My new job

So, after more than a week of casual lunchtime conversation, guided small-group discussions, and real-live speed dating, we all finally sat down earlier this week and wrote some epic paragraphs about who we liked, disliked, and probably would be okay working with-- while the local English teachers sat in the next room doing the same thing. I was fortunate enough to get my first choice school! So for the next year, at least as of now, I'll be working at 復興國小 (their website is here, but don't bother visiting it unless you can read Chinese). The school is known for having especially strong baseball and badminton teams. Apparently the teams might even be in their own classes... if I'm lucky enough to teach them, I'm hoping that regaling them with my stories of Phillies games and being in Boston for the Red Sox wins will make them like me. Or at least make them listen a little bit?

Anyway, I'll be at Fu Xing teaching for 16 classes a week. It looks like my schedule will be teaching all of Monday and Thursday (about 8-4), a little bit on Tuesday afternoon, and a little bit on Wednesday morning. I'm spending Tuesday and Friday mornings working at the Fu Dong English Village, and there are no classes on Wednesday or Friday afternoons at primary schools here. I'll be working primarily with a teacher named Susan, but also some with a teacher named Amy. Both are very nice, fun people, and I'm looking forward to working with them! In fact, I know Susan reads my blog... Hi, Susan!

Here are some pictures I took at my school visit yesterday. There were students there because it was "preparation day," but they were only with their main teachers, not specials (English is a special subject) so I　didn't have anything to do but verify my schedule. Fun fact #1: elementary schools here don't really seem to have custodial staffs. Teachers and students work together and take turns to clean up the areas in and around their classrooms. Fun fact #2: the design/layout of schools here is very, very different from schools back home. If it's not evident in these pictures, I'll be sure to take more in the future.

Here are some pictures from the front of the school:





And a few from our classroom, pre-cleanup and decoration...


(We have a lot of work to do to make this an exciting place for kids to learn English...)

Finally, I'll end with a picture of my co-teachers and me, taken the day we found out we'd be working together. Susan left, Amy right.


This should be a great year, and I'm really excited to start teaching. I'll be going to a few meetings next week, but then I'll start teaching "full-time" on Monday, September 8th, after we get back from a Fulbright conference in Taipei. I'm happy to say, though, that orientation is finally over, and soon, the teaching will begin.

Wish me luck!

An evening on the Love River

Because I'm having trouble finding the energy, focus, and supporting photographs to write about anything too broad, here's another entry with lots of pictures and minimal text. Your favorite! Also, as I'll finally be placed in a school with a local English teacher in less than 48 hours, I'll hold off on any commentary on the school-picking teacher-interviewing process until it's completely finished.

Last weekend, my Kaohsiung Fulbright ETA group chose to spend our afternoon on/around Kaohsiung's 愛河. Just a 20 minute (public) bus ride down 五福路 from where we live, 愛河 is a river that used to be full of pollution and a source of awful smells for locals. But since Kaohsiung has put forth serious efforts in the past decade or so to clean things up and change its focus from industry to tourism, the 愛河 is actually a pleasant and beautiful place to pass an afternoon.

After getting off the bus, we cooled off and relaxed in one of the many small park areas (with walking and bike paths) that line the river.


Let me just say that I love all of the trees and plants here. Maybe this kind of stuff grows in the American south, but I've certainly never lived around it. Also, the stray dogs in this picture are awesome. Try not to see them as strays, more like communal pets.


We then took a 25 minute boat ride around the main parts of the Love River. Our only mistake was that we should have waited to do this at night.




After walking around and finding dinner at a delightful Spanish-Italian-Japanese-Taiwanese-Bolivian-Cuban-American restaurant downtown, we walked back to the Love River to find that it's really, really pretty at night.




Now you see why we should have waited on that boat ride, huh?

Finally, we ended the evening at a pseudo ex-pat bar called Green Bay next to the river. As the night was wrapping up, we heard some loud sounds outside and ran to see what it was. We found an amazing fireworks display being shot off a barge in the river. When we asked the people around us what it was for, they had no idea. One woman said, "So that we can see them!"

I tried to record some of the fireworks with my camera; it looked especially cool because it was reflecting off a skyscraper nearby.


Video note: My friend Rebekah didn't know I was recording, so when I said "Fireworks on the Love River," she's the one who spontaneously sang what we now call the "Love River Theme."


The night did not end there; we decided to walk the mile or two back home down 五福路, and stopped at a night market on the way. Some of us bought some hilarious and cheap clothing, while others ate something fried and delicious from dozens of different vendors. At night it is a balmy 82 degrees here in Kaohsiung, so long walks are especially nice.

Well that's all I have for now... I hope you've all enjoyed yet another glimpse of my life here. So far I've received a request to post about the food here. Anything else?

Pictures and happiness

It has been kind of a rough week, and I'm way too exhausted to give you any solid content right now. But the fact that my most recent post is super-nerdy probably needs to change. So, get ready for the first of maybe many picture posts. Easy for me to write, fun for you to (not have to) read... it's a win-win!

First, a picture I took from the plane window on our short flight from Taipei to Kaohsiung; August 1, 2008.


A view of downtown Kaohsiung by the Love River; August 2, 2008.


One of the subway stations. Kaohsiung's subway is brand new, and a line going by our apartment is due to open in September.


Sizhiwan Bay, near Dr. Sun Yat-Sen University. View from the former British Consulate at "Takao" (the former colonial name of Kaohsiung). It was cloudy and I was using my grainy phone camera-- don't be fooled, Kaohsiung is a city with very clean and clear skies, unlike its cross-strait counterparts; August 8, 2008.


A view from the Cultural Center, which is a block from our apartment. If you can see the Converse store in the distance, that's our block; August 1, 2008.


Finally, some pictures from our trip to Qijin (Cijin) island, which is a 20 minute bus and 20 minute ferry from where we live; August 3 (or 4?), 2008.

Kaohsiung city skyline from Qijin light house


Me on the beach at Qijin


I had never seen black sand before. It's not dirty, it's just black.


People gather for a cultural performance by the beach at sunset. Note the palm trees... who knew I was coming to a tropical island for my year abroad?


I have so much to say that I don't know where to start, but hopefully these pictures can entertain you until I choose my next must-publish post.

Also, I realize I haven't used Chinese in a while. Don't worry. It will return soon.

Earning my reputation as tech geek of the group...

So, because my brothers always had to be ahead of the curve with technology, I got a lot of techie hand-me-downs growing up. Pioneer discmans (discmen?) before I really owned any CD's, bulky 56MB MP3 players before the iPod had even been conceived, and every video game system that was released during the 1990s. Because of their behavior, I was only destined to follow their wired-turned-wireless lifestyles. So now I find myself writing a post on all the cool technology I'm using to stay connected and entertained in Taiwan.

First, a shout-out to my classic and reliable Dell Inspiron E1505, purchased at the beginning of junior year of college. Still going strong and satisfying all of my computing needs. But beyond needs, there are always wants, and that's where the next three products come in.

One of the best pieces of software on this Dell: Slingplayer. Costing less than $100 for the basic version, my handy little Slingbox connects to any cable/TiVo/whateveryouwatchstuffon box and then sends the signals over the internet. In short, a small box is connected to my cable box at home, and I have a small piece of software on my computer that allows me to control and watch the cable box from wherever I have an internet connection. This even entails turning the box on/off, changing the channel, and setting the DVR to record things. Of course, if my parents happen to be watching the same cable box, it can become a very remote control war from 8,000 miles away. Considering I'm a television addict and ABC/NBC/CBS.com don't allow people outside the US to watch their videos, this software will definitely come in handy. For more info, check out slingmedia.com.

The key piece of technology that allowed me to keep in touch with some of you before I had internet in my apartment is my new cell phone, a Nokia N78. A purchase funded by my brothers to replace my long-broken basic Nokia flipphone, this phone has way more features than I'd ever need (FM transmitter?) but a ton of features that are extremely useful (Wi-Fi!). It also has a 3.2mp camera, which has allowed me to forgo bringing my camera (Canon SD-1000) everywhere. A lot of the lesser-in-quality pictures on the blog have been from the phone camera... I realize these images are not the sharpest, but for quick everyday pictures, it does the job. Anyway, with the combination of wi-fi, a Skype subscription, and a great program called fring, I can use my cell phone to make free calls to the US when I'm near an internet connection. No extra fees involved-- I just use a pay-as-you-go Taiwan SIM card.

Finally, my newest, kind of unnecessary, completely awesome toy: an ASUS Eee PC 8G. This little guy has a 7" screen, a very tiny keyboard (with both "English" and Chinese typing), and a basic Linux OS to become the ultimate in convenience for cheap, portable computing. This "baby laptop" comes with Firefox, Skype, OpenOffice, a built-in webcam/mic, and a bunch of small learning/playing-oriented programs. Who cares if it's made for 12 year olds, this laptop will be able to fit in my purse and go more safely to and from school than my big one would. And to prove to you I'm not a huge weirdo, after I decided to get one of these, three others in my program followed suit-- and a few more are now considering it. Four of us went to a sort of technology district and, after bargaining with a dozen different storeowners, we paid 9600 NTD (about 320 USD) each. A great deal, if you ask me... but on my Taiwan teacher's salary, don't worry, I won't be spending like this very often.

And now, I leave you with a picture of the little technology family. Don't worry, I'll have some stories and pictures of what I've been doing in Taiwan soon enough...

(normal Dell laptop on left, tiny ASUS laptop on right, Nokia N78 in front)

Olympics in Taiwan?!?

Or is it "Chinese Taipei"?

In any case, a lot of people have been talking to me about the Olympics, saying how it must be so exciting to be so close to the action. I'm actually in the same time zone as all of the Olympic events, and I suppose a lot of the Olympic coverage could actually be watched here live, unlike most of what's playing right now in the US.

And yes, it was extremely exciting to go to a big ex-pat sports bar to watch the Opening Ceremonies in HD, counting down to the infamous 8:08 on 8/8/08. I watched the whole thing with several of my Fulbright ETA peers, slowly ordering pitcher after pitcher of Taiwan beer to justify our presence at the bar counter. It was fun to listen to the lively and loud cheers for Australia, New Zealand, England, Vietnam, and Austria, among others, as they marched out. We all cheered from the US, and the friendly Taiwanese bartender (Paulo?) cheered with us. And of course, the bar exploded for "Chinese Taipei." No one cheered for China when they finally came out, but I could easily chalk this up to exhaustion after watching so many countries parade out, and not the political atmosphere (but let's be honest, I'm tempted-- Kaohsiung is known for being Pan-Green and the center of pro-independence support in Taiwan).

Before moving onto the first instance of complaining on this blog, I'll show a picture of some of us having fun at the "Pig & Whistle" on 8/8/08 (me, Billy, Dani):


Now for the disappointment: apparently NBC has paid Beijing so that all of the "exciting" events (at least by US standards: gymnastics, swimming, basketball...) are aired live during primetime in the US, which means when I'm asleep or at work (8am/9am) because of that lovely 12 hour time difference. I realize that I am indeed from the US and perhaps the rest of the world doesn't find these events as exciting, but I'm still allowed some disappointment at never seeing these controversial China-crushing-US gymnastics competitions.

I heard that NBC would be putting all of the events online in full, so I thought this would be a good way to catch up, but of course, those videos are blocked to everyone outside the US. So all I've seen so far of the Olympics is clips that show up on the nightly news here, or whatever is deemed worthy of evening airtime on our actually very comprehensive Taiwan cable-- so far, I've seen archery, volleyball, and handball (I didn't even know that was an Olympic sport). The Asians love their handball?

The good news is that, thanks to my Slingbox, I can at least record the events on my home cable box and stream it here whenever I get a chance. But the moral of the story is that even though I'm a few hours away from where the action is, the US is still the only one that gets to experience it. Sadness!

It's alright, just four more years until another summer Olympics... and less than one year until the World Games in Kaohsiung! But that will have to be the topic of yet another post... For now, bedtime.

Orienting for you and me

I realized I haven't actually addressed a lot of the basic details of what I'm doing and what my life is like here yet. So how about we try that? I'll try to make things sound way more interesting and entertaining than they actually are, to make for better reading.

For the month of August, I'm in orientation. Orientation is basically serving to get us acquainted with the city, the education system in Taiwan/Kaohsiung, our fellow Fulbright ETAs, teaching English at the elementary school level, what our positions will entail, and the local English teachers with whom we'll be placed. So far we've covered all but the last one (arguably two) of these items. We're probably meeting with some of the local English teachers (heretofore referred to as LETs) starting next week, and once we meet them, we'll have a much better idea of what they expect from us.

So for the time being, I am in orientation from about 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. My weekends are totally open (save for the plans made by my very motivated peers), as are my nights. Once August ends, I have absolutely no idea what my schedule will be. We've heard that we'll be working anywhere from 20-35 hours a week at our various schools. I'll be working with a specific LET (to be selected through speed-dating-esque interviews next week) 3-4 days a week, working at an English Village on Wednesday afternoons, and hopefully sleeping at least 8 hours a night.

What's the English Village, you say? So glad you asked! There are various "English Villages" throughout Kaohsiung (in different elementary schools); they are basically micro-stores/malls/airports/banks/what-have-you. Every 5th grader in Kaohsiung goes to an English Village at least once a year to practice "every day English." At first I thought this kind of thing was a huge waste of money (whatever happened to writing 'POST OFFICE' on the board and going from there?), but after seeing the English Village at Ling Zhou Elementary School, I decided that having such elaborate "pretend" locations would be incredibly exciting and motivating for kids. I know that I'm looking forward to spending Wednesday afternoons playing the role of an emo barista, disgruntled postal worker, or inept bank clerk.

Because no blog post is complete without pictures, and because the English Village is really that impressive, I present you with these images from the Ling Zhou Elementary School English Village airport.

Fake flight schedule. Elaborate, eh?



Oh no! Billy lost his bags at baggage claim. Again!

In the fake airplane. I told you this was elaborate. (Shiela, Dan, Shana, me... pic courtesy of Shiela)

There's more to be seen and more to be told, but you'll have to wait until next time!

Welcome to Apartment C!

There are twelve Fulbright English teaching assistants (ETAs) in Kaohsiung this year. The twelve of us were randomly divided into three different four-bedroom apartments. We drew our room numbers from a bunch of pieces of paper on a tray. I drew room C-2.

And it was good.

Apartments A & B are just a few blocks away, in the same apartment building as each other, but Apartment C seems to be in a world of its own. We've had trouble putting a description of our apartment into words. Where apartments A and B are decently furnished with modest decorations, Apartment C was furnished to look like a combination of a beach house, college dorm room, and garage sale.

This can only be illustrated in pictures.

You walk into the door, and what greets you?

Observe: drying rack, odd fish/shells-glued-onto-mirror aquarium (complete with a coral sculpture), Hello Kitty bowling pin shrine. Also in the right bottom corner, you can see the head of our "guard dog," a random stuffed dog in our doorway.

Turn to the left, and you see the most out of place decoration:

Yes, that's a ~2ft light-up Santa Claus, holding a beer flag, underneath a carving/weaving of teddy bears. Um, what?

Continuing through the common room, you see our luggage and shoes corner, along with the closest thing to artwork we could find:

And a final shot of our actually very spacious, comfortable common room, showing off the interesting rug combinations, and my roommate Dani holding one of the pillows (note the lovely pillow covers...)


Now, I didn't want to barge into my roommates' rooms and photograph their dirty laundry, but trust me that theirs are equally hilarious. Vicky lives in a room with a Japanese-style tatami floor (see this link if you're not familiar) and a Hello Kitty closet; Dani has a pink flower chandelier, bright pink closets, and a lampshade consisting entirely of stickers; and Dan (the token guy) lives in a child's room with a small twin bed and miniature desk, and everything is decorated with Tweety Bird stickers. He's a basketball player, so watching him sit at the tiny desk is especially hilarious.

My bedroom is actually the most tasteful/stark of them all. The funniest part is the light, which is bright and surgical-like, and it takes about 15 seconds of serious blinking to turn on or off. Here's a quick snapshot of my room:


And finally, I'll finish the post with a few pictures of the view from my room. Look forward to more description of what's around in future posts... but for now, enjoy these shots in and around my new home!



So there you have it. Enjoy the pictures, leave some comments, and look forward to many more posts!

Stealing wifi

Checking in. Taiwan is amazing. Will have internet in the apartment in a week or so. Now, thanks bro john for the sweet phone. Massive updates to come, when I get internet!

Miss you all!

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