First Two Weeks... (7)

The first two weeks of school are always the hardest; at least they are in Taiwan. Teaching has never been that hard for me before I tried my hand, badly mind you, at first grade. I went home every night wondering what the hell I was doing and why was I putting myself through this torture. I am ashamed to say that I had no idea what I was doing. I had never taught a day of first grade and the students knew it. I swear they smell fear. I kept telling myself, it's going to be ok, just act like you know what you're doing and have it all together. I couldn't keep the act up for long.

My lessons were too hard and the kids need to play more games. This is what I was told every day for the first two weeks by my co-teacher. My day began the same every day. 60 communication books to sign, put in performance comments, and paste today's lesson in the book. Communication books are actually an awesome idea. They are a book the students take home every day, parents read, hopefully, and sign. The students bring them back and the teacher reviews and fills out the current day's school activities. This book eliminates the excuse of not knowing. They work great when used correctly. At this school every student returns these books every day faithfully. Education is taken very seriously and a score of 90 is considered a low score.

So I tried to play more games... They went over like a lead balloon. I felt like I was failing miserably and my co-teacher seemed like she was never happy with my performance. However, she would smile sweetly at me and say you're doing great. I could see the truth and it was written in huge writing all over her face every day. The students in this class were at varying levels of English speaking skills. There were some super smart students who were done with everything very quickly. Then there were slower students who didn't understand any English at all. A huge mix of skills and a clock that seemed to move slower when it was my turn to teach is what awaited me in English class. Having 35 sets of little eyes watching you and waiting is like the sound of a dentist drill when you don't know what you're doing. Finally, the head of the foreign teachers realized how miserable I was, or my co-teacher finally complained about me enough and it was decided I was going to be moved. I would now be teaching my 5th grade class, a 4th grade health, and a 6th grade lecture class. Maybe there was salvation in Taiwan after all.

Jing-Xi's Lesson of the Day: Discipline and hard work are truly their own reward. Without discipline children learn that whatever behavior or effort they choose to put into something is adequate. Without discipline one never truly works hard at anything in life. Without hard work one becomes lazy and complacent. The lazy and complacent animal in the wild is the first one to be someone else’s dinner. Whose dinner do you want to be?

Lunch at your desk. 1st Grade

Lunch is almost ready to be served! 1st Grade

Foriegn Teacher! Everyone has to see her. 1st Grade

First Grade is not for Wimps... (6)

Who ever said that teaching the lower grades is easy are either crazy or loves punishment and grief. Let me clarify that statement, just a little. It's not the first graders individually; it's the first graders as a whole. I walked into my first grade class on the first day of school, dressed very inappropriately. My agent told me that the dress was "smart professional". Yep, I walked into class dressed in a skirt, hoes, and uncomfortable shoes. When I managed to locate my co-teacher she was dressed in a pair of jeans and tee shirt. Smart professional? Yea right... I added this dress fopaux to the long and growing longer, list of misleading facts my agent passed along. The list already included items such as teaching only 5th and 6th grade, the dorm having a kitchen, the dorm being clean and livable, and it will be no problem finding food to eat. But no worries, I just acted like I dressed up for the first day of school. Believe me I was not the only foreign teacher who dressed to the 9s for the first day. However, it has been the only day we dressed that way. The saying goes when in Rome... I prefer Taiwan actually, in Taiwan it seems like we can wear jeans every day, even on parent’s day. BONUS! :)

I seem to follow rabbit trials very easily. On to first grade and the horrors of teaching 35 little children who speak minimal English. I know that is what I signed up for, mind you. But I was very clear to my agent and my boss here at school that I do not have any experience teaching any grade lower than 5th. The standard answer seems to always include "no problem" and/or "ok". I now believe that those two phrases are used because the person you're talking to doesn't fully understand what you are trying to tell them. "OK"? :)

The first two weeks of school is used as a time of review of English skills before all first graders are given a placement test. This test includes both a written and oral exams. The testing turned out to be the easiest part of the first two weeks.

Jing-Xi's Lesson of the Day: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Unless those Romans happen to be eating food items that do not appear to be or smell like they are meant to be eaten. When did fishballs become a food? What are fishballs? Finally, does anyone really have a burning desire to know what they put into seaweed soup? Not this Roman, baby!

Not sure what this is, but it all smells bad!



Floating whatever. Smells bad!

More not sure what these are, but smells bad!

Some of this stuff looks like things recognizable, but that doesn't mean I would eat this smelly stuff.

Hotel Hell... (5)

The taxi pulled up to a dirty building with no sign. There was nothing to indicate that this was indeed a hotel. But the driver puts his flashers on and gets out of the car. I assumed we had arrived, so I exited and started to help him unload my luggage, for what seemed like the millionth and one time.

The driver went into the building and spoke the "blah blah blah language" to the woman at the desk. She nodded and the driver started to leave. The lady behind the desk didn't speak English, didn't have my name, and I had no Taiwan money. I told her no money and she started to wave me off and out of the "hotel". I hurriedly walked out to get the driver. He could at least call the black box van guys, who could call Wade. After what seemed like an agonizing panic filled hour, Wade was on the line speaking blah blah blah to the lady at the desk, who seemed like she was yelling at Wade. Later I learned that much of the Chinese language sounds a little like they are angry. Finally, at almost 2am, everything was set and I was heading up to my room.

Once through the door the sight of the room put despair into my heart. The room was dingy. The bed had only a flat sheet and a comforter looking thing on it. The shower didn't look usable and the room smelled of cigarettes. There was no phone and no way to call home. I was, for lack of a better word, distraught. I sat down on the hard bed and cried. I was exhausted and crying was all I could manage. I phoned down to the office for a wakeup call that would come in 2 hours. Those hours crept by so slowly. Finally, it was 5. I didn't need the wakeup call because I didn't sleep. Wade was finally there and we were off to the school.

We drove back the three hours in the direction I we came in the night before. I did get to talk to BNBH. Turns out that the school is only a 45 minute drive from Taipei, the place I had flown into the night before. Seriously? That made no flipping sense. Drive three hours in the opposite direction of the school, only to drive back the three hours the next day. Who does the planning and GPS work? Waldo?

 

Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: When things do not make any sense or are simply not correct don’t worry. All one has to say to cover a multitude of errors and sins is “Well, that’s how we do it in Taiwan.”. This phrase covers any misunderstanding, error, or anything else that makes absolutely no sense.  

Odd Bed Fellows... (4)

In the air for over 13 hours is not my idea of a fun time. But none the less it is the only way one gets to Taiwan. Swimming was starting to sound appealing to me around hour 8. I was seated next to an awesome family from Canada. I talked to their little girl for almost the entire flight. She was sweet and liked talking to me. Once the plane landed in Hong Kong they gave me their contact information and thanked me for taking interest in their daughter. I was surprised by this offering of thanks. Taking an interest in their daughter was easy and she was smart. I assured the Indian family it was no trouble and hurried off to catch my next flight. This flight was only an hour or so and soon I would be landing in Taiwan. At least this was the best case scenario I would soon discover. There was a typhoon circling Taiwan in the South China Sea. The flight might be delayed or canceled. I hoped it was not the later, due to the fact I had an early morning meeting at school the following day. Once we were deplaned I was met by a small Chinese boy hold a sign bearing my name in black marker. I check in with him and I and a few other people were off. We sprinted through the airport and down three floors to catch the flight to Taipei. We were forced to go through another security check which required the emptying of the contents of your back pack onto the security belt. This is difficult when you are required to take off your shoes for the fourth time. When would a person have time to hide anything on their person or belongings? Certainly not during the 13 hour flight we just arrived from, or the sprint across the airport to catch the next flight. Thanks to a few stupid people normal people suffer, isn't that always the way of things?

Once on the ground and off the plane two things hit you like a ton of bricks. First, it was hot, humid and after 11pm and secondly, Taiwan smells bad. In fact really it stinks. Strange thing is you can't place the smell. It's a combination of smells, and they are all stinky smells. After walking for what seemed like 20 miles I reached the immigration check point. This was only after I passed a huge sign painted in red saying "people bringing in illegal drugs into Taiwan will be punished by death". All I could think about yet another warning the captain of “Team Paranoid” gave me. She told me people in the baggage loading and check area put drugs into unsuspecting travelers luggage and they are thrown into foreign prisons with no hope of help coming to them. The evil tricks a mind can play on you when you are sleep deprived are horrible. After making it through customs, for the third time since I started the day, I walked over to get my large and heavy bags from the luggage carriage. Once I retrieved my bags I went out the front sliding doors and looked for Wade, the recruiter. Funny thing was that I had never seen him before, but for some reason I was sure I would know it was him when I saw him. However, Wade wasn't there to meet me. Instead there was some young man with a sign that had my name spelled incorrectly on it in black marker. He introduced himself as David and said he was taking me to a hotel for the night. Panic began to set in again. All I could think about was another warning from the captain of “Team Paranoid”. Many women are abducted into other countries and sold into the heroin whoring trade. Holy crap! Some young skinny guy, named David, is going to abduct me and sell me to Heroin whore traders. Sound plausible? But I still stood and told him I wasn't going anywhere until I knew for sure that this whole messed up situation was legit. I needed to know why my agent was there at the airport to meet me. David made a few phone calls in a blah blah blah language and finally reached Wade. Wade assured me everything was alright and asked about my flight. He said that because it was so late at night I would be staying at a hotel until he came to get me early the next morning. With Wade’s reassurance and smiles and nods from David I allowed the driver to load my belongings into a black box type van and we were on our way. Wait, didn’t I see this in a movie? The ride in a black van always ends badly for the people riding in the back. Right? Everyone has seen this movie and knows how it ends. We drove for what seemed like hours. It was hours it turned out, three to be exact, and finally we got off the freeway. We drove to a pull out near a bridge and this was when I was told a taxi would take me from there to the hotel. Well, I didn't have any Taiwan dollars so how the hell was I going to pay for the taxi ride? Thank God it turned out that the car company paid for the taxi ride. The taxi driver spoke no English. We drove off in the opposite direction of David, who spoke some English, and the car service. I was nervous and scared, but at the same time mesmerized by the lights and huge buildings. As we drove through the streets of the city, which I am still unsure of the name, I saw huge neon lighted buildings as far as the eye could see in any direction. The taxi driver weaved in and out of traffic as the GPS guide shouted directions in what sounded like blah blah blah language. We passed several 7-11s, a Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts, and a few other signs that were written in English. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to reach our destination, what was the name of the “hotel” again?

 

Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: One should never make important decisions after a 13 hour flight across the International Date Line and being up 24 hours. At this stage nothing seems right and everything seems nefarious in nature.  

In Case of Emergancy... (3)

Break glass?? Uh hell no! In case of emergency, panic, panic like the sky is falling and you can’t avoid the huge falling pieces. Remember Chicken Little? I never imagined he was actually right. The sky was falling and the school was on a “Black List”, whatever that means. Finally, after talking with five different Asian airport agents I found a traveler who knew how to make international calls. I called the recruiting office first. No answer... This was probably due to the fact it was Sunday in Taiwan, but this thought never crossed my mind until much later. The panic gained momentum and all I could think was oh man I am being sold into the Heroine Whore trade. Real people have read all about it on the Internet, on Facebook mostly. I knew I was right! Everything they put on the Internet is true, especially if it's on Facebook. I racked my brain about what to do next. Do I call the whole trip off? No, I did so much to come on this doomed excursion. So I decided to call the cell number I had for Wade, my Dewey recruiter. Finally, there was someone on the other end of the international call. I proceeded with my freak out. I was in such a tizzy by that point I wasn't even using whole sentences between the sobs. Knowing what I know now about Wade, I am lucky he understood me at all. I told him what the Internet said about the school and even threatened to not get on the flight and to sue his whole darn company for misleading information and human trafficking. I told Wade that under no circumstances was I getting on the flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. I told him he better start explaining and with super speed, the flight was boarding and was going to take off mere minutes. He reassured me that the news regarding the school was not new and somewhat inflated. It was old and from more than five years ago. He said that someone with a grudge had posted half-truths in order to cause problems. Really? I thought. That could really be the case? People actually lie on Facebook? So maybe the things posted on the Internet were actually one sided and possibly half-truths? Maybe, but I have to believe that everything on Facebook is the gospel truth. Can I get an Amen. AMEN and pass the ammunition.

 What could I really do?? The flight was leaving and going home was not an option. Should I trust Wade to be a man of his word and trust God wouldn't let me be harmed or hurt? Stepping out in faith I got on the plane.

 Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: The Truth Police are a thing of myth. They do not exist and do not police the world punishing people who tell half-truths. This being the case, people tell half-truths all the time. Sometimes people’s profiles are works of complete fiction. People tell half-truths to their bosses, their children, their parents, their family, their lovers and so on and so on. If people tell these half-truths every day what makes a person think it wouldn’t be easier to post half-truths to a place that is full of people posting half-truths and shoulda coulda wouldas? Yes, Virginia people post bull shit on Facebook. Is there an “explanation” really warranted?  

Do they serve drinks on this flight? (2)

After driving a very long distance we arrived exhausted. BNBH checked us into our room and we settled in for some rest. Early the next morning we drove what seemed like a very short distance to the airport. The time to leave was rapidly approaching and cold feet seemed to be the very least of my worries. Pulled up to the curb to unload my bags and check in for my flight. After dragging the heavy articles of luggage through the queue a man dressed in an uncomfortable suit like uniform tells me that I can’t check in for my flight at the curbside. Excuse me? Guy dressed in the funny suit says, what? But the airport doesn't allow International travelers to check in for their flights at the curbside. Uh why not?? Is it because International travelers are all terrorists and need to check in at a desk for safety’s sake? Nah… Couldn’t be, I’m not that scary looking. Thankfully a young man, who seemed to really love and enjoy his job (NOT), loaded my four ridiculously heavy bags onto a hand trolley and wheeled them into the airport lobby. He grunted and pointed in the direction I was to take and unloaded the bags. Standing in the line for all flights to Asia I couldn't help but to watch the Hawaii line with envy. Hawaii would be amazing this time of year I told myself soothingly. I mean they don't call it paradise for nothing, right? It had to be better than the place I was heading. Impatient stares and sighs drew me out of my Hawaiian interlude and back to the reality that I was leaving my home and going across several oceans. It was with great effort I moved my bags towards what felt like was impending doom. After being robbed of 150$ for an extra bag (that the internet said I could bring, darn internet) and being forced to throw out 20$ body wash by a grumpy and deadly serious TSA agent, I was passed security and on my way. I had a hard time looking back at my Nana standing waving me off with the look of "honey, you can do this" firmly on her face. I am sure she was having the same issues I was and somehow that seemed to comfort me.

The flight to Vancouver B.C. was short and I was seated by a blond hair blue eyed cutie pie. The Viking looking man was married and Mormon as luck or fate would have it. We talked off and on through my waves of tears and emotions. He most likely was thinking what absolute nutter he was seated next to and when was this flight going to land? However, he was very nice and on his way to Vancouver for business. He assured me no amount of baby oil was used in his wedding ceremony and was the only man to have his wife. You mean to tell me that everything put on the Internet might not be the God's honest truth. No.... I know for a fact that Britney Spears is pregnant with Michael Jackson's love child, he faked his own death don't ya know.

 After arriving in Vancouver I hurried to send texts and make calls. In 14 short hours I would be far outside my coverage area and with no hope of sending or receiving messages. This is when the world flipped upside down and I felt as if I was plummeting towards the Earth in a tailspin. After talking to the captain of team paranoid I started to have doubts. After all, the points she was making were very valid. I hadn't ever talked to my recruiter. I hadn't ever talked to any person in the administration department of the school. Suddenly, I had more questions than answers and leaks with no putty to plug the holes. All I could think was what in the hell was I doing. Then someone shook my snow globe again. This time a message came in from another friend, captain of the do-gooders team, telling me that the school who hired me was on a black list and the job was a scam. Are you kidding me?? Really? Holy crap and the freak out started in earnest, which quickly moved past upset, and into a full blown tizzy in mere seconds.

 Jing-Xi’s Lesson of the Day: One shouldn’t blame those who are not technically responsible for making life more difficult. After all they are only doing their jobs. One begins to believe, after enough first hand experience, that a little power over people really does go to a lesser person’s head. The control seems to make them almost happy to make things more difficult for others.   

Chance Sounds like a Game in Las Vegas... (1)

The adventure and chance of a life time... This is the term used to describe this journey to a far away foreign place by more than one person, thus far. The adventure of a life time... Really? Who's life time are we discussing? The life of any one in particular? Maybe this could be the adventure of some girl I haven't met yet, or maybe this could be the adventure of the life for some girl who actually has a real life. But most assuredly, not me and not my life. With the above being said, this adventure started as most other adventures do, as research on the Internet. Everyone knows that everything people put on the Internet is the God's honest truth. Any how, the adventure started as research and a hope of something still to come out of this life I had been given. A life that for all intents and purposes seemed to be in a suspended state. I guess the suspension has been lifted and it is time to take the adventure. Even if I don't think I'm ready.

Jing-Xi's Lesson of the Day: If one never tries their wings, one will never fly. If one never flies one never expirences life from a different altitude.