Today will officially be my fourth day of teaching. Training was intense, but I met a ton of wonderful people along the way and got to have my share of fun and craziness along the way. I have a beautiful single apartment in the heart of downtown Zhongli City, located in Taoyuan county — a little bit north and west of Taipei. My "bachelorette pad" as I like to call it has a tub that's big enough to swim in, massive windows, and a great view of the city and the mountains in the distance. Rent is dirt cheap by my standards and the internet was already set up! To say I am enthused about living in this building would be a serious understatement.
The people I work with are all lovely and incredibly helpful. The children are — amazing, really. I'm teaching all different levels so their ages range greatly but they've all been very sweet. I had a rough class last night but afterwords as I was gathering up my heavy pile of books and materials one of the boys brought me one of his oreos to eat. <3 And on my first day a little girl brought me a little paper decorated popsicle stick that she'd written, "To: Alyce" on — and there I was about to give her an oral exam! At her age I would have been so terrified, the last thing I'd have thought of was giving the new teacher a gift. Haha. My schedule is going to get more and more hectic and crazy, but I know that if I give myself a few months, the time it will take to do the extra stuff should drastically shrink. People that have been doing it for a year take very little time to do prep or homework/grading stuff.
Last night a bunch of beautiful fireworks - they kind you see at shows - were shot off in view of my living room window only about 3 or 4 blocks away. I rushed to get my new camera to video tape it, but sadly, since it was first attempt at using the camera for video I didn't push the button enough times so I missed taping the WHOLE thing! When I pushed the button again to stop the recording it started to RECORD. Epic fail on my part, haha. I also got myself a very hard-core protective bike helmet - I'll only be driving a scooter and it looks like something a person going 90 on a crotchrocket would wear but honestly, when you are going about 50 miles an hour on the roads in between Zhongli and Long tan? You don't want a pudding bowl, you want a REAL helmet. So now, I am officially READY to ride out! haha.
I've been to the night market nearby twice. Loads of fun there. Got some "kindy pants", a.k.a. a pair of BAGGY bibbers with bloomer-style legs that I can totally get grubby and roll around in with no problems, haha. 15 bucks! Got a really cute double t-shirt set for about 6 or 7 bucks, too.
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| A little temple between my apartment and the nearby Carre Four... | about a 6-7 minute walk to get here... |
There is a stray cat that's come by twice at night now. I fed him again last night, but got caught multiple times by other tenets while feeding him... I don't know how they felt about me feeding a stray by their opulent residence, so I have to admit, I felt a bit awkward riding up the elevator with some of them after I ran out of sausage for the little yellow cat that I've dubbed Rasiya (which is basically like 'scoundrel' in Hindi, haha, but I LOVE that word!). Strays are more of an issue here, and no one seems to bat an eye, but I have a very hard time not wanting to reach out to them and do something. So I guess if that means I have a couple awkward run-ins with the other tenants, so be it? Anyway, I like little Rasiya. He's very sweet, but so skinny... Hopefully someone, somewhere else, gives him treats, too!
Well, the whole city is covered in cloud covered and it's sprinkling. I can see a Taiwan flag on top of a building several blocks away whipping wildly so I won't be surprised if we get a bit of a downpour in a bit.
I will try to be more regular with my writings, there are lots of fun/hilarious things that have happened since I arrived in Formosa that I'd like to write about, but for now, I know if I don't just dive in and start from the present, the pile of "stuff I want to talk about" will only bury me alive! So here we are, my first blog post, in all its unrivaled blandness. To everyone back home, here in Taiwan, or any passersby, sweet dreams!
What a funny picture. Your glasses look so big and you look like you are trying very hard to stay awake. Heehee. How fun that you have a blog. I'm rushing out to try to pull some weeds and dead head before it hits 95 again. I'll have to hear about the rough class sometime.:-) You are fast approaching your weekend though so weeeee. And you are so correct--it will get easier and faster all the time. Good job on the helmet. We want a picture! Heehee
ReplyDeleteHi Sweetie Pie, I am so slow to check my gmail, and here was this neat blog, it said it was from LaVonne Hammans, so thought she had forwarded it, however, she says you must have sent it. Maybe it has been there so long she has forgotten, but if you did, I loved getting it. I want you to include a picture of your scooter after it is out of the shop, if possible. I don't know how to avoid being hit by such mad, aggressive, drivers, who have no interest in human life (or saving it at least) I was so happy that you were able to come through it without more damage. Maybe you need to have a tee shirt that says, baby on board, but probably not a good deterrent, also sort of confusing to your boss and friends, scratch that idea. I was telling your Uncle Dan about your experience, and he told me both my grand-daughters were trying to do exciting things, that Pam was on the front page of the Harrison paper because she did that "dumb" trick of driving into water across the road, while trying to get to work after a flash flood type rainfall. I had called him the day before and they had 7" where they did live, but he said none there, but the next day, they got it. She had to be rescued by the fire department, and he said, the town being desperate for news, it was front page stuff. She had on her little Subway uniform. Isn't that sad she did not go on with her nurses training? Anyway, I am so happy you like it, the fumes would have me dead on the ground in no time. I love you and so happy that you like it over there. Gma Barb & will put Gpa Dave's name on, just to say hello.
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