August 26, 2011

Today I’m going to buy another mattress or a box spring. Honestly, I don’t care how much they are. Apparently, I have a mattress already, but it’s about 3 inches thick and it lays on top of wood.  I’m getting a little annoyed that you don’t crawl into your bed to be comfortable here. You know when you have to get up in the middle of the night or early in the morning to pee or get water and then you walk back to your bed half asleep and just pass out because that’s just what you do.  Not here. I’m up an hour earlier than I should be and just lying on a wooden plank pretty much. On a positive note, I only woke up one time in the middle of the night compared to my usual 3 or 4. Today’s going to be a good day though! It’s Friday, Sam is coming to the apartment to physically walk me to my bus stop (probably not necessary) and I’m going to get to the Dewey building nice and early and get Starbucks (That’s one part of my lifestyle that If I’m given the opportunity to keep, I’m keeping it. Diana runs on coffee.) The “Government People” are getting to our orientation meeting at 10am, and I’m going to Yu Ying Junior High after they leave our orientation to meet my Co teachers. WOO HOOO. I have to dress nice and I already stayed up late doing my nails. I got to soak in a nice bath in my bathtub (which is probably the best thing about my apartment.) First thing to do after orientation today, is to make my room COMFORTABLE. I want to buy pillows and the works. 

Well I was right about today, it was a good day! Sam got to my apartment at 8:15!! On time!! Way to go Sam. He walked with me to the bus stop but had his scooter so he was walking with that. He claimed it wasn’t that heavy but it was. The stop is right next a public pool which apparently is down the street from me. Yay pool! From what Sam has told me and what I’ve gathered the past couple of days, Taiwanese people do not like sun. They’re always wearing long sleeves and pants and always walk with an umbrella. Oh and I always wondered why only some wear face masks and Lien told me its only when they have a cold and don’t want to spread it. I thought that was actually pretty courteous. I wish Americans would do that. Anyway, I get on the bus and even though Sam told me 5 times which stop to get off at, I was still nervous I was going to miss it. Then, after a few stops go by, Lien gets on the bus! Fortunately, she knows exactly where to get off, unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention and still don’t. After today, we won’t have to go to the Dewey offices for another few weeks. We’re going to see each other every 3 weeks on Wednesday nights for meetings which I think is great. I was getting sad thinking people would lose touch and not talk to me after orientation was over.  Lien is getting people together from our training group to go to Sun Moon Lake. She says its beautiful. I think we’re going next weekend and then the weekend after that is the Moon Festival and we have a 3-day weekend. We’re going to go to Taipei which I’m really excited about! The buses and trains take you to these places for of course, super cheap. 

Orientation was going really good today. We started out meeting “government people,” which really just seemed like 4 people from the Educational Department, but either way, important people. We had a 45 minute break until our speaker came in so me and this guy Dylan went down to Starbucks. He’s a really cool guy, maybe early to mid 30’s. He’s from San Francisco and taught Special Ed and I think he went for his Master’s, but then decided to teach in Taiwan a few years back. He married a Taiwanese women and has lived here ever since. He thought it was funny that he wanted soy milk in his coffee and they didn’t have it but they had real milk..pretty backwards. Then he asked in Chinese and she pulled some out for him. We went back up to orientation and this guy in his late 40’s from Tennessee was setting up. He was a really nice man who runs his own buchebon (cram school) and also works for a public school, teaching English. He was telling us about some of the situations you can come across with your co-teacher or with special need’s students. Things are a little different here when it comes to children with special needs. No matter what, they are in the regular classroom and they don’t have an aide. He’s taught English to blind kids and children with Autism. Pretty impressive. With this orientation, it was more of a group discussion. The speaker asked us if we knew about the Typhoon that was coming. He said it’s a level 4 out of 5. My heart started pounding but he and some of the people in the class who are familiar with Taichung said Typhoons barely affect this city. It gets blocked out by the mountains or something. It’s still scary. He’s like, “oh its not big deal, just hang out in your apartment, make sure you have some food and water in your fridge.”( I don’t have a fridge..I’m screwed..but I do have a giant jug of water and I do have internet) 

Taiwanese baristas are geniuses..tape over the mouthpiece to prevent spillage

At about 11am, Sam pulled me out of class to go meet with the school. Me, Sam, and Sonja (one of the higher up people in the Dewey offices) took a ride over to the school. We took a realllyyy long car ride to take Sonja somewhere first and her and Sam spoke in Chinese the entire time. When she got out, he apologized for speaking Chinese, and I joked and told him I already knew he spoke Chinese. We got to Yu Ying Junior High and it was beautiful! Just like the pictures online haha. I met the principal, Mark, and he walked us to the cafeteria where I’d be eating lunch with the teachers. Instantly these two female teachers welcomed me. The younger one, Chao (like Ciao in Italian), speaks English and teaches English, and the other (I can’t remember her name..shit) Speaks fairly good English and asked me to speak slower so she can understand. The cafeteria was filled with trays and trays of food. Rice, noodles, meats, salads, fruits, desserts..This was a pretty awesome cafeteria and I got excited because they told me lunch would be provided everyday during the year.  I asked Chao is this is how it was every day, she laughed and whispered that it starts out this good and then doesn’t always stay this good throughout the year. Sam and Sonja left me at the school and gave Chao my address and Sam’s number because she offered to take me home. She was so friendly and talkative and I instantly felt comfortable around her. Even though she teaches 9^th grade English, she’s not a teacher, she’s a counselor. She kept telling me that if I have any problems with any teachers, or I feel overwhelmed, sad, or stressed, that I can come to her.  She told me a little bit about herself in the beginning. She asked me to guess her age and the other woman’s age (I hate when people do this, I always give the same broad answer..) I said she looked like mid to late 20’s and she’s like, “I’m so old, I’m 29!” And I was like “Oh that’s not old, my brother’s 29 and he still acts like a child.” They liked that joke, sorry if I offended you Nick. 

After lunch, they gave me a tour of the school. It had palm trees and 4 or 5 floors that were “outdoors.” Very different from my enclosed dark schools and a student, I’m jealous. The principal was so nice and they showed me the office that had my desk and computer and it was in the only air conditioned room. Chao was giving me a lot of inside information and secrets and told me that the office I’m in has a lot of “higher up” faculty and even though they’re very friendly, always watch what I do. The computer at my desk still has documents and some old things from the previous teacher. Chao talked about her a lot and had a lot of great things to say. It’s kind of intimidating because I guess the previous teacher just goes from country to country every year to teach and she had a good amount of teaching foreign language. She was also from UK and the 8^th graders I’ll have are familiar with her accent and pronunciation with words.  Chao said this wouldn’t be a big deal and it would make a good lesson in the future. Talking about the differences between American English and..British English? Haha I don’t even know what the other one’s called.  Anyway, she discussed what my lesson plans should be like (and they’re based off of these “magazine” looking workbooks that teach English.) The first week is going to be introducing myself and I have to give a powepoint presentation at their first school Assembly next week. Kind of scary, but awesome. I will have about 20 classes a week, 4 a day, and about 10 co-teachers..now that I type this out, I don’t know understand how many times I’ll see each group of kids. It’s ok, I’ll ask her tomorrow. Chao asked if I needed to use the toilet (not bathroom or washroom, just toilet) and I was like, oh yea sure. So I went to go use the bathroom in what appeared to be a nice girls restroom, and low and behold, it’s the infamous hole in the ground toilet!! Ahhhhhh, I’m never EVER using the bathroom at the school. I just don’t get it..I’m picturing it in my head and its just..wrong..very wrong. It’s almost google worthy because it makes zero sense, but I don’t want any strange images to show up.  We wrapped things up at the school after going over a lot of the expectations and Chao looked at the address and the map I gave her and she was going to drive me home. She kept telling me that I should get a bike or a scooter because it will get me to work a lot faster than waiting for the bus. 

She gave me a detailed explanation of how to get home from the school and told me to pretend I was on a bike and taking the route she took. It was really helpful. When we pulled up by my place she was getting really excited about all of the things that I live by, and I told her that I still don’t understand what’s around me so she asked if I minded if she drives me around and gets me something.  I’m like..sure! I have no other plans! Chao is really funny and energetic and shes like “ok I’m going to take you to a famous place that you live by.” Since I live by this crazy huge night market, parking took forever (10 times worse than Chicago, but less parking rules) Humans literally just walk slowly in front of cars and don’t care and the cars equally don’t care that there’s humans in front of them and push through the crowds. No one yells or curses each other out though. Chao takes me up to this little stand and is getting me this “ice” drink..Sounds refreshing right? Ok, be prepared for what she buys me. She even warns me and says I don’t have to eat it, but I HAVE to try it because its famous and it was her favorite thing growing up. 1) Take a plastic drink cup, fill the bottom with some sort of ice cream 2) Fill it up with some sort of flavored shaved ice 3) top it off with KIDNEY BEANS..WTF?? I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture. I eat it and I can’t help but make the same face I make when I’m about to take a shot, and then 4,000 thoughts fill my head when I try it; its sweet and salty and the texture is weird and its super cold but its beans and beans shouldn’t be cold and the ice is salty why is ice salty and the icecream is sweet and tastes like bubble gum and ahhhh. I’m saying the word weird a lot, but seriously, my brain couldn’t even comprehend the flavors and textures that combined to make this thing. I almost tricked myself into liking after 4 bites, but then it got sickening. Honestly, the worst part wasn’t even the beans (because those were actually sweet) but it was the salty ice. 

Chao went to take me back to my apartment but she was asking me so many questions about my place and about me and I told her she could come eat her bean drink thing in my room if she wants, so we hung out at my apartment which was fun! She just plopped right down on the floor to sit. I gave her a tour of the building and she translated the washing machine to me that’s on a different floor, and outside. She asked me a ton of questions about myself and was just so hospitable with the things she was offering. I mentioned I wanted to get a couch and a rug and don’t know how to tell them to deliver it and she said her and her boyfriend would help me tomorrow because he has a big car and she knows what store has them cheap and cute, and then she looked through some of my old power points from previous classes and encouraged me to use a lot of that material for these students, and then she felt bad that I didn’t know anyone so she said I could come to her house and her family would cook for me. Literally, every nice thing a person could do, she would do. She said she wishes she had that when she was abroad in the UK. She didn’t have anyone to show her around and it wasn’t a very warm environment. She also said we should meet for lunch once a week at the school because she won’t be one of my co-teachers and then we can discuss how my classes are going and help me with any issues I have. It’s a great feeling to be welcomed in a completely new environment! I think back to the beginning of my student teaching when I felt so out of place and alone at the middle school and I wasn’t introduced to anyone. It’s so hard to be open with your ideas and teaching strategies when you feel like you are walking on eggshells or you feel inferior and I didn’t get an ounce of that vibe from this school or faculty. I’m excited to start on Tuesday!! 

Tonight, I basically was hypnotized by my computer because my internet is finally working, and Sam stopped by to sign the contract with my landlord. He also set up my cockroach traps (vomit.) Oh and the landlord told Sam that I threw my garbage away wrong and this is the second time today that I noticed how particular the Taiwanese are about recycling. They literally separate every little piece of trash. Paper, plastic, food. I felt bad! When we set up the apartment I just took every bag/box/tissue and threw it in the big garbage bin outside. Oops. He’s so nice about it though. Sam took me to take pictures for my Visa and took me to get food because I was starving. We went to this little stand that made soups and I got a beef soup with these thick square noodles and a ton of vegetables in it and we got it to go so I could eat it at my apartment. He also had me stop at a convenient store so I could get an umbrella because I was freaking out about the Typhoon that’s coming. I also got a big beer. It was necessary. Happy Friday to me. Oh and my umbrella is bright orange with a giant panda on it. I’m going to watch Something Borrowed on iTunes and pass out on my rock hard bed.  Landlord offered to pay for half of my mattress. Tomorrow morning I’m going back to that awesome mall and going to do some retail therapy. Then I’ll meet up with Chao and her boyfriend to get a couch!