Do you go to sleep when you go to bed?

Monday I had my first Chinese class. It's hard. I'm not sure how great I will be at it. But it will be a relief to actually know what is going on around me once I start to learn a little.

I'm already picking up a bit.

I've been doing a lot of subbing this week. Most of my classes have been great, but there was one that was really boring. The kids were just slow at everything not to mention there were a million of them. It made it really hard to get anything done, so we didn't have time to play many games.

I've decided that I really hate when the Taiwanese co-teacher starts speaking Chinese to the kids. We try to treat our classes as a whole-English environment, the idea being that these kids have no where else to go to practice their English for the most part.

Sometimes we'll ask them what something is in Chinese just to make sure that they actually understand what the word is in English, but most of the time, we look for English definitions. I had this co-teacher yesterday who just kept talking to the kids in Chinese.

At first it was to explain a concept, apparently the phrases for "go to bed" and "go to sleep" are the same in Chinese so the kids didn't understand the difference in English. Then she just kept talking in Chinese and made a few jokes, etc.

This ended up with me getting uncomfortable. It's hard to have control over a class if you don't know what's going on. It's not that I think she was talking about me. In general, the Taiwanese are fairly non-confrontational. It was more about the fact that I looked like an idiot up there in front of those kids. This does not help with the whole respect factor.

Things I've learned so far in Taiwan:

Maybe it's just the ones here, but I'm getting this impression that Canadians have a pretty negative perception of Americans. It's a number of things, and they won't necessarily come out and say it to your face — although I suppose some might — but there has been a lot of America-hating in the dorm. Of all the people in the dorm, I think about 5 or 6 of us are American; everyone else is Canadian. It's not like they have a problem with me in particular or something, just with the way they think most Americans act or our general (capitalist) attitude toward things.

On that note, it is pointless to try to change a Canadian's mind or to test them on what they think they know. They seem to have a very unwavering perception of us.

What do I think about Canadians? I can't decide yet, though I have come to realize that I don't know anything about Canada. Does anyone remember learning much about Canada in grade school? I think this may have something to do with their disdain for us.

Next, Taiwanese people's English will probably always be better than my Chinese if for no reason other than they would rather speak English to me than have to suffer through my Mandarin.

Also, foreign men here are not interested in the foreign women here. It's a little frustrating at first, but one I am already quickly hurdling over. It comes off more annoying than anything at this point. Also, it's not such a bad thing to not get a lot of attention. Fading into the background helps me just see things for what they are.

Lastly, I have more respect now than I ever did for all of my grade school teachers. While I am only in the beginning of all of this, I realize that this is a hard job. I'm sure it's harder by at least 10 back home where kids don't care and have zero respect for their teachers.

Why is that group of foreigners soaking wet?

My classes Saturday went really well. I didn't budget my time quite perfectly, but there were certainly no disasters.

My yellow book class was actually really fun and all the kids were really responsive. This is apparently unusual. I've heard many people say they dread yellow book classes, especially subbing them, because the kids can be really difficult.

It's not so much that they're obstinate. The kid are all just at that age.

Honestly, I had more trouble with the WOW class I subbed. These kids are all in late junior high or high school and they were SO not getting into it. I had no idea what to do.

My saving grace was this one girl, Ginger. Her English was GREAT and she was willing to answer questions and help me out with the Chinese. Luckily, the co-teacher for that class was also really cool. We ended up having a lot of fun even though it initially seemed like it was going to be the most boring hour and a half of my life.

Saturday evening Megan and I went to this great little coffee shop and I had milk tea for the first time. I really like milk tea. We just sat there at chatted about a little bit of everything. Classes, the people in the dorm — I'm still getting to know everyone — learning Chinese, etc.

After we got back I left almost immediately when some other people who live in the dorm to go bowling.

Bowling is the thing to do here. I'm going to see if I can eventually get some people to start playing pool with me. I'm hoping I can locate a dart board as well. But, for now, bowling will have to do. My game could use some work anyway.

I ended up staying up pretty late that night. We didn't get home from the bowling alley until 3 a.m. (it stays open 24/7, so glad Main Event wasn't like that). A few of the others apparently never went to sleep.

This is the problem with "dorm" life.

I never lived in a dorm in college so it's something to get used to. I did my share of running around and staying up all night, but it's different when you live with 15 other people.

Because I stayed up half the night, I slept most of the day, but that's OK. It was Sunday, I'm allowed to do that.

I ate McDonalds on Sunday. I know, I know, everyone is so disappointed. I just really wanted a cheeseburger. Something to note, the Taiwanese really like eggs. They put eggs on everything. This includes a fried egg on a cheeseburger. McD's doesn't do that though so I felt safe going there.

I have since decided that I may never go to McDonalds again. It wasn't terrible, but I felt so sick afterward because I've been eating nothing but rice, noodles, vegetables and very little grease.

Maybe I'll have some french fries now and then.

When I got home from McD's the living room was soaked. Yes, I said soaked.



Megan planned this big water gun fight to go down in the park at 6 p.m. She went and bought a ton of water guns (becuase they're like $3) and they filled them up and were all sitting in the living room waiting for everyone to get going. Next thing you know, they're all shooting each other in the living.


It was hilarious to walk in to.

When we finally got to the park and started playing, we ended up drawing a huge crowd. People just started standing around us and watching. Some were taking pictures of us.


Crazy foreigners.