Arrival

I have already been in Taiwan almost 3 weeks so if I'm going to carry through on this blog thing, I'd better get going. The idea of the blog is 1) so I don't have to repeat myself so much and 2) if you find this totally boring, you don't have to look!

The flight over began badly with security at National who denied everything I was carrying and made me check my carry-ons ($80) so that I had nothing with me but a wad of Kleenex and a paperback book for 30 hours. So much for forethought.

Miracle of miracles, all of my luggage arrived with me in good shape and there was someone there to meet me. We drove to San Shia, a southern suburb of Taipei to the Educational Institute. I was 3 1/2 days late arriving thanks to visa problems but it turned out that many more folks came after me. The two weeks of training was pretty good, learned a bit although it was geared to the majority of the students who will be teaching elementary school.

The most interesting part was the rest of the group: by the end 47 of us, slight majority of Americans but many Canadians, 1 Australian, and 1 Brit. Despite my fears, there were at least 10 in my age group, the rest in their 20s. The Americans were heavily midwestern, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan each having a contingent. So we were a very diverse group but eveyone got on well. We lived in dormitories and ate (pretty well) in a dining hall.

It turned out that there were many things that we did not know. It seems that this program is the Taiwan government's attempt to improve English teaching in "remote areas". The schools which are not rural, are in the poorer parts of towns. I'm sure I did not know this before but I still would not have realized just how "remote" it can be. Actually, I can't complain, there is a fair sized town just 10 miles away -- but with only a bicycle it seems a ways. My town is very small, it will be easy to live on my income here -- there are no restaurants and no "shopping" stores. People are super nice, though, and anxious to help me. I am the only foreignor most have ever seen. My roommate at the Institute was a 50-something black woman from Detroit who was excited to be assigned to an aborigine village up in the mountains near Sun Moon Lake. A recent email that I have received, however, makes me suspect that it is a bit more remote than she was counting on.

I live in a very nice modern 2 Br/2Ba apartment on the 7th of 9 floors. When I arrived it was pretty spartan in the furniture department but they are doing their best to improve it -- new stuff arrives daily. They also bought me a bicycle and a washing machine. It takes about 10 minutes to ride to school on my bike. So far the only misery is the weather -- really hot and humid, like DC at its worst. The bedrooms are air conditioned but not the rest. The school is not air conditioned at all. There are also big time storms most afternoons. When you are dependent on a bike or feet for transport, this must be taken into consideration.

I share the place with a Chinese elementary school teacher who is great. Her English is about as good as my Chinese so we struggle together with goodwill. People keep dragging me off for food (when did I start looking like a starvling?) but one of the teachers, who is also my neighbor, took me to her mother's house for meals 3 times over the weekend! Her parents are nearby farmers and live in a traditional style extended family house which amazingly was just built 30 years ago.

Even out here, though, people seem quite prosperous. The richest man in Taiwan has got to be the one who had the first Toyota dealership. I have never seen so many Camrys in my life and late model used ones can be purchased by your average middle school teacher.

School hasn't started yet, officially. Today is Monday and I am positive that they told me I should come today so I did but few other teachers did and the students don't start until Wednesday. I will be having a total of 500 different faces each week (!!!) Where is the Teachers Union when you need it! They will each have 4 other English classes during the week, just me once a week. I only have conversation, which I love to teach, even to shy middle schoolers, but I figure I may never learn their names.

I forgot, there is one other misery: lack of coffee. For those of you who know how important coffee is to me, picture me drinking "Mr. Brown". Mr. Brown is instant coffee, premixed with milk powder and a light sweetener. You can get it in a packet and add boiling water or buy it pre-mixed cold in a can. Either way, it's not bad, it just takes about 6 cups to get me moving. I have been sleeping a lot and realized it's because my caffeine levels are down about a gallon. There is a coffee shop in town but I have not yet found it open. Will keep trying.

More later, after school starts.