Wheeling and Dealing

On Monday I headed out to Erlin Township, outside of Changhua city. I took the local train to Yuanlin station where a very nice girl, the admin assistant, picked me up and drove me to her little town. We pulled up to the school, which was located right in the main downtown area which was great. I met most of the staff there and then had an interview with two teachers and the admin assistant, but not the director (he wasn't there that day even though I had been told otherwise). The interview went really well and they had lots of questions for me, some of which had nothing to do with my work history or education, but with my experiences during my European travels as a flight attendant. After the interview process I thought I was going to need to do a demo of my teaching abilities, since that seems to be the norm here, and I was told the same for this position. However, there was no demo needed, but they did want me to sit in on one of their English classes, taught by a local teacher, and give feedback on how they teach the class and suggest any improvements or ideas I may have to improve their classes. I did what was asked but felt a little bit like an ass. I am not a professional educator nor do I know anything about how to run a school or what teaching methods work better than others. It was pretty entertaining to watch nonetheless.

After that we took a walk around the town, I saw the outside of the building in which my provided accomoodations were going to be (but not the inside, they forgot the key). We headed back to the school and they took me out to dinner. Yum yum, hot pot! I knew what a hot pot was, but had never had one. They included an egg, which I knew I needed to cook and I thought the norm was to hard boil it. After double checking with the girls whether I needed to cook it or not, I dropped it into the bowl and the three of them start laughing histerically. Why? Because apparently I am supposed to crack the egg into the bowl and cook it that way, not hard boil it. I had no idea what was so funny and I didn't realize what I had done wrong, but they scooped that egg out so fast, as if I had committed some horrible act!

After dinner they walked me to the bus station where it was very obvious I am a foreigner. I got on the bus to Changhua train station and got on the train and headed back to Hsinchu. The teachers must have really liked me because the director decided he would meet me half way between where the school is located and where I have been staying. Last night Matthew and I headed to Taichung to meet the director. There was a mix up as he believed I had already seen the contract and didn't know why I had so many questions that should have been answered in the contract. Me not having seen a contract meant that I would be negotiating. Here in Taiwan it is normal for people to work six days a week, they are workaholics for sure. I however, am not and I made that very clear. So, I will be working five days a week, for the same pay, still get a provided apartment but an even bigger one than what was going to be provided, as I used Matthew as another person who will be living there. I will be moving there next Monday and should be signing the new and improved contract at that time.

Today, I am back in Hsinchu, and I am subbing at a school here this afternoon. I have two different grade 2 classes and one grade 1 class. I have been told that it should be super easy as everything will be laid out for me. The other nice thing is that I will be getting some money, woot woot! I will keep you posted on how it all goes, but later tonight I may be partying it up, perhaps even a little too hard. I am officially at the quarter of a century mark after all!

Partying Around the Island

We left Yilan and headed back to Taipei. There we spent the night at Grant's place and then one night at the wife of a diplomat's place, and then a few nights in two different hostels. Did I mention I have never been in a hostel before? I honestly had no idea what to expect. My life as a flight attendant made me use to some pretty nice hotels; it was always on the company dollar of course. The second hostel was much nicer than the first (we had our own private bathroom), however they were both pretty good; their locations were amazing. The first was located right downtown across the street from the Taipei Main Station. That was great because I got an interview in Hsinchu and took the High Speed Train there, so it was super convenient.

The job however, I turned down. It just felt too sketch for me. I'm not an idiot when it comes to legal documents and contracts, so I will not be signing my name on a blank one. When the employer just beats around the bush everytime you ask a question, even one concerning pay, it's not a place you want to work. It was certainly an experience though. I show up at a building that looks like an office, but it's completely gated and has cameras everywhere. A woman finally comes to open the gate, I am told to wash my hand at this little low outdoor sink and use a bar of soap that looks like it's been sitting there forever. The water was ice cold, and I didn't have anything to dry my hands. I enter the school and meet the assistant and I didn't know what to do. Do I shake her hand even though my hands are soaking wet and cold?  Wouldn't that just be gross and rude? She reached for my hand so I apologized but shook it anyway. I had to do a ten minute demonstration of my teaching abilities and then had an interview with the principal, assistant and executive (I did not know what those titles truly meant). The interview didn't seem like it was going very well and I thought they had no interest in me, but out of know where I felt pressure to accept their job. They kept telling me that if I want the job I had to sign the contract right now, because they have another interview at 2pm; it was about two minutes to. Once I realized that they weren't going to answer my questions and actually thought I would sign a contract with no pay indications or any real information in it, I simply told them that I would take the chance and think it over. I didn't leave there until about 2:30pm and no other potential teacher showed up. Either they were pretty late, decided not to bother (very common here) or simply did not exist. Despite that they were very nice people and helpful enough to order me a cab back to the train station. However, that's not enough for me to accept a job when the school tries to take advantage of me because I am a brand new teacher and they think I am desperate or stupid. When the school is desperate for foreign teachers (as this one had none in sight), no tactic is too low for them.

I headed back to Taipei. Matthew and I decided to switch it up and moved to a different hostel in the Shilin district of Taipei. We were lucky enough to find one right in the mist of the night market. It was great, walk downstairs and they we are; great cheap shopping, street meat, crafts, noise, smells, everything. It is quite something to see. The picture does not do it justice (it was a rainy day so there were less people out as well). Matthew did take a video that you can view here if interested:
http://pinterest.com/pin/550565123166119003/

 

We ate some interesting foods there as well, but I must admit, I was not as adventurous as Matthew. We ordered a plate of sea snails, but after watching him struggle to get them out of their shells, and some even had those two antenna type eye things, I just couldn't try them. Matthew loved them though and ate the whole plate.We wandered around the night market for three nights in a row because it's just different every night; the crowds, and even the vendors. One night, a guy came up with a tarp full of stuff and just plopped it in the middle of the walkway and was selling sweatshirts and t's.

During the daytime though there is no market and even most of the stores are closed. We decided to take a stroll to the Tianmu district of Taipei; Matthew wanted to check out a specific stationary store. Yes, stationary. Tianmu is the classier area; mostly rich Taiwanese or foreigners live there, like diplomats. It was a very pretty area but there seemed to be a lot of hills, which just got to be exhausting because we seemed to constantly be walking uphill and got lost so many times because google maps puts the store somewhere that it is not actually located at. We happened to find the store just by chance once we decided that we had enough and it probably did not exist. On our walk back we came accross a lovely street with some beautiful green trees that shades the road.

On Saturday we were invited to a Balck & White Masquerade goodbye party for a girl we met that night. That's right, we attended a going away party for someone we met just before the party began. Matthew and I did not know all the details, so I had bought a dress the night before at the night market. We got to Taichung and realized we would be underdressed, so while our friends got their hair and makeup done, I made us some masks and Matthew mostly sat in the salon. However, he did do a wine run! The going away party was for a girl named Melissa; she has lived in Taichung, Taiwan for seven years and has decided to move. She is actually a tattoo artist and is heading to Anthens where she will ride through Europe on a bicycle and tattoo people wherever she stops. She will have videos of her travels but she may also have a television show if the broadcasters decide they like it enough after she visits a couple of cities. She is originally from Montreal, Canada, so be on the lookout for her!

That was a very late night, we did not get to sleep until about 7am. But it certainly was fun! Sunday evening, we rushed back to Hsinchu with two friends who were at the party. What for? Well, for the Lantern Festival of course! The Lantern Festival is where people make pretty intricate lanterns out of paper and they release a whole lot of them into the sky. You can also enter your lantern into a competition. We really wanted to see them float in the sky, and the four of us drove around like maniacs on the scooters. No one seemed to know where they were being released, each person told us something different. Probably after about an hour of useless circling we asked an officer who told us it was cancelled due to weather. So, we ate some food, Matthew ate a fish eyeball, and we went home to bed. Monday morning I was headed to a little town called Erlin outside of Changhua city for another job interview.

Hopping Around and Learning

Well, dirving here is quite something. NO ONE needs to worry or concern themselves with anything going on behind them. It is weird. Just focus on what's in front of you, but at the same time people mostly anticipate what the other crazy driver is about to do. I don't even know why they bother painting lines on the road, because apparently they don't really mean anything at all. Be super careful when opening your car doors as it is common for scooters to come crashing into them, however, the scooter diver can sue you and will win every time. Bicycles are not as common but despite that they still get stolen all the time!

There are some interesting things I have learned here. Like for example, if you are a Taiwanese couple and get a divorce, custody of the children automatically goes to the man. However, if you are a foreigner married to a Taiwanese, custody will always be denied to the foreigner and always go to the Taiwanese parent. Another interesting fact about this country; teaching to kindergarten students, as a foreigner, is illegal. Yes, that's right. The majority of the ESL positions here are for young students who would be in kindergarten but the Taiwanese government does not want foreigners to be on the same premises as their young children. They believe that their children must master their mother tongue before learning a new language. It's actually pretty corrupt here. The big chain schools will hire foreigners to teach kindergarten, the officials will call the school ahead of time to let them know they are coming for an inspection. The school will notify the foreign teachers who will then either leave the school for a couple hours, or hide in a closet, etc. The big chain schools also pay off the officials and will not be busted. Some of the police officials are parents of children in these same schools. The same type of things go on in the smaller schools, but if the foreign teachers get caught, it's deportation. The reason, the smaller schools, mostly privately run, cannot afford to pay off the government officials and so they get the boot. In this case both the employer and teacher are in serious trouble. After the teacher is deported, the employer will normally have to close that school and open up a new school under a new name, in a new location and pay a fine, etc. So it's some pretty serious stuff. Henceforth, I have been turning down every kindergarten teaching opportunity that I have been offered.

On to the more positive stuff, this place is absolutely beautiful! After exploring Hsinchu we headed to Taipei, however, we did not stay there long; one night. We headed to Yilan to visit Stephanie. Stephanie was a girl who did a home stay with Matthew's parents back when she attended high school in Smiths Falls. She then continued to visit his parents on weekends when she was attending Queens University. Yilan is a very beautiful city, right on the East China Sea. Yilan is located on the north east coast of Taiwan. We got to meet her parents and see a little bit of Yilan. It was a very neat place; houses along narrow roads surrounded by rice fields.

Stephanie's family put us up in the Shangrila Boutique Hotel in Yilan. It was very lovely. We ate a huge buffet dinner and drank. Well actually, it was mostly Matthew doing the drinking. He just cannot be stopped once the Sake is out. After dinner we headed to our room for some zzzzz. It was probably the most comfortable bed I have slept on in ages. The next morning we got some FREE buffet breakfast. Before leaving we decided take advantage of their hot springs pool and the sauna. There is nothing better than pure relaxation. On our way out Matthew got caught trying to sneak a towel. Tsk tsk tsk! the little Asian woman came running out after him, all the way to the car. FAIL. The drive home was shorter than we had expected as we luckily did not get stuck in the crazy traffic that seems to be the norm here.

Fate...?

I have arrived in Taiwan!!! Woot woot! And I have the craziest story to tell you; it makes me believe in fate, hahaha! Our flight from Ottawa to Detroit was full and so Matthew (the boyfriend) and I were not able to sit together. I am not sure if I have mentioned that but essentially I told Matthew back in November that I needed to get out of Ottawa and once I left for Calgary in December (to visit my mother) I seriously consider this; that is when I was applying to jobs in China. Matthew followed me here and it has definitely been great so far and without him I think I probably would have been sleeping on the streets right now; he knows lots of people.

Anyway, back to the story. The flight was full and Matthew and I were separated. Our flight was also delayed because of weight problems; the airline had to ask for four volunteers to disembark the plane and wait for the next flight, thank goodness we weren't delayed by too much so we did not miss our connection. Matthew ended up sitting next to a man his age and they started talking; asking the basics like where are you headed, where are you from, etc. This man said he was headed to Taiwan, as our we! But actually this man has been living in Taiwan for the last 13 years. Matthew told him he was from a small town half way between Ottawa and Kingston; and this man is from that area too. He told Matthew that his town was called Smiths Falls and Matthew remembered him right after that. His name is Grant and they both went to high school together and were in the same year! Small world I would say. Grant accompanied us throughout our travels thus far. It has been great so far having him take us around and especially as he has been teaching English here in Taiwan for years and had a lot of great advice to give; we have learned tons of new information.

Grant made the long flight from Detroit to Tokyo more interesting and he had so many positive things to say about Taiwan, he really loves this place. We landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and took a shuttle bus (for $1CAD) to the high speed rail station. Then we took the train to Hsinchu (also known as the Windy City) where Grant was headed. We have made 5 new friends, all foreigners and also all English teachers last night; and spent the night here at Grant's friend's place. Grant needed to come here because his friend has been taking care of his dog and car while he was away for holidays back in Canada.

Today we are planning to take a walk along some park paths here in Hsinchu and later this evening we will head to Taipei with Grant in a car, so we will get to experience what driving is like here (they drive on the same side as we do).

The first day is ahead of me and I cannot wait to explore this place!

Let's Just Go!

So, yesterday I got impulsive. I decided that I really was just sick of waiting around for these potential jobs to make up their minds. I just don't want to waste any more time here doing nothing except pack and then lose sight of things and just never finish packing. I work very well under pressure but not so well trying to plan. So instead, I went into the travel agency and I said, "I want a ticket to Taiwan for Monday." Yes. That's right, I just walked in and bought a ticket to Taiwan on impulse. It's not that I have that kind of money to blow, but it is because I know I do not want to settle for some mundane, minimum wage, dead end job here in Ottawa. I just need to do something exciting and possibly even a bit crazy.

I will be arriving in Taipei at 9:35pm on Tuesday, February 12 and I must say I am most certainly ecstatic. However, I am now in a serious crunch to get rid of all my stuff. I did I run back to my mom's house to put some stuff in storage a few days ago, but I didn't plan that out very well and did not use the space in my car to its full potential. I was going to do my second and final run today, but the weather is absolutely disgusting and I cannot see out of my back window, so hopefully early tomorrow morning will be better. Since I have left these things so last minute and I must be back in Ottawa by Sunday morning, I will be doing the 5.5 hours drive each way tomorrow; it will be a long day that I am not looking forward to. There is so much to do before you leave the country and I thought that I was prepared to leave last month. I guess one is never really ready but once I am on that plane it just won't matter anymore.

I will be sure to post photos along with my next blog. Landing in Taipei during the Chinese New Year will be quite an experience. I hope I will be able to find a hostel/hotel to stay at until I can find a more permanent place to live.

Maybe I will leave everything up to destiny...

So, I have tried and tried again to find a job and I really don't seem to be having any luck. Although I have found numerous jobs, had the interviews and even signed some contracts, in the end the schools have retracted their end of the deal and went with a teacher that is already in Taiwan. Now, I am seriously considering hopping on a plane and just going over there without any job. I am currently in the process of moving some personal items to my mom's garage and also making sure I have all the required documents ready prior to my departure.

I went over to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Ottawa today to attempt to get my degree authenticated. Apparently there has been a number of foreigners who have forged degrees and have been working overseas and getting valid work visas, so now Taiwan requires all the original documents, but there is also the option of getting them authenticated in your home country, which is actually a pain in the butt. Becuase I went to the University of Guelph, I must get my degree authenticated at the office closest to that location; Toronto. So, I pretty much have to take a day trip to Toronto for someone to stamp my piece of paper. It is a little insane. I am honestly thinking of hopping on plane with my original documents and just chancing it. I will land at one of their international airports and probably flip a coin to see which direction I should go in; live on the West coast or East coast? I feel like getting my butt over there as soon as possible is the best thing for me; at least that way I can't lose a job to someone who is already in the country; although losing it to someone who is whiter than me is still probable (yes, I was denied a job after they found out that I am of mixed race).

I am thinking/hoping that I shall be in Taiwan by the end of next week!