Russ + Sharon = Taiwan: February 2015

Monday, 23 February 2015

Taipei Outdoors!

There are lots of fun places to explore in urban Taipei, but that doesn't do the whole city justice. There are kilometres of great biking and hiking trails that we have taken advantage of. Here are some pics:

One nice day this week Sharon, our good friend Cassie, and I went on an epic bike ride around Taipei. The city of Taipei is circled by a river system to the North, South, and West with a mountain range closing it off on the East. There is an interconnected bike path system all around the rivers in the city, which you can hop on and off at your leisure. We decided to take a two hour trip from one area of town back to our place. Along this bike ride we saw a bunch of baseball diamonds, badminton courts, and stray dogs (not necessarily in that order).

These guys were awfully friendly

This is Sharon on a U Bike.

zoooooooooooom!

This is the public bike system in Taipei that connects with the subway system. The first 30 minutes of the bike ride are free then it's $0.40 (CAD) for every 30 minutes afterwards. Our whole bike trip cost us $1.20.

Here is a video of the ride. I'll let it explain everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4wIwJfnmpU&feature=youtu.be

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A few days later Sharon and I went to the mountains East of the city. There are four mountains to explore, but because of a call for rain, we decided to just check out one: Elephant Mountain.

We have been learning a LITTLE Chinese. Beneath the words "Taipei" on this sign

are the symbols 象 (elephant) and 山 (mountain). Once you recognize a few symbols,

you can get by in every day life. We are not at that stage yet.

Elephant mountain is a 10 minute walk from the MRT (which makes it the most popular) and can take you on hours of trail through some pretty breathtaking scenery. It also gives you a great and inexpensive view of the city:

I guess we should have picked a nicer day for this...

It was a rainy day, so we didn't get a great view, but you still get a pretty good feel from the city up there. Straight ahead is Taipei 101, Taipei's "Empire State Building"/"CN Tower". We'll have to go back and get a better shot on a nicer day.

Back to the hike, there are a few good shots that we took and would like to share with you. Enjoy!

If only I knew what these meant. They look really cool though.

Once we were off the mountain and walking back, we saw this amazing looking temple embedded in the mountains. On a nicer day, we plan to go back and explore it (and I'm overdue for sharing my experiences with temples here).

Until then, keep your feet dry and your hands warm.

- RS=T

Sunday, 15 February 2015

School's in Session

Well here we go! This past week and half have been crazy busy as you'll read in this post, so our apologies for not posting! But we both have jobs and are very busy! Here's how it all worked out...

...Sharon, being a great teacher and human being, managed to find work right off the plane. The conversation at customs went something like this:

Sharon: "Hello, I am so excited to come to your country!"

Customs: "Hello, you're all clear and here is full time work."

Mine however went like this...

Russ: "Hello, I have nothing to declare."

Customs: "Neither do we."

Being a man and getting work is a little harder than it is being a woman. It's not sexist or anything, its just that there are a lot more younger kids to be taught, so generally they want the motherly type. Apparently, I lack that character type.

With a little persistence however, I managed to land not one job but three! One was for a two week stint before Chinese New Year, but the other two are ongoing until the summer (one is for adults, one is for children). It's been great teaching so far, so here is what we've learned about learning and we will teach you about teaching:

1) ESL is a completely different beast than public school teaching in Canada. It's not about expanding ideas and reaching beyond the nuts and bolts.. this IS the nuts and bolts. You can't have a conversation about the government, art, or even weekend activities if the students don't know how to express themselves. You really have to take it slow and drill into their heads "It is an eraser", "Wednesday is when we do our spelling test", and "I can't go to the movies because Johnny Depp is now officially creepy".

2) These kids work hard. This is a typical schedule for a Taiwanese child (grade 1).

- 8:30 go to Chinese school
- 12:00 eat lunch
- 12:30 continue Chinese school
- 1:30 take a nap at their desks at school (they bring a pillow, blanket, and toothbrush)
- 2:00 English teacher like us come in and teach for 3 hours
- 5:30 continue Chinese school
- 7:00 go home. repeat.

It's amazing how they do it. But here, that's the norm and is always how it's been.

3) Small class sizes = the ability to connect with each child, even if it's only for two weeks.

4) Russ is a very foreign name. Russell is absolutely alien. So are beards.

5) Children are children wherever you go. Just because they have this crazy schedule, doesn't mean they are thoughtless robots. They are funny, silly, fidgety, just like every kid. Since parents pay to go to these schools, there is an expectation that students not only behave, but excel. They get that message at a young age, but still act like silly little kids.

All in all, teaching has been great so far. We have learned a lot of new skills already in this short time here in Taiwan and will probably pick up a whole bucket load more by the time we return. I already know I'm going to miss everything out here - the city, the life style, the teaching. We both try our best to not think about that because if we do, we're going to miss all the great things around us every day.

Speaking of great things around us every day, here's what's keeping the streets safe during mid day construction downtown Taipei today:

- RS=T