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!