WELCOMING THE NEW FOREIGNERS
The time is 2:3op.m. and I am busy in the teacher's lounge working on my lesson plans, when I look up to see two new faces. I pause for a moment to greet the new teachers, one man and one woman. The man's name is Jean Paul and he is from Canada, although he was born in Florida and spent the first 18 years of his life living there. The woman that accompanied him was his girlfriend and her name is Kathy. She was born and raised in Canada, and that is where she met Jean Paul. I spoke to them briefly because I had to finish planning, but I gathered a lot of information about them in the short period of time. For one thing they are both veterans when it comes to teaching abroad. They have been to many places in Asia such as Bangkok, and Korea, but they have only taught in Korea. So needless to say this experience was in no way a novel one.
Three hours pass and I am now finished planning and teaching my classes for the day. I have an hour until I am supposed to depart for a birthday party with a friend, so as I begin to leave the school, I hear Kathy saying that she was thinking of getting something to eat. Now I am definately not pro of my surroundings, but I have memorized the location of a couple of good eateries. So I tell her to follow me so that I could show her some places that she might like that were not too far. The American in me first takes her to the pizza joints ( ok, ok, I know, so I am in Taiwan and I should be pointing out the best Taiwanese places to eat, but hey I wanted her to feel right at home ;-) ). We head past Domino's, Pizza Hut, and this Italian restaurant called Napoli's (btw most American pizza places automatically give you a free pizza if you buy one at menu price, which is absolutely amazing if you ask me). I suggest Napoli's because of the wider selection and she takes me up on the recommendation.
Now this is the part I feel really bad about. Before she orders I tell her that I am supposed to meet a friend in less than an hour to go to a birthday party and that I would not be able to eat with her. She tells me that it is ok, because she remembers the way back, and I give her directions back ( it is not very far from the school). As I made it back to the school I thought to myself, "How was I like with directions with I first arrived?". Then I became overwhelmed with feelings of guilt ( not only could I not find my way from one place to the other when I first arrived, but I thought everything looked the same -- and I can't read Chinese --- yikes!). So not even a minute after I began to feel these sensations my academic director asked me where was Kathy? I told her that she was eating at Napoli's a restaurant not to far from here. My director told me to check on her just to make sure everything was ok, and I couldn't agree more with her. So I jumped on my bike (remember bicycle not scooter or motorcycle, don't have enough for one of those yet) and I returned to Napoli's.
I walked all through the pizza place but could not find Kathy. Uh oh, now my feelings of guilt intensified (What if she went the wrong way?). So I rode down all of the streets between Napoli's and my place of employment. Nothing, so now I was freaking out, she has to be lost. After searching for a while I rode back to the school and informed the academic director that I did not see her in Napoli's nor did I see her along the streets. The director then told me to wait a couple more minutes for her to return. It wasn't until 15-20 minutes later that Kathy returned to the school. I was so relieved to see that she was ok and I apologized profusely. She told me that it was ok and that while she walking back it dawned on her that she did not have a clue to where she was at. She told me that she found herself in a park ( now the park is a block or two from the school so she was in the right direction) and that a fellow co-worker saw her walking as she was driving home. So the co-worker picked her up and dropped her back at the school. Wow, I guess you can say I was saved again by divine providence, I am just glad that everything worked out for the best.
That night was one crazy night and I did end up making it to the birthday party. The party was fun and about half of the guest spoke a little English so my friend Jonathan and I were able to communicate with some of them. We played card games, watched Mtv, ate cake, and did typical things most young people do at birthday parties. Except there was one thing that I refused to take part in and that was the eating of chicken feet. That's right folks they had a plate of chicken feet, and I thought to myself ( sweet Jesus they still have the claws - wow). But aside from the chicken feet everything was pretty much the same.
Ok, so next time it is going to be one insane blog. I went to Bangkok, Thailand for three days to take the GRE (Graduate Records Exam) and during my time there I did everything under the sun. I will post pictures of my time there, and tell you about my friend Prayad that took be kickboxing, not only to watch but to participate. Until then later!
Next time: MY SURREAL TALE OF THAILAND
Three hours pass and I am now finished planning and teaching my classes for the day. I have an hour until I am supposed to depart for a birthday party with a friend, so as I begin to leave the school, I hear Kathy saying that she was thinking of getting something to eat. Now I am definately not pro of my surroundings, but I have memorized the location of a couple of good eateries. So I tell her to follow me so that I could show her some places that she might like that were not too far. The American in me first takes her to the pizza joints ( ok, ok, I know, so I am in Taiwan and I should be pointing out the best Taiwanese places to eat, but hey I wanted her to feel right at home ;-) ). We head past Domino's, Pizza Hut, and this Italian restaurant called Napoli's (btw most American pizza places automatically give you a free pizza if you buy one at menu price, which is absolutely amazing if you ask me). I suggest Napoli's because of the wider selection and she takes me up on the recommendation.
Now this is the part I feel really bad about. Before she orders I tell her that I am supposed to meet a friend in less than an hour to go to a birthday party and that I would not be able to eat with her. She tells me that it is ok, because she remembers the way back, and I give her directions back ( it is not very far from the school). As I made it back to the school I thought to myself, "How was I like with directions with I first arrived?". Then I became overwhelmed with feelings of guilt ( not only could I not find my way from one place to the other when I first arrived, but I thought everything looked the same -- and I can't read Chinese --- yikes!). So not even a minute after I began to feel these sensations my academic director asked me where was Kathy? I told her that she was eating at Napoli's a restaurant not to far from here. My director told me to check on her just to make sure everything was ok, and I couldn't agree more with her. So I jumped on my bike (remember bicycle not scooter or motorcycle, don't have enough for one of those yet) and I returned to Napoli's.
I walked all through the pizza place but could not find Kathy. Uh oh, now my feelings of guilt intensified (What if she went the wrong way?). So I rode down all of the streets between Napoli's and my place of employment. Nothing, so now I was freaking out, she has to be lost. After searching for a while I rode back to the school and informed the academic director that I did not see her in Napoli's nor did I see her along the streets. The director then told me to wait a couple more minutes for her to return. It wasn't until 15-20 minutes later that Kathy returned to the school. I was so relieved to see that she was ok and I apologized profusely. She told me that it was ok and that while she walking back it dawned on her that she did not have a clue to where she was at. She told me that she found herself in a park ( now the park is a block or two from the school so she was in the right direction) and that a fellow co-worker saw her walking as she was driving home. So the co-worker picked her up and dropped her back at the school. Wow, I guess you can say I was saved again by divine providence, I am just glad that everything worked out for the best.
That night was one crazy night and I did end up making it to the birthday party. The party was fun and about half of the guest spoke a little English so my friend Jonathan and I were able to communicate with some of them. We played card games, watched Mtv, ate cake, and did typical things most young people do at birthday parties. Except there was one thing that I refused to take part in and that was the eating of chicken feet. That's right folks they had a plate of chicken feet, and I thought to myself ( sweet Jesus they still have the claws - wow). But aside from the chicken feet everything was pretty much the same.
Ok, so next time it is going to be one insane blog. I went to Bangkok, Thailand for three days to take the GRE (Graduate Records Exam) and during my time there I did everything under the sun. I will post pictures of my time there, and tell you about my friend Prayad that took be kickboxing, not only to watch but to participate. Until then later!
Next time: MY SURREAL TALE OF THAILAND
posted by Bob | 6:38 PM
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