shops in the mall are set up, it's like a whole bunch of small stands, and in the middle is where all the money stuff occurs. So our super nice helper lady went to go swipe my card, and came back with the receipt for me to sign. So I signed with my signature. She came back a few seconds later saying my signature didn't really match, because on the back of my card it started with "S-E-E." And I sort of stare at her blankly, and then it clicked. I have "SEE ID" written on the back of all my credit cards, so in the states the cashier has to check my ID to make sure it's Mei Olson. Well, they don't do that here. So I had to go to the lady sitting at the transaction desk, and got in a slight fight with her. I was trying to explain to her that in the US it means you have to verify the names with an ID, and she tells me: "Great, that's in the USA. This is Taiwan, you have to do what we do, I don't care what you do there, here your signature HAS to match what is on the back of the card." So my signature on my receipt was "SEE ID." And apparently I'm going to have to do that everytime I use my credit cards. Hmm... Just call me See. Yay for culture differences!!

Insipired by Mei...

... I am going to check out this new placement company as well. Let's see... 50 hours with the squirrels 10 hours a week, followed by 14 conversational classes with 50 DIFFERENT squirrels EACH TIME, many of whom don't give a crap about the 'class'... or having a max of 18 students, where my imposing height can be of more intimidation due to closer proximity. Oh, and BETTER PAY for LESS HOURS with PRE-MADE LESSON PLANS. Hm.. let me think, let me think...

Yay For Mei!

I have great news!!!!!!!

I have a job and I start on Monday! After uber frustration with the placement company that we were working with, I sent out a few e-mails in search of jobs, and I had an interveiw today and I start on Monday! It's at a school called Key West American School. It's about an hour commute away from where we live now, but I'm actually ok with that. Ted, the owner/boss man is super cool, and I think I'm going to be really happy with the school. If he's willing to take a chance on an inexperienced teacher, I'm willing to stick out the commute. It's just a bus ride then train ride, and both are safe, comfortable rides. Woo!

I am so relieved and excited and relieved that I have a job! Now I just need to call the poop company and tell them they suck (maybe a little more tactfully) and I want my health certificate that I paid for. (Do I sound bitter? nah.)

I'm so excited! I will give you more details about the school after I have worked there for a few days, my hours are 8:30am-4pm, M-F with a 2.5 hr lunch break (woohoo) and then i work a bushiban (It's like an after school tutor class thing) Wed and Fri from 4:30-6pm, which I get paid overtime for. Woo!

So if you're inspired by Andrew and I and want to try teaching over here, and looking for a GOOD teacher placement agency, I recommend Taitekton International. http://www.taitekton.com/school/index.html

Jerry, the owner, met me at the train station, took me to the school for the interview, worked out the contract for me, made sure I knew how to get home, and is going to go to school with me on Monday morning to double check I know how to get to the school and back. For people arriving, he picks you up from the airport, houses you at his home, then the first three days you're here is him showing you how to work the transit system and how to order food so you don't get ripped off. He's Chinese, but originally from Newport Beach (that's right, the one in So Cal), he's super cool, and told me all about how "bitchin'" Thailand is. And he gave me his cell phone number so that if I had any issues, any time, I can call him. I wish we had known about his company sooner.

Anywho, this weekend will be busy, I plan on dragging Andrew shopping with me to get some work clothes and practice going to the train station, and then we're going to try and squeeze in some hill exploring. yay busy!

Hope you guys have a great weekend! Wish me luck for the first day of class!!!

Watch the path of the typhoon for yourself

Check it out:

http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V4e/index.htm

Click on 'satellite'.

It's a pretty cool visual. For full effect, click on the 'loop 12 hours' option.

The power of a few words

Isn't it funny, how just a few words in someone's native tounge can light them up? I remember being in South Africa, and saying "Sawubona," and watching people get a kick out of it. Then I'd say "unjani" which means how are you, and they'd respond and ask how I was, and I'd say "ngiapila" which means I'm fine. But after that conversation, people are so much more happy and optimistic...

I should have known to do the same thing here. Today, the class looks sullen, bored, dare I say, even depressed. But quiet, thankfully. Ok, so I end class early, and say OK, just speak English quietly... and you won't have any homework!! And I draw what few characters I know on the board. The students laugh, and we talk more and more... me busting out my minimal Mandarin, and them loving it... I should have known to do this eariler.

Class is okay. I switch off between feeling like I have control, and not. It's definitely tough.......... very very tough. I am hanging in there, though. Take care all, I am off for the weekend. Another typhoon is on course for us for monday, buuuut Taiwan is notorious for redirecting typhoons away from the island, so says my fellow teacher. "Last year, 14 were on course, only a few hit." We'll see. I'm hoping it hits. I could use less work.

Alrighty, I'll be back on the blog on monday (or in your case, sunday afternoon/nightish, unless the typhoon DOES hit). Take care. OH! Before I forget. The region where Todd is going to go? Taoyuan County? It's still without running water from the last typhoon (the one that hit when we first came here.) Apparently the reservoir got filled with mud, rendering the water undrinkable.. not that great of a situation. Anyway, I am off, take care.

Another pretty boring post

I'm slowly getting into the job search, anyone got any leads? The interview went ok yesterday, but I was interviewing with three other people again, so competition is hard when I'm against people who already have teaching experience. Our cool landlord called me today though and said he has a friend who runs a preschool and is looking for a teacher. There's hope for me yet! Woo!

Oh! And I forgot to tell you that the apt. in on the top floor, the fifth floor, and there's no elevator in our building. So yay getting in shape! That and we walk to get everywhere, except when I get picked up to go to an interview. Yay default exercise!

I finally caught up with all my e-mails you great kids have been sending me, keep up the writing!

I'm off to go look for cheap sunglasses and socks. Exciting!

I see the balance of power has shifted my way...

I see the balance of power has shifted my way. I was a hardass on the squirrels (aka little shits) today (today being the first of my two classes on my third day); I could smell the fear. Looks like I'll survive afterall. Hardass Heling. I can live with that legacy here at Saint Francis... :)