PTA

Tonight we had our PTA at school. This means that parents come in and sit in their children's seats, and I give a half hour presentation on who I am, why I'm in Taiwan, what my teaching goals and philosophy are, and what our daily curriculum is composed of. So, no pressure right? Right...

Despite my fears, though, and the monumental pressure my boss put on me, it turned out all right. I think the parents saw that I was a bit nervous speaking in front of them, and did their best to be a pleasant audience. In turn, they seemed very nervous to have to speak English to a native speaker who is (apparently) qualified to teach it to their children. Everyone was nervous, and so everyone wound up relaxing a little bit. Especially after I said a few phrases in what was pretty passable Chinese, which was a hell of a crowd pleaser.

So, all in all, it went well. I had good talks with each set of parents, and received a whole bunch of new ideas for working with their children. I'm not to the point yet where I really want to stay past the semester, but I am to the point where I'm feeling a little better about making it to February at all.

It's late now, though, and I should sleep before I get up to do it all again. Ah well, ah well.

Giant Robots and Wandering Thoughts

The four day weekend is just about over, and it's been lovely. There was booze, a birthday celebration, the building of giant robots (see photo), Resident Evils 1 and 2 (3 to follow sooner or later), and I'll shortly be going out for grub with Kaitlin.

I like Taipei, and I like Taiwan, but I'm really starting to wonder about my job. Or perhaps the Wanderlust is returning. I suppose I'll have to think some things through for a couple of weeks.

Yee haw

Tonight is the Friday night before a four-day weekend, and I must confess that I've had a few drinks. To be fair, I went and filled myself with delicious Indian food first. Still, I'm rather tipsy, and I'm finding myself enjoying the hell out of just listening to the rain pound against the windows. Earlier I sat up on the roof with Martin and Katherine and a beer or two or three, and we watched the clouds hide, reveal, and hide again the Taipei 101, formerly the tallest building in the world, some two or three kilometers away.

The weather here is wonderful: hot and humid during the day, punctuated with thunderstorms and intermittent rain. The water in the air makes breathing like drinking, and I feel so wealthy, so blessed to live in such an opulent atmosphere. This city is huge and sprawling, with a metropolitan population of nearly 7 million. There are many large buildings, and a good few taller than 20 stories, but this place is wider than it is tall, with the obvious exception. Not flat, by any means, not jagged either.

My apartment is the fourth floor of an older building with no elevator, and the stairs keep my legs in shape. Above us is only our roof, half-covered, half-open. Both halves have nice views, though one is distinctly drier and one is better for sword practice. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader, etc. Sitting on the roof in one of our folding chairs, drinking a beer, I feel as close to my paradise as can be reached.

This is not a port city, per se, but the breezes that blow across our rooftop are sea breezes at heart, and I can feel the traces of balmy salt in their caresses.

Come visit me and see.

Healthy, [not] wealthy, and wise

Judith is flying out tomorrow (wave goodbye, Judith!), and Typhoon Wipha is flying in. Hopefully it won't get too messy here, but I'm considering battening down the hatches just in case. My flu is gone, and this weekend saw me driving a scooter with Judith to Taroko Gorge. The pictures are up on Facebook, and will hopefully be added to my flickr page at some point. It is astoundingly beautiful there, and scooters are awesome. The end. Oh, also, I'm still waiting to get some money from work so I can stop completely destroying my bank account. Eek.

Edit: It's tomorrow now, and it's my very first paid typhoon day. So cool! Snow days can go melt themselves!

Auspiciously titled

Right after my "still alive" post I came down with some awful, 3-day long SuperFlu that knocked me right on my ass and made me miss a whole day of work. No fun at all. On the day I took off, though, I discovered the wonders of the nationalized healthcare system here. Being uninsured, I was a little worried that the costs would be preventative. Not so. For half an hour of my time and 670 NT (~20 bucks US) I received registration info, a visit to a hospital doctor, my diagnosis, my prescription, and all my drugs. My drug regimen finishes tomorrow, and I already feel a million times better. Awesome.

Still Alive!

An earthquake, a week and a day of teaching, a weekend spent exploring, and I'm still kickin', though with little free time. Things will settle into a routine soon, I hope, and then I'll be able to do the things I want to do: write letters to the people I miss, take photos of new things, and explore north south east west of my little big city.

In other news, I keep my room at 80 degrees fahrenheit (27 C for those sciency folk out there), and that's begun to feel deliciously cool. It's hot here. I like it.

...

Yesterday really wasn't too bad, for a first day. Today was pretty rough, though, so I guess the two days even out to one mediocre day.

I'm exhausted after two days. I hope this gets easier (but I know it'll probably get even harder first).

Day 1: Diving In

Today was my first day of teaching. The other teachers recommended that I just try to make it through the day, that the first day was a good day to get to know your students, and that not too much was expected. My students, by and large, are amazingly cute little buggers, and very smart. Two or three of them are reasonably hyperactive, and don't like to sit still at all. Can't really blame them, personally: they're five-year-olds, and there are so many more exciting things to do than just sitting listening to some 20-something guy blather on. Getting them to sit still (which frequently requires stern talking and threats 0f time-outs is frustrating both because it's difficult, and also because I feel bad for stifling their energy. It's so much fun being that young, and being made to sit still can really suck the joy out of it.

Ah well, I'm kinda stuck in the system this (and most) society subscribes to, so I'll make 'em sit down and shut up. Plus, I can't really teach the rest of them if two are three are jumping around and carrying on.

Anyway, the first day wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I made it all the way through, never really entertained even the fantasy of quitting, and did better than the British guy who was at training with me on Friday, who stopped by the school in the morning, left "for a few minutes", and never came back. Whoops! Quitting before even meeting the kids is pretty hardcore.

I'm gonna head to bed soon, to do it all again tomorrow, hopefully a little more smoothly than today. Today wasn't horrible, but it wasn't much better than adequate, and I know I can beat that!