14 January 2013

Three Weeks in Taiwan

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post, I had some computer problems so I wasn't able to come online. Since my last entry, we both started our own regular classes and subbed some more. Subbing has been fun, especially on Saturday when we were both at Tung-An School (which is the school where our dorm is located) so we literally had to get out of bed and walk downstairs to get to class. Very easy money, I would love to get a regular class at Tung-An but I doubt I'll be that lucky. It will be easier and less of a hassle to get to class once we own a scooter, let me know if you know anyone who is selling for a reasonable price!

Now I will back track to our regular classes. Mine was a red book (10 years old around) and I was warned, thankfully, beforehand that they are a difficult class. Apparently prior to the teacher I was replacing who just left without saying goodbye to any of their classes, they were without a foreign teacher for four months. Prior to that, they had a horrible Taiwanese teacher who used to hit them. Safe to say, they're not very trusting of teachers and coupled with the fact that most of them are lazy, I did not have fun during this class. They were so hard to motivate and I left feeling so exhausted and worn out. I'm still looking forward to this coming Thursday when I get to see them again though, I've been thinking all week for ways to motivate them and I'm excited to attempt it. Wish me luck.

Rick's two regular classes on Thursday went amazingly. His first one was a Kindergarten Beginners class (we call it a kindy class) so they are usually 5 or younger and this is their first time learning any sort of English. Rick had a lot of fun with them and they liked him a lot, not to forget his amazing coteacher who was with him for his next regular class as well. The next class was a Gloria English 1 class so they have just finished the previous class that Rick was teaching so this class was around 7 years old. Again, he had an amazing time with them and breezed right through it. Rick is so amazing with children, in general, so I would love to get to watch him teach one day. (Don't tell him I said any of this though, I don't want to inflate his ego too much.)

Saturday night we decided to try out the night market again. I couldn't not stop at the pet store and this time I got to hold my little puppy. (Big mistake on Rick's part for letting that one happen considering it just motivated me even more to buy the puppy.) Still working on convincing Rick, help me out! I need more positives to getting a puppy while we're here to bring home, all he can think of are the negatives haha. I went and got the chocolate banana crepe again, except this time Rick was smart enough to get his own and David and Monica were there as well to enjoy it. I swear that lady is going to know me by name the next time I go there. I also tried this baked potato that everyone had told me about and it really did live up to its reputation. It was amazing, and thankfully Rick was there to point out that she was about to put tuna on it and we stopped her just in time.

Tonight we went to see Zero Dark Thirty. Jury is still out on that one. Yes it was an amazing movie but should it really have been made into a movie in the first place? Who knows. Regardless, it was fun to go to the mall. Tomorrow I am subbing a kindy class at Tung-An (YAY) and Rick is at a further school for his second week of subbing two classes there. Sometimes when you get asked to sub somewhere, it will say x3 or x2 which lets you know that they need you for however many weeks.

Maybe the next time I write in the blog, I will have my little puppy named King sitting next to me. A girl can dream...

- Melissa

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