Time Continues

Ohh so tired. A so-so day. Got up fairly early (ignoring the construction workers outside my window who start at 6 am), did some laundry ( i know i know you're proud), gathered cleaning supplies for my bathroom so when I got home I'd notice this group of brightly colored bottles sitting in my bathroom floor so I wouldn't just forget, did other various meaningless activities. I got to work and spent and hour or so recording the Level 2 vocabulary. I had a moment of calm zen there actually, and it was pretty fun to hear it in my voice later. APC6 - little shits, and they're one of the only two classes I get to keep (curses). D5 - still love 'em, gonna miss teaching them.
I chatted with some of the kids from the J classes. That's right, 13 year old boys still like me, even if they're asian. Piles of things just waiting to be marked, heaped up upon my desk. Joy!.. i think. Humm dee dum. Whatever. Parent's night is tomorrow and my last day of regular teaching.
Still pouting, ~allie

Well, Well, What Have We Here?

Surprise! We've changed your job, plus we think you'll like this purple bread!
Mmm lots of change, bear with me here if I forget some of it. I lose 14 hours of teaching, so I'm down to 4 hours a week, 2 classes on Thursday. I've picked up 7 1/2 hours a week (1 1/2 hours a day) teaching/tutoring Heather to pass the TOEFL, so she can be admitted to an online school to get her Masters in Education. Get to know the boss better. Once she's admitted, I'll help her study and learn these materials. Since I'll be essentially learning it all anyway, she thinks maybe I should get my Masters too. Also added to my job description is to continue with recording my voice. I've previously read aloud two stories for the APC4 Storytelling class, so they could have their books read to them on a CD. Now, I will record all the vocabulary for all levels, and starting with level 4 (levels 1-6), I will also read the stories in their books (one story every unit, about 25 units each level). These will be put on Cds and also on the website so the children can study (also for me mum if she's just dying to hear my voice ;). Help Mandy with the reporter class, so that one of you works the camera, the other preps the rest on their delivery and presence. I get to spend a lot of time with a red pen. I get to go into classes and check homework, attendance, their communication books (where they write the day's lesson and homework), help and students who aren't doing well, help and quiz the students who have to stay after class, some telephone teaching, etc. I could get fun organisational projects or anything else that they would wish for me to do. I get to go at will into fun classrooms and play with kids if they aren't busy :) etc, etc.
Lots of change. I should probably explain why. Tony thought it would be fun to teach adult classes, so they created alot of adult classes. Problem - nobody signed up for the classes. So what happens? Do they fire someone? No, Heather wouldn't really be happy with that. The last Chinese teacher that left they didn't replace, they hired another foreign teacher instead. Perhaps get someone to do parts of her job and find other things for them to do also.
Sooo, guess who's superspiffy at organizing, already doing some office work, has a sweet voice for recording, and has experience in tutoring a Ph.D. student?
That's right!! It's me It's me!!
Nominated.
Am I happy with this change? Too soon to tell really. I imagine a lot of it will depend on Heather as a student, though she seems motivated and we get along well. I'm already starting to miss my classes, more than I would have thought really, but hopefully I'll still see my kids, though I will really miss teaching them. I enjoy marking papers and being in the office too though; see the glowing reports about Teresa and Petite. I'm not too sure what will happen next semester, I'm sure Heather isn't either. Gary may be leaving us and that might solve it all. Teresa wanted me to know that they did like my teaching, but in crunch time I had aptitudes that others didn't, putting me in the oddball job that I have now - just too indispensible to be fired. I'll finish this week teaching and then start my 'new job' in October.
Anywho, I signed a contract today to go with my ARC application. Turns out that they don't need to have my diploma translated and therefore I don't need a Chinese name yet. So that's progressing.
And yes, they gave me purple bread. A colorful, bright lavendar I would say. Heather is still worried that I can't find food, so she brought me some bread. Taro (Tarot?) bread she says. I know it's actually purple but I don't know if it's really this purple. Try it and if you like it, keep it. I liked it, very good and sorta sweet. Then again, everything's sweet in this country.
Later, ~allie

Tooooosday

For all you dedicated fans, here's a picture of my new umbrella!!


Yep, it's Tuesday! Early, early, early this morning I had yoga. But it felt really good once I stopped yawning :D There were only three of us this morning - me, Sarah, and Heather. I talked to Tony and he's supposed to come Friday (he's been feeling a bit off he says - but he always intended to come back!), don't know about any of the Chinese teachers who weren't there. My darling yoga instructor is 34. Thoroughly enjoying my once again hot water, and also quite proud of myself for all this steadfast and dedicated bloggin I've been doing (a sure sign that it might slack off again soon). ;) Long day at work as usual but I only had my D5 class to teach (oh yes, still lovin' 'em - even though half the class had to stay late because they didn't do their memorization). Teresa is back and just as cute as ever. I make little convenience store runs and I always ask her if there's anything she wants. Immediately 'oh yes!' then she thinks and tries to narrow her cravings down to a couple items - ahh the joy of pregnant women. But, I'll say it again - she's really cute, she's just a really cute pregnant woman - some women have it, some don't. She's a glower ;)
On the ARC front, they are translating my diploma and all they have left is my school's name. Then I will need a chinese name and everything will be .. something. I'm not too sure of the process, but they are doing things so I'm happy with that.
Heather called me into her office today near the end of the day. There's a change in my job description. It's not official yet, and she still has to talk to some other people, but it's pretty much a done deal. That's your cliffhanger for the day. I'll give you details when it's official. ;)
Later, ~allie

A Monday of Firsts

Ha Ha! My camera is not broken thank god, we just had some miscommunication and my batteries were being silly as well. So yay! Brightened my morning and maybe the blog will get pics now.
My first day at work without Teresa there. So sad. I knew she'd be back tomorrow but she's really fun to have in the office. Plus, she runs it basically and I'm surprised everything didn't fall apart without her. It survived, but for longer than a day - who knows what would happen.
My first child crying in class. He said his head hurt and looked pretty miserable and didn't participate. About an hour later, he started crying. The other kids thought he was sleeping because he put his head in his arms on his desk, and I was glad that they weren't making fun of him. Poor kid. I've had those headaches before, and he gets all the sympathy I got. Even if it wasn't a headache, I've had those days and my sympathy continues. I largely ignored him except for some encouraging or 'i'm sorry' looks unless he had a question or spoke in class.
My first telephone teaching experience. You're supposed to call your children on the telephone and ask them if they have any homework questions, work on their conversation, maybe get them to read you something from their books. I started with D5 because they're older and know more English. A bit dodgy getting to the actual kid - for some reason there's always this person who answers the phone that wants to speak Chinese to you! For the most part I got past those people fairly easily. Guess who's in D5?! That's right, it's Johnny! He's so precious! I asked him if he had memorized his homework and would be ready to recite it tomorrow and he said yes. Then, he got all serious and said "Miss Allison, I have to tell you something. Sometimes, I memorize things, and then later, I forget them." Just priceless, you had to hear the tone of voice.
First time I fell asleep learning Chinese. Good times.
First time I was really determined to read an e-book. Got through the first section - First book on the history of Taiwan I've started.
All my firsts for today. Aren't mondays fun?
Later, ~allie

Sunday, Sunday....

I recovered from the light and techno parade last night. Also, Mandy gave us the solution to the cold showers - replace the battery (standard D) in the water heater. Let me repeat - the water heater runs on a battery. You'll know it's out when you get cold showers. Mn hmm.
Woke up this morning - my mind clicking on all gears - and I realized something was odd. I haven't been getting sunburnt. I went out yesterday in full sunlight from noon to 4:30... today, not an inch of even slight pinkness. Realizing I've gone out before and walked for hours, same thing. I don't even have a watch tan. What's up?
You'd think the sun would have some power here as well as everywhere else - esp. with the people all desiring to be as white as possible and using funky creams, parasols, and sometimes even full body cover. Sarah suggested perhaps the pollution protected my fragile skin. Perhaps...
I did indeed go out last night - joined Sarah, Mandy, Brian and Gary on their search for coffee and cheesecake. Unfortunately for them, we stopped at a different sort of place. I had some fried tofu, sweet potato fries with honey, and some very very lemony cold lemon green tea. And of course I stayed up far too late.

NO NO NO NO NO. sigh. pout. My camera is dead. No pictures for you. I'm going to be pouting for awhile.

Mmmm how come all the guy dorks I know are skinny? This whole country is little and skinny, and almost the entire male population just reminds me of .... dorks. Obvious exception for the guys who are too goegeous to comprehend.
Weakness- I've always liked small, cute, little, happy things. Bad idea - move to the country where they make it all, they thrive on it, and import even more of it.
The park on Sanmin was fairly impressive and it had a supercool clocktower. *absense of picture* Not quite what I seek but nice and green all the same. :) However, it was sprinkling and I ended up spending more time shopping on the way there and back, than in the actual park itself.
Next - out to dinner with Sarah and Jesse, then on to night market fun.

Another Saturday in Taoyuan

Slept in, like ya do, finally got up and out of the apartment around noon. This time I wandered down the other end of Jungjeng to see where it went. It has some impressive stores - one that reminds me of Fry's or Best Buy, tons and tons more, food everywhere. It ends up with lots of green area, I guess as you head into the next city. I tried to take pictures, even took my camera with me and got it but - lo and behold! the batteries were dead - all I got was a pitiful beep from my camera... so next time, you'll get more pictures one day, promise. Decided not to walk back down the street to return home, but to wander in the direction of TESCO in hopes of making a quick stop there before I went home (rather than getting irretrieveably lost of course). Wandering more, lovely, lovely. So many sights and sounds and smells to soak up in this country. It was really windy today ( I think because of the aforementioned typhoon 16 and 17 headed around either end of my island) but the rain has stopped. It may even be slightly cooler - perhaps the beginning of a fall season? I stopped at a cute little 7-11 and picked up some water and an "egg butter bread" roll. I ate it and I was delighted to find cheese too. It was one of the most wonderful foods I've had in perhaps a week. Truly delicious - I do miss the baked cheese. Found the right road for TESCO and the hospital - felt the sense of victory ( did you feel it too?). Headed down it - in the correct direction and everything - and visited some stores there too. The panasonic store with fun water purifier thingys everywhere. I'm thinking about getting one and dropping all this bottled water. I accidentally drank a bit of the water when I was brushing my teeth the other day and still no adverse effects. I think I'll ponder it a while longer.. and wait for my health coverage to kick in before I try any more. :) I also found a sports/adventure store with all I need to go hiking and camping and rock climbing. It had all the really nice brands from back home - North Face, Lowe Alpine, Marmot, etc. - and the same prices too. I'll check to see if there are any more impressive stores in Taipei and what sort of hiking I'll be doing before I go and spend some of my newly earned monies. :D But it was all lovely and exciting and make me want to travel even more! They had all the super lightweight gear like the sleeping bag that's only 650 grams and the tents that weight nuthin. Maybe I'll even take a semester off somtime, come back and do the Appalachian Trail (hear me Dad? that means you too!). After that I browsed through the TESCO, picked up selected items and came back to the apartment. I ended up spending about 4 and a half hours on my outing and I was tired, so afetr I put my stuff away I 'read' (read=sleep) for an hour or so. Even though I slept in you see, I didn't get my full 8 hours. After I ate some of my newly purchased French bread, a particularly glorious bit of watermelon, and I tried my lemon curd. GOOD LORD!! I don't know how I've lived without it. It's one of the best things I've ever eaten. Reflecting, everything has tasted really wonderful today except my breakfast. I therefore rate this a 9.4 day. :) But, not that I've rested and eaten, it's time again for me to go out. PS I will fill in all these gaps in my blog, patience. Later ~allie

TGIF

Up bright and early, doin' the yoga. Home, followed by cold shower and work. So tired at work, could barely keep it going until 9. After work, however, I woke up a bit. The math guy was outside, so I harassed him a bit. A bit turns into 2 hours, we agree to do a language exchange, where I help him with his conversational english and he teaches me kindergarten chinese. :) Then I go home and am so nerdy I continue with my Rosetta Stone program and start learning chinese characters. Lovin' it.
After a bit, get just an intense craving for a library - yeah in English. Offset my craving with one of the magazines laying around the apartment - turns out to be a horror magaizine with short stories in it called Cemetary Dance. Dunno about the quality here - i generally need my horror stories to be fairly intricate and very well done for me to appreciate them. Anywho,
Later ~allie

One Month!

Today is the one month anniversary of me and Taiwan! So far, so good. No major fights or blowouts, plus we really have a good time to together! Like? for sure. Love? don't even go there - far too soon to tell. But we do make a happy home.
Not too much going on at work, we had a meeting, my APC6 class ran amuck, D5 was wonderful again. Johnny gains some major points for being the sweetest kid around. He's there at least 3 days a week, and he's started following me around :D 'what class do you have next?''when is it?''have some chips?''how are you?'- it's good stuff, my very own teacher's pet.
Later ~allie

Lazy Sunday

Sleep, sleep, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, clean, clean, clean, lazy, lazy, clean, clean, clean, lazy, go out, smutty neon, furniture store - they called over the guy who knows english special for me :) , lazy, talky, talky (my sister's so cool eh?), sleepy, sleepy, bed.