Orientation Day 1

Yesterday, I went to school and was going to just walk around to find a place to eat but before doing so I thought it would be a good idea to ask the front office ladies for their recommendations. They told me about a noodle place a block away and it was delicious! The portions of food here are SO BIG! They gave me a serving bowl size of soup with beef and noodles. The beef was the tenderest beef I have ever EVER eaten. I was in heaven. After going there and feeling like a Buddha walking out of the place, I had to let the ladies know they made a good recommendation for me. And after telling them, I thought I would walk the 3 miles to my house to help with digestion until I was intercepted by my boss, "Do you want a ride on my scooter?" "Hmmm... YES!"

This was my first scooter ride ever and gee golly it was fun. It wasn't even a fast scooter. The whole time it felt like we were going 10-15 mph but here I am having never ridden a scooter, riding one through the streets of Taiwan and trying to figure out where I am. Is this a dream? I can't read any of the signs... okay to be fair there is a smattering of English signs. Scooters dominate the road. You see them parked on every sidewalk and even driving on the sidewalk haha. There are specific lanes for scooters. There are scooter waiting areas on the road to make it safer for them to take left hand turns. You see them going against traffic, sometimes carrying 3-5 other people. I've even seen some carrying their dog on their laps.

The first day of orientation was such an incredible day! The school has a 1-to-1 laptop program which they are going to be testing out with the 6th graders this year and so all the teachers get new Macbooks. Since I knew about this [NERD ALERT] I went to the school yesterday and got mine and have been tweaking it. So much fun! And! And, since the computer I brought was about 4 years old, I now have access to a lot of programs that couldn't be installed on my old computer. Yeeeeea-eee-yea!

Anyway, I digress. There are two other new teachers in my apartment building - Cyle and Zach - and I got to meet them this morning when the taxi picked us up to go to the school. There are 17 new teachers total and everyone is very excited to get started. I'm really excited to teach Math because I think I'll develop a much more of a bond with my students than when I was teaching solely IT and I want to integrate a lot of IT into Math to hopefully make it more interactive.

Our director is a fantastic communicator and really made everyone feel at ease. He is very passionate about making the school transparent and involving teachers in decisions which makes me want to work even harder. My principal is also very nice and was formerly a Math teacher so I know I'll be going to her for advice often.

It is also good to get to Taiwan a couple of days earlier than the expected arrival date. I feel like I know people in the office already and that sense of belonging is really important when you move to a new location. The school environment feels so nurturing too: all the new teachers that I have talked with have great ideas for their classrooms and want to help out and listen to other ideas as well. The principals and directors encourage this and really talk to you about what they want and ask you what your expectations are.

I've been trying my best to learn little phrases in Mandarin each day. Right now my vocabulary consists of "Hello," "How are you," "Thank you," and today I learned "yes" and "no." The more I use them the better I will remember them. I've also heard about the website www.fastenseatbelts.eu which teaches you about different culturalisms. Check this one out! It is how to count to 10 on one hand!

China 6_Count to 10 using only one hand. from 43 Films on Vimeo.

So I told everyone this at dinner and the Taiwanese teachers showed me how they learned to multiply by 9 in 1st grade! Soooo cool! Check it!



Some other highlights of the day included going to a photo session with a professional photographer for our passport photos, checking out the closest coffee shop and walled city, and seeing the director's house (and I thought my apartment was impressive :-)). Oh, and one of the teachers is a scout for the Yankees and another one was the Tai Kwon Do champion of Taiwan. I'm in the midst of greatness.

I am so excited to be here. A lot of people don't understand a word of what I am saying but understand my gestures and it is so much fun trying to communicate. One of the quotes the director brought up today which I'll never forget and is very apropos was, "People will forget what you say. People will forget what you have done. But, people will not forget the way you made them feel." So simple. So true. So eloquent. Definitely something to keep in mind and strive for.