So...adventure to Taiwan is in full-swing!
This writing was an email that I was sending out, before I finally got my blog in English and not Chinese. If some of you read it...I added somemore info and for others...enjoy!
There were so many problems coming here, it's actually funny. Plane delayed in Toronto due to hydrolic problems...they fixed it...late for san fran flight to tai pai, but they held the plane for us and we got on...we think no problems...we're getting there and all that. We get to Tai Pai, only to find that our 'bus' and 'greeting committee' were not there and found out that the airline (United) called our coordinator to say that we didn't make the plane to tai pai and we were overnighting in san fran. Oh no...we're in taiwan now! Hello...United did not beleive that we were in taiwan. that we were in some hotel in san fran. they had no record of 32 people boarding that plane. we showed our passports and our boarding passes and got on. But now, apparently they're still trying to convince them that we're really here.
We got to Pu Tai school by 300am ...we all had been up anywhere from 32-48 hours straight. Alittle bug-eye indeed! The time difference is 12 hours. Thunder Bay is 12 hours behind us. yesterday we had a tour of the school and got an idea of how we'll be teaching the students. I found out that I'll be working with students who have been working on english for maybe 2 years. Apparently they're 10 years old, I think. I have 25 students and will be teaming up with a New York teacher, have a TA and an interpreter. This is the first year they've done this with all the english teachers coming here...it's not overly organized, yet not disorganized. We're just going with the flow.
Taiwan is beautiful! It's hot, humid and very lush! I think if I ventured in the mountains I 'd feel like I was in a rambo movie.
We're in the middle of Taiwan, we had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the school we're teaching at. It's a private school run by a monestary. And get this...the monks are female!!! not male! we've meet some monks so far and they're all so accommodating and happy to have us here. I was supposed to be staying on campus, however, they ran out of rooms, apparently and are boarding the teachers in a dorm about 10 minutes away. Well...our dorm is really a hotel! It's beautiful! I don't feel like I'm roughing too much!
you can look at the school at http://www.putai.org/ and go to the 'Guiding Light of Pu-Tai' link (http://www.putai.org/TC/tglop.htm) and there's a slide show presentation.
This writing was an email that I was sending out, before I finally got my blog in English and not Chinese. If some of you read it...I added somemore info and for others...enjoy!
There were so many problems coming here, it's actually funny. Plane delayed in Toronto due to hydrolic problems...they fixed it...late for san fran flight to tai pai, but they held the plane for us and we got on...we think no problems...we're getting there and all that. We get to Tai Pai, only to find that our 'bus' and 'greeting committee' were not there and found out that the airline (United) called our coordinator to say that we didn't make the plane to tai pai and we were overnighting in san fran. Oh no...we're in taiwan now! Hello...United did not beleive that we were in taiwan. that we were in some hotel in san fran. they had no record of 32 people boarding that plane. we showed our passports and our boarding passes and got on. But now, apparently they're still trying to convince them that we're really here.
We got to Pu Tai school by 300am ...we all had been up anywhere from 32-48 hours straight. Alittle bug-eye indeed! The time difference is 12 hours. Thunder Bay is 12 hours behind us. yesterday we had a tour of the school and got an idea of how we'll be teaching the students. I found out that I'll be working with students who have been working on english for maybe 2 years. Apparently they're 10 years old, I think. I have 25 students and will be teaming up with a New York teacher, have a TA and an interpreter. This is the first year they've done this with all the english teachers coming here...it's not overly organized, yet not disorganized. We're just going with the flow.
Taiwan is beautiful! It's hot, humid and very lush! I think if I ventured in the mountains I 'd feel like I was in a rambo movie.
We're in the middle of Taiwan, we had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the school we're teaching at. It's a private school run by a monestary. And get this...the monks are female!!! not male! we've meet some monks so far and they're all so accommodating and happy to have us here. I was supposed to be staying on campus, however, they ran out of rooms, apparently and are boarding the teachers in a dorm about 10 minutes away. Well...our dorm is really a hotel! It's beautiful! I don't feel like I'm roughing too much!
you can look at the school at http://www.putai.org/ and go to the 'Guiding Light of Pu-Tai' link (http://www.putai.org/TC/tglop.htm) and there's a slide show presentation.
So far the food has been good. Exotic, yes, very much so. All vegetarian. Tofu, meat subsitiute, beans, vegetables and fruits, rice of course. I had dumplings for the first time...so good! They are fantastic! We've experienced every type of soup...broth-like, creamy, some with candy in it, with noodles and a whole array of veggies in it too. All rice dishes are different...like a risotto in a way and plain rice, yet it does not taste like we've eaten in Canada. We have had tofu and meat substitute in every shape, form and texture imaginable. The latest: chicken-tofu-fuggets. Yummy...really are yummy...or maybe they're good cause everything else is not. Who knows...we're eating it anyways. They look like chicken nuggets, smell like chicken nuggets...taste like...well, not chicken, but close...spongier texture. The noodle dishes here are our favourite!!! I've eaten lychee, dragon fruit, every other melon, watermelon, bananas, etc. All very experiential. Oh yes...tonight there was fake fish...don't recommend it!
Our first few days was 'Orientation'...not really much of one. More like a pile everything on Canadians' type of few days. We worked on our lessons which were spanned out over 15 days, only to find out by the 3rd day of lesson planning, that in fact, it's only 5 days with 3 groups. See how 15 is derived from that...and that was lost in translation. OI! We puttered around the school and explored and had a tour. Ventured to the restaurant across the street...had milk tea (soooo good!) and started souvenir shopping. Are you really surprised?! Of course...finding $3.00 sandals is a steller bargain! Oh yes!
We've gone to the city, Pu-li, which is down the road from us. So small...compact...smelly...dirty...people living out of their stores, etc. Unbelievable! Things are incredibly cheap here. So we think so, as the money difference gets confusing sometimes...(e.g. approx. 100 NTD (New Taiwanese Dollars) is approximately $3.00 Canadian). That was a great experience...see pics...you always feel like you need a translater...chinese people really truly do not grasp our language if they've not been exposed ot it...no where near the same dialect.
We went to Pu-li again tonight to go to the bank machine...that's exciting...translating 6000 NTD to canadian and is that enough!?
Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip with the whole school to an amusement park. Oh...I'll report on that one! Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment