Sunday, September 26, 2010

Jehovah Witness

Today, I attended a different church that is closer to my house. My neighbor, Sophia and her family, took me to their church in Neihu. They are Jehovah witnesses. The morning service was in Chinese. I didn't understand everything, but could make out what some of it. Her children are very smart in their young age. They showed me where to go in the Bible and their hymn book (even though it was in Chinese). The people there were very nice and I stuck out tremendously. One of the leaders was from New Zealand. He helped me out and copied stuff from his booklet because it was in English (although he taught in Chinese). Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and learned some things. After the service, they took me to a famous restaurant in Neihu. I couldn't tell you the name of it, but I can tell you it was buffet style. We got there in time, but a rush of people came in as we were loading down our plates. After they taught me how to use chopsticks (I have been taught 4 times now and I'm almost there), they took me to the English service. It starts at 1pm and last until 3:30 or 4pm. There were a lot of foreigners there. They were nice as well! I met4 South Africans, 1 Canadian, 1 Czech, and a French couple. There were many other foreigners there, but those were the main ones that spoke to me. After that service, Sophia and I said goodbye to her Aunt and then she taught me what bus to take to get to and from the building. I could tell that the area wasn't use to foreigners like me because everyone was looking at us, smiling at us, and trying to read the little map that Sophia was drawing for me. They were so interested in what we were doing, that one lady actually had her chin over Sophia's shoulder. It was crazy! I'm glad that I am a nice person (insider). The rest of the day will be filled with relaxation because this will be a long work week.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Moon Festival Week











Well, it was an interesting week. We worked Monday and Tuesday and had Wednesday off for Moon Festival. We went to Jiufen, Taiwan for the afternoon. It was very pretty and relaxing. You could tell that a lot of tourists go there. The bus ride was amusing. The city is on a mountain so it is very curvy. The bus did not slow down for the curves. Talk about gripping the rails! We made it safely there and back. I saw some very interesting foods that I would like to share. Enjoy!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Typhoon Fanapi


I guess this typhoon will really hit us. They just reported that it is speeding up towards Taiwan. People are preparing for its effects. It has been raining on and off all day. The banks have placed sand bags in front of their doors. Apartment building in my area have tied their trees down and to the building to keep them from blowing away. This will be my first typhoon so I will definitely let you know the outcome.
Today was my first (partici-panting!) Tae Kwon Do class. It was a workout! The kind of class that I took in America was called WTF (world) and this class is ITF (international). The classes are similar, but have different techniques. There was a guy there that spoke English quite well. He is a teacher at a school in Taipei County. He wasn't afraid to talk to me and we chatted during class because we were put in the same group (and he was my translator). A few of the other guys attempted to talk to me, but kept saying that their English was poor. It's funny how they say that their English is poor when we hold a conversation. I have to help boost their confidence. There are only 4 females in the class. The other females (including a 5th grader) are black belts. It was pretty cool watching them do spinning jump kicks. They were synchronized like on TV. I'm going to spend the rest of the night elevating my aching feet.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

More Photos and Videos
















Today, I am just posting random pictures of the neighborhood and of my students. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Earthquake Drill











Today, we had our first earthquake drill. Very Interesting!! The kids were flying down the stairs with their heads covered with thin paperback books. Some were casually walking and talking with friends, while others were running and screaming. Real actors! lol! It started raining on us, but it felt good. It was in the 90s today. Tomorrow is my presentation to the teachers. I am to tell about myself. I will make it brief because I don't like talking about myself. I have added some pictures of today's drill. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Down by the riverside

I had a relaxing day by the riverside. The breeze was great! There were many people out today. Kites were flying, people were riding bikes, and kids were playing everywhere. The river is very close to the airport. I saw several planes takeoff next to the bridge. The first one scared me because it was so low. After sitting by the river, I walked around a neighborhood. The neighborhood had a temple at the start of it. I took some pictures, but didn't want to go inside. I walked to Carrefour to get some groceries for the week and saw a coworker that lives in the same building. She told me that she was cooking dinner and wanted to make some for me. I didn't refuse. I still can't pronounce it, but I can tell you what was in it. The dish had chicken pieces, carrots, rice, onions, and some kind of sauce. It was pretty good! She gave me too much (or what I thought was too much) to I packed the rest of it for Monday's lunch. After about 15 mins, she knocked on my door and gave me some soup. I have to get used to eating soup outside of winter time.
Saturday, we had to work from 8:30 - 12pm. It was more like an Open House. Parents visited each English Village classroom. We were done by 10:30am. I just worked on finishing an English Corner video. My next video has to be about Teacher's Day. After work, everyone came to my apartment building for a birthday and housewarming celebration. We had pizza and KFC along with some desserts that Teacher Monica made. We sat and talked for a couple of hours. It was nice. Of course, I worked on my comprehension skills of the language. I'm getting there. I know it will take some time, but I get better each day.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Another Typhoon

I spent most of the day working on a powerpoint that just wouldn't work properly on the computer in the theater. The computer crashed on me twice. I gave up and hooked my netbook up to the system. It worked so now all I have to do is edit and splice. That shouldn't take too long.
We have another typhoon headed towards us. The other teachers are praying for a Typhoon day similar to our snow days. It looks like it will cross over in the middle of Taiwan. I was told to go to the store tonight in case it did hit because everything would be closed. While I was out, I saw another foreigner. At first, we acknowledged each other with a smile and kept going down separate aisles. Then, he came down my aisle and looked over in my basket. Notice that I didn't say "glanced." So, me being me, teased him and asked if he was following me. Of course, the conversation began! This foreigner is Russian. I have never met a Russian before. It was weird, but in a cool way. I didn't struggle too much with his accent, but I could tell that he was working hard to make the conversation understandable. We walked and talked until it was time to check out. This was not a normal walk and talk. He felt comfortable enough to put his things in my basket and then take over pushing the basket. I thought to myself "Okay!" Of course, everyone was staring at us. I'm pretty sure we looked funny walking through the aisle together. I felt like his child. He was power walking and talking with his accent and I was almost running trying to keep up. He was a gentleman. He placed my items on the counter first, loaded my items in my new backpack (here you have to pay for your grocery bags), and again, pushed the basket to the other carts all while still talking in his Russian accent. He walked me to the MRT and said goodbye. Very nice guy! I would love to pick his brain! As soon as I got home, it began to rain. Talk about good timing and the Grace of the Almighty.
Tomorrow, will be my first English Club meeting with the Trendsetters (Thanks Gary and Sheila). Not sure how it is suppose to run, but I'm sure I will find out. Today, I learned that I will have a week off from teaching in October. I will try to set up my doctor appointments around that time because I won't have any classes to shuffle around.
The security guard tried to teach me how to open the gate if he is not at the desk. Of course, he doesn't speak English. For some reason, he kept thinking that if he kept talking in Chinese that I would eventually get what he was saying. Yeah, Right! It didn't work! He showed me and then tried to talk to me again on the elevator; in Chinese! He is a funny man! One day we will communicate, but it will be a while because he talks too fast for me to break down the words.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Real First Day of School

Today, was the real first day of school. It was different compared to the other days because I only met with a few students from 5th grade and 6th grade. Today, I got to meet some 3rd and 4th graders. My schedule here is a lot different from my schedule in Arkansas. In Arkansas, I see my students everyday. Here I see my students maybe twice a week. We have each group for two 40 min sessions. The first session has the students involved with reading the dialogue of each situational classroom in groups. The second session is the actual teaching. I teach in the restaurant. My job is to teach the students how to order and pay for a meal in English. I like it! In Taipei, I like to learn about people and their taste buds. Some of the food that I see is questionable in my eyes. But that is coming from an outsider looking in. After pretests and the two morning sessions, we had lunch. After lunch, we have the rest of the day to work on lesson plans, English Corner Videos, and Teachers Teach Day. The lesson plans I can handle. I am currently learning how to be in the movie making business. The teachers in the English Village are responsible for creating English videos about given topics that the classes watch. This year they decided to break the videos up into two levels based on age. I am currently working on a self introduction video and a puppet video. I'm not very good at it, but I think that I am getting better. Tomorrow, I have no classes to teach. I should be able to edit and finish both videos. Other than that, things are going smoothly. I watched a couple of the after school clubs before walking home. They were playing tee ball and soccer. I might join them tomorrow. I miss teaching PE!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Nice Weekend














































This weekend was full of me learning new areas of Taipei. Saturday, I spent the majority of the day trying to find a dojang. The MRTs are broken into colored lines. I live near the brown line and the dojang is near the green or orange. Let me give you a detailed review of the stations that I went through. I started at Xihu and then began my journey as follows: (brown line)Jiannan Rd MRT, Dazhi MRT, Songshan Airport MRT, Zhongshan Junior High School MRT, Naning E. Rd MRT, (blue line) Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT, Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT, Shandao Temple MRT, (red line) Taipei Main Station MRT, NTU Hospital MRT, (Green line) Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, MRT, Guting MRT, (yellow line) Dingxi MRT, and finally Yongan Market MRT. Of course, I did a lot of reading on these high speed trains. After getting off the Yongan Market MRT, I had to figure out which direction I should go. I knew I was supposed to go away from the McDonald's that showed up on the right side of the building according to Google Maps. Well, the McDonald's was really across the street. I just laughed and picked a direction. I figured if I didn't run into the street that I was to turn on then, I would just have to turn around and go the opposite direction. I was ready to walk so it wasn't a big deal. I ended up getting a cab. Of course, someone else told him where I needed to go. The driver was very nice! He stated that his English wasn't very good and I tried to convince him that it was because we were holding a conversation. He just kept saying that I was being very nice to him. Once he got me to my destination, he kept saying bye to me even after I closed the car door. It was nice to actually talk to someone for a change. At the school, I was met by a security guard that just happened to be waiting on me to come. He couldn't speak English so he did the usually sign language and motioned for me to follow him. I met all 3 instructors and asked me a series of questions. Questions like "Where do you practice Tae Kwon Do?" "What belt do you have?" "Where do you live in Taiwan?" "Can you come on Saturdays?" and then some questions in Mandarin to which I still have no clue what they were asking. Apparently, that was where their English ran out. A couple of the students could speak a little English and they drew me maps to help me get to the dojang quicker. The younger girl and I exchanged numbers and I promised to help her with her English if she helped me with my Mandarin. After the meet and greet sessions which took about 15 mins (yes, I had a long ride for a 15min conversation), she took me to a bus stop, told me to get off on Gongguan MRT, talked to the driver, and then waved bye. While I was on the bus, a young lady approached me (she was at the previously mentioned bus stop) and told me to get off when she did. She spoke English and felt that I was brave to travel here to teach by myself. We talked on the bus and she also drew me a map so that I could take the route that we were taking at that time. After we got off the bus, we talked for another 15 mins and exchanged numbers. We will also work on English and Mandarin together. On the train ride home, I began to read again. When it was the next to the last stop for me to get off, I closed my nook and looked up to find a 1 yr old staring at me. The expression on her face was priceless! I just laughed and then her mother and grandmother began to laugh. They grabbed the little girl's hand and made her wave to me. I waved back and she began to smile. Such a pretty little smile. I waved bye and exited the train. I have noticed that many people are hesitant to speak to me, but are not afraid to stare or look. Many times when I am walking, they are staring. When this happens, I say ' Ni Hao!" and I don't get a response. After walking about 5 -10 steps, I hear a shout "Ni hao!." That is my sign that they have just gotten over their culture shock! I laugh and keep walking. I make sure that I have my sunglasses in hand and my mp3 charged. I do this for 2 reasons: 1) I know that they will stare. I don't want them to see me staring back at them. lol! 2) When there is no one to talk to, then you always have music for a conversation. Music can take you places that make you feel safe and at home.

Today, I met with a friend named Steve. He has been in Taipei for 2 yrs now. We went to church, then a movie, and then we ate a Japanese restaurant. Ordering consists of me pointing to what I want or saying it in English because it is in English on the menu only to turn around and point at it anyway. I'm still working on using chopsticks. I can tell that I'm getting better because I can actually pick up food. Whether or not it goes in my mouth is the mystery. I just laugh at myself and eat the best way I can. It will eventually become like clock work. I have noticed that they eat a lot and things seem to be super-sized here. I can never finish my meals. After we ate, we walked around for a bit and stumbled upon some kind of temple/offering area. I was very uncomfortable and stopped in my tracks. Steve grabbed my hand and led me thru the temple. On several tables, there were whole chickens and whole fish. The food here were sacrifices to the gods. There was food on other tables, but the fish that looked like it had been sitting there for days had my eyes. The people there were chanting and praying and making marks on this sculpture. It was very interesting to see and watch! I wanted to take a picture, but felt that it would be rude. It seems like there are temples everywhere. They even do a tomb sweep like the Hispanic culture. After saying goodbye to Steve, I went down to the Gongguan MRT to head home and stumbled across some green mascot. Not sure what he was for, but the best pic that I had of him accidentally got erased so I only have the side and back profiles. Sorry! I noticed that I am getting better at knowing when to get off and what direction to go at the train station. Yay, me!

Tomorrow is my REAL first day of school. I thought last week was, but it was only for K, 5th, and 6th. Tomorrow, I will have all of them. We have been testing the students orally. We ask them 6 questions and they are supposed to respond with a complete sentence. Some can, but many can't. This is where the hard work will start. The students are very respectful and eagerly greet me by saying "Hello, Teacher Debon!" I smile, look at the sheet, and try to remember the face and name combination. I don't want to call them by a number. So far, they listen and respond when giving instructions. I have 2 little boys that are in my cleaning group. They are responsible for cleaning the windows and chalkboards, sweeping and mopping the floors, and wiping down counters and tables in the clinic, arts and science room, and the gym. Cute little boys! They keep me laughing with their interactions. This week I will have to show a video about myself. I really don't like talking about myself so this small task was kind of hard for me. I finished it and it should be interesting to see how many actually know what I am talking about aside from the pics and videos. Of course, I inserted a video on fans calling the hogs. I hope you like the photos. I like the video of the crosswalk man. He walks slowly until you have 9 seconds to get across the street. Enjoy!