This is a little belated but it will have to do. I will try to be as detailed as possible. It is kinda long though so I hope you have plenty of time to read it.
In the last post I told you that I found out that I was starting school this week instead of next week.
Ok. Here it goes. I went to bed Sunday night not knowing how I was to get to my school, or what time I was suppose to be there. So, I woke up Monday morning around 6:00 AM. I was ready by 7:00. I had heard something about us being picked up by someone from the school. So I waited, and waited, and waited. 8:00 came and finally, I asked the school guard where our driver was. He replied, "You are not starting school today. You start next Monday. We will have a meeting on Wednesday for you to talk with your teachers. You will not go to school today."
Okay. So I did not go to school Monday. Instead, I got breathing money for last week (you think Grandma pays well, you should come here!) As celebration for having money, we went out for pizza that night. It was so good!
Later, Sandy came by and told us that tomorrow (Tuesday) we would go visit some of our schools. Meet the principals, teachers, see the school, etc. Basically an orientation. Sandy said she would go with me to Shau Kinmen (Little Kinmen). She said we would leave at 8:00.
Tuesday morning, I got up at 7:00. I Got ready again, and waited for Sandy to come. She came blazing in on her moped at 7:55 saying "Hurry, Jane! Hurry, Jane! We are going to be late!" She parked her moped and started running out of the parking lot. I was not sure where we were going, but I started running after her, thinking, I sure hope I don't have to run very far.
Fortunatly for me, the bus stop is less than a block away. :o) We wait for the bus for about 5 minutes. Then we boarded and rode it all the way to the port. We got off, and boarded a public transportation boat to take us to Shau Kinmen. After about 10 minutes, we arrived in Shau Kinmen.
When we got there, one of the school principals was there to pick us up. He graciously provided our transportation on the island throughout the entire day. So, he took us to his school first. I got there, and he showed me the diffrent classrooms where I would teach. He had me come in and briefly introduce myself to the students. Soon, all of Kinmen will know how many brothers and sisters I have.
He then took me to the principal's office. I sat down, and he served Sandy and I tea. We talked, er, I should say they talked in Chinese, and I mostly smiled and watched. Then the teacher came in, and we discussed a little about how we wanted to teach the class. Sandy and I finished our tea and the principal drove us to the next school.
At that school, I did not get to meet the students. Instead, I was taken directly to the principal's office. There, we had another cup of tea, and Sandy and the principal talked. Then the teacher came in and we talked together a little. Then it was time to go. We finished our tea and left.
This time, the principal took us to the Jr. High school. I was not going to be teaching there, but the principal of that school was good friends with Sandy. So, we get there, and are taken directly to the principal's office. We sit down in a very nice and comfortable lounge area, and a man comes in and makes some tea for us. (He made me think of a butler. But I am sure he has a more appropriate title.) He was very attentive to us throughout our entire visit. If our cup was even a quarter empty, he would refill it. The principal of that school also provided some Kinmen candy. These are not like regular candies that you might think of. They tended to be more bready instead of hard. Also Taiwanese food is not nearly as sweet as American. There were about 9 diffrent candies in the bowl. He sat the bowl between me and Sandy. All throughout the meeting, Sandy would tell me, "Oh Jane, you have to try this one. It is very famous in Kinmen!" So I would try it. After trying about 6-7 diffrent "famous", or "favorite" candies, I was feeling quite the glutton. The candies were all really good though! That visit ended, and the principal drove us to the 3rd school I would be teaching at.
We arrived there and I was taken to the principals office. (sound familiar?) We sit down, and he has his "butler" come in and prepare some tea. He also provides some Kinmen candies. *deep breath is taken here* They are not as wide a variety, but sure enough, Sandy is able to find one that I have not tried yet. So I try yet another Kinmen candy. Again it was good. But by this time, I am getting kinda full of tea and candy. The teacher I will be working with comes in, and we quickly go over some lesson planning. Then it is time to go.
Sandy and I pile once more into the van. Sandy then tells me that we will be going out to lunch. The principal first stops at the Jr. High school were we pick up the principal from that school.
We got to the resturant and about 12 other people are there. Later, Sandy told me, "There were 4 principals, 3 teachers, 1 retired principal, ourselves, and the rest were just there for the show." We go in, and sit around a big table with a lazy susan in the middle. (similar to Buckners) They pour white wine for everybody. Of course, Sandy and I politely refused. Instead, I had barley tea. Then the waitress came in and placed some food on the table. Susan started spinning and when it came to me, Sandy was very attentive to me and served my plate for me. Every time a new dish came to the table, Sandy would say, "Jane, you should try this!" or "Jane, this is a famous dish!" or "Jane, you can only get this in Shau Kinmen!" So I tried a little of everything.
Also, it is very Taiwanese to toast a person to say thank you at a meal. So I was toasted for being a foriegn English teacher by each of the principals individually, and then all the teachers were toasted, and then Sandy was toasted, and then the principals toasted each other, each time drinking more and more shots of the white wine. I ended up getting toasted about 7-8 times.
The lunch was huge! Even if I had not already had 4 cups of tea and about 8 candies, I would have been stuffed. And it was all so good. I wish I had taken pictures. Sandy later said that it would have been ok as I was a forigner and it was practically expected. But since I did not get pictures, I will have to tell you about the diffrent dishes. The first was a oyster dish. It was very good. There were also some sandwiches which were wonderful! They were so prettly decorated too. There was a lobster on the plate with a beautiful flower as an accent. I also had octopus. You could actually see the little suction cups on the legs (legs? is that what they are called? maybe tenticals? oh well. They have eight of them.) I also had a soup that had clams in it. Shell and all. You just picked up the open shell with your chopsticks, and *slurp* it into your mouth. We also had some really yummy fish. Now in the states, when you have fish, most of the time it is a nice fillet. But here, it was the whole fish. Head, eyes, fins, the whole thing. But, that kind of thing never bothered me. Sandy put some of it on my plate. I tried it and the flavor was SO good! It was probably one of my favorite dishes for that meal. We also had crab legs and many other things. Too many to count.
We finally finished the meal. My stomach felt like it was bulging. Sandy and I piled into another van this time. The principal who had been driving us around had to go to a meeting I think. So we had another principal drive us. He said that he would show us the tunnels.
Brief history lesson here: the tunnels were from the war with China. They dug tunnels at sea level so they could park or hide the ships and need be. They are now a tourist attraction.
Ok. So we went to see the tunnels. It was so much fun. I had a great time and I love caves and history. There was one point in the tunnels, that we heard a bunch of racket. The principal, who also acted as our tour guide said that it was bats down one of the side tunnels. I tried to take a picture down the tunnel to see them, but it didn't come out. Then I thought about yelling or doing something to disturb them so they would come flying out, but thought better of it. It would probably have terrified Sandy anyway. :o)
So we came out the other end, right at the harbor. We left the principal with many thank you's for the tour and boarded the boat once again. We arrived at Da Kinmen (Big Kinmen) and boarded the bus. We took the bus back to my town. But the bus went a diffrent way than we thought it would go. So Sandy had to pull the emergency cord and have bus driver stop for us to get off. We walked back to the school very tired and very full.
And that was the end of that day.
Wednesday, I got up again at 7:00 to visit another school here on Da Kinmen. A driver from that school came and picked me up. He took me to the school, where they took me to a little room and gave me breakfast. Then the teacher I would be working with came in. I went with her to the classroom and sat in the back and took notes and watched how she opperated the classroom. I was very pleased. I wached her teach two classes, then she took me to the principals office where I had tea and a cookie. The break was over and I went and watched her teach the other two classes. Then we had lunch. It was a beef and noodle soup. It was delicious! I also had an orange. Then the driver came and took me back to my dorm.
I arrived there at the same time that the veteren teachers came in from the airport. We then all went together to a meeting with all our teachers. They were all hungry, so we went to a resturant and I ate again. (why do I feel like a hobbit right now?) We drank water there and talked about how to plan together and how it was important to communicate to each other. So I talked with the other teachers I would be working with and figured out what I was suppose to do. Then we were told that we would be going out for a big dinner. Dinner came and I ate agian. I am going to be so fat when I get home. I should start doing some serious exercising.
Well that is about it so far for this week. Tomorrow, I will be going to another school. Who knows maybe I will get to drink tea in the principal's office.
Love you all! Thanks for praying!
:o)
Ok so maybe that was a little more than an inch. Whoops. I got a little carried away. Good thing it grows back, right? I guess I just need more practice. Anybody want to volunteer?
