Howdy there. You still read this? Can’t say I know why as I haven’t given you much (any) reason to even check lately. I thought about pounding out another wall of cultural commentary and teaching trials but then thought back to English class. How does a student get out of a creative writing assignment? Poetry of course, and especially haiku! The 17 magic syllables give a veneer of erudition, yet are the effluence of indolence. So shamelessly, knowing full well I take the easy way out, here are my last several weekends.
Weekend of 2/12
Pingxi with Irene;
Lantern Festival was fun.
A packed train station.
2/19
Overrated club,
But good DJs and dancers.
Where’d my money go?
2/26
A three day weekend!
Many possibilities.
Some good and some bad.
Sun Moon Lake I heard
Would be fun, I have to go!
Sadly mistaken.
An attic to sleep,
Our mattress was three blankets.
Ouch, ow, @#%^! Cheap place.
The mountaintop farm
Qingjing’s quite cool sheepdog show
Did not disappoint.
3/5
Two days to payday,
So a pretty tame weekend.
Uh oh, rent is due?
3/12
Friends to visit us;
Simultaneously sick.
See you next weekend.
3/19
A house party here.
Flip cup, beer pong, both fun games.
Floor smells like college.
3/26
Have no big plans yet;
My friend has a new girlfriend.
You’re welcome, C*******
4/2
So there you go, a quick look at the past, present and future. Some interesting teaching related things: I was doing an oral test which is just a 1-on-1 Q & A session with students. This was quite a low level, and I asked “What’s your favorite color?” Although the finer meaning of ‘favorite’ is lost on them, they (should) know the pattern and say “My favorite color is ___.” Not this all-star. His response? “MONKEY!” Yes. For real.
On one quiz the students were filling in charts of verb, verb past tense, and verb past participle like drink/drank/drunk throw/threw/thrown, etc… For fly, one student wrote fly/fland/flet. I don’t know why. Still, I rank this student far smarter than the few whom left the boxes blank even after I said not to and it would cost points.
Overall though teaching is going quite well. I can tell I’m developing as not only are my classes responding better to me, but when I sub a class or otherwise go in cold, they are still better. Is it going well enough for me to want to stay another year? I don’t know yet. I’m still quite interested in improving my Chinese and see myself landing a job denominated in American dollars. That said I also find it hard to believe I wouldn’t come back out here again for some reason or another.
The Chinese is getting much better. Irene is helping me dramatically; I think we’ve reached a point where we speak more Chinese than English. Speaking at length can be quite a pain but responding to a pointed question is not difficult, and my listening has improved the most out of the 4 facets from being in Taiwan. This is no shock since it’s Chinese is literally unavoidable here, I hope I can translate it (pun intended) into speaking improvement.
A milestone: I am now able to drive legally in Taiwan, for both scooters and cars. Whoop! I extended my International Driving Permit which expires in Taiwan when you become a permanent resident. Why is this relevant? Doesn’t every foreigner and even some Chinese drive their scooters unlicensed? Yes. But for Spring Scream, my roommates, Irene, and another training friend will take Irene’s parents’ car to Kending for the 4-day weekend. Have I met them? No. Do they even know about me and Irene? I don’t think so. Am I surprised? Yes. Will I commit vehicular manslaughter when some aggressive scooter zips in front of me? Sweet lord I hope not.
As far as money goes, March has plenty of hours so after we get paid for it I should be on fine fiscal footing from there on. February was short and we lost a week with Chinese New Year so everybody was hurting a little. Hourly work isn’t fun that way. The receipt lottery drawing is tomorrow so that always provides a little excitement, even if I’ve been stiffed both times so far.
There have been a few other things I have since forgotten to blog about that I thought might have provided an entertaining anecdote. Oh well. Now that I’m working full time and have become acclimated my desire to blog has decreased. I’m sorry if that means drier entries for you, I know exactly how it feels to read something that you don’t necessarily have to but feel a loose obligation to do so. I did go to college after all.
Go Badgers, congratulations Tubs, and good luck Japan!
