BUGS!!!
Since Canada is cold and all we don’t see too many bugs. Taiwan is HOT and I am learning about different types of bugs. The kids don’t know the names of the bugs but I am getting used to having to kill a few. In fact, we have had 2 students who got bit from some sort of poisonous spider. The Head of the school is going to BOMB our rooms with raid. I felt so bad for the students. One kids arm felt like it was on fire. It swelled up, got red and burning hot. That kid was actually sent home since he had a fever of 102 degrees. Yikes!!
Taiwanese Education System
Taiwanese kids are insane!! They are like little robots. I don’t know how the hell they do it. They sit in class for 8 periods a day and then have 2 hours at night for study hall. They aren’t taught to think critically, or to be creative at all. These poor kids sit in class, memorize whatever you say and then spit it back out. My friend and I are starting a student council so they can have a little FUN. I never knew it could be such a foreign concept.
Things you Take for Granted!
I live outside of Taichung which is Taiwan’s 3 largest city with a population of one million. I need to buy a scooter since the taxi rides are getting a little expensive. My buddy Rob has been kind enough to lend me his scooter a couple of times. When I venture out on his scooter I wear my brand new black helmet and sunglasses. I’m not wearing sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun but rather to protect them from all the crap that flies into them. There is SOOOO much pollution here. In fact, I bought this hot looking face mask. It looks pretty awful but it seems to be the going style here. I figure since I’m already ashmatic I might as well look after myself.
When I get off the scooter I soon realize that there is a film of dirt, pollution and whatever else on my arms, face, body. My clothes stink of exhaust and I need to shower and wash my clothes. When I smell my clothes it reminds me of the bars before the smoking ban was in effect.
I just wanted to let you all know that the air is so clean in Canada. Hopefully, we appreciate it and try and keep it that way. Here you can’t even enjoy having a meal on a patio. The air is so thick with smog, and exhaust that you can barely see ahead of you. Okay! Maybe not that bad but it is pretty gross.
I met these people last weekend who are teaching in Taipei. They said that Taichung doesn’t have as much pollution as Taipei. Gee!! I can’t wait to visit Taipei.
Natural Disasters!!
I experienced my first earthquake and typhoon here in Taiwan.
Suddenly, I woke up at 3am to my bed shaking uncontrollably. I was soooooo tired. I remember waking up, saying to myself, “It’s an earthquake!” and then rolling back over to sleep. In fact, I completely forgot about the earthquake until the secretary mentioned it the following morning. The secretaries tried to tell me that there were ghosts. I listened to them and then read the newspapers which confirmed the earthquake.
I wasn’t afraid at all. A few of my students experienced the horrendous earthquake back in 1999. One of them told me that if the quake is moving your belongings from side to side there is no need to worry but if your belongings are moving up and down you should be worried. I’ll remember that the next time I wake up in the middle of the night. Maybe I’ll assess whether or not I should fall back asleep or not.
Taiwan has about 200 quakes per year so none of the students were phased by the quake. I was so excited and they kept looking at me like I was crazy. Oh… wait… I am crazy!!
The typhoon wasn’t a big deal at all. It hit Taipei quite hard but I live in Taichung which is near the mountains. Thank goodness for them mountains. They protect Taichung very nicely. In fact, we just got tons of rain and wind but nothing like Taipei. No flooding or mudslides or evacuations. It was kinda like a big snow storm but instead of snow there was rain. I would have to say that snow storms are WAY more fun. I always get excited when there is a snow storm. I remember Rhett and I building a snow fort during a storm when we were in grade 11 and 12. Good times!!
My room is very bland. No one really wants to come to my room since it’s pathetic. I guess I should splurge and buy something to hang on the walls. Knowing me though, it will never happen.
Knee How (phonetically!!)
Hello from Taiwan!
I’ve been in Taichung, Taiwan since the the 20th of August. This year I’ll be teaching World History, Global Studies and two French classes. My students are absolutely adorable. I am teaching grades 10-11 which makes me very happy. Middle school was fun but I much prefer the older grades. The Taiwanese education system isn’t at all like Canada’s system. They expect students to memorize and puke out the answers without actually thinking about what they are saying. My goal is to get these Taiwanese kids thinking. This will be very challenging since some of the students can’t even say, “Hello.” On the other hand, I have a few brillant students who have studied in the U.S. Talk about varying my lessons.
The school day is pretty intense for the students and extremely overwhelming for the teachers. My day starts out by waking the students up at 7am. I slowly stroll down the hallway in my pajamas, waking up the students room by room. I send them off to breakfast and I get ready for my day. I teach 3 classes a day which doesn’t sound like a lot but I am busy doing prep work since I’ve never taught any of these courses before.
I love my French classes. They are soooooooo cute. They come in to class eagerly and say, “Bonjou!” They don’t know how to pronounce the “r” since it is a completely foreign sound to them.
The cafeteria food here is absolutely DISGUSTING. I’ve got some sort of mystery meat and RICE. I’m not sure if I’ll gain weight or lose weight here since all I eat is white rice. I try everything that is put on my plate but I always make sure to have some lemonade to chase it down.
I am coaching volleyball. A few girls played last year but apart from that they are all beginners. It is a Varsity team but I have a few non-athletes on the team. I always feel bad making someone be a benchwarmer but I guess they need to suck it up and get used to it.
This is my first attempt to write a blog so I’ll end it now. Hopefully, I didn’t bore you too much.
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
