It's been a busy two weeks what with finding, changing jobs and apartments. I interviewed at almost a dozen different places, looking for the right location and something that meets all or at least most of my criteria. It's nice to have that luxury here, despite the fact that more and more Westerners are coming to Asia (Taiwan in particular, as S Korea has a reputation for being cold and unfriendly and quite expensive, and China has as many dodgy, remote jobs as decent one's, not to mention the renimibi (currency) is worth nothing on the world market). That being said, the number of schools and English teaching jobs far outstrips the available and qualified workforce. Ah, supply and demand. Anyway, I have secured a job at a school called Columbia English, working five days a week, M T TH 430-630 and W and F working 1-7. It's a total of 18 hrs with no work outside of class, other than schmoozing with parents. That beats the hell out of my current job which required an hour of prep for class plus another hour or more of homework/quiz marking. It also pays about three dollars more per hour, my classes are about a third the size, and I don't have a micromanaging Nazi as my manager. It's not as close as my current job, but with the buses and MRT it's within a thirty minute commute. The school is also brand-new and in a newer, nicer area of Taipei, replete with tree lined roads, lots of small cafe's and bakeries. Overall, a much better situation than I was in.
I also found a new apartment in a similar locale to my current place. It's a three bedroom/two bath place that I share with a Scottish girl and Israeli girl. It's a big apartment with all the basic amentities, but I like it because it has carpet (rare) and a nice nook off the kitchen. Plus I have found girls make better roommates, especially those who speak good Chinese and are very familiar with Taiwan and Taipei. My room is bigger than my current "box" and it's only about three minutes to the MRT station. Best of all it's almost half the rent I'm paying now, which frees up more money for traveling next year.
Within the past two weeks I have been very busy as my post mentioned. Between working at two jobs (I finish my current one tomorrow with one more class next week), going to orientations, training, observing classes, getting a new health check, applying for my new work contract and extended VISA, I have had little free time. All that on top of looking at nearly ten different apartments proves to be very taxing, especially as we have been getting one last heat wave before Fall begins in a few weeks (fingers crossed). The hardest part has been the communting to and fro. As many of the interviews and apartments are in places unfamiliar to me and some on the outskirts of the city, the traveling between each has been long and chaotic. The buses are good and extensive, but only in Chinese on the signs so I have to find characters I can read. The MRT is also quite convienent within the heart of the city, but quickly drops off once you get outside of that area. They are in the process of adding four (yes four, as of now there are five lines) lines throughout the city as the population swells. All this has further pushed me into buying a used scooter; it's impossible to beat the sheer speed and transit times a scooter offers in a city like this.
I have begun to miss certain aspects of the US again after a lull of complacency for a few months. I think it is due to a large number of "newbies" arriving from the US in the past couple weeks for the new school year. For the most part, few people arrive outside of the new semesters (February and September) so it's captivating to listen to them talk of America and their initial comparisons between the two countries. Also, two days from today will make it a year here and I can now begin to compare what I was doing this time last year and now....Such as this time last year I was in Roswell visiting Aunt Dor and the Grandparents while making plans to attend the GT/Notre Dame game with the old man.
Ok, so I don't post too often but when I do they seem to run on and on. Congratulations Mike and Katharine on the new baby boy, James won't know what hit him, but I'm sure with such a small age gap they will be great brothers and friends after their youngest years. Another Congrats to my alma mater, Appalachian State University. If you haven't heard, if you haven't get out of your cave, they went into Ann Arbor and beat the #5 team in the nation, the Michigan Wolverines in a fairly convincing fashion. That makes two straight D-1A National Championships and the first win for a D-1A team over a D-1 school in history in the past three years, not to mention perhaps the second biggest upset in sports history. The kicker who kicked the field goal to put App ahead for good is from my hometown in NC. In fact I went to high school with him, two years behind me. Interesting tidbit you ask? He started for our soccer team, same team I did my Junior year, but was optioned to JV the following year for being too fat and out of shape, thus he decided to kick for the football team. Anyway, congrats Julian Rauch and the rest of the team, hell of a win! Finally, I'm sure most have seen this by now, but even so it's always worth another look. The video of Miss SC answering a question at the Miss Teen America Pageant. Guess where she told Good Morning America she is going to school? That's right, Appalachian State. A week of high's and lows for the yellow and gold from Boone. http://youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww - the link to the video.
Finally, some pictures.
A local beach called Baishawan, translated it means "white sand beach"
A woman who is in Falun Gong, some sort of Tai-chi/meditation cult-esque group that has faced evil persecution in China. Not sure why, they seem quite calm. The top is Chinese, then Japanese, and Korean.
The tiny street I live on. My apartment is on the first floor in a building just to the right of this picture.
My youngest class of students. They are roughly six-seven years old. Learning "I want ____" and "My favorite snack is ______". As you can see, damn cute group of kids.
The National Palace Museum. Through an odd twist of fortune it's collections reside in Taipei. It houses the largest collection of Asian art and historical artifacts in the world. So much in fact, that only about 1/3 of it is on active display at a time. The entire collection was packaged up and shipped from Beijing to Shanghai then to Nanjing and eventually Taipei during Mao Zedong and the Communists rise to power in '49. It's said that Chiang Kai-Shek and his compatriats did not lose a single artifact in the collection's 3,000+ mile journey throughout China to Taiwan. Now the pieces and museum are a significant point of contention between China and Taiwan; to the point Taiwan won't lend any to China knowing full well Formosa will never see them again.
