Grad School in a week

We have now completed our week of grad school for teaching so we're ready to become teachers on Monday.  Right?!

First of all, I cannot say enough how much we like Taipei.  It is truly the coolest city I have ever visited when all factors are included into the mix.  Too bad we were training all and did not have much time to visit the sights.

Picture of Taipei.  City in the forest and mountains with a river and coastline plus a population of 2.6 million...is that possible?

Our training was held at the headquarters for our school.  Our training session included 13 other teachers who will be teaching in various cities around Taiwan.  We had quite the mix of teachers.  The nationalities included American, British, South African, Canadian, Australian, and Irish.  A few of the teachers had taught in other countries included China, Siberia and Arabia.  It was a fun group of people with a lot of different personalities.  Two of the teachers will be in Hsinchu City at a different branch than us.

From going through training weeks with corporate America companies, I must say this was the best training I have been through for several reasons.

1.  All of the instructors were British.  We picked up on some new fun British words to start using including rubbish, nappy (diaper), brilliant (used like Americans use great), and just using "quite" more often.  Seriously, the instructors were all previous teachers who know work in HR.  They know how to capture an audience, present a lesson in an interesting manner, and keep their students involved.  The lessons were constructed much like how our classes will be.  We were constantly playing games, being called on, asked to volunteer to assist in the learning process, divided into competitive teams, etc.  For those of you who know about the teacher Ron Clark, I believe Ron would like the classrooms here!  The classes are active.  Everyone must pay attention at all times.  The students are driven and motivated by team points.  Somehow, teaching in these schools could remind me of my camp counseling days....
2.  I really felt like I was learning useful information that will be directly applied to my new job.  Although I have no great expectations that I will be a brilliant teacher in my first month (hopefully not too much longer than that), I feel prepared that I have learned a lot.  James and I agree that there were a few key points missing but overall a lot was covered.  You can tell that I had to stay involved and ready to respond at all times because there are NO doodles in my notes!  I have a doodling addiction as soon as a pen enters my hand in most cases...
3. We observed four classes in Taipei.  Although we had observed classes at our respective schools in Hsinchu, it was nice to see other teachers, too.  I got to observe a Kindy (Kindergarten) class.  It made me a bit sad I do not have any Kindy classes, but I am sure I will get over it :)  We also met another married couple who has been in Taipei teaching English for 9 months!  It was cool to met another married couple doing the same thing as us.
4.  One of the example lessons was conducted in Chinese.  Somehow, we were in a freak group of teachers who all already knew some Chinese.  James and I were so lost.  We know how a student would feel who could not understand what the heck was going on in English class.  We felt like total fools not knowing how to say our nationality and other country names.  However, in the end with a good lesson, we can say a few other countries and "I am American."  I actually got to use this at the market the other day to the cashier.  It was exciting to speak Chinese correctly!
5.  One reason why this training was not so brilliant, we sat at the students' desks from 9:45am to 8:30pm for two of the days and 9:45am to 4pm for the other three days.  Rubbish!

In the meantime we managed to see a little bit more of Taipei during our small amount of free-time.

Monday Run - Da'an Forest Park
This was a 10 minute run from our hostel.  The park is pretty big and full of trees with a dirt track around the exterior.

Tuesday Run - River Park
This park/path lines the river on both sides and was a 5 minute run from the hostel.  The river runs straight (or rather curvy) through Taipei.  I believe it is about 25 miles one way.  The path is for cyclists and pedestrians only!  Basically you see green on both sides of you, a river, city and mountains all at once.  Incredible!

Wednesday Run - Botanical Gardens
Gorgeous gardens about a 10 minute run from the hostel again.  Unfortunately, we were there too early to go into a lot of the gardens but nonetheless very cool.

Thursday Run - National Taiwan Normal University
Sorry...no pictures.  This was very close to our hostel and nothing too special.  Just a college campus with lots of trees and a track.

Friday Run - Back to the river going the opposite direction

On Thursday evening, we had a bit more time given we had completed our observations and our homework (writing our own lesson plan).  We rode the MRT south to the Taipei Zoo.  From there, we hopped straight on a gondola that took us over green mountains.  The ride lasted about 20 minutes and cost $2.66 US each way.  Not too shabby!  We tried to hike some of the trails at the top but unfortunately the sun was already starting to set.  That meant the bugs were coming out!!!!  The ride down was pretty awesome with the city and Taipei 101 lit up.  We will definitely go back there for a full day's trip of hiking and learning to make our own tea.  The spot is famous for making your own tea and apparently delicious.

View from the top with Taipei 101

Biggest snails ever!

Link to the gondola ride movie - http://youtu.be/QnwZVIzFDKs 

Other highlights of Taipei were:

• The hostel -  Thank you Eight Elephants hostel!  There were no cockroaches in our rooms!  We enjoyed flushing our toilet paper because they supposedly have piping made for that.  Either that or the staff doesn't like to take out stinky toilet paper.  They also had a filter drinking water faucet connected to the kitchen sink.  Finally it was simple and easy to drink water again.  Also, we enjoyed having a real kitchen for the first time since arriving in Taiwan.  We made our own dinner every night!  We also met a lot of neat people at the hostel.  I feel like we were at grandma's house getting spoiled all week. 
• The Vegetarian Restaurant by our school and hostel -  We did not have high hopes for this place but it exceeded our exceptions.  Steamed veggie dumplings rock our world!
• Public trashcans - There are no public trashcans in Hsinchu.  I do not know the reason for this.  However, there are trashcans in Taipei.  Maybe there are no trashcans in Hsinchu since there are no sidewalks to put them on.  Who was the city planner for this place?  :) 
• Foreigners are everywhere - Locals did not stare at me in Taipei.  They are used to seeing blonde, blue-eyed females.  They are also used to seeing women running!  We saw a couple of tough Taiwanese athletes.  By the way, today in Hsinchu a high school girl came up to James and I and asked to have her picture taken with us.  James was right, we are the celebrities now we were always meant to be.  I bet that picture is on facebook now :)
• Family Mart Sweet Potatoes - We learned that Family Mart, a convenient store similar to 711, sells baked Japanese sweet potatoes by weight.  Fortunately or possibly unfortunately, we have a Family Mart directly across the street from our apartment.  You literally take the potato off the coals in the cooker, put it in a bag, buy it, and eat it walking down the street.  So delicious!
• MRT - There is no need for a scooter of car in Taipei.  The MRT is incredible.  It can take you to the mountains north of Taipei, the mountains south of Taipei, the coast west of Taipei and everywhere in between.  The bus system is great too for reaching the spots beyond the MRT.  The MRT also has shopping malls at the stops.  Most stops also sell food and drink.  There is a food court at the main station. 
• The people are just as friendly and helpful - Even in the major world city, the people are just as friendly and helpful (and a lot of people speak English).  One local insisted on walking us to the train we needed to ride at the MRT even though we understood where to do.  He missed his train to do that!  Can you imagine someone doing that at Marta?! 
• Cooler weather - Although the weather was still extremely hot and humid, it rained for a short time everyday which kept the temperatures down.  Speaking of temperatures, we have heard that the weather is about to get a lot hotter and more humid for July and August.  For the first time in my life, I will be looking forward to the cooler weather in the fall. 

Upon returning to Hsinchu, we went to my school's Welcome and Farewell Teacher party at a local restaurant.  I had to make it back for my own party!  The staff at my school is pretty darn cool.  Good news for James...a second teacher will be at his school starting in August!!!!!!

Well, James is currently busting his brain cells doing lesson planning for his 4 back-to-back classes on Monday :(  I am literally subbing for all of a teacher's classes next week while he is on holiday.  We are both starting with heavy schedules (James a lot more so than me).  Pollyanna would say - More hours mean a bigger paycheck.  Just as we were starting to adjust to living in Taiwan, now we start a new career.  The challenges of moving to a new country are endless!  Starting in July, we will have summer classes for the next two months so the structure will be different.  Basically the goal of next week is survival.  That simple!

The University across the street from us is having beginner Chinese classes for 1.5 hours every Monday and Wednesday morning over the summer for less than $7/person.  Ready or not...the Rockwells will be learning Chinese!  Classes start in one week.

Our goals for the weekend are - scooter shopping, getting me a cell phone, James doing his lesson plans for Monday and church.  The Rockwells never stop....

Random picture of the post - James refilling our water bottles at the refill station.  It's quite the workout walking home with those jugs!

On an extremely sad note, we were faced with our first bad news from home.  I believe the hardest times for our homesickness at this point will be when something causing great sorrow or celebration happens at home and we are not there to be with the ones we love.  James' Auntie Laurie faced a painful battle with cancer over the last several months.  God took her to His kingdom on Friday evening and ended her suffering.  She was one of the sweetest people in the world.  She will be missed by many.