Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Night Before Christmas
Christmas is a funny thing here in Taiwan - I confess that I don't understand it.
There are Christmas trees everywhere and Santa Claus is a visitor in many shop windows. Yet, December 25 is not even a single day holiday as it is in Korea... it's work-as-usual for everyone. My school has been generous enough to give us foreign teachers the day off on December 25, viewing it as an important day in our particular culture... very considerate, indeed. Unfortunately, our students will all be in class as usual tomorrow and our Taiwanese colleagues will have extra classes to cover in our absence. I felt badly when I learned this from my students.
December 24 was the day on which the foreign language department held a talent show in which the students performed. There were singers and dancers and all had a wonderful time. I had initially been skeptical of this and hadn't seen any educational point to this but I was wrong. The students prepared diligently for this show and presented well... they gained confidence and emerged stronger from the experience. I was delighted to be proven wrong in my assessment of the project. There was a lot of value in it.
I was one of the three judges so I had no opportunity to video record the proceedings. Fortunately, one of the Taiwanese teachers was doing this with a wonderful JVC Everio HD camera and she has promised me the raw data from her recording so I expect to be able to take some excerpts and post them next week when I get back to school. My Taiwanese colleagues are very friendly and cooperative people and thoroughly professional teachers... I was used to working with people like this in Korea and I'm delighted to find that Taiwan teachers are just the same.
My Christmas Day plans are strange... The senior French teacher, his girl friend and I are going to a local restaurant which calls itself COFFEE SHOW. The lady who operates it serves western style food and appreciates it greatly if one reserves and orders in advance because she prepares the meal from the very beginning. If one just drops in, as we often do, it means a long wait. The food is excellent and the price is very reasonable... friendly service (even if I don't understand what is being said!).
Today I took my motor scooter to the Yamaha dealer down the street. My old scooter (more than ten years old and I'm at least the third owner) had suffered from starting problems. He solved that so quickly he didn't even charge me anything. So today I asked him to repair the speedometer which has not worked during the time I've had it. That was about an $8 repair! I'm sure it would have cost me about $50 in Canada or the US. That brings my total investment in this scooter up to about $160 (US) - and this is what takes me to school and back each day, takes me shopping in nearby towns and to Taichung City when I choose to go there... and all at very low cost. I can't ever remember a $160 purchase being so productive. It ain't pretty but it sure is proving reliable.
It's Christmas Eve and I have a mosquito in my apartment that is annoying me greatly. I can't ever remember a mosquito on Christmas Eve.
There are Christmas trees everywhere and Santa Claus is a visitor in many shop windows. Yet, December 25 is not even a single day holiday as it is in Korea... it's work-as-usual for everyone. My school has been generous enough to give us foreign teachers the day off on December 25, viewing it as an important day in our particular culture... very considerate, indeed. Unfortunately, our students will all be in class as usual tomorrow and our Taiwanese colleagues will have extra classes to cover in our absence. I felt badly when I learned this from my students.
December 24 was the day on which the foreign language department held a talent show in which the students performed. There were singers and dancers and all had a wonderful time. I had initially been skeptical of this and hadn't seen any educational point to this but I was wrong. The students prepared diligently for this show and presented well... they gained confidence and emerged stronger from the experience. I was delighted to be proven wrong in my assessment of the project. There was a lot of value in it.
I was one of the three judges so I had no opportunity to video record the proceedings. Fortunately, one of the Taiwanese teachers was doing this with a wonderful JVC Everio HD camera and she has promised me the raw data from her recording so I expect to be able to take some excerpts and post them next week when I get back to school. My Taiwanese colleagues are very friendly and cooperative people and thoroughly professional teachers... I was used to working with people like this in Korea and I'm delighted to find that Taiwan teachers are just the same.
My Christmas Day plans are strange... The senior French teacher, his girl friend and I are going to a local restaurant which calls itself COFFEE SHOW. The lady who operates it serves western style food and appreciates it greatly if one reserves and orders in advance because she prepares the meal from the very beginning. If one just drops in, as we often do, it means a long wait. The food is excellent and the price is very reasonable... friendly service (even if I don't understand what is being said!).
Today I took my motor scooter to the Yamaha dealer down the street. My old scooter (more than ten years old and I'm at least the third owner) had suffered from starting problems. He solved that so quickly he didn't even charge me anything. So today I asked him to repair the speedometer which has not worked during the time I've had it. That was about an $8 repair! I'm sure it would have cost me about $50 in Canada or the US. That brings my total investment in this scooter up to about $160 (US) - and this is what takes me to school and back each day, takes me shopping in nearby towns and to Taichung City when I choose to go there... and all at very low cost. I can't ever remember a $160 purchase being so productive. It ain't pretty but it sure is proving reliable.
It's Christmas Eve and I have a mosquito in my apartment that is annoying me greatly. I can't ever remember a mosquito on Christmas Eve.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Furniture Delivery in the Morning and Earthquake Tonight.
This morning my shipment arrived from Korea. Clothes, books, furniture... the residue of the last eight years. Thirty-two boxes, ranging from the manageable to the unmanageable and I have now unpacked all but four - and that's quite enough for one day. Hyundae Shipping were expensive and the almost four months' wait was not short but the job was really well done. The boxes arrived looking as fresh as when they were packed in my apartment in Korea. And one of the Chinese employees spoke enough English that we were able to sort things out quickly, efficiently and quite amicably.
The Taiwan company was just as efficient as the Korean companies. They called in advance to set up the time - I had specified that it must be a Saturday - and said they would be here between 10:30 am and 11:30 am. They arrived early at 10:15 and had finished and gone in an hour.
And this evening, after a day's unpacking, we had an earthquake. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/12/19/taiwan-earthquake.html. This is the third quake here in the almost four months I've been here. It's disconcerting to be sitting at my desk marking student essays watching my desk move! And wondering... Would it be a good idea to go outside now? And should I use the stairs rather than the elevator?
Then my neighbor, the French teacher, came barging in through my front door - I leave my front door unlocked in case he wants to barge in - and said: "Let's go. We should get out of here. The aftershock will be worse". I was a touch skeptical because by now my apartment was no longer rocking and things looked normal again and I could go into the kitchen and start picking up the things from the floor. So I asked him if our Chinese neighbors had already gone out. He banged on their door and they opened with puzzled looks on their faces as he explained to them the necessity of immediate evacuation.
The daughter, our neighbors are a mother and her two grown daughters, smiled at him and explained that there was no problem. I convinced him that they had lived here all their lives and were better judges of the situation than we so he settled for coming into my place, watching part of an old Laurel and Hardy movie and having a glass of Glenlivet to calm his nerves.
These earthquakes are unsettling - and there's no pun intended there.
The Taiwan company was just as efficient as the Korean companies. They called in advance to set up the time - I had specified that it must be a Saturday - and said they would be here between 10:30 am and 11:30 am. They arrived early at 10:15 and had finished and gone in an hour.
And this evening, after a day's unpacking, we had an earthquake. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/12/19/taiwan-earthquake.html. This is the third quake here in the almost four months I've been here. It's disconcerting to be sitting at my desk marking student essays watching my desk move! And wondering... Would it be a good idea to go outside now? And should I use the stairs rather than the elevator?
Then my neighbor, the French teacher, came barging in through my front door - I leave my front door unlocked in case he wants to barge in - and said: "Let's go. We should get out of here. The aftershock will be worse". I was a touch skeptical because by now my apartment was no longer rocking and things looked normal again and I could go into the kitchen and start picking up the things from the floor. So I asked him if our Chinese neighbors had already gone out. He banged on their door and they opened with puzzled looks on their faces as he explained to them the necessity of immediate evacuation.
The daughter, our neighbors are a mother and her two grown daughters, smiled at him and explained that there was no problem. I convinced him that they had lived here all their lives and were better judges of the situation than we so he settled for coming into my place, watching part of an old Laurel and Hardy movie and having a glass of Glenlivet to calm his nerves.
These earthquakes are unsettling - and there's no pun intended there.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
A Trip to the Mountains
I haven't been very many places in Taiwan so two of my colleagues, Eric who teaches with me and Constance who teaches in Kaohsiung, generously took me up into the mountains nearby today for lunch and some sightseeing. So it was a party of three English teachers and two French teachers - but there were only three people... that's your riddle for today!
The roads are very narrow and there is some footage of a car off the road, teetering on the brink of a deep canyon. Fortunately a truck arrived and pulled the car back to safety.
The village we were in was on a rail line of the old narrow gauge variety that has now been abandoned but the station remains as a focal point in this little town which is now a tourist stop. Eric and I were the only non-Chinese tourists in sight throughout this entire day and Constance kept us out of difficulty by asking all the directions and getting all the information!
A little further along, we saw a bridge that had been destroyed by an earthquake. You can see from the ruins of the bridge the horrible destructive powers of earthquakes... and through the ruins the jungle returns to once again take command.
And everywhere the scenery was beautiful.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
December Settles In...
The CWB (the official Taiwan weather office) describes our temperatures this week as ranging from "cold" to "cool"; i.e., 16C to 22C. While that doesn't sound cold to the average polar bear it is not at all comfortable, especially when the wind is blowing into the unheated buildings here in Taiwan. My students assure me that by the time we are all released for a winter vacation in late January it will be most miserable - I believe my students!
We have just finished an examination session and it was somewhat disappointing for the students. Because we're preparing them for the Taiwan language test and the TOEFL test our grades are similar to those the kids get on TOEFL; i.e., abysmally low. Still, they are making progress and this examination session has been something of a wake-up call for them.
I FOUND KIMCHI in the grocery store in a nearby town! Delicious and it isn't even very good kimchi... I miss Korea and the food and the people but it's the people I miss most. Everyone here has been very good to me but I know very few people. That's okay because it's still early days.
People ask me what I think about Taiwan and I have to say that I don't "think" anything. I'm learning, not making judgments. I spent 11 years in Korea and didn't make many if any judgments there... just never felt I'd been there long enough to really know. I'd rather spend my time learning than making judgments.
Motor scooters are ubiquitous here and accidents are frequent. I'm told that it's a point of honor among Taiwanese scooter riders to never look in their mirrors as they run red lights, take corners too fast and weave in and out of traffic. Last night, I saw a man being carried away on a stretcher from the remains of his scooter. He didn't look to be in very good condition.
Car drivers are not very predictable either (this is an observation, not a judgment). People have not been driving cars here for a hundred years as they have been in the west and the driving skills one sees demonstrated are not good. Korea has for many years held the unenviable rank of worst among O.E.C.D. countries - that's because Taiwan is not a member of that particular club. I'm very careful on the road and am quite glad that I have nearly 180 degree peripheral vision - I'm using every degree of it all the time!
Foreign teachers, like me, who come here usually acquire scooters because they're a dependable and inexpensive means of transportation. Among these foreign teachers there is a significant accident rate because they feel they have to test the limits and their limitations are usually greater than they think. So far, I'm still alive... I've had some interesting situations, though, when drivers have cut right across in front of me or made sudden turns that no one could anticipate. Fortunately, I don't feel obligated to prove that I'm an expert on two wheels and my speeds and road position are always quite conservative.
We have just finished an examination session and it was somewhat disappointing for the students. Because we're preparing them for the Taiwan language test and the TOEFL test our grades are similar to those the kids get on TOEFL; i.e., abysmally low. Still, they are making progress and this examination session has been something of a wake-up call for them.
I FOUND KIMCHI in the grocery store in a nearby town! Delicious and it isn't even very good kimchi... I miss Korea and the food and the people but it's the people I miss most. Everyone here has been very good to me but I know very few people. That's okay because it's still early days.
People ask me what I think about Taiwan and I have to say that I don't "think" anything. I'm learning, not making judgments. I spent 11 years in Korea and didn't make many if any judgments there... just never felt I'd been there long enough to really know. I'd rather spend my time learning than making judgments.
Motor scooters are ubiquitous here and accidents are frequent. I'm told that it's a point of honor among Taiwanese scooter riders to never look in their mirrors as they run red lights, take corners too fast and weave in and out of traffic. Last night, I saw a man being carried away on a stretcher from the remains of his scooter. He didn't look to be in very good condition.
Car drivers are not very predictable either (this is an observation, not a judgment). People have not been driving cars here for a hundred years as they have been in the west and the driving skills one sees demonstrated are not good. Korea has for many years held the unenviable rank of worst among O.E.C.D. countries - that's because Taiwan is not a member of that particular club. I'm very careful on the road and am quite glad that I have nearly 180 degree peripheral vision - I'm using every degree of it all the time!
Foreign teachers, like me, who come here usually acquire scooters because they're a dependable and inexpensive means of transportation. Among these foreign teachers there is a significant accident rate because they feel they have to test the limits and their limitations are usually greater than they think. So far, I'm still alive... I've had some interesting situations, though, when drivers have cut right across in front of me or made sudden turns that no one could anticipate. Fortunately, I don't feel obligated to prove that I'm an expert on two wheels and my speeds and road position are always quite conservative.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Not pleasant weather, at all...
The weather forecast keeps calling for temperatures in the mid to high 20sC each day but somehow it doesn't feel like we're getting them. The temperature at night is now in the teens, sometimes the low teens, and with the dampness and the wind it is chilling and unpleasant. Add to that the fact that buildings here are not heated and it means that the tropical paradise scenario is neither alive nor well here. I'm going to have to get an electric heater and some warmer clothes.
At this point, less than two months remain in the first half of the school year. There are few holidays - we'll get the day off on December 25 and that's it from September 1 to January 18. So, we're beginning to get tired now.
I bought my ticket for Seoul last night and intend to spend a week there in January. Now, Seoul in January is not exactly Paradise and in other years I'd have regarded such a decision as totally lunatic but there are many people in Korea that I'd like to visit. After 11 years there, I have people there who are near and dear to me.
This video is the Feng Shia Night Market in Taichung... a very pleasant place to go!
At this point, less than two months remain in the first half of the school year. There are few holidays - we'll get the day off on December 25 and that's it from September 1 to January 18. So, we're beginning to get tired now.
I bought my ticket for Seoul last night and intend to spend a week there in January. Now, Seoul in January is not exactly Paradise and in other years I'd have regarded such a decision as totally lunatic but there are many people in Korea that I'd like to visit. After 11 years there, I have people there who are near and dear to me.
This video is the Feng Shia Night Market in Taichung... a very pleasant place to go!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday November 5, 2009. 5:34 p.m. A "tremblor" (small earthquake) rocked the room. I had a mug of tea on my desk and it sloshed right onto the desktop. Funny feeling when the room begins to move from side to side... lasted about 40 seconds - just long enough for me to wonder if I should leave the building and take a walk. That's the second one in two months. This is earthquake territory.
When I first thought about it, I thought it was about five seconds in duration but when I got to school, people told me that the official record was forty seconds - my, how time flies when you're having fun... and I wasn't. I really did wonder whether everything was coming to an end within the next few seconds. It had a magnitude of 5.7 or close to that. Major quakes are more than 7. I'm told that the last major quake was about 7.3 and killed 2000 or so people - the upside is that the building I live in survived that quake just fine.lThursday, November 5, 2009
Earthquake today...
This has been the second earthquake day in two months for me here. Two "tremblors" today... the first at 5:34 pm and the second at 7:34 pm. I'll be lucky to have a good sleep tonight! The building was rocking, my tea spilled over onto my desk and my computer monitor jumped into the air right above the desktop surface. I really wondered if I should go outside and watch the action from a different perspective for a short time.
Here in Taiwan, we sit on the most dangerous level of earthquake zones, have major typhoon seasons and a six-month rainy season. What more could one ask for? If one thing doesn't get you, another one will.
Here in Taiwan, we sit on the most dangerous level of earthquake zones, have major typhoon seasons and a six-month rainy season. What more could one ask for? If one thing doesn't get you, another one will.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday November 1, 2009.
There's a tropical storm that's just passed through the Philippines south of here and it's brought us a couple of days of heavy wind, gusts of 40-50 mph, and this will likely be followed by a cool day tomorrow. It was cool today and people were wearing jackets and sweaters - temperatures in the low twenties seem frosty here in Taiwan. Extremes of temperature are unexpected. Extremes of everything else seem quite ordinary. Six months of the year spent in the rainy season seems normal. A month or so of typhoons in storm season seems normal. Earthquakes are just things that happen... normal. But temperatures of 22C bring out the autumn clothes.
The wind outside is howling...
I rode into Taichung today or at least to the outskirts where I strolled along "Art Street" as it's called by my friends. Lots of little shops with some very nice stuff. A friend of mine bought a handcrafted cigar box made of nice wood for about $8 (US). Now he's wondering about how he's going to fill it - the likelihood is that he won't. Then we ate in a family-run Vietnamese restaurant that wouldn't win any awards for decor but produced a wonderful meal. And, surprise, there wasn't a single noodle in the bowl!
The ride was a little dicey at times because of the wind. A couple of times I felt myself being pushed sideways by gusts of wind... not a pleasant feeling when one is riding an underpowered motor scooter in the company of what seems like thousands of others who are all jostling for position.
The scooter looks as if it might be one of the best purchases I ever made. School is just too far to walk and public transportation there is non-existent, so I broke my vow to never again have a motor vehicle and purchased an old Yamaha 90cc scooter that must be more than ten years old for about $150 (US). It has run perfectly for more than two months now and shows signs of continuing to do so. I initially didn't much like the look of it and christened it "The Pig" but have in time revisited that and now think of it more as "Miss Piggy". And if it continues to perform as it has I'll try to propose it for the New Year's Honours List and perhaps begin to refer to it as "Dame Piggy". My weekly transportation costs amount to approximately $5 (US) and I can never remember paying that little.
Monday (tomorrow) afternoon, I have my Basic French class and they are scheduled for a test. So, a large part of Saturday was spent on that. These tests will become easier when I have my format more established and I intend to keep repeating questions since the questions mirror the class work. The week went quickly and the weekend even more quickly.
The wind outside is howling...
I rode into Taichung today or at least to the outskirts where I strolled along "Art Street" as it's called by my friends. Lots of little shops with some very nice stuff. A friend of mine bought a handcrafted cigar box made of nice wood for about $8 (US). Now he's wondering about how he's going to fill it - the likelihood is that he won't. Then we ate in a family-run Vietnamese restaurant that wouldn't win any awards for decor but produced a wonderful meal. And, surprise, there wasn't a single noodle in the bowl!
The ride was a little dicey at times because of the wind. A couple of times I felt myself being pushed sideways by gusts of wind... not a pleasant feeling when one is riding an underpowered motor scooter in the company of what seems like thousands of others who are all jostling for position.
The scooter looks as if it might be one of the best purchases I ever made. School is just too far to walk and public transportation there is non-existent, so I broke my vow to never again have a motor vehicle and purchased an old Yamaha 90cc scooter that must be more than ten years old for about $150 (US). It has run perfectly for more than two months now and shows signs of continuing to do so. I initially didn't much like the look of it and christened it "The Pig" but have in time revisited that and now think of it more as "Miss Piggy". And if it continues to perform as it has I'll try to propose it for the New Year's Honours List and perhaps begin to refer to it as "Dame Piggy". My weekly transportation costs amount to approximately $5 (US) and I can never remember paying that little.
Monday (tomorrow) afternoon, I have my Basic French class and they are scheduled for a test. So, a large part of Saturday was spent on that. These tests will become easier when I have my format more established and I intend to keep repeating questions since the questions mirror the class work. The week went quickly and the weekend even more quickly.
Friday, October 30, 2009
So it was Halloween for them - true, it was a day early and during the day rather than the evening... but that was okay. They certainly did get into the spirit of the thing and none more so than the Taiwanese teachers, so that mellowed my grumpy mood about having to wear a hot, rubber mask that I could barely see through. After the outdoor judging of the costumes, they all came in and we had games set up for them in the classrooms.
It was a hot day. The temperature was at least 30 in the shade and we were in the sun, like Hamlet... too much in the sun.
I got an email from one of the university debaters at Wenzao College in Kaohsiung telling me that she and two other students are going to Beijing for the North East Asia Open Debating Tournament in late November. They'll be the sole Taiwanese team - English-language debating is still in its infancy here - and most of the other teams will be from Mainland China, Japan and Korea. I met the Taiwanese debaters in Seoul this year at the All-Asians tournament and was quite impressed with them. I can't go to this tournament but I'll be watching the results carefully and wishing them well.
It was a hot day. The temperature was at least 30 in the shade and we were in the sun, like Hamlet... too much in the sun.
I got an email from one of the university debaters at Wenzao College in Kaohsiung telling me that she and two other students are going to Beijing for the North East Asia Open Debating Tournament in late November. They'll be the sole Taiwanese team - English-language debating is still in its infancy here - and most of the other teams will be from Mainland China, Japan and Korea. I met the Taiwanese debaters in Seoul this year at the All-Asians tournament and was quite impressed with them. I can't go to this tournament but I'll be watching the results carefully and wishing them well.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Autumn comes to Taiwan
The overnight temperatures in Ching Shui are now as low as 21C while the daytime highs are a comfortable 30C - that used to sound hot to me but now it's just comfortable! Needless to say, there are no leaves changing color and this will be the first year in my life that I've not seen that. And I'm happy about that. I'm like many Canadians whose main goal in life is to be free of winter.
I went into Taichung this evening for supper at an Indian (really Pakistani) restaurant with one of the other teachers and it was great to sit at an outside table and watch the world go by as I ate my supper. Such civilized behavior...
This Friday, the English department has decided to bring Halloween to the students. Somehow, the Chinese have lived without Halloween for thousands of years but it has been decided that we shall enlighten them - and that means I have to purchase some sort of costume. I suggested that I masquerade as a teacher, but that just elicited pained looks... they didn't like my suggestion. When I suggested that I costume myself as a nudist, the looks were even more pained. It's now Tuesday and I have until Friday to come up with some sort of thing that looks like a costume and I have no ideas at all.
I went into Taichung this evening for supper at an Indian (really Pakistani) restaurant with one of the other teachers and it was great to sit at an outside table and watch the world go by as I ate my supper. Such civilized behavior...
This Friday, the English department has decided to bring Halloween to the students. Somehow, the Chinese have lived without Halloween for thousands of years but it has been decided that we shall enlighten them - and that means I have to purchase some sort of costume. I suggested that I masquerade as a teacher, but that just elicited pained looks... they didn't like my suggestion. When I suggested that I costume myself as a nudist, the looks were even more pained. It's now Tuesday and I have until Friday to come up with some sort of thing that looks like a costume and I have no ideas at all.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Ching Shui By Night
Ching Shui, Taiwan, By Night
Just try to sleep while these guys are doing their thing! This has happened several times a week during the two months that I've been here. There are half a dozen Buddhist temples within a ten-minute walk of where I live and these guys parade from one to the next, beating the drums and setting off the fireworks.
Just try to sleep while these guys are doing their thing! This has happened several times a week during the two months that I've been here. There are half a dozen Buddhist temples within a ten-minute walk of where I live and these guys parade from one to the next, beating the drums and setting off the fireworks.
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