1st full week
Our first official week in Taiwan was pretty filled. We were busy from 8am to around 7 or 8 pm every day. It was during this time that we got the boring official stuff like bank account, permits and other official paperwork out of the way. We also got the first official summary of what our year is going to look like. We will be teaching about 20 hours a week, including 6 hours where we help out at this thing called the English Village. The ‘EV’ is huge in Kaohsiung and is housed in several different schools all around the city. The EV tries to replicate an English speaking environment in everyday places. Its basically like playing an extended version of house where the kids have to use their English. So one room is decorated to look like a grocery store, another a hotel, an airport, a subway, a concert hall, a library, etc. and native or near native English speakers volunteer to create an English immersion environment. So kids go to the ‘library’ and have to find where the dictionary is or they have to book a room at a hotel, using only English to communicate. It was a pretty sweet little setup. Schools will bring their different English classes once a year to go through this English fun house.
After teaching and volunteering we’re just supposed to get involved in the community, like going to the Tai Chi classes in the park in the mornings (which we have already done and its AWESOME).
As for food adventures, we’ve been getting these pretty sweet lunch boxes every day at lunch (see photo) where there’s usually 3 vegetables, rice and a meat. They’re usually pretty good. One dinner this week was at a hotpot restaurant which is a popular theme. It most resembles a fondue restaurant where you order the type of meat/veggie you want and the kind of broth you want to cook it in and then you cook it at your table. I got pork in a tomato broth which was pretty delicious. The director of the program also took us out to a nice western restaurant on the beach complete with a salad bar, grilled steak, and fish without heads. One night we stumbled upon this delicious vegetarian buffet where you filled up small boxes with all sorts of deliciousness. Note to self, when in doubt, go vegetarian.
Typical lunchbox meal. Rice and meat on the left, veggies on the right. This one was the favorite so far.
Last night (August 8th) was not only Fathers’ Day (side note: the word for 8 in Chinese is ‘ba’ and the word for father is ‘baba’, thus Fathers’ Day is on 8/8), but it was also the start of the Olympics. We decided to watch the opening ceremony at a bar called the Pig and Whistle. It is an English Pub with HD tvs and a fully stocked bar. It was really cool watching the teams parade through the stadium and have different parts of the bar cheering for different countries.
Favorite Pics of the week:
I want some of that squid!