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Published: November 16th 2010
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So, 6 months have come and gone and depending on how I look at it, sometimes it feels like I got here just yesterday while other times it feels like a lot longer than 6 months. I just realized that I haven't written a general entry about Taiwan and teaching here, so here's a little recap with a few random photos included...
I was subbing in the morning at a kindergarten, although technically it's illegal. Most of the schools have it worked out with the cops and they usually call you and tell you not to come in the day of an inspection. It seemed very strange though, especially since one of the schools I worked at was literally down the street from the police station. I met a girl who worked at a kindergarten that locks their teachers in a room when the inspectors come. All that seems kind of crazy... They say that this law was created so that there are more jobs for Taiwanese people, but I think it's in place just so the cops can earn some extra cash.
The kids at the kindergartens are a lot younger (I've taught a few classes where the
kids were 2 years old!), so things are a little different. First of all, they have their temperatures checked as they walk in the door. If a kid is sick, they aren't sent home. It seems that parents aren't willing to let their children miss school no matter how ill they are. I remember one teacher telling me that one of his students was puking during class and he literally had to argue with the Taiwanese staff to let her stay downstairs and lie down instead of sitting in the classroom. I guess the parents wanted her to be there and the school didn't want to have to give them money back for missing the class. When I was subbing a few months ago, I had a kid in my class with pink eye. Of course the lesson for that day was "This is my face/ nose/ eye..." I told the kids not to actually touch the parts of their face and just point to them instead. Needless to say that I washed my hands about a million times and disinfected everything after class. If a kid does come to school with a cold, the staff gives them one of
those little SARS looking masks to wear during class which makes it even more difficult to understand them as they talk.
Also in the kindergartens, there is a Taiwanese teacher that stays in the class the entire time. I think that their job is to control students' behavior, but basically they borderline abuse the kids. The first time I saw it happen, I was shocked and didn't really know what to do. I saw the teacher slap a 2 year old's hand for not circling the right word. So sad. When they asked me if I wanted a full time job at this school, I just couldn't say yes.
What else is new?....
A few days ago, it finally became fall. After 6 months of having the weather be either super hot or raining, it's finally cooled down a bit and it literally happened overnight. One day we're having a typhoon day, and the next day, my thermometer changed from 30 degrees to 19 (in fahrenheit, that's about 90 degree weather to about 70). I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad summer is finally over.
Oh- and I joined a gym. For some reason, gym
memberships are super expensive here, so I just signed up for one month. I've gone to a few weight lifting, kick boxing, and yoga classes and I can only imagine what the other people think about the large, inflexible white girl who is lost half the time since I don't understand Chinese. I've definitely learned not to care while I make an ass of myself. The end of the yoga classes are a bit different... for some reason, the Taiwanese like to hit their muscles. I see old people on the streets do this all the time, and we even do it in class. Sometimes, we'll lie on our backs and hit our calf with the top of the opposite foot. We also lie on our backs and shake our arms and legs in the air before letting them collapse to the floor to begin the savasana (the relaxation time at the end of class)... oh and the "soothing" music selection is super random. Last class it was a muzak version of 'walking in a winter wonderland'. One of the biggest cultural differences that I've had to get used to is that belching is totally acceptable here. There was a
lady in my yoga class that burped her way through the entire thing. I've had students burp in class and when I look at them and say "excuse me", they never have a clue what I'm talking about. Oh well. Just something to get used to.
So, I guess that's about it for now... I'll be subbing for the next few weeks and then I have a break in my schedule, so I'm planning to go to Japan and Korea for 3 weeks. I'm super excited, but I'm going to need to learn how to say "I'm a vegetarian" in Japanese and Korean before I leave. Should be interesting. The best part is that I'll fly into Taipei and 2 hours later, I'll meet my parents at the airport! Whoohoo! I'm glad that they could come so that I could have some family here for Christmas in Taiwan.
Whew... This is a long post. Are you still reading? If you've gotten this far, be sure to drop me a line and tell me how YOU are doing 😉
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